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2004: The Year That Was....
What a great year this was for the Clubbers of British Columbia! Our Local Chapter formed in
May after a couple of friends attended the second show in Calgary and thought what a great idea it would be to organize all
of the Clubbers in B.C. for future concerts & tours, plus all of the special events that are always happening in the world
of Metallica. Thus was born Nothing Else in B.C. Matters!
Our first get-together was for the premiere of Some Kind of Monster in Vancouver. Richard, the
Chapter Head, was given a phone call from the local rock station in Vancouver (at 8am I might add! Nothing like a wake-up
call from the FOX) with the offer of free passes for everybody in the Chapter to attend the premiere. A 300 mile drive
from Kelowna later, and it was time to party! We had a pre-show meet & greet at the Shark Club, who played some 'Tallica
tunes for us, and everybody got to know one another (see the pics! ). The gifts from the Club (thank you!) and a couple of
bootleg concerts out of Richard's collection made sure that everybody had a great time. Then came the movie. Everybody's collective
response was "WOW!" It was incredible to see the turmoil and the process that Metallica endured (especially after the theatre
finally got the movie running properly WITH SOUND!!!) and come out on the other side stronger than ever. Everybody had a tremendous
time and a good number of solid friendships were formed in the Chapter. A wonderful experience.
We also got Chapter Shirts! They are currently in the process of approval from the MetClub Licensing Dept., but they look incredible and the printers
did an amazing job! A solid silver ninja star surrounded by Nothing Else in B.C. Matters in a deep blue St. Anger-themed font
on a black long-sleeved shirt is one great design, and the Chapter cannot wait to proudly show off their allegiance to Metallica
and their bond with the rest of Metallica's greatest fans in this province.
Then there are the concerts. Lots of them. Everybody in the Chapter saw at least one Metallica concert this year.
Many of us saw a number of Metallica concerts this year. Our reigning concert Queen is Danica (aka Danitallica!), who saw
them a total of 10 times this year! Plus a Meet & Greet winner! In March, pretty much EVERYBODY saw the concert in Vancouver
and several people took the trip down to Seattle as well. Ren and Steve actually ended up sitting beside each other in Seattle
after both having Meet & Greets for the Vancouver gig! In May there were treks into Alberta and beyond, as Richard &
Danica saw the second Calgary show. Danica then continued east into Winnipeg! Also present at the Calgary show was Jane, who
not only had a great time but happened to make it into a video on MetOnTour! Way to go representing all the Metallichicks
out there Janey! October was a huge month for Nothing Else in B.C. Matters, as we logged a lot of air miles: Heidi saw both
Montreal concerts; Richard saw the shows in Toronto and Ottawa; Hilary joined him in Canada's capital for that amazing show
(we were the only ones to see The Prince live this year!!!); and Danica went to New Jersey and both Philadelphia shows--over
the two nights, all of the Master of Puppets album was played! In November, Hilary saw the boyz in Salt Lake City, and Danica
took a road trip & a bunch of friends to California for the final two shows of the tour! An amazing year for NEBCM members
attending concerts, and if you want to see everybody's memories, you can do so at the Nothing Else in BC Matters Concert Reviews Page
It is often considered that the greatest perk of being in the MetClub is the opportunity to meet
Metallica backstage at their shows through the Meet & Greet. No less than 5 NEBCM members would concur with that statement.
Jimmy, Jane, Steve, Ren, and Danica all were fortunate enough to win the coveted Meet & Greet passes! The tales they shared
with the rest of the group were definitely enough to make the rest of us try to get to as many concerts as possible in the
hopes of meeting our heavy metal heroes! Congratulations to all of you and hopefully the next time Metallica comes to Vancouver
ALL of us will get to go backstage! Can you just imagine the phalanx of black, silver, and blue shirts???
2004 was incredible, and 2005 holds a bright future as well. The fine folks at MetClub have provided
Richard with a lot of promotional material and goodies, all of which will be distributed at our first Chapter Meeting of the
New Year. There is also the DVD Release of Some Kind of Monster. There is Metallica returning to the studio to record their
first album with Rob Trujillo. All this, and so much more lurking on the horizon.
Richard would like to take this time to thank the following people for their contributions and
efforts in making Nothing Else in B.C. Matters such a wonderful experience. I cannot have done all of this without you: Danica,
Erik, Ren, Adam, Steve, Heidi, Hilary (thank you also for flying 3000 miles to be with me at ONE show! YOU FUKKIN ROCK!),
Janey, Jimmy, Sean, Laurie, and Tyler--you guys are the reason I'm doing this. Kim the Local Chapter Co-ordinator, thank you
so much for everything that you do to make this so much fun. Niclas, thank you for putting me on your silly little website--it
totally MADE my Madly In Anger With Ontario trip the HIGHLIGHT of the year. And lastly, to James, Lars, Kirk, and Rob, thank
you for making such wonderful music and for giving me an outlet for all those "unnamed feelings" that make this "outlaw torn's"
world go 'round! See you all in 2005!
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