Wheeeeee, Atlanta, GA -- uncharted territory. Unless you count a field trip to Flordia when I was 18, I have never been to the South. And so, when my guitarist Tim and his girlfriend Cristen invited me to join them on a jaunt to the peach state for ProgPower 2.0 2001, how could I resist. We took an early flight to Atlanta, having to be at the airport at 4:30am, and arrived in Atlanta in the afternoon, in time for some delicious dinner at a nice Itallian restaurant called Veni Vidi Vici. I'm surprised they served a group of travel-weary metalheads. As we were crossing the street to go to dinner, however, we realized the streets had been closed off around our hotel. Turns out that President Bush was scheduled to drive thru -- and so, I got to see the president's royal entourage of police and secret servicefolk, and a limo carrying him off to give a speech.

After dinner, we went down to the Cotton Club for the ProgPower preparty. I was a bit disappointed that the bands chosen to play the party were nuMetal bands. Fortunately, if you ignored the music, the party was great -- there were a lot of awesome people and some of the bands who would be performing at the festival.

There was a small Mediterranian restaurant near the venue, Earthlink Live, which became the main chow grounds for people at the fest. Before the first day, we dropped by to catch a bite. Here are Tim and Cristen joined by Shawn Kascak of Cauldron Born, a killer bass-bangin' Atlantean whom I had met at the Classic Metalfest in Kalamazoo. After each of the show's two nights, this place was crowded with metalheads.

It was a reunion of all sorts. Shawn joins the Texas crew for a picture -- my friend Erie, an awesome metalhead whom I met at a New Eden show waaaayyyy back when, and Bobby Williamson of Outworld/Magistral, whom I met at the Bang Your Head Houston show. Thank you, Bobby, for hooking me up with the gold pass!

Erie and a big group of Houston-ers drove 14 hours from Texas to see the show. Among them was Lucho, Chilean voxman for Magistral. I love this man's taste in fashion as well as his fire and enthusiasm!

Here's me n Randy, another Texan who drove out for the ProgPower fest. It was so nice to reunite with the awesome people I had met in my very short jaunt to Houston -- I was there for only a day, and yet I am convinced that Houston has such a wonderful metal community. I must return there someday.

Here I am with Shane of Z-Lot-Z and the Queensryche tribute Operation: Mindcrime, a fellow bassman whom I had met at the Classic Metalfest in Kalamazoo and again at BYH Houston. Megareunions abound!

Erie is a very tall man; he bends down so he can fit in the camera with Shawn and I -- actually, Shawn's pretty tall, too... Okay, so when you're 5' 1 1/2" everyone's pretty tall...

However, you know you're pretty damn tall when you stand taller than Steve DiGiorgio! Here Erie and Steve ham it up for the camera.

Steve and his friend join, me, Shawn, Tim, and Cristen for a pic.

Back at the hotel, Tim and Cristen take a moment to cuddle. You know you're a perfect match when even your clothes match!

Cristen is a talented seamstress who made the nice red shirt Tim is wearing, among other fineries in his wardrobe. She also crafted a beautiful crushed velvet shirt for the singer of Kamelot, to whom she was able to deliver it personally after their show. (and Steve Heiress fans should know that she is also the talented hands behind the stripey Iron Maidens pants).

All good things must come to an end, but it felt like the jaunt to Atlanta went by waaaayyyyy too fast. I reunited with new friends, saw some killer bands (Symphony X, Evergrey, and Kamelot take Best of Show), poked around a new part of the country, and even saw the president drive by!! Shawn dropped SuperMel and party off at the Atlanta airport for an uneventful trip back.