Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. I wish you all a healthy New Year.
I just want you all to know I am really not Santa, just like you all thought I was the Cadbury Gorilla. (Thanks for the Pic Deb and Caryl)
Peace
John

Happy Holidays

I want to wish everyone a happy holiday and a healthy New Year! I am looking forward to seeing everyone this coming year. I really appreciate all the support and love you have given me through the past year. I do read every comment and e-mail you send; and enjoy hearing from all of you.
Love
John

Hoppy Halloween

Not very scary, but it was appropriate to wear bar hopping on Halloween. I can't believe it but the next day I got into the elevator at the hotel and a woman keeps looking at me and I thought she was going to ask if I played with Meat Loaf, but she asked, so politely, excuse me but were you the man in the bunny head last night?
Silly me.

Crews Night Out In Germany

Check out your favorite Meat Loaf Crew characters, out on the town in Germany.
(Click on the photo below)

The Bat Cave

Well we're off to a great start. We just finished our second night in Germany and Meat kicked ass. For those of you asking what the Bat Cave is, it is an area in front of the stage where fans can watch the show really up close. Meat calls it the Bat Cave. It's sort of our version of the mosh pit.


Below is me hanging out in the Bat Cave. I would not let them take a picture from my waist down because I was wearing my Robin outfit. Don't tell anyone but since we got the bat cave Joe Libretti likes to dress like Cat Woman.

Drums Out Of Hell

Check out this article in Sticks magazine and let me know what it says (it's in German). Last time in Germany I sat with Tom from sticks magazine for almost 3 hours and had a blast. If I could read the article I would tell you what it said.

Only Kidding Around :)

The other day a friend of mine had sent this Cadbury ad over to me. I was with my family when I opened it and when we saw the gorilla start to play the drums we never laughed so hard, my kids kept saying it looked like me. The next day I put it up on my site, only kidding around hoping you all would get the laugh we did, I also had sent it to Meat Loaf and the band. The following day we ended up watching it at rehearsal wondering if the monkey was real or not, there I go again calling it a monkey, every time I called it a monkey at rehearsal I could see Mark cracking up, he kept saying it's not a monkey it's a gorilla. So to set the record straight, as hard as it is to believe even with the crazy resemblance. The gorilla in this add is not me.
But did you know I was Animal in the muppets, and also wrote the second verse of Happy Birthday, you know the "how old are you now" part. :)

Monkeying About

I finally made it in the movies and I get a lifetime of free chocolate. During our break with Meat Loaf I have kept busy filming an ad for Cadbury.
Check it out.

Video Help

I am putting together a video and need video clips and/or audio clips of questions you would like to ask the band. If possible please send a video of yourself asking the question if not just post the questions as a post in the blog.The questions all have to be able to be answered by a yes or no. I would like these to be funny questions and not so serious. Please say your name and also where you are from before you ask the question. Thanks for the help.
Peace
John

Send Video or Audio clips to: john@john-miceli.com

Fun Stuff

Here is a video of some silly things we kept ourselves amused with this past tour.

Clearwater Florida

Last night was a blast, before the show we were hanging out with Chris Jericho. Chris was the first-ever Undisputed WWE World Champion. He's also held the Intercontinental Championship and tag titles, among others. Paul Crook invited Chris down to the show. Chris had known Paul from Anthrax days, Chris was such a nice guy to hang with. All I heard that night on the bus every time we mentioned his name, were the girls saying "Chris, He's Hot" but then again they never saw me in wrestling tights.

Who also showed up back stage before the show is Yankees own Wade Boggs and his beautiful wife Debbie. Wade was voted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 2005. What an amazing guy. In the Meat camp a lot of our crew are die hard Red Sox fans but you had to see their faces when Wade showed up. Wade was a true gentleman, thanking us for our hospitality while he was taking pics and signing anything anyone had asked. When we took this photo he took his World Series ring off and started putting it on my finger. I didn't know what to say so I said I DO.

There are more pictures on the picture page of my website under Bat III

Foreplay for swingers

Check out these shirts they really crack me up. I just ordered "Got Wood?" I couldn't resist.

Jammin' in Watertown

One of Crook's old band mates and friend of ours, Joey Belladonna from Anthrax, had come out to the Watertown gig. It was a blast, we pulled him up on stage to sing a few songs with us during sound check. He sounded great, he went from singing Dio to Steve Perry to an Anthrax song which I didn't really know but when we were playing, Grady, Paul's Tech, was out in the audience listening and playing air drums so I was able to follow him through the song.

There are more pictures from the Watertown show on the picture page under Bat III

The Bobbles

Saratoga Streets

Last night Paul, Dave and I went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, right in the main street of Saratoga. As we were walking back to our hotel we noticed there were a few street musicians. There was a guy dressed as Elvis playing maracas with an old blues guy on banjo, a bunch of drummers on hand drums, guys playing acoustic guitar and so on. So Dave and I started getting into it so we ask a policeman on a horse what the laws were and he told us a good place to go play. The three of us went back to the hotel and went to the front desk and explained that we wanted to go play in the street, Dave on Sax and me on percussion and if they could loan us a few buckets. The guy at the front desk was cracking up and went into the kitchen of the hotel and came back with all these pots and pans. We ran up to my room with all this stuff and created a kit for me. Paul was funny he was running around my room taking pillows and towels and putting them inside the buckets to balance the sounds, so Dave and I took him on as our Producer/Engineer. Once we had it all together we walked back to the area where we would play. Paul was not only our producer and engineer he also became our camera man. As we were walking down the streets people were looking at us funny because we are carrying all these pots and pans. We finally found just the right spot to play and started setting up. There were a lot of clubs where we set up so there was a lot of walking traffic. Dave was great he just started kicking into all these tunes and I was jammin' on the pots. People were walking by and throwing money to us. At one point all these girls started dancing in the street, it was a blast. Check out the video that Paul captured, titled Saratoga Streets

NYC Set List and New Bobble Heads

We just finished our two shows in NYC, at the Madison Square Garden Theater. What a great reception the NY crowd gave us, with 2 sold out shows. Thanks !
We started off at sound check with Meat introducing the new edition of bobble heads to place on the drum riser. It's hysterical, he made up bobble heads of the whole band that really look like us, of course my bobble head is half naked. I really need to stop mooning people. I'm getting a bad rap. I will take photos of these at the next show and post them so that you can see them.
Both shows really rocked. The set list for Wednesday was:
All Revved Up
If It Ain't Broke
Frying Pan
Life Is A Lemon
Took The Words
Land Of The Pigs
Bad For Good
Anything For Love
Objects In The Rear View Mirror
RnR Dreams
Paradise
2 Out of 3 (Wed. only)
Bat
Encore
Black Betty (Fri only)
Gimme Shelter

I promise to post pictures of the new bobble heads this week. It's worth the look just for the laugh. Check out this video, it is the animal bobble farm Meat had in front of my drums before the new band bobble heads.

Getting Ready

This is what it feels like getting ready the last day at home before going out on the road.

NFL Europa

It was a great day in Frankfurt at the NFL Europa game. We started out sound checking in the afternoon. There were 1,000 cheerleaders, marching bands, pyro crews, camera crews and all sorts of craziness running around. After we sound checked Charlie (Kasim's tech) and I went out front of the venue. It was set up like a huge amusement park. I don't know what it was but there was this big mouse running around gooseing people.

I also met up with the USA Army band (USAREUR) that kicked ass. They actually performed at halftime.

Also as we were in our dressing room "The World's Fastest Golfer," Ogi, came in and was explaining to us how he holds the World Record. He has been on Letterman and all sorts of shows. Ogi was nice enough to let me video this. We went on pre-show and played five songs; Paradise, Lemon, Fryin Pan, Anything For Love, and Bat Out Of Hell. After we played we were invited to a private box at the arena where we had a blast.


There's more pictures from the NFL on the picture page under Bat III

Trip To Sonor, Germany

On a day off in Frankfurt I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Sonor Drum factory. Joe Libretti (my tech) and I had been in touch with Thomas Barth, artist relations manager for Sonor, who had set up picking us up a bringing us out to the factory. Joe and I had started the day at Starbucks for a coffee where Thomas picked us up to head out to the factory. You can imagine for me this is like bringing a kid to the ultimate toy store. It was about a 2 hour ride, I think Thomas would agree that all the way up and back Joe was quite the conversationalist. I have made a short video called Trip To Sonor
Just before we arrived Thomas suggested we stop for a bite, where we met up with David, the product manager. After lunch went over to the factory where we started our tour. Thomas and David explained every step of the way of how Sonor builds a drum set. We started in the room where they keep all the wood for educational instruments.
From there they brought us through the room where they have the exotic laminates for the drums as well as where they actually make their own shells. It's amazing to see how they take all the thin plys of wood and glue them together and put them in a heated machine that curves them into a perfect drum shell. After taking the shells out of these machines they cut the bearing edge of the drum and also drill the holes for the hardware. All they machines are so precise it is scary.
After that the drum shell is ready to be painted. There are machines that they place the shells on while painting which rotate until dry. It is unbelievable how not one shell has not even a waiver in its paint or gloss. After the shell dries they bring it into a room where they assemble the hardware to the drum.
In this room they also assemble their drum pedals, where one person assembles every pedal that is made. They have a really cool pedal, the Giant Step that not only hits when you press down on the front but when your heel comes back down it hits like a double pedal. They also have Giant Step single and double pedals. From here the drums go to a room where before they are packed they are tuned by hand. Then they're packed up and sent to a huge warehouse.
We also stopped by the room where they computer design and engineer every piece Sonor makes, from drum keys to drum pedals. I could not believe what goes into just designing a drum key.
The thing that blows me away is that every step of the way, Sonor never ever cuts corners on craftmanship or quality. They only do things for one reason, to be the best.
After this we headed over to a building where they have a Sonor Museum which we put on video. You have to see this, they had cool things, like the first double pedal, to Nico McBrain's (from Iron Maiden) first drum set.



After this they brought us to the part of the factory where they have one of every drum set and educational instruments, where we played for hours.

I can't thank all of you at Sonor enough for this day at the factory, but even more for what you do every day.
Check out more photos on Sonor.de and the picture pages of my website

Zildjian

Drop by and check out my cymbal setup at Zildjians site. Sarah at Zildjian has been nice enough to set this page up for me. You can play my cymbals as well as move them around and check out other models. I have played Zildjian my whole life, and have been fortunate enough to be endorsed by them for almost 20 years now.

Meat Loaf Plays NFL World Bowl

MEAT LOAF TO HEADLINE GERMANY’S YELLO STROM WORLD BOWL XV

Meat Loaf will headline NFL Europa's championship game – Yello Strom World Bowl XV – held in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday, June 23, 2007 at Commerzbank-Arena. NFL Europa is an American football league which operates in Europe. Backed by the National Football League, The World Bowl is the American football championship game of NFL Europa, similar to the Super Bowl of the NFL.
The game marks Germany’s sports-entertainment event of the year and given Meat’s tremendous popularity in the country, his performance will make it an unforgettable experience for the over 52, 000 fans expected in attendance. Bat Out of Hell III, the third installment of rock’s greatest epic produced by Desmond Child with songs by Jim Steinman, debuted at no. 2 on the German charts upon its release in Europe on October 20, 2006. Frankfurt hosted World Bowls in 1998 and 2000 and is considered the American football capital of Germany, making it the perfect host for this year’s World Bowl XV.
Yello Strom World Bowl XV is expected to be aired around the world in more than 150 countries, including a live audience in the United States on the NFL Network.

Arsch Day In Hamburg, Germany

You are not going to believe it but this morning I was having coffee at Starbucks, sitting outside with Crook and our Tour Manager, Bill, and you can't believe what walked by.




I guess this brings new meaning to a bottomless cup of coffee. We never laughed so hard. After all this we decided to take a walk around the lake, and as we are walking we notice this guy working on his boat.


What was funnier then this blow out, was Crook standing beside the boat, in tears, to make it look like I was taking a photo of him and not this guy. I should have taken the photo of Crook instead.

Rock Under The Broen

'
Well we just took a 3-hour drive from Copenhagen to Middelfart, Denmark, watching Finding Nemo. The venue was right on the water and the sun was hot as heck. It looked like there had to be at least 60,000 people there if not more. We went on about 6:30. I felt bad for Meat and Crook, the sun was directly on them the whole show. I was lucky I was in the shade. We did the same set list as we did in Sweden, minus Gimme Shelter. After the show it's off to Hamburg, Germany. On the ride to Hamburg we watched Indiana Jones, Meat and Crook love that stuff, I just sit and crack up. Stop by the site to see more photos of the gig.

Sweden Rock Festival

Yesterday was a blast at the Rock Fest. Meat kicked ass. It was a real trip being on between Quiet Riot,Thin Lizzy and Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath with Dio). Looking out at a wall of die hard heavy rock fans all in black, as far as I could see, all mouthing the words to Paradise and Bat, was amazing. Meat really put together a rockin set list. We started with Break It, straight into Paradise,Took The Words, Frying Pan, Lemon, Anything For Love, Pigs, and Bat Out Of Hell. The crowd was going nuts so we headed back on for Black Betty, Mercury, and Gimme Shelter. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's Festival in MiddleFart, Denmark. No joke, that's the name of the town the gigs in. Click for more photos

Look Alike?

Do I really look like Lee Curreri from Fame ? And was the show Fame popular in the UK. A day does not go by that someone doesn't ask me if I am Lee from Fame.

Sweden Rock Festival

This is a four day festival of pure Rock And Roll. The line up for the day we're on is, Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath With Dio), Meat Loaf, Thin Lizzy, Quiet Riot, Dark Tranquillity, Thunder, Dimmu Borgir, Axel Rudi Pell, Symphony X, Amon Amarth, Point Blank, Bluestone Co, Solid Ground, Sören Berlevs Gas Show, Sturm und Drang, Tokyo Dragons, Eldritch, LIon's Share, Trail Of Tears, Marduk, Zan Clan, Backdraft.
I can't wait.

Kilty As Charged in Glasgow, Scotland

I am actually running from Meat, who is trying to pull up my kilt, not knowing I have my fashionable boxers on with the built in butt.

Kilt Shopping

These are two friends of mine, Bud and Phil, that hooked me up with a kilt for the show in Scotland. A true Scotsman would not wear anything under the kilt, but I knew if I wore a kilt that someone in the band would be pulling up at it. At the end of the show Meat did a dash straight to me, at the bows, and pulled up on my kilt, not knowing that I went shopping with Crook and found a pair of funny underwear at a joke shop with red and white stripes and a fake butt sewed on to it. So when Meat pulled up on my kilt it looked like I was mooning the crowd. After Meat did this I pulled down the fake butt underwear and threw it in the crowd. It was a good laugh. It was really comfortable playing in the kilt, but just a little breezy.

Marshmallows

You all thought I was kidding but this crazy man is camping out behind me roasting marshmallows as the show is going on.

In Search

Well today we made it to Scotland and are in search of a kilt. I don't know much about them, but would like to wear one for today's show. I think I will need those long socks also so I don't have to have my legs waxed. My worry is I am going to look a lot like Shrek in this kilt, but here goes.

Great View

We just finished our second night at the MEN at Manchester. Two sold out shows, what a great crowd. Check out this view from my seat, pretty crazy. For those of you that have seen the show, I think I will set up backwards next week so that I can tan my front also. Those flames roast my butt, the first time they went off they scared the crap out of me. Joe, my tech, sits behind me and I was worried if he was alright, so I turned around and there's Joe roasting marshmallows off one of my drum sticks. I'm looking forward to the Birmingham show, but I'm prepared; this time I got my sun tan lotion.

If any one can tell me the story about the question of the month, from April 15th, I will send you a set of drumsticks.

Peace
John

Thanks

I would really like to thank everyone for all their kind comments. It really means a lot to me.
Tomorrow is our first big Rock Show out here in Manchester. I hope to see some of you there.
Peace
John

Welcome

Whaaaats Up.
I think I need to explain a little of what is on this blog. See I really do not know much about Blogs, and when I was putting this site together with Deb she said you really should put one on the site. So of course I gave in as you see. All that you see below on the blog is me talking to myself, execpt for Deb saying hang in there. I would try different things like puting in a hyper link, or learning how to put on a pic and being able to click on it to bring you to another page. I did use real info, like the glasses I wear for the show or the question of the month. So please hang in there with me I'm sure this learning curve has just begun.
Thanks
John

Question Of The Month

Have we ever had a meatloaf (the food) thrown at us ?

Miceli's Mouth

Welcome to "Miceli's Mouth" I'm not much of a writer but I sure can talk. In "Miceli's Mouth" there will be audio clips (Pod Casts) of all kinds of crazy story's that have happened to me. I don't know why but I am a magnet for silly situations. Just click on the Mouth to take you to the crazy world of "Miceli's Mouth"

Im Starting To See The Light

I starting to see the light with this blog so I put on my new Electric Visual Sunglasses

Crazy

It looks like I am talking to myself Wow

Craziness Works

I Hope all this craziness works I am seeing what happens when I add a new Post.

Kickin my ass

This is how I feel when I am working on the Blog page. Im tryin but its kickin my ass

Don't give up, you can do it :-)