I went to the Trocadero in Chinatown to see the band High on Fire with my friend Tom. We had free tickets and knew the bartender at the upstairs bar. Here’s one of their videos.

Someone in southern New Jersey found a VHS cassette tape, digitized it, and posted it on the fan site for the old New Jersey heavy metal band Judgement (note British spelling). The band was formerly named Anacreon, after the Greek lyric poet (570 BC-488 BC) known for his drinking songs.

The video below shows the band, in its original lineup, playing at the Fort Dix “Battle of the Bands” in 1988 (they won). The bass player’s name was Ernest Hilbert. Yes, that Ernest Hilbert, host of E-Verse Radio.

The song is called “Descend Into the Maelstrom,” with music by Andrew Bordynowski and lyrics by Hilbert, based on Cantos XIV through XVI of Dante’s Inferno, the first cantica of his Divina Comedia. The title was clumsily swiped from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1841 “A Descent Into the Maelstrom.”

Hilbert is the one with straight hair, playing bass, in the center of the frame.

Mullet? Check. Giant wallet in the back pocket of too-tight jeans? Check. Ernie headbanging? Priceless. Enjoy!