PiercingMetal.com had the honor of being one of the many guests of Eddie Trunk and the fine folks from Abrams Books at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square in order to celebrate the release of the radio/television personality’s first ever book –  “Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal”.   For many years the general public has known Eddie from his radio shows both satellite and terrestrial and then as the main man on the VH1 Classic hit program “That Metal Show”.  Now he can add author to his listing of accomplishments.   The affair was not open to the general public but some of the shows fans were given the opportunity to win a spot in the room and also to receive a copy of the book to take home with them after it was all done.  Pretty cool eh?

Considering that the site was a guest of Eddie and the publishing house my presence was more about raising a glass in honor of the book and to enjoy myself but that would not stop me from snapping some photos and bringing the readership into the room with me in some fashion after it had finished.  Here’s a shot of Eddie holding the book and its principle photographer Ron Akiyama.

Ron was along with Eddie for many of the adventures outlined in the book and I had to say that at first glance it was really something awesome.  More on that later I promise.    Walking around the section of the Hard Rock Cafe where the fun was happening I caught Overkill’s Bobby Blitz and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal from the current lineup of Guns ‘N Roses.  I’ve been covering Overkill shows since becoming a writer and have met Ron at many shows.  Both are awesome dudes and we find them smiling with the book.

I then saw Eddie Ojeda from Twisted Sister and asked him to pause for a second so I could snare a photo of him and Eddie and yes, the book 🙂

Since I had his attention, I figured let me get a solo shot of this Eddie with the new book as well.

Moving along after enjoying some of the tasty hors d’ouveres that were being served and a cold beer, I found Eddie Trunk talking to the Bumblefoots, I mean the Thals.

Here we find a still smiling Bumblefoot and the Mrs. with Twisted Sister’s own Eddie Ojeda.

A friend suggested that I get a shot with Ron and his missus and Eddie, and why the heck not.  This was a good time and best to be remembered properly if at all possible.

Making a truly memorable impression as always is former Dream Theater founder and skinbasher Mike Portnoy.  Mike is always one of Eddie’s guests on his radio shows so his presence was expected.  As you can see Mike was very excited to be a part of the fun this evening.

After Eddie continued on to talk to more guests and sign some of the books for the people in attendance I chit chatted with Mike briefly about his fantastic job with the recent Yellow Matter Custard show.  That’s his tribute to the music of The Beatles with Neil Morse, Kasim Sultan and Paul Gilbert.  They recorded the show I saw so watch for a release in the future.

Here we find Mike being, well……Mike.  Fortunately he chose to chomp on his own copy of the book and not mine.  That was almost NOT the case though.  Whew.  Talk about a close call.

Next up were a couple of cool dudes that I found myself talking to on a number of occasions.  We shared a common associate in Spread Eagle’s Ray West, and apparently they had even played with him in one of his bands.  Small world.

Next up we find Eddie taking a few minutes to address the crowd.   Tonight was more about enjoying the moment than talking so he kept it brief and thanked all the people at Abrams Books, the team that keeps him on the radio, the staff of VH1 Classic for the interest in “That Metal Show” and he sent some shout outs to people who were there from various groups.

The shot below shows a portion of the crowd at the event and one can see Overkill’s Bobby  Blitz and even Coallier Entertainment’s Danny Stanton.  Sadly I neglected to photograph Danny holding the book.  Oh well.  The chap seen in the far left of the image is Ron Akiyama who did a large amount of photos in the book as previously mentioned.  As you see he is not letting tonight be the time to rest on his laurels.

Eddie then announced that his “That Metal Show” co-hosts of Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine were late as usual and would likely arrive to complain that there was no more food or drink being served.

Eddie’s wife and kids were there for the event but my group photo of them all came out too dark.  Oh well.  He did inform the crowd that his aunt had never been to NYC before and was here tonight.  She got some rousing applause which I think embarrassed her just a little bit.  Welcome to Rock n Roll life.

Eddie wanted to make sure that he didn’t forget anyone and even asked his buddy Ron if he wanted to say a few words.  Sadly, Ron declined to do that.  I think it would have been cool to hear something from him.

As most people know by now, Eddie Trunk is the host of the VH1 Classic hit program “That Metal Show”.  Here we see him with Rick Krim, the EVP of VH1.

Since I had the chance to do it, I made sure to get Ron standing solo with the book that so many of his wonderful photos help bring to life.  He really did a great job of this and it should serve as inspiration to others who take band photos for a living or even a hobby.

Everywhere I turned I seemed to bump into Eddie Ojeda but I never mind getting him in a shot because he rocks and is always fun to speak to when the chance is there.  Here he is with Bob Held and Ron Akiyama and of course the brand new book by Eddie Trunk. Bob is a well known NYC music producer.

Next up is our good buddy and staunch PiercingMetal.com supporter Chris Zahn.  Chris works in the booking side of things over at the B.B. King Blues Club.  Readers of the site are well aware of the place from my writing as we have only covered about 150 shows that they’ve hosted since launching.

Here’s a photo of Mrs. Portnoy along with my friend Holly and her BFF “D.D.”  Holly is inspiring me to make a denim jacket like that sometime soon. I just need to start shopping for patches I guess.

Mike was not far of course and stopped to pose with two of the cool people we met from Abrams Books.  This was the most fun of two shots of the ladies and the master drummer.

Up next is Eric Luftglass who works with Richie Kotzen and of course Jim Florentine from “That Metal Show”.  Sorry no book in this one.

Here’s Laura Ingle from Fox News with the creators of the book.

Laura did me a kindness by taking a shot of me and the guys but I was not ready for her to do it.  Oh well.  I am sure there will be other moments in the future with the book hitting the shelves and more appearances.

Don and Jim did arrive late as Eddie predicted but here we find Don chit chatting with Mike P. about whatever they felt like discussing.

Here’s Randy Falk who we last ran into at Toy Fair with his models of various incarnations of Iron Maiden’s Eddie.  Great to see him again.

The next shot is both the Portnoy’s and the Ellsworth’s.  I had to make sure to feature a little bit of family in this summary and it was a pleasure to meet the significant others of these awesome musicians.

Eddie has always been seen when Twisted Sister comes to town and you know he is a fan from back in the day.  Here we find both Eddie Ojeda and Jay Jay French chilling out and looking at the new book.  Sadly none of the other guys were present.  Oh well.  This was still awesome.

If you are wondering when Sister is playing again, they will be doing a couple of benefit gigs soon for the Pinkburst Foundation.  The NYC Regional appearances will be at Best Buy Theater and Music Hall Of Williamsburg.  Check our calendar HERE for more details. New readers to the website, please bookmark this calendar for your own good. Lots doing on there.

Here’s the whole cast of “That Metal Show” along with Mike Portnoy and Bobby Blitz.  Mike appeared on Season One of the show while Blitz and D.D. Verni were guests on Season Three.

Sadly it was time for the private part of the evening to end and for the work to get underway as Eddie was now going to be signing copies of the new book for the fans that were lined up inside and out of the Hard Rock Cafe.  I didn’t get an actual count but I can say that there were a lot of folks anxious to pick this tome up and to say hello to Eddie in person.

It was great to be a part of such a fun night and I will be offering up some observations about the book on the website very soon in a full on review of what you can find in it.

I will give you some quick perceptions and thoughts on it before we go.  The book is NOT a tell all life biography of Eddie Trunk which some people might think it was going to be.  Instead it is a healthy number of bands that he feels are essential to the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal world, hence the title.  The photographs are for the most part never before seen things and that makes it very awesome in my humble opinion.  It’s also very reasonably priced and something a large demographic of Metal fans will enjoy.  You can order a copy via the Amazon.com link posted below.  Good luck with the book Eddie and thanks for having PiercingMetal.com at the launch event.

Fans of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal are encouraged to order a copy of this book. Hit this Amazon.com link below to get the best possible price.

Official Website: http://www.eddietrunk.com
Official Website: http://www.abramsbooks.com/