Gelap Pekat

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has posed the following message on the band's official MySpace page:

"Well, I made it and day two of the procedure is almost over [referring to recent surgery for a neck injury — Ed.] . I wanted to take this time to thank you for all of your support. It was necessary for me to do this so that I could continue to operate at maximum potential for us all, and the timing was right, the doctor was right, and my mentality was prepared to have a long frikken needle stuck into my neck, just short of the brain stem.

"I am over any of the pain from the procedure and I thank you for the confidence to break free from this bondage. I am also starting to experience the effects of the cervical epidural that they did, and the medication that they inject into my spinal column. We are optimistic that this will eliminate any need for further procedures to address the bulging disks in my thoracic vertebrae.

"Meanwhile, I have had such a strenuous last few weeks. We had to finish the artwork for the [new MEGADETH] record, and then there was the fiasco that went along with that. Then next was making the merchandise line for the good people at our vendors like Hot Topic, and the mom-and-pop stores were next, and this damn near killed me because of the deadline from the record company, and then the deadline to do the merchandise, and oh yeah, there was that video we just did in-between all of the work I have been doing.

"Today Justis [Dave's son] did some interviewing of me at the studio, and I cannot wait for the MEGADETH girls, and the She Wolves get a look at my son. Of course I said he was handsome, so that means he doesn't look like me, but he does have my skill on guitar. He could be that good. In fact, we are now employing Justis and his schoolmate Skip Sellery (not a dietary suggestion) at the studio full-time. One of the perks of this is that I am reading the classic 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley. You see, I love my son so much that I wanted to read this story, so that we could go over it together; it is summer reading that they had to have done before school reconvened for 12th grade. This is an area that I am so proud of Justis; in that he has surpassed me in school and the fact that he is going to be even smarter than I am is frightening.

"On top of that, Justis' friend's family is on a bit of down luck and the son is going to work to help the family. I decided I am putting him through this tutoring each day too — thanks to your gracious support of our music and merchandise.

"Thank you so much for this.

"Tomorrow I am going to spend the day with an old friend and I just pray that I don't do anything too terribly dumb. I mean, it takes a 'certain type of stupid' to invite a friend out to hang and then ruin it, am I right? But this is an area that I do good in — messing up relationships.

"My wife is in Spain, my daughter is with her, my son is out on the town because he just got paid, and we are going to formally start several types of training for Justis and his work buddy; the aforementioned tutoring, money classes (taught by me, since I was licensed to work for Citigroup as a stockbroker), several studio courses — one of which will be teaching them how to assist in the Academy of Metal that we are starting up, and the fine art of audio engineering, which is a very heavy and expensive course, but one that I want to provide for my son, for his friend, and then to start a course facilitated by our studio and staff to teach from beginners on up to professionals (it helps if I am a little bigger than they are even if they are pro — that way they will listen).

"This is after I finish approving my autobiography, which I read over a dozen chapters today and I was really happy with it. Of course, there are a lot of harsh things that I say in the book, but at the end of each section, there is a tremendously human side of me that I haven't ever seen. It showed how even after I ruined so many relationships, it showed how a contrite heart, a humble spirit, a sincere apology and the effort not to do the same thing to the same person again, and you will be surprised at how forgiving people are. I WANT EVERY ONE TO KNOW THAT THE STORIES ARE TOLD AS THEY WENT DOWN, AND THE EPILOGUE IS THAT I AM TRULY GRATEFUL FOR MY NEW ATTITUDE, AND FOR ANY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT WERE SALVAGEABLE.

"I got purdy damn adept at handing over those olive branches.

"So, until I get completely swamped again tomorrow morning, while trying to develop TheLiveLine [a service launched by Mustaine that enables musicians to connect to their audience over the phone], trying to grow my wife's coffee business, proofing my book, setting up my radio station, designing the stage for our next tour, and preparing for the next rehearsal which will no doubt involve a dump truck full o' problems all over again.

"I love you guys all so very much and thanks again for the prayers, thank for the positive thoughts, even thank to the f*ckers who wanted me to stay hurt — I am healing to spite you, ya bastards!

"So until next month, meaning tomorrow..."