Last year, the citizens of Albuquerque, New Mexico, elected an avid metalhead, Tim Keller, to serve as the the city's 30th mayor. Since taking office in December, the 40-year-old Democrat has served as a fierce public advocate for the local metal scene, introducing local bands and out-of-towners alike. Thanks to a new profile on the metal-loving mayor published in The New York Times today (April 18th), professional footage of Keller delivering an epic introductory speech before an Anthrax concert in last February (dressed in a Big Four T-shirt, no less!) has been making the rounds.
"I believe in the power of metal!" Keller proclaims in the video to the roaring crowd, going on speak the legendary thrashers' praises. "[This is] a band that we all know — a band that in the Eighties helped found thrash metal, a band that in the 1990s and 2000s stuck through thick and thin, and they wave the metal flag. Like Albuquerque, they kept metal strong."
"And now I want you to scream, because we've got one of the Big Four!" the mayor instructed. "Let me hear you scream, Albuquerque!"
Now THAT's a civic duty we can all get behind.
Anthrax aren't the only first band to get a mayoral introduction from Keller; he spoke before a Trivium show in Albuquerque shortly after his inauguration. Check out a local news report on the subject below.
