This just in from the Department of Travel and Leisure...

XL Collapse: Rocker To The Rescue

Sky News - Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, has told Sky News how he helped a group of XL holidaymakers stranded in Egypt.
Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson.

Dickinson, a qualified pilot, was captain of the specially-chartered Monarch Airlines jet which flew them from Sharm el Sheikh to Gatwick Airport.

As a frequent traveler, mainly for work, and having grown up a metalhead back in the 80's, I've had many a trip where I would have loved to have had Bruce Dickinson swoop in and save the day. And now for a flashback. It was 1980-something, the place was the Spectrum in Philly, and Iron Maiden was on their "Somewhere on Tour" tour. Back then folks didn't have cameraphones, hell, back then folks were still replacing rotary phones, and digital recorders and the like and it was a major no-no to sneak in any recording devices, audio- or image-recording, into a concert.

At one point in the show Dickinson spots this kid at the base of the stage, up on or near the rail. He points down at him and yells, quite angrily, for the kid to give him the camera. "Busted!" me and my friends said to each other. Instead of confiscating or otherwise trashing this kid's camera, which he was well within his rights to do, he turns it on the kid, snaps his picture, then hands the camera back.

Too friggin' cool.

Sure, it's not flying some 200 UK citizens out of Lebanon (Uhm... huh? Who the hell is willingly going to Lebanon? Well, I willingly go to Detroit. Question withdrawn.) during, yet another, Hezbollah dust up, but still.