J. Bennett is a self-proclaimed Masshole — the first of many things I learned about the scribe-turned-musician during our interview. He spotted the ’617′ phone number from my landline, so we also briefly discussed his growing up in Mansfield and seeing Willie Nelson at Great Woods as his first live show. But there was a laundry list of topics to get to — women in Metal, writing professionally, important life transitions — not to mention the typical tangents that break into the conversation.

The whole section on beards feels admittedly bittersweet, as I am recently freshly shorn for the first time in five years, and the seed was inadvertently planted by you, J. Bennett. Expect a followup email with both links to this article and requests for advice. I feel… I dunno… “heartbroken” is the closest emotion; that same pit of emptiness — a black sucking void — which must be either forgotten or filled (…with follicles, perhaps?).

Ides of Gemini have come, beware.

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