[12/28/96] - I'm out of town (Chicago now) for a few, no major updates should happen. Tabs really will get dealt with soon. Opinions are poised and on the brink. The contest is nearly set to start. Concert reviews, 20 new ones are up. And two new sections, almost ready for the new year. Oh, and "http://toolshed.down.net" was shown on MTV. Wow. Wow wow.

[12/24/96] - Happy holidays to all of you! And there's a new MIDI file up in the Audio section.

[12/21/96] - And I'm back in Philly again. For a week, if anyone is around. Foreign tour dates are slowly trickling in, you know where to look for them.

[12/17/96] - Apparently there's a tourdate for London already announced. More info in the Tour section. Also, stay tuned for the official t.d.n contest. No, it's not band-sponsored. Yes, it's almost worth it. Yes, you will win something if you win.

[12/14/96] - You wouldn't think I had finals this week. 26 more tour reviews are online, as well as a MIDI file of "Sober" in the audio section, and a new procedure for submitting images that will hopefully get them online faster. Also online is a new clip from "Stinkfist."

[12/13/96] - New FAQ. Chock full of good stuff. Go read it. Old news has been split again; there's been so much this year, what can I say. What a bunch of busy beavers we are around here; Shane has the new discography done as well. And about 15 new images are online. I had kinda forgotten about that section.

[12/11/96] - Tab voting results have been updated. There were clear favorites, so it's been cleaned up a bit. Further cleaning to follow. A new FAQ was to have been up today, but even more work fell this way, so sit tight for a few days. New discography will be posted any minute now, honestly.

[12/10/96] - Haha. The Miami show kicked some serious booty, and my review will be up soon. Meantime, know this: The Birmingham show has been canceled. I have NO idea why. More info coming soon.

[12/8/96] - 52 new concert reviews up at last, ranging from mid-November to December 4th. Go read 'em for all the latest Tool trivia, and so you can see the cool new layout.

[12/4/96] - Ænima has just been certified platinum in Canada! Crazy. Just two months, and it's still going strong. Eleven or so new articles (at last) are online as well. Concert reviews will be caught up soon, and there will be lots to read, including my two reviews, and all the fun reviews from the DC show saying that they could hear LOTS of people yelling "chickenweasel." That's so cool. The News page has (obviously) been remodeled also.

[12/1/96] - I find myself still without regular access to email up here in vacationland (Philly), but fear not, I'll be catching up tomorrow. And for those of you who still don't know, the Fitchburg, MA show was cancelled because MJK's voice was completely gone; he hasn't been so well for a while. More info tomorrow night, trust me. As for rescheduled shows, I'm working on that...

[11/25/96] - Hey folks! Finally, I've gotten back. As many of you now know, the online show last Friday had major tech problems; seems that's what happens when you don't plan on having somewhere from 36000 - 70000 hits. Mwahaha. Though trust me, the band wasn't too psyched about it either. This probably due to the wear and tear of touring. As many of you know, I was at the Thursday NYC show and the Saturday Philadelphia show, and our buddy the lead singer's voice has been unwell for a few now, hopefully it will get better soon. And to all of you I met at the show Saturday, thanks for being so cool. I'll have my little reviews posted to the Tour page as soon as I stop being so behind...

[11/20/96] - Happy Thanksgiving folks (foreign folks, Happy End of November). I'm going to be scarce for the next week, regular t.d.n updates will not resume until December 2. Important News will of course be posted here, but reviews and the like may slow down. See you soon.

[11/19/96] - Philly show-goers, I have no idea what our plan will be to meet up. But if you see a tall Indian-lookin' guy with a half-shaven head and some amount of long hair, you know who it is. I think.

[11/17/96] - The Larrikin Management Tool site is hosting a live broadcast of the concert from New York this Friday, November 22. (Funny, I'm seeing them Thursday and Saturday as well). Unofficial sites can only go so far, I suppose. Also, the LosRats T-shirt (check the More section) will not be available after the end of this year, so now you know. And holy shit, the lyrics are up for "Message to Harry Manback."

[11/13/96] - 15 more concert reviews, the newest indicate that they are finally playing "Undertow" live! The Rolling Stone article is finally up; someday very soon, there will be roughly twenty articles added, sorry for behind behind.

[11/11/96] - Nearly 20 new concert reviews are in at the Tour section. Also, there will be a spring tour, followed by a bunch of international dates! By then, we should be getting the next video as well!

[11/9/96] - The More section just got a lot of subsections; mainly info about this site. Go for it.

[11/6/96] - Ha! The Video section is finally catching up to its sibling sections; there are now online clips of Stinkfist and Prison Sex!

[11/5/96] - The Video section now has a link to the email address at MTV to which you can adress your complaints (they can't call it "Stinkfist" for some reason, they called it "Track #1"), and will have Prison Sex and Stinkfist videos online tomorrow unless something else goes wrong. The Nov 2 tourdate in Las Vegas was postponed to December 17, as many of you learned the hard way. I guess watch the Tour section for further info.

[11/1/96] - It's November already? The "Stinkfist" video will be shown on MTV this Sunday night; for further info, check the not-quite-kick-ass Video section. A tab for "H." is up, and the More section now has info on how to link here, if you're into that sort of thing. AND, there's a brand-new "The Tool Page" logo, by yours truly. The old news has been broken up into more manageable chunks, for those of you who like looking back and seeing what info the News section used to bring everyone.

[10/29/96] - A bunch of new tour reviews are up in the Tour section, as are a few new articles. The lyrics to the new album are finally up as well in one file. There are going to be another 70 Opinions posted soon. Hoo-boy.

[10/26/96] - I say I'm too busy, but look, go to the More section, then head for the shirts. At long last. And check it, new tour dates! And one is in Miami!!

[10/25/96] - The tour section has finally got itself a review section for the current tour. And, wow, grad school isn't a joke. Good thing I just cleaned up things a few days ago, I won't be able to do much for a week now. Agh. But a good note: the vote-for-the-better-tab thing is working out very well. Songs which have multiple tabs now have a note saying which is preferred (yeah yeah, 2 to 1 over the leading brand).

[10/22/96] - The Tool Page continues to receive its makeover: check out the Tabs section and the More section; you've seen them before, but not like this!

[10/19/96] - More various fixes and updates, you know. The tabs section will be caught up soon. And yes, Tool is on tour at last. If you have a show review you want to submit, send it to me. (Oddly, you'd think that with over 100 emails a day, I wouldn't ask for more, but hey.)

[10/13/96] - Sportin' a new look at last, all the page headers are new and spiffy. And, the lyrics to "Third Eye" are finally up. And, the lyrics section is all-new-looking. And, I caught up with the Opinion submissions. There are now 67 new ones. Wow.

[10/11/96] - Yes, Billboard Magazine is our friend; Ænima debuted at #2 on this week's charts, behind only some dead guy from Seattle!! The album has been (I believe) certified gold in Canada, and is hot on the way domestically. And equally exciting, the Mailing List looks like it is fixed!!!

[10/9/96] - Folks, thanks for being so patient. I suddenly got way too damn swamped, and I won't have time to post any recent submissions until the weekend. And trust me, there's a LOT. But keep it coming, unless it is "Die Eier Von Satan" lyrics; you'll note, they are available online. The lyrics to each album will be available in one file really soon. I have a car break-in to deal with.

[10/7/96] - The FAQ continues to undergo slight tweaking, mainly to the new album section. And the Tour section just changed a little bit, it seems that there are new people opening on this tour...

[10/5/96] - I feel as though I just gave birth. New FAQ. Whoopee! Yes, tired. Later folks.

[10/4/96] - Holy shit, would you look at that. I know I'm not huge on hit counters and the like, but this made me triplecheck it, so I figure it's worth a look. The total number of files downloaded from this site on October 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, was (GASP) 108808, 139735, and 121654. I don't believe it. But it reminds me that thanks are in order. I owe all of you a great big thanks for helping make toolshed what it is now. Without your contributions, submissions, opinions, feedback, and questions, it would just not be the big ol' source of Tool info / vibe that it has become. So thanks. Proving that unofficial sites still can kick ass.

[10/3/96] - As if it wasn't enough that the mailing list crashed from September 19 - 28, now it's back but acting a little bizarre. Give Reuven and the team he's working with a few days to fix it. Meanwhile, we'll all suffer together ;)

[10/1/96] - IT'S OUT. GO BUY IT BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE. AND YES, IT'S AMAZING. And with the release of Ænima, this site is finally getting a slightly different look. Keep watching. And, Zoo Records / Larrikin Management finally got their official website open. But don't you worry about toolshed, this site will be linked from the official page, and will continue to bring you all the info you could ever want about Tool. Their site will be mainly Ænima support, and there will be a link to it from the almost-all-new "More" section as soon as they send me their little graphic. But if you're really curious... you can take a look.

---

"Your pal" Kabir Akhtar (kabir@down.net)

---