Meanwhile... Pt. 1

[dan bailey]

I suppose if I say I like Journey, you'll mark me as dead again.

I'm afraid to even ask how you feel about *choke* Styx, beside whom Germy came off as the Bad Brains at their most raging ...

[Slam_Bradley]

For those who were talking about alt-country or country rock, allow me to recommend the movie Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges and its soundtrack. Some good stuff there.

Crazy Heart is a very solid soundtrack. Nice mix of old and new stuff. And it makes it easy to branch in to Ryan Bingham's LPs which have gotten progressively better with each release.

As far as the single song that most drives me rabbit-assed crazy. "I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow. I've been known to hit people who wouldn't stop humming it when asked politely the first time.

[Cei-U!]

I'm afraid to even ask how you feel about *choke* Styx, beside whom Germy came off as the Bad Brains at their most raging ...

Looove Styx, though I like them better pre-Tommy Shaw. And, yeah, I love early Foreigner too, before they went all ballady. Sorry, dude, I'm an early '80s butt-rocker at heart.

Cei-U!
I summon the shovel!

[Kan-Man]

My kids saw it for the 1st time a couple of weeks ago.

They really did like Jar Jar. The are 3 and 5, so I guess that's the target audience.

At this age, I realize how much influence I have when it comes to their likes and dislikes so I mostly just bite my tongue.

Which I happen to love.

Kan-Man? Dead.

Doornail-dead.

I guess it's a good thing I passed before I share my opinion about The Three Stooges and the Beverly Hillbillies.

Never saw it, thank god. Never even got around to Return of the Jedi. The first two were pleasant enough, but I've always been sort of amused at the people to whom the things are tantamount to some sort of religion. A good friend of mine was like that up until the full awfulness of Phantom Menace & all the implications thereof about Lucas' creative bankruptcy sank into his brain a few years ago.

Maybe if I'd been younger when the series started (on pretty much the day I graduated from high school, I've learned fairly recently), I'd be one of those odd individuals, too.

I definitely think it's an age thing - I think I was 9 when the first movie came out, which was perfect to experience that kind of movie. To be totally honest, by the time Jedi came out I'm not even sure I saw it in the theaters.

Pearl Jam seems to have developed a similar following these days. I saw them a few years ago, and was surprised by the type of crowd.

Dave Matthews Band too, from what I've been told.

[dan bailey]

Note to self: "Edit" & "Quote" do not mean the same thing.

[dan bailey]

Looove Styx, though I like them better pre-Tommy Shaw. And, yeah, I love early Foreigner too, before they went all ballady. Sorry, dude, I'm an early '80s butt-rocker at heart.

Accent on ... well, you can figure it out.

Tommy Shaw is from Montgomery, to this place's eternal shame & regret. Luckily, the burg can also claim Nat King Cole & (though he was born farther south) Hank Williams, past whose grave, as I'm fond of noting, I drive every morning on the way to work. It's across the street from the old baseball stadium where Lou Whitaker & Alan Trammel first teamed up, which'll mean something to my fellow baseball fans.

Wilson Pickett grew up the next county over.

[dan bailey]

Now, this is just getting ridiculous ...

[The Confessor]

There's exquisite beauty in the sleek simplicity of that. I imagine the tones it produces display a warmth and richness that are enviable by any standard.

Oh yeah, it's a tasty bit of kit...and surprisingly affordable considering how good it sounds. I'm a bit of an audiophile myself and while auditioning various turntables back when I bought it, I can honestly say that you would have to spend £1,000.00 or more on a high-end turntable to improve upon the sound of the Rega Planar 3, which is amazing considering that it cost something like £300.00 back in the day.

I have a dear friend who is a "phonophile," and being in the UK, you might appreciate this. I gave him a copy of Monty Python's 1973 release "Matching Tie and Handkerchief" recently. This is an original pressing of the legendary "three-sided" album. It's true. One side features two sets of concentric grooves which, depending on where you drop the needle produces one of two wholly different "sides" of a record. To compound matters, there is no track listing and both sides of the album are labelled "Side 2."

I have a few Monty Python albums but not that one, and I had no idea about the double set of concentric grooves giving you 3 sides. That's amazing and I find myself thinking "I simply must track down a copy." So thanks for the tip off.

I loved my Rega turntable (the old 3 with the RB200 arm and an R100 cartridge*), but was moving between buildings one day, for reasons which I forget now, with the platter removed - because as any fule kno, you are supposed to to avoid damaging the thing - and dropped the platter. Which would be bad enough on a standard turntable with a metal platter, but with a glass platter...

That makes me wince just hearing about it.

There are so many bad songs it would be hard to pick the worst, but the one that always has me flying towards the radio dial is "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton. Just awful.

Good call...that is shockingly bad. I mean, really attrocious. We're talking Chris De Burgh "Lady In Red" territory here.

I am in the camp that Janis Joplin, just shouldn't sing

Woah, woah, woah!! Did someone just say that Janis Joplin couldn't sing?!! Unbelievable!

I mean, differences in musical taste is one thing but I'm sorry Adam ol' pal, saying that Janis Joplin can't sing is just plain wrong. She was one of the greatest female blues singers of all time, right up there with the likes of Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie and Koko Taylor.

[The Confessor]

Hotel California. I can't stand the faux Mexican accent (or whatever it's supposed to be). I usually don't tell people it's my least favorite song, lest than unleash it on me as a prank.

You know, a little known fact is that "Hotel California" and The Rolling Stone's song "Angie" both have the same chord progression and are musically played in a similar enough style that you can easily sing each song over the other (if that makes sense). Try it at home yourself, kids!

[adam_warlock_2099]

You blaspheme! Heretic!!!

Cei-U!
I summon the easy-open casket!

Woah, woah, woah!! Did someone just say that Janis Joplin couldn't sing?!! Unbelievable!

I mean, differences in musical taste is one thing but I'm sorry Adam ol' pal, saying that Janis Joplin can't sing is just plain wrong. She was one of the greatest female blues singers of all time, right up there with the likes of Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

I have apparently said something touchy. It may have been prudent for me to say, I cannot tolerant her voice in my ear. It's just grating to my ears and nerves. Same goes with Rod Stewart. How the heck does that guy have a career in singing?

It seems music is more of a touchy subject here than religion or politics.

It goes without saying, of course, that I feel your pain. The only reason I've got any spare cash to spend these days is my bankruptcy filing last fall. It took me years to give in to reality (a concept with which I'm never on particularly good terms at even the best of times), but things were just too hopeless; my finances never got over the unemployment & underemployment (the latter of which actually continues, though it's much better than it was just a few years ago) that followed my dismissal as metro editor at the newspaper back in 11/02, especially since I foolishly played the all-too-typical game of credit card shuffle to maintain myself in the lifestyle (i.e. buying lots of music, books & later comics) to which I'd become accustomed.

And that was without anyone depending on me, other than a couple of dogs for most of that time. If I'd had family ... oy.
Anyway, that's why I went the eBay route as well. Raised a few thousand bucks through punk vinyl; as noted elsewhere, comics are barely worth the effort of listing, all too often.

Yes, having the family is a big reason why I buy as little as I do now. I had about 5500 comics when I got married in 1999. I had probably 6500 or better in 2003 when we had our first son. I bet I have 7500 at THE MOST. Though the majority of my TPB and HC collections have constituted probably 90% of the comic purchases I have made in the last 8 years. I like comics, and I enjoy reading new material. But if it means the difference between Tomb of Dracula Omnibus and the newest Call of Duty for my son, I'm gonna go with CoD. And I have zero interest in FPS games. I play Halo with my son because he likes it. But the look on his face and "I love you daddy" and him kicking his friend's asses playing it, that's money far more well spent than an Omnibus.

Not that I would trade it for anything, but if I were still single, I would not be surprised as to what my collection would look like. Probably easily double what it is now if not more. I am not much of a social person and would enjoy drinking at home playing Dead Space or reading a book than I would sitting at a bar and drinking with strangers.

[dan bailey]

Dave Matthews Band too, from what I've been told.

I'll take Ghastly Bands That Should Be Pushed Down Elevator Shafts For The Good of Humanity After Being Set On Fire for $200, Alex.

Hmmm. Perhaps bands that hordes of lice-covered fans follow around like mindless drones because they don't have jobs, brains or taste, much less even the most basic concept of personal hygiene, are by definition almost too godawful for words. Offhand, I can't think of any exceptions.

[Lone Ranger]

Promise you'll scan 'em first, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.

How do you read comic on your computer?

Do you read 'em as CBR files, because I can probably access the entire run in CBR.

[dan bailey]

It may have been prudent for me to say, I cannot tolerant her voice in my ear. It's just grating to my ears and nerves. Same goes with Rod Stewart. How the heck does that guy have a career in singing?

Joplin isn't my cup of tea, either, though I get the feeling she probably could've actually sung if she'd felt like it.

Stewart I don't mind, though certainly he & the hearing world would've been far better off if he'd been struck irrevocably mute along about 1973.

[Slam_Bradley]

Listening to Joe Ely on NPR's Mountain Stage. Great stuff.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137455...mountain-stage

[Kan-Man]

You know, a little known fact is that "Hotel California" and The Rolling Stone's song "Angie" both have the same chord progression and are musically played in a similar enough style that you can easily sing each song over the other (if that makes sense). Try it at home yourself, kids!

I don't have the musical vocabulary to state this definitively, but if you try to hum John Williams' theme to Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars, they all blend to together to the point where they're almost impossible to separate.

It also took me until I became a parent to realize Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and the ABC song are the same song. I was so proud of myself until I realized everyone else on the planet had already figured that out.

One more on this topic - are you familiar with the story about John Fogerty being sued for plagiarizing himself? His old record company, which he had been battling with for years claimed the song "The Old Man Down the Road" from his Centerfield album was more or less the same as "Run Through the Jungle" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. He won the case, keeping self-plagiarization safe for all of us.

I'll take Ghastly Bands That Should Be Pushed Down Elevator Shafts For The Good of Humanity After Being Set On Fire for $200, Alex.

Hmmm. Perhaps bands that hordes of lice-covered fans follow around like mindless drones because they don't have jobs, brains or taste, much less even the most basic concept of personal hygiene, are by definition almost too godawful for words. Offhand, I can't think of any exceptions.

I'm sorry, I didn't hear anything after "I own the Titanic soundtrack."