JohnO

LC posted - "In the interest of full disclosure, my posts slowed way down in part because of one particular "bulletin board bully" who started getting to me --- too many disrespectful posts that insulted other members (some of whom left the site for good). And because he posts on a huge percentage of the threads, it was hard to avoid him..." Larry - my sentiments exactly. Also - if there's one thing that everyone on this board SHOULD have in common, it's an interest in and a love of Eric's music. IMO, way too many posters here were leaving due to the reasons you mention above. And are we REALLY trying to drive away Eric fans from this board??? After all, it is his board, or it's supposed to be - it doesn't belong to you or me or any one particular poster or group of posters. Way too much negativity....

I seriously doubt that Vick would have flourished under Shanahan, had Snyder & co. decided to take a chance and sign him. Hell, McNabb improvised way too much to suit either Shanahan (Senior and Junior), which Andy Reid encouraged him to do during his 11 years in Philly. Vick and Reid, IMO, are a fortuitous match/combination. Reid gives his QBs enough space to make big plays on their own when they need to do so, and Vick has always been an incredible athlete as far as making plays. Also, Vick wound up with a much, much better supporting cast in Philly than he would have had in DC in every category - offensive line, runners/receivers, defense, and special teams. Under Mike S.'s 3-4 defensive scheme this year, the Redskins are dead last (32nd) in the league as far as yardage given up, after finishing in the Top 10-15 defensively over the past several years, even when they weren't winning......(making me wonder if Albert Haynesworth knew something that the rest of the world didn't!) Larry - Grossman certainly isn't the answer for Washington, IMO, but he looked good enough this past Sunday to impress the Redskins management. (It was a tradeoff - 4 TD passes, but 3 turnovers). Rex G. will wind up being way too inconsistent (and turnovers will likely kill him) to suit Shanahan Sr., I suspect.....and they'll have to look for a new starting QB over the upcoming off-season yet again. What's really puzzled me about McNabb in DC is - after playing against him for 11 years, didn't they know what they were getting? Year after year, Donovan would usually play brilliantly against Washington one game a year, winning it, and toss away the second one to the Skins through mistakes. What we're hearing now is - the 2 Shanahans really didn't want him in the first place - it was Dan Snyder's idea. Shanahan Jr. apparently has felt all along that his offense is too complicated for an older QB set in his ways to learn effectively. There are claims that McNabb was too slow out of the huddle; he practiced in a lazy manner; etc., etc. A weird situation.....but not unusual for the Redskins at all under Snyder.....

Paulie - I'm guessing, like Larry, that Brett is through for good. The Redskins wouldn't be an option - McNabb's already been thrown under the bus, primarily because he's too old to apparently react quickly enough to run Shanahan Jr's offense.

One of the copies of the live Raspberries box set I bought a few years back went to an old friend of mine who was living in Stockholm at the time. One of his roommates then was Nicke Andersson, front man of The Hellacopters, and a member of many other bands (including The Solution with ex-Rationals/ex-Sonics Rendezvous Band singer Scott Morgan, Entombed, Cold Ethyl, Supershit 666, etc.). Per my friend Dave, Nicke spent a lot of time watching the live Raspberries LA HOB show over and over. I know he's a huge fan. I just found this youtube video/cover of "I Don't Know What I Want," performed at the Debaser in Stockholm last month, by Nicke and his latest band, Imperial State Electric, whose debut CD came out in June. (Nicke's the left hander in the hat, BTW) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73LIKWnq5pg

Larry - As a life-long Bears fan, I've had little use for Favre, as far as the Packers/Bears (or Vikes/Bears) rivalry goes.....but I've always had the utmost respect and admiration for the guy as a competitor. At the risk of over-simplifying what's already been said in this thread, if Minnesota were on the verge of going 12-4 again this year, with Brett having another great season like last year, Hell, this thread wouldn't exist. However, the fact is he's having statistically his worst season ever, and the Vikes have been eliminated, and it's occurred hot on the heels of his best season ever (and that was at age 40!!!), with his team making the NCF championship game. Result? - Of course, he's going to catch all sorts of criticism. I think the concept of his being ultra-selfish and self-centered comes primarily from his yo-yo'ing about retiring/unretiring so much over the past 3-4 years. His procrastination ultimately got him banished from Green Bay. (As others have stated above, I could care less about his off-the-field shenanigans.) I think it's very hard to predict if and when a player is going to lose it very suddenly, as Brett appears to have done, at least statistically. I do know he looked better the other night when he was in the game than Johnny Unitas ever did in his Chargers uniform his last year, running for his life most games until he was mercifully benched for good. On an unrelated note, which, nonetheless, reared its head in this thread......while LeBron James showed a great deal of immaturity and a total lack of class in the manner in which he left Cleveland, I have no problems with the reason he gave for signing with Miami......which was to better his chances of winning an NBA title. While it's probably true that he's primarily concerned about his own personal legacy, which already includes tons of individual accomplishments (scoring titles, MVP awards, etc.), but no championship rings, at least he appears to have recognized that basketball is a team game, and he can't do it all himself. Did he give Cleveland's management a chance to get him a good supporting cast? Michael Jordan won his first title in Chicago in his 7th season, 2nd time in the finals. LeBron had already been with the Cavs 7 seasons, with 1 time in the finals, during his 4th season. And they had finished with the best record in the regular season several times, but didn't appear to be making much headway in the playoffs. NBA history is full of superstars who had to rein in their game somewhat to finally win a title. Wilt Chamberlain couldn't win a title as a one man team; he ended up being traded from SF to Philly, a much better team, before he won a title. Ditto, Oscar Robertson, and Cincinnati/Milwaukee, Shaq O'Neal and Orlando/LA, etc., etc., etc. It's also full of players like Karl Malone (18 of 19 seasons in Utah), John Stockton (entire career in Utah) and Elgin Baylor (entire career in LA) who never won a title, but who probably would have been willing to move elsewhere to do so. My suspicions are LeBron believed he was likely to wind up title-less had he chosen to re-sign long-term with Cleveland.

Condolences to his wife Jan and the family. Don had been suffering from MS for at least the past 25 years or so, which greatly contributed to his retirement from music and decision to move to the desert, although he did continue to paint until the past couple of years. He was a true original and a genius - a child prodigy as a sculptor/artist who got into music in high school through his interest in Chicago and delta blues and R&B (as well as his friendship with Frank Zappa). Don's singing voice was once described as a cross between Howlin' Wolf and a bullmoose in heat. Everyone should listen at least once to "Trout Mask Replica," which the Captain allegedly wrote on a piano in 2 days. (It would have taken less time, but he had to figure out how to play the piano first...) Most people don't get it. Those that do will never look at rock & roll music in quite the same manner ever again. RIP, Don.

Just thought I'd come out of hiding long enough to post a couple of my comments from 6/25/09.......... JohnO - "I'll be totally shocked if the Cavs go any further in the playoffs next year with this big lummox in the middle, clogging up everything....." Hollies65 - "Shaq would be much more effective guarding Dwight Howard..." JohnO - Agreed....but who says they'll even be playing Orlando in the playoffs next year? (And if they do, and the Magic's outside gunners are red-hot again,....well, Shaq can't cover them as well...). The Celtics with everyone healthy will still be a force to be reckoned with for at least another year or two. With a healthy Garnett, Orlando would never have gotten past them this year.

To all of my old friends here (and there aren't many left...) who posted the birthday wishes - many thanks!!! While I'm self-exiled from this board, and have no plans to return unless things drastically change....I do value the friendships I made here, on a board I considered to be my 2nd family since late 2005, and I hope to see you guys at future shows or get-togethers. Miss you guys! P.S. Finally out of the gravitational pull of my house, after 4 feet of snow since last Friday! I'm at a Kinkos about 10 miles from my house. Finally....the VA, MD and DC governments quit arguing about not having budgeted for this level of snow removal services, and actually plowed the roads here.

Just for my old friend Tommy - Have a happy one today!!!

Those are all great points that Pluto makes, and I really hope it does work out for the Cavs next year. The only problem with pro basketball, though, is - everything ends up depending on the team's chemistry. What works great on paper sometimes also works in reality....but doesn't always. Case in point: The Cavs acquired G Larry Hughes a few years back, coming off a season with the Wizards where he made 3rd team All-Pro, averaged 22 PPG, 1st team All-Defense, led the league in both steals and hustling, and was 25 or 26 years old at the time. Unfortunately, first, he got hurt in Cleveland and missed a good deal of the season. When he was healthy, his game didn't mesh well at all with LeBron's. Turns out that season with the Wizards was his last good one. He was last seen sitting on the Knicks' bench this past season. Shaq's at the age where he really, really needs to take good care of himself, including losing weight, or he's likely to get hurt. While he only missed 7 games this past season in Phoenix, he missed 23, 41 and 21 games his previous three seasons. He's also going to have to face the fact that his major contribution to the Cavs will be in rebounding and defense/pounding the other centers, and not scoring. I just hope for the Cavs' sake that adding Shaq primarily for the purpose of going deeper in the playoffs doesn't hurt their chances in the regular season for getting the really high seed to get the homecourt advantage. Because that strategy backfired completely with the Suns, whose regular season win totals went down both years they had Shaq. O'Neal's teams have missed the playoffs twice in his 17 year career....when he was a rookie, and this past year. It is, however, a great one season gamble (and one which should be highly entertaining to the fans!).

After 2 listenings, I really love this new one so far....which is kind of surprising, as I generally tend to go for their more balls-out, harder rocking efforts, and the highlights of this one are the slower, lushly orchestrated ballads. They're in a lot more of an ELO/later Beatles mode than an early Beatles/The Move one. The opener, "Sleep Forever" is gorgeous, but only a minute and a half long. I believe I'll always think of Michael Jackson from now on when I hear this playing. I was listening to it on headphones while some sort of lengthy tribute to Jacko was on the telly. Very appropriate. A lot of the songs on this blend/segue into each other...the opener is followed by a killer cover of "When The Lights Are Out," one of my all-time favorite Slade songs and one of their poppier ones to boot. This is one of CT's best-ever covers, right up their with "Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Piece" (Terry Reid) or "California Man" (The Move). Third tune, "Miss Tomorrow" is a very hooky ballad. This album seems to favor keyboards and orchestration/synths over over loud guitars....many of them played by Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (brains behind Jellyfish, solo artiste). Jason Falkner (yet another from Jellyfish) and Wayne Kramer (MC5) also play on this CD. There are several decent rockers, notably "Sick Man of Europe", "California Girl", and "Alive". To me, though, the real highlights are the incredibly melodic ballads, including the aforementioned "Miss Tomorrow", "Times Of Our Lives", and "Closer, The Ballad of Burt and Linda". The band is really writing some great tunes nowadays, with all 4 sharing writing credits, and co-producer Julian Raymond (also co-produced "Rockford" for the band, plus the recent "Meet Glen Campbell" album) also pitching in on 6-7 songs. All in all, it's another excellent album for them....not quite up to par with their first 3-4, but considerably better than most if not all of their middle-period (mid-80's to mid-90's)releases. Looking forward to seeing the band in Las Vegas this September at the Las Vegas Hilton for their Sgt. Peppers shows......

Billy - The Zombies - Only Rod Argent & Colin Blunstone from the originals....although the latest version (those two plus Jim Rodford from Argent on bass, his son Steve on drums, and Keith Airey on guitar) are excellent live, have been for the past 5-6 years. The Yardbirds - Only originals are Jim McCarty on drums and Chris Dreja on rhythm guitar, although their various versions of the band have been around much, much longer than the Topham/Clapton/Beck/Page incarnations....about 17 years now. I'm not sure who else will be in the live band, other than lead guitarist Ben King, who's excellent, but he's in his 20s (looks odd playing with a couple of 60-somethings). John Idan on bass/vocals, who sounds uncannily like Keith Relf in his prime, allegedly quit in late '08, but he has since played with them live, as recently as this past April or May. Supposedly, they have 2 new members, who replaced Idan - and whom I know nothing about - Andy Mitchell, on lead vocals and harp, and a new bassist named David Smale. The latest Idan-led version of the band was great live! Spencer Davis Group - Only Spencer from the originals. I think he plays live with 4 Americans, all old studio pros, but nobody famous.

Meanwhile, the Magic just swapped Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee to the Nets for Vince Carter....now THAT could be interesting!

Dammit, it's just poor Sky Saxon's luck, dying the same day as Farrah and Jacko......This is like what happened to Darby Crash, dying the same day as John Lennon......

"Shaq would be much more effective guarding Dwight Howard..." Agreed....but who says they'll even be playing Orlando in the playoffs next year? (And if they do, and the Magic's outside gunners are red-hot again,....well, Shaq can't cover them as well...). The Celtics with everyone healthy will still be a force to be reckoned with for at least another year or two. With a healthy Garnett, Orlando would never have gotten past them this year. "Shaq is only coming to Cleveland if LeBron says so." I think that goes without saying. If the big guy doesn't help them, as someone posted above, he'll be gone anyway. Michael Jordan and the Bulls took their lumps for several years, especially from the Pistons before they reached the point of overtaking them. My gut feeling is that we're dealing with a similar situation here. LeBron may not win a title for a year, two or even three....but he eventually will win several. In the meantime, the Cavs will likely continue to experiment with various supporting casts for him....

Just as the key for Cleveland may be dumping Ben Wallace (although if Shaq brings them no closer to a title...???), I suspect the only reason Phoenix pulled off this deal is to dump the last year of Shaq's huge contract and free up salary space to go after other players. Wallace has already been contemplating retirement. On the other hand, at least Wallace, for the most part, stayed the Hell out of LeBron's way on offense, which I seriously doubt Shaq will do. He'll clog up the middle and demand to be their #2 go-to guy....as well as being a huge liability at the end of each game, as far as free throws...

I'll be totally shocked if the Cavs go any further in the playoffs next year with this big lummox in the middle, clogging up everything, and having forced the Cavs' coaches to rewrite their playbook to run a sufficient number of plays through him to give him his required (demanded?) number of touches each game! While he had a decent enough comeback season personally this past season, the Phoenix Suns' fortunes took yet another downturn. In '06/'07, they won 61 games (2nd best in NBA), but lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs to the Spurs. In '07/'08, they won 55, and acquired Shaq for the last 30 games or so...presumably to give them more muscle in post-season matchups against teams like the Spurs. They lost in the 1st round of the playoffs to the Spurs that year! This past season, their wins dropped to 46, and they missed the playoffs altogether, with their former fast-paced offense slowed to a virtual crawl, due primarily to their big slug of a starting center......Good luck to the Cavs! They'll need it!

Danny - Have a great one this Friday!!!

Just saw it, and while Bullock and Betty W. are both great in it, and it's entertaining (and Sandra does look excellent in the buff, holding a couple of strategically-placed mittens or hand towels), the plot's just a wee bit paper-thin for my taste. Bullock's character has made Ryan R's life a living Hell for 3 years, she continues to act like a total b*tch for their 3 day sojourn to Alaska to see his family, and he falls in love with her, just like that! I mean, come on! In the beginning, when she gets up to leave her office, this guy (her personal asst) sends quickie emails to everyone in the office, stating "the witch is on her broom"...........

Heinz was the Tornados' bassist, and only blonde in the band....Meek took an instant shine to him, and rumor had it they were quite the item for awhile. I believe the tone-deaf Meek got a lot out of Burt's somewhat limited talents (musical ones, at least). The Eddie Cochran tribute "Just Like Eddie", with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, was his biggest hit. I remember reading something in a bio about Meek about his possibly being linked indirectly, or maybe just questioned about, the murder of a call-boy/hustler in London, whose dismembered body was found in a trunk. Meek was apparently one of his regular customers, making him a possible suspect. He was terrified of being outed in the UK press. '67 wasn't a good year for gays in the UK, with Brian Epstein, playwright Joe Orton and Meek all dying under strange circumstances (possible suicide; murdered by insane lover; and murder of landlady, followed by suicide).

I should be getting my copy of "The Latest" either today or tomorrow....will post on it then.

Cheap Trick's latest, "The Latest", is being released today on their own label. No luck so far in getting a promo copy, but was wondering if anyone else has heard it yet? (Rumor has it that it's only available via the band's web site and Amazon.com....)

Ira - Have a great one on Thursday, Buddy!!! - John

Yeah, but Joe M., unlike Phil, at least had the good manners to blow his own brains out after killing his landlady! (and with a shotgun he had borrowed or swiped from his ex-protege and boyfriend, Heinz Burt....on the 8th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, no less) BTW, to date, the film hasn't gotten particularly good reviews from the UK press.... Also....regarding differences in production. Spector relied on using tons and tons of instruments to get his wall....Meek used more overdubbing, and also relied on sounds such as stomping on boards (as pointed out above....Ex: "Have I The Right" chorus), handclaps, and cheesy, very cheap-sounding organs...

In the meantime, prior to the phone-napping, here's a photo of the world's largest crab cake (253 pounds), from last week's Hon Fest in Bawlmer (Baltimore)....... It's Image 4 of 4, by the way.........was made/cooked the night before; no telling how many people got sick eating it Saturday.... www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-honfest-2009,0,2620273.photogallery (Dammit, can't seem to capture this address as a link that actually works!)