JohnO

Hope you had a great one, Tommy!

Dave - Yeah, I know. I also bought the live Agora CD at the same time!

A damn shame...I always preferred him to Jeff Tweedy, and I thought my view about the latter and his self-importance was pretty much validated in spades in the Wilco film, "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart".

I hate to bring this up, because the series certainly isn't over yet, but......take away LeBron's great clutch shot the other night, and the Cavs would have been swept in 4 straight by Orlando.....things do not look good.

My last comment above was purely and simply a reaction to a post which stated that EC's crime was possibly a worse transgression than Vick's, as far as its impact on society. Personally, I believe that equating something like drunk driving to running a dog-fighting business is so apples & oranges that any comparison is ludicrous! I was NOT in any way condoning DWI/DUI, or making light of it! Certainly, DUI and DWI are on the books as being illegal because they endanger human lives. However, the sentence an offender receives is the by-product of 2 things - (1) the fact that they did break a law, and (2) what their actions resulted in. In EC's case, thankfully, nobody was hurt....hence, a sentence to fit what he did. Had he hurt anybody, he certainly would have received a much, much stiffer sentence. To me, personally, there's a huge matter of intent as far as what Vick did, even of it's "just dogs" that were affected. To deliberately start a business to try to make money from dumb animals fighting to the death is beyond just what's on the books legally. To those who believe what Eric did is worse, that's fine. I don't care if you agree with me or not. The judicial system certainly did, in handing out 180 days to Eric (with all but 30 days suspended), and, I'm guessing, suspending his driver's license for awhile.....versus 23 months in jail for Vick, and another 3 years' probation, in addition to losing his assets associated with his crimes.

Sorry, but I really can't equate EC's law-breaking with what Vick did....I have difficulty equating damaging a car or someone's mail box to deliberately killing dogs, just for the sport of it, or to gamble on it! Certainly, there's the potential for doing a great deal of damage to someone while driving under the influence, but thankfully, nothing happened in EC's case. To me, there's a slight difference between exercising poor judgment in drinking and driving, versus setting up a business designed to pit dumb animals against each other, with the specific intent of having one kill the other....and operate this business for several years, knowing full well it's illegal! Likewise, while many here will welcome Eric back with open arms, I have yet to see anyone on this board state that he didn't really do anything illegal or harmful...which, dammit, IS the case with the Vick conspiracy theorists! Certainly, Vick has paid his debt, and he'll return to the NFL within the next year or two, and go right back to making millions per year, in spite of being an average or mediocre QB, albeit one with great athletic skills. I have no desire to see the guy crucified, but I also find it more than a little hard to swallow the sincerity of his apology.....primarily due to the cold-blooded, intentional nature of what he did!

To me, the saddest thing of all is that there are certain, shall we say, elements of our society who still think he didn't do anything wrong, that prosecuting him was racially biased or motivated ("just trying to bring down yet another important Black man", "it was just a bunch of dogs, for God's sake", etc.). Who'll sign him? Wouldn't surprise me to see the Redskins and Daniel Snyder do it, or Al Davis and Oakland......some team without an established QB, which wants the instant publicity and the money that'll come in as a result.

Went to the E Street Cinemas yesterday around 4:30ish, to buy a ticket for a 6:45 show of "Lemon Tree", which turned out to be an excellent little indy Israeli (or maybe Palestinian or maybe neither) film. This is the same theater complex where I saw the even-more-excellent "Anvil - The Story of Anvil" as a sneak preview last week...the true story of the Canadian heavy metal band that's been around for over 30 years with very limited success. A much better film than anything done on the Stones, U2, Wilco, etc., or any other recent rock & roll-oriented flick. Anyhow....I get to the theater, and there, standing in front of the theater complex, are the guitarist/singer (Lips) and drummer (Rob) of Anvil with a U-Haul van! WTF??? I went up to them and started raving about their film. Turns out another sneak preview was showing last night (9:45 pm), followed by the band doing a short live set. "Dude! You gotta see us live tonight!" I pointed to the SOLD OUT sign over the Theater #4, 9:45 show on the box office marquee inside. "Screw that, we'll get you in if we have to!" To make a long story short, I saw the film a 2nd time, followed by a 20 minute live set in front of about 200 of us. Truthfully, I don't care much for their brand of heavy metal music, but 2 very, very nice guys! (Unfortunately, the two, especially Lips, don't come out as exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer in the movie....but they are sincere about their music, and I hope the movie turns around their career!) They say they've gotten non-stop raves about the film so far...it may be the best (and most realistic and funny) R&R-oriented movie in ages...

The real answer to both of those questions - Lew Bundles!!!

As pissed off as this is going to make people when it happens, make no mistake....Vick will play again in the NFL. The league can make a ton of money off of him, and that's the most important thing in today's world. It may not be this year, but some team will eventually sign him and he'll play again.

Jen - Have a great one tomorrow! - Love ya! - John

While his actions are certainly disgusting and reprehensible, still I wonder....how did he catch those cats? They're very hard to grab ahold of if they don't know you, or don't want to be caught...and they usually claw the Hell out of you when you do catch up with them! Since they were outside, I'm assuming these weren't de-clawed house cats. (This is from personal experience, trying to catch girl friends' cats in the past, for visits to the vet....I wasn't trying to mutilate them!)

Just saw "Rudi Y Cursi" last night....excellent Mexican flick about 2 brothers (played by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, the 2 stars of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" from 2002) living in the sticks in Mexico, who get discovered by a futbol (soccer) scout, wind up being big national stars, and then crash back down to Earth through their greed, gambling/drug habits, etc. Bernal's character doesn't really like soccer, preferring to play the accordion and sing, thinking he's a great singer. Of course, he has no real talent in this area, but, once he becomes a huge soccer star, his agent gets him a recording contract, as well as singing gigs in circus sideshows and Sweet Sixteen birthday parties. There's a hilarious video of him, singing his favorite song, Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" in Spanish, that keeps popping up throughout the 2nd half of the movie. I believe this flick is a pretty big hit in Mexico.....hope Rick N. at least makes a few sheckels from the use of their song......

That was the general consensus at the start of the playoffs, especially with Garnett (and then Powe) out. Nothing at this point to suggest anything different. (And the media would have heart failure if it isn't LeBron versus Kobe in the finals!)

Got my copy in the mail yesterday from Village Records. What an excellent group of covers!!! To me, this is a must-have for Dwight T. fans! All of his arrangements are at least interesting, and some positively re-invent the song! He almost makes a listenable version of "Old Time Rock & Roll", to me one of the most tiresome songs ever (once you've heard ANY version 2-3 times....)

"That was the late Vince Lombardi which coach the Washington Redskins from 1968-1969. Then it was the late George Allen who became the head coach after Vince Lombardi died in September 3, 1970." Matt - While I was off a year or two (truth be told, Bill Austin coached the team the year that Lombardi got sick and died, and Allen showed up the next year, in '71), my basic point was that Allen and his instant success drove the team to new heights of popularity. Lombardi, while coaching them to their first winning season in over a decade (7-5-2), did not get them to the playoffs, nor did Austin the next year, with a 6-8 record. Allen's first year, they went 9-4-1 and made the playoffs. His 2nd year, they went 11-3 and made the Super Bowl. It was right around Allen's first year that Redskins tickets became impossible to obtain, and the waiting list for season tickets began to grow like mad. While Lombardi and his style of coaching excited a lot of the fans here, others weren't crazy about his run, run, run, pass only if you have to offensive style.....they had been used to Sonny Jurgensen throwing for 300+ yards every week, and the team losing by scores like 38-28 most of the time! Likewise, Allen didn't excite a lot of people either....until he got the team into the playoffs!

Larry - Truth be told, Washington's never really been a baseball town, although if a miracle happened and the Nats actually got good, I'm sure attending their games would turn into the trendy thing to do here. On the other hand, I've never been able to fathom the city's infatuation with the Redskins, which probably wouldn't diminish if the team went 0-16 for 5 straight seasons! This is very strange, because I remember the team not being all that popular through the 50s and 60s. While they played to sell-out crowds back then, there was a pretty high turnover rate among season ticketholders, and tickets were always easy to come by. They became impossible to get during the George Allen era, when they turned into a very good team overnight around '69 or '70, and their popularity hasn't waned since. Meanwhile, the old Senators got good the minute they went to Minnesota and became the Twins in '61, and the new Senators lasted about 9-10 years before leaving for Texas (and becoming the Rangers). No team here for 35 years, until the Expos moved....you would think that the local sports fans would have learned their lesson about losing MLB franchises....but frankly, we'd lose the Nats soon if not for the long-term lease on the new stadium......plus the fact that team was either the 2nd or 3rd most profitable franchise last year. I believe they actually made a profit of $40-45M, undoubtedly helped by the fact that they allegedly refused to pay any rent on the stadium last year because the builder and city did not finish the stadium completely, as per the contract everybody signed.

(1) Will LC become a Vikes fan if they sign Brett F.? (2) Can the Washington Nationals attendance possibly fall any lower? To date this year, they're averaging 19,400 fans per game (versus 29,944 per home game last year) in only the 2nd year of a brand new stadium!!!

The Crowes definitely make my top 10 list of current/active bands....but all-time? Not possible, they're too derivative, but that's my opinion.

"All I know is this scene is better than any one scene in 'Shawshenk'!" Mr. Cartmill might disagree with this statement. He could be partial to the first gang-rape-in-prison (or implied rape, I guess, since they cut away to Morgan F.'s narrative) scene in "Shawshank".....but then again, he may like other scenes better! I've been wrong before....

Ok, I found it.....Village Records. Must have been an old post on Myspace I was looking at. Thanks!!! (and Never Mind!)

Interesting.....because he stated on his Myspace the other day that no CD was forthcoming. Maybe he got a bunch of requests.

It appears I may have someone to help me....(Thanks a million, Jerry!!!)

...from Marty Robbins' "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" LP, I believe......

While I intend to see the new Star Wars epic on my day off tomorrow (shouldn't be long lines on a Monday), I did see two excellent new documentaries over this past weekend - "Tyson" and "Anvil - The Story of Anvil". The former is, of course, about Mike Tyson, told in first person throughout the flick. It kinda confirms what I always suspected - that he would have probably been one of the greatest boxers/champions in history, had Cus D'Amato not died when he was 19 years old. The fact is he did, though, and MT fell in with the wrong company (notably Don King), and nobody was there to drive the kid the right way or discipline him. So much wasted talent.....(and such a, for the most part, brain-dead individual....) "Anvil" is a documentary about the Canadian heavy metal band, Anvil, who never made it big, although the 2 main guys (singer/guitarist and drummer) have been together over 35 years, and the band has been very influential, as noted by members of Metallica, Anthrax and Motorhead in the film. A case of bad timing, very bad management, etc. Part of the film covers a European tour from a couple of years ago....what a disaster! (for example, playing in an arena that seats 5,000.....to 174 people!) This is like Spinal Tap, only real!