JohnO

I think I just solved the mystery about people disappearing from the Top Posters List on the Directory.... Been out of town since last Friday morning, and just posted for the first time again a few minutes ago....and I've been returned to the Top Posters List. Apparently, you're dropped if you're off the list for any extended period of time (5-6 days maybe?)

Hmmm...I see I have 5,219 per the # of Posts after my last message, but Paulie, Muzza & I are all off the list of Top Posters....(???) (Sheesh....leave town for 4-5 days and everybody forgets you!)

For that matter, what happened to Muzza's and my posts??? (I was #10, he was somewhere in the Top 10 as well.) WTF gives???

Tony - That would be "supplements".....and thanks, but I'm already on 5 mg of Testim 1% gel per day...in addition to 9 other medications. As a general rule, I stay the Hell away from that section of the board unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm way too left-wing for most of this board, and, I'm also kinda busy helping my Agency spend our $9+ Billion in American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money, cleaning up hazardous waste sites and drinking water.....(all of which, BTW, is going to the private sector in the form of grants and contracts - should create thousands of jobs, but not Gubment ones). So far, personally, I have no problem with what the new President is doing. It's true, he's trying to fix way too many things at once, and is using very unorthodox, out of the box methods on a lot of it, but I'll judge him on his results, NOT his ways of going about trying to achieve them.

IMO, there should be a "check your testosterone at the door" sign at the entrance to Cartoon World. (Or perhaps the males on there fighting should simply measure their phalluses and declare a winner, then move on!)

I have all sorts of disorders....but posting here is probably one of the milder ones... (although it's getting easier and easier to leave this board for long(er) periods of time whenever I read the Cartoon World section! There's a particularly nasty thread about Teddy K. going on over there now....)

"But don't go gettin' all girlie-sensitive-offended on me, big guy. We have enough of those PC whiners around here already..." Tony - It'll never happen....just wanted to make sure you knew that I was away from the office (and my PC) last night, and I wasn't off in a corner sulking about you "offending" me! Also - I'm #10 in posts here, so I'm expected to post, whether there's a need or not.....

Not quite sure I understand your post, Tony, but what the Hell......par for the course.

"Yuo have never nor will ever receive grief from me for posting musical lists or polls" Tommy - My guess is he's referring to me, as I've made references several times to the idiocy or stupidity of such lists....just as I confessed above in the first post here that I consider this particular thread equally useless.....yet posted it anyway. (I admit I have no life at this point.)

"....why president Obama has destroyed America in just two months..." Actually, it's been 50 days, or 7 weeks and 1 day so far.. Just wondering what the reaction would have been on this board 8 years ago, had we been analyzing every breath that George W. was taking his first 50 days! Of course, GWB wasn't handed a large bucket of sh*t and told to make biscuits from it immediately back then or else....although I believe Wolfowitz, Cheney & co. were already starting their con game on him of invading Iraq as soon as possible. Then again, I guess this belongs in "Cartoon World" and not here, no?

Marv - Ditto on "Cartoon World".....unless I can contribute a useless or insipid comment there.

While Marv has close to 12,800 posts to his name on this board, making him the undisputed King of Posts (as well as being the only one to exceed 10,000 posts so far), two contenders appear to be coming up fast - PaulieMississippi (currently in 3rd place) and Hollies65 (currently in 4th)........ Paulie has been putting up 8.11 posts per day since he joined, versus Marv's career rate of 4.95 posts. If these rates continue, Paulie will catch Marv in 1123 days....or on April 7, 2012. However, Hollies65 has been posting at the heretofore unheard of rate of 9.47 posts per day...and would catch Marvin in 1016 days, or on December 22, 2011! Is this utterly useless information here, or what???

"First question for BM..second for U2....Yeah Yeah I know...shoot me..for liking BM" Personally, I can come up with reasons for shooting someone for liking either BM or U2....

God, it's almost impossible to believe that it was 23 years ago when Cleveland State shocked the country by making the Sweet Sixteen!....at which point, they ran into David Robinson and Navy. If I recall, they upset Bobby Knight & Indiana (a 14 seed beating a 3), and then St. Johns or St. Josephs before barely losing to Navy.

"They're still the best band in the world" Just read an interesting article (can't remember the 'zine) which discussed the difference between the biggest band in the world versus the best. U2 is probably the former. The latter? Strictly a matter of opinion and personal taste...

The results, so far, do not surprise me, not on this board! (Why am I on here again?)

Just read that the great Welsh guitarist Mickey Gee passed away on January 21, after a long battle with emphysema. Anybody who saw Deave Edmunds play live in the 70s or 80s likely saw Mickey playing guitar with him - little bald-headed guy who resembled the little man on "Benny Hill" (the guy whose head Benny was always patting). It's Mickey who played the intro & lead on "I Hear You Knocking" and quite a few other Edmunds recordings. Prior to playing with DE, Mickey was Tom Jones' guitarist and musical director (when Tom was calling himself Tommy Scott), and his main post-DE gig was with Shakin' Stevens. A great, great, and fairly unknown player, he was 65 when he passed on. (Truth be told, he looked 65 when I saw him around '82 or '83 with Dave E!)

They were great live when they were young, especially in support of the "Boy" and "October" albums in'81-'83, when they were playing clubs and venues like high school gyms over here. IMO, what happened to them over time was a combination of their (like many young bands) using up their best songs on their early albums, and, as described above by Lee, becoming more of a sound band than a song band. The second you hear any song they do, you know it's U2.....and their sound, to many, got stale over time....add Bono's sheer pomposity to that, and it's very much a love 'em/hate 'em relationship with critics and fans alike. Ultimately, If they gave up the ghost and quit, I wouldn't miss them at all....

Totally agree with Danny, teragram & GMan.....about both U2 and Maniblow.... To borrow from another thread (Tommy's poll concerning U2 versus Mr. Pincus)...... "I keep going back to that U2 show a couple of years ago in the UK, when Bono, during one of his more meaningful (to him) between-song rants, starting tapping his guitar every 2-3 seconds. "Each time I do this, another small child in Africa dies!", he said....to which a wag in the audience shouted out - "Then stop doing it, asshole!"" And I don't question the band's talent....I just don't want to have to listen to them....and haven't since "Joshua Tree", for me one of the most overrated albums of all time! And BTW, I got a promo copy of the latest about 3 weeks ago, but gave it away already. IMO, the new one sounds pretty much like the last one, albeit with better production, more in-your-face sound - it won't convert anyone who isn't already a fan of the band, but it won't cause anyone to desert the band either. Maybe 1-2 songs that would make a Greatest Hits Volume 3 (or 4) for them ("Get On Your Boots" and maybe 1 other). 5 stars? No way....a solid 3.5 to 4, maybe. As far as Irish bands? Gimme Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, The Answer & the original Them anyday!

Tommy - IMO, you need a "Neither" option here. (And maybe a question about pomposity or self-importance as well....THAT, I would vote for! As it now stands, these questions are toss-ups to me...from a sheer music standpoint, I'd vote for U2, but Bono kinda cancels that out...) I keep going back to that U2 show a couple of years ago in the UK, when Bono, during one of his more meaningful (to him) between-song rants, starting tapping his guitar every 2-3 seconds. "Each time I do this, another small child in Africa dies!", he said....to which a wag in the audience shouted out - "Then stop doing it, asshole!"

BTW, my main problem with their bloated arena rock period was two-fold. In addition to the music going downhill, they were among the absolute worst bands of all-time, as far as not showing up, showing up but coming on 2-3 hours late, Ray and/or Dave being too inebriated to play properly, etc. The last straw for me was seeing them at the Bayou in DC in the early 90s. Doors opened at 8 PM, no opening act, and they went on at Midnight, with Ray immediately strolling to the mike, shouting one "Day-0!", and promptly falling down, apparently drunk.....with Dave trying to assist his recovery by kicking him repeatedly! They played less than an hour and left. (By contrast, Ray's comeback shows the past 3-4 years have been great!)

BTW, regarding that 6-disk box set, "Picture Book" - it appears that Ray D. had little or no input in its creation. I believe the tracks from "Face To Face" and "Something Else" are the mono versions, while really great stereo mixes obviously exist (???), and most of the previously unreleased material sounds like it was dubbed from poor quality bootlegs. A piss-poor take on the legacy of this great band, and at a list price of $199.99 to boot! ($141 on amazon.com)

Some of us are used to this by now, Lee! BTW, you hit the nail on the head about The Kinks. I've refused to buy the latest box set spanning their entire career, since I have no real desire to re-live their RCA and Arista days...which is approx. 1/2 of the box set.

Hope you're having a great one, MJ! - John

Christ!!!! Tommy....which musical stiff should we dredge up next that'll result in a thread like this? Liberace, perhaps? Peter Allen? Cannibal Corpse?