JohnO

Could be wrong, but I thought Vegas established Dallas as the overall favorite following their sweep of the Lakers in the conference semis. Even if Miami was favored in the finals, I'm not sure why. They beat an aging Celtics and an inexperienced Bulls, versus the Mavs sweeping the overall pre-finals favoritr, and then the inexperienced Thunder. One team had 58 wins, the other 57. Yet on ESPN this morning, the following headline - Mavs get past LeBron James and the Mighty Heat(!?). . . .unless, of course they were referring to the fact that Dallas has 4 ex-Wizards (Stevenson, Heywood, Butler, Howard). My only qualm about the Mavs winning - Cuban is an a-hole. But Dirk & Jason getting rings was worth it!

No offense, but it's really doing a great disservice to the Dallas Mavericks, turning the finals into a "will LeBron win it or not?" question. Winning even 1 game in the finals meant that he went further with the Heat than he ever did with Cleveland, and in his first year there. Considering the Heat aren't built for a long playoff run in the first place (no big inside banger, too much reliance on one-on-one in their half court offense), they went deeper in the playoffs than they shoild have. While LBJ is an asshole, odds are, he'll get tons of chances to get a ring. This year's finals were more about Nowitzki and Jason Kidd finally winning a title. (17 years for Kidd to get his ring. . . .)

Giro - Have a great Birthday tomorrow!!! (See you & Ira Saturday at the Highline.....)

"....never could quite totally get away from all of you." Yeah, I know the feeling. Common sense and better judgement tell you to walk away and stay away, but it's difficult. Is it OK to PM you now?

MJ - Just tried to PM you, but your box is full....

Marilyn - Have a great Birthday tomorrow! (although it may already be tomorrow there now. . . .)

Holy sh*t!!! Hell has frozen over!!! Welcome back, Marv!!!

I drove Gail home from the last Weekend At Bernies in '07, a 4 and a half hour trip. She definitely had a lot of issues then, mostly related to her husband's recent passing and his business, which she inherited. Very sorry to hear that she apparently wasn't able to sort out and get past her problems....

Tracy - have a great Birthday tomorrow!!! (and stay the Hell out of Cartoon World to keep your sanity here!)

Obscure fact about John Walker (real last name Maus), although widely known amongst guitar geeks. . . . .he' s the guy who sold Jeff Beck his '54 Fender Esquire, while the Walkers were touring with The Yardbirds in '65. Beck recorded all of the Yardbirds hits with this axe, before trading it to Seymour Duncan in the 70s. The Esquire is beat up to Hell and back from various tours with Beck, and now resides in the R & R Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Fender also has a tribute model available, equally beat up, for around $10 grand. . . . Beck paid £75 for it in '65.

I posted about this back on 4/3, right after seeing the movie, under the "List EC music on TV, ads, movies, etc." thread. Great use of the song, but I doubt that this sick little black comedy would appeal to many here. . . . .a bit gory.

Don't know if anyone's posted about this one yet, but "It Hurts Too Much" is in the new gory black comedy flick, "Super", starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler and Kevin Bacon. In an early scene, Wilson's character is getting the sh*t stomped out of him by Bacon's thugs, and EC's tune starts blasting! The movie is pretty funny, but extremely graphic/gory. . . . .And it has a very cool soundtrack (Cheap Trick, The Nomads, Eric, etc.) Was just released here this past Friday.

Thanks! Speaking of Thin Lizzy, I'll be seeing the latest version of the band this Saturday in NYC (Best Buy Theater). I didn't care for the last version of the band, fronted by John Sykes and with Tommy Aldridge on drums....they turned TL into a heavy metal band. This latest version is much, much closer to the originals' sound and feel.....co-founder Brian Downey is back on drums, and they went out and got an Irish guy who sounds almost exactly like Phil - Ricky Warwick of the punk band The Almighty. I've heard live bootlegs of recent shows, and it's hard to tell them apart from the 70s/original version.

Terry Adams just made 2 big announcements - (1) that his band the Terry Adams Rock & Roll Quartet, starting next week (to coincide with the release of their new CD) will be calling themselves NRBQ. (Terry owns the name, but has tried several times unsuccessfully to reunite with Joey Spampinato, the other founding member who was still playing in the band as of their split-up in 2004). The 'Q have been known for years as one of the world's greatest bar bands, with a rabid following, and going back to the old name will definitely boost their bookings and attendance at shows....not to mention that his new band sounds like a younger, more intense version of NRBQ anyway. (2) The second part of his announcement is a surprise to all but his family and close friends......that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer back in '04, which is what initially caused the break-up of the band. Terry is doing much better now, after several years of various treatments.

Keith - I talked to Cyril about 3 weeks ago, and asked him if Magic Christian was doing any more upcoming shows. He said that after the 3/12 and 3/13 shows, he and Roy Loney would be going into intense rehearsals for their April shows with The A-Bones in Europe (billed at one fest in England as The Flamin' Groovies). Roy, Cyril & The 'Bones will be doing 1 warmup gig in NYC (Bell House in Brooklyn) on April 21, then flying to England. He promised more Magic Christian shows later this year, but specified no dates or venues.

Magic Christian played shows last weekend in San Francisco and San Jose, with another new rhythm section....Chris Von Sneidern on bass/backing vocals(!) and Prairie Prince on drums. Per Cyril Jordan, Eddie Munoz (Plimsouls) and Clem Burke (Blondie), their rhythm section for the past 3 years plus, are out. (Clem's currently playing with Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers. Prairie was MC's original drummer back in '04-'06) Very intriguing possibilities with Chris VS now in the band. I understand he sang one verse of "I Saw Her Standing There" each show last week, and combined with Cyril/Paul Kopf for even better Beatles-esque harmonies. He also, needless to say, is a great songwriter, with a wealth of killer solo material the band could use if it chooses to. (Chris has a new album in the can that should be released soon.) Interested in seeing how this new version of the band plays out. P.S. A sad state of the current affairs of music in this country, where the creators of (per Popdude's book "Shake Some Action") the #6 and 23 all-time best power pop albums (CVS's "Big White Lies" and the Flamin' Groovies' "Shake Some Action", respectively) have trouble getting decent-paying gigs and/or record labels......

Agree that they won't win anything this year, but I don't think it's a lack of chemistry, per se, unless we're talking about the weak chemistry between the coach and his bullheaded players (or the fact that Wade, James & Bosh cannot play with just one basketball on the court!). The Heat simply don't have anyone who's that gifted in the physical half-court games which the playoffs always turn into. They need a physical presence in the paint, preferably a shot-blocker and/or a world-class rebounder, neither of which is Bosh.....and this was pointed out in most pre-season predictions. The closest thing they have to a banger is probably James, who at least has the talent to do that...now, whether he's willing????

Honestly, I don't think anyone (maybe other than LeBron) thought that the Heat would breeze to a 60 win season the first go-round. I figured they would win somewhere between 50-55, which they could still do, being 43-21 now, with 18 to play. What's troubling (or what should be troubling) to Heat fans are: (1) that they should have worked out the kinks earlier in the season, and be playing their best ball now, not their worst; and (2) that Chris Bosh is starting to whine about not getting enough touches on offense. He should have figured out ahead of time that Wade and LeBron would be their first 2 options, and he a distant third. While they'll still qualify for the #3-4 East seed, and should get by the Hawks or Knicks (although an upset isn't out of the question), I can't see them beating either Boston or Chicago at this point. They don't match up well against either of these teams, or Orlando, for that matter. Not enough bangers. And LeBron has no shot at the MVP, which Derek Rose should easily win.

Paulie - Don't know enough about NASCAR to comment, but.....at the risk of venturing into Cartoon World territory.....the longer I work in my current job, and the more I deal with Congressional, White House & OMB staffers, the more convinced I become by the minute that national politics and professional wrestling are one and the same! Followers of each truly seem to believe that there really are principled good guys and bad/evil guys living in a black & white world, who really hate each other....but sadly, the reality is - behind the curtain, everybody's working together to make it look good and put on a realistic-looking, entertaining show, which will keep the marks coming back, so they can be fleeced of as much of their hard-earned cash as possible.

Tommy - Just got off the phone with my friend Shirl, who's also a Crown & Anchor member. She says she has no left-over coupons - always uses them on cruises, and she goes on 2-3 cruises per year. I've gone with her the last 3 years on Thanksgiving week cruises. We're looking into getting on that new monster Allure of The Seas for something this Spring or Summer, assuming it's not fully booked months in advance.

I just posted yesterday about how much John Wall (Washington Wizards) reminds me of Derrick Rose, as far as physical skills. I didn't realize they were so similar as far as statistics. Check out these similarities: Each played 1 year in college, coached by John Calipari. Memphis had a 38-2 record the year Derrick R. played (07-08); Kentucky went 35-3 last year (09-10) with Wall. College stats: Rose - 14.9 Points, 4.5 Rebounds, 4.7 Assists per game; Wall - 16.6 Pts, 4.3 Reb, 6.5 Assists Rookie NBA stats - Rose - 16.8 Points, 3.9 Reb, 6.3 Assists Wall (so far) - 14.8 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 9.1 Assists Size - Rose - 6'3", 191 lbs Wall - 6'4", 193 lbs Rose was the first player drafted in 2008. Wall was the first player drafted in 2010. Rose won Rookie of the Year. Wall most likely will not. Blake Griffin, the first player picked in 2009, who sat out his entire first year injured, is almost a mortal lock - is averaging 22.9 pts, 12.8 rebounds per game, and made the All-Star game. My guess is Wall's game will also significantly improve with time, like Rose...but, as I stated yesterday, I doubt Washington management will get Wall as good a supporting cast as Rose has had in Chicago.

"Wow. No one here cruises Royal Caribbean?" I do, but have no coupons. Will check with my traveling companion to see if she has any. Which cruise are you going on? Sounds like a 10 day-er.

"LeBron CERTAINLY does not have, let's say Kobe's, killer instinct.Period." True. LeBron, IMO, needs a whole lot of work to overcome his playoff antics and that assh*le move he pulled in televising his decision to leave Cleveland. The funny thing is, though, if Miami happens to win it all in the next year or two (difficult to do, with Boston, Orlando, Chicago, the Lakers, Mavs and Spurs around), that may be enough to rehabilitate his rep. (Winning titles did wonders for helping LA fans forget about Kobe's legal problems.) Ditto with Rose and his, shall we say, academic difficulties while in high school and at Memphis (who had to vacate the 38 wins and 2nd place NCAA finish while he was there, due to another kid allegedly taking his SAT. He never admitted it, but the NCAA charge was targeted at a player who only attended there the 1 year he played - only Rose fit the bill.) Winning big makes people forget those kinds of things. And it helps that he's behaved himself while on the Bulls.

"I think LeBron is by far the best player in the league...And I'm not exactly a fan." In terms of sheer raw talent, no question.....hasn't been anyone with his level of talent since Kobe was young. LeBron could realistically play either forward or guard position at an all-star level, and is strong enough to make a decent center, if needed. James' (not LeBron) contention here, though, is that Derrick Rose's play has more of an impact on whether his team wins or loses than LeBron's play does.......which is an interesting proposition, only because LeBron's in Miami now. IMO, if he were still in Cleveland, this is a no-brainer. When Michael Jordan, arguably the 2nd winningest player in NBA history (behind Bill Russell) left the Bulls to go play minor league baseball, the Bulls still made the playoffs the next year without him. The Cavs with LeBron won 61 last year - they'll likely win 13-15 or so this year. Rose is one of the 2-3 best point guards in the NBA now. But he also has a really good supporting cast, which makes it very difficult, to me, to make the case that he's a better all-around player than LeBron, as far as affecting wins/losses, making your teammates play better, etc. On the other hand, LeBron doesn't have to do the heavy lifting now that he used to while on the Cavs.

One more interesting Bulls stat for this year, relating to signing Carlos Boozer. In the 18 games he's missed completely, plus his first 2 games back, when he played limited minutes, the Bulls have gone 11-9. In the 30 he's started, they've gone 23-7. (Now 34-16, lost to Portland last night.) Boozer's been extremely lucky, playing with Deron Williams for the past 5 years, and now Rose - arguably the 2 best point guards in the league.