Rick N. Backer

Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, I disagree with people who think the show has "lost its fastball." On some level, I suppose its a little like the transition from a SNL skit to a full length movie. Once you start stretching it out, it can get thin at times. My good friend LiX mentioned Once Upon a Time. We're big fans in my house, too. However, I have to admit that I have trouble following the story this season, and liked last season more. Similarly, last year Touched was fantastic. The idea of a gifted boy bringing people together was great. This year, of course, the boy's father is no longer a 9-11 widower. He's Jack Bauer. I don't mean that as a compliment. My point being that every good show that is a continuing story, rather than a series of stand alone episodes, can be tough to sustain over time. For those saying the story is too "dramatic" or "far fetched" I'll simply say it's not a documentary. The story is still intriguing, and it keeps you guessing. A colleague of mine is still convinced SA Parker is a member of the cult. You never know who, other than Hardy or Carroll, are going to get it from week to week. And, know this: If this show gets cancelled, and we get stuck with another stupid lawyer/cop/doctor drama in its place, well, let's just say I will bust out my Edgar Allen Poe anthology and find you. All of you.

The drummer in the garage band I played in as a kid always said Clive was a much better drummer than McBrain. The intro to Running Free is still a classic. RIP Clive

May I add that Land of Confusion is an absolutely great song. And video.

This never changes for me. The Beatles (the white album) is my favorite studio album of all time.

I'm not crazy about the film or the soundtrack (either version). If I'm in the mood for some Zeppelin I enjoy them. If not, they won't put me in the mood.

I'm not sure I'd call ceasing to churn out self-indulgent prog that virtually no one wants to hear anymore "selling out". I'd call it a natural evolution for a band that wanted to keep making new music that they found interesting. I know it's heresy here, but I only enjoy the Collins era. I don't love that either, but I prefer it to the Gabriel stuff.

Because in 5 minutes my alarm will be going off and my son and I will be off to a hockey rink. Make that 4 minutes.

Hope you had a great one TM

Good for you. Congratulations to both of you.

Just remember, the warmer it gets, the more it snows. :laughing guy: Then I guess I'm hoping it gets, umm, err, ahh . . . Colder?

I got up this morning to go to the gym, expecting an inch or two of snow on the ground. When I looked out the window I saw about 1 foot had fallen since last night. And, as I'm typing this, it is still coming down quite hard. I quickly cleared my driveway to get in for a 10:00 meeting. When I got in to the office, I learned the other attendee had cancelled because of the snow. When I walk back to the train station later today, the first clown I see driving a Prius with some type of global warming bumper sticker on it is getting a rock through their rear window.

Whitesnake - Forevermore It's a very, very good album.

Last night's episode was a good one.

Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz. Maybe the dumbest, and most annoying, song ever.

The song? Or the act? ;)

Here Comes The Boom. Dumb movie. But funny.

My Dad loved that show.

I saw that in the theaters. Another great line occurs when Kevin Dillon talking to someone who wants to fight him: Why don't you hit me for a while, and maybe if you hurt me I'll hit you back.

Oooh. I know. David Coverdale. Just kidding. I meant Sammy Hagar.

Not my favorite of the 70s sitcoms showing a different side of the American family, but 69 sounds younger and younger. RIP

That's it for me. One of the first songs I can remember hearing on the AM radio in my parents' car and loving as a kid. Honorable mention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy5T6s25XK4

Really? Outside of a couple of isolated examples like say Closer to the Heart and The Sphere from Hemispheres, and maybe a couple of others, I really don't see that. I'd say a fair amount of Snakes and Arrows qualifies. I tend to think of Armor and Sword as a very spiritual song in certain ways, but I don't think it was necessarily meant that way. Workin' Them Angels is also pretty spiritual I guess. I admit that he's had his moments, but as a general principle, I would say he's somewhat the opposite of that. Oh yeah, and the finest example that I forgot about was Mission. I agree with regard to the early stuff. I think from Vapor Trails on his lyrics have a heavy spiritual but not religious flavor.

Really? Outside of a couple of isolated examples like say Closer to the Heart and The Sphere from Hemispheres, and maybe a couple of others, I really don't see that. I'd say a fair amount of Snakes and Arrows qualifies.

I suppose you'd have to say Mr. Peart does.

I can't believe I forgot Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction Gun's N' Roses Metal? Not to me, at least the definition I grew up with. Truthfully I never looked at most of the seventies groups as metal either. They may have been pioneers of it or a beginning phase but no one called these groups metal until the genre got popular in the eighties. What's your definition of "metal?" Sorry I took so long to respond. In a simple definition Metal is pretty much louder, harder, faster. The bands I feel embodied this philosophy were groups like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Merciful Fate, Anthrax, Raven and so on. The next group is Metal but with a little more commercial sound but still retaining that Metal band quality. Bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Dio. I might not be helping myself here. I know i'm not technically coming up with the "Aha" that's why explanation but maybe it's just because I got into Metal at sixteen in 1983 At that time I had never heard Rock of the seventies being referred to as "Metal". It just seems to me that the term has been universally applied to any hard edged rock making it bit watered down. We're the same age. I can't agree with you that how "commercial" something may be makes it more or less metal. I don't think You've Got Another Thing Coming, or Rainbow in the Dark, or No One Like You, are less "metal" just because they get played on the radio, or because people who aren't into metal have those songs on their iPod. Welcome to the Jungle, and even Sweet Child O'Mine, are metal songs, even if they are melodic. Is Enter Sandman or I Disappear more metal than Anything Goes or It's So Easy? I think only if your criteria is if it's Metallica it's metal, if it's GNR it's not. Incidentally, I would say Black Sabbath is a metal band (maybe even the first) and their best work is from the late 60s to the very early 80s. You are not wrong, Many people and historical description agree with you. I guess I just look at it a little differently and want to more specifically separate Metal from hard rock although many people deem them one and the same. Oh when I mentioned commercial I didn't mean less Metal. I was just trying to separate some of the metal subsets like "Power Metal" Thrash Metal" "Glam Metal" etc. I admit that I don't really "get" the difference between most hard rock and metal. I also admit that I can't listen to most of the stuff that's often called "real metal" these days. The Cookie Monster vocals, or the lyrics about killing your mother, or the race between the musicians to get to the end of the song don't do it for me. So I admit that my definition of metal may be broader than a "purist's."