Pete Bondurant

I wished that too. Then I just started to do things in the kitchen. I read some cook books and improvised. That was about 10 years ago. Now I consider myself a pretty good amateur cook. All it takes is time and effort. I truly wish I had even a little talent in visual art. Can't draw anything, or paint, and my photography sucks. I can play instruments and I think I'm quite good writing stuff (even better in Finnish), but I probably sit on my visual eye or something.

Well, let me see. First there was Washington, then in the 1860's there was Lincoln. There was Roosevelt and Eisenhower... When I was born it was Tricky Dick, then Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush senior, Clinton, Bush junior and now Obama.

Funny enough, I have never listened to them. Can't name even one song by them. Of course I know that there is a band called that, but I've always considered it to be something I wouldn't appreciate at all. I guess there is not much groove or Keith Richards influence there..??

The greatest guitar player alive? Well, Malcolm Young is still alive. Alex Lifeson and... Jimmy Page. That's the top 3 for me.

"I have the radio on." - Marilyn Monroe

I have something that belongs to Norway that I'd like to return. :) Does anyone live up there? If not, we can make my husband a pioneer of sorts. Oil? Whale fat? Skis? He'll fit right in. I sometimes, years ago wrote a column about how we in Finland see people from other countries. I remember writing about Norway something like "half of Norwegians ski cross-country until they faint, and the other half burns churches wearing penguin masks."

A very poor man's King Crimson.

I have something that belongs to Norway that I'd like to return. :) Does anyone live up there? If not, we can make my husband a pioneer of sorts. Oil? Whale fat? Skis?

Well, not a double cd, but in the vinyl days all their latest efforts would have been doubles... That's the problem nowadays (not particularly with Maiden, but in general): You can squeeze 80 minutes of material in one cd, so everyone does it - even if they have only 40 minutes of good stuff and the rest is filler. I loved AC/DC's latest: 11 tight songs, under 40 minutes. Nothing more than the essential. You don't need to put 18 songs on an album only because it's possible - unless you have 18 GOOD songs. 10 good songs is better than 10 good songs and 8 bad ones. Many bands and artists seem to think that their fans value quantity over quality. Makes me wonder.

I bet Steve never asked him. "This is my band and my song, if I say dinosaurs were here when we were here it's true!"

I only know the whereabouts of the rubberduck.

The one where people and dinosaurs walked the Earth at the same time? Well, good ole 'arry should get his facts straight, but even this song is divine as it is on the divine Piece of Mind. I lost interest in Maiden completely after hearing No Prayer, and it wasn't until BNW that I hopped on board again.

Wow...I have to say I disagree. They are METAL, to my ears! :haz: A frying pan is metal too but I don't listen to it... Haha...you say that now...but what if you get hungry? Then the metal thing is means to the end. I don't eat the metal, I use it.

Point taken, and apologies if someone was offended by my remark - which was written humorously. Damn, sometimes I miss the old days when you didn't have to be politically correct all the time, and people understood jokes. I do like to joke about things, and more than often I ridicule myself as well. I just wish everyone wasn't so uptight. The world is full of funny things, and in many cases humour comes from generalizations. Like us in Finland. We are drunk all the time, and then we shoot ourselves as we can't tolerate the darkness and cold winters any more. I do hate rap, but it's all the same to me if the rapper is black, white, yellow, red or a Martian. It's noise pollution in my ears and that's it.

Wow...I have to say I disagree. They are METAL, to my ears! :haz: A frying pan is metal too but I don't listen to it...

That's not borderline racist at all I'm not a racist by any means, I make fun of all races, nationalities and religions equally! And myself the most. Besides white folks smoke crack, play basketball and rob places too.

Queen, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Guns'n'Roses, Muse, Foo Fighters, Lou Reed, Scorpions, all pantyhose-makeup-hair metal bands plus everything and everyone involved with rap and hip hop. That crap is not music, it's background noise for crack smoking, basketball playing and armed robbery.

Most of them.

The cover art of Rush has always (well, almost) been thoughtful and visually eye-pleasing. It's difficult to pick just one, so I'll name a few. - A Farewell To Kings. I like that hollow, desolate landscape, the ruins and everything. Very thought-provoking image. - Grace Under Pressure. Very "cool" overall, very 80's cover but a classy one. - Permanent Waves. Reminds me somehow of old Hollywood films from the 50's. Don't ask me to explain, I can't. - Hold Your Fire. Brilliant minimalism. Have to add that I like the whole Clockwork Angels concept a lot, the steampunk thing and the booklet art.

Thank you. Had to give it a little thought. There was a time when I spoke English almost as naturally as Finnish, I even dreamed in English sometimes, but nowadays it's a bit rusty... I read books in English all the time but in the past few years I haven't spoken or written it almost at all... One good reason to join the forum. I get to use the language. Damn. Just noticed you have a cover of Kingston Wall II in your signature. I know the band's catalogue quite well, saw them live a couple times back in 92-93.

I'm glad it's not. Piece Of Mind for me was a showcase of a band fully aware of its powers. Dickinson had settled in, and the few lousy songs on Number... (Invaders, Gangland) were but a distant memory. Piece is a muscular album, something like "Look! Here we are and THIS is what we can do!" Powerslave, on the other hand, was made in a hurry and it can be heard. 2 first songs are good, 2 last are even more than good but everything in between is crappy filler. They even named an instrumental after the fact that no one had a slightest idea for a lyric! How lame is that?

Welcome! Just don't make Lorraine mad! I very rarely make anyone mad. Except my wife, naturally. just kidding of course, lorraine is an So is my wife, and still she gets mad at me sometimes...

C'mon, the name suits him well. He LOOKS like a meat loaf to me. No way! Various Artists is a fantabulous name! Lol It really is. Just as the name of my childhood's favourite actor, Also Starring. Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Annifrid. Makes sense.

This "my daddy is stronger than your daddy" conversation is truly enjoyable! Keep on keeping on!

I think I belong to both of those groups. For me, Piece Of Mind is and always will be the best and ultimate Maiden album, but I highly appreciate SIT and SSOASS as well. Then again, I was never impressed with Powerslave, it was a huge letdown after POM's perfection. Dance Of Death too: BNW was great and AMOLAD is great, but between them a very mediocre effort? Strange. This new one seems interesting enough.