cfmoran13

For those of you who dig the more famous shows from his history, you should try to find "The History of Howard" on some of the filesharing websites. I forgot if they've done 3 or 4 parts by now. But, each part is 10 days of legendary clips spliced with new reflective interviews from guests and the cast. It's extremely well done and highly entertaining.

Ticket sold.

Because of family obligations, my wife won't be able to go to this Sunday's show in New York City. I'm still going but now have an extra ticket. Please contact me if interested.

Rush - 2011-04-10 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

First one looked too much like one of those way-too-sexed-up Halloween costumes. At least this one looks like she can move in it. And, those blue boots were God-awful.

Thank God! It's not perfect. But, a helluva lot better! http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/wonder-woman-cost...n-upgrade--2645

The creator of Autotune is an @sshole!

Having to shovel snow this morning. It's f-ing spring! No More Snow!!!

QUOTE (In A Tidewater Surge @ Mar 18 2011, 05:58 PM)Anybody I know that listens to [insert any prog band's name here] seems to think they are the epitome of musical greatness. DT is probably my favorite band. However, they are not the "be-all, end-all" of music. Plus, I certainly appreciate a lot of other bands from many different genres. They, just tend to have very passionate fan(atic)s.

QUOTE (The Owl @ Mar 12 2011, 07:26 PM) Hey Tick, you never said.. How was the Yellow Matter Custard show in New York? Someone was kind enough to record that show and it's all up on youtube. It was a friggin' awesome show! 40 Beatles songs from all different era, plenty of deep cuts, too. Mike Portnoy was a good master of ceremonies. Paul Gilbert was great on guitar. Neal was having the time of his life. And, their newest member, Kasim Sulton was awesome both doing Paul's basslines and his vocals. Show was video-recorded by Mike's crew.

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Mar 11 2011, 12:15 AM)QUOTE (treeduck @ Mar 10 2011, 05:17 PM) QUOTE (the masked drummer @ Mar 10 2011, 07:15 PM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Mar 10 2011, 04:43 PM) Someone name the new Portnoy projects for me again I've lost track... His project with Steve Morse is the only one I'd pay attention to. I've paid enough of Unkle Mikey's bills over the years, Tick. I remember when he was kewl though... In 1996 he sent me this reply letter (actually a priority mail package) six months after I sent Mike a check made out to cash for bootlegs and he sent back 2 boot cd's of majesty (and the check). What an awesome cat, huh? Check this out: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j74/kenamay/scan.jpg Hey that was cool of him... That's very cool for a dick. What has he done nice for any DT fans since 1996? I met him a couple of times on the "Images And Words" Tour. I could tell right away that the man was an egotistical prick. James was the coolest cat in the band back then. JMO Mike deserves everything he gets. What a TOOL. What has Mike done since 1996? - Set up whole tours of "An Evening With DT" where nobody has to sit through an opening band (much how Rush has done for a long time) - Create revolving setlists where: 1. if the played 2 nights at the same venue, you weren't sitting through the same songs. And, in many cases, you were treated to a special performance of DT playing an entire album from one of their main influences - Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd 2. when they consistently played a venue from tour to tour, he would make sure the crowd got to hear different songs. - Give the DT fan club recordings from his personal archives to give as Christmas presents to fan club members - Create Ytsejam Records, their "Official Bootlegs" label where, once again from Mike's personal archives, demo recordings and live concerts are released on CD and DVD. - Upheld an extremely open line of communication with the fans. You may not like Mike Portnoy. And, maybe he has a big ego (he's been very cool every time I've met him over the years). But, he's extremely talented and you can't say that he doesn't do things for the fans.

QUOTE (GrandDesigner @ Mar 10 2011, 03:34 PM)QUOTE (The Owl @ Mar 9 2011, 06:07 PM) I love Mike Portnoy, I think he is an excellent drummer, and a good songwriter.... he is very talented and I respect him for that, and will listen to anything that he does... But, this whole "I'm the victim" shpeal Mike is putting on these last few months are a load of bullshit.. "They wouldn't give me a break so I walked", "I tried to rejoin, but they won't let me", "They won't return my calls"....etc Mike, YOU LEFT THEM, you weren't kicked out... quit bitching and playing the victim card here.... you made your bed, now lie in it. Where are people getting the idea that Portnoy is just bitching incessantly over the split? The man has already been involved in 3 different projects and seems to be enjoying his new-found freedom immensely. Just because he explains what's happening to fans of his and DT's doesn't mean he's bitching ad nauseum and being bitter. He actually sounds quite happy with his life at the moment. He has not mentioned anything about DT in a number of months and only does so when it's to clear up confusion on his message board. I really think the FANS are the ones who are propagating this BS. When he's not mentioning DT, he does sound happy, very happy actually. Much of the problem does lay with the fans (and the haters). His last 2 mentions of DT have been about: 1. How he can't imagine how John Petrucci would say there won't be a problem with their 'Official Bootleg' record label moving forward, when it's Mike who basically did everything with it and he even had the next batch picked out. 2. He went back to them asking if he could come back and they won't even return his phone calls. As you've said, he's just stating the facts. Then, it gets chopped up from what he's posted on his website and you have "quotes" on sites like Blabbermouth that seem to enjoy perpetuating drama. And, there are enough posters on that site that, for one reason or another, absolutely hate Portnoy AND DT and see his posts as rants or bitching. The same goes for the Pro-DT Anti-Portnoy people. Anything that he says is taken as a personal diss on the band. Personally, I think Portnoy's awesome and the communication that he keeps with his fans is amazing. And, I will support everything he does. However, sometimes he does himself a disservice with his posts. This is why he actually "banned" himself from his own message board for a while. He needed to distance himself from everything. It seems like he's finally moving on. And, once DT announces their new drummer and puts out some new product, they will, too. And, this will all hopefully go away. Wouldn't it be nice if DT's announcement was that Mike Portnoy was their new drummer?!? Not likely. But, nice to think about.

Mike Patton. I love FNM. But, the projects he's done since then are unlistenable to me. And, people consider him some kind of mad genius. Meh.

QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Mar 8 2011, 07:51 PM)KISS I have to whole-heartedly disagree. Granted, Gene $immon$ is the biggest whore in the music business and the last 15 years have been a joke for them. However, their impact on rock music cannot be ignored any more than Nirvana's. Hell, Nirvana even covered one of their songs! They may not have been the voice of a generation as Kurt & Co. were. However, their influence on musicians over the past 30+ years is virtually beyond compare. Try finding a band that didn't get their break opening for them (including *cough* Rush) or a guitarist that didn't pick up a guitar because of them. Take "Rock and Roll All Nite" out of the mix (damn, I hate that song!) and their catalog is still pretty impressive. Their double-live album 'Alive!' was one of the first of its kind. They had 4 members who all sang lead vocals. They weren't the most proficient musicians but were all more than capable. Listen to songs like "Black Diamond", "Parasite", "Coming Home", "King Of The Night Time World", "Shock Me", "I Stole Your Love" and "Creatures Of The Night". They were a really good hard rock band. Who cares if some of their fans started listening to them because of their make-up?!? If it wasn't good music, people wouldn't have kept listening to them for as long as they have.

Nirvana, or more specifically, Kurt Cobain - The fact that he constantly pops up on these "greatest guitarists" lists offends me greatly. The general music public knew of them for 3 years. Yeah, they were the poster boys for grunge. But, they weren't that good. Give me The Foo Fighters any day! The Doors. Doors = doped-up ramblings + cheesy keyboard line + average drums and guitar AC/DC. I can listen to them every once in a while. However, within 2 bass drum beats, you know it's them because every song sounds the same. And, can a band be any more overplayed than them?!? I don't think it's possible. Coldplay. U2-lite. And, nowhere near as good. That's coming from someone who's not a U2 fan.

Dream Theater / Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden in about 30 minutes. Can't wait! Let it begin!!!