MattZ

Dude, come on. She thought Africa is a country.

I would also like to add in that once I am done writing my version of the same song that everyone else has written 15 times, a Dylan or Beatles song comes on the stereo and I wonder why I am even wasting my time. And then I realize it's because, as you said, the goal isn't to change rock and roll. It's to find my own voice. It doesnt have to be as good as Dylan. Or, let me put it this way, if it's honest, and it's me, then it IS just as good. Maybe not on a "number of albums sold" level. On a different level. On a "this is me" level. I have no idea if that makes any sense. But it's w

Now, I'm startin' to drain My stool's gonna squeak If I walk too much farther My crane's gonna leak Look, Missus Henry There's only so much I can do Why don't you look my way An' pump me a few?

If the damage is limited to SE Michigan, we will be lucky.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. As I've said, the worst thing that can happen in capitalism is when companies believe (rightly or wrongly, mind you) that they are too big to fail. And I don't think the auto industry is the same as the banks. I didn't mean to suggest that the government should step in and run the auto industry -- just that a "bailout" for the auto industry doesn't have to be a quick injection of $25BN with nothing else. There are options between the two extremes (nothing vs. a blank check). One of the reasons that I voted for Obama is that I think he will be sm

Sweet, man. Congrats. It's a beauty. You bought it without playing it? Sight unseen? I am always wary of that. I need to get over it, clearly. I am not going to stumble upon a gem like that at the local guitar center.

ZenL - I am arguing with you over in the election thread. I can't argue with you in two places. EDIT: Also, everything that I am reading suggests that Chrysler will go under. And I will take a stab at arguing here too: there's no reason why the government couldn't provide a bailout while insisting on certain changes. Either requiring Ford and GM to merge, or replace leadership, or mandate changes in products, etc. We can argue another time about whether we want the government to do things like that (or even if they'd be any good at it), but it's not like the government has to write a

ZL - I bolded the text above that I'd like to focus on. No one can predict what the ripple effect would have been, and to say in a throwaway line that it would be "horribe" misses the point. I will say it again: EVERYTHING in this country is funded with debt. Absolutely everything. From companies funding payroll with short term financing, to every car ever purchased, to every college tuition, to supermarkets stocking their shelves by pledging inventory as collateral. If credit dried up, "horrible" wouldnt even begin to describe what the fallout would have been. It doesn't take a conspira

Yeah, I'm checking it out now and it looks pretty awesome, frankly. My concern, as someone else mentioned, is that I will spend too much time learning/struggling with/etc the program. That's time better spent on the crappy song I am writing. Then again, these programs really appear to make the options limitless... Pretty enticing. Man, I should've known this wouldn't be easy.

Not that this is any sort of defense of the guy -- obviously I dont know him -- but the Israelis that I know would absolutely say something like this, but it would be a joke. Their humor is much more abrasive than ours is. These friends are also big time proponents of two states and peace. It's just a culture thing, I think. But still, this is a bad thing to say. And it certainly doesn't play well in print. Ugh. I have no idea if Emmanuel's father is a right wing nut who actually thinks Arabs should be washing floors, or if he is a left wing nut who just made a bad joke.

She's a man eater. Meat grinder. (Bad loser).

Now that I look at the stats posted for Sheffield, it's hard to imagine that he doesn't get into the Hall. Those are pretty impressive -- even in this era of inflated stats. Obviously, I can't predict what impact his supposed steroid use will have. But on pure numbers, it looks like he should be in. One glaring thing missing from his resume is an MVP. I woudl guess that it's happened plenty of times before, but who are the best players in the HOF that never won an MVP? Also, people mentioned a few times that he's the best right handed hitter of his generation. I assume they consider

I'd love to see this thread get closed when it gets to 1000 posts. Anyway, here's another: I started out on burgundy But soon hit the harder stuff Everybody said they'd stand behind me When the game got rough But the joke was on me There was nobody even there to bluff I'm going back to New York City I do believe I've had enough

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses. People seem fairly evenly split among the different options, but it's good to hear about the differences (and the pros/cons of each). I will keep asking around -- sounds like I really can't go wrong either way. If anyone has any other thoughts, please keep em coming. Or any other do's/don'ts. Thanks again, Matt

Without looking at stats, and just going on gut, nay.

Are there rumors/suspicions of Thome being connected to steroids? Sadly, I think this question will be linked to most of this era when it comes to HOF discussions. Perhaps even more sadly is that some are assumed guilty while others are assumed innocent. I don't ask to pass judgment or to start this debate again. I am just curious.

Can anyone make some suggestions on getting into some simple home recordings? I'm not looking to do anything fancy, but I would like to try to record some tunes I've written. Maybe 4 tracks (rhythm and lead guitar, a simple bass line, etc)? I dont really know anything about it and so far my only experience is sitting with an analog tape recorder, pushing the PLAY and RECORD buttons at the same time and playing/singing into the mic hole. At this point, all I know is that people seem pretty united in the opinion that the Shure SM57 is the microphone I want. What the simplest way for me to

Pet Sounds. I never fail to be amazed.

I won't believe any article about a Kinks reunion until Dave is quoted therein.

Many of my favorites have already been said, but there's this one too: I don't build up illusion 'till it makes me sick, I ain't afraid of confusion no matter how thick I can smile in the face of mankind. Don't even remember what her lips felt like on mine Most of the time.

I hear you Norbs. My mini-rant was directed more at ZenLunatic since he's often complaining about the bailout. I understand your point about the auto industry -- you don't want to reward perpetual failures. At the same time, it's a similar argument that was made about the banks -- they got themselves into this mess by being shortsighted and risky. I agree. The problem is that we've now got a situation where this country is so dependent on the banks that we couldn't let them fail. I dont know much about the auto industry, but Edie's opinion strikes me as pretty much right on the money.

First of all, the BAILOUT of the banks/finance industry was not a bailout. It was an investment. An investment that could end up making taxpayers money in the future. Yes, taxpayers may lose money too, but it was not government pork that gets flushed down the toilet. It was not a "bailout" in the traditional sense of the word. Second, I would never suggest that we should start injecting capital into any and every business that asks for capital, but the folks that are so opposed to "bailouts" often fail to consider the fallout from their proposals. When it comes to the banks -- everythin

Agreed. Flat out preposterous.

I am sure you are right about there being a disconnect among some people, but Obama (and plenty of his supporters) opposed the gas tax holiday pushed for by McCain and Clinton because they understood that it was/is a cheap ploy to get votes. I think most Obama supporters understand what is on the horizon.

It's nice to see that people are willing to start sacrificing because, holy cow, this economy looks like it is headed straight down from here. Unemployment already at 6.5% and moving higher, GM warning today that it's running short on cash (stock down 13%), wall street layoffs haven't even started yet. I read an artice today that The Sands in vegas is in danger of defaulting on its debt. Everything in this doggone country is debt-financed. We have no assets anymore everything is pledged as collateral. The auto industry, the airline industry, even hospitals, are going to be asking for govt