Two random things:

1.) Aerosmith's Steven Tyler will sing the Star-Spangled Banner before Game 1 of the World Series Saturday in Boston. The anthem will probably be televised (on Fox).

2.) I thought I'd post another update about the Dave Matthews Band and the sewage-dumping incident that occured in Chicago. The band has released another letter...

Basically...the band is still working with authorities to determine who did the dumping. The band is still standing behind their driver, who says he didn't do it. If it turns out he is responsible for the dumping, the band will financially compensate those who were on the boat.

In the meantime, because the investigation has taken so long, the band has decided to make two $50,000 donations to Chicago (one to the Friends of the Chicago River and one to the Chicago Parks District). They will make the donations even if it is later determined that they had nothing to do with the incident.

If you want to read the whole letter, go to http://www.dmband.com/, read the first news item, and click the link.

I agree...but you have to be careful about that. In the past, making people pay money or take a test before they are allowed to vote has obviously caused problems.

Still, I wouldn't mind a simple four-part quiz:

- Who is the current president?
- Who is the current vice president?
- Who is your current U.S. representative?
- Who are your two current U.S. senators?

Anything more than that is unnecessary, in my opinion...

Hey Joe, I went to the Oct 11 show at Ruth Eckerd Hall, and I have to say, it was easily the best thing I've ever seen. Hearing you perform live gave me a whole new respect for your music. I have one question for you. Have you ever tried to play a Parker Fly? I was just wondering.

steven,,,hi!thanks for the greeting.........yu have mail bro'......u r kinda depressed or what,,,well there is always someone yu can turn to bro',,,,yu know who i am speaking about...........well me yes,,,but then there is always the one above to give yu comfort and solace,,,,peace and prayers always...

atn,,,hi bro,,,,,yur work is great,,,,keep it up.....thanks to steven,i have one of yur cds with me now,,,,,,,cool work bro'....keep it up.......

austin,,,,hey bro',,what about pain of salvation,,,read all yur messages of the last three days but no reference to 'pos'.........also i watched dt's metropolis 2000-scenes from a memory......amazing stuff,,,i guess rudess rules the keyboard world,,,,what about portnoy,,and then myung,,the most underrated bassist in the world........then there is petrucci....the guys a magician,,,,he can cast a spel on anyone by his work on the guitar....,,,,,,,but la bries vocals really gels with their music thus making the band a perfect combination of 5 guys....,,,the band is really out of this world....i wish i can watch more of dt...looking forward to seeing more of dt ...i have heard all the albums...but this is the first major dvd by them that i have watched......lacuna coil,,,pain of salvation,,,,waiting to hear yur reviews wise guy,,,hey bro' does zz(satchs son)play the drums from any band????answer awaited please,thank yu...god bless.

artanis,,,,collapse,,,,,huh,,,,,,,u must be kidding,,,india would have whooped aussie ass had the weather gods not intervened......

jazzy-----wwf,,,,u must be a fan,,,,,,,i am too...how about a cage match between bush and kerry...........who would win,,,interesting huh,,,lol.

alexandre,,,,,,hi back!how r yu............

michelle,,,,,,,,,hullllooooooooo..........

every one,,,,hi!!!!!!

webmaster...this is 4 yu,,,,,,,,why dont yu answer any of my faqs.............when is satch coming to india,,,,is he ever going to come to india???????does satch have a new album coming up in the near future,,,,,who wil be the third member in the third guy next g3.....ca i buy any satch merchandise by''WESTERN UNION POSTAL SERVICE''.........PLEASE ANSWER AT LEAST A FEW OF MY QUESTIONS.THANK YOU,,,,,,,,MARK

,,,,this world is a time bomb waiting to explode....especially the elections in us of a ,,,,lol,,,,,one on one ...bush and kerry,,,,,,how about an MTV celebrity death match,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it would be cool......

Welcome Mcfadden: If your blood sweat and tears are in your music, people will notice. Good Luck!

Welcome devilsslide:It would be cool to have a left-handed JS. I dont know if they make them but I'm sure somebody will get around to answering your question. A number of members from this fabulous site are still recovering from being blown away by Mr. Satch. When they come to, you'll find more answers than you'll need. I am left handed but I get down the right-handed handed way. I guess it was all that time I spent watching other people play and tryin' to twiddle my fingers on thier guitar. Hey, and if they dont make them, you can always do like Jimi.

Keep posting guys!!!

OpticalStudio- sorry to read you are feeling down. Your acoustic guitar sounds great- I've always wanted to own a really good Martin acoustic, but as of yet have not succeeded in getting one! I'm not sure admitting I'm a teacher on here gives me too much cred- not the coolest job in the world really, is it? Great holiday prospects though.... One other instrument I would love to own one day has to be a harpsichord. I have played one before, and I love it!

Michelle- are you feeling better now (i.e. your knee?)

962- any guitar updates?

Hi there Achoo, nice to meet you. That was a nice post! Your spelling is pretty good though! I don't think these days that too many people give it much thought or think it's very important unfortunately (in England anyway.)

I haven't seen that on the news, to be honest I very rarely watch much international news except for the real headline stuff.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Just got Andy Timmons' Ear X-Tacy 2 and Pawn Kings through the mail. YIPPEEEEEE!!!!

And you're mistaken - "my focus is my reality"? I'm not focused - ie. I don't have a narrow mind or a shallow point of view. I take all aspects into consideration to form my opinion, which is why I'm not narrow minded and unopen to ideas like you apparently are!

I think you meant "realistic" or "objective" not "narcasistic"?!

And you should care a little about who gets voted in as PM. cause if we vote in someone like the UK Independence Party, who are zenophobic and racist, your country will have all ties cut off from the UK, it's foothold in Europe. You need us to vote in someone who is going to be an ally to your next president, whoever he may be. American airbases need to be kept open in the UK - shutting those alone would cause a much bigger problem than you think.

I personally think Joe should try a solo show in the Royal Albert Hall some time, or maybe a G3 show in Earl's Court - Earl's court is a massive venue, where they put on Motor Shows and so on.

You know how many Iraqi's have been arrested in the last 12 months? 43,000. That's a whole f*ck*n lot of innocent people behind bars. They didn't do anything! There is nothing innocent about George W, and I'm not really bothered if Mike isn't sharing the small collection of facts that are a good result from the campaign - the cons far outweigh the pros.

Look at footage of daily life in Iraq 6 months before the bombs started dropping, and look at it now. The whole thing could have been done neatly using a covert operation to capture saddam, and some heavily indegrated intelligence gathering. But that's not the approach Bush would take - he would rather flex his military muscle and bomb the f*ck*rs.

962

Realistic and objective? Get a grip.

"When World War II ended, Winston Churchill immediately understood that the victory was incomplete. Half of Europe was occupied by an aggressive empire. And one of Churchill's own finest hours came after the war ended in a speech he delivered in Fulton, Missouri. Churchill warned of the new danger facing free peoples. In stark but measured tones, he spoke of the need for free nations to unite against communist expansion. Marshal Stalin denounced the speech as a "call to war." A prominent American journalist called the speech an "almost catastrophic blunder." In fact, Churchill had set a simple truth before the world: that tyranny could not be ignored or appeased without great risk. And he boldly asserted that freedom -- freedom was the right of men and women on both sides of the Iron Curtain. " (Pes Bush Speech 02/04)

I feel that this freedom belongs to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. It takes time, just hang in there with your short sighted remarks and defeatist attitude, but please stay out of the way.. It takes real people with intestinal fortitude to stomach the reality of what was happening in Iraq six months before the war.

I stand by my comments that your focus is your reality.

Or as they say in China Town

"You order shit ... You eat shit!"

JustJack.......

I was a guided missile technician.

Namm Man

Suzie, what do you teach? Maybe you said it in an earlier post? My knee is back to "normal" It was just for that one night. It does that every once in a while. Thanks for asking.

Baduh, hello dear, how are you?

It's a beautiful day outside today. I think I'll go play. I'm going to need to get out my hip waders if I stay on here. This shit is getting deep.

SOTD ~ Vampires by GODSMACK

Happy Birthday Zinc Master !!

OME...I used to play out quite regularly. Right now I'm in search of a new group of people to perform with. The band I was with never quite improved at the level I had hoped. So I took some time to myself to write, and am ready to perform again...always have my eyes open.

Oh yeah, new experimental demo, well not new new but i figured it's probably new to t2j. just a little techno thingy I came up with...

hey joe hey guys

evzevz-the 3 giant studio albums are last of the runways, time to burn and III( III as in 3).

the live album i think is called live and acoustic. you can get all 4 albums at amazon.co.uk or .com.

hope this helps :-)

does anyone know whats happened to phrydom?i havnt seem him in here for a while. he hasnt left again has he? i hope not.

ive asked this before but are there any Michael Landau fans in here? hes only released 3 solo records and 2 with his band called the raging honkies. but apparantly hes released a ton of material with david garfields band called Karizma. has anyone here got any of these albums? are they any Good?

the farting gnome

Suzie2000 It was interesting to me to hear that you teach special students and are currently working with a class of autistic boys. That takes a very special person, so you must be one! Being any kind of teacher takes a lot of patience, dedication and a love of kids, and in this day and age, it's getting harder and harder to educate around what happens to them in their real life.

I have an elementary education degree and have worked with pre-schoolers through 8th grade. It was exhausting work but so rewarding. I'm currently a social worker now, helping the elderly and disabled to continue living in their own homes as long as possible.

I also have an autistic son, he was recently diagnosed with Asperger's Autism, and the challenges in working with him have been huge. I so respect and admire what you are doing, as I have some idea of what you face each day. With my son's diagnosis this year (he's 16, so it's been a long time coming) I finally have some answers and have learned so much about better ways of dealing with him. That's not to say I don't have a lot of grey hairs, dyed of course!!

He started playing guitar in Jan 2002 and hasn't ever stopped. He's very good and is dedicated to making music his life. Playing the guitar transports him to a place he can relax, enjoy and get lost in the emotion of music. It calms him down as nothing else can when he's upset. He is so inspired by Satch, as many people are.