Estrela : It's not just you. I have a pretty good command of English slang, but I have *no idea* of what Wolf2 is talking about ;-)

Steven WIlde: Do you find that maintaing as regular a sleep pattern as possible helps in minimizing the seizures? My friend has them more often when he stays up late.

NammMan: Get the "Live in Astoria" DVD...it's $20 or less, and it's a great showcase of a wide range of Vai material. Killer cover of Hendrix' "Fire" on there, too.

Man......you people are some prolific posting maternal fornicators tonight!

MariMari: I like photography, but I don't even own a camera......torn between getting a digital or analog when I finally do break down and buy one. You might like this site http://www.simonmarsden.co.uk . I love his monochromatic work...not sure what sorts of filters he uses, but his photos have a very etheral quality.

Electrical grounding: I do advanced technical support for satellite systems......a bad ground can cause all kinds of funkyness with a/v equipment. Everything from distorted video to some absolutely bizzare behaviors. I've always viewed electricity in the same vein as grizzly bears......interesting subject from a safe distance ;-)

MariMari: You're quite welcome. I assume most people know about Ansel Adams and the like, but I just happened to stumble over Simon Marsden's site one day. I'd love to see him do some sepiatone prints. Are you familiar with Andy Goldsworthy? My real areas of expertise are Science Fiction/Fantasy/Comic art and Illustration. Cuthbert: Man.....F&J's "No Place for Disgrace" album is VERRRRY good! I wish more bands had singers like that. Packed full o' good riffage. I had that on casette, need to find that on CD.

Zenfish said: "But i'm suddenly hit by a man absolutely fundamental to metal:

STEVE HARRIS. A bassist."

Preach on, Brother Zenfish. 'Arry is the MAN.

Rockindude: I share your pain. The southeast is a HORRIBLE place for a variety of good concerts. Maybe we need to line up and give the promoters a good kick in the ass!

MIchelle: I hope you feel better soon. You need your strength to fight off the bats and spiders. ;-)

Steve T: I saw the news about the Petrucci CD....he's only selling it via the wesbite. DT recently posted the title and track listing on thier next album, too.

I'm all the time bitching about how the Southeast is a veritable quagmire for decent concerts. So lo and behold, the Ozzfest 2005 tour dates are announced. Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath headlining.....two of my all time favorite bands. Veritable metal gods......and not one, but TWO dates (DC and Charlotte) within reasonable driving distance! So I'm on Cloud 9.

*sigh*

The very next day, word comes that "oh sorry....Maiden won't be on the last seven tour dates". Which includes Charlotte, NC.

Sorry, but that story about Neil Armstrong is NOT a true story....it's an urban myth.

Anyone managed to get a copy of Petrucci's solo CD yet?

Bueller?

Oh, the crap that goes with getting a new car. The insurance is all wacked. Ever have a day when you just want to hit the "reset" button and start all over?

Michelle: Good God....I could really use one of those "easy" buttons right now. After the car insurance fiasco, I finally found a chaper rate where I won't have to give both arms and legs every month. What a stressful few days.....and I don't stress out over very much at all.

Howdy to one and all...

Haven't posted much lately. Trying to get a new car loan approved....very stressful process. By Friday I'll either be elated or *really* pissed off. ;-)

Jazzy: Maybe because Judas Priest's "Freewheel Burning" or Metallica's "Fuel" would be a little more approrpriate?

Baduh: Glad to hear he's doing much better....if you don't mind my asking, what exactly was wrong with him?

Marimari: Very nice writeup of the Vai shows. Unfortunately, impending car repairs and having to get another one financed conspired against me, so I didn't get to see Steve on this tour :( All the time, I am complaining that there aren't any decent shows around here, and then Steve comes around and I can't go. I think there is some severe irony working there. But then again, I should be seeing Maiden and Sabbath (two of my alltime favorite bands) at Ozzfest, and Judas Priest/Queensryche in noVa in June. I've pretty much resigned to the fact that I'm going to have to drive at least 2-4 hrs to see any bands that I'm really interested in. Although Joe did play maybe 10 miles away from where I currently live once. Ya hear that, Joe? :p

Michelle: I'd like one that doesn't involve a message on the answering machine every couple of days stating that the lender needs to check yet ANOTHER piece of information before it's a done deal. Not really looking forward to the insurance almost doubling and having to live on the lean side financially for about the next 3-4 years : ( By the way, did you also get a copy of the Favored Nations release of Dave Weiner's album?

I could be entirely wrong, but I'd guess that Joe checks this forum out when he has the time and desire, not whether or not there is a high post count.

Geeeez...............gone all day, and I feel like I walked in the middle of a family arguement.

"Your wife's a bigfoot, isn't she Gus?"

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I saw the movie Sin City today...very faithful adaptation of the comics. Enjoyed it very much.

I can't wait to get a JSX and and a JP1000 black pearl myself. But with a new car payment, I'm going to have to work a helluva lot of overtime to afford them. *sobs*

General Query to all the guitarists out there......I've been experimenting with differnet pick types lately. So far, I've decided the Dunlop Tortex and the Dunlop Jazz picks are the ones for me. Anyone get restless and try different picks like I did to experiment? :)

Michelle : as far as new CDs that knock your socks off, Corrosion of Conformity's new CD "In the Arms of God" not only knocks your socks off, it carries them 18 miles in the other direction and unravels them at the molecular level before utterly destroying them in the almighty Riff Machine.

962: I found that I liked the jazz picks too......love the little pointy ends. I think the Tortex ones feel a bit better to me than the Dunlop Jazz III's....wich aren't bad at all, but the red ones are a tad slippery. I wish they were just a *tad* bigger, so I bought some of the regular sized Tortex Sharps. The Sharps are ok as well, but not quite what I expected. If they made a slightly oversized jazz pick in the Gator Grip sytle, I'd be the 1st in line to try them.

Here's a plea for informed opions for the guitarists out there..... I was a in a local music shop and came across an Ibanez SA220......picked it up....bad for the old bank account!. It played smooth as butter, and I fell in love with the feel, but absolutely hated the color. So I look through the Ibanez catalog and decided the S470 suits my aesthetic sense much better. Both are roughly in the same price range.

So then I try a JS100 at a different shop.....love the body, but whoever set it up (assuming it was ever touched after it came out of the box) had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Never have I played a guitar with so much fret buzz......Buzz Lightyear didn't have that much buzz. Which I don't attribute to the design or the model, just the lack of a decent setup.

So.....if I'm buying a "tide me over" guitar in the $500 price range to do me until I can buy both a JS1000 BP and an ESP VIper Standard, would the S470 be a better value for the money than the JS100? I do like the ZR tremolo system that comes on the S470. The SA220 played like a dream, but I'm not exactly jazzed about the SAT tremolo system nor the color of the binding on it.