Shawn

Agreed!

I have to jump in here and say that I DISAGREE with this opinion. That's actually one of my favorite Lou funky dates. A couple of great lineups, very tasty...extra special props to the extremely underrated Leon Spencer Jr.

Seattle is a great place..but WORD OF WARNING.... The job market there SUCKS...I mean SUCKS!!!! I tried to relocate back to Seattle (I lived there for 6 years) earlier this year. I spent over 2 months pounding the pavement looking for a job and didn't even get a single interview. Each job I applied for had at least 50 applicants. During that time I tried to work temp jobs to exist...but on average even the temp agencies were dead and I averaged about 2 days of work a week (and I was signed up with 5 different agencies). So I would say...if the job is a SURE THING then go for it. The real estate market has loosened way up and there are rentals available everywhere. I still love Seattle, but I would never go back there again unless I had a guaranteed job waiting and they paid for my move. There are many other places (including Seattle) that I would prefer living than in the tri-state area (WV,VA,MD)...but the job market is good here and the cost of living is cheap. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Well, put me in the "need to lose" category... There was a time, at least 8 years ago, when I weighed around 150 pounds and wore size 29 waist jeans. Now I can barely squeeze into 34 waist jeans and I'm busting the scales at around 210 pounds. I'm NOT happy with the way that I look or feel. One of my "eye-openers" was digging through a box recently and finding an old driver's license. I looked at the picture and thought...wow, look how skinny my face was! Now for the problem. Time for exercise isn't easy to find. Between work & my long commute I'm away from the house for 12 hours mon-fri. When I do make it home I'm so dog tired I'm lucky to have enough energy to cook dinner. I'm looking for suggestions for a good (healthy) diet that isn't too hard to stick to. And I need suggestions for a simple exercise regimen (about 30 minutes a day) that will give me the most bang for my buck. I need to lose the weight and I REALLY need to work on toning up the "old spare tire". Thanks in advance...yours truly..."Chubby". P.S. - I'm absolutely clueless about calories, carbs, fat grams, etc.

Oh yes! Lester's music is absolutely timeless and always a pure joy. Will be playing some this weekend.

Joe Milazzo turned me onto this film, quite an interesting experience to be sure! You can see how this movie inspired more recent fare like Dark City...but in a less cerebral fashion. One of my favorite things about this movie is that character actor Akim Tamiroff is in this....fans of Preston Sturges should remember him as the wonderul character "The Boss" from The Great McGinty & The Miracle Of Morgans Creek.

When I initially heard Tonic I wasn't overly thrilled, but it's starting to grow on me. Very good band and they are GREAT live.

Kirk Felton is my hero....all of his remasters sound AWESOME! Now if BN would just fire McMaster and hire him.....

Abcess makes the fart go honda

Okay, time for me to back out of this thread...and time to never look at it again either. Discussions of religion have always made me angry. No, furious. I just have little patience for the brainswashed masses who have been exposed to Christian hatred, hypocrisy, racism & hate (yes, hate, I've known quite a few real violent Christian assholes in my day). Organized religion is BULLSHIT. Thinking that The Bible was written by otherworldy hands is BULLSHIT. Believing that you could commit multiple homicides and then ask Christ for forgiveness and be saved (the ultimate "get out of jail free card") is BULLSHIT. Let's face it, as far as I'M concerned....this whole wonderful experience of being a "God Fearing" individual is BULLSHIT. ...and what a sick fucking phrase that is...GOD FEARING...Oh yeah, where can I sign up for that? No Thanks. Sorry if I've pissed anyone off...if you don't like this post...then ignore it...or have someone delete. It doesn't matter because I'm sure I'll be struck by lightning any minute.

You're lucky...Andy Bey is incredible. Enjoy!

A few of my favorite lines of dialoge from Exorcist III: Kinderman: "You're a racist Ryan. On the entrance exam for new police officers, there was a question asking: What are Rabies & what would you do for them? Ryan responded: Rabies are Jewish priests and I would do anything I possibly could for them." Father Dyer : "I only told him the truth." Stedman : "What did you say?" Father Dyer : "Jesus loves you, everyone else thinks your an asshole." Kinderman: "I brought you a hamburger." Father Dyer: "I'm not hungry" Kinderman: "Eat half, it's from Clyde's" Father Dyer: "Where's the other half from?" Kinderman: "Space...your native country"

Regarding my rating of Exorcist III: The original novel that it is based on is NOT a sequel to The Exorcist. Blatty wrote the novel as a continuing story around two of the characters from the original novel: William Kinderman the policeman who investigated the exorcism...and Father Dyer who was the best friend of Father Karras. There was only a passing mention of the original film. The story is essentially a police procedural revolving around a serial killer stalking Georgetown. However...James G. Robinson insisted that Blatty make it more of a sequel...by bringing back Jason Miller's character...and adding an exorcism. Blatty refused so Robinson sat still and let Blatty complete the film...and then he took it away from him, re-edited it and reshot the ending. What you have is a little over 3/4 of a great movie. This was the final chapter in a trilogy of "theology films" with The Exorcist as part one, The Ninth Configuration as part two and Legion (retitled Exorcist III against Blatty's wishes) as part three. The film is actually alot closer to the Ninth Configuration than the original film. The dialogue is brilliant, very humorous (remember, Blatty wrote A Shot In The Dark). It's also very tense (especially in the theater) and Blatty showed NO gore whatsoever. The tacked on ending splashed on the blood, but that was not done with Blatty's participation. It's very intelligent, well written and expertly acted by Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller & especially Brad Dourif as "The Gemini Killer". Look closely for a cameos by Samuel L. Jackson....and Larry King! You can pick it up at Wal Mart for about 7.99. While it's not perfect because of the post-production tinkering...it is still very worthwhile and it's easy to see that it could have been excellent if Blatty could have completed his vision.

Thanks for posting that article Adam. My review below: Considering the extremely rough road the development process of this film travelled, it's no wonder that the finished result is a rather jumbled affair. Make that extremely jumbled affair. The film opens with great promise. The initial scenes are very effective, the battlefield shot that opens the picture is awe inspiring as intended. It moves quickly to the development of the plot while also taking enough time for better-than-average-for-Hollywood character introduction. In fact the first third of the picture is uniformly strong and l had high hopes for the film. We are introduced to Mr. Merrin (he was a priest but has since hung up his frock due to a crisis of faith) in very much the same manor as in the original film. In fact the scene is basically a direct lift, right down to the blacksmiths pounding away and Merrin sitting quietly in a cafe. (although this scene isn't nearly as effective as the original). It's 1949 in Cairo and Merrin is carrying the weight of the war on his shoulders. He is greeted by a stranger with a business proposition. It seems that the British Army on maneuvers in Africa, has discovered a buried Byzantine church where there shouldn't be one: dating back to 5 A.D., long before Christianity made it to the region. There is a religious artifact that the stranger wants Merrin to collect for him (the same carved idol found in Iraq in the original film...how it got from Africa to Iraq is anybody's guess). We are then taken on the journey with Merrin to the dig site and are introduced to the other principals. Most notably a female doctor (and concentration camp survivor) lovingly realized by Izabella Scorupco (former Bond girl). We then explore the church with Merrin (a beautifully filmed sequence) and not long after things begin to get "eerie". None of it is really all that frightening...but successfully moody. As I mentioned above, during this part of the film everything is firing on all cylinders. But once the "horrific" elements come into play it starts to show the first signs of missing. The scenes are alternately creepy...gory...or just plain silly. The scare factor really only happens by using the old shock tactic of stuff jumping out at you. These are effective (I jumped a few times) but not all inventive. It's during this middle section that we suffer our first casualty...pacing. While the film should be getting more interesting and intense at this point, is starts to falter because of a scattered script that trys to pack in too much detail (that really doesn't add up to much) and Harlin's direction which was first rate up to this point, starts to fray at the edges. This could all have been saved by a rousing finale. But unfortunately the meandering script continues to get worse and I found myself caring less and less about anything. One thing to note, is that even with this misstep in mind...it's still a better picture at this point than most Hollywood horror films...that is until the final third where the movie literallly self destructs. The final confrontation between Merrin and "the guy with horns" is unbelievably silly and is far worse than most Exorcist ripoffs. This no doubt can be blamed on producer James G. Robinson, who did the exact same thing with Exorcist III...in that case taking the film away from the director and tacking on an Exorcism sequence to the end. But, that film's ending even though underwhelming is FAR better than the mess we're given here. Harlin is really out of his depth and manages to completely botch the proceedings...some people in the theater were laughing...the rest were inwardly groaning the way I was. Once the sequence started I was shifting in my seat hoping for the ending credits to roll. Here are few more pros & cons: On the plus side: The acting is solid and in the cases of Skarsgård & Scorupco is excellent. The cinematography by Vittorio Storaro is gorgeous. There are quite a few effective sequences, especially the flashbacks to WWII. On the bad side: The special effects are very sub-par. The CG is badly rendered (both effects & mattes) and the makeup is also way below the current standard. As was mentioned in a review I read, the making of this film would have been a more interesting movie than the movie itself. Luckily, Morgan Creek has announced that they will be releasing Paul Schrader's version in a double disc set with this version. That film got William Peter Blatty's approval which is enough of a recommendation for me. Now if they would just let Blatty release his director's cut of Exorcist III (under it's correct title Legion).... ** stars My ratings for the series (in descending order): The Exorcist - **** The Exorcist III - *** (this would get an additional half star without the tacked on conclusion) Exorcist: The Beginning - ** Exorcist II: The Heretic - no stars

The history behind this film has to be one of the strangest I've run across. The movie was originally slated to be directed by John Frankenheimer. He stepped down less than a month before he passed away. Then it was taken over by Paul Schrader. He completed the ENTIRE movie and submitted it to the producers. They were less than thrilled that he made a psychological thriller instead of an all-out horror film. So they fired him on the spot and shelved the picture. Then they hired Renny Harlin (ugh) to re-shoot the picture. The script was changed, several characters were deleted and new ones added (including a female lead). Some of the actors couldn't return to re-shoot so they were replaced. Harlin revved up the gore factor and the producers were pleased. (please note that William Peter Blatty was not involved at all with this picture) When I saw the trailer for this movie I wondered what had happened to it. It was announced for release last year and never came out. I assumed that it had been shelved and they were just now getting around to releasing it. I can't believe that they would invest the money to reshoot the entire thing. I'm sure it's probably terrible. But I'm a big fan of the original film and I also really liked Exorcist III because it was written and directed by Blatty. So I'm going to go catch a matinee this afternoon. Just thought this might interest some of the film buffs on the board. Strange story.

Okay, ya got me. I haven't really researched this issue, because I've never been interested enough to do so. I'm just going off half-baked theories that I've seen on the History channel and other places. So, I shouldn't have posted that piece probably. But, whether he *really* existed or not...if he did, then he was just a man. I just don't buy the whole Messiah thing. "If Jesus came back today he'd be in jail by next week" - Brave New World (Motorhead)

I think you might be onto something Jim! Of course it has NOTHING to do with the fact that I live in West Virginia.

You're standing in the video store, reading the back of a DVD case...when some asshole strolls up and grabs the movie that goes with it right in front of your nose. DEATH! Record store clerks who revel in torturing you on Tuesdays by not putting the new releases out in time. You ask them for such and such title, then they spend 20 minutes digging through boxes behind the counter and then have to enter it into inventory before they can ring it up. ARGH Anyone that works at a Carnival. Chicks that are wearing next to nothing and then give you the evil eye if you even glance below their chin. Sorry...you flaunt it and I gonna look! Being stuck behind a loaded dump truck on a mountain road where you can't pass...and you're going 15 miles an hour while being hit by dirt pellets. Getting strange looks from people when I wear my Thelonious Monk t-shirt.

Great posts Jim! I'm just going to make one quick note regarding my feelings on this subject. Do I believe in a higher power? Yes - but not in any accepted "version" I've run across. Do I believe the Bible is the word of God? No - to me it's just another version of the Greek myths without all the other Gods running around. Do I believe Jesus existed? Yes, I believe he was a real person. Was he the "Son of God"? No. I'll shut up now....

Straight Up is F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!!!!!!!!! I'll definitely be picking these up. Vick is a very underrated player and one of the most soulful cats this side of Stan T.

You know...l p seems vaguely familiar...just the tone. Reminds me of someone that used to *haunt* the blue note board...

This thread is more fun than an open casket funeral.

Nice to see that Griffin disc! The version of Lover Man on here is absolutely breathtaking.

One Flight Up is such a PHENOMENAL album...that I've never even noticed any sound problems...Tanya is easily one of my favorite Blue Note tracks....

Ditto! GREAT disc!