AfricaBrass

You're right...

I think for your purposes, a Randall would be a fine amp. I played a with a Randall amp about 20 years ago that worked just fine. It was very solid. My Randall would best be described as a Marshall style amp. It was good for loud rock music. There are a lot of modeling amps out there and they'll probably last as long as the next one. I'm interesting in checking out the new Vox AD30VT Modeling Combo Guitar Amplifier (30 Watts, 1x10 in.). I love the Vox AC30's and if this gets close, I'll be happy. http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--VOXAD30VT I mainly play old fender tube amps now. My old Champ amplifier is a great sounding practice amp. Though, it wouldn't cut it in a situation with drums very well (if they're very loud). I think your choice of the Godin guitar is a good one. I have had a few of the Norman brand acoustic guitars that the makers of Godin put out and they were very high quality guitars for the money. They used good woods and they were built well. Good luck!

I watch TV. I enjoy TV. I've been on both sides. The years I didn't watch TV were some of the most productive years of my life. I'm not elitist at all. I just think it's a drag that celebrities are so honored in our society. I appreciate their work and the work of filmmakers in general, but many people do treat them like gods. I've got a bunch of DVDs I enjoy watching, so I'm not against TV itself, but I do hate the time I have wasted watching so much of it. So we gave the Oscars a hard time; big deal, it's not like we started a war or something...

I hope you have your BEST birthday yet... and get plenty of Mosaics! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

That's what I was hoping!

So were you as shocked as I was to find out Batboy was marrying Kirstie Alley? I thought she ate him... and said he tasted like chicken.

yes and otherwise experience a happy REALITY with family, friends, co-workers (as necessary ) ... Oh... and that too.

... me too. But then we wouldn't be American now, right? And, besides, dig Gwyneth!

Just think of what people think of me when I tell them I have not watched television for years. I get all my important info at the grocery check out line. I went years without TV. It was reintroduced into my life when I got married. I do enjoy some shows, but I'd be happier if I could just crank the stereo and listen to music instead.

Josh Grobin seems like the Kenny G of opera...

I LOVE those Mercury Living Presence cds.

That thought just occurred to me also. How much did yours run you? Fortunately, EAC has a "cool down drive" feature, so I've set it to cool down for 15 minutes after every hour of ripping. But it's still an awful amount of use for the drive. I paid around $70 for a CD burner drive. I couldn't find any that only played CD ROMs; only burners. It's worked fine for me so far. I figure I've ripped about 1000 CDs in the last couple of months.

If I was in your situation, I'd just rip THAT DISC with some other software. I'd also be afraid of burning out your drive. If I run across a disc that's not in the best condition, that's what I'm going to do. I'll just rip it at a high quality VBR. Since I'm on a notebook also, I purchased a separate external CD drive so I wouldn't burn out the one on my laptop. I knew I was going to be ripping a few thousand CDs, so I bought the drive.

Bummer. Guess she wasn't pulling an all-nighter like she sometimes does. I'll let you know when she does. It is a FEAST for the imagination! I will make a point to watch her when she's on. I saw her on the HSN site, so I know who to look for.

I bet it was fun to make your own speech while Pacino rambled on... I wish they had some guy with a big hook for the longwinded...

But...but...but... We've got to honor our gods... or at least let them honor themselves. Remember... they are BETTER than the rest of us. I love good filmmaking (and bad for that matter) and I'm happy to see people get credit for their hard work; but the fact that most people would think you're crazy to not watch the Oscars seems really silly. I've watched enough Entertainment Tonight with my wife to know how bizarro our world is. We don't know our neighbors, but we know all the details of Brad and Jen's split... No wonder we have a chimp in the White House.

I remember, during the 1970s & 1980s, the only thing I spent money on was music. These days, however, there are so many more things one can spend money on. Cell phones, DVDs, computers and video games are just the beginning. Yeah, it seems like there's a lot less left over after paying for everything else. It's also hard to find new music. I can see how difficult it would be for a musician to develop an audience.

Money talks. Good point. From all I've read here, it seems to be incredibly difficult to make it as a musician these days...

Hey, Bob Wills is my man too. I credit Bob Wills with exposing me to a kind of music that caught my ear at a young age. A sound I could never forget but didn't know what it was till I was older. I don't consider Bob Wills to be 'just country.' Yes, his roots are country... or maybe swing? Bob Wills had the best damned fiddle player in the business, in his band. I remember when I became aware of Bob Wills. I was in my early twenties and I bought one of those Tiffany Transcription records. As I was listening to this music, I kept having this feeling that I'd heard it all my life. When Bob did his trademark, "ahh", I figured it out; I lived with my grandparents for a time when I was a little kid. They played this stuff ALL THE TIME. I visited their house soon after and found their western swing records and cassettes. Now that they've passed on, those records are with me. Bob Wills is still the king!

I love at lot of older country music. It was around me growing up, but my parents were never around, so I didn't have any music forced upon me. I had nothing to rebel against. The new country music is just country-fied rock and pop. Give me some old Buck Owens records and I'm a happy camper. Jazz helps get me into a good mood also, but smooth jazz annoys me. I think I get upset by it because it is so formulaic. I can't imagine how anyone who really loves music could make this stuff.

I'd have to go for a drive in my car. Otherwise, I'd get too depressed. Kenny G is the least offensive of what you listed. I am depressed... Now I know why. I've been trying to go into my own world with my big headphones, but I have to come out and socialize and it hurts. As that great sage, Ralph Wiggum, once exclaimed, "It tastes like burning!" or "I bent my wookie." I don't know which is more appropriate, but he always has a saying that captures the truth.

I tuned into HSN and they were selling some workout stuff. I checked the website and found Adrienne's page, but I still don't know what I'm missing. Drat!

Today it was: Blur, Beck, Kinks, and Jon Spenser Blues Explosion. Not bad, mind you, I was just having a heavy Bud Powell jones. But a guy must be democratic with the stereo and what comes out of it ... right? Actually, my wife's introduced me to a fair amount of rock music that I otherwise wouldn't ever hear. I know it's all relative, but IMO, your wife has great taste. My wife has tortured me in the last 24 hours with Kenny G, the Redneck woman Gretchen Wilson, Toby Keith, and more smooth jazz than is humanly possible to take.