Buftex

Dino is their dinosaur, his heads in the kitchen, his tales out the door... Poojer...you nailed it, on the head...that is my problem with so many of the big acts in rock/alternative music over the last 10-15 years...every time I think I like one of them, they put a new album out that sounds completely different than the one I liked...almost like a different artist sometimes. I can appreciate a natural progession in a bands sound, but more often than not, it sounds like a self-conscious, or forced attempt to buck expectations... I just can't think of a lot of acts in rock/alternative (I hate those labels, but my opinion on this isn't the same for other genres of music) from the last 20 years that have more than a record or two that I really like. It's been ages since I heard a new band where I felt I had to own everything they do. Good call on the "Van Lear Rose"...I thought it was a horrendously awful record...and not because of Loretta Lynn. I feel the same away about almost anything that Daniel Lanois or Jeff Lynne produce. It is their record, the featured artist is just along for the ride. Lanois, IMO, destroyed Emmylou Harris...even when he isn't sculpting her albums any more, she can't shake his stench.

David Chase, the creator of the Sopraons, did his first feature fim, "Not Fade Away' earlier this year. It is a semi-autobiographical story of Chase's youth, in a failed band in the 1960's. Gandolfini plays his father in the film. I won't say it is a masterpiece, but a good solid movie, and JG is great...as always. I think you can get it on Netflix right now. Chase and Gandolfini were lucky to have found eachother. Glad they got together one last time. Imagine how different the tv landscape might have been if Little Steven, or somebody else had grabbed the role of Tony Soprano.

While I agree with your overall sentiment that the personal hatred for LeBron is a little over the top, you aren't doing your argument any favors. The only guy the Bulls brought in to help Jordan, of any exceptional level, was Dennis Rodman later on. And even Rodman was a role player, albeit a dominant one, in a very important area, rebounding. The rest of those Bulls, were pretty much home-grown players, IIRC. I suppose Bils Cartwright and Ron Harper were not of that variety, but they were just veteran players, who filled roles. Ownership in Cleveland certainly attempted to bring guys in to help James. The Jordan/James comparisons are getting tiresome..,acknowledging that James is a physically superior basketball player, perhaps the best, or one of the very best ever, ingnores the fact the weakest part of his game has been mental... he is not the leader that Jordan was, and you could make an argument (I say as the Heat likely win their 2nd championship in a row) that, unlike Jordan, he does not necessarily make his teammates better. Much as I appreciated it at the time, the year the Celitcs won their ring (2008), their trip to the finals was courtesy of one of the most glaring examples of a superstar coming up small down the stretch... I have been surprised, even this year, at how many times James has turned the ball over in the final minutes of tight games, during these playoffs. Jordan didn't do that kind of thing. And James is not normally one to turn the ball over...so how does he do it so consistently, crunch-time, the last 8 or 9 playoff games? Sorry, got off on a tangent...but I also not sure what LeBron did to constitute "doing everything he could to try to stay in Cleveland". If he had, he would still be there...and it would have required little more effort than signing his name on a piece of paper to make it happen. He was disingenuous about any desire to stay in Cleveland, because he wanted to be liked...maybe his biggest flaw. I give him the benefit of the doubt, because he is a young kid..even at 28 (or however old he is now), who seems to be maturing.

The "stars" chime in: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57590172/stars-pay-tribute-to-james-gandolfini/

Agreed... I realize, a lot of people were turned off by the NBA years ago as it was (maybe rightfully) perceived as a "me first" game...but teams like the Spurs, and Pistons in particular, early in this past decade, really illustrated that the team first approach can still work. I think the style of play has been elevated a lot over the last 10-12 years or so... inconsistant officiating is its' biggest problem right now. Whenever any team loses (I live in Austin, only about an hour or so from San Antonio) a big game, they feel like they got jobbed by the officials. Spurs fans here, over the last 24 hours have been crying about how the officials gave game #6 to the Heat.. they point to a few plays at the end...all sort of subjective stuff... conveniently forgetting (IMO) that the officials were pretty kind to them on a number of occaisons early in the same game...and, hell, the missed a boat-load of free-throws down the stretch. The officials haven't been perfect, but the Spurs really only have themselves to blame for that loss. Game 7 (I am assuming a Heat win, though pulling for the Spurs) won't likely live up to game 6.

:thumbsup:

Just read an interview with him, from about a year ago, saying he just wanted to get away from violent roles...he said that he had issues with violence, and anger, and didn't want to just be known as the guy who beat up that chick in True Romance. I remember when the Sopranos ended...it was primarily because Gandolfini was worn out on the role. He said something to the effect that he had to be a person he didn't like, to play Tony Soprano, and it was taking its' toll on him. Also a a big sports fan: http://www.sportingn...rs-eric-mangini

Short-changing Andre Reed has been a very popular past-time on TSW for a while...

Jeez...did I jinx Gandolfini?

I understand what you are saying, but that is the attitude that, I think, is more and more turning older people off of sports. Maybe so, but he is showing the world what a fraud he is. The same guy who bad mouthed Ray Allen for leaving is fugging over the franchise that made him...stuck with him when everyone thought he was an awful coach...they gave him the pieces to win a ring, paid him very nicely...just last season he claimed he was in it for the long haul, realizing a rebuild was on the way. Part of the reason the Celtics wanted him so badly was that he is popular with players, and a good recruitment piece for the Celtics. Not many players want to go to Boston...even Kevin Garnett had to be convinced to accept a trade to the Celtics...Celtics did everything right by Rivers, and it isn't that he doesn't want to coach next season, he just doesn't want to stick with a team that is going to rebuild..very disappointed with him. I don't begrudge players who want out as much as a coach that a team is bending over backwards to appease...players have less control over where they will be, how long they will play, and how much money they will make. Back before Thibideux left for the Bulls, there was a buzz that the Celtics shouldn't let him go....

What Doc Rivers is about to do to the Celtics is almost every bit as bad. He is dead to me...

I hate Miami as much (maybe even more) than anyone... don't blame LeBron for his choice, just the way he went about making it. I think the hate for him personally is a little out of whack... honestly, though I will always root against him, he seems like a pretty decent person. It is hard to hate him... "franchise" players leave their teams all the time....it is just the way sports have evolved. Players in all leagues now have more freedom than they did when many of us (30-40-50 somethings) were falling in love with sports.

I wonder if it went down any way like this...

Was just waxing poetic about Gandolfini in a thread earlier today... very sad news.

Hey DC, since I don't do PPP anymore, I don't get to enjoy your wit and witticism as much... has "your an idiot" become public domain? I noticed you don't use that as much any more.

As a big Celtics fan, Ray hittng that shot really killed...part of me was happy for him, but I have to admit, my petty sports grudges had me silently hoping that the Heat do not win a ring...and if they do, I really wanted Ray Allen to have no meaingful contribution...instead, his shot likely stole a ring from the Spurs.

EJ should and will be the opening day starter.

As an example, check out that "Teardrop Awards" clip posted earlier in this thread.

Like I said earlier, I think MTV kind of killed Clapton, artistically. It gave him a broader audience, and probably helped him to sell more records, but instead of doing what he wanted to do (love "Backless", "Slowhand", etc etc), he was kind of trying to appeal to more people, and the music just became dull to me...couple of cool tracks ("Rita Mae" I always liked) but the records seem to become more about production values than great songs.

Yeah, no doubt, EC is a fantastic guitar player, and that Ronnie Scotts performance is great... just that his albums are just kind of un-inspiring, unless he is just doing flat-out blues stuff...

Nicely done... have to admit it's gettting bettter all the time...

Like the Yardbirds, Cream, Derek & Dominoes...even some of his sort of "country" albums from the late 70's...but he is one of those artists, IMO, who was sort of ruined by the MTV explosion in the early 80's. You might be offended by this...or you might chuckle a time or two... Tobias and Saul Goodman on MR Show...the "Teardrop Awards" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1mzDR3onnI

It wasn't? (waits 5 more minutes to post "Really, you sure?")

I saw Paul back in 1989, while it was pretty good, it wasn't great, because, at that time, showing too much deference to the Bealtes part of his career was still a bit taboo for some reason. With some hesitancy, I went to see him a couple of weeks ago. I don't go to too many "big shows" like this anymore...but I love the Beatles, and Paul isn't going to be around forever, as healthy as he seems. Gotta say, I had a blast...so glad I went. He still sounds terrific (only one or two moments where he couldn't quite hit the notes he used to), and his band (for some reason he chooses not to introduce them...curious I thought) was top notch. While in the 80's he did about 10 Beatles songs to about 30 solo songs, the new ratio was about 26/14 in favor of the Beatles. I would trade "Lovely Rita" for "Ebony & Ivory" any day....if Paul is coming your way, go see him. My only complaint (more an observaiton than a complaint really) he just has such an amazing repetoire of songs, after about 2 hours (he played for 3) it was almost like being force fed your favorite food...bludgenoned by pizza, if you wil! I started having a problem differntiating in my brain between the songs "I hope he does" from songs "I think he already did"...pretty amazing show. Get their early enough to enjoy the DJ who goes on about an houre before Paul. Really cool "mash-up" of McCartney/Beatles songs done by them, and other artists, with lots of cool visuals. I didn't have great seats, upper deck, but that didin't really impede me from enjoying. For a 12,000 seat basketball arena (as likely as small a "club" as I would ever get to see Paul McCartney) the sound was fantastic.

Yeah, I am not implying that I agree with the offending comments about Clapton (I just think he is kind of dull), but at its' heart, rock'n' roll has always been about offending societal sensibitlites.