DrW

In 1976 I went to see Roxy Music at the "Stadthalle Kuppelsaal" in Hannover, Germany, where I grew up. They were awesome. Full of anticipation for Bryan Ferry at al., I did not pay much attention to the opening act, Wire. Only recently I "rediscovered" them...

We will celebrate Thanksgiving on Wednesday. Our son has to return to Austin on Thursday, as he is playing in the Longhorn band and UT is playing Texas Tech on Friday.

Another strong candidate for the best band of (the first half of) the 80s:

I had always preferred the Hüsker Dü songs by Grant Hart over those by Bob Mould. Here is Grant Hart's follow-up project, Nova Mob. The video is pretty funny.

Grobschnitt... Of course, I had heard their name, but I never could associate any specific type of music with them. I'll give it a try. I arrived at Family from the other side. In Germany in the mid-70s, Chapman and Whitney's follow-up band, the Streetwalkers, were quite popular. Of course, they were much more R&B/blues-oriented (which fitted Chappo's voice quite well).

Although the label "underrated" is overused, here are... FAMILY

About today's weather...

As one reviewer commented: Anyone that can play drums with underwear on their head while wearing a monocle is alright in my book.

Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), only audio is available of this masterpiece. It is claimed that Frank Zappa had said that the Shaggs were "better than the Beatles", but there is no proof for that.

The song is somewhat repetitive and gets boring, but Albert Lee's guitar work is amazing...

And now for something completely different... Don't be scared away by the setting - this is not classical music as you know it. If you have kids who are in band at school, they might have some special appreciation.

Generally, I agree with you. However, the recent development of Josh Allen got me so excited that I occasionally wear this "stealth" Bills sweatshirt.

I came to the US, specifically, to the University of Rochester as a postdoc in 1990, just when the Bills started their 4 years of fame. Everybody in the lab was so excited; but, watching the games, I had no clue what was going on. Over time, football and especially the Bills grew on me. I even managed to turn my son into a Bills fan, although he just was four when we moved from Rochester to Texas.

Winter: Chicken Noodle Soup Summer: Gazpacho In-between: Vichyssoise (which is good either hot or cold)

Red Dwarf

My most controversial take: "Approximately Infinite Universe" by Yoko Ono is a decent album. While her voice is pretty awful, she can write some lovely melodies. The lyrics run the whole spectrum from laughable to noteworthy. And while the accompanying band, Elephant's Memory, did never reach any state of fame, they are actually quite good - I especially like Stan Bronstein's sax.

OK, then let us manufacture "Iceberg II", and we will challenge them to a duel...

Interesting point. What about motorcycles? Honda had an automatic a long while ago, but that did not last too long. In the future, will we get automatic Yamahas/Kawasakis/Suzukis/...?

Growing up in Germany, driving a manual came naturally. And yes, starting on a steep hill required a carefully choreographed interaction between clutch, gas, and hand brake (for those of you who do not know, a manually operated parking brake). When I last went back to Germany several years ago, the rental car (a manual) had a foot-operated parking brake, Thus, I was not sure how starting on a hill would work. But, to my surprise, the car did not roll backward when I released the clutch before hitting the gas pedal. They must have found a solution to this problem, but don't ask me how it works...

Just last December, Texas Tech decided to reduce the price for popcorn, hot dogs, and nachos to $2. They will also start to sell beer and wine. I just hope the beer selection will go beyond Bud Light and Coors Light. Interestingly, the motivation to allow beer and wine sales was not the revenue, but the hope that the stadium will no longer be half-empty in the 4th quarter of a one-sided game.

Yep. German public television had (and probably still has) a show called "Rockpalast" (= "rock palace") where they presented a one-hour concert, mostly by famous and semi-famous British and American bands, in front of a live audience in a TV studio. Several times during a year they had concerts in a larger setting, featuring 2-3 bands. At that time, in Germany the TV sound was pretty atrocious; thus, these concerts were broadcast in parallel on FM radio, in excellent quality. One of these concerts (probably the one with the most famous bands), in 1981, had first the Who and then the Grateful Dead. Townshend jammed with the Dead for a few songs. It was hilarious to see the contrast between his very energetic style of playing (or at least, his attempts to jump around) and the much more relaxed style of the Dead.