.. which proves music from the '80s really wasn't that Hot.

Walker and Elam, not Elm.

Ouch, JDR. :)

I've been to see the Breakfast Club several times and they put on a great show.

Each time I went, however, the place was dangerously overcrowded and it took away from my enjoyment of the show. I guess I should count myself lucky that a fire or gunfight didn't break out. If it would have happened on the nights I went, many would have died just trying to get out.

Sorry you had to stand out in the cold. That sucks. But it honestly doesn't sound like there was any way to safely let you stay inside. That would be defeating the purpose of safely getting you out.

If you want to blame anybody, you should be blaming the club owners for not adhering to the fire code. Hopefully, this will teach them a lesson.

Sorry, Yellow dog - I was never into it ... 80's "rock" followed on the heals of the New Wave which was right after Original Punk.

The Ramones never did it for me, but I saw the original Elvis and the Attractions about 1979, and it changed my life, having been raised on British Invasion, then Psychodelics.

By the 70's, Fusion had been discovered. Seeing Return to Forever (.. had thought Clark did that stuff on an electric, but he was doing it on the upright !!), and the Weather Report changed my life in a similar way.

So the 80's comes along and we get .. Blondie singing "The Tide Is High" ... gimme a break.

I dug the new synth's coming out at the time, which had still-sought-after fat analog sounds, ... maybe there was groovy stuff happening in the 80's, but it sure passed me by.

P.S.: There's some great stuff out there now, but you sure won't here it on Clear Channel or any other area radio - one more reason to hate Corporate America. Thank God for broadband internet.

JDR,

Now we're on the right subject. We've been speaking the wrong language. We should have been talking about music all this time instead of politics.

My comment wasn't about your taste in music, it was a remark about the use of the pun. Which was quite funny in a very bad way.

I didn't jump on the 80's bandwagon either but there were a few bands that I enjoyed during that time. The one memory I have of Blondie is mom singing 'Heart of Glass' at the top of her lungs while driving our Dodge Colt station wagon through downtown hickville. So, I guess their is nostalgia without necessarily adoration of the music.

I can say that I have gone back in time and listened to some 80's music and found some good stuff in unexpected places. For instance, the first Duran Duran release had a few really good songs. Unfortunately, they sold their souls from thereafter.

I have a wide variety of taste and I liked the Ramones okay. I liked the Sex Pistols a little better. And the Buzzcocks even more. And I've really enjoyed the new underground music coming out lately from Britain.

I'm a big fan of low-fi and altcountry. Bands like grandaddy, betaband, flaming lips etc really hit a good nerve for me. But I can get into the more rocking numbers and more mainstream numbers like jack white, radiohead and even the artic monkeys as well.

of course the old stuff is always out there and i can be known to listen to cash, loretta lynn, cream, allman brothers, orbison, etc now and again.

i love the internet for music more than ANYTHING else. i search hi and low for obscurity and have so many bands in my library that i often get sad when i let one of the really good ones go unnoticed for too long.

help me out. anything new on the scene that is just blowing you away? i haven't heard the weather report but i'll have to check that out.

Weather report is long gone .. but they were something special, and while their music is not for everyone .. seek out "Bird Land". If you're not wowwed by the end, then you were dead at the start.

Many of the bands I like are ones that other's have "turned me on to" (as we use to say). I'll check out the ones you've mentioned. I subscribe to Radioio and Rhapsody and often hear new things there - Radioio plays things I wouldn't hear otherwise and Rhapsody lets me search deep through threads and that's cool.

Recently, I was into the Alt-mode, e.g., enjoyed Wilco a bunch (never seen them) and saw the Flaming Lips on Austin City Limits. I'm a long time XTC fan - Most of Oranges and Lemons is Great as is most of Apple Venus One. There's a wild week-end in Winston called the Heavy Rebel Metal (something like that) that's always fun.

Currently, I'm in a 60's revival mode, playing Bob Dylan tunes like "Just Like a Woman" and "Tell Me It Isn't True" and the Hollies "Bus Stop" for example. I just got a Mackie Onyx so I'm learning how to record onto the computer .. Music is fun even if you suck at it!

A couple other suggestions:

Zappa's "The Best Band you Never Heard" - much of it is crap - or what I feel is Frank making fun of his audience - he clearly thought they were loosers that paid his bills ... but the first disk from Track 7 (Zombie Wolf) through the end is a 30 minute ride you might truely enjoy.

I Tivo'd Cream's 2005 "Reunion" at Albert's Hall. Having never seen them - although I was 15 when Disrale Gears came out - it' pretty cool to watch - ya gotta REALLY appreciate Ginger - the drummer makes the band - and I picked up "Sleepy Time" as a Blues Jam number to try out some night.

I was a huge dada fan, and Live was awesome the first time I saw them (not so good the second and last time - like dada, they faded with boredom at their own music - doing the same stuff too long IMHO - plus the same interpersonal magic that creates, also distroys).

If you've not dug into early Stones, that's a hoot, Flowers through Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main Street. After that they kinda bore me, but mid 60's Wyman Bass was unbelievably creative. I recently saw them for the first time, and Charlie Watts IS the band.

All that said, I'm definately an ass about Music - way too opinionated with very little interest in what most folks enjoy. I have a buddy that loves to play Statesboro Blues - but I'm so tired of it. I used to go to Blues Jams, but If I never play I'm A Man one more time, that'll be too soon, and few if anyone know my material, since the song's I pursue are generally "B" siders (if you know that term).

My philosophy is play well for yourself and the rest will happen, but folks I've hooked up with say play the hits the crowd wants to hear. We never agree, and I get pigheaded. Combine that with my tongue that wags if the rhythm's not workin' etc., and by mutual consent I've given up on the band thing.

A couple more artists just popped into my head -- I'm a HUGE Sonny Landreth fan - he is reinventing the slide guitar - and Johnny "A" is the most soulful guitar player out there - white or otherwise. I think he's playing locally soon too.

Thanks for the information. I will definitely check it out cause I can tell you give a lot of thought into what you like. People often ask me what I like (expecting to hear that I like rock or country or soul or r&B or rap or some other 'label') and all I can say is "What I like". I know it when I hear it.

I don't pay attention to charts or reviews most of the time because they are usually determined by train jumpers. But I do often start my searches based on bands I know I like or by hearing from people I feel I can trust. There is so much to hear and just not near enough time. I am a music snob in that if I don't like it I don't want to hear it and I definitely don't want to be told how great something is when it isnt. I usually just smile and walk away the first chance I get.

Thanks for the generous reply.