Mr. Crowley

I've been meaning to post something about this release, but hadn't gotten around to it. I've already ordered a copy of the new album. Willie Dowling is a musical genius as far as I'm concerned, and would definitely encourage anyone to check out his stuff. I posted a link a long time ago here to the song Stupid that he did with Sugar Plum Fairies, and that song is getting a proper release on his new album. I've just about completed my collection of all his work with his previos bands. Everything he did after The Grip has been brilliant.

A couple guys from 'Grand Theft Audio' have formed a new band called Security. I didn't like 'Grand Theft Audio', but this is better. It's bombastic, over-the-top hard rock. It's good if you like that sort of thing. I do. They don't have anything released yet, but they have three demo tracks available for download here: http://www.ineedsecurity.net/media.html Security are: Jay Butler Vocals John Kingham Guitar Halil Bayram Bass Ritch Battersby drums Following the demise of their former group 'Grand Theft Audio', Butler and Battersby formed a songwriting partnership intent on re-balancing the scales after the decidedly unweighty pop endevour they had just been spat out of. The two began writing and recording material during the summer of 2003, both filling guitar duties for the initial demos. Wishing to make the sound heavier and darker the two were then introduced to by chance to the suburbs last hidden treasure. Mr John Kingham. After an initial meeting and agreement on the direction and intent of the music John swiftly brought his eclectic and furious individual style of heavy riffage to the mix and the band was effectivley formed. The three then set about writing the main body of material during late summer/ early autumn and auditioning bass players. More

Black Sabbath drummer, Bill Ward has made one track from his upcoming release, Beyond Aston available for download on his website. Here is a direct link: The Dark Half Hour . I'm not too familiar with his solo stuff, but I kind of like this song. It reminds me a bit of something Joe Walsh might do, only heavier.

I was wondering who he was asking also. Anyway, here are some specs on the iRiver that was discussed in the other thread. -Box Contents, Backlit remote control with 4-line display, iRiver earphones, Carrying case, Installation software CD, AC adapter, USB 2.0 cable, Line-in cable, External microphone. Printed user manual -Plays over 1200 hours of digital music -Up to 16 hours of battery life -Supports MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV and OGG music files -Ultra-fast USB 2.0 transfers (up to 40 times faster than USB 1.0) -Integrated FM tuner -Backlit remote control with 4-line display -Built-in voice recorder -Intuitive music navigation -Real-time MP3 encoding (no PC required) -40GB of internal storage -Store or transfer files of any type -Extra-large, 8-line, backlit LCD -Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery -Optical input and output -Upgradeable to future formats and features -1 Year Warranty -Pictures are for illustration purposes only. I've been doing a lot of reading on these players over the last few days, and have read reviews for the iriver, ipod, creative, samsung, dell, gateway, rio, rca, archos, philips, and several others. I've com to the conclusion that the only two really good ones are the iPod and iRiver. They are also the most expensive. The iRiver is less expensive and has reviews every bit as good as the iPod if not better. The best price I've come across for the iRiver 40GB player is $379.95 here: http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?r...001871#moreinfo. That is more than I wanted to pay for one, but I'll probably end up getting it anyway. My main concern is how well it will work with the car cassette adapter. It seems that many players of this type produce bad sound quality when used with the adapter. If anyone here has the iRiver and has used it with the adapter, let me know how it works.

Thanks, I don't know how the hell I missed that.

15/20 Not bad, but the ones that asked what combination of foods taste good are completely subjective.

I've been looking into getting a 40GB MP3 jukebox, and I need some advice on which is the best. I'm not going to get an Ipod. They are too expensive. If I can't get a descent one for a good price, I'll wait. I've read reviews on the Zen Xtra and RCA Lyra, but haven't been able to come to any conclusions. I read that the cover pops of the Zen easily, and the headphone jack often quits working. I've also read that many of these produce bad sound when used with the car adapter kit, and that is probably what I'll use it for most. Does anyone have any experience with these or others that are in the same price range($200-$300)?

I hear this a lot from those opposed to the war, but I can't really see what difference it makes where he got them from or what difference it make that we supported Iraq in the 80's. Arguments can be made that it was the right thing to do at the time, and vice versa. I don't understand how this has anything to do with how this is being dealt with now. Well, there was a coalition. Sure, it didn't include France, Germany, Russia, and others, but it was still a large coalition. I don't see how waiting would have convinced countries like France, Germany, etc. to join the coalition since it has come out about how these countries leaders were involved with skimming from the oil for food program. That is why it is so ironic when the US is accused of going to Iraq for oil. Countries like North Korea, Iran, Syria, and other will have to be confronted at some point. Hopefully, most of this can be diplomatically as it was with Lybia. I don't think that could have been done if it were not clear that there was a credible threat of force being used. I think Iraq was first on the list because there was a clear, legal case for action. I know many say the action was illegal, but Saddam was violating both UN resolutions, and the cease fire agreement from the first gulf war. It also seems to me that taking on Iraq to prove to North Korea that you are serious is better than the other way around. This was the first time I have ever posted in a political thread. Hopefully, I won't be tarred and feathered by the 99% liberal majority here. :bigsmile:

Damn, that sucks. There's very few things in this world that I hate more than a thief. :reallymad:

OK, I'm going try to breath some life into this dying thread by recommending the band, Seasons Of The Wolf. They are based in Florida and have been around since 1988, but didn't release their first album on CD until 1996. They had some cassettes earlier that were only available near Tampa. Here is a short bio from http://www.metalgospel.com. These guys are awesome ! Very traditional sounding with a touch of "new age" atmosphere. Their formation can be traced back to 1988 by the Waddell brothers and Dennis Ristow. They´d be joined by Dwayne Briar (Drums) and Clay Yeagley (Bass). With this line up they released two tapes between 88 and 90 available only in the Tampa Bay area. The line up would shift in the next few years with the replacement of Clay by Phaedra Rubio (DANGEROUS CURVES) and Dwayne by Aaron Winders (who would later be replaced by Wayne Hoefle). In 94 they started recording their debut self titled album (released in 96) which helped push the band from local to worldwide attention. With that recording under their belts they played many live shows in support around Florida and also had some of their music used in MTV shows. In 98 Phaedra was replaced by stage tech Chris Whitford. With that line up they produced and released "Lost In Hell" in 1999. At this point they started really pushing promotion: sending samples to major magazines as well as online publications, getting radio airplay at college stations and taking part in tribute albums for IRON MAIDEN, BLACK SABBATH and QUEEN. 2001 saw the release of their third full length recording, "Nocturnal Revelation" in the same magnificance as the rest. SEASONS OF THE WOLF have always been a special band to me, their music is superior and well crafted. During the times of what I considered to be a "true" Metal drought they kept the spirit and essence alive. http://www.metalgospel.com/SeasonsOfTheWolf/ Here are a few tracks to download: Victim Of Darkness Magnetic Star October Moon Interstellar One Land One King Communion

It's not bad. As far as I know, that is the first Megadeth song I've ever listened too, although I really don't know why I've never checked them out. I guess I associated them with Metallica, and since I never cared for Metallica, I just never bothered. I'm sure I'll end up getting some Megadeth into my collection eventually.

Ok, I'll try to add something now and then when I have time. I think I may put up some older bands that may not be well known, or not as well known as they should be. With that, I'll start with Riot. They are somewhat well known, but have been largely overlooked and underrated. They have been around since the late 1970's and have released 12 studio albums. Their first album, Rock City, was released in 1978. Their third album, Fire Down Under, was considered by many to be one of the best albums of the 80's. They were one of the early influences in the power metal genre, and their Thundersteel album sounded a lot like Judas Priest's Painkiller album, and that was a couple years before Painkiller was released. A lot of bad deals, internal problems, and bad luck kept them from being huge. They have had 4 lead vocalists since their beginning. The first two of those are now dead. The original vocalist, Guy Speranza, died last year of pancreatic cancer at 47. Their second vocalist, Rhett Forrester, was murdered in 1994. The only remaining original member is guitarist, Mark Reale. You can visit their website here: http://www.riotsweb.com/ There are reviews of some of their albums here: http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/riot.htm The ones missing are Narita, Nightbreaker, and Brethren Of The Long House.

Thanks, DAIC and Shawn. I'll look into them. Thanks for the complement on the avatar, Shawn.

Which one? I refreshed the page 4 times, and got different adds each time, but none of them seemed to be relevant.

Does anyone know if there is a program that can read files like pdf, doc, txt, etc., and create audio files of the text?

I downloaded the first two sample tracks. I would have tried others, but that took two hours on this slow ass connection. They are a bit on the poppy side for me as well, but not bad. They remind me a bit of Sack Trick.

Damn, it looks like I missed my own party. Thanks everyone! I actually didn't even remember it was my birthday until late in the evening. Needless to say, I didn't do anything special unless going to work counts. Again thanks everyone! :psychofun:

They use a lot of folky melodies in many of their songs as well as using instuments like the fiddle and flute quite often. The lyrics follow the folk theme much moreso than most metal bands, but it is still definitely a metal band with folk influences rather thatn the other way around.

For anyone who likes Folk Metal bands, check out Elvenking. They are somewhat like Skyclad, but have a lot of influence from bands like Rhapsody as well. They have a new album out called Wyrd. I haven't heard any songs from it yet, but did hear a couple songs from their first album, Heathenreel, and really enjoyed them. They offer one free track from their fist album here: The Dweller of Rhymes

I would agree, but I would include most of Europe and not just the countries mentioned. Also, its not just metal, but rock as well. It does seem that the highest concentration of great metal bands are from northern European counties like Finland, Norway, Germany, Sweden, etc... Blind Guardian is probably my favorite metal band of all time, and there are tons of bands like this in that area. I recently discovered a Finnish metal band called Ensiferum that should become huge. After hearing one song, I bought their debut CD off of Ebay. Yes, I bought it. I would encourage any metal fan to check out this band. It is kind of epic melodic black metal, or something like that. They don't have any MP3s on their site yet, but are supposed to soon. I'm sure that anyone who wants to check them out can find some tracks floating around somewhere. :)

It's another world ... but is it our 10th planet? By Louise Milligan and agencies 15mar04 SCIENTISTS have found a new world orbiting the solar system – more than 3 billion kilometres further away from the Sun than Pluto and 40 years away from Earth in a space shuttle. NASA is expected to announce today the discovery of the space object, which some experts believe could be a new planet. It is provisionally known as Sedna, after the Inuit goddess of the sea. The discovery of Sedna – 10 billion kilometres from Earth – is a testament to the new generation of high-powered telescopes. Measurements suggest Sedna's diameter is almost 2000km – the biggest find in the solar system since Pluto was discovered 74 years ago. It is believed to be made of ice and rock, and is slightly smaller than Pluto. The find will reignite the debate over what constitutes a planet. Some scientists claim even Pluto is too small to count as one. According to astronomer Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who discovered Sedna, there could be many other new worlds orbiting the Sun and waiting to be discovered. "Sedna is very big, and much further out than previous discoveries," he said. "I'm pretty sure there are other large bodies up there too." But physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies, of Sydney's Macquarie University, said it was folly to describe Sedna as a planet. "It's fun, it's exciting, but let's keep it in proportion," Professor Davies said yesterday. He said scientists had known for "a decade or so the solar system does not come to an abrupt halt" and there were a number of "planetessimals" or little planets, like Sedna. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/print...8968352,00.html

You would be right. I've had Meer for a couple years. Before that, I had Neumedia, but it was about the same service, and a little more expensive. The only hope for high speed in the future is throught the electric company unless satelite gets a lot cheeper.

U.S tour dates have been rescheduled as The Wildhearts join The Darkness tour. From The Wildhearts Website: You may be aware that some speculation over the forthcoming US tour has been circulating - we now have confirmation that the Wildhearts have been offered the opportunity to support the Darkness on their US tour and have accepted; this has meant that many of the shows on the original US tour have had to be cancelled. Ginger has mailed the following message of explanation: "We will stick by you, if you stick by us. I apologise on behalf of the band and management for the cancellation of the forthcoming US tour, in favour of continuing to tour with The Darkness around the world. This Darkness tour means that we can reach more people, and that means coming back to headline USA a heck of a lot more in the future. When we put the band back together, the manifesto was always to make it as successful as it should have been first time around, and opportunities like this U.S. Darkness tour come along ONCE in a lifetime. We just COULDN'T say no, when they offered it to us. And the tour was offered the day of the Brit awards, just a few days ago. I know there are a lot of people that have bought plane tickets, concert tickets and spent weeks looking forward to seeing us on the co-headline tour with Dragons. All I can say to those people is that we will try to pay you back, and make it up to you in full, over the course of the next few years. We will help out with free guest tickets on the Darkness tour, where applicable (if you've spent a fucking fortune already then you deserve compensation), and try to make life comfortable for the true hardcore fans that were the first to buy tickets, etc, when we come back to play a proper headline tour. We will do everything we can to honour the dates already booked, until the Darkness tour starts. Believe me when I say that this is as big of a surprise to us as it is to you, and I hope this doesn't lead to a mass exodus from the bands fanbase in US, although I do understand your disappointment. But the future is ours to build, and we can't build anything without moving a few things around. That is the way of change. Once again I apologise, but have to ask the question "what would YOU have done in our position"? I hope you stick with us, because this looks likely to be the best chance to crack the US that the band have ever had, and that has always been the wish of the American fans, as well as the band. I hope you can understand the reasons for the decision. If not, please write to me at the ask Ginger section of the web site. I look forward to hearing from you." This means that the revised US schedule is as follows: 03/19/04 San Antonio, TX @ Sam's Burger Joint 03/20/04 Austin, TC @ Emo's Gearhead Records SXSW Showcase 03/21/04 New Orleans, LA @ The Circle Bar 03/22/04 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L. 03/23/04 Charlotte, NC @ The Room 03/24/04 Baltimore, MD @ Otto Bar Darkness Support Dates: 03/26/04 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave Bar 03/27/04 Chicago, IL @ The Vic 03/28/04 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew's Hall 03/30/04 Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's Downunder 03/31/04 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Laga 04/02/04 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts 04/03/04 Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom 04/04/04 Providence, RI @ Lupo's at the Strand 04/06/04 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 04/08/04 Atlanta, GA @ Cotton Club 04/09/04 New Orleans, LA @ The House of Blues 04/11/04 Houston, TX @ Engine Room 04/12/04 Dallas, TX @ Trees 04/13/04 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa 04/15/04 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre 04/16/04 Mission Beach, CA @ Canes Bar & Grill 04/17/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre 04/18/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre The band and their management are also working hard at present to bring the Wildhearts over to the US again for their own US dates. If any of you have purchased flight tickets, made hotel bookings and so on for a show that has now been cancelled, we suggest you check your travel insurance and flight refund policies if you decide not to make the trip. Also you may want to check with your credit card company as these purchases may also be insured within a grace period. Also all venues will of course honour reimbursements on tickets sold - please contact the source you bought them from for refund information. Also this will have an impact on the UK tour - this is still going ahead, but the dates are being rescheduled by a week or so to accommodate this tour. We will bring you these new dates very shortly once they have all been confirmed. This of course will be with good friends Therapy? as mentioned before, so should make for some cracking shows! On the subject of UK dates, an extra acoustic show has been added - they play The Limelight in Crewe on Saturday the 13th of March. Finally, we know many of you will be obviously put out by this change of plans - if any of you have purchased flights etc and are unable to get refunds please contact us at [email protected] and we will try and do what we can to help, although it should be noted that this is the Darkness's tour and therefore the band and their management have only limited control on guest tickets.

Well, I live about an hour drive away from Rainbowdemon. So, his description will do for where I live as well. I don't live in a town at all. The nearest "town" has a population of 143 according to the last census, and it hasn't even had a post office for several years. I drive to a town called Elkins every day for work. It is about a 40 mile drive. The internet service in this area does indeed suck. Right now, I'm connected at a blazing 21.6k. I have a 56k modem, but the phone lines around here are shit. If I ever get a digital camera or a scanner, I can post a pic.

Wow! I give up. It took me half an hour just to get a 3. The Oracle says: michael shanks has a Bacon number of 3. Michael Shanks was in Suspicious River (2000) with Jay Brazeau Jay Brazeau was in Cadence (1990) with Laurence Fishburne Laurence Fishburne was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon