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Schadenfreude is worth living for.
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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 527
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Member Visits: 20,550
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Total Visits: 148,075
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About MiDoyle
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White Collar Crime Penalty Idea. Take all the bankers, brokers, mortgage industry clowns, and hedge fund jokers that destroyed America's financial system. Line them up and have them drop their drawers. Instruct them to put their balls in a vise. Let everybody have a turn twisting the handle. Government charges a nut cracking fee for anyone wanting to take part. A dollar a ball. End of financial crisis. It's not torture because America doesn't torture. Republicans would rate a 2-for-1 special, just because...
Deep Thought: . . . It’s called the American Dream cause you have to be asleep to believe it. George Carlin (1937-2008)
The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk they're sober. William Butler Yeats
Dilbert (2/8/07)
Pointy-haired boss: “Wally, what are your goals for the coming year?”
Wally: “My goal is to replace my soul with coffee and become immortal.”
Pointy-haired boss: “I mean something about work.”
Wally: “Oh, I thought you said my goals.”
Stuff in Rotation. Note: this list occasionally includes (a) independent releases not usually listed in the epinions music database, and (b) commercially available music which cannot be found on the site with epinions' wonky search engine/database. Explain that to me again. [Epinion's music database/catalog/search blows chunks with vigor.] Imagine if epinions' database/search engine actually worked ... Possible reviews to follow.
Stephen Bruton: What It Is
Stephen Bruton: Right on Time
Stephen Bruton: Nothing But the Truth
Stephen Bruton: Spirit World
Stephen Bruton: From the Five
Gary Burton/Pat Metheny/Steve Swallow/Antonio Sanchez: Quartet Live
J.J. Cale: Roll On
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood: Live from Madison Square Garden
Shawn Colvin: Live
Robben Ford: Soul on Ten
Rebecca Coupe Franks and Her Groovemobile: 100 Per Cent
Morley: Seen
Jon Pousette-Dart: Ready to Fly
Zachary Richard: Last Kiss
True West: Hollywood Holiday Revisited
How I Rate Albums
I consider myself a semi-serious music fan (though I have some embarrassing guilty pleasures in my musical closet). My album rating standards are slightly different than the ones epinions’ uses in its review format.
5 stars: Classic album with few flaws (heavy rotation).
4 stars: Exceptional album with minor flaws (heavy to moderate rotation).
3 stars: A solid album throughout with minor flaws (moderate rotation).
2 stars: A relatively mediocre release (occasional spins) for completists only.
1 star: Crap release (I played it and hated it, usually a few times with alcohol involved).
Some Recent Reviews:
Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid [5 stars, see review]
Back Door Slam: Roll Away [4 stars, see review]
Jeff Beck: There and Back [3 stars, see review]
Blind Faith: Blind Faith [Deluxe edition, 4 stars; see review]
Booker T.: Potato Hole [3 stars, see review]
Stephen Bruton: What It Is [4 stars, see review]
Crosby, Stills & Nash: Greatest Hits [4 stars, see review]
Crosby, Stills & Nash: CSN [4 stars, see review]
Danny Federici: Flemington [3 stars, see review]
Grace Cathedral Park: In the Evenings of Regret [4 stars, see review]
Ted Greene: Solo Guitar [4 stars, see review]
Albert King: Born Under a Bad Sign [5 stars, see review]
Nils Lofgren: The Loner-Nils Sings Neil [4 stars, see review]
Pousette-Dart Band: The Best of PDB [4 stars, see review]
Pousette-Dart Band: Never Enough/3 [French import, 4 stars, see review]
Dennis Wilson: Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition) [4 stars, see review]
Steve Winwood: Nine Lives [3 stars, see review]
Who am I?
I'm married [wife K and daughter E] with two well-fed cats: Freddie and Chester, and two dogs: Lucy, a Rough Coat Collie/diva and Katie, a Smooth Coat Collie/diva. I'm a member of the reality-based community and a proud blue stater---Jersey-born (exit 117) and raised (Monmouth County, near the shore). I'm into music [guitar-oriented, eclectic and electric, independent artists, rock/jazz/blues]. I enjoy concerts, art museums, bowel movements, and good beer [micros/imports]. I have an allegiance to good, high-quality toilet paper, Mallomars, Beer Nuts, Hostess Snoballs, Licorce Nibs, the Chicago Bears, and the Boston Red Sox.
I am also an avowed Pat-Head and if you don't know Pat Metheny and his music, I can't understand you either.
Ditto for my feelings on Eric Clapton, Michael Hedges, George Harrison, Leo Kottke, Mark Knopfler, Bruce Cockburn, John Hiatt, Stephen Bruton, Sonny Landreth, James Taylor, Steve Forbert, J.J. Cale, Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, David Lindley, Steve Hackett, Michael Manring, Richard Thompson, Bill Frisell, Mike Stern, Wayne Krantz, Francis Doughty, Richard Leo Johnson, Pousette-Dart Band, Kaki King, Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, Lucinda Williams, Robben Ford, and Eric Johnson, among others. Most of my faves play guitar.
That said, I'm a true music junkie unless it's something I don't like. That only reads like a dichotomy. Those of my generation (north of the 40 watermark) understand.
For the love of good music, check out the following from from independent artist, bassist Michael Manring: Soliloquy or the Book of Flame.
If you're a fan of acoustic guitar, check out these two offerings from independent guitarist Francis Doughty: Among Trees and Under the Sky.
Also, this independent jazz release from trumpeter Rebecca Coupe Franks is well worth listening consideration from serious jazz fans.
Fun Facts:
I am not political by nature. I am a proud GDI, and if you have to ask you probably aren't. As a cynical optimist, I tend to distrust those who are self-described experts unless I'm bleeding.
I make a point everyday to read MUTTS by Patrick McDonnell and GET FUZZY by Darby Conley, as well as Pearls before Swine by Stephan Pastis. If you are unfamiliar with these comics, you're missing out on laughs everyday. If you don't like said comics, I suspect it's time to get your posterior stick implant adjusted.
When in doubt, I can always get a laugh by rereading Rich Hall's Self Help for the Bleak.
Gizmo and Moi: My late great dog Gizmo [1983-2000] was a true dog with a capital "D" and certainly this man's best friend. He lives on at our homepage and at the "justpaws" site of Chicago-area artist Pamela Staker-Matson. For more of her great pet portraits, check out the justpaws.com link above.
My Beer(s) of the Moment: I'm drinking, period. Whatever you got, enjoy. Slainte!
One of my favorite personal beer reviews (and one of my own) is a nostalgic look back at a beer of my late father's generation--Schaefer Beer-- and a brew firmly in my 1970s memory bank.
Note: Chris Harford and his music is always on or not too far away from the rotation. Want to know why? See his web site at www.chrisharford.com
Recommended albums:
Chris Harford: Looking Out for Number 6
Chris Harford and the Band of Changes: Time Warp Deck
Chris Harford and the Band of Changes: Sing, Breathe, and Be Merry 1989-2002 [compiliation]
Chris Harford and the Band of Changes (with Sim Cain): Live at CBs 313 Gallery
Chris Harford and the Band of Changes:
Wake
Chris Harford: Band of Changes
Chris Harford: Comet
Chris Harford and the First Rays of the New Rising Sun: Be Headed
Peonese Spoken Here: I prefer my Peon status, thank you very much. I read old reviews of jkkelley just for the hell of it.
My Thoughts on the Site: First off, I do my own thing. Epinions is just a place to dump the thoughts in my head for the most part.
I'm not a big "community" person (I am a blunt, natural contrarian and find the ridiculous enforcement of community norms to be one of the biggest drawbacks to the site) and rarely enter the message board nonsense zone. The asshats never shut up. If I do enter the message boards, I bring the absurdity.
My epinions are my own. I stand behind what I write, unless I change my mind.
I have a low tolerance for comment-crapping. Comment-crappers can go scratch.
Other Epinions' Truths. (1) I don't see the need for an ingredients list unless you're trying to poison someone. (2) People who use excessive exclamation points (!) in their reviews are usually full of crap. (3) I am convinced that people who use emoticons are people I don't care to know.
I also trust Sordid-1; Fez Monkey; Annexation; and SpookyMonkey, which makes me a bad person.
I'm not a critic. I'm just a fan and write about my likes/dislikes and other topics that interest me. People who think they are "critics" on this site usually write the reviews I avoid.
I comment when the mood strikes me ("snark" optional). I hope no one on my WOT (my preferred reading list) is a Dillweed. That's it.
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