Kramer Ferrington III.

That's one of my favourites. I really like the "Whatever it is, I'm Against It" song. Cool vids of your gig too, BTW. I even like the setting. Is it a restaurant? It's cool! I even like the way that the bass sounds a little overdriven. Gives it more body, no? That's a really broadbacked tone.

THAT makes sense.

Gee, bitsy, I see you like that band A LOT... http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=bitsy+%22living+end%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Great rhythm section, Phil! Guitar's nothing to write home about and the singer sounds a bit strained, like he's singing from his throat and not his chest. Still, that may be due to the "difficult circumstances" you mention? Love the bass and the sound from the kit. Great rimshots!

One political film I've alwyas liked is Z, about the Greek military coup in the 60s. That's got to be one of the most powerful political films I've ever seen. "The Interpreter" I found a bit so-so.

Wow, I just played the YouTube vid and he's amazing. I must admit I was prepared to hate it (not big on ukes) and I found myself drifting with the music and regretting that he finished so soon. Great stuff!

I used to snigger whenever my parents complained that half the places on their old school atlas didn't exist anymore... and now I find that a lot of the places in my 1970s Atlas don't exist anymore either. Their Atlas included places like the Belgian Congo, French Indochina and the Spanish Sahara. My Atlas, OTOH, had a big red area marked USSR and Germany was still divided. I used to have this terrific kiddie encyclopaedia written in Britain during the early 1930s and it was full of gems like, "Only time will tell whether Mr. Mussolini will be as succesful at running his country as he has been at running its trains, but we wish him luck on his endeavour". Or words to that effect. And it fawned quite embarassingly over Hitler, too. Didn't THOSE editors have to do a quick rewrite in 1939!

Yeah, but if we both mean the same thing by "superglue" Bah... cross that bridge when you come to it. What do you mean by "stab wounds" to the front? Did it save some guy's life? I knew a girl who owned a Telecaster with a bullet in it. Some guy had been playing in a NY bar when a gunfight broke out and the Tele stopped a bullet for him. But, even though he'd obviously received A Sign that he was meant to play that Telecaster, the ungrateful bastard sold it the next day and gave up on music.

Yeah, well... they're not like bass strings, you know. When guitar strings get old, they DO sound like crap. Anyway, I'm sure there's plenty of solutions to the problem up to and including breaking the peg off and drilling it out of the bridge. Cross that bridge if and when you come to it.

So how are you planning on changing strings? I think it would have been much more sensible to wedge the peg with something, traditionally it's a Rizla.

Yeah, it's not a very good avatar but I was really bored with the old one. I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

Yeah, fair enough!

Erm... Well, I've never written a love song so I don't know if they work. The one time somebody's mentioned me in a song, I felt extremely self-conscious. But then again, they were singing it in public. Best of luck, and I really hope it works! The words sound pretty good: personally, I could never get lyrics to be as sincere as that, so I gave up a long time ago. Bear in mind though, that it's practically impossible to talk a woman into anything, as far as relationships are concerned. Either they're into it, or they're not. But then again, I've never tried writing a love song! PS: and it's heart "break", not "brake". Brakes are those things on your bike.

Oh... Is THAT what "a hot toddy" is..? Yeah, it doesn't sound terribly nice. I think I'd rather have the whisky neat. BTW: look out for drinks with milk in them, I don't remember the chemistry involved but they tend to be a lot stronger than one would think.

He's really cool. I must admit, I really LOVE lounge. Hell, I love my dad's record collection. I'm just so glad I can now call it "lounge".

It's amazing to see how they've grown to love their cafes over here. Even towns that are too small to afford that proverbial one horse have cafes. The standard is not always even, but all the time I spent in Italy's made me a bit fussy about coffee.

Does it make any difference? I mean, if YOU think you're ripping off somebody else's song, no amount of other people's opinions will change your mind (well, that's what happens with me anyway), and so much music is built up from other bits and pieces anyway. There's nothing wrong with adapting a song and making it your own. So, in as many words, if you think you're doing another song, you ARE. Not that it matters though.

It's hard to say... it's been a long time, maybe your face's changed?

Anothr interesting thing to do is to pour salt on slugs. They just... melt. NB: I used to do that a lot more when I was a little kid and before I developed a greater respect for other life forms.

Sounds like bliss, Phil!

ROTFL! That's brilliant!

Yeah, and whatever you do, don't DROP it. They go out of tune like nobody's business.

Just out of curiosity... what sort of comeback DO you have when the klutz at the tattoo parlour mispells common English words like "too"?

What's ugly-a$$ about it? I mean, I've never heard anyone knock them on aesthetic grounds before (mind you, I don't think I've ever discussed this with anyone before, either! I've seen the green ones in photos. I really like them. Then again, when a Fender Bassman came out with fake leopard fur instead of tolex, I loved that too!

He had a RHODES? How wonderful! I really love Rhodes pianos. An old girlfriend had one and it had the most gorgeous sound. Pity it was the "suitcase" model with the built in amp and box (ie it wss like carting around TWO pianos) Beautiful, beautiful instrument.