richwhite9

That is the thing: The Electro was a Swiss army knife that continues to escalate in price. The E2-61 was available at this price point. That's another question: where does a used Electro 2-61 still beat the pants off a VR-09? EPs and keybed and Clav? What's a better bottom board? Krome, E2-73 lightly used, or a PC5? I've got to think guys running around with a Krome-73 and a VR-09 are sounding pretty good on stage and cover a lot more territory than an E4-SW73 for the same price. Whatever strengths the N E4 has its likely lost on the crowd.

Like it or not I think lithium ion batteries and wireless protocols are coming to this class of board so it fits the cable free mobile generation theme. The Nady devolution all over again. Guitar players look better without amps and wearing antenna anyway

The exciting thing is these guys (and Korg with the 73-key Krome) competing at the 1K price point. A Krome and a VR-09 stacked may not be everyone's cup of tea for ergonomics but I'm reasonably sure that stack will sound just fine to the summer festival crowd listening to blues/rock mixed with electronica. More to my sound palette than a Kurz LE and Yamaha MOX stack.

Mate it with a Casio PK-150 and upgrade every 3 or 4 years and lose a whopping $500 or so. Perfect Weekend warrior stuff. There's no going back. The keys on the Roland look like a horror story for the palm smear waterfall crowd and spank it EP crowd.

The Broccoli's are very sharp. None of the movies lost money on their initial run. Only two films did less than 3X the budget. One of them was Craig's last film. Historically they cut the budget when a film underperforms at the office (based on the prior films gross). Quantum's budget was $230 million. Skyfall's is $150 million. Screeners say the money was well spent on the villian (Javier Bardeem) and it borrows from Bourne as the plot is an agency unraveling as past failed ops come to light and the official stories are debunked. Screeners liked it better than Quantum and were split whether it tops Royale.

With Dalton they made an understated spy film about a Soviet spy in Afghanistan and some financial deals and a cellist. It lacked the over-the-top campiness and comic book wannabe dictators like Moonraker of other Moore films. Not to mention it was relased during the Iran-Contra hearings. Reagan would have made a better Bond villian with Star Wars, the Casey October Surprise conspiracy rumors, Secord's Southern Air Transport, etc.. Doonsebury's Ron Headrest (the Ronald Reagan as Max Headroom spoof) would have improved the Dalton flick. That's not a comment on Reagan's politics just that real-life spies were more interesting than the Dalton villians.

That was the first big formula film but it was so satisfying to sit and watch. The long, implausible escape in the Alps, the great Carly Simon ballad, improved soft porn graphics for the opening credits -- it simply enjoyed itself being a Bond movie. Worth the price of admission before the opening credits were done. Best? "Dr No" Absolutely cheesy with the dragon boat and voice dubbed Ursula Andress who saves the film via bikini as Honey Rider. They had no clue what they were doing except for filming a cheap Brit flick and it has a wonderful Political Incorrectness to it. It did 60x the budget at the box office. The Blair Witch of its day.

When I heard Cobain died I had to eat my words. I thought he had the tortured artist schtick down cold and executed it better than anyone. It was all fake and contrived of course designed to suck in a new generation of kids with the suicidal existential angst thing that Morrison worked so well.

The recent public television Doors special was pretty good. When You're Strange: A Film About the Doors. Mostly old tapes that were unearthed. The story is well known but it was real backstage and studio tape so the Morrison problem was a little more focused and realistic. The best way to put it: they got through the first two albums OK. Many of the clips are from the period where Morrison was drunk. Constantly. Between the failed "Celebration of the Lizard" from the 3rd album and "The Soft Parade" era (4th album). Lots of no shows and bad studio performances of his poetry. It was the era of the arrests and inconsistent stage shows. Let's just say Manzarek had plenty of opportunity to vamp on the classic Vox riff he uses over and over again.

On the 4th album "The Soft Parade" the title track and "Wild Child" are Hammond tracks. On LA Woman (6th album): The Changling THE WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zayq41CZhc Hyacinth House On Morrison Hotel (5th album): Maggie McGill Second Album Strange Days (title track)

Are you sure you are a Doors fan? They did switch to a Hammond and used one on many tracks.

It compares well with the original but I have to admit I'm hooked on the live version from 'Wings Across America'. It was written to be the leadoff anthem song for stadium tours and sounds great with the usual live chaos and audience. I wouldn't worry about the vocoder. If you added cheesy fake audience sounds then you'd be in trouble.