YTSEJAM Digest 5498 Today's Topics: 1) Here I Am! by "Ricardo Testa" 2) RE: you're "testa-ing" my patience by "tomas valodka" 3) EOJ by "tomas valodka" 4) My thoughts on BNW, King's X and other stuff by Kurt M Hampton 5) while we're at it, pretty much on topic by "Raivo Hool" 6) Re: Music editing programs... by email_address_removed (Steve Chew) 7) a one-line review of the construkction of light might read.... by "Partha Mukhopadhyay" 8) Interesting Read... by Pat Griffin 9) Re: YTSEJAM digest 5497 by "Ricardo Testa" 10) Re: Brave New World by Matt Smith 11) Track by track review of the Fates Warning tribute by email_address_removed 12) Playing with your Testa coils... rrr by "Al @ Switchcraft" 13) [nightwish] Nosturi 31.5 Gig Review by "Jan-Michael" 14) Re: YTSEJAM digest 5497 by Andreas Skarin - SDTS 15) Re: Mother Shabooboo by "Matt Molite" 16) Hombre Mano Blanco... by Greg Kristianson 17) Tito's Gone... by Barbara Battaglia 18) Killing Blind Melon by "Daniel ArmdenDANgeruz" 19) I think Ricardo is cool. by "Korg Ecksthrey" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 15:59:00 CEST From: "Ricardo Testa" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Here I Am! Message-ID: >I thought the name Ricard Testa sounded familiar: > >Lycanthrope is the old 'scientific' term for werewolf, the modern term >being the taxonomical > nightmare "genus Homolupometamorphicus". It was >first used in the seminal work on the subject, > 'De Lycanthropia' written in 1577 by the famed >lycanthropist and vampirologist Ricardo Testa > (1533-1581), who travelled far and wide in his >studies, always carrying a solid silver crucifix as > protection against his research subjects. What on earth is this???? THIS is the funniest thing I have ever seen!! >Personally, I think this joke is the same idiot as George Farber, remember >= >him?=20 > >(DIE!!!!!! > > >DIE!!!!) etc. > > >Ya can't take this fool seriously-Idoubt he/she actually exists. However, = >it says that it's well known throughout Italy and Europe. How about it = >Italian jammers, ever heard of this wingnut? > > I'll leave you with these words of wisdom: > > >DIE!!!!!! >DIE!!!!!! > > >etc. This person needs some prozac! Hey, Billy, cool down! I guess you wish all talented musicians to die? Dream Theater too? You must be the kind of person that would commit suicide because you over cooked your spaghetti a LITTLE too much and it is just a tad too soft!! GET A LIFE, LOSER!!!!!!! >ok, >I had a 5 paragraph post FLAMING Ricardo Testa and his statements. I am >really getting tired of this guy. But then, as I was about to send it, I >realized I am better than this. We all are. FIVE paragraphs??? I laughed so hard when I read this one. I am beginning to realize that the YtseJam is full of idiots!! Someone actually wasted, and I mean wasted time to write 5 paragraphs and not even show it! Hey Kurt, GET A LIFE!! >(Still wondering whether Testa's actually for real.) Here I am! Alive and well!!! :) Here we go again.... > > You all say that I have an attitude, BUT no one can pinpoint where it >is. > >.. a few lines above that sentence: > > > God on keys?? Little do you know that I AM GOD! > >I think that about sums it up. Wouldn't you agree Mr. Testa? Or may I call >you >asswipe? ..and again...... >"Ego, the Living Planet", aka Ricardo Testa, remarked: > >All I have been is nice to you all, and all that you all do is "rip" me > >apart. You all say that I have an attitude, BUT no one can pinpoint >where > >it is. > >In every one of your posts. Want specifics? Here's a line from your last >post: > > >God on keys?? Little do you know that I AM GOD! LOL....and again...... >Let me give it another shot... > > >God on keys?? Little do you know that I AM GOD! > >Forget about the Kevin vs. Derek vs. Jordan debate... This guy should >be handling the keys in DT... He'd probably be able to do it with >just one of those toy keys, which have only 24 keys... Sad! Once again, I actually joke and you guys take it seriously! But when I am serious, you all think it is a joke. Again, idiots! >Why is everyone getting so bent out of shape about Mr. Testa? Even if he >IS really a jackass, which I doubt he is, his schenanegans are funny as >hell. Sure, let's egg him on, but some of you people are getting WAY too >huffy about it. Well said! You people take things way too seriously. > > I can play multiple instruments, and am pretty good at it. I am > > not saying that I am blind, deaf, mute, and paralyzed AND can play; I >am > > just saying that I CAN PLAY (period). > >yeah, but you still can't spell worth shit. "conceded" for "conceited", >"exposer" for "exposure" C'mon, I thought you were God. I am so sorry, I guess I did not feel like taking out my Italian to English dictionary out. Remember that English is NOT my native language. Ciao, Ricardo Testa ======================================== >But anyway, thanks for allowing us in the 'jam to have a few laughs... "Laugh all you want! I'm the one that's gonna be on TV looking all buff!" -Eric Cartman ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 10:35:05 -0400 From: "tomas valodka" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: RE: you're "testa-ing" my patience Message-ID: O.K. for the sake of argument, I will assume you are a real person, as opposed to a hilarious fictional caricature created by one of our more demented posters. You are NOT "just being nice". In response to my previous post (again, sorry for the html, folks) you said (and I quote) "I AM GOD!!" This is this attitude people are referring to. You are not being "nice". You are being an egotistical prick, and this is why the jammers are ripping you. I know there are many great musicians lurking and posting to the jam. Two in particular that have posted recently , Marcel and Jens, are of a caliber that they COULD take your attitude and proclaim themselves deities of their particular instruments. They could look down on us less talented musicians, or ridicule us for not having their gifts. BUT THEY DON'T!!! That, my friend, is what separates you from these and other professionals. And it's also probably the reason you play alone. Humility is a virtue. For those of you who skipped my html blunder: Is it true Rena and Marlene have a band? Where can I get DT merch besides a show? Where do I go for Rush news now that N.M.S. died? Any plans or even rumors about DT doing more U.S dates? Thanks!!!! "Life is like a good porno movie... Actually, it's not, and that's what sucks about it" Tomas Dream Theater newsletter - http://www.dreamtheater.net/uacmmail/ ____________________________________________________________ Get your own Web-Based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com Get your own Web-Based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com. Get your 100MB FREE Internet storage! Sign up now - www.netdrive.com/?O=ZZN4 Get your 100MB FREE Internet storage! Sign up now - www.netdrive.com/?O=ZZN4 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 11:14:26 -0400 From: "tomas valodka" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: EOJ Message-ID: I got an EOJ with that????? How lame. I suck. But I'll take it anyway. WOOOOOOO!!!! I agree , there may be hope for Mr. Testa, but only if that ego eGOES away. Join in fellow Pythonphiles: spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, SPAAAAAAAAM!!!!! Where's this stuff coming from? Wanna get rich on the internet? Send out spam trying to convince idiots to send you money. If only one percent of the morons on the net respond, you'd be rollin in it. By the way, I still want to be Adam Pye, so start sending me those boots folks!!!!!!! "Life is like a good porno movie... Actually, it's not, and that's what sucks about it" Tomas Dream Theater newsletter - http://www.dreamtheater.net/uacmmail/ ____________________________________________________________ Get your own Web-Based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com Get your own Web-Based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com. Get your 100MB FREE Internet storage! Sign up now - www.netdrive.com/?O=ZZN4 Get your 100MB FREE Internet storage! Sign up now - www.netdrive.com/?O=ZZN4 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 12:09:37 -0500 From: Kurt M Hampton To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: My thoughts on BNW, King's X and other stuff Message-ID: Well, I picked up the new Maiden yesterday. I hadn't said anything about it because this is my 1st Maiden CD and wanted to get a good listen before passing judgement. My judgement: I like it!! I agree with whoever said that the production is dry (coughshirleycough) but that's ok. The new King's X is a very good disc. Ty sings more on it, and the guitar work has a more "bluesy" feel to it. I highly reccommend it, if you don't have it already. Im gonna go preorder the the new Fates now :) Kurt NP-Nothing "damn I need a new signature now" me after reading ytsejam 5456 ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 19:10:52 +0200 From: "Raivo Hool" To: Subject: while we're at it, pretty much on topic Message-ID: <00fd01bfcbec$57202cb0$0201a8c0@internal> Hello there! :-) I truly believe you will find something familiar, probably even funny in a sad way. Or not so sad, depending. Maybe you'll even be able to identify yourself. I know I did. ;-) Welcome aboard, the "Who's Who" of flamers: http://www.winternet.com/~mikelr/flame1.html Raitz ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 13:07:03 -0400 (EDT) From: email_address_removed (Steve Chew) To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: Music editing programs... Message-ID: >From: email_address_removed > >Say for example, if I wanted to make an instrumental cd, and include the >middle section of Metropolis Part 1. None of my cd-r recording programs >allow me to take sections of songs, it will only record the whole track. >Does anybody know of any cd-r applications that will let me take bits of >songs and put it on the blank cd. If so, what is it called and what's the >website? > I've used GoldWave on Windows (www.goldwave.com). It's free and has quite a few features. I've also heard good things about Cool Edit and Soundforge but I haven't used them and I don't think they're free (though you can probably evaluate them for free). These programs will allow you to edit WAV files after you extract them from your CD. Steve ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 10:24:33 PDT From: "Partha Mukhopadhyay" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: a one-line review of the construkction of light might read.... Message-ID: (based only on a first listen, mind you, but....) i've never had so much fun bobbing my head so completely out of rhythm :) partha ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 11:10:02 -0700 From: Pat Griffin To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Interesting Read... Message-ID: I was checking my server stats and referer logs, and I found a link to the FAQ from the following URL: http://www.erasing.org/archive/?20000519 The article is titled "Killing Blind Melon" and it gives a history of Blind Melon from inception to demise to being listed in MTV's Top 100 Videos. The article was written by Scott Herman, who has a rather descriptive style of writing. Nearly half of the article is an in-depth explaination about the entire DT vs Blind Melon scenario with more details than even *I* remember, and included many colorful passages such as: "Fast forward a few years to fall 1995, my first semester of college. I'd joined this email mailing list for fans of pretentious prog-metal band Dream Theater, and it was on this list that I was sort of amazed to discover the existence of an entire subculture of arrogant, insufferable, sanctimonious metalheads who absolutely categorically loathed alternative music and alternative culture and MTV, who pretty much saw Kurt Cobain's suicide as the best thing to happen to modern music in the 90s, and for whom basically the glam- and speed-metal days of the late 80s were simply assumed to be in an extended remission that would eventually return in somewhat messianic fashion to claim its rightful place on top of the musical world, etc., etc." Despite his harsh words for our little mailing list (which he is ironically chastising for the very same type of bashing aimed at Blind Melon), it was a fairly interesting read, and I thought some of you may want to give it a look. Pat Griffin DT FAQ Maintainer http://www.gabbo.net/dt/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 20:23:21 CEST From: "Ricardo Testa" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: YTSEJAM digest 5497 Message-ID: >Screw Hillary > >Testa should run for government :) > >-Darlene I am sorry, but I am not from the US. But thanks for the compliment. :) >Is it possible that we've all just misjudged Ricardo Testa? I"m starting to >think that we just got off on the wrong foot with him. Reading his latest >post makes me think that he may be an al right guy after all. And hell, he >loves DT right?! I say we give the guy a chance. > -Mike C. Thank you! :) >In regards to Mr Testa(cle...I know..not the right spelling of Testicle, >but >it works): That is where my first release name came from: "Coles". :) >While I am trying to figure out whether or not this guy's for real, I'm not >getting angry with him, I simply find it amusing now. The extremely >immature >aproach of egotism makes me want to say he's a fake, (Possibly a Jammer >just >havin a good time..), but the consistency makes me think he's for real, >(Possibly a Jammer with a LOT of time on his/her hands). Well, I am for real. Last time I checked, I was still breathing, heart was still beating, etc. And actually, I am getting pretty amused at this whole thing, just because people do not believe me. I just bothers me when people get all worked up and mad over nothing. I mean, this is life.... take it as it is.... do not take it as seriously at most of you do.... I enjoy it day to day. I play music for fun, I have a life, I DO have a normal job, wife, kids..... and I enjoy all!!!! >It has come to the attention of My Royal Highness that there has emerged on >this mailing list an ego who claims to hold greater musical value and >ability than not only the members of Dream Theater (and other such >virtuosos), but even the incredibleness that is Myself. >Anyway. I am so holy and untouchable that I do not even have access to my >own music once I have recorded it. I ask any of you out there who may have >that very privelage to share it with others ... particularly this Retardo >Testes fellow. Perhaps once he realizes how his Inferiority and >Imperfections will forever limit his ability to even Approach my level of >authority and prowess, he will fall at my feet in anguish and despair, >begging my forgiveness for the Utter Blasphemy that has Infected this >Worthy Mailing List like a Viral Rash of Unmatched Corrosiveness and >Painfulness for the past few days. > >Hey Retardo! I'm callin' you out, BIIIIIIITCH!!! What the hell was that???!!?!?!???!!? Off topic.... >I have the new Iron Maiden album, Brave New World. > >I am disappointed. Iron Maiden was my favorite growing up. I wish I did not see this. I did not hear anything from the new CD. It is very upsetting seeing such a great band go downhill. I hope it is wrong? >Well, while I can't do much but sing on key, my brother in law plays the >guitar, >bass, drums, piano, clarinet, flute, sings, and could bang a mean quint in >his >marching days. He has also done a number of solo albums with just him doing >all >the playing. His name is Matt Frid, if anyone is familiar with the Twin >Cities >music scene. Although to my knowledge, he's never played with Yngwie :) Very impressive! :) Besides >which, no matter how technically proficient you are at your playing, it >means >nothing if you can't transfer that skill into making good music. What does >your >stuff sound like? I respect your wish not to give your stuff away, but can >we >order it from anywhere? Any Italian shops on the web? Does it sound like >anything we know? Pretty progressive. Like Gamma Ray, early Helloween, Fates Warning, Queensryche, and of course Dream Theater. My earlier works are kind of simple basic metal (like Iron Maiden-ish). And once more, ciao! Ricardo Testa ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 15:53:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Matt Smith To: Ytsejam Subject: Re: Brave New World Message-ID: I am very pleased with the new record. Very much nonstandard "comeback album" material...two songs over 9 minutes and several 6 or 7's. I think it's awesome, and Dream of Mirrors is a GREAT song. Among others... Matt Smith "The band members sounded OK, except for email_address_removed Ace. He had a guitar tone that would make Helen Keller cringe." -John Willcoxon NOW PLAYING: Iron Maiden--Brave New World ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 16:24:38 EDT From: email_address_removed To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Track by track review of the Fates Warning tribute Message-ID: I just got the Fates trib in the mail today (quick service, I might add) and here are my initial thoughts: Planet Sarcasm - APSoG ii Pretty straight-forward rendition, not bad. Mayadome - The Strand Now this is more like it! I love cover versions that take things and turn them on their heads. This version retains the central theme of the original but goes its own way. Very, very good. Steel Prophet - The Apparition If I am not mistaken, this is on Dark Hallucinations. I have heard it before. It's pretty straightforward, but well-done. The vocals are right on. Spiral Architect - Prelude to Ruin Oh ho! Another home run. SA take the original, blacktech it up and spit out a masterpiece. Boy do I wish all the bands would take such a fresh approach to tribute work. Dreamline - Nothing Left to Say Blah. Vocals are a bit echo-y. Musically pretty faithful. Boring. Vendetta - Monument Pretty faithful at first. Nothing to write mom about. But then the solo break section shows some imagination. Swirly organ sound. Nice to have something different here. Back to normal. I wonder, is this the same Vendetta from the Doomsday News 2 tape? Doubtful. Prymary - Outside Looking In (instrumental) This is a nice idea; I like it. Taking out the vocals and replacing them with guitar. Cool. Reminds me somewhat of a Satriani song from maybe the Blue Dream disc. Yet another example of what a cover song should be, according to me ;-) Finalxit - The 11th Hour So far, so faithful. The sound on this one kinda sucks. Garbage can lid drums. Ravioli can cymbals. They don't ruin the song, but this is the weak link in the chain so far. Reignstorm - We Only Say Goodbye I always loved the original. This is pretty close to the original, but without Ray's awesome vocals... This is not bad, but it's not a high point of the disc. Morpheus Web - The Sorceress Cool take on a John Arch classic. Definitely new guitar and bass bits here. Almost an irreverant guitar take, some might say ;-) But actually what the guitar reminds me of is that old thrash band Deathrow, but maybe not as blatant. That dude could shred! I like the fact (if you haven't noticed) that this band does things its own way. This is an interesting take. Cool solo section. Soundscape - Fata Morgana Well, if you didn't like Rob Thorne's high-pitched vocals before, you aren't going to like them here, either. Soundscape surely has the musical ability to pull this off, but I am not so sure about this. Sing-songy background vox. Not exactly by-the-numbers, but not unrecognizable, either. Interesting solo section. Mr. Rose rules, there is no doubt about that. They do add that bit of the theatrical here. Wolverine - APSoG xii Pretty straight, so far. Vocals are different. Guitar is more chunky than the original. I am not sure what that sample stuff at the end is about. The last minute or so is kind of odd. This isn't bad, but it's not my favorite part of the tribute, that's for sure. Overall, clocking in at over 73 minutes and containing such awesome renditions as those put forth by Mayadome, Spiral Architect, and others, any fan of Fates owes it to himself to buy this disc ASAP. This may be the best tribute album I have, and I have lots! Not to be redundant, but what makes it great is the fact that few of the bands played it safe with boring renditions. NP: duh, the Fates tribute Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 18:05:36 -0500 From: "Al @ Switchcraft" To: retaehT maerD Subject: Playing with your Testa coils... rrr Message-ID: Miguel Farah wrote: >I am the GREATEST MUSICIAN IN ALL OF HISTORY, period. The fuzz in my >navel plays the bass better than Myung, Levin, Lee and Rutherford all I noticed you conveniently left out Squire... Wussy :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Retardo Testicle wrote: > "I'm not conceded, I am aware!" > - Ricardo Testa Paul Tadday wrote: >Shouldn't that be "conceited"? ROTFLMAO!!! I hope Sir Gonad feels like the dope he is... Retardo.. spell checkers don't catch those fuck ups, do they? Amateur Retardo is like a rat with a hard on doing the back float down the Mississippi yelling "raise the bridge!" -- Al - The Ytse-ProGtologist ^ Switchcraft Microsystems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" --Will Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 18:50:04 -0500 From: "Jan-Michael" To: Subject: [nightwish] Nosturi 31.5 Gig Review Message-ID: <001201bfcc24$1be5d7c0$e82d88cf@jammer> -----Original Message----- ]From: Esko Illi [mailto:email_address_removed Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 4:38 AM To: Nightwish list Subject: [nightwish] Nosturi 31.5 Gig Review As a response to E.Dorians wish that I'd write a review of the show, here it is :) Hope you enjoy it! The venue, I must say is far better than both it's predecessor Lepakko and even the legendary Tavastia club. The Nightwish/To Die For show was outsold and the place was just crammed. I'd never heard of To/Die/For but they had some nice elements to their music, and I might check out their debut. Nightwish came on stage a bit late due to some techincal problems( I heard). But when they did start the show, everything from that point on was great. The sound was enjoyable and the band seemed like they'd been rehersing a lot and really enjoyed playing to us. The only minus I can think of is that sometimes Tarja's vocals were too quiet but it was of course due to the mixing. But the songs were just so great! I personally liked the Wishmaster material more than the others because I've heard the old stuff so much but the whole setlist was cool. And the fact that the band played great without technical problems, makes me want to say this was the best Nightwish gig so far for me! Setlist(however, not in order of performance, can't remember ;) ) >From AFF: Beauty and the Beast >From Oceanborn: Gethsemane,Sacrament of Wilderness,Swanheart,Walking in the Air >From Wishmaster:She is my sin, The Kinslayer, Come Cover me,Wishmaster,Dead Boys' poem, Fantasmic(the ending part beginning with the "fluite"-sounding synth") As I said, the best Nightwish gig I've seen, and therefore I'd like to thank the band personally via this list!! Thanks! Greetings, Risto ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 02:19:51 +0200 From: Andreas Skarin - SDTS To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: YTSEJAM digest 5497 Message-ID: <3936FDA7.4D019D53@sdts.nu> Ricardo Testa wrote: > >Screw Hillary > > > >Testa should run for government :) > > > >-Darlene > > I am sorry, but I am not from the US. But thanks for the compliment. := ) That was not meant as a compliment asswipe! Now, whip out some mp3's so w= e can give you a fair verdict. Andreas Skarin Svenska Dream Theater S=E4llskapet http://www.sdts.nu - mailto:sdts@sdts.nu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 20:29:45 -0400 From: "Matt Molite" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Re: Mother Shabooboo Message-ID: heh. Whats funnier is that you all probably think he's joking. He, in fact, is not. Mother Shabooboo hails from the country of Tajikistan, and I have been fortunate enough to hear his scary techniques put to use. He was kind enough to send me a self made CD of his entitled "King of Adijerban" which just completely smokes. If Ricardo could play like this guy, I'd be more than impressed. Theres an old rumor in Tajikistan which claims Mother Shabooboo sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play ANYTHING at the unholy tempo of 666 BPM on ANY INSTRUMENT. Personally, I wouldn't be suprised if the rumor were true. Don't believe me? I was able to obtain a short midi of one of Mother Shabooboo's most demonic songs entitled "Babikir" which can be downloaded at this URL: http://www.crosswinds.net/~eleventhour/ I WOULD have posted the MP3, but since Mr. Testa is so opposed to them, I figured he wouldn't have listened to it. NP: Mother Shabooboo - King of Adijerban Matt ============================= Now you've got your voice Your own speech Don't wait 'till Someone else agrees -Rafael Bittencourt, Angra ============================= Dream Theater newsletter - http://www.dreamtheater.net/uacmmail/ ____________________________________________________________ Get your own Web-Based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com Get your own Web-Based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com. Get your 100MB FREE Internet storage! Sign up now - www.netdrive.com/?O=ZZN4 Get your 100MB FREE Internet storage! Sign up now - www.netdrive.com/?O=ZZN4 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 19:41:42 -0600 (MDT) From: Greg Kristianson To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Hombre Mano Blanco... Message-ID: Dear Mr. Testa, After reading the last few jams I have gathered that you find yourself to be the *CAT'S ASS* on a variety of musical instruments, yet you make no effort to substantiate your claims, save for some silly-ass obscure quote in your signature from some insignificant peon that nobody aside from ye, yourself, and you cares about. There is a difference, Mr. Testa, between playing many instruments and *playing them well*. I play some guitar, but I am not Vai or Petrucci. I play a bit of piano, yet I do not elevate myself above Pollini or Rudess. I can play any AC/DC song on drums flawlessly on command, but you will never hear me give Phil Rudd less praise than myself. I have studied String Bass classically for almost 10 years, I have a perfromance degree, yadda, yadda...know what? I've still got *a lot* to learn before my shit is down; sometimes I still feel like I suck. I know I don't suck, but at least I acknowledge that I am far from the best. What's my point? It is this: one of the most valuable assets a musician can possess is *HUMILITY* . There are so many musicians out there with mega attitude, and most of them suck beef bong. The musician that claims mastery is usually the one that is furthest from realizing their true potential. Yngwie is a great guitarist with a very big head. He hasn't gone beyond the harmonic minor/sweep-picking thing since his first album; he is a one (okay two) trick pony. Why? Because for years he has been such a pompous ass that he eventually fooled himself into thinking that he was so good he had nothing left to learn. His musical growth from his first album until now is so minute that it can't be charted. Now look at the Vai's, Petrucci's, or Satriani's, or classical musicians like Shaham or Ma. These are some of the most humble musicians on the planet and true masters of their craft, yet you would never hear one of them make any comment alluding to the fact that they have it all. They are always practcing, further honing their skills, believing that they are far from reaching the pinnacle, and if you don't believe me ask any one of these guys and they will rattle off the names of 10 other musicians who they feel just blow them away. It is the humble musicians like the aformentioned that continue to amaze after so many years, because they continue to grow, because they believe they still have so much to learn. Further to this, it takes a lifetime of discipline to *maybe* master one instrument. That you, Mr. Testa, have truly mastered many instruments is inconceivable. Does the saying "Jack of all trades, master of none" mean anything to you? Again, humility can be a musician's strongest asset, at least if said musician wishes to ply his trade and have it be at least somewhat fruitful. I leave you with this joke as food for thought: Q: Yngwie Malmsteen and a squirrel both cross the road at the same place and time and are struck and killed by a passing car. What is the difference between them? A: The squirrel was on his way to a gig. Greg-o ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 22:07:17 -0400 From: Barbara Battaglia To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Tito's Gone... Message-ID: I just read that Tito Puente died :( Babs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 03:50:32 GMT From: "Daniel ArmdenDANgeruz" To: ytsejam@torchsong.com Subject: Killing Blind Melon Message-ID: "unkind comments from the FAQ maintainers"? Does that guy consider himself a kind person? "just horrible, horrible crap" Some ppl need an instruction manual shipped with their brains :p Daniel ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 23:53:38 -0600 From: "Korg Ecksthrey" To: Subject: I think Ricardo is cool. Message-ID: <00de01bfcc56$ed8603e0$650d84d0@default> > I know someone said it here before and I guess it should be repeated. > "Don't Feed the Trolls" I agree. And at least if you're going to flame someone, do it in style for Christ's sake. :) Simply calling someone an asswipe is ineffective. Instead, use more sophisticated invectives like "ring-around-the-mouth" or "crotch cavity" and you'll find they have a greater tendency to become aggitated and a) ignore you, or b) lose their cool and turn into George Farber. Remember kiddies: If you wish to bait the trolls, remember to give it a long anti-freeze marinade beforehand. :) Besides, so what if Ricardo jammed with Yngwie. That's nothing. The question is, has he jammed with Mahir Cagri? :) I didn't think so either. -- KorgX3 wishes his photo with Mahir hadn't been edited out on his site. ------------------------------ End of YTSEJAM Digest 5498 **************************