Greetings one and all:

Well Reg, that was an enlightening post. Feel free to share all the LURID DETAILS of the Madonna concert with me privately. You HAVE my e-mail addy.

Anyway --- here is my list of my most favorite and hated bands. I think I'll start with the ones I love.

KDB's FAVOITE BANDS:

Recently, I had custom media shelving installed in two seperate areas in my home --- I do have that big of a collection! When I had the chance to go through that collection piece by piece --- I came to a realization that I have since been able to verbalize.

The music that moves me the most is perhaps not a coincidence that it is all by a group of musicians who are on some kind of heavy-duty spiritual journey. This is likely to have been the case because I also happen to be on my own heavy-duty spiritual journey.

01) JIMI HENDRIX is a spiritual GOD and personal GURU to me, in addition to being the all-time best guitarist to have ever played that instrument. I have roughly 80 CD's of his audio material and about 10 DVD's of his video material. Reg was right, JIMI is light- years ahead of the so-called talent of EVH. No fucking contest.

02) RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS are probably my favorite band at the moment. Former heroin addicts who are now Buddhists (like moi) --- their music got a lot better when they put their syringes down. What makes them the most interesting to me is their fusion of many styles of music, into a hybrid I call THRASH FUNK. Their guitarist JOHN FRUSCIANTE is one of the most tasteful player/ writers to come along in many years. Another band that was in this same style of music (but quite a bit darker) was a band called FAITH NO MORE. FNM was another favorite of mine.

03) DAVE MATTHEWS makes some beautiful music, especially when he does his acoustic duo stuff with TIM REYNOLDS. Beyond that, Dave Matthews is a GNOSTIC, and this spirituality comes out in his music, which is pensive and sometimes gut-wrenching in it's emotional accuracy and poignancy.

04) YES have been and always will be a very special group of people in my life. The fact that JON ANDERSON possesses angelic energy is a bonus. Their music is something I can listen to all day long. And sometimes, I do.

05) PETER GABRIEL - Someone whom I would love to invite to dinner for an evening of intellectual stimulation. He is also on a heavy-duty spiritual trip.

Now, the shit I absolutely HATE:

01) COUNTRY MUSIC - Reg's wife makes him listen to The CARPENTERS ugh! However, my wife makes me listen to all the latest country nonsense. I say this because most of it cannot in good conscience be called country.

02) GRATEFUL DEAD, PHISH, etc. - When I finally went to a DEAD concert (10,000 Maniacs opened), I realized why everyone was zonked out on acid. When you're tripping, you forget how much this band SUCKS! Ugh! Simply horrendous! PHISH doesn't do anything for me either.

03) BARBRA STRIESAND - I just don't get it.

04) BRUCE "The Boss" SPRINGSTEEN - The most overated, talentless hack to have ever invoked working-class status. Not even one single good song, but lots that suck. The guy who is the TRUE working class hero is DAVID BAERWALD.

05a) U2 - BONO is the most megalomanical and narcisstic asshole in today's music scene. His music sucks as well --- boring and uninventive.

05b) STING/PHIL COLLINS - These two are so offensive, I cannot even bear to refer to them by their proper names. However, everyone that knows me, knows who exactly I am referring to when I talk about STINK and CHARLIE BROWN.

Obviously, the ONLY THING most of us have in common is DAVID BAERWALD. But, we are equally passionate about that which we love AND hate.

This is a GOOD THING! Sweet!

KDB = Buffalo, NY USA