The Adventures of MDawg

Quote: coachbelly

I'm in support of the MDawg challenge, as quoted above in my previous post,
which are essentially MDawg's terms for allowing doubters to watch him play.

From what he's written, the Wizard qualifies as one of the doubters.

So I encourage the Wizard to accept the challenge as quoted.

I also support a subsequent MDawg challenge, whereby the challenger must wager $50K that
the challenger can disprove any one of the claims MDawg listed for that challenge.

The Wizard requested some documents as evidence of MDawg's past results,
I'm in support of him examining them, and then reporting back.

If a wager is required to examine the documents,
then I encourage the Wizard to wager that he can prove the documents are not authentic.

Again?

Quote: coachbelly

There is no "he's betting" that you can comment on, until you deposit $50K at the cage and watch him play.

His claim is about what he has bet...is that what you want him to prove?

Examine the relevant documents from the casinos he played at, and report back to us.

How else could he prove what he has bet?

Or here?

Hmmm. Didn’t realize these would be multiple posts. Though I was multiquoting. Oops.

ETA: anyway, AxelWolf, all this should answer your question.

@MDawg, sorry for clogging your thread with all the back and forth with Coach. Keep on doing your thing.

Quote: unJon

Or here?

When did MDawg change his mind?

Can you post the quote here?

Quote: coachbelly

When did MDawg change his mind?

Can you post the quote here?

You admitted you misunderstood. Your witness is no longer credible. ;-)

Quote: unJon

You admitted you misunderstood. Your witness is no longer credible. ;-)

You admitted that you misrepresented what MDawg wrote.

That's bearing false witness against thy neighbor.

Sleep well.

Quote: coachbelly

You admitted that you misrepresented what MDawg wrote.

That's bearing false witness against thy neighbor.

Sleep well.

That’s a false accusation. My “change mind” post was before taking the trip down memory lane with the quotes.

Sweet dreams.

Mission,
We saw both Duran Duran and The Cult at the Chelsea which is a 2500 seat venue at the Cosmopolitan. For Duran Duran we were floor seated front row center - for The Cult, I actually ended up going alone because my wife wasn't into it, and was front row again but not quite center. She's too young to have been into '90s music, and doesn't like that hard grunge anyway, but I have always been into The Cult, and yes, Sonic Temple is my favorite album of theirs. So you may imagine, if I went to a concert alone, that means I am into the band.

Both shows were great. Duran Duran closed with Rio, and played all of their favorites and a couple newer songs as I recall. The Cult was hard core all the way through, and Billy Duffy was serious and shredding. I wasn't actually sure if the casino invited crowd at The Cult was really into them or just showing up because they got free tickets, but I am a Cult fan.



Both concerts, especially the Cult (October 2019), were notable as coming in not so long before all such events were banned due to the Pandemic. The Cosmo used to give its top players concert tickets all the time, and luckily my status always got us floor seats, and often front row. But - those days are over. 😟 It'll be a while before I'd feel comfortable elbow to elbow with a crowd at a concert.

MDawg,

Thanks for the breakdown on the shows; I'm glad to hear The Cult kicked @$$!!! I might see them one of these days if it's a casino show; I imagine I don't have to be quite as concerned with a ridiculously noisy (meaning the crowd) atmosphere or accidentally finding myself in the middle of a mosh pit. I'm still young enough to do mosh pits, but unfortunately, my knees don't seem to be quite as young as the rest of me.

I forget what Duran Duran closed with when I saw them. I saw them on August 13, 2000 at IC Light Amphitheatre with a band named Tsar opening for them. Tsar is still the worst band I've ever seen live in my entire life...they truly sucked. I don't only mean for big shows; I've never seen a worse band than Tsar even play at a dive bar.

Duran Duran played all of the favorites (which are almost entirely the same as when you saw them) when I saw them as well. Now that I've looked up the setlist again, it seems they did play a lot from Pop Trash, so I must be misremembering them not playing too much of the (then) newer stuff. I think I was mostly bummed that they didn't play Out of My Mind as that is my favorite Warren-era Duran Duran song.

It looks like the show I saw closed with The Wild Boys which I'd never have remembered. I remembered that they played The Wild Boys, Notorious, Come Undone, The Reflex and Playing With Uranium the last of which is also one of my favorite DD songs. I couldn't have told you when in the show any of those were without looking.

Of course, the staple songs, but they didn't really stand out to me. It's more like I'd have assumed they played them, but wouldn't have specifically remembered. I don't like Hungry Like the Wolf or Rio whatsoever.

Notorious wouldn't have stood out, except LeBon did this thing where the left side of the crowd would go, "No...No..." and then the right would go, "Notorious!" Then he flipped it so it would be right and then left. Then it was front back, then back front, then men women, then women men.....it's not my favorite DD song by a long stretch (I'd say it's very average for them) but it stood out because he took an unnecessarily long time with this. Everyone in the crowd liked the interaction, at first, but then you could tell people were visibly getting bored.

The Reflex I remember not only because it's a staple, but it's also one of my personal favorites and LeBon kept teasing it because the people in the crowd REALLY wanted The Reflex. I'm surprised they didn't close with it! They teased it a few times and it got half the crowd in a frenzy.

Come Undone was my then-girlfriend's favorite DD song, so that's why I remember that one.

Interestingly, from your perspective anyway, I like Hungry Like the Wolf and Rio much more than The Reflex. I actually don't like the Reflex it seems too poppy ("Pop" music) to me. Come Undone is probably their best newer song. One thing about Simon LeBon is that he has a paunch now (compare to pics of him from the Eighties), and that didn't look right. If he's going to collect all that money from the audience for tickets he should at least go to the trouble of losing weight and looking fit. My wife commented the same, lol. I mean, he's like any actor or performer, who wants to see a fat guy? unless it's deliberate like De Niro in Raging Bull in which case it becomes art but not otherwise.

Would you want to see Mick Jagger running around on stage, overweight?

Duran Duran also played The Chauffeur where Le Bon donned a chauffeur's cap, which for me is a lesser known song, although the crowd seemed to know it.

My wife had never even heard of Duran Duran but she enjoyed the show a lot. I am into Eighties Music. Not that I consider Duran Duran to be the best of the Eighties (more like, in my mind, The Cure, or Joy Division (which is pre-Eighties I think)), but they are definitely staples of the Eighties along with bands like Billy Idol.

As far as The Cult they sounded just as good live as any of their studio albums, and played all their top hits from Sonic Temple. I am not ENTIRELY familiar with The Cult as they played some songs I didn't know at all, but they all sounded good to me. The Cult was a very high energy show. I was dressed in all black for the show in this black Gucci shirt that has square black sequins in two rows down the front which sounds awful but it looks quite different from its exact description, and a men's platinum pendant necklace, which again, sounds not right for a Cult concert, but it worked - and had dinner with a friend afterwards and he said I looked like a priest, which is funny because the streamlined sort of Iron Cross symbols were pervasive on the Cult stage. Anyway, I tried to dress a little Gothic for a Cult concert, at least I tried with what I had available in my wardrobe in Vegas, while most of the casino invited audience were just dressed in their every day duds.

MDawg, looks like you have a bunch of recently converted friends now! Suburb, love it.

Forge on. Do good there in Vegas,

Perhaps part of why I like the song Rio is that I used to stay at The Rio in the very early 2000s, both in their standard tower and their old tower that has (or had? haven't stayed there in many years) a concierge floor with large suites and an assigned butler (although the suites in the original tower were somehow getting old and had a musty old-construction oceanfront smell to them).

The Rio (at least before Harrah's Ent. now known as Caesar's Ent.) bought them would allow anyone to play up to $100K max at Baccarat. I don't believe I stayed at the Rio until after it was owned by Harrah's, but they kept that 100K limit on there for a little while even afterwards.

Funny how those new friends come around, the other day I bought a brand new car and three of my co-workers were kinda jealous of it and then one day I said come on let's go out to lunch and i will buy. I bought them all lunch over at an Italian place and they all became friends. At least no one had to to threaten them with being banned or suspended huh?

Duran Duran

In fairness to Simon LeBon, I'd have said that the man is pushing sixty, but I just looked and he's 62 years old now. I have to believe that he's in better physical shape than most of the people who are attending Duran Duran shows. If it makes you feel better, it seems that Nick Rhodes knows the location of The Fountain of Youth and is not sharing it...he could at least tell LeBon where it is.

The Reflex is probably the most straight up poppy Duran Duran song that I really like. I tend to gravitate towards their more melodic and slower songs that demonstrate the low end of LeBon's truly ridiculous vocal range.

According to the setlist, Duran Duran did not play The Chauffeur at the show I attended and I'm sure I would have remembered if they had. That's easily one of my Top Three favorite Duran Duran songs. Amongst more passionate Duran Duran fans, it's widely considered to be their best song that was not released as a single, although, it did have a music video.

Many of Duran Duran's best songs (in my opinion) are ones that are not well-known singles. We've discussed The Chauffeur, which is from the Rio album, but Last Chance on the Stairway has a pretty great chorus and New Religion is also great. New Religion might have been a single, but if it was, it's not one of their more broadly recognized ones.

From Medazzaland, Out of my Mind was a single and was the soundtrack for some movie or another, but isn't one of their better known songs. Midnight Sun also kind of had the whole ethereal thing going and is probably a Top 20 favorite of mine from Duran Duran. Be My Icon is an interesting song about obsession with stars and famous personalities, so it's not one of their best musically, but it's pretty solid and the lyrics are great.

Pop Trash is an album that was all over the place, but half of the songs from that one are really great, in my opinion. Playing with Uranium, which is about Cold War and nuclear proliferation is my favorite from that album, but there are five or six other really solid tracks.

The Cult

Do you happen to remember if they played Soul Asylum from Sonic Temple? I think that song has the best opening of any song by The Cult. The lyrics themselves are kind of dumb...or maybe they're just over my head...but the vocals and instrumentation are great. It's probably my favorite song of theirs. I like tracks 1-7 on that album and then skip to the album's conclusion, Medicine Train. Tracks 8-10 all sound kind of the same to me, or maybe they just feel mailed in...I don't know...they just don't seem to have the same aural assault feel that the rest of the album has.

I think your outfit was perfectly appropriate for The Cult, sounds like something that Ian Astbury might wear.

Repeat Concerts

What bands have you seen live that you would make it a point to see live again? My only two are Metallica and Bad Religion. Metallica just because they put on a truly ridiculous live show and every song is a haymaker to your senses. After the show, most of the crowd stood in place for a minute or two minutes in pure awe of what they had heard. Hetfield's voice is stupid powerful.

Bad Religion just because they are my favorite band and they have 60+ songs that are pretty universally liked by BR fans, so as a result, you never know what they're going to play. If you go to Bad Religion shows in two different years, then you figure that at least 25% of the setlist will be different. You can pretty much count on (21st Century) Digital Boy, Generator and Infected, but you never know what you're going to get aside from those.

When you say Joy Division, are you also counting as New Order? I think they only went by Joy Division in the late 70's, maybe 1980, but then were called New Order after that.

The 80's is my second-favorite decade for music, but is mostly comprised of a crapton of bands who each have anywhere from 5-10 songs that I really like. I would say that Duran Duran IS my favorite 80's band, even though most of my favorite songs of theirs come from the 90's and the year 2000 with Pop Trash.

My favorite decade for music was the 90's because I thought even the pop was pretty good until about 1997, or so. Gin Blossoms is a band that I've been meaning to see live for awhile, but then something seems to come up every time it would otherwise be convenient for me to go to a show. Anyway, pre-1997, you had a lot of rock and power-pop (almost rock) in the charts for a good part of the decade. Even post 1996, you had a smattering of punk bands in there with the likes of The Offspring, Blink-182, Sublime and Green Day.

Hell, even the rap was pretty good in the 90's. That's my second-least favorite musical genre only to country.

Just for one example, take a song like Runaway Train by Soul Asylum, I don't think you're going to see a song like that make a splash these days.

ALSO, the first half of the decade was the big grunge boom, which is probably my third-favorite musical genre to Punk and Classic Rock. Grunge would be my favorite genre, but it didn't really exist in that form for very long. Let's rattle off some bands here: Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Candlebox, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Nirvana (I guess...NOT my favorite band lol...okay but massively overrated)...and then bands like Bush that I guess some people might call Grunge, but I just consider them rock. That's nothing against rock or hard rock; I like everything anywhere on the rock spectrum.

Quote: Marcusclark66

MDawg, looks like you have a bunch of recently converted friends now! Suburb, love it.

Forge on. Do good there in Vegas,

Why do you seem to be under the impression that I have anything against MDawg? My entire purpose in this thread was to demonstrate that his claims (at least the ones I have read) are not mathematically ridiculous. I'm trying to be a peacemaker.

That said, his taste in music kicks absolute @$$. If music can't bring us all together, we're all screwed. I guess maybe food is a last resort, but music should do it also.

Quote: Mission146

Why do you seem to be under the impression that I have anything against MDawg? My entire purpose in this thread was to demonstrate that his claims (at least the ones I have read) are not mathematically ridiculous. I'm trying to be a peacemaker.

That said, his taste in music kicks absolute @$$. If music can't bring us all together, we're all screwed. I guess maybe food is a last resort, but music should do it also.

I never mentioned you, you are one of the best imo!

Quote: Mission146

Why do you seem to be under the impression that I have anything against MDawg? My entire purpose in this thread was to demonstrate that his claims (at least the ones I have read) are not mathematically ridiculous. I'm trying to be a peacemaker.

That said, his taste in music kicks absolute @$$. If music can't bring us all together, we're all screwed. I guess maybe food is a last resort, but music should do it also.

Music is just more noise.

Oh yes at the Cult concert I saw they definitely played Soul Asylum, and Sweet Soul Sister. Soul Asylum as you know is a song that unless you’re into the Cult might be harder to relate to at concert. I loved it.

I like most of Joy Division some of New Order.

I like a lot of ‘90s bands, especially STP, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains. How about Godsmack? I do like Nirvana but I am pretty sick of hearing their songs so I am probably more into Pearl Jam as far as longevity. Under the Bridge is probably my favorite Chili Peppers song. Back when I used to play a lot in Tahoe it was either Harrah’s or Harvey’s took us to see STP open for Chili Peppers – that was quite a show.

We saw Marilyn Manson at the House of Blues courtesy of a Vegas casino, in the very early 2000s, that was a great show. My favorite Marilyn Manson album is actually Mechanical Animals.

From the ‘90s or thereabouts, I like a lot of GNR, some Blink 182, some Weezer, some Offspring, some No Doubt, some Oasis. I also like a lot of Cranberries and some Wallflowers. Korn. Some Smashing Pumpkins. Some Pixies, some Bush. Jane’s Addiction, Goo Goo Dolls, Sonic Youth, Blind Mellon, Counting Crows, Creed. Even some Hootie and the Blowfish. 😁 How about Sublime, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20, Spin Doctors, Mudhoney, Limp Bizkit, Everclear. The list goes on!

Which bands would I like to see live again? Well, I suppose these would be bands that we’d be worried might die out? Although, I’ve seen the Rolling Stones a couple of times don’t need to see them again. My wife is really into older rock which is interesting but that’s the way young people are sometimes – they skip over the ‘80s and ‘90s and go back to the ‘70s. She really wants to see Santana live. I would have to think a bit about which bands I’d want to see live again that I have seen previously.

You mention heavy metal bands – for whatever reason I never got into heavy metal. I think it was mostly because growing up in high school my friends looked down on heavy metal. It wasn’t quite to the level of Quadrophenia the war between the mods and the rockers, but, my friends were all listening to progressive bands and not heavy metal. I’ll listen to some classics like Van Halen Running with the Devil but otherwise I actually don’t know much about bands like Metallica I have to admit.

Country – although it may sound odd, I like some really old Country Music, like Patsy Cline and Hank Williams, Sr. Not much into any newer country. When I am on the lifecycle at a Vegas gym and want to watch a music video without hearing the music I put it on country. Country videos are more interesting and capable of being followed without listening to the music.

Quote: Mission146

If music can't bring us all together, we're all screwed.

Politics might work also!

Wink wink, nudge, nudge

Finally a merging of all the great minds. Friends and allies everybody, love it!

MDawg wrote:

"Country – although it may sound odd, I like some really old Country Music, like Patsy Cline"

MDawg you can't be all bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbnrdCS57d0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuZTk1hdpMs

Quote: DRich

Music is just more noise.

Forgive me, DRich, for I am weak. Music flips my Nihilist switch firmly in the OFF position.

"Conversation is empty, abandoned in the freeze." - Demolition - Duran Duran

Bosox, this was the first Patsy Cline album I owned.


Every song on it is awesome, as I am sure you know, and it includes those two songs you linked.

I bought a couple other albums of hers too since then.

Quote: MDawg

Oh yes at the Cult concert I saw they definitely played Soul Asylum, and Sweet Soul Sister. Soul Asylum as you know is a song that unless you’re into the Cult might be harder to relate to at concert. I loved it.

Hell yeah! I just put on Sweet Soul Sister--incredible chorus on that one and it's a really logical song to follow Edie (Ciao Baby on the album. Edie is an insanely powerful song, as well. I think Sweet Soul Sister is another one that's at least for moderate fans of The Cult and might be tougher to relate to for those who are only familiar with their hits.

Quote:

I like most of Joy Division some of New Order.

I like a lot of ‘90s bands, especially STP, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains. How about Godsmack? I do like Nirvana but I am pretty sick of hearing their songs so I am probably more into Pearl Jam as far as longevity. Under the Bridge is probably my favorite Chili Peppers song. Back when I used to play a lot in Tahoe it was either Harrah’s or Harvey’s took us to see STP open for Chili Peppers – that was quite a show.

Godsmack was pretty good, but kind of one note. Voodoo is a truly excellent song and was fun to hear live. That was at Ozzfest and also performing were Slayer, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, Primus...you said you weren't much into metal, but had you been, this was like a, "Best of the best," sort of show.

I don't dislike Nirvana; I just think their insane popularity was a cult of personality thing just because so many people dug Cobain as a person. That became even more true after he died, of course...but Foo Fighters is still the best band that has Dave Grohl in it, in my opinion. He's also a better vocalist and songwriter than Cobain, again, in my opinion.

My favorite song by RHCP is The Zephyr Song, which kind of highlights one of the things I appreciate about them---they can do all kinds of different stuff. They're mostly funkadelic-sounding, but Kiedis is a truly gifted vocalist capable of a wide range of things and I think their best songs are the more melodic ones.

I also thought the band called Live was probably a little underrated. That guy's got some vocal power, though I forget his name.

Quote:

We saw Marilyn Manson at the House of Blues courtesy of a Vegas casino, in the very early 2000s, that was a great show. My favorite Marilyn Manson album is actually Mechanical Animals.

I never really got into Manson aside from the songs you'd hear on the radio, which I thought were all at least pretty good. I certainly wouldn't change the station when a Manson song came on, but his antics weren't really my cup of tea. That said, I've watched several interviews of Manson and he's a seriously intelligent dude, so I have to respect that. I get what he's trying to demonstrate with his antics, but I think he goes more over the top than necessary to make the point.

When it comes to bands along those lines, I liked Jack Off Jill, which is a band that was actually discovered by Manson. Tool are visionary as hell and Maynard James Keenan is just a dude who's all around incredible and really intelligent himself. You then get into Trent Reznor and NiN, which I also prefer to Marilyn Manson...he's a smart dude as well, but it almost seemed like he was trying too hard to come off as brooding.

The one thing I can say about Reznor is that he's a dude that respects musical greatness regardless of the genre. You know when Johnny Cash did that cover of Hurt Reznor's comment on it was, "That's his song now." That's respect.

And then The Cruxshadows are among my favorite bands and they're kind of a dance-techno take on Goth Metal, if you can imagine that. If you're not familiar with them, I'd suggest starting with Winterborn (This Sacrifice) or maybe Ariadne would give you a good idea of what they're about. Interesting subject matter for Cruxshadows' songs as well, many of them are about war and mythology.

Quote:

From the ‘90s or thereabouts, I like a lot of GNR, some Blink 182, some Weezer, some Offspring, some No Doubt, some Oasis. I also like a lot of Cranberries and some Wallflowers. Korn. Some Smashing Pumpkins. Some Pixies, some Bush. Jane’s Addiction, Goo Goo Dolls, Sonic Youth, Blind Mellon, Counting Crows, Creed. Even some Hootie and the Blowfish. 😁 How about Sublime, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20, Spin Doctors, Mudhoney, Limp Bizkit, Everclear. The list goes on!

Those are all pretty terrific bands. Blink-182 were totally gimmicky, but that gimmick was to be funny, which they were really good at, so it works. I never cared for Guns and Roses much, but it's interesting that you mention Blind Melon because that band got its break due to Shannon Hoon's relationship with...I think it was Axl Rose...who dated Hoon's sister at one point.

Weezer is an excellent band who I don't think have ever produced a bad song. They're one of those bands who I don't absolutely love, but everything that they produce is at least solid. Rivers Cuomo is a pretty unusual and eclectic fellow...you should look up his biography in brief; he had an unusual upbringing. I really like their cover of Africa by Toto, which is a relatively recent release. You should like it as it doesn't stray too far from the original.

The Offspring is one of those bands that I preferred before they got popular...not that their stuff designed to sell albums (after they left Epitaph Records...which is owned by Bad Religion lead guitarist Brett Gurewitz) is bad; they were still really good. I just liked them when they did more of a punk-metal fusion with songs like Gone Away which is one of my favorite songs of all-time to this day.

No Doubt was a really solid band who I obviously prefer in their early years before they went more towards a pop fusion.

Oasis was an excellent band, but the division between the brothers made things really difficult for them, at times. I remember them being termed the, "Second British Invasion," which I thought was overstating the case a bit. I'll certainly take Radiohead over Oasis any day of the week, but both are great bands. Another excellent band from across the pond was Blur, and the singer, Damon Albarn, is now behind The Gorillaz and produces some really great stuff there.

The Cranberries were out of this world great, Zombie is one of the best songs of all-time and Dolores O'Riordan could do it all. As long as we're on the subject of amazing rock bands with female lead vocalists, here are a few that almost have to be mentioned:

Kittie-Morgan Lander is the lead singer of Kittie and her clean vocals knock it out of the park, then she starts growling and screaming and you have no idea where it comes from!!! Her clean voice is really soft and angelic.

Garbage-I mean, Garbage has Shirley Manson and her range is just ridiculous. She can scream, she can project, she can get lower than just about any other female vocalist that I'm aware of...the only thing she doesn't really do is growl.

The Distillers-They didn't appear until the late-90's, but you've got to mention them. Brody Dalle is insane and could become a pop star any darn time she feels like it, but screw that, she was born to kick @$$ and rock your soul...and she's all out of @$$3$ to kick!

Korn was a perfectly fine band along with the likes of Limp Bizkit (even though they were goofy) and Disturbed. I'll tell you what you should do, listen to Stupefy by Disturbed and then Disturbed's cover of The Sound of Silence and then reconcile yourself to the fact that that's the same singer. Some people are just truly great, like Dave Matthews---I don't even like most DMB songs, but if you hear him towards the end of Grey Street you have to believe he could be a metal frontman if he really want to be...screaming, growling, projection---no problem for him.

I like a lot of the other bands you mentioned. I never had the opportunity to see Bush live, but from the videos I've seen of them live, that would be a really good show.

The Counting Crows is a really interesting band mostly because of how distinctive Duritz's voice is, unfortunately, they're a total disappointment live. I don't think Duritz actually has the range that the albums would lead you to believe and they just all-around goof off too much and most of them don't even sound like the same song. He's a great songwriter, though and a good singer as far as albums go. I particularly like Daylight Fading as a song because, to me, it's like they wrote a country song that's better than most country songs.

Hootie & The Blowfish is absolutely one of my Top 10 favorite bands of all-time and anyone who doesn't like it can fight me. Darius Rucker has one of the greatest voices, and I don't just mean singing voices, but one of the best pure voices that you'll ever hear. You could just listen to that guy talk normally and there's a musical quality to it...that guy was born to sing. Of course, he's had a nice country music career for himself also, but to me, it's mostly just by way of doing a softer version of what he was doing with Hootie. Just listen to the opening of something like Hannah Jane and tell me that's not a country song. I could easily listen to the albums Cracked Rear View and Musical Chairs without even thinking of skipping a song.

I like a few Sublime songs, but never massively got into them. Goo Goo Dolls was fine to the extent that it was refreshing to have something like that on Mainstream Radio as opposed to the usual drivel, but I didn't like them so much that I'd have purchased an album.

Creed takes a lot of crap for being a pseudo-Christian band, but Scott Stapp is an outstanding singer who can carry the notes just as well live as on the album...and some of their songs are legitimately really good.

I thought Third Eye Blind was okay, but Semi-Charmed Life was the only real standout song for me.

Matchbox Twenty was really great at the time and is among the bands who I've seen live...that was an excellent show. I can't quite remember who opened for them. Yourself or Someone Like You is an album that, at that age, I could listen to all the way through. Rob Thomas is obviously known for having a really distinctive voice, and I still like a lot of MB20 tracks, but I can't really listen to more than two or three in a row.

All the other bands you listed are great! I was under ten years old when the Pocket Full of Kryptonite album came out and recall it being among the first albums that I (as opposed to belonging to one of my parents) ever owned. I pretty much like the whole thing and can still throw on Jimmy Olsen's Blues for the nostalgia factor.

One of the massively underrated bands from the 90's is Deep Blue Something. They're known, inevitably, for the song Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I'll tell you that album, which was called Home, had twelve tracks on it and Breakfast at Tiffany's is NOT one of the best ten songs on there. Honestly, Breakfast at Tiffany's is kind of contrary to what the band even sounds like, in my opinion. They are a rock and power-pop fusion that's somewhat influenced by choir and carnival music...or something like that...you'd have to listen to the album.

Do you remember when Ska was a thing and Swing came back for twenty minutes, or so? You had Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Less Than Jake, Goldfinger and others. I mean, the 90's were just all over the place and everything was at least pretty good!!!

But then, Britney Spears, boy bands, R&B, dance-pop and it was just the beginning of the end for great music on mainstream radio. Although, even the R&B was pretty good in the late-90's with bands like TLC, Destiny's Child and singers such as Aaliyah. Better than it is now, anyway.

Quote:

Which bands would I like to see live again? Well, I suppose these would be bands that we’d be worried might die out? Although, I’ve seen the Rolling Stones a couple of times don’t need to see them again. My wife is really into older rock which is interesting but that’s the way young people are sometimes – they skip over the ‘80s and ‘90s and go back to the ‘70s. She really wants to see Santana live. I would have to think a bit about which bands I’d want to see live again that I have seen previously.

I think that the problem is that everyone thinks the 80's just had one sound, which it's fair to say much of mainstream pop did, but then you have to look more deeply into bands and understand that the single was just a mechanism to get people to buy the album and listen to the good stuff. That said, metal was starting to come along right around then, the punk scene was beginning to gain traction and even some mainstream stuff wasn't quintessential 80's pop. Dire Straits, for one example, is an excellent soft rock band. You even had Genesis who was kind of prog-rock with Phil Collins who sounded more like Peter Gabriel than Peter Gabriel does.

Even the prog-rock and synth-heavy stuff from the 80's was still good music. I'd rather listen to Shout by Tears for Fears on repeat seventy-five consecutive times than to listen to any Ke$ha song once.

I'd work on getting her to see Santana live before you miss the chance! He's nearing his mid-70's now.

Quote:

You mention heavy metal bands – for whatever reason I never got into heavy metal. I think it was mostly because growing up in high school my friends looked down on heavy metal. It wasn’t quite to the level of Quadrophenia the war between the mods and the rockers, but, my friends were all listening to progressive bands and not heavy metal. I’ll listen to some classics like Van Halen Running with the Devil but otherwise I actually don’t know much about bands like Metallica I have to admit.

Country – although it may sound odd, I like some really old Country Music, like Patsy Cline and Hank Williams, Sr. Not much into any newer country. When I am on the lifecycle at a Vegas gym and want to watch a music video without hearing the music I put it on country. Country videos are more interesting and capable of being followed without listening to the music.

There was a pretty big crowd that looked down on metal at my school, and of course, us metal fans told them exactly what they could do with themselves. They could all wrap their sweater-vests around their necks and choke themselves while listening to I Knew I Loved You by Savage Garden on an endless loop for all I cared. My crew was born to rock!!!

Anyway, it's a good thing you're not into metal, or this post would probably be twenty times as long.

I don't mind old country music too much and there are a handful of artists that I like in the last thirty years. Darius Rucker, of course, but also Travis Tritt, Toby Keith and Garth Brooks are all pretty good.

To clarify: I meant that the single was once meant to get people to buy the album, hopefully create some passionate fans from those ranks and then they go to the shows. Ever since the mid-2000's, or so, it seems that singles are mostly an end unto themselves rather than a means to an end.

Here you guys go!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oolpPmuK2I8

Another Cranberries like band I must mention would be Cocteau Twins. Actually, I would say that Cranberries are almost Cocteau Twins, lite.

Ska - now, that was Eighties wasn't it? I must have missed its revival. Swing - yes! I am familiar with exactly when that was revived because I vividly recall that even these young teens were calling themselves Swing Geeks or some such for a period. So anyway, I imagine that Swing revival hit everyone from the youngest teens to the slightly older set (it missed me). You have seen the movie, Swingers, no? and its closing scene with Heather Graham.

You mention Britney Spears. And here I digress a little. It was not long after 9/11 that one of the MGM casinos gave me something like a dozen tickets to Britney Spears and six to U2. I was in Vegas with a good friend and then some other friends of mine were in town so I took all of them and a girl who lived in Vegas I was dating at the time to the concerts. My friend from where I lived refused to go to Britney Spears, but he went to U2. And that's where I'm not too proud to admit that a few Britney songs are all right, I mean they are pure pop but they sound good, right?

Digressing further, I went to a lot of the concerts in Vegas with cocktail waitresses I was dating from the casinos. I wasn't exactly pulling a Fredo, but back then I felt like it was easy to approach them and ask for their numbers. I don't think it was simply that I was rather young and single (versus now older and married), I think just the mentality of approachability was different and maybe some of the younger set that goes to Vegas may step in to comment here if we have any like that on this site. I dated cocktail waitresses and hosts, I am not sure if that is politically "allowed" these days to hit on them in the first place? I know of two hosts (female) who married high rollers, and I dated one of them before she married this other player I was acquainted with. In fact, when I would date one girl who say worked in VIP or as a host or whatever, and we then ended the relationship amicably she would advise me "Don't go out with so and so, etc." as if it were just routine. I'd sometimes go to the high limit Baccarat or Blackjack tables at one resort and see a high roller I knew with a cocktail waitress from a different resort. I don't notice much if any of that these days.

Watch the whole thing especially the standing ovation at the end with the conclusion to it. This song is dedicated to all of us that now have become friends and we are at the top of the stairway and the haters are at the bottom and will never get on the stairs!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2cZ_EFAmj08

Day Eight play

One shoe / walked with 6000.

Was an easy shoe, bank runs, streaky, mostly repeating pattern. Early on after a few losers I did do one larger bet 2000 on Bank and won with a 7 (five card draw), but otherwise my average bet was only around five hunny (which I negotiated up to 600), and I merely pressed into each run. If anything I underpaid myself I could have easily made much more on this shoe. The big player from yesterday came over and tried a thousand call bet on one of my runs but he got there too late, and didn't come back, for which I was grateful. I play best alone. I was placing red chips on the side for the dealer right and left so dealer made some money too. Everyone happy!

I cashed 1000, converted 100 of it to fives for more tips, and added the 5000 chip to the winner's zipped compartment.

Vegas is good. +54K

There's a little under 16K and a little over 38K in chips in there.



But the real point of this picture is to show how their counting machine mangled the 4000 I cashed out a couple days ago. I should mention that to them I believe I do recall exactly which station at which I cashed out that day.



"Excuse me but, your machine mangled my payout cash. May I get a replacement?" Anyway, a little mangling is better than the torn in half twenty I tipped out that day.

Or I'll just deposit that mangled 4K and pass the problem along to the next recipient. Usually I just throw it into one of my safety deposit boxes. No, there's not nearly as much in there as Ace put away for a rainy day under his wife's name.



By the way, getting back to CTR discussions - there is no way I got a CTR for any of this. I have cashed out barely 16K over longer than a week. At the end, I'll have them cut a check or wire the chips cashout. And this gets back to how anyone who thinks that a high roller would automatically cash out large sums doesn't know anything about high end table game play. If I had attempted to cash out even double what I did, by now they would have temp. closed my line.

Quote: MDawg

There's a little under 16K and a little over 38K in chips in there.

Yawn.. You should really be telling
these 'stories' to a more receptive
audience. Cub Scouts around a
campfire, maybe. They'll believe
anything.

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: MDawg

There's a little under 16K and a little over 38K in chips in there.

Yawn.. You should really be telling
these 'stories' to a more receptive
audience. Cub Scouts around a
campfire, maybe. They'll believe
anything.

Seriously I know you're the number one long-time poster here with 25,000 or so posts but you are at the point of repetitively trolling this thread. The above post you made is derogatory and a clear personal insult to the O.P.

I'm requesting you, as I do view myself as a rising long-term member here and I would like to see a bit more respect when you post especially in this thread where the O, P. is very much admired by many members of this forum.

Thank you I appreciate your cooperation

Quote: Marcusclark66

O, P. is very much admired by many members of this forum.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Quote: Marcusclark66

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: MDawg

There's a little under 16K and a little over 38K in chips in there.

Yawn.. You should really be telling
these 'stories' to a more receptive
audience. Cub Scouts around a
campfire, maybe. They'll believe
anything.

Seriously I know you're the number one long-time poster here with 25,000 or so posts but you are at the point of repetitively trolling this thread. The above post you made is derogatory and a clear personal insult to the O.P.

I'm requesting you, as I do view myself as a rising long-term member here and I would like to see a bit more respect when you post especially in this thread where the O, P. is very much admired by many members of this forum.

Thank you I appreciate your cooperation

Marcus is casino security/surveillance. You better watch out Even Bob!

Even Bob! Nersessian (see what I did there) will tell you once they get it in their heads how they view the situation there is nothing you can say that will change their minds. Best to just clam up and be quiet.

You can wire over $10K in chips home without a CTR. How do you wire over $10K in cash home without a CTR? I guess if TSA or Customs isn't confiscating money at the airports/borders, you don't need to wire the cash home.

CC I am not sure what you're asking, but I've converted winning chips to both checks and bank wires many times, and there is no CTR or any other sort of governmental report issued.

Carrying cash on US domestic air flights is not an issue other than - I suppose if you are found to be in possession of an abnormally large sum (far more than say, 100000), there might be some questions, but there is no cash reporting requirement on domestic flights.

Yesterday when I was playing I was sprinkling red chips alongside my bets for the dealer on many bets, because I was winning so consistently. When the dealer switched, that dealer mentioned to the other dealer, take care of his guy, hey, he's a good guy. And as we played along both pit bosses present offered their insight into the shoe. Tangibly speaking, at the end the pit boss agreed to push my average bet as entered to 600, and I am sure he did that partly because I took care of the dealers. When divulging to me the average bet posted many pit bosses have flat out mentioned that "you take care of my dealers, I take care of you."

Besides the benefit to me, I just can't see winning in a casino and not taking care of the dealers, drink servers, cashiers and other casino staff. In the old days there was the "happy handshake" (concealed C note) for the pit bosses, nowadays you may buy them gift certificates. I had a high rolling friend who used to buy gifts for the hotel operators, people no one ever sees or thinks much about. Spread the cheer guys, don't be a cheap bastard.

Windy. As. Hell.

Quote: MDawg

CC I am not sure what you're asking, but I've converted winning chips to both checks and bank wires many times, and there is no CTR or any other sort of governmental report issued.

Carrying cash on US domestic air flights is not an issue other than - I suppose if you are found to be in possession of an abnormally large sum (far more than say, 100000), there might be some questions, but there is no cash reporting requirement on domestic flights.
.

Both issues above that were cited are correct and stands true everywhere within our country. The only one thing that is different amongst the casinos is the SAR's which some call STR's.

Thanks Marcus. And I'm a known player playing under my real name completely verified, so no one is going to send a STR on me just for winning and taking home my winnings via check or wire.

I'm wondering, if that mangled money


is reentered into a counting machine will it jam it up?

Has anyone noticed how advanced these counting machines have become? They don't just count they even detect the denomination of the bills via camera. I wonder if they even detect counterfeits? Come a long way since Scarface.


One thing even the new machines will do though - if the money is VERY new, it tends to stick together, and the machine will miscount or jam up, something like an auto feeder on a copier will tend to misfeed.

That happened with this little stack of bills.


I've counted it since then, so it doesn't look as new or sticky, but on the initial payout she had to keep taking them out of the machine and fanning the bills.

I'll say this - when you get to the point of receiving all different varieties of bills from the casino - mangled, sticky, old, new - that is the mark of a good Vegas trip!

Quote: MDawg

Thanks Marcus. And I'm a known player playing under my real name completely verified, so no one is going to send a STR on me just for winning and taking home my winnings via check or wire.

STRs are normally sent for people that refuse to give their ID and they buy in with various amounts something like $2500 than $5000 or so and they refuse to give their ID, it's always for the purpose of two players without IDs giving each other money either to buy in with her cash out. They are not issued for any player that has already been been verified and is known. It can be issued for somebody that comes in real quick buys in and then cash it out and wants a check or money wired without hardly playing because that is a sure sign of money laundering in many ways..

MDawg... you said you tip put bosses ‘gift certificates’. To me, a gift certificate is essentially cash. Do pit bosses actually accept these gift certificates? I figured that would be strictly forbidden?

Seventy bucks?



Maybe I should start coming to Vegas with one of those ready. That might be getting on the level of hubris though...and anyway, I try NOT to get too much cash I much rather prefer check or bank wire.

Quote: SOOPOO

MDawg... you said you tip put bosses ‘gift certificates’. To me, a gift certificate is essentially cash. Do pit bosses actually accept these gift certificates? I figured that would be strictly forbidden?

Done it openly. In the old days. Is it still allowed now? I haven't tried.

Quote: ChumpChange

You can wire over $10K in chips home without a CTR. How do you wire over $10K in cash home without a CTR? I guess if TSA or Customs isn't confiscating money at the airports/borders, you don't need to wire the cash home.

It has to be a cash transaction giving chips for a check or a wire is not cash. It has to be where a player presents sums totaling over $10,000 in a 24-hour period. Or receiving over $10,000. But again it has to be a cash transaction.

Quote: Marcusclark66

It has to be a cash transaction, giving chips for a check or a wire is not cash.

Can I throw in a comma in on that quote so I can read it properly?

Quote: sabre

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

LOL EVEN MORE. Can he name more than 3 legitimate people? Then compare it to people on the opposite side.

Quote: SOOPOO

MDawg... you said you tip put bosses ‘gift certificates’. To me, a gift certificate is essentially cash. Do pit bosses actually accept these gift certificates? I figured that would be strictly forbidden?

I would avoid trying to tip a pit boss. I have tipped hosts as much as 3k in cash.

Quote: AxelWolf

LOL EVEN MORE. Can he name more than 3 legitimate people? Then compare it to people on the opposite side.

Axel please answer. Are you saying I am not legitimate?

As well several people have p.m. me and although I classify them as being valid members that are legitimate, if they p.m. me how would you classify them?

Here is what the disbelievers are saying about you MDawg.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gklRF1EFmtQ&t=35s