Mr_Iko

Nice, right? However, after a while, open tunings drive me nuts. On an album, there should be a maximum of three or four songs based on open tunings. Then the others should return to classic tunings, maybe slightly modified if you need heavier or higher sounds. My ear isn't morphologically suited to receive dissonances for too long (even if finely sought after like in this case) that cover "too much" harmonic space. That’s why Sonic Youth tires me out if I listen to an entire album, but I really like them if I listen for twenty minutes and then change the record.

"The faggots who enjoy the beech" is the second best joke I've read today! The first one is: A couple goes to a sexual counseling clinic one day; without any preamble, the man asks the doctor if he can watch them during their intimate moment. The doctor, after a moment of hesitation, agrees. When the couple finishes their performance, the doctor asserts, "Mah! To me, everything seems fine, I don't see anything strange in the way you make love!" - and asks for EUR 32 for the consultation.
The same thing repeats for several weeks; the two make an appointment, arrive, have sex without any problems, pay the doctor, and leave happy. Finally, one day, the curious doctor asks: "Excuse me, but it's been a while since I've been observing you, and I don't see anything strange in your relationships. What is it exactly that’s wrong?" The man replies: "Look... you are married, and we can't go to your house; I am married, and we can't go to my house. At the Holiday Inn, a room costs EUR 100, at Boscolo it's 80, and at Jolly it's 70. Here we do it for 32, and the USL reimburses us 20!"

Last comment (otherwise you'll kill me and you'd be right :-D): Cliff wrote (HE, NOT ME...) "keeping in mind that I don't understand a thing about classical music...and I don't feel at all ready to listen to it," justifies my first comment, the infamous seed of this discussion. The verdict is yours.

That said: I too am secretly in love with you, just like with Cleo, Kosmo, zzzzz, Bibiane, and vv. It's just that love is an unnecessary, superfluous, and harmful feeling, so I try to hide it as much as possible. And my culture, ultimately, is certainly inferior to yours and to half of the navigators of these virtual waters.

Well, dearest Fosca, as often happens, your words express wisdom. You have issued them in good faith and with full awareness. Prudence and calmness are undoubtedly qualities of yours. The point in question is that I fight for the enhancement of what I believe (note: the entire sentence is in the FIRST person) should be valued and, as a corollary, I tend to mock what does not deserve to be elevated. In all truthfulness and candor, I cannot hide from you that I have also "held back" in expressing my judgment on this review. Cliff knows that the moment he became the protagonist of a great review, I praised him (and I will be ready to do so again if his writings deserve it), just as he knows that when he fell to the level of a poor scribbler, I pulverized him. It seems to me that there can be nothing better than being honest with oneself and with others, even at the cost of appearing unpleasant. I have been honest with him, as I have been with all others (perhaps not all, as I fell into infamy when I commented rudely on some pages about metalheads, and I regret it). You show me a lack of elasticity and the associated rigidity. It exists, and there is no way to deny it without falling into the ridiculous, but if it is adopted in the right direction, it will prove to be a good thing because it does not stem from my professed suffering but in homage to the true and the good. I play at being snobbish, intellectual, annoyingly elevated above everything and everyone, but those who know me know that I am reliable, sincere, and exceedingly lovable. Never, as long as I remain sound of mind, will I allow myself to express a judgment based on the words of others. Everyone thinks as they wish, this is true and beautiful. But that not everyone thinks well is equally true.

The compliments for my Latin are excessive; I just learned a little bit by heart, anyone can do that if forced to. Sure. Anyway, thx.

Thank you for your moral backing, Voice of the Truth 01&02

I join in (albeit with the benefit of being able to nitpick a few commas) the rightful comment of Kurz.

Mr_Iko doesn’t think he’s Dante because Dante was really ugly, while he’s quite cute. Mr_Iko makes chickens laugh because when chickens laugh, they activate 47 muscles and thus, by sweating a little from the movement, they manage to expel some of the anabolic agents and antibiotics they are stuffed with, making them less harmful when they are eaten. Mr_Iko has the virtue of not being a phony, a hypocrite, or a show-off; he is sincere, always says what he thinks, and pays for the consequences out of his own pocket, since he always signs his name. Is Mr_Iko a fanatic of aesthetics? So what? Where's the problem? Mr_Iko is someone who went to high school in a technical industrial institute (where they speak a rough kind of Italian) only to later indulge in the study of law, where he brilliantly passed ALL his exams, teaching himself the fundamental features of Latin. Mr_Iko isn’t afraid to defend his ideas and, above all, he doesn’t fear modifying them if he feels he’s wrong. Mr_Iko knows how to apologize if he realizes (rarely, in truth) that he made a mistake. Mr_Iko knows that in this case he is perfectly right, regardless of what some might think differently. Mr_Iko spoke in the third person because it gives a more noble tone. Mr_Iko doesn’t want to be anyone else but Mr_Iko. And so it shall be.

...or Vinnie Colaiuta or Omar Hakim, or Manu Katche, or Willy Calhoum, or Ringo Star (!), or Billy Cobham (who played in Parma two days ago but I couldn't go, damn!), or Terry Bozzio, or Bill Bruford, or Phil Collins, or Simon Phillips, or others, I add. But does skill really matter? Who knows, that's the problem. Skill or melodic sense? Better both. Scudetto or Champions League? Stupid question that journalists ask when they don't know what to ask... I give a 1 to Billy Cobham for being so close to my home and not even calling me! I give a 5 to Bill Bruford because I'm listening to him right now. I give a 4 to marcmat because he doesn't succumb to Rivo's personality but fights against it. I give a 4 to Rivo because he says the right things without shame, even though sometimes he can be really annoying! I give a 1 to Mr_iko who intrudes in other people's affairs without warning and without justification. I give a 3 to Hal because I always give him a 5 and then he gets a big head! :-D. I drink and... I'm happy!