My current obsession - Dream Theater!

The Official King's X Home Page: one of the few bands worth listening to anymore.

I dig Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Stone Temple Pilots. Check out the Lederhosen-wearing dancers at the beginning of Vaseline.

Paul Weller. Unfortunately, too few Americans have ever heard of this English musician, who's been number one in England with regularity over the past two decades. I first listened to Weller's group The Jam back in the early 80's while just a high school lad. Weller's lyrics and the force of the music were something I had never experienced in music on this side of the big pond. Youth explosion in my fragile eggshell mind! Check out their live recordings! Although I was disappointed at the breakup of the Jam at the peak of their success in 1983, I still admired Weller for moving on when groups like the Stones were making a mockery of themselves by refusing to quit decades after they should have. Weller's next group, The Style Council, was a change of pace and caused a broadening of my musical interests. I was a fan to the last album, which many panned, but I found beautiful and daring, hip, international, enlightened. After being down a few years, Weller has regrouped and released 3 solid solo albums. My favorite was his first solo album, followed by Wildwood and the recent Stanley Road, which I'm surprised to say I don't much care for. Check out the Weller page and read up on this mainstay of the British music scene for the past 20 years. BTW, I still get out my blue '76 Rickenbacker 4001 Stereo Bass and crank it up to the Jam. Some 10 years on now, I've still hardly forgotten a note!

I was also a fan of the early solo work of Ozzy Osbourne featuring Randy Rhoads and then Jake E. Lee, but I only like an occasional song or two of his newer albums, such as Miracle Man, Road to Nowhere, etc. I've met Ozzy twice and must say that he was a soft-spoken gentleman on both occasions. For all the wild stories surrounding him, I've always liked his solo lyrics and think of him as a family man!

Kansas Home Page Great recent album, saw them perform extremely well as an opening act to Yes. I've always been into groups like Kansas, Yes, Asia, ELP and Rush many years ago. I've liked all that Kerry Livgren has ever done and I still regularly buy anything with Jon Anderson on it, from his solo work to his collaboration with Vangelis to the various manifestations of Yes. I guess I like the complexity of the music, the great vocals and the powerful and lively bass in all these groups.

I also like the early Van Halen with David Lee Roth, one of the great showmen of all time. They sure have turned lame, predictable and unimaginative since Diamond Dave left (and they got off the sauce). Dave's solo albums with Vai and Sheehan continued the tradition of dynamite playing combined with wit and humor that is so characteristic of Dave. I still love a good Dave joke every now and then. He was the same as ever on Leno recently, except for his noticeably receding hairline. Happens to the best of us!

My other long-time favorite group has been CHEAP TRICKThey are an honest rock 'n' roll band, if there ever was one. I love Robin Zander's voice and Tom Petterson's grinding 12-string bass. I still go to see them whenever they're in town. They just open it up and rock out time after time like an old garage band.

BEEF BRISKET. This was my group throughout high school and college. We were originally called Household Word, but somehow Beef Brisket was more meaningful and captured our character better. We were a power trio with me on bass and vocals, Bill Childress on drums and Dan Ruprecht on lead guitar. Dan is L.A. now, waiting for his break with his group The Pranks. As for Beef Brisket, we were trying to play Van Halen, Vanhalenized Beatles and Kinks tunes, Cheap Trick and Ozzy covers back in a time when New Wave was regrettably the rage and the Romanics ruled the day. Needless to say we weren't too popular. The Ozzy tunes we used to play almost twenty years ago can now be heard on numerous radio stations every day. Funny, eh?

BOE - my current band with a couple of other guys from school

MISC. While my tastes have somewhat become outdated, I still like new groups like the ones above, but most of the stuff on the radio is pretty weak, in my opinion. As for metal, I like Ozzy alot (met him twice -he's a gentleman and a family man!), old VH, old AC/DC, some Whitesnake, some old Black Sabbath, Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio, etc. I don't care for groups like Megadumm or Pantera, Marilyn Munster, TOOL, and other pop acts like Blink182, Hootie and the Blowfish, Counting Crows, etc.. Smashing Pumpkins writes good songs, but Billy Corrigan sings like a total wuss. Creed rocks ok, but I don't care much for the singer. I still can't understand what people see in Metallica beyond a few songs. I'd rather listen to Motorhead or Iron Maiden, if I have to go there.

OTHER. I also like The Who, Big Country, older U2, the Babys, Simply Red, Level 42, and gospel singer turned country, Russ Taff. That man can sang!

EXOTIC. I love singer / harp player Loreena McKinnett of Canada, classical guitarist Julian Bream, Pavarotti, fugues, Mozart, Chopin.
The only German groups I've ever liked are the Scorpions and Muenchener Freiheit (cheesy love songs, but artfully done in German).
I also like alot of Turkish music. ZEKI MUREN is my favorite! He's like a Turkish Pavarotti. Other favorites in Turkish Pop are Fatih Erkoc (I used to call him Kokorec), Ajda Pekkan (beautiful lady and voice), Asya, Sibel Can (be still my heart), and Tark-zan, as I called him. I also liked Hulya Avsar and Aysegul for their beauty, not as much for their music.

If it rocks, it's KSHE! Links to bands, pages, etc.

Comments , corrections and suggestions for improvement are always welcome.