Rudi

Maybe we should identify some unlikely dropped artist and send craploads of fan-mail to BMG. Well... maybe not!

I thought there was a maximum of 3000 in one year?

Im on it! BTW thanks & I promise to forget all about er.. whatever it was! Rude

I thought I had a spyware problem, and maybe I do. I cannot download e-mail, or set the default webpage for logging on to etc etc etc. I didnt think I had a virus. Benign & MAilwasher look after my e-mail. Agitum Firewall & Tauscan look after the rest. Tauscan has been reminding me lately that I need to re-subscribe (about $25) to continue to qualify for updates etc. I tried to pay it, but the PC is in such a sorry state that the transaction failed. One of my problems, Steve had too. He fixed it with AVG, a virus killer. I just barely managed to download it before hanging the m/c again. It didnt merely find a virus. It found a plague of 25 viruses (viri?)! I am gobsmacked. I know all my problems are not over. I can tell by the way the PC behaves that all is still not well. Oddly enough the common problem that Steve & I had is still not fixed on my m/c but is on his. The full format will still have to go ahead. I hope I never knowingly meet a virus writer.

I dont know where it will go or how it will develop. I do feel that chaos will be rough on everyone, but sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. I dare say various schemes are being hatched based on internet access to music. Its how it finds its way onto radio etc. that is the question.

tHATS great! Give us a link and I'll have a listen.

very kind of you Nigel. I got the same advice from Steve. I will get a 2nd hard drive 1st (this w/e any luck) I hate PCs.

i dint voat. dis iz b-coz i is indie-vitual. iz tom d nighcest bloak indie wurld? KNOW! e's jusnot indie-vitual enuf.

Even without the internet & piracy, the quality of pop music would be just the same. The big media bods created the scene, which now is is devalued to 2nd best to a phone jingle. They are drowning in thier own mess.

The download wouldnt do anything except display a message stating `FATAL ERROR'. So no joy there. I ran an update for Tau (trojan scanner) and checked out the whole of my system. It found nothing. Maybe I just have a spyware problem. I am seriously pissed off. I may buy a old £25 PC and use that instead. Better still I may stop using a PC altogether. Pen & paper was never this much bother. :'(

and I though indie was lazy slang for Hindi

I have it. Ill let you know if it finds saser.

either of these any good for Win 98?

Its looks ok, but then I am not bothered about appearance much. Apparently it has other skins anyway. I have had a couple of odd things happen (may or may not be to do with Avant). Three odd files appeared on my desktop. I removed them and then had trouble logging on. Now my login details are not prompted when I come here. Finally I keep getting attacks that try to make me go to some premium rate line. I'll have to go back to Explorer to see if this persists.

ok, Ive got it now. I`ll install later. I have no idea what XP is like though.

The `String Cheese Incident' are essentially a Bluegrass band. There was once of course `Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions'. In both cases the music is class!

My understanding is that you can sing about what you want, just dont lose the accent.

catchy! Give us a report back when youve had a go Steve eh?

It is right!. Just think of all that crap that was about before boy bands!

I dont know about it John. Is there a link or article at hand? cheers

The popular media is tremendously powerful. It has taken me a lifetime to realize just how powerful. It works away at us over decades, slowly modifying social values and educating newer generations to a modern Political Correctness. Its mostly responsible and benign, but I am wary of it. It works just like peer pressure. Now, the cult of celebrity is so overbalanced that some people seem to feel that thier own (humble) lifestyles are so empty that they are worth little or nothing. The dream they have bought into is `fame'. As consumers `fame' is thier opium. Also, the only way they can empower themselves and make thier lives meaningful is to grab some fame of thier own, if only on kareoke night. The reality is that `fame' is a shallow and unworthy goal in itself, but that is all thats required for now. But this is the dream the media have sold us. What happens to society when no-one is content to form part of the audience, because everyone insists upon trying to take the stage. The problem is not the making of music or musicians. We are just as much victims as anyone else. I try to maintain a balanced perspective, I have to work at every day. The article is good, its message is welcome.

Hmm! Well I warned I probably couldnt help. There was an ancient (still is somewhere) mandolin at my mothers house, with no makers name. It was also almost impossible to play. I expect you could research as well, or better, than me. As a starting point, are there any mandolin players you like? I rather like David Grisman. Good luck John. Lets know if you get a result.

did she undergo surgery for this?

John, I dont think I can help, but... Do you mean mandolins in general? -as opposed to something else? Or a make of instrument? Or one type of mandolin versus another? ie: 8 string versus 12 string?

And as for making it work, any views about that ? I have to admit, I have no idea!