Rob's Lobs

[DSteckler]

Until it closes above the 200DMA, yes.

[billyjoe]

Okay, boys and girls, I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to trading stocks (although lately I've been doing quite alright at it, thank you very much) but ol' Rob certainly knows what he's talking about when it comes to guitar players!

I've been preaching for nearly twenty years now that Gary Moore is one of the best blues guitar players this world has known. He is technically one of the best I've ever heard, but! ... unlike with other technically superior players, the mood doesn't get lost in the mechanics of it.

I challenge anyone to try to convince me that there is anyone on the planet who can outperform Gary Moore playing electric blues guitar. Here's a 9½-minute clip of him doing his version of Jimi Hendrix' "Red House." It screams, it soars, it's delicate, and at the same time it's like a sledge hammer. Simply put, it's freakin' awesome.

You can thank me later, you bunch of scalawags.

Rob,
Gary Moore is awesome. I see he was with Thin Lizzie and Skid Row. Is that the same Skid Row that MTV always mentions ? If so it's a good thing he got out.

I'd like your opinion on some guitar players and they're not strictly blues guitar players. I don't play guitar so wouldn't know how technically good these guys are. John McLaughlin is the only one I've seen live (twice). Thanks

Joe Satriani
John McLaughlin
Jeff Beck
Billy Gibbons
Stevie Ray Vaughn

-------------billyjoe

[diogenes]

Rob,
Gary Moore is awesome. I see he was with Thin Lizzie and Skid Row. Is that the same Skid Row that MTV always mentions ? If so it's a good thing he got out.

I'd like your opinion on some guitar players and they're not strictly blues guitar players. I don't play guitar so wouldn't know how technically good these guys are. John McLaughlin is the only one I've seen live (twice). Thanks

...
John McLaughlin
...

-------------billyjoe

Friday Night in San Francisco is killer!

[billyjoe]

Friday Night in San Francisco is killer!

Dio,
I'll have to find that one. I've got some oldies Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire.

------------billyjoe

[Rob]

Rob, . . . I'd like your opinion on . . .
Joe Satriani
John McLaughlin
Jeff Beck
Billy Gibbons
Stevie Ray Vaughn

All of them are brilliant in their own ways.

Joe Satriani is the epitome of what I was talking about when I mentioned technically superior guitar players and how the soul of the music gets lost in the mechanics. What little I've heard of him he sounded great, but so mechanically perfect it sounded like I was listening to a robot.

I remember in the early 70s having an LP by John McLaughlin and the Majavishnu Orchestra (sp?). He was pretty awesome. I had another LP with him and another phenomenal guitar player named Al Demeola (I think that's how his name was spelled). I think it was one of the most outstanding acoustic guitar duo albums I've ever heard. But that Majavishnu stuff ... you have to be kicked back in an opium den with a hookah hose in your mouth and jasmine incense burning on a brass Buddha to hear it in its proper context.

I've always loved Jeff Beck ever since the 60s. But he can get pretty weird too.

Billy Gibbons. I love that down-to-earth, nitty-gritty sound he delivers. I just wish he'd lose that stupid-looking shower cap he's been wearing for the past 10 or so years.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was a guitar-player's guitar-player. He was so good it was other-worldly. I may have mentioned this before, but I got to meet him one time very briefly. I saw him in the audience of a concert at a county fair near Palmdale, CA. The Texas Swing/Boogie band Asleep at the Wheel was performing (those guy are great too, by the way). When that show ended I ran up and talked to him for a minute and shook his hand. He didn't seem bothered or anything; he was genuinely warm and friendly. Stevie performed later that night, and of course it was incredibly good. The only thing I didn't enjoy was that on that occasion he also had a fourth piece in the band, a keyboard player. The keyboard was good and all, but it sort of muddled up the sound. I wanted to hear a three-piece band, with that unbelievable guitar front and center, and the keyboard was to my ear an unwelcome inclusion.

[billyjoe]

Rob,
I had forgotten all about Asleep at the Wheel. Can't remember what song I associate with them. Thought it was White Line Fever , but no ,that was Flying Burrito Bros. Some of these groups I haven't thought of for years. Do you remember Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks ? He was on the verge of breaking out then appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and was so obnoxious I think he got blackballed. What an idiot.

---------------billyjoe


A guy who reminds me of John McLaughlin , but with a different instrument is Bela Fleck on banjo. Even if you hate banjo music you've got to see this guy. He's so fast he can make it sound like a harp.Even some of the greats can't figure how he can get those notes.

[IIC]

I am surprised that Rob...With his wife being a Valley Girl 'n All has never mentioned the ELECTRIC PRUNES...Although...His wife may be a little young to remember them:

http://www.classicbands.com/electricprunes.html

Another Groovy Group from my Jr. Hi Days was THE PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY...If nothing else they had a FAR-OUT name:

http://www.peanutbutterconspiracy.com

The PBC had a really BOSS song back about 40 yrs ago...But I can't remember what it was???

The EP's I remember tho...IIC (Peace & Love)

[Rob]

Billy, perhaps the song you're trying to think of is "The House of Blue Lights"? or maybe "Boogie Back to Texas"? I think those were Asleep at the Wheel's two best-known songs. They also did a good cover of "Hot Rod Lincoln," but it never came close to the success of the Commander Cody version.

Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks was one of my favorite bands ever. I'm sure I've driven my wife to distraction by playing Dan Hicks tapes for hours on long driving trips. I never heard of the Tonight Show appearance--I'd like to see that. It had to be late '69 or maybe '70 when I first heard Dan Hicks. I'll never forget it. A buddy and I used to stay up all night on the weekends under the influence of certain mind-altering substances* and record stuff that was broadcast on so-called "underground" FM radio from stations in San Francisco. We had this little reel-to-reel tape recorder and used to have all kinds of fun with it. They used to play a lot of Firesign Theater (off-beat comedy group) stuff too. Anyway, we recorded this song "I Scare Myself," by Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, and I listened to it over and over. It was mesmerizing. I went to see Dan Hicks at a little dinner show here when he came to town about 14 years ago. At the time, he didn't have the Hot Licks but a band called "The Acoustic Warriors." It was good; I was not disappointed (except that I would have rather seen the Hot Licks band).

I've seen Bela Fleck on television. He had a band called the Flecktones or something like that. I remembered being impressed by his banjo virtuosity but couldn't escape the feeling that what I really wanted to hear him do was play bluegrass music.

Doug, I remember one song by the Electric Prunes: "Too Much to Dream." I also remember that the great L.A. Dodger pitcher, Don Sutton, had been a member of the Electric Prunes and had to give it up to pursue his baseball career. (I think he made the right choice, don't you?)

I do not remember the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, but I do remember: Strawberry Alarm Clock, Chocolate Watchband, Spiral Staircase, Pastrami Malted, Moby Grape, and a host of others.

Do you remember a song called "White Bird" by It's A Beautiful Day? For some reason thinking about all those other groups reminded me of that song.

I also remember in the late 60s hearing tapes by this little local San Francisco band called The Grateful Dead. They went on to some recognition and critical acclaim.

--------------------------------

*A practice I neither encourage nor condone.

[Rob]

Well I fully expect IMCL to take a 9-10% hit today on the Yeda patent news, but I'm going to just hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. If it hits 27.00 it will be a great buying opportunity.

[New-born baby]

Well I fully expect IMCL to take a 9-10% hit today on the Yeda patent news, but I'm going to just hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. If it hits 27.00 it will be a great buying opportunity.

Trading down $3.52 at 6:50 am CST. Would it be a great opportunity to play this one South with some puts? Sell some calls?

[Rob]

Trading down $3.52 at 6:50 am CST. Would it be a great opportunity to play this one South with some puts? Sell some calls?

No. Yesterday would have been the time to do that. But yesterday no one knew exactly WHEN this judgment was forthcoming. (Well the judge's friends, family and acquaintances might have known.) This baby will bounce. The negative judgment had largely been priced in already, hence the recent drop from low 40s to current levels. If you short this one and make a couple of percent on it, take the money and run. That's my opinion.

[billyjoe]

Rob,
White Bird was a great song. Remember when It's a Beautiful Day toured with The Soft Machine ? Maybe 1970-1971.

--------------billyjoe

[Rob]

Remember when It's a Beautiful Day toured with The Soft Machine ? Maybe 1970-1971.

Billy, a search of the grey matter turns up a negative on that one, although that name, The Soft Machine, sounds vaguely familiar somehow.

[New-born baby]

No. Yesterday would have been the time to do that. But yesterday no one knew exactly WHEN this judgment was forthcoming. (Well the judge's friends, family and acquaintances might have known.) This baby will bounce. The negative judgment had largely been priced in already, hence the recent drop from low 40s to current levels. If you short this one and make a couple of percent on it, take the money and run. That's my opinion.

Here it is an hour before the market opens and she's already traded through 1.2 million shares, as well as having bounced up to $28.22. This thing could trade 30 million shares today. Average daily volume is 1.88 million.

[Rob]

This thing could trade 30 million shares today.

Possible but not likely. My gut tells me the volume will be more in the 10-15 million range. My gut also tells me the price will likely end up close to where it is right now, near 28.

I think it would be a good day to buy out of the money leaps.