Joe Bonamassa live at the Beacon.

I really like his voice and "where he goes" with his guitar work, in addition to the stunning virtuosity. Yay, PBS.

Interesting, Tom. I really like his "blues with leanings toward rock" guitar work, but I don't own anything by him because I can't get past his singing. To me, his vocals sound like he's imitating how he thinks a "blues singer" should sound.

Yes, when I used to watch Idol, Simon would call that a "Karoake Performance".

I really wish I could get past it, because I enjoy his guitar work very much.

Funny, I feel somewhat the same way. He is a tremendous guitarist but overall his music does not make my foot tap much.

My subconsciously tapping foot is how I judge if my brain is really liking modern music...

TAM

I rented the newly released MIB3 BD last night.

Mostly quite enjoyable with a sensible soundtrack...

TAM

Expendables 2 - worse than bad - an insult to any viewer's intelligence.

The aircraft I believe was an older piston version of Canadair's Water Bomber that has no rear ramp, although the ramp magically appeared whenever required. The large interior of the aircraft (which is actually not a big aircraft) was quite large & outfitted with lots of troop seating - ridiculous.

More ordenance was expended than in all of WWII.

What were these big name stars thinking by participating in this trash? Wait, I know, money!!

If I hadn't wasted $6 on this BD rental, I would have shut it down as soon as the bogus aircraft sequences appeared...

TAM

My daughter brought me for Christmas the newly released, remastered 'Star Wars - The Complete Saga' 6 Blu-Ray set.

We watched the first one from 1977 (hard to believe that it's been that long!) 'Episode IV - A New Hope' The last time that I watched it was on VHS tape, ha!

Beautiful BD visuals & the sound track was absolutely brutal in places with unexpected strong bursts of LFE. I had to decrease the volume from -10 DB to -15 Db to make it more comfortable

It's the best rendition that I've experienced of this release. Now onto the following episodes...

TAM

That reminded me to look for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D).

Nope. Not available yet.

Last night - Star Wars Episode V 'The Empire Strikes Back' from 1980.

I'm not fond of the long 'Yoda' scenes in this one; however, it is a wonderful remaster with crisp video & more great sound.

My wife is really into sci-fi, so it'll be Episode VI tonight, which is great as there is not much on TV to watch...

TAM

Santa brought me a Sony BDP-S590. Yesterday I finally installed it along side my PS3 into my HT (replacing my venerable Sony 5-Disc DVD Player). The HDMI handshaking with my Denon AVR was flawless. After minimal frustration of getting it to talk to the net & to coax it to give me audio output in SACD mode, it was ready for some testing.

First up was a concert BD - 'Sade - Bring Me Home Live 2011'. It was rendered beautifully with great HD video & superb surround audio. Sade continues to put on a wonderful show. This concert includes some of her newer material with a good dose of her original works that I tend to prefer. She still exudes class & grace that is sadly missing from much of show business today - really refreshing to experience. It's too bad that some of the loud, obnoxious fans in the LA audience wouldn't follow her example - this was a continual distraction. Furthermore, her classic beauty has not waned as she doesn't seem to have aged a bit since her debut albums & videos several decades ago. Her band continues to be as outstanding & tight as ever.

Next was a SACD which is the first time that I experienced one in surround. I chose a live concert - 'WDR Big Band Koln - Blues & Beyond'. Wonderful blues & swing with a big band sound - awesome actually.

Lastly a movie - 'Star Wars VI - Return of the Jedi'. Like the previous two of this set, beautifully remastered.

The S590 did not disappoint in the least. Quite easy to set up & great performance for a reasonable price...

TAM

You've got good toys!

Thank you for the thoughtful and articulate review.