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Last reply · posted in Cable Television and Fiber Providers
I have been with Dish for 7 years and I just finished my current contract with them and decided I wanted to try something different. U-verse is new to my area and TW is nothing I want (actually have it and don't watch it) and I already had Directv so I went with U-verse.

I did a lot of Google searches and read Scott's review all the reviews were a little dated and figured it has been a while so U-verse might have gotten better so I decided why not try it, there is no contract so if I don't like it I can cancel and go back to Dish. As I said I did my research and knew I was less than 1000ft from the VRAD so that would allow me to get the best profile they currently offer.

On July 2nd I placed my order online and also opened up a chat session where the sales rep offered me an extra $100 cash back ($325 total!) to sign up. I did and got the U200 package with HD, extra receiver and Internet (Pro). I got a confirmation email with an install date of July 15th between 12pm - 2pm. So now I wait 2 weeks for the install. Fast forward to the 15th and here is how it went.

7-15-09
Install tech calls at 12:11pm to say he is on his way.

12:23pm tech shows up and surveys my setup and makes a plan with me on what he needs to do to install U-verse.

12:36pm he heads out to the vrad.
12:40pm our dsl and phone are out.

12:58pm he is back working on the phone box on the side of the house.

1:20pm he informs me that he is getting a lot of errors on the line and had to put in a ticket to the support team (forgot the name) to work on the lines. More then likely they will work on the line tomorrow.
Once that is done they will schedule another install date. The dsl and phone are back on.

3:50pm to my surprise the second guy shows up to condition the line.
Dsl and phone is back off.

4:15pm all done! He says the line is stronger than ever and is turning the dsl and phone back on now I just need to reschedule a new install.

4:25pm I called to reschedule and the earliest is in 2 weeks July 29th between 8am -10am. They also made a note on the account to give me a service credit on my first bill for my lack of install.


Round 2
7-29-09
8:10am call to tell me he's on his way.

8:20am he has arrived and going over the setup such as where the RG will go and the STB's.

8:25am going over to the VRAD to set things up.
Dsl is down.

8:45am he is back and working on the NID on the side of the house and testing signal and speed. All good! He's amazed says that the signal is as fast as at the VRAD.
He is going to run cable and start the install.

12:15pm ALL DONE! The install basically took 3.5 hours. It involved running cat5e from the NID to the RG in the house and then connecting coax from the RG to existing coax in the house for the STB's. Setting up the RG and updating the STB's. Running speed tests and diagnostic tests. And finally giving me a rundown on how things work.

The coax was originally done by Dish 3 years ago when I had a 625 and now I have a 722 so that left some lines open for use. The U-verse tech tested them and signal was good. So those were used. He did say some people request cat5e to everything but for some reason when they get service calls the people with cat5e are the ones with the most picture problems. I guess it's a hit or miss thing.

I was already an AT&T phone service and DSL customer so my info and emails migrated over to U-verse without a problem. Only issue was port 25 for my SMTP emails got blocked again but the unblocked it automatically for me.

First Impressions

A lot of people don't like the quality of the picture and HD. Since I still have Dish I can say that the HD on U-verse is just as good if not the same as Dish. I will say that there are only a couple of HD channels that do not look as good on U-verse then they do on Dish.

The UI is nice I like the features that U-verse has such as the U-Bar, Flickr, VOD, and weather on demand.

The DVR is ok and gets some getting used to. The DVR schedule and recorded tv menu is great! I like it better then Dish. You can only pause, rew, ff live tv on the main box, but you can record, schedule and play from any STB in the house.

The channel selection is excellent and also the HD channels. I have classic silver 200 with HD on Dish and I actually have a comparable package with U-verse and get more channels with them (U-verse)! Only bad part is I am missing CBS College Sports on U-verse. I do get all my locals in HD including PBS and some other ones! I also get basic TW cable which gives me some HD channels and I would rank them as U-verse and Dish tied at #1 and TW #2/3

5.1 Dolby Digital is available from the HD channels and they come as 1080i which is what the STB outputs similar to Dish.

The STB is about half the size of a VIP 722 and is lighter and runs A LOT cooler.

I have only had it for 24hrs but I have played with it enough to see what I like and don't like and so far so good. I will still keep Dish till the end of my billing cycle and then put Dish on pause just in case.

I also have to take in consideration the price with U-verse I am paying almost $20 more then I pay with Dish.

On a side note I originally called to cancel Dish and the loyalty dept. ended up zeroing out my balance ($160) and giving me $20 off for 6 months. All without signing a new contract! I also had some problems with my 722 which one of them was a constant Temp overheated message so they sent me a new 722. I told them I had a lot of shows that I did not want to lose so they enabled the use of an external and credited me the amount of the enabling. This was all through the loyalty dept. via chat. I guess they do all this to make you feel guilty and stay with them.

Well this was my short to the point review and install experience. Hope it gives some of you insight on what to expect with current installs. Any questions let me know.

Gabe
1 Replies · 2152 views
C
On Wednesday, I suspended my D* account and on that same day I had UV installed. My first impression was not the best as the installer was about 45 minutes later. I felt that he should have called me to let me know that he was going to be later.

Anyway, he did his thing in getting everything hooked up. He had already gone to the VRAD before he got to my house. He told me that I was 1300 from the vrad which I think is pretty close. He got bother receivers hooked up using cat 5 cables. He said that would give me a better picture.

He then tried to activate the account and couldn't. He had to call in and we found out that my account had been locked up in the system, which took a while to fix.

I must say as far as picture quality goes, I am very pleased. It is at least as good at D*. The are a lot of things that you can do on D* remotes that you can't do on UV's remotes. However I am very pleased with the results.

Before the install I had ATT DSL 3.0 mps.After the install I had UV DSL 3.0 MBS, I had run a speed check before and after and the UV DSL is faster. My d/l speed when from 2.4x to 2.87 my upload when from .43 to .87. Which I think is quite a bit faster.

I think that in time UV will up grade and we will see more of those features the D* and E* currently have. When you consider that UV is only 3 years old. I think that they have come a long ways in that period of time. Look where D* & E* were after 3 years in business.
zippyfrog
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
Did anyone have a price increase today on their equipment? I own my VIP211k's, and they have been $5.00. My bill that I received last week shows the "add-ons" as being $5.00. However, I just logged into my Dish account, and my "add-ons" are now $10.00. Did the additional receivers go up by $5.00 recently?

As I mentioned, my last bill shows $5.00 and under the notes, nothing is mentioned about a price increase.
3 Replies · 29 views
zippyfrog
Never mind - according to chat, it seems like there is a glitch in their website. The prices for owned receivers are still $5.00.
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zippyfrog
However, when I make a change (tried to add the Columbian pack for $2 so I could generate my bill) and there is a new line - it says "Access for TV" - whereas previously that line item was not there. I hope they aren't charging $5.00 for the initial TV now...

1781191675068.webp
T
Apparently it's not an "owned receiver" fee but rather an extension fee that's applied to 2nd and subsequent viewing. Maybe that played into their decision to force a box at every TV- garnering those fees
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne


Get it?


An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
67106 Replies · 2662256 views
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ClarkGable
No Time - The Guess Who
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harshness
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
sdfntx
Right on Time - Brandi Carlile
gms49ers
Time Stand Still - Rush
Bobby
I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) - B.J. Thomas
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in SatelliteGuys Support Center
Our DNS provider is encouraging us to enable DNSSEC on our domains for added security.

I have gone ahead and enabled it, and am told it may take anywhere from 90 minutes to 24 hours for it to take effect.

Hopefully doing this does not harm the site in any way. (It shouldn't) but if it does, you will then know why and I will revert the settings.

But from what I am reading it should be ok. so just giving a warning as I have screwed up DNS stuff in the past. :D
1 Replies · 26 views
Scott Greczkowski
Doing my checks it appears the changes have gone through... and we are still here. (Phew!)
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in SatelliteGuys Support Center
Due to security concerns and the fact that the Tapatalk Plugin for Xenforo is no longer being updated we have removed Tapatalk support from SatelliteGuys.

For those who were using it we recommend using our PWA App instead which is faster and does not have all the spam Tapatalk had. Below is a graphic showing how to add SatelliteGuys to your devices home screen. (While iOS is shown the process is mostly the same for Android.)

add_to_home.gif

Thanks for your understanding. :)
7 Replies · 180 views
Foxbat
Thank you, Scott, for adding years to my Life and dropping my BP a few millimeters! Money well spent…
dweber
Thank you, Scott, for adding years to my Life and dropping my BP a few millimeters! Money well spent…
What is PWA app? PWA utilities seem to be a Spanish app. I hope you are seeing this since nothing seems to be working. I will miss SatelliteGuys. Tapatalk worked well. The Siri browser doesn't seem to work well.
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Peter Parker
Thank you, Scott, for adding years to my Life and dropping my BP a few millimeters! Money well spent…
Hooray!
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Peter Parker
What is PWA app? PWA utilities seem to be a Spanish app. I hope you are seeing this since nothing seems to be working. I will miss SatelliteGuys. Tapatalk worked well. The Siri browser doesn't seem to work well.
Do you mean the safari browser?
Foxbat
What is PWA app? PWA utilities seem to be a Spanish app. I hope you are seeing this since nothing seems to be working. I will miss SatelliteGuys. Tapatalk worked well. The Siri browser doesn't seem to work well.
Actually, PWA stands for "Progressive Web Application" and is basically just saving a site's homepage to your desktop where it appears as an "App" with the rest of your smartphone's Apps.
1781162703297.webp
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Scott Greczkowski
A PWA is a custom version of SatelliteGuys which is optimized for mobile devices. While it may look like the website, its actually different so that only the files needed for mobile are sent, meaning its a much faster experience all around.

TapaTalk is essentially dead. It was written for PHP 5.4 and we are now running PHP 8.4. There have been a LOT of PHP security updates since then and since Tapatalk for Xenforo has not been updated in a long long time it is not the safest idea to keep running it.

In addition those trying to view the site on their mobile devices using a browser were getting spammed on the top of the screen for people to install TapaTalk, this ad in some cases would take up 20% of the users screen. We could get rid of that ad but we would have to pay $20 a month to get rid of it.

Screenshot 2026-06-11 085611.webp



In addition TapaTalk could and was inserting their own ads on SatelliteGuys in the app which only benefitted them, SatelliteGuys was not paid for those ads they were displaying on our site. Again we could pay to get rid of those ads.

Screenshot 2026-06-11 085641.webp


And here was the cost of the Premium Tier.

Screenshot 2026-06-11 085701.webp


Now to make matters worse Tapatalk recently announced that they are going to start charging users of the app 99 cents a month to continue using it.

Screenshot 2026-06-11 090141.webp



So soon you would be paying them each month to access SatelliteGuys via their app, again all the money going to them... and you would still see all their ads too.

Tapatalk was a great program which we run for many many years, and for a long time we DID pay for the premium tier. But now with such a small offset using it (My numbers show a total of 6 members) it wasn't work paying for any longer.

In addition Tapatalk was sold to a different owner who made lots of promises of improvements and updates but then that owner has been really radio silent since, instead they have been letting TapaTalk rot on the vine.

If you visit their support forum at https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tapatalksupport/ you will see there is not much going on, in fact most of the support questions posted there go unanswered.

Please give the PWA a try, I was a die hard Tapatalk user myself but now only use the PWA on devices. It is a much better all around experience, with no bloatware or additional ads based on your user membership level.

I don't have an android phone so I could not make a graphic showing you how to add SatelliteGuys PWA to your phones apps or home screen. But here is a site that explains how to do it on all kinds of devices. How to Install a PWA on iOS, Android, Windows & Mac [2025 Guide]

The above link also explains PWA's better as well. :)

If Tapatalk were to update their plugins so we know we are more secure and up to date and allow us to remove the "Smart Banner" without having to pay $20 a month, we would consider adding it back. I don't even care about their ads, as if a user wants to use their app and is willing to sit through their ads in order to use that app then I am ok with it.

But hopefully that explains better why it was removed. It was not done to cut anyone off from the site. :) Please give the PWA a try.
NYDutch
A PWA is a custom version of SatelliteGuys which is optimized for mobile devices. While it may look like the website, its actually different so that only the files needed for mobile are sent, meaning its a much faster experience all around.

TapaTalk is essentially dead. It was written for PHP 5.4 and we are now running PHP 8.4. There have been a LOT of PHP security updates since then and since Tapatalk for Xenforo has not been updated in a long long time it is not the safest idea to keep running it.

In addition those trying to view the site on their mobile devices using a browser were getting spammed on the top of the screen for people to install TapaTalk, this ad in some cases would take up 20% of the users screen. We could get rid of that ad but we would have to pay $20 a month to get rid of it.

View attachment 191729


In addition TapaTalk could and was inserting their own ads on SatelliteGuys in the app which only benefitted them, SatelliteGuys was not paid for those ads they were displaying on our site. Again we could pay to get rid of those ads.

View attachment 191730

And here was the cost of the Premium Tier.

View attachment 191731

Now to make matters worse Tapatalk recently announced that they are going to start charging users of the app 99 cents a month to continue using it.

View attachment 191732


So soon you would be paying them each month to access SatelliteGuys via their app, again all the money going to them... and you would still see all their ads too.

Tapatalk was a great program which we run for many many years, and for a long time we DID pay for the premium tier. But now with such a small offset using it (My numbers show a total of 6 members) it wasn't work paying for any longer.

In addition Tapatalk was sold to a different owner who made lots of promises of improvements and updates but then that owner has been really radio silent since, instead they have been letting TapaTalk rot on the vine.

If you visit their support forum at https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tapatalksupport/ you will see there is not much going on, in fact most of the support questions posted there go unanswered.

Please give the PWA a try, I was a die hard Tapatalk user myself but now only use the PWA on devices. It is a much better all around experience, with no bloatware or additional ads based on your user membership level.

I don't have an android phone so I could not make a graphic showing you how to add SatelliteGuys PWA to your phones apps or home screen. But here is a site that explains how to do it on all kinds of devices. How to Install a PWA on iOS, Android, Windows & Mac [2025 Guide]

The above link also explains PWA's better as well. :)

If Tapatalk were to update their plugins so we know we are more secure and up to date and allow us to remove the "Smart Banner" without having to pay $20 a month, we would consider adding it back. I don't even care about their ads, as if a user wants to use their app and is willing to sit through their ads in order to use that app then I am ok with it.

But hopefully that explains better why it was removed. It was not done to cut anyone off from the site. :) Please give the PWA a try.
I just installed the PWA on my Android phone. It was pretty easy to do, and now I'm posting this from my phone. Thanks, Scott!
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in SatelliteGuys Support Center
As you may have noticed we are doing a Fund Raiser for SatelliteGuys!

As many of you know I have been paying for a majority of the operation of the site out of my own pocket for awhile now. Now looking at things we have a number of renewals coming up that I could use some help with. These renewals include the license renewal for our Forum Software, Renewal of a number of our add on's the site uses, renewal of domain names etc.

I have set a goal of $400.00 - any extra that comes in will just go to fund the operations of the site. None of the money will go to me (I tried BuyMeACoffee a few months ago, and they denied me saying they do not do business with Satellite Piracy sites... which we are not... hell we host the beta programs for both DISH and DIRECTV here...)

Anyways... if you would like to help out please click the link below.


Thank you in advance. :)
18 Replies · 560 views
Scott Greczkowski
I planned on removing it today, but then my fathers car broke down and I had to drive him all around to get his stuff done. Then I had a doctors appointment after that which was annoying...

Dr asks me if I have had any changes, so I tell him something wrong with me that started a month or so ago and his reply back is, that it sucks to get old... I hate that. Why ask me. if your going to come back with a smart ass answer.

Anyays I hope to get rid of Tapatalk tomorrow. :)

And we had more people donate today, thank you! The extra money is going to future expenses since things like add ons don't expire at the same time.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU AGAIN!
T
Yeah, dr's...joint pain? Your joints are wearing out. It hurts when I do this...don't do that
comfortably_numb
Dr asks me if I have had any changes, so I tell him something wrong with me that started a month or so ago and his reply back is, that it sucks to get old

No excuse for a flippant response like that from a doctor! I'd be looking for a different one.
Scott Greczkowski
Tapatalk has been removed.

I have added a new feature which is a work in progress called "Social Feed" which displays the forums Facebook style. Its nice for people who like that, but needs work. But i have been watching this one for awhile and the author is being really responsive to suggestions and adding them. So if you have any please let me know and I can pass them along. :)
navychop
😍
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Scott Greczkowski
We got more kind donations yesterday! Again a very big thank you to everyone for your support!
dfergie
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!
Last reply · posted in The Sports Section
111 Replies · 2723 views
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Foxbat
Awesome pictures, Yespage! Thanks!

I caught the end of the four hour race on YouTube so I wasn't "spoiled", but got to see the exciting last lap action in the TCR division!
Y
Awesome pictures, Yespage! Thanks!

I caught the end of the four hour race on YouTube so I wasn't "spoiled", but got to see the exciting last lap action in the TCR division!
I heard on the radio, after the final pitstop, Turner Motorsport were resigned to second place. 'You're in second. Don't worry about it. First is McLaren, we aren't catching them.'
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Y
Caught up to the 500... err... k in St. Louis. What a race! Andretti Motorsport were doing very well with Ericsson and Kirkwood, meanwhile Power was moving up the grid. Veekay started cautiously. He was working the tires just right, becoming more lethal later in the stint. Rasmussen was racing likewise, not nearly as insane as he has in the past. Palou was leading the race, in a shocker to all. Caio Collet was having a wonderful ride, making Ferucci potentially sweat a bit. Rain came, rain went, rain came, rain went. Generally mild sprinkles, but enough to pause racing on an oval.

Palou would kind of send Siegel into the wall. Siegel really didn't do much wrong. As he noted, you have to turn at some point. Palou had acres of room below and Siegel might have had his ticket out of Indycar stamped. Dixon was doing the fuel thing and got busted twice by yellows, not pitting before the flag came out. Then the most critical happened... Palou ran out of gas on pit lane, effectively giving Newgarden the race lead and win. Newgarden had a very early pit, so he was able to slide in, get service and go. Meanwhile, everyone else was confused and stuck behind Palou for a bit. Once people figured what was happening, Newgarden had a major advantage of several seconds. Newgarden wouldn't look back and when it went green again, he'd hold the lead for the win.

Massive credit to Juncos Hollinger who bested Penske in getting Veekay out before Malukas in a transition that was oddly bizarre. I haven't had time to check, but I'm wondering if Veekay was about to run out of fuel or cut a tire. He was charging late in a stint, got up to fifth, and then tailed back for a few laps to 10th or 11th. It looked like it was over. Went into the pits, and after the pitting sequence was over, Veekay was well inside the top ten again. It was weird. And he charged, getting up to fourth. He made a late move on Rasmussen, but Rasmussen held his position with some great driving. In fact, there was a ton of incredible racing passing, not passing all race long. Veekay would finish 4th. A podium would have been awesome, but it is a great outcome for a guy who hopefully will get a break with a big team. We saw what Veekay could do with a Honda last season with fuel save, imagine replacing Simpson on Ganassi and having speed to go with fuel saving. His 6th at Indy and 4th at St. Louis get him up to 13th in the points standings and only 5 points outside of the top 10.

Ericsson finished second, resigned to finishing behind the current best in the world guy on a short oval. Rasmussen got the final step on the podium, a nice rebound to what has been an otherwise bad year for him, and a good reward to ECR who just extended his contract.
Y
They raced USAC cars at Daytona once. Once! People died. Aj Foyt said 'f this', and left after the first go around. AJ freaking Foyt thought it was crazy! And cars weren't nearly as fast as they are now.

I think they tried Talladega once too.
Y
LeMans qualifying on going. WEC has d9ne a great job expanding the automotive company entries. Even without Porsche, a large nunber of manufacturers.
Peter Parker
Supporting Founder Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in Computers and Gadgets
I have had good experiences with Brave but lately I am frustrated with it.

Now when I launch the app it shows a box at the bottom asking if I want to go back to the last opened page. It is in conveniently located and I would prefer to eliminate it.

Does anyone know how to do this?

Please let's not sidetrack the discussion into an exploration of why I don't care for it or a lecture about all the wonderful aspects of the feature. I just do not care for it.
3 Replies · 69 views
b4pjoe
I don't have an Android phone so I don't know if this will apply to the Brave settings on your android device but it works on the desktop for me.

Change this setting to either startup to a different website or a new tab page. I have mine set to open to google.com instead of where I left off and it doesn't ask me at the next startup if I want to open the last opened page unless it crashed.

Screenshot 2026-06-10 at 6.46.20 PM.webp
Peter Parker
I don't have an Android phone so I don't know if this will apply to the Brave settings on your android device but it works on the desktop for me.

Change this setting to either startup to a different website or a new tab page. I have mine set to open to google.com instead of where I left off and it doesn't ask me at the next startup if I want to open the last opened page unless it crashed.

View attachment 191721
Thank you for trying to help. However thrse choices do not appear in Android. There is a setting for "New Tab Pages" that is similar but does not include your choice. I have tried all of the existing entries with no success
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Juan
Something like this maybe


Option 2: Set a custom Home button URL
  1. Click the menu icon in the top-right corner and select Settings.
  2. Click on Appearance in the left sidebar.
  3. Toggle on the Show home button switch.
  4. Under the home button settings, select the option to Enter custom web address and type in your preferred website. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
BlackHitachi
Supporting Founder
Last reply · posted in Movie Talk
Since the Reds have there thread we should too!

Last watched Nine inch Nails
Next 3:10 to Yuma
5346 Replies · 509289 views
osu1991
Rooster Cogburn.

Keep forgetting the free movies on youtube are ad free with my premium subscription.
dfergie
Rooster Cogburn.

Keep forgetting the free movies on youtube are ad free with my premium subscription.
There are some really good movies on youtube.
Saving Private Ryan 4k, Dolby Atmos...
harshness
Saving Private Ryan 4k, Dolby Atmos...
These are severely limited. Getting better than stereo audio is improving, but still has a long way to go.
dfergie
These are severely limited. Getting better than stereo audio is improving, but still has a long way to go.
I went with my 4k disc after checking out that version.
osu1991

View: https://youtu.be/I68627xyDPA?is=gUZB0Yv_08pE0DR3


Tonight revisiting one of my favorites. Ranks up there with Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Hunt For Red October.
dfergie
Watching Monterey Pop, been awhile, had the DVD, but probably lost in the fire 10.5 years ago. HBOmax
"MysteryMan"
813WnPwdB3L._SX342_.webp
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