Love, who performed in gold lamé trousers, and his fellow contestants had to perform twice on stage. Each air guitarist had a free choice of song for their first performance, while for their second they had to play along to Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix.

The contestants were judged on their stage presence and their ability to make their air guitar playing look realistic rather than any musical talent. When asked to explain the reason for his success Love replied, “I thinks it’s only the gold pants.”

The Air Guitar World Championship is contested each year to promote world peace. According to the organisers, if everybody played air guitar “wars would end, climate change stop and all bad things disappear.”

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“Resting in the Blues”

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Eric Clapton said, “he was the greatest and most important blues player that ever lived”

Robert Johnson was believed to have sold his soul to the devil in return for the ability to play the best blues music. His music has stood the test of time and one of his biggest fans, Eric Clapton has recorded many of Robert Johnson’s songs.

In the movie “Crossroads,” Robert Johnson’s friend Willie Brown goes back to Mississippi as an old man to reclaim his soul from the devil. Willie eventually wins his soul back with the help of a young classical musician with a love for the blues. Old Willie waves go by to the devil after beating the devil in a musical showdown. However, Robert Johnson was not as lucky as Willie Brown; Robert Johnson died at the age of 27.

What is really known about Robert Johnson is that he traveled throughout the south playing music and usually building a relationship with a women in the area. The women that he usually became involved with were often described as homely.

Johnson died on August 16, 1938, at the age of 27, near Greenwood Mississippi. The movie depicted this as “down home Mississippi,” near where the crossroads are located. This is where its believed he sold his soul to the devil.

Johnson is believed to have been poisoned while showing unnatural attention to a married women while playing near Greenwood Mississippi. He had been playing the area for several weeks and died after becoming terribly sick.

In life, Robert Johnson was not a well known artist. In fact, he was of little regard in the black community that he played for. He has became more famous over time with the remake of his songs, especially to British musicians who discovered the blues music long before many other renown artist from the United States. The British rockers got their inspiration from blues music, including Robert Johnson’s blues songs. Jimi Hendrix is the most well known American artist claiming an influence from Robert Johnson

In 2008 “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked Robert Johnson 5th on their list of the greatest guitarists of all time. With all the technical innovations made in the past 70 years, this is quite a feat for Johnson the be ranked 5th. Thus the regard and fame that came long after his death.

Robert Johnson Is now “Resting In The Blues” as his gravestone depicts.

Robert Johnson Video

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If you ever wanted to join a local community in Hawaii that loves the rotary engine as much as you then there is a place for you.

Currently active as the only rotary enthusiast community in Hawaii, HI RPM (Hawaii Rotary Powered Mazdas) is a fun and friendly group of people who all share one common enthusiasm.

They have meet ups every month and do a number of different activities, such as BBQs, car cruises, photoshoots, tech and mod days, autocross, collaborations with other Mazda Clubs, and many more.

They consist of really friendly people and do not promote any illegal activity so friends and familiy are welcome to come along.

They are widely becoming more popular and well know as they have fan and group pages on facebook and are listed in Mazda USA’s Enthusiast Club listings.

They have a section on Hawaii’s local forums community on Forumshawaii.net and coordinate their events mainly from there.

Howevery they are only on the island of Oahu, but hopefully they expand in the future.

A few weeks ago on June 20 of 2010, a large gattering of Mazda enthusiats took place at Cutter Mazda of Waipahu, a well known car dealership located in Waipahu, HI.

MazdaFest Hawaii 2010 was the first of hopefully many events to come. The event was sponsored by Cutter Mazda Waipahu and Revision Audio and entertainment was provided by Power 104.3 radio station. The event also featured six of Hawaii’s most popular Mazda enthusisast car clubs, which included HI RPM (Hawaii Rotary Powered Mazdas), Mazda 6 Club of Hawaii, 808R3VOLUTION, Team Pro5, Miata Club of Hawaii and Elite Mazda Performance.

The featured club members displayed thier rides in a car show which trophies were provided and sponsored by Cutter Mazda Waipahu and Revision Audio.

Overall turn out was pretty satisfactory as a total of about 30-40 cars showed up and about 60 people came out to support and hang out with the local Mazda enthusiast community.

The event was originally planned on a popular forum site called Forumshawaii, Hawaii’s local forums community. With several months of planning put in to effect before the target date of the event, many in the local community came to learn of the development of the event months before the event date.

Other Mazda enthusiast communities have had similar events in the past, Mazdafest Midwest and Sevenstock to name a few, but never one for Hawaii’s island community.

This is one of Hawaii’s first official large scale event for Mazda enthusiast and looks like it will continue for years to come.

I’ve driven from Florida to Maine, Seattle to Vegas, New York City to Los Angeles. I’ve driven all over the United States, including most of its major cities.

Chicago drivers seem the most impatient, their horn blaring the second a light turns from red to green. Drivers on I-95 around New York City appear to be the most in a hurry, often flying along at speeds approaching a hundred miles an hour. A few places out West, including Montana and parts of Nevada, are known for fast driving as there are no speed limits or speed limits so high as to practically not exist.

But there is one stretch of road, approximately a hundred miles of I-40 in North Carolina, that frightens me as a driver more than any other place in all of the United States. Traveling from West to East, the area I’m speaking of starts in Winston-Salem and stretches through Greensboro, Durham and just past Raleigh.

Yes, this stretch of highway I personally dub “the most dangerous place to drive in the United States.”

Why is it so dangerous? I call it the NASCAR factor. Apparently everyone in that region seems to believe they are a NASCAR driver, and they sure act like it. Or maybe because it’s NASCAR country, too many people watch NASCAR and think they can get away with the same type of driving.

Posted speed limits are a joke. When on that part of I-40, I constantly have to drive 10 miles an hour over the speed limit just so I won’t get run over by other drivers. My guess would be the average speed is about 80 to 90 miles an hour, and that’s even when traffic is at its busiest and cars are almost bumper to bumper.

Turn signals are completely non-existant. And drivers zoom in and out mere inches in front of you and behind you as if they’re rounding a bend in the Indianapolis 500. It’s so bad you can hardly change lanes, mainly because other vehicles are going at such high speeds and jumping in and out of lanes all over the place that you don’t dare try and change a lane. You’ll be killed. Run over. Run through. Safety seems no concern whatsoever.

And it doesn’t matter the type of vehicle. Everything from small 2-door cars to massive 18-wheel rigs, everyone seems to drive like a maniac.

I guess so many people have places so important to get to that those places must be more important than their own lives, and are definitely more important than the lives of the other drivers around them.

Occasionally I do see law enforcement along this stretch of highway, but it almost seems like a joke. If the police, local and state, are patrolling I-40 along this stretch, they’re not doing much of a job in curbing crazy drivers. Should the police step up the number of tickets they write? It would seem so to me, but perhaps their local accident statistics suggest otherwise.

But whatever those statistics show, I know of one statistic for sure: I’m a hundred percent nervous whenever I have to hit I-40 from Winston-Salem to Raleigh, North Carolina.

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As part of my series about musical instruments and their pros and cons, several people have contributed towards a percussion feature. This includes many comments from various people about percussion and some more specifically about each type of percussion instruments.

This will be followed by articles about the other instrument familes, and then later will be followed with hints and tips about how to do your best at each one. Keep your eyes peeled; you never know when the next one might come out!

Whitney Michelle Hogue Percussion is awesome! People get the chance to learn so many different instruments but they all stay close to the same way to use them. The only CON is that professionals only get paid one dollar amount for playing many instruments, while other people that can play many wind instruments get paid for each different instrument the use.

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Arbella Rasho I ♥ the mallet percussion instruments. Not only can you hit things, but they can also produce a nice melody. They’re not monophonic.

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Amanda Nicole Ashley Percussion is AWESOME!!!! Especially at my school, the drum line is like the heart of the band, and w/ the pit/mallets up front (my used to be section) they really make a great team that the band can hear the whole time. The battery keeps a consistent pulse while the pit keeps melody and harmony parts present.

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Mary DiMambro Percussion is awesome because we don’t have to remember nearly as many notes as winds do, unless you’re on mallets. Also, it’s very relaxing if you’re tense. I get to hit things all class long, so I just imagine it’s a certain person’s face. However, we have to keep the beat for the band. If a wind player gets out of time, they can just play back and join in again when they get back into tempo. Percussion has to keep the beat, and it’s really obvious when we stop playing or mess up.

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Hannah Rucinski I ♥ percussion. Enough already said.

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Amy Leslie Koum I don’t even know where to begin with percussion! Like everyone else said we are the heartbeat of the band and we get to put “umph” in what we play. My favourite thing is drum line during football season, it’s the time of my life!

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Mathieu Misserey Am a Latin and reggae drum player, one thing to say the drummer must have THE GROOVE, if u don’t all the instrument around us are worthless, because they literally ‘’sit” on our rhythm. We can make a drum sing, that why all of us guys, we ROCK!

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Bekah Stewart I love playing marimba!!! The only so called con I can think of is having to prepare so many different pieces when you have to play for an audition! For mallets, there are the two and four mallet etudes, for snare there is the rudimental and concert etude, and just to mention the etudes for timpani! PLUS: all the scales, rudiments, and jumps you have to know!!! I hate having to hear about other instruments complaining about how many pieces they have to play. Try preparing 5!! …. And that would be my rant! Hope you enjoyed!

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Sarah Silverberg you can do so much with percussion. I like mallet percussion though. It’s fun u never play the sae think. It always changes. I ♥ percussion

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Sarah Chidister I love percussion so much! I play just about every percussion instrument that I can get my hands on, though I am the best at snare/set. The only con I can really think of besides the fact that payment isn’t always the best is all the effort/time it takes to move percussion instruments from one place to another.

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Li Xiaoxi Percussion is awesome because you get to learn so many instruments. If you don’t want to be like the rest reading lots of notes, you can play the un-tuned instruments. If you love the melody, you could play the mallets. If you want to have fun with all your limbs, go try out the drum set Percussion is a fun filled section where you can try out all kinds of instrument and find one you love the most :D

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Christin Silos percussion is the best section of all. We have the most fun, and we can basically do what we want at football games. We have to learn both treble and bass clef. And we get to breathe whenever we want. We can learn different instruments in the section. Were just awesome

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Meiko Sakine So much fun, and you can’t have good music without a percussion section, whatever genre of music it may be.

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Derrick Falk the best section of the entire pit and drum line are a great mix. There is a indoor drum line and it’s all percussion you never have that with any other sections!

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Heather Conaway Pit was the best, mallet percussion, bass drum, and crash cymbals, they were so much fun to play

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Jake Bohan I can only agree, percussion is without a doubt the best. Using mallets on a drum line bass, insane,

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Nick Martinez Pit FTW. All I got to say… but seriously percussion rocks!

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Zane Hales I love percussion! All of it. Drum line drum set, keyboards, and all the rest!

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Courtney O’Connor YES! I ♥ percussion with a PASSION! The best part of percussion is that there’s an instrument or EVERYBODY and “You don’t have a right face for flute, try something else” You NEVER get turned down from percussion! I ♥ mallets, but you got to love drum line

Ansleigh Seaver my favourite is timpani! I think it sounds like thunder! What I love about percussion is the variety! If u suck at one thing, u can play something else!

Car Customization Characterized.

A custom-made car is any type of automobile that is modified from the vehicle manufacturer’s specifications. Any modification to the car’s physique, mechanical elements and inside of the car, is regarded as customization. There are those vehicle owners that only add modest adjustments, such as chrome wheels, or a sport-style steering wheel, that are not standard fittings from the manufacturer’s plant. Other owners carry out full customizations that completely transform the body and motor of the car.

Beginning of the Postwar Era and Car Customisation.

Custom vehicle afficionardo’s usually fell into two ideologies in the post World War II era. Returning soldiers frequently found work in auto repair places or fuel stations, whilst enrolled in college through the GI Bill. A lot of these fellows fiddled around with 1932 Ford coupes, as they came supplied with adaptable V-8 motors. The coupe was set lower to the ground and its bumpers and hood taken off. The roof was often lowered by removing three inches off the side-pillars. The 2nd camp, made up of Mexican-Americans, created significantly more involved lowrider modifications on  automobiles types like the 1949 Mercury.

Custom Car Profiles.

Manufacturer’s cars, in the process of a custom modification, could be chopped lowering the roofline. Customizers frequently “frenched” their vehicles by welding manufacturer seams together to produce a one-piece seamless appearance. Door handles, latches and holes were filled for the sleeker look.

Custom Car Performance.

The Ford V-8 was at first the main modified motor. But Chrysler Hemis were also modified. Chevrolet’s small-block V-8s–especially the 350–were also given modifications. Customization included introducing a four-barrel carburetor, high-performance exhaust headers, a quicker gear-shift in the floor and tampering with the motor for more power. Personalised details incorporated chromed valve covers, cooling-fans and air filters.

Lowrider Modifications.

The lowrider characterized the custom vehicle image of postwar California. Complicated metallic paint schemes, murals about the trunk and hood, and dual shades, took over the lowrider’s appearance. Chrome wire wheels and low-profile tires added to the lowered profile. Manufacturer’s interiors were torn out and exchanged with custom tooled leather or vinyl.

The Forerunners of Car Customisation.

Gene Winfield and George Barris were early innovators within the custom made vehicle field, producing many different profiles. Winfield created the 1956 Mercury “Jade Idol.” It’s highlights included a blended paint format and Chrysler rear-fins. George Barris, founder of Barris Kustom Industries, was probably the leading voice in the early custom vehicle field, with his sequence of extravagant styles, including the famous Batmobile, built from a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car for the “Batman” Tv series from 1966 to 1968.

A New Crowd of Car Customisation Fans.

Motor car customization has become a lot more popularized, thanks to television series such as “Pimp My Ride,” hosted by Xzibit. This show has been broadcasting from 2004 (currently 2009) and has drawn a brand new crowd, consisting of young ladies, as Xzibit’s team transforms their old bombs into pieces of artwork on wheels.

With the advent of fibreglass body kits, spoiler kits and the like, car modifications have come a long way since the beginnings of the custom-made car.

Almost a year before George Harrison had began taking sitar lessons with Ravi Shankar there were two massive songs in the charts that had something of the Indian about them. The first was ‘Heart Full Of Soul’ by the Yardbirds, the second was ‘See My Friend’ by the Kinks. Although a sitarist and tabla-player had been present at the Yardbirds session, neither were used; the band much preferred the sound of Jeff Beck’s guitar playing. Beck was renowned for his Eastern-sounding leitmotifs; not just in the Yardbirds but in his earlier band The Tridents also. Perhaps the Yardbirds song was a ‘cheap’ imitation, the Kinks song was more like the real thing. The song was written by Ray Davies. It is alleged that when the Beatles first heard the song, one of them said that the guitar sounds like a sitar and that they would need to get one of them.

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The plot thickens at this point. There are also stories that Jimmy Page was at the Yardbirds recording session and on seeing and hearing the sitar player he just had to have it. After some negotiation it was purchased for a pricely sum of £25. Page showed it to session guitarist Jim Sullivan, who subsequently told George Harrison about it.

Whichever of these two stories is the most correct there is one that can be discounted immediately. Philip Norman (Beatles biographer) claimed that Harrison first came across the sitar while the Beatles were filming Help!. The problem with that story is the fact that, although he may have come across the guitar, Harrison didn’t play the sitar until the song ‘Norwegian Wood’ the following year. It wasn’t long after that, that other bands started getting in on the act. The Rolling Stones used the sitar on both ‘Mother’s Little Helper’ and ‘Paint It Black’ in 1966, Chris Farlowe even swapped the saxophone for a sitar on one of his songs.

Trace elements of Eastern musical theory could be found in folk and jazz but it wasn’t until the mid 1960s that it came more and more to the fore. Forget about the influence of the Beatles or the Stones at this juncture. Credit has to go to people like John Mayer, John Renbourn and Gabor Szabo. Their song titles included words like nirvana, Krishna and Ravi (named after Ravi Shankar).

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To the average man on the street in Europe in the early to mid 60s, Shankar was unheard of; it wasn’t until he came into the life of the Beatles that more and more people became aware of him. But it was actually David Crosby of the Byrds that first enticed George Harrison into listening to Shankar after recommending his 1965 LP ‘Portrait of Genius’. The friendship that ensued between Harrison and Shankar meant a lifetime change to the way Harrison saw music. It wasn’t until the spring of 1966 that the two finally met.

Harrison had been trying to teach himself the sitar (as heard on ‘Norwegian Wood’) but it was proving quite hard for him. Shankar told him it was hard to teach yourself and instead it would be better to be accepted as a shishya (somewhere between a student and disciple). Shankar wanted Harrison to travel to India to study sitar with him but Beatles previous engagements meant this was impossible, instead Harrison had to make do with tape-recorded lessons.

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Shankar’s association with Harrison and thus the Beatles themselves was a good move all round but mainly it opened up a new style of music to the masses. The common man on the street was now aware of a type of music that before had been totally alien to them.

The Beatles themselves, and George Harrison inparticular, did not pioneer the use of Indian sounds on pop records, they were just soaking up influence from everywhere else. Learning. Evolving. Because of that and because of their mass popularity, what they did instantly became the ‘done’ thing and spawned many imitators. The Beatle may not have been the first but they certainly did help to popularise it.

If you liked this, check out the website: For all your music needs, CLICK HERE

What is a lap harp?

Lap harps are the cousins of the ordinary harps which everyone is familiar with and which are sometimes called Celtic harps. Lap harps come in a variety of sizes ranging from about to about. As the name suggests, the key point about lap harps is that they can fit in the harpists lap as he or she plays them.

There are two quite distinct looking flavors of lap harp. One resembles the familiar type made famous as the symbol of Guinness beer. But the other type is quite different in shape and is probably not all that well known outside specialist circles. Which is a shame because as explained below this latter type of lap harp is ideal for musical beginners to play attractive music on before they have even mastered the basics of music.

The plucked psaltery

Despite its slightly odd sounding name, and its strange looks, this is a lap harp. It is made of a trapezoid shape with strings stretched across the base which are plucked to make music like any other harp. You only need to use one hand to play this kind of lap harp, although you can use your second hand to make the sounds vary in interesting ways if you like. The key benefit of this instrument is that you don’t actually have to have any musical ability to sound good. The secret to this is that under the strings the plucked psaltery can store music cards which contain simple instructions for playing a tune. All the harpist has to do is to pluck the strings as the card indicates to create the tune. Of course accomplished musicians need not use such cards and will be able to enjoy playing the plucked psaltery just as they would any other instrument.

The Celtic style lap harp

This is a smaller version of the more familiar style of harp. It has fewer strings and does not have the pedals the larger version possesses. This limits its range, but the ingenious use of hand operated levers in better quality models makes up for this. Although this kind of lap harp can literally be played in the lap, a more comfortable arrangement is to use a frame or harp sling. Unlike the plucked psaltery type of lap harp, it does require some musical ability to play.

Why choose a lap harp?

In a word, portability. The lap harp is a go anywhere instrument. Ideal for taking round to friends and family in the holiday season for example. Many experienced harpists have a lap harp as a second harp for just this reason. Lap harps are a good solution for people without the room to store a larger instrument.

Their simplicity makes lap harps also great to learn music on, especially for kids. For those without the time or inclination to learn music, a plucked psaltery style lap harp is the perfect way to play for pleasure effortlessly..

If you would like to learn more about this wonderful instrument, then this lap harp site is a great place to start.

Memory studies should be reinforced with as many ‘cold’ presentations of a memorized piece as possible. A ‘cold’ playing is one where you play immediately after a busy day or physical activity. Try playing through the piece once with few mistakes. Play when you are tired; at odd times. Develop the skill of playing at any time, any place, without too many slips.

Learn to cover slips – do not show the effect of the slip on your face. Jump to a stopping place and keep going. Exceptionally long pieces with thousands of notes need this type of performance practice. Let nothing stop or upset you. Realize you are performing one of the great intellectual feats demanded of mankind; a few slips in thousands of notes is a feat to be commended. Do not downplay your accomplishment. Learn to keep going and feel happy about your growing ability to play from memory anytime, any place.

Time your reinforcements. Play within one hour of a memory session. Follow this with a reinforcement every twenty-four hours. When you feel assured, lengthen reinforcements to two-three-four days. Most people discover they need reinforcement at least once every one or two weeks. Longer gaps in reinforcement mean loss of memory and then you have to memorize again. This is a waste of your practice time.

What are some reliable ear-training programs?

Ear training is an important component of all piano study and should be incorporated into lessons and practice sessions. The major beginning methods books incorporate ear training into their programs. Suggestions for outstanding publications in this field are:

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London, England has two series, one for the aural tests of the practical exams and a more difficult series that stand alone as exams. The latter, Musicianship in Practice – Grades 1-4, are very advanced at each level, e.g. Grade 1 (A) is tap a rhythm of eight notes; (B) is echo sing eight notes; (C) play from memory eight notes using up to sixteenths; (D) sight sing to a harmonic accompaniment fifteen notes; (E) improvise two measures after eight notes in any of four keys. The easier version for the practical exam is Specimen Aural Tests – Grades 1-5. This is the series to use after students have completed Grades 1-4 in regular methods books.