The world renown recording company that the Beatles once used and then purchased, has fallen on bad financial times and is about to be sold off to reduce the company’s, EMI and venture capitalists Terra Firma’s, debt. Doing so will go far in putting the company back in the black but at what cost?

Just think of some of the history or this location. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin, Mike Oldfield and Jeff Beck are just some of the bands that wielded their musical magic in this place!

It originally opened in 1931 by the Gramophone Company, which later became EMI. Abbey Road, which began life as a Georgian town house built in 1831, has an impressive history. Aside from the Beatles, who recorded most of their 1960s hit singles and albums there under the direction of EMI house producer George Martin.

It’s not known if the company will sell either the brand name or the physical location which is in St. John’s Wood in North London, England. It could bring into the company’s coffers up 25 to 30 million pounds ($39 million to $47 million US).

God I hope they don’t pave paradise and put up a condo and a parking lot!

And now for the happy ending!

The financially troubled record company issued a statement following days of press reports the studio — made famous by The Beatles “Abbey Road” album — would be put up for sale. The statement noted that English Heritage — which advises the British government on historical buildings and monuments — has accelerated plans to protect Abbey Road
, which has been losing money for several years.

I guess our prayers have been answered!

Keep on Jammin’

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I remember seeing these guys in the late 80’s at the old CNE bandstand and I’ll never forget it. We had concert seating which was like a free for all at the front of the stage. We brought a small blanket and some beverages, if memory serves me correctly. Our piece of the turf was center-right of the stage about 30 feet away.

The place was full of people sprawling out where ever they could with blankets, pick nick baskets full of food and wine. I was totally surprised to see little kids as young as 2-3 years running around everywhere! It had a nice small town fair feel to it.

The best part of that show for me was when they performed Scarborough Fair. For many year I’ve attempted to play this song and it turned out fine but this was the time to see it done right!

Before the song began, I noticed Paul Simon was practicing the beginning of it, so I asked this guy beside us if I could use his binoculars. I watched every single movement of his fingers and I found out that I was doing it ok except for a few parts. When I got home all I did was play the hell out of that song and I finally have it perfect!

So that was my favorite part of the show. Does anyone out there have a neat Simon and Garfunkel moment that they’d like to share with the rest of us?

Keep on Jammin’

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Keep on Jammin’

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To view this classic album cover, check out this link for a great picture and test your musical knowledge, without using the references below!

Top row left to right

• Sri Yukteswar Giri (Hindu guru)

• Aleister Crowley (occultist)

• Mae West (actress)

• Lenny Bruce (comedian)

• Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer)

• W. C. Fields (comedian/actor)

• Carl Gustav Jung (psychologist)

• Edgar Allan Poe (writer)

• Fred Astaire (actor/dancer)

• Richard Merkin (artist)

• The Vargas Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas)

• Huntz Hall (actor)

• Simon Rodia (designer and builder of the Watts Towers)

• Bob Dylan (singer/songwriter)

Next row down left to right

• Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)

• Sir Robert Peel (19th century British Prime Minister)

• Aldous Huxley (writer)

• Dylan Thomas (poet)

• Terry Southern (writer)

• Dion (singer)

• Tony Curtis (actor)

• Wallace Berman (artist)

• Tommy Handley (comedian)

• Marilyn Monroe (actress)

• William S. Burroughs (writer)

• Sri Mahavatar Babaji (Hindu guru)

• Stan Laurel (actor/comedian)

• Richard Lindner (artist)

• Oliver Hardy (actor/comedian)

• Karl Marx (political philosopher)

• H. G. Wells (writer)

• Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (Hindu guru)

• Sigmund Freud (psychiatrist) – barely visible below Bob Dylan

• Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy)

Next row down left to right

• Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle)

• Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy)

• Max Miller (comedian)

• A “Petty Girl” (by artist George Petty)

• Marlon Brando (actor)

• Tom Mix (actor)

• Oscar Wilde (writer)

• Tyrone Power (actor)

• Larry Bell (artist)

• Dr. David Livingstone (missionary/explorer)

• Johnny Weissmuller (Olympic swimmer/Tarzan actor)

• Stephen Crane (writer) – barely visible between Issy Bonn’s head and raised arm

• Issy Bonn (comedian)

• George Bernard Shaw (playwright)

• H. C. Westermann (sculptor)

• Albert Stubbins (soccer player)

• Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru)

• Lewis Carroll (writer)

• T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”)

Finally the front row left to right

• Wax model of Sonny Liston (boxer)

• A “Petty Girl” (by George Petty)

• Wax model of George Harrison

• Wax model of John Lennon

• Shirley Temple (child actress) – barely visible, first of three appearances on the cover

• Wax model of Ringo Starr

• Wax model of Paul McCartney

• Albert Einstein (physicist) – largely obscured

• John Lennon holding a French Horn

• Ringo Starr holding a trumpet

• Paul McCartney holding a Cor Anglais

• George Harrison holding a flute

• Bobby Breen (singer)

• Marlene Dietrich (actress/singer)

• An American legionnaire[1]

• Diana Dors (actress)

• Shirley Temple (child actress)

If you cannot make out who is who in my description then check out this link and I hope that it will make it a little clearer!

Keep on Jammin’

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Best known for the 1979 #1 smash hit, My Sharona, and my favorite tune that I played with Allen Scott a lot was Good Girl don’t. Sharona was an obsessively catchy track about one of Fieger’s real-life girlfriends, and the bouncy cut off the band’s debut album, Get the Knack, scored another jolt of fame in the mid ’90s when it appeared on the Reality Bites soundtrack.

“Everybody knows they’re going sooner or later. I don’t know any better than anyone else when I’m going. I’ve had 10 great lives. And I expect to have some more. I don’t feel cheated in any way, shape or form.” Doug Fieger

Thanx for the memories Doug Fieger!

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Ambient music has influenced many other genres, most remarkably some forms of rhythmic music presented in chill-out rooms at raves and other dance events, with the intention of creating an calmer, relaxed atmosphere for ravers to take a break from dancing.

History

Early 20th century French composer Erik Satie created an early form of ambient music that he referred to as “furniture music” (Musique d’ameublement), in reference to something that could be played during a dinner whose sound would simply create an atmosphere for that activity rather than be the specific focus of attention.

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses on the timbral characteristics of sounds, particularly organised or performed to evoke an “atmospheric”, “visual” or “unobtrusive” quality. Ambient evolved from the early 20th century music of the impressionists, composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman and minimalist composers of the 1960s and 1970s to rock musician Brian Eno, who is responsible for coining the phrase ambient music in the manifesto liner notes of his 1978 album, Ambient 1: Music for Airports.

Ambient music has influenced many other genres, most remarkably some forms of rhythmic music presented in chill-out rooms at raves and other dance events, with the intention of creating an calmer, relaxed atmosphere for ravers to take a break from dancing.

Brian Eno is generally credited with coining the term “ambient music” in the mid-1970s to refer to music that, as he stated, can be either “actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener”, and that exists on the “cusp between melody and texture.” Eno, who describes himself as a “non-musician”, termed his experiments in sound as “treatments” rather than as traditional performances. Eno used the word “ambient” to describe music that creates an atmosphere that puts the listener into a different state of mind; having chosen the word based on the Latin term “ambire”, “to surround”.

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Founded in 1873 by Greek luthier Anastasios Stathopoulos, the Epiphone guitar Company was manufacturing guitars for a while before succumbing to economic pressures during World War 2. Gibson at that time, was able to simply acquire the fledgling company. Today, Gibson still manufactures instruments under the name Epiphone.

Epiphone and Gibson

Prior to the acquisition by Gibson, Epiphone left and right guitars were a rival to Gibson. The sound quality was magnificent, the materials were the same and the electronics were just as superior. If Epiphone had not been absorbed by Gibson, I am sure the company would have either rivaled or bypassed Gibson eventually.

A good instrument can be hard to find, when it comes to a guitar lefty. Only more affordable in many cases, Epiphone left hand guitars are every bit as good as a Gibson. The controls and knobs to be oriented the same for a right hand guitar which is important. Epiphone LH guitars provide this detail nicely. So if you are a left hand player you dont need to use a right hand guitar with the strings and bridge reversed and the controls backwards.

Casino Hollow Body

One of the most famous Epiphone left hand guitars is the left handed Casino hollow body. This beauty looks like a Gretsch and was responsible for the Beatles famous sound in the 1960’s. The Beatles bought three Casinos and used them to record and play live shows as they toured. Obviously, the Epiphone left hand guitar was good enough for Paul McCartney.

I personally own an Epiphone Les Paul and it gives me great  pleasure to play live and in astudio. This is another well known Epiphone left hand guitar. I can used it for jazz, blues and even classical tracks. Besides that, I can crank the volume on the pickups and jam away with the metal heads.

Epiphone left hand guitars are an investment that you can  trust. There is a  web site that focuses on guitar lefty players. These folks know left hand guitars and left hand electric guitars. The site has a selection of instruments available and you can look up their different left hand instruments.

So if you are looking for an Epiphone left handed guitar, get on over to lefthandedguitarmall  as soon as possible. You will not find a more guitar lefty focused site anywhere and they really care about left hand players finding the right guitar. An Epiphone left hand guitar is the way to start off that career, especially for those on a budget and can’t quite afford that Gold Top LP just yet. Epiphone means quality and quality means a happy player.

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The one person who did not make an appearance was none other then Kanye West. What that guy did last year at the VMA awards was truly unbelievable. Imagine what was going through Taylor Swift’s mind when that happened. Not that I am a fan of her music, but still I really feel for her! I don’t mind a little bit of today’s modern country music, I’m more from the old school guy. Acts like Johnny cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings are more to my liking!

Kings of Leon, won the album of the year with Use Somebody. These guys, I like. Funk Joint by Marcus Miller should have won Best Pop Instrumental Performance, that tune is great! Besame Mucho by Herb Alpert was 2nd on my list for this category.

I really like the winner for Best Pop Instrumental Album. It went to Booker T. Jones Potato Hole! You can’t go wrong with anything that a keyboardist using a Hammond B-3 with a Leslie amp does. Actually everyone that was nominated for this award was worthy of it. Chris Botti, Hiroshima, The Rippingtons Featuring Russ Freeman and my favorite instrumental band for 20 years or more Spyro Gyra!

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance went to Bruce Springsteen. I saw this guy in Toronto a couple of years ago with my favorite brother in law Steve and I just didn’t enjoy the band. Sure some of his classic tunes will be around forever, but the only aspect of the band/show that earned my respect was the drummer! He literally ran the whole band, if it wasn’t for him that night I think the band would of been completely lost.

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals had lots of talent to choose from! Ultimately it went to Kings of Leon. What did you think about this one?

In the category of Best Hard Rock Performance, ACDC walked away with it. There wasn’t all that much there that interested me. Maybe it’s because I’m a little bit older now and tired of Hard Rock bands that would rather blow your head off then entertain me. Did I really write that down?!

Judas Priest, a favorite band my buddies Steve and Johnny from Gemini, took control of the Best Metal Performance class of 2010. Lamb of God should have honourable mention here kidz! I realize that Lamb of God is a loud band, but they’re really neat to listen to.

As for the rest of the awards, most are not all that appealing to me. Anyone out there feeling the same as I do?

Keep on Jammin’

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We were watching the final episode of The Tonight show with Conan O’Brien that we taped on our PVR (TVO) last night and this ad came up talking about this product. With Eric Clapton and a wall of Fender Stratocasters behind him, hell ya, that got my attention real fast!

The thing that honestly grabbed my curiosity was an application for the phone showing the strings of a Fender guitar, I assume, and Eric strumming it, ha genius!

For the life of me I don’t know what you’d use this for? Is this app created just for it’s novelty or is it intended for tuning your guitar if the battery on your guitar tuner is dead? If so then they might be onto something here folks.

Fender will also be coming up with it’s own apps for it later on. If anyone out there knows of any apps for phones that Fender has done in the past then please tell us! I don’t have a phone that uses apps, I use it for calling people that’s it!

The look of it fascinates me. The Faux Wood’s fiery grain pattern to it, just like the one that a vintage Fender guitar has is always a smart way to go for that classy appearance. It comes loaded with some of Eric Clapton’s tunes on it, which ones I can’t say. The phone holds a 16GB microSD card in it as well. Just like in the past I can hear some people saying what the hell do you need a 16GB card in a cell phone for anyway?! That’s similar to what Bill Gates said about 4 MB of RAM that came installed in the early 80’s computers I believe?

So has anyone out there picked one of these bad boys up? If you do have one these phones then what other apps come with it and which other ones did you but to use that is guitar oriented?

Keep on Jammin’

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God that looks like a blast doesn't it!

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