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Archives for 2007

Coupon deals on Music CDs and DVDs

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I guess I’m in a surfing the net, browsing around kind of mood today. Like most people I enjoy getting a deal on things. That’s why I’ve started to browse through the more than 1000 online stores that are listed at CouponChief. All the stores listed are well known stores, many of which have physical locations as well as online presences.

I decided to visit CouponChief today to see if they had any coupons or coupon codes for music stores. I’ve been looking to expand our music CD and DVD collection and I might as well save some money by using a coupon to get a percentage of the price right?

I discovered that they have a Music and DVD section where they list all the deals they have for their online music stores. I found a great deal using Tower Record coupon codes to get free shipping on orders of $20 or more.

I also discovered that they have listings for deals on MP3 players, iPod accessories, DVD players and other music and entertainment related items at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sony. See, I told you they have listings for well known stores.




While his Ukulele Gently Weeps – WOW

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The guy plays this song so well on his ukulele that, it makes me want to go out and buy one.

I’ve been to “Strawberry Field” in New York city, right in front of the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon lived and unfortunately was fatally shot.

I was in New York in 1986 and I can tell you it’s a fabulous city to visit, not to mention living there would be a blast. The feelings that we all felt when we were right there at Strawberry Fields in Central Park, was quite intense.

Anyways, just listen to this song then follow the chord progressions that he does, in concert with his strumming, and it is just the most wonderful tune to be exposed to. Enjoy!

Try to, keep on Jammin’, like this guy

Sale on Sunglasses and eyewear at OpticsPlanet

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You know how there’s retail stores that you go to just because you like the products they sell. Perhaps just browsing the aisles looking at neat things? Well I found an online store that’s just like that too. It’s called Opticsplanet and they carry the most interesting things.

Opticsplanet.net carries everything from Sun glasses to microscopes, telescopes, binoculars and flashlights and whole lot of other products in between.

When I was visiting the site today I noticed that they had a huge selection of sunglasses. Actually it’s not just sunglasses, but a whole range of eyewear from prescription eyewear, to ski and motorcycle goggles.

I used to have a real problem. I always seemed to lose my sunglasses. I’m not so bad these days, but I could use an extra pair, since I still somehow misplace mine from time to time. An extra pair or two would solve that problem wouldn’t it?

They have a huge selection of brand name and top brand eyewear. Their selection includes eyewear from Bolle, Body Specs, Bobster, Wiley X, ESS, Revision Eyewear and many more manufacturers. Personally, I really like the design of Serengeti sunglasses. The prices are really good too. The lowest that I’ve found actually. I just discovered that pretty much all of the eyewear that Opticsplanet sells is on sale right now, so that makes the prices even better.

What great timing on my part to have browsed the site when they are having a sale eh? If you need sunglasses, goggles or any kind of eyewear from designer to safety or shooting glasses now is the time to visit OpticsPlanet.

They also offer free UPS delivery on all orders over $29.95, and they guarantee the lowest prices. That’s why I love OpticsPlanet. Great stuff, great prices, and free shipping if your purchase is just $29.95? You can’t lose. Check it out for yourself.

H R Pufnstuf

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Boy do I miss this guy on TV!

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We all, I hope, were exposed to this delightful kids show in the late 60’s & 70’s. I made sure that I got up in time to watch this show. The theme song reminds me of 59th St. Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy), but until today, I haven’t heard the tune. When playing this song, Feeling Groovy, I’ve tried to include some of the words from the theme song and people just jump in and sing along.

I’ve tried to look for it on the cartoon channels with no success.

My brother just called a minute ago and he remembers this show growing up and we chatted for a while on this subject. When we finished up with this topic he muttered, “you’ve got way too much time on your hands”.

Jimmy, played by Jack Wild, is the guy on this adventure that I always wanted to be. He was always having a blast with this Pufnstuf fellow. His best pal was a living flute called Freddie and Witchiepoo, which some of my buddies called a very old girlfriend of mine at the time, was just hilarious with all of her antics and her buddies. H R Pufnstuf, was the Mayor of this living Island that Jack washed up upon.

I hope that you enjoyed this blast from the past!

Keep on Jammin’

“We’ve just lost the nicest guy in rock & roll.” Boston

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“We’ve just lost the nicest guy in rock & roll.” This says it all.

On Friday March 9, 2007, in southern New Hampshire around 1:20 P.M., the world not only lost the nicest guy in R & R but the greatest “Arena Rock” vocalist ever in my eyes. Mr. Brad Delp sadly took his own life at his home. He was 55 years of age. I honestly wish I was there trying desperately to talk him out of it. This man’s vocals really helped me turn into a guitar player who was trying find a direction to go towards. He will truly be missed by millions of people.

The Boston Fan site is just full of memorials that really hit home.

These guys summed up to me what it is to be the average guy’s stadium-rockers. I had hoped to have seen the rock legions this summer when they went on tour, for the first time in a long time. Wow, what a blast we would of had.

Just let your imagination run totally wild for a second. Imagine playing this tune with the band live while being the first guitar player! I do this every time I’m driving alone on the highway. When this tune comes up, I wish I had # 11 on our volume control in the car!

Mr. Brad Delp, I hope that you have found your peace. May God have mercy on your soul and may your soul rest in peace.

Mia Rose

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I am not a big follower of the modern day pop singer but, this girl is someone to follow.

She is pretty and has a eerie and haunting alto voice while still obtaining a soaring soprano range that reminds me of Alanis. Mia Rose is the type of singer that you will remember where you were when you first heard her sing. I know, this sounds odd coming from me but, she really is!

On YouTube, she also plays an original piece of hers on her classical guitar. She seems quite relaxed while playing and her overall technique is not that bad either.

I hope that I can honestly say that I do in fact remember where I was when I first heard her voice.

Keep on Jammin’

Two words – Marty Delaney

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Have you ever been to a bar and heard the most interesting guitar player staring right in front of you playing like a possessed man on stage? Well that happened to me last year.

My wife, sister, brother in law, Stevie cakes (long story), and myself went to a bar that is in our neighborhood which I have always wanted to visit. It’s called The “Eton House“. It’s commonly known as the “Greek/Newfie” bar in this area.

A newfie is of course a person from the Canadian province of Newfoundland. It’s just a nickname that the rest of Canada and possibly the world has for the people that come from that province. Newfie’s are the nicest people in the world that you will ever meet. We have many Newfie friends. If the world had more of them, there’d be no wars, honestly!

So, there we were. We had a lot of light refreshing beverages in us at the time and the music coming from the outside speakers of the music playing in the bar sounded fast and furious. It sounded like a band but to our surprise,it was a single guy alone, playing acoustic guitar with some machine in the back ground playing drums and keyboards.

His chord progressions are similar to the ones that I play, but when he adds some little riffs to the songs, it’s just like he’s some kind of mad genius, hell bent on blowing you not only out of your seat, but the building as well! He blows you away with his ability to play.

If you are ever in Toronto on a Saturday night, it would be a crime not to see this guy. He is a musician that you can’t help but love. His voice is great and his selection of tunes would make a dead person tap their foot as his energy is intoxicating!

A couple of weekends ago at the Eton House, Marty and the kids were having a fund raiser for his niece and her mother. His niece has a disease that has to be treated at a hospital, in the capitol of his province which is far from the little village they live in, in Newfoundland. The money raised that night was for some pocket change for her mother to use while she is receiving treatments. God speed on her recovery!

A co-worker from the hospital had told me of their plight, and the event gave me an excuse to go and see this great guitar player again. She had also informed me that she knew Marty personally. I was introduced to him and talked for a while during one of his breaks. He said that he remembered seeing me there watching him perform. It was probably the envy energy that I was directing towards him that probably caught his attention those nights.

While chatting, he asked me if I might be interested in playing with him in a band with another guitar player and a stand up bass player. We would be playing more progressive acoustic folk music and performing at venues where the audience was there for the music and not just the beer.

I told him I would think about it. Wow, what a lucky break for me! I still have to get back to him but the answer is a definite YES!

Stay tuned for further updates.

Keep on Jammin’

Finger picks?

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Has anyone ever tried these things? The last time I tried them was when I was trying to figure out the banjo! They are silver coloured picks that are used to pluck the strings from bottom of the string upwards. They can be sized to any finger. One size pretty much fits all I think.

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They are fine for this finger style technique but my style has my fingers moving both upwards and downwards as well.

This is where the problem begins. The tip of the pick tends to go under the string when I move in an upwards motion on the strings. No matter how careful I am at a fast picking, I still run into this problem.

Does anyone have an idea to this problem?

Keep on jammin’

Well it had to happen sometime

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Today was like any day, at work in the O.R. recovery room. People coming in to be taken care of and then leaving when they are ready to go to either their in-patient room or to go to the final recovery room, then home.

Last weekend we were at my mother’s birthday dinner treating her to her favorite Chinese restaurant. During the meal I had developed a crack on the fingernail on my middle finger on my left hand. As you know I use my finger nails to play with most of the time and this is a big thing to have happen to a guitarist like myself.

I tried to repair it with a product called Ecrinal. This product is partially made of horse hair resins. This product is suppose to be one of the best on the market but doesn’t work well on my plain finger nails. I could have used crazy glue to repair it but I didn’t have any at the time. Note: medical crazy glue is used on some cuts to close them up in hospitals all over the world.

In my case if I had some crazy glue on me at the time, the glue more then likely would have traveled onto the top portion of the fingernail where the nail meets the skin, at the cuticle. If this happened, the nail will still grow out and the glue would hold the skin and nail together at that point, ahhhhh! It would not allow the nail to grow freely away for the skin, I’ve done it before without knowing what was going on!

So today, while transporting a patient to his room, he was very aggressive and we tried to get him to settle down so he would not rip out any of his I.V. lines. During this, I bent back my nail and it cracked to the point where I had to gingerly remove it from my finger.

I started to do so very carefully, only after the transport had been complete. I wasn’t sure if the nail was completely broken off from the rest of the healthy nail, which is still strong and attached to the other part of my finger.

As I was removing the damaged part at the end of my finger, I thought that it would be quite painful but to my surprise and relief, it came off rather nicely.

So now for the big question, do I get new nails or take the rest off and give the old nails underneath (the fake ones), time to breath? If you are not aware, if you keep fake acrylic nails on your fingers all the time, you run the risk of having very unhealthy looking nails later on in life? Bet you did not know that. Well there you go, you learned something new today!

Keep on Jammin’

My old trusty Roland BOSS Flanger BF-1

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This unit is a vintage pedal to be used with guitar and keyboards. The effects with this pedal is just awesome! It works like a dream when I play Spirit of Radio, Lime Light or Red Barchetta. It phases in and out with mind blowing effects.

If you are a keyboard player, you might want to take a very close looks at this pedal. It can give you a sound similar Leslie Amplifier. The closest to it that is out there. Many other accomplished keyboardist have similar views.

When I was jamming with Tony F., the best keyboardist I’ve ever had the honour to play with live, he wanted to give my pedal a try. To our amazement, it was the best sound that we had ever heard. Tony had the foresight and ear to know that a Leslie Amp. is the best thing going for the serious keyboardist. So he actively was searching for a pedal to give him that desired effect. Little did he know, he had the answer that he was looking for all the time, literally right in front of him!

If you are not aware, Leslie Speakers/Cabinets are speakers inside the cabinet that rotate, yes rotate to give you that natural whirling sound. They are those big wooden boxes that you see in church choir lofts. This will make you think twice when looking up at the band upstairs thinking that there are no undiscovered secrets in a church!

When the old band got together for a re-union show a couple of years ago, Tony told me that he still had that old pedal and that it still had the box and manual with it. It’s really nice to know that there are still very decent people roaming around the planet like him, a real throw back to gentler days.

On this Boss Flanger site you can hear the sound that you get from it. Check it out you vintage sound seekers. It also has a great picture at the bottom of the page.

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