• Entertainment
  • Musicians
  • Recreation
  • Guitars
  • Playing Styles

Guitar Licks

Guitars, tips and great music discussions

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Archives
  • Links
  • About
  • Guest Blogger
  • Contact



You are here: Home / Archives for Health and Fitness

Woofstock

June 9, 2008 by Chris

Woofstock is North America’s Largest festival for dogs. It’s held in Toronto on June 7th – 8th in the downtown core. “The summer of canine Love” is a good way to describe it! 140,000 people can’t be wrong!

My wife, Midnight our black lab and myself just came back from this crazy event and what a blast it was! They blocked off a fairly large area of streets in Toronto and it was informative and tons of fun!

There were so many people and their dogs all over the place.

The vendors had great freebees and the products were top shelf stuff! There was even this company called Happy Tails that have a Pet Resort & Pet Camp in the very popular Muskoka area.

Our guests have the freedom to come and go as they please between open pet-sized bedrooms or cabins, fireplace lounge and one of many large dog parks segregated by size and temperament. They can run and play all day, chasing chipmunk and dragonflies, hunting frogs, swimming, and umpteen other things dogs being dogs like to do.

There is also a human equivalent called the Deerhurst Resort not too far away as well. There is no connection between the two but it’s nice to have the best of both worlds right next to each other. If we had more dollars then sense, then I think we’d be there!

The best thing I we took out of this event was the ability to bring our dog right inside a very respectable pub for a couple of Guinesses! Cheers, a little hair of the dog won’t kill ya! Hope to see you there next year, drop me a line and we’ll buy the first round, really!

Keep on Jammin’




Filed Under: Canadian, Culture, Entertainment, Health and Fitness, Home and Lifestyle, Humor, My experiences, Recreation, Video Tagged With: best of both worlds, blast, Camp, cheers, chipmunk, crazy event, deerhurst resort, downtown, dragonflies, fair, festival, fireplace lounge, freedom, frogs, fun, Guinesses, hair of the dog, Happy, happy tails, Hope, hunting, Largest, Midnight, Moskoka, muskoka area, North America, people, pet camp, pet resort, play, pub, streets in toronto, stuff, summer, swimming, Tails, temperament, tons of fun, Toronto, tree, woofstock

Is Disco really Back

May 27, 2008 by Chris

Well maybe it’s time to pull out the old sequined hot pants, 12-inch records, mirror balls and platform shoes from where ever you saw them last? Is Disco really back or is it just a pipe dream?

The record labels and the so-called people in the know and says it is back! Should we listen and be very afraid OR should we embrace this as a long lost, more then mis-understood cousin? I have mixed feelings.

satnitefever1.jpg

Ever since disco started up, I kept listening for some crazy guitarist to jump in and blow me away. but I was just left hanging … for quite a while! Being as nieve back then as I was, I sorta was looking for a different style to come out of no where to bring to my arsenal of techniques to use when I was playing with different bands. The Rolling Stones started to jump on this bandwagon with their disco version of “Miss You”, but they fell far too short of my expectations.

I realize that the point of music is to sooth the savage beast in all of us. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, or so they say. But the most important thing that we have to recognize and acknowledge about any genre of music that it has the proper end result, is someone actually enjoying it?

Way back in the day, (back when I got hit by a school bus, true story here kidz) I had a buddy of mine whose parents had more dollars then sense and they gave their kids basically anything they wanted. Now this is where it gets scary, disco was all the rage and my buddy asked his parents to get a dance floor like Saturday Night Fever and guess what … they did! This thing was 1/4 the size of the dance floor of the above mentioned movie with the lights under the floor, attached to this light organ thingy with 1000 watt speakers to boot! It was really impressive and yes, I did the line thing at least once or twice … I think?

discoball.jpg

The matriarchs of disco and both crowned “Queen of Disco”, Donna Summers and Gloria Gaynor are both coming out with new disco music for June and I guess that will help get the ball, or should I say disco ball rolling!

So tell us if you are FOR or AGAINST the return of DISCO into our lives. Was once enough or is it something old is something new?

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Culture, Entertainment, Health and Fitness, History, Home and Lifestyle, Music, My experiences, The early Years Tagged With: AGAINST, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, boot, cousin, dance, disco ball, disco music, donna summers, dream, eyes of the beholder, Fever, floor, gloria gaynor, hot pants, inch, jammin, light organ, matriarchs, mirror balls, Miss You, mixed feelings, new disco, platform, point of music, Queen, rage, rolling, rolling stones disco, saturday night fever, savage beast, school, time

Inventor of LSD dies

May 18, 2008 by Chris

Albert Hofmann, the man behind LSD, has died! I honestly just found out this morning!

No I wasn’t getting small or something like that, I’ve just been too busy over the past couple of months doing lots of things!

He says that the developed LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide-25) as a porthole into the mind. This drug/treatment was to allow patients to seek out what was troubling them thus, helping focus the treatments to be used to help what ails them.

ialberthofmann.jpg In his books he tell of his own experimentation with it, but says “LSD can help open your eyes,” he once said. “But there are other ways — meditation, dance, music, fasting.” Now he tells me!

Lots of other people jumped on the olde LSD thing, but their end results were a bit different. Like this guy! Ah, Timothy Leary’s (L)eague of (S)piritual (D)evelopment. Imagine actually meeting this guy. Better yet, can you think of who better to go camping with then him? Huh?

Some other notables are Carry Grant, the Beatles … the list goes on and on.

So let’s take out hats off for a moment and reflect on the great pharmacist Albert Hofmann’s accomplishments.

Keep on Jammin’ Albert, where ever you are!

Filed Under: Culture, Health and Fitness, History, Home and Lifestyle, Technology Tagged With: acid, ails, albert hofmann, Beatles, camping, dance music, diethylamide, drug, experimentation, inventor, lsd, meditation, mind, notables, pharmacist, piritual, porthole, timothy leary

John Mayer is coming to Toronto

May 14, 2008 by Chris

John Mayer will be playing July 7, 2008 at the Molson Amphitheatre.

jm1.jpg I’ve been so busy doing everything but blogging and playing that I almost missed this show that I would kill to go and see! I love seeing bands live anywhere, but when looking at ticket prices it really makes ya wonder if it’s really worth it.

Now if I had to choose a guitar player(s) I’d like to be stranded on a desert island with, with a 20 year supply of strings and picks, this guy or Bruce Cockburn would be the winners hands down. Just watching John play, or for that matter even listening to anything he does just makes my mind wonder around aimlessly. Oh all those wild chord inversions!!!

jm2.jpgHas anyone else looked at ticket prices and thought the same thing?

The prices are just out of this world! Who can afford them, I can’t even begin to justify the cost. Is it just me or is the way artists make their money on CD sales?

John, I love ya brother, but are you really worth it? Well … maybe.

Keep on Jammin’

P.S. If someone wants to learn how to play a couple of his tunes, and you have a extra ticket with my name on it, I’ll give you 10 free guitar lessons!


Filed Under: Concerts, Entertainment, Health and Fitness, John Mayer, Music, Musicians, Playing Styles, Recreation, Songs to play Tagged With: acoustic guitar player, Amphitheatre, blogging, blues guitar player, Bruce Cockburn, cd sales, chord progressions, desert island, extra ticket, finger picking, free guitar lessons, guitar, guitar player, John Mayer, john mayer playing in toronto, john mayer tickets, July, molson amphitheatre, show, singer, song writer, ticket prices, Toronto, tunes

I’m going to rake the snow off the yard now

March 30, 2008 by Chris

Why have us Canadians been so cranky lately? Well it all has to do with the over abundance of white stuff all over the place. Ok some of you guys in the US, yes we’ll include you as well!

We’ve had it up to here, I mean the height of our glacier on our front yard, with all that blowing snow and cold temperatures stuff! For crying out loud, yesterday we took the dog for a walk at Cherry Beach in Toronto and we thought it was warm out, it was only 1 (C)!!! Lucky for us this is about a 10 minute drive from out house.

All we want is to go out to an outdoor patio, ones that don’t mind our puppy too much, and have a drink and something to eat relax and plus bath in the warmth of the sun.

What did we do to you Mother Nature to have you soooo pissed off at us? Please reply back soon!

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Canadian, Culture, General, Health and Fitness, Home and Lifestyle Tagged With: abundance, blowing snow, canadians, cherry beach in toronto, cherry beach toronto, cold temperatures, cold weather, fed up with snow, front yard, glacier, mother nature, outdoor patio, puppy, Toronto, warm weather destinations, warmth of the sun, white stuff

Imagine the freedom

March 29, 2008 by Chris

I imagine that having an extra digit on your left hand must have it’s con’s, but the pro’s might just make it worth it!

6fingerguitarist.jpg

Playing a 7 string guitar would come in quite handy with a hand configuration like this? When playing difficult chord progressions like the ones that Bruce Cockburn and John Mayer use, wouldn’t it be nice to have another finger just hanging around the old fret board?

Wow, keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Entertainment, Health and Fitness, Humor, Musicians, Playing Styles Tagged With: adjust, Entertainment, finger nail, finger picking, funny, guitar, guitar action, Guitar Equipment, Guitar finger picking styles, Guitar finger picks, guitar picking techniques, guitar picks, guitar picks for sweaty hands, guitar player, guitar strings, guitarist, How to pick which guitar strings to use, Humor, John Mayer, lessons, Music, playing, strings, teach, teaching

The PATH in Toronto

February 3, 2008 by Chris

I was downtown the other day and we ran into the hidden gem for all tourists to use in the winter time. We haven’t used this way for years and I just wanted to share it with you all.

Like most cities that have cold/snowy weather during the winter, you have to deal with the slush and snow while traversing through the core. This really can put a damper on your experience here. So in the early 1900’s our forefathers came up with this fairly new concept on building a underground city to keep you spirits warm and dry. I know that this sounds like some bad sci-fi movie idea, but it works great!

It started out around the landmark Eaton Centre then other locations started to jump on board with this fabulous idea. Then a 1988 reform in city council decided to scale back this idea. After this, developers had to give way to their tenants cries to have their locations attached to this revolutionary way of shopping. This gave way to the rise in land value of the property making the developers owners of the most valuable pieces of property in the country.

According to Guinness World Records, PATH is the largest underground shopping complex in the world with 371,600 square metres (27 km.)of retail space. The PATH also holds the bragging rights to the worlds largest side walk sale! It’s even bigger then the whole size of the West Edmonton Mall. If you’ve ever been there then you get the idea. Soon, they say, it will cover around 60 kilometers underneath the downtown area.

If you ever come to Toronto for a visit, check out the official PATH site and print out a copy, it’ll be one of the best things you did if you come here!

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Canadian, Culture, Health and Fitness, History, Home and Lifestyle, My experiences, Recreation, Shopping Tagged With: bragging rights, cold, country, damper, downtown, downtown toronto, eaton, eaton centre, forefathers, getting around toronto, getting around toronto by foot, guinness world records, hidden gem, kilometers, landmark, PATH, retail space, sale, sci fi, Shopping, shopping complex, slush, snowy weather, spirits, The Path, Toronto, Toronto s PATH, tourists, under ground shopping, underground, underground city, walk, walking, warm, west edmonton mall, winter time

Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty

November 6, 2007 by Chris

randomactsofkindness.jpg

Now if that isn’t the greatest saying of all time, then I don’t know what is! It’s a phrase that the Grateful Dead use to use.

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Entertainment, Health and Fitness Tagged With: grateful dead, grateful dead lyrics, great sayings, kindness, practice, random acts, senseless acts of beauty, words of wisdom

My new fingernail experiment

November 5, 2007 by Chris

Well good readership, I have been going on for a while about fingernails. Let’s make things clear, I’m talking about the ones on my right hand only!

I envy people with finger nails that they could use as screw drivers! I just wish that there was a product that really made a difference on mine. The only thing that I found on line is the Guitarist Guide to Fingernails.

At work in the surgical area, there is a new finding that acrylic finger nails trap germs on them and that we are told not to use them. Ahhhhhhhh, but I need mine to play at the level that I am accustomed to. So, I have decided to go a different root this time. I am forgoing placing the regular acrylic tips on and just placing the hardener right on to the nails themselves. This totally eliminates the tips that are causing the problem.

In order to pull this off, I had to let my nails grow a bit longer then I would have them praying just to have a larger surface to work with. You know just in case things went south very quickly.

I am now back from my secret manicurists hide out and we’ve successfully applied the above mentioned hardener right onto the nails on my right hand. To the axe cave I go! I then picked up the axe and started to put my experiment to the test!

At first, I tried a bit of Bruce Cockburn’s If I had a Rocket Launcher and it was not that bad. I then began to adjust the length and shape of the nail to my specifications with my handy dandy file.

Now it was time for tougher challenge, playing Blackbird at warp speed! They are holding their own so far. Finally, the acoustic version of Neon from John Mayer, perfect!

Now let’s hope that it will continue this way!

Keep on Jammin’

Filed Under: Health and Fitness, Home and Lifestyle, My Equipment, My experiences, Playing Styles, Recreation Tagged With: Acoustic, acoustic version, Acrylic nails, acrylic tips, axe, blackbird, Bruce Cockburn, fake nails, finger nail, finger nails, fingernails, guitarist, If I had a Rocket Launcher, John Mayer, manicure, nails, neon, play, playing, readership, rock, rocket launcher, secret, shape, warp speed

4rehabilitation.com hotline

May 2, 2007 by Chris

If you know someone suffering from drug or alcohol addiction it can be difficult.

Trying to get them to seek help or finding a rehab facility once they agree that they do indeed have a problem can be just as hard.

Fortunately for those with addictions and or their loved ones things just got a bit easier. 4rehabilitation.com has a drug rehab hotline. Just pick up the phone and give them a call. Their councilors are waiting to help. They can provide your with more information about rehab treatment types, rehab facilities and even the signs and symptoms of addiction.

Their website is full of useful information as well. So there’s no need to wait or try to do it all on your own. Call the hotline and get help for yourself or the person you love.

Filed Under: Health and Fitness Tagged With: 4rehabilitation.com, abuse, addiction, alcohol, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, drug rehab, drugs, hotline, rehab, rehabilitation, substance abuse, therapy, treatment

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Connect with Us

  • RSS

Suggested Sites


Eavestrough Cleaning Toronto

Categories

Recent Posts

  • 5 Amazing Alternative Rock Albums Of The 90s
  • Want To Learn To Be A Musician?
  • How Can Ambitious Musicians Find Great Advice From Professionals?
  • Which Musical Instruments Are Hardest To Learn?
  • Things To Know When Beginning A Career In Music
  • Suicidal Tendencies Still Rocking After All These Years
  • Learning Guitar Basics Online

Recent Comments

  • Judy Green on The Old Gasworks was a Toronto institution for music lovers and bands
  • Frank Bolduc on The Old Gasworks was a Toronto institution for music lovers and bands
  • Tom Farr on 5 Amazing Alternative Rock Albums Of The 90s
  • DW on 5 Amazing Alternative Rock Albums Of The 90s
  • Nick Othen on 5 Famous People And Their Guitars

Subscribe

Never miss a post
FREE - Subscribe NOW!
Read our posts in your favorite RSS reader.
rss feed

OR

Subscribe to Guitar Licks by FREE Email Newsletter


Follow us on TWITTER!

Alltop, confirmation that I kick ass
Alltop Guitar news

Shopping

Gifts, Gadgets,
Books and More!

Site Ratings

Visitors


Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Archives

Search

Pages

  • About
  • Archives
  • Become a Guest Blogger for Guest Licks
  • Blog
  • Canadian Bloggers
  • Contact
  • Disclosure
  • Do Follow Bloggers
  • Links
  • Privacy Policy
  • Toronto Bloggers

Blogroll

  • Guitar Boomer
  • Guitar-Werks
  • Eavestrough Cleaning Toronto

My Store

  • My Store

Other Sites

  • The Web Files
  • Celebrity Scoop
  • Organic Gardening Tips
  • Odd Planet
  • Amphibian Care

Tags

Acoustic amp band bands Brantford Bruce Cockburn Canada Canadian concert Entertainment fender funny General guitar Guitar Equipment guitarist guitar player guitars Home house Humor humour instrument jammin jazz John Mayer keyboard Live Music musician Musicians play playing Progressive Rock Pylis rock RUSH Songs to play sound strings Technology Toronto tour Video YES

Copyright © 2026 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in