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Cindy Blackman a modern women drummer

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Cindy Blackman is truly a modern day women drummer who should be admired for the many styles she plays.

Best known as the drummer for arena rocker Lenny Kravitz for 11 years, she seems to float effortlessly from one genre to another. Don’t let this fact make you think that he stifled her creative side for all those years!

She is originally from Ohio and possesses some rock solid jazz chops! Her imaginative drumming technique’s and writing ability are the reason why her album Music for the New Millennium is so well received by many lovers of music.

cindyblackman1.jpg While playing with some of the best in R & R (Mick Jagger, James Brown, Iggy Pop and Prince just to name a few) she sure seems to love it! I know would, wouldn’t you? Being a women and excelling very nicely on an instrument that traditionally is reserved for men, she holds her own!

Cindy Blackman has quite a few heavy hitters that she uses for guidance. Art Blakey (nice chops on that guy), Elvin Jones and everyone’s favorite John Bonham! with inspiration from these guys, it’s no wonder she solo’s like no other women we know.

She’s a lover of horns and singers. Her love of Charlie “Bird” Parker and Miles Davis is apparent on her new album. She has a liking for Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane (man that guy had a God given talent) and Wayne Shorter.

cindyblackman2.jpgThe singers she likes is Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald with a sprinkling of Johnny Hartman for good measure. The best in delivery is Billie holiday hands down! I couldn’t agree with her any more. Billie holiday was big part of her musical education and mine too!

As you know I’m a huge lover of John Mayer on guitar, but Billie Holiday is the women who just can’t be beat for emotion. Her phrasing is just like getting hit by a bus, and you wanna know what, I honestly got hit by one as a kid and boy can that change your outlook on life a bit. I picked up a cheap Billie Holiday CD somewhere and it all started to snowball from there. Besides, if I had 2 acts to see live (that I never got the chance to) Max Webster is 1st and she is 2nd!

So if you are in your favorite record store go and treat yourself to her new album! Heaven knows, I just might be onto something here folks!

Keep on Jammin’




On this day in Rock and Roll History

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Just thought that you should know that this day in Rock and Roll history the following events happened.

Births on this day are …

1948 John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)
1938 Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary)
1939 Charles Miller (War)
1944 Mick Ralphs (Mott the Hoople)

Miscellaneous things that happened on this date are …

1957 “That’ll Be the Day” by Buddy Holly and the Crickets is released.
1962 The Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout” is released on Wand Records. It will rise to #17 on the US Pop chart and will be covered two years later by the Beatles, whose version rose to #2. (I did not know that one!)
1966 “The Monkees” series debut on NBC-TV.
1969 John and Yoko record Give Peace a Chance at Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal
1976 The Who perform loudest concert ever , using 76,000-watt PA system
1977 The biggest and most expensive rock tour in history begins as Emerson, Lake and Palmer embark on a worldwide tour, with a 125 people begin in toe, including a 70-piece orchestra.
2005 The Salvation Army close Strawberry Field, a Liverpool children’s home which inspired the Beatles’ song, “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Keep on Jammin’

Gordon Lightfoot

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On The Hour, with George Stroumboulopoulos, he does a great interview with Canada’s greatest singer/song writer ever and does it only the way that he can do it!

He was born in Orillia, Ontario. As a young boy he grew up singing in church choirs. Later on in life the man moved to L.A. in the late 1950’s to seriously study music. It wasn’t until he came back to Canada that his career finally took off! In 1966 he released his first album titled “Lightfoot”.

His commercial success came into the forefront when he started to break into the US market in the 70’s. This was a great thing. Eventually, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and even Elvis started doing re-makes of his songs!

Lightfoot’s got a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, he was one of the first inductees into Canada’s Singer/Songwriters Hall of Fame and has won 15 Junos to boot. Not bad from some guy from Orillia.

As for me, I have a little story to tell you here kidz, so gather around the campfire and let’ go!

Circa: early 1990. Place: Toronto, Ontario Canada

I was working for a delivery company called Mr. Case and I had a drop off in Toronto’s affluent Rosedale area. I had my supplies in my van and I pulled up to the clients driveway and got out. Damn, wrong driveway! So I went back to the van and everyone’s worse nightmare comes to life, I LOCK THE KEYS IN THE VEHICLE!

I don’t want to bother the people in the house, so I look for a coat hanger to break in. Can’t find any. What do I do next! I now notice a car pulling up the driveway in the adjacent house. A man, a women and child exit the vehicle. The women notices me and asks whats wrong and I begin to tell her my story. The man in the background with the child listens and says that he’d be back in a minute. Beautiful! The women stays behind and we spark up a nice conversation. Remember, I’m in a area that the average house is about 2 million dollars.

No the man comes back out of the house with a coat hanger and he is walking down his driveway and heads towards me on his neighbor’s side. As he is doing this, he has pliers in hand is starting to bend the end to the familiar hook. As he reaches me and my van, he automatically goes to the drivers to.

I’m now thinking to myself, what in the hell am I doing letting a millionaire attempt to break into my van! I said thank you for the hanger and I tried to take it from him before he tries to open the truck. He then says “ok, but I’m kinda good at this type of thing”.

As I stumble around trying desperately to open the van and have a conversation with this rich guy, he taps me on the shoulder and says “Can give it a try?”. I then agreed and handed over the tool. After 10 seconds I see the door pin is open and this guy turns to me and says “I told ya I was good at this” and then I realized it was …

Keep on Jammin’

John Mayer is coming to Toronto

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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!


What ever happened to Roger Waters inflatable Pig

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The other day at the Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival, Roger Waters was using an inflatable Pig during the show and it got away … and I mean really away!

It floated from Coachella California near Palm Springs and landed in a local backyard. It seems that two neighbors found parts of the animal on their property and will split the $10,000.00 reward plus they will get tickets for life for any of the shows in the future!

Lucky buggards … poor pig!

Keep on Jammin’

Guitar World has a fantastic selection of guitar tabs

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In all honesty, good readership, when I first started to pick up my axe again after a huge break, I didn’t even think about using the internet to look up how to play tunes. Yes, what a rookie move. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until I started searching online that I began to use tabs at all!

I used to read music all the time no matter which instrument I was playing. So over the years I eventually drifted away from this method of playing and used my memory for most tunes. After a while there were far too many little parts that I had forgotten and it made me quit disappointed in my playing ability! Nowadays, I don’t know what I’d do without guitar tabs. They certainly make it easier to learn a new song!

Although I’ve only used a couple of sites in the past, this site, Guitar World, really stands out to me. Browsing through the site I soon realized that if I was either a beginner, or advanced player of most common instruments, this would be a website to seriously bookmark.

This is a fabulous site to use if you’re looking for some great tunes to add to your repertoire no matter what instrument you play!

I’m a huge Beatles nut from way back in the day so I decided to see what they had. I actually found some refreshing new ways to approach some old standbys that made a lot of sense in my mind. The Guitar World’s Beatles guitar tabs section is very impressive to say the least! The videos in this section were nice, and simple to understand, just the way I like them!

They had so many unique interpretations of how to play certain tunes that I just had to stop and think about where in the song could I squeeze them in. Besides, there is nothing better than having the ability to change up and improve songs when you’re playing live. Always remember that when playing live in front of other musicians, they will take apart everything you do on or off stage. If you add different approaches to a song, you make it that much more appealing to those in the know and they WILL be impressed!

Their nirvana guitar tabs category is a must check out area as well! The tabs here have that subtle differences that you’re looking for in order to keep the crowd attentive and wanting to hear more from ya.

This is a must site to see, I’ll guarantee you!

Keep on Jammin’

Imagine the freedom

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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’

My new blues guitar hero

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I’ve said before that I was directed to Mississippi John Hurt by way of Bruce Cockburn.

It was not for his personal charm but for his technique.

This musician has had a huge influence on Bruce’s approach to acoustic guitar picking so once again, if it’s good enough for Bruce then it’s good enough for me!

Now if I came across this little gem of a video before he sent me his way, I think that I would have looked him up anyway. Decide for yourself.

Keep on Jammin’

Rascal Flatts

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They were the biggest-selling American act in any music genre in 2006, but now country stars Rascal Flatts want the rest of the world to hear their songs. The band talks about performing in London and their collaboration with actor Jamie Foxx. (Feb. 1)

They seem like a bunch of guys that you’d love to go camping with, if your into that sort of stuff, I know I love it!

But anyway, they appear to be fairly talented and modest. I read that these guys have a bit of a grittier side to them that is just crying out to be heard.

So only time will tell if they are the real thing!

Keep on Jammin’

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