Buy Concert Tickets

Coupons, Deals, Rebates

Video Rental Center

RELATED ARTICLES

---

Thomas Jefferson and the Chinese Gong
While Richard Nixon's diplomatic visit to China may have created a minor thaw in Sino-US relations, he was not the first President to try to get in sync with the Chinese. Thomas Jefferson preceded him by close to two centuries.

---

Radio - What?s Happened To It?
Remember when radio stations played great music?

---

Guitar Practice - Make It Your Priority!
Every student realizes that guitar practice is important if they wish to become a better musician. Even so, many have trouble establishing a regular practice routine. Other responsibilities have a way of squeezing them into a work-a-holic lifestyle, leaving little room left for personal pursuits. Even teens and children are over-stretched these days with school and other extra-curricular activities. So, what's the secret to creating an effective guitar practicing schedule? The answer: MAKE IT YOUR PRIORITY!

---

Fiddle Tab Makes Learning Fiddle Fast and Easy
Learning fiddle tab is so intuitive and so easy that a student picks it up in five minutes. This is true even for five-year-olds.

---

Guitar Buying - The Pros and Cons of Vintage vs. Reissue
To most people, owning the "genuine article" is the only thing that will suffice. As a guitar player, and one who appreciates classic "vintage" instruments, I can fully understand this point of view. I can't think of a single guitarist who wouldn't absolutely adore playing a real 50's Les Paul or Stratocaster. However, becoming the proud owner of a true vintage instrument does have its drawbacks.

---

Playing The Violin Is For Everyone Who Loves Music
Every day musical instruments enrich the lives of people around the world and continue to promote culture and art throughout every society and community, no matter what size or structure. Even those people of the world who live outside the realm of technology enjoy and use musical instruments to tell stories or entertain. Someone who has never played musical instruments but is interested in trying one has quite a selection to choose from

---

Soul Band for a Party
Was the request six months ago, a sixtieth birthday party, the client said. It got me thinking. There is a whole untapped market out there for people who lived as teenagers and twenty somethings through the sixties and seventies. They are all coming up to this big sixtieth birthday date and they all love the kind of music I love to play and earn my living out of! More than that, their kids are off their hands, their mortgage is paid up and they can afford to splash out on a big celebration.

---

What is Piano GHD Syndrome?
Do you remember the movie, Groundhog Day? In this wonderful movie, TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) relives the same day - Groundhog Day, over and over and over again. No matter what he does, he wakes up the next morning and it is once again Groundhog Day. This continues until he decides to learn and grow. Only after he begins focusing his efforts on helping others instead of concentrating on himself does he move forward and awaken to a new day.

---

Good News for the Musically Untalented
Have you ever been told that you were good at something but not good enough to make it a career or life ambition? Especially with music, if you're passion is music you are hopelessly outnumbered right from the beginning. "You better have a back-up job" or "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" are common refrains heard from well meaning adults who inadvertently had their dreams crushed out of them.

---

Facts about Betty Kresin, Eminems grandmother

---

Can You Really Learn To Play a Musical Instrument From an Online Course?
Out of the 250 million people in the United States, about 25 million of them play an instrument of some kind, or used to when they were in school and would like to pick up where they left off. Another 30 million or so sing in a church choir, a barbershop quartet, or at the very least, in the shower.

---

Facts about MC Big Proof
Facts about MC Big Proof"If I was you, suicide would be a way of life. If you was me , you'd kill you." (Proof)Before I start talking about D12's gifted Mc Proof, I would like to thank and to give credit to the webmaster of the following Derty Harry website for the rare info I found about Deshaun Holton aka Derty Harry aka Proof:http://angelfire .com/bxc3/dertyharry/main_bio.htmlDeshaun Holton aka Proof was born on October the 2nd 1975 in Detroit.Although they didn't attend the same High School, Eminem and Proof have been friends since 1988. They used to live in the same street in Detroit.Proof used to go to Osbourne High school while Eminem was attending Lincoln High. Both friends used to skip high school in order to rap together: in fact Eminem skipped Lincoln High and used to come to Proof's school very often, because both friends wanted to rap together. This is how they met:"I was skipping school, and he was skipping school also, passing out flyers for his concert he was having in Centerline. That had to be, like, '88 or something." (Proof)Some (white) underground Mcs from Detroit like Backstab the Kingpin are convinced of Proof's racism. But Deshaun's statements seem to prove the contrary. CDNow has asked Proof how he felt about Eminem's skin color at the time they met:CDNow: Did you wonder what this blond, white kid was up to? Proof: "You know, I went to Catholic school and had a great, great friend of mine who happened to be Irish; we were best friends since the sixth grade. So when I saw [Eminem] was white, I didn't even jump off like that; when he rapped, he was dope. What made us get dope and become great friends was we both rhymed "first place" and "birthday," and we've been tight ever since [laughs]."Eminem and Proof have been real friends since the beginning. When Eminem was kicked out of his home, he would sleep at Proof's house.It is well known that Proof is an amazing freestyler.He won the freestyling competition in the Source magazine in 1999. He his a better freestyler than Marshall, but Marshall's force is in the way he handles his words in his lyrics. That's exactly what Proof states about their complementary talent:"We were both impressed with each other. The advantage I've got over Em is freestyling; I'm the kind of guy who freestyles off the head, right? The advantage he had over me was that he knew how to write intricately; he knew how to put a song together and bring feelings about. That's why I journeyed under him, like, "Yo, show me the ropes, homeboy." The idea of the D12 group composed of talented MCs and sick aliases with popped into Proof's mind:"I was in New York; I had this deal with Tommy Boy that didn't work out, unfortunately. But I just had this idea that we could put together a team of dope MCs, put a lot of Detroit on as far as having MCs with skills. Everybody's solo took so we'll make aliases, like Eminem's Slim Shady and I'm Derty Harry, and call it the Dirty Dozen -- and at this time, to be honest with you, we thought The Dirty Dozen was a Western movie; we didn't know it was an army movie [laughs]. That fits us, army rather than Western, 'cause we see ourselves more as gun-slingers, lyric-slingers. Then the idea was to form a pact whereas this team, whoever gets out first comes back and gets the rest of the group."Proof has always been confident in Eminem's loyalty, even if some other members of the group may have been worried:"Not me; I've been there since day one, almost. I think the rest of the group may not have been there, but Proof has been beside Eminem all this time. I play a leadership role in the group, where I talk to everyone else; Em is like the president, and I'm the general. I talk to the rest of the fellas and put 'em in line and show 'em the direction. It's a family, too, so there'll be a lot of fighting and bickering, and some people might have felt it might not be the way it should be. So, yes, there were times when people felt funny about things. But now everybody thinks back to that, and we were tripping out over nothing."Acccording to Proof, Eminem's success was the best thing that could have happened to D12:"Right. Some people look at us like, "You're gonna be Eminem's group. You're gonna be in his shadow." They don't realize how positive and great that is to hear; if you're in the shadow of a guy who can sell almost 10 million records in just the states alone, great. That's not a dis to us. But when they hear the album, they hear the individuality of each person, how everybody holds their own."It is so true that each D12 emcee has his own talent and ability to rap.It is less known that Proof's first stage name was "Maximum". Proof has always been appreciated in Detroit for his raps and his freestyling qualities. He changed his nickname when people started calling him "Living Proof", because in many people's minds, Proof was the "living proof of the living MCs in Detroit".Proof has collaborated and still collaborates with numerous artists such as Dogmatic.Proof's first released Cd was called "From Death" and was co-produced with Da Goon Squad.He has released a CD called "Promatic" with Dogmatic and a six Track solo EP called "The Search For Jerry Garcia".As well as for Eminem, Detroit has been very influencial to Proof who describes his hometown as "the type of place where eye contact can get you killed" and also as " a city where the sun never shines, full of pot holes, snow and con artists ready to jack everything you got".

---

Things To Know When Shopping For A Guitar Amplifier
Guitar amplifiers are a major part of your tone. Some amps can do many things well, while others excel at producing specific tonal qualities. When shopping for a guitar amplifier, you will have to choose between a Tube or Solid-State model, and whether you want a combo, or separate head and speaker cabinet.

---

Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students!
Sometimes the teacher learns more from the student than the student does from the teacher. Hopefully, not too often, but today I would like to share with you some great practicing ideas that have come from my piano students over the years:

---

Legend Vega Releasing New Pop CD
Legend Vega is scheduled to release her newest CD this summer, Personal Space. Fans characterize Legend's style as a cross between Mariah Carey and a female version of Ricky Martin. She was born under the lights of Broadway in New York City but raised to the beat of Salsa and Merengue on the hot sands of Puerto Rico. Legend Vega is an experienced singer, songwriter, and model. She has just finished recording her newest CD with all of her own material. Her mainstream pop style and her Latin background make her an excellent crossover artist for the U.S. market. Her album features a broad mix of pop music recorded in English but with many Latin influences.

---

Learning To Play The Piano With Chords
Learning piano chords can help you in all your piano playing. For me chords are the easiest way to play and the simplest way to embellish my playing.

---

Music Licensing
Music licensing can be a very confusing subject. My intent with this article is to give you enough details on what music licensing is and what are your rights to use music in advertising and / or video productions.   A few months ago I was contacted by a company that was celebrating 20 years in business. They wanted to put together a radio commercial that highlighted their celebration. Their request was to use Kool and the Gangs song Celebration in their radio spot. I explained to them in order to do this they would have to obtain a licensing which would cost them quite a bit of money. This was not an option for them due to their limited budget and ultimately they told me that they "went another direction" with their advertising.   If I had agreed to use this song without obtaining a licensing I would have put both of our companies at risk. It was not worth the risk just to make a sale. Beware that there are unscrupulous production companies that will do this type of illegal activity so the best protection you have is knowledge.   The copyright law protects writers of music by giving them exclusive right to their music. Once a piece of music is under copyright protection it is illegal to use it without getting permission to the owner of the copyright.   There are actually two types of copyrights in the United States. One is the actual copyright which is denoted with the familiar C with a circle around it. This protection is for the actual melody, lyrics and arrangement of the music. The copyright is usually owned by the actual artist that wrote the piece or their publishing company.   The second form of copyright is the actual recording itself. This is denoted by a P with a circle around it. This protection covers the performance of the song caught on tape or digital media and released on CD or other media. Many times a record or production company will own this performance right.   If you want to use a song in a production, you need obtain a Master Use license from the owner of the copyright and a Synchronization license (often called a sync license) from the owner of the performance of the song.   The fees for synchronization licenses vary greatly. Low-end TV usage (music is playing from car radio in a scene) can cost up to $2,000. In a film, the fee may be as high as $10,000. A popular song is worth more, possibly $3,000 for TV and $25,000 for film. A song used as the theme song for a film might get $50,000 to $75,000. Commercials can get even more money. Fees for a popular song can range from $25,000 to $500,000 plus per year. The typical range for a well-known song is $75,000 to $200,000 for a one year national usage in the United States on television and radio.   I think you will agree with me that that is allot of money and usually way over budget for many video and radio productions.     To get around these outrageous fees, music production companies sell buyout music. When you purchase a buyout CD you do not need to obtain a licensing to use the music. You can use the music hassle free and at a much lower cost.   Buyout music or royalty-free, as it applies to my products, means that for your one-time purchase price, you can legally use the music in your productions for life of ownership. All copyrights of the music remain with Zebra Music LLC. My jingle licensing agreement allows a protected area of 200 miles. By doing this no other companies in a local market will have the same jingle.   Many other production companies offer a similar buy out music licensing. I would advise you to read the licensing agreements with other production companies and ask questions if you have concerns.   Network broadcast and international broadcast of buyout production music is cleared through a performance organization (like BMI or ASCAP).  The revenue that these songs produce when they are aired is paid directly from broadcast station licensing, NOT from you as a producer. These performance organizations then in turn pay each artist based on the amount their song or songs were aired on the radio or TV.   I hope this article has cleared up any confusion or questions that you have had about copyright and music licensing.

---

Shut Up And Sing
What is it with these performers and their politics? Do they really think that people who pay $100 or more to hear them sing want to hear them utter political opinions? The audience pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to see and hear a performer PERFORM. You want to spout politics, run for freakin office, you moron! When performers use a paid venue to play politics they are abusing the paying audience, the venue, the sponsors and everyone connected to their artistic performance. It's an inappropriate venue and inapproprite behavior to voice your political viewpoint, you jerk! And they wonder why people boo.

---

Review: Audioslave - Out of Exile
Every once in a while a band comes along that really changes the way you perceive music, for me one of these bands was Rage Against the Machine. I'll be the first to admit that I, like most angsty teenagers was lured into Rage's music by their anti-authoritarian songs, and honestly dude, they said "fuck" a whole lot. Not only did the vulgar language lure me in but instead of writing about girls and cars, they took the time to write music about something that actually mattered, politics. Gimmick or not, the music was compelling. Soon after I first heard Bulls on Parade on the radio I started to really question why I was listening to a lot of the other music that interested me at the time. Slowly I began to drift away from happy songs about love and sunshine, and turned to songs that really had a purpose. That being said, I was very excited when I first heard that one of my favorite bands of all time was going to reform, and motherfucking Chris Cornell is going to be their singer. It was like some sort of early-90s rock wet dream. Soundgarden and Rage against the Machine coming together to form a band that would revolutionize rock! Or so they all said.

---

Guitar Practice (Part 2) - Does Practice Make Perfect?
You've probably heard the saying "practice makes perfect" and it sounds true enough, but is t really? We all know the importance of practicing a new skill in order to become proficient at it. This is especially true when it comes to playing the guitar, or any other musical instrument for that matter. But, practicing incorrectly can actually be a detriment to your progress.

---