from saxon germany to the louisiana bayou

Great Deals Of Schultze Gets Blues Horst Krause

See this movie. Please! Don't worry about the English subtitles, there really is not that much dialogue in the film and when Shultze does get to America, well, the Americans speak English. The images tell the story of this film even more than the words. Plus, there is an effect of not even noticing the subtitles after a couple of minutes.

This is a film about a seemingly-stolid block of man named Schultze. He is forced into early retirement from his job in the salt mines with a couple of his buddies. Since all they know is the pit, they don't handle retirement all that well. The images of the film are absolutely wonderful in showing us the deadening symmetry and regularity of their lives. One I can't help sharing with you is the cheap lamp made of rock salt they are given as their retirement gift.

They are also members of an amateur music society that is coming up on its fiftieth birthday. Schultze, like his father before him, is an accordion player, and every year he plays a polka in their presentation. However, he happens upon a radio station playing Zydeco music. This ends up changing Schultze's life forever and sets this unadventurous man on a hero's journey whose details I cannot share with you. You must see all of them for yourself. Each of the great images in this film could fill pages and pages of explanation because they are so richly conceived and yet shot with such minimal action or dialogue.

The ending of the movie left me a bit unsatisfied, but I can understand the hero's fate after he sacrifices everything to reach his final destination. However, being a musician myself, I know how much he and the other musicians would have enjoyed themselves more if a more outgoing approach had been taken - you don't need English to get other musicians to understand that you like their music and want to play with them.

However, that is a quibble. And it is wonderful how Schultze's grand adventure and his hometown buddies' misunderstanding of and projection onto the hero's adventure leads to changes in what is acceptable and what is also desirable even if symmetrical respectability still holds them in thrall.

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From a Parkening Master Class (1982)Student and Teacher

Great Deals Of The Christopher Parkening Guitar Method

The Christopher Parkening Guitar Method, Volume 1, revised 1998, is a comprehensive approach to teaching classical guitar. Written by an accomplished premier classical guitarist, it is not just a collection of exercises and guitar pieces, but includes historical background, basic technique, lots of textual information, photos and a useful appendix of terms. While a few of the photos in the original edition which should have had better lighting are included, this is easily overlooked since many have been added which are of far superior quality. I recommend this text for first time students of classical guitar who will not just learn the rudiments, but beautiful guitar pieces as well. Having said this, there is no substitute for a teacher... don't go it alone!

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Best Speaker for Netbook Computers

Why You Ned to Buy X mini XAM4 B Mono Capsule Speaker

The complaints about the short audio connector overlook a feature that is not advertised. These speakers come with a 3 foot combination audio and USB charging cable. The speakers play through the USB mini plug and audio plug on the cable.
I plug the audio plug into my IPOD and the mini USB into the speaker and I can place the speaker 3 Ft. away.
I also have a second X-Mini. I use the combo charging cable that came with it to connect this speaker to the first through the buddy port. I just plug the audio pin into the first speaker buddy port and the mini USB plug into the second speaker. Now I can put the first speaker 3 feet from my IPOD and the second speaker 3 feet away from the first. The seperation sounds close to stereo.
I also found that by using the IPOD EQ feature found in Settings > Music I can get the best sound for my taste.
The Apple AC charger that I bought as an accessory for my IPOD charges the speakers without having to use my computer.
I like these speakers a lot.

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Screw you Syntax!

Why You Ned to Buy The Sheep Guardians Sanctioned ebook

In this era of unprecedented investment theft, this "Diary of a SEC-Sanctioned Swindle" stands out. It details one man's odyssey to discover how thousands of investors were fleeced out of hundreds of millions of dollars by the Syntax-Brillian Corporation. Along his journey he discovers corporate CEOs cooking the books, unethical lawyers who defend them, regulators who ignored his and other investors' cries for intervention, a predatory hedge fund and the complicit bankruptcy judge who was in their pocket.

It is a complex web of deceit and intrigue, yet Ahmed Amr spins an engaging and compelling story. While his book points to a corporate and securities culture so corrupt and a regulatory system so broken, he ultimately gives hope that together--through activism--we can fix the system before it's too late.

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Amazing arrangements, amazing music

Great Deals Of Lush Joe Clark Big Band

It has been a long time since I have heard new music filled with so many fresh ideas and with such energy.--and with such a high success rate in advancing the musical cause at hand. Lush, by the Joe Clark Big Band, signals the emergence of a formidable musical thinker, gifted as a composer, arranger, bandleader, and musician. This 52-minute release on the JazzedMedia label is an auspicious and memorable debut, one which also spotlights the brilliant veteran drummer Jeff Hamilton, as well as tenor saxophonist Chris Madsen, alto player Dan Nicholson, and others.
The album's eight tracks are split between standards and very fine originals. The former includes compositions like Thelonious Monk's "Well You Needn't." Of the originals, one is by Hamilton--the Brazilian-inflected "Samba de Martelo"--and three are by Clark. All of the songs are given muscular and spirited interpretations by an ensemble of 21 musicians, mainly horn players. The result is an abundance of music that is alive in the fullest sense. This is no small feat, considering that, apart from a single rehearsal, this group had never played together before.
Some of the soloing is breathtaking, particularly by Chris Madsen on "Lush Life." All of the compositions benefit from Clark's arranging, especially "Tenderly," which wins through pure stellar stately beauty. He approaches the standards with fresh eyes--and with a bracing curiosity about the composers' original intentions. Both covers and originals benefit from the intense attention Clark devotes to each bar of music. His arrangements develop the musical ideas of a given song to its fullest amplitude. Miles Davis once told Downbeat Magazine that a horn section can sound good, as long as it doesn't repeat too much. Clark takes that line of thought to a whole new plane. The arrangements are fluid and surprising. They reflect a reconception of what accompaniment means; it is the opposite of the repetitive vamp dronecraft we are used to. It is closer to a supportive consciousness with a voice distinctly its own. The brass section comments on the foreground melodies, but it also engages in dialogue passages. The writing at times gets complex, but it feels nimble and punchy because it feeds the forward momentum of the songs. Central to this feat is the superb rhythm section led by drummer Jeff Hamilton. This band swings really hard, elegant voicings and all.
A high point of the album is "Femme Fatale," a Clark composition that conveys the narcotic combination of elegance and edginess, attraction and anxiety, of a true femme fatale. It succeeds both as a powerful and stylish piece of music, and as a character study. In this song and others, an unexpected gift for theatrical drama emerges in Clark's thinking. "Lush" is a superb piece of music, an introduction to a musical vision definitely worth watching.

Dan UrsiniLush

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great plugs. i'm a musician

Great Deals Of Etymotic Research ETY Plugs Protection Earplugs

This was the first brand of earplugs designed with the music listener in mind that I heard of, but instead of ordering online, I bought a different brand that was available at the local music store. This was a mistake - they cost about the same, but they were absurdly large and simply did not fit in my ears at all, so I wound up buying these as well.
These fit perfectly in my ears and would fit just about anyone's ears, I expect, and do a fabulous job of filtering noise. I wear them while practicing the violin, and they reduce the sound of the instrument (long-term exposure to the violin can damage a violinist's hearing) and also the surface noise of the bow rubbing against the violin. While someone standing a few feet away listening to a violinist won't hear that noise, the hissing or scratching is very audible to the one playing the instrument, and wearing these earplugs allows me to listen to my sound with the ears of someone standing a few feet away. As a performer, this is very helpful as it gives me a much better idea of how I sound to others. I would highly recommend purchasing these if you are a musician or if you like to go see live bands, which can often be overwhelmingly loud.

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kinivo btx450 wireless speaker

Why You Ned to Buy Kinivo BTX450 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

I'm a 52 year old audiophile who's been buying and comparing high end audio gear for over 35 years and I can assure you this little box does a very competent job of making music.

One must of course keep their expectations within reason as to the total sound output and low range of bass a tiny device can produce, but that said, the BTX450 is quite impressive. It's design allows it to produce respectable bass extension from it's small cabinet, which is a bit smaller than say a one liter water bottle. Of course you don't get a wide stereo field with a single box device, but it does throw a tiny little soundstage none the less. It gets loud enough before distorting to feel like a quality unit approaching the performance of the more expensive offerings from Jambox and Bose at a much lower price. It's clean and simple design look good, and it's small size and rechargeable battery operation make it quite versatile.

This unit pairs easily and with up to 8 devices, and when plugged in with it's charger, it can charge another device via it's USB jack. It has a 5.5mm mini-jack input as well as the Bluetooth option, and it is small enough to pack for travel.

It's a great choice for the price and it's size.

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