Music and Band Ezine Home Page

Volume I, Edition 29
July 25, 2009

Greetings!

Welcome to this Week’s E-dition of Music and Band Ezine!

Please follow the link to visit this week’s Music and Band Ezine
“LIVE ON THE NET!”

http://www.musicandband.com

We’re also now on Twitter, check us out!
http://twitter.com/musicandband

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ON THE COVER
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The Whole Note – from the Publisher
Swinging It Up at Rock ‘n’ Bowl
Written By:
Music and Band Ezine’s Publisher, Paul Heingarten

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Page 2
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Vinyl Find: Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen – Lost in
the Ozone
Written By: Apollo’s Cred

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Page 3
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Audio Mastering Competition #1
Written By: Hakim Callier

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Page 4
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Top 5 Music Downloads for the week of July 25, 2009
1) “Got Nuffin” by Spoon (Indie)
2) “It’s Frightening” – White Rabbits (Indie)
3) “And The Ever Expanding Universe” – The Most Serene Republic (Indie)
4) “Blood Bank” – Bon Iver (Indie)
5) “Knot” – Wye Oak (Indie)

Download these and more by clicking
http://www.musicandband.com/top5downloads

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THIS WEEK’S HEADLINING SPONSOR
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LAST WEEK’S POLL RESULTS
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And now for the results from last week’s poll…

“On average, how many gigs do you play in a month?”

• 2 or less 75%
• 3-5 25%
• 6 or more 0%

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THIS WEEK’S POLL
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Poll Topic: Which of these is your favorite music download
service?

• Amazon
• BearShare
• Bit Torrents
• eMusic
• GnuTella
• iTunes
• Kazaa
• Limewire
• Napster

To vote in this poll, go to the Music and Band Ezine home page and
look for the poll on the right side of the page.
http://www.musicandband.com

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Cover
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Swinging It Up at Rock ‘n’ Bowl
Written By:
Music and Band Ezine’s Publisher, Paul Heingarten

Ok, my turn again – I played with Rocky’s Hot Fox Trot Orchestra
this past Wednesday evening at the new location of Rock ‘n’ Bowl,
one of New Orleans’ long time classic bars. I’m not going to get
into the reasons why Rock and Bowl moved locations – it’s not
really that kind of ezine here. Let’s just say that John Blancher
has done an excellent job at creating an even improved version of
Rock ‘n’ Bowl at its new home: roomier, with several big screen
TVs and automatic scoring for those people who actually go to
Rock ‘n’ Bowl to bowl.

Most of the Rocky’s Hot Fox Trot Orchestra members were in
attendance, with the exception of our third trumpet player. Rocky
has been working in some of the newer music to our sets, which is
a good variety to keep the music fresh. Of course, there’s nothing
wrong with the classics like String of Pearls, Moonlight Serenade,
Stranger on the Shore, etc. It is nice to keep it mixed in with
even some of the more recent songs we’ve added like Chicago’s
“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “When I Fall In
Love.”

The band is incorporating more solos, which I’m excited about.
I’ve been delving into the works of guys like Chet Baker and Miles
Davis so hopefully I’ll be able to work in some of their lines
here and there. Like somebody said: “Good artists copy, great
artists steal.” Well, if I gotta, I gotta

Next up for Rocky’s band is a performance at the New Orleans World
War II Museum’s Sunday Swing Event on August 16th, 2p-4p. This
event actually is taking place all summer long. If you like to
listen to swing music, or dance, or both you should come check
this out. Here’s a link for more information:
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/calendar/sunday-swing.htmlAbout the Author:

Paul Heingarten runs the Music and Band Ezine
http://www.musicandband.com

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THIS WEEK’S STAGE SPONSOR
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Page 2
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Vinyl Find: Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen – Lost in
the Ozone
Written By: Apollo’s Cred

I found this gem at Webster’s Bookstore in State College, Pa. for
$8.

Commander Cody was the bandleader and pianist for the Lost Planet
Airmen, a demented group that strove to combine rockabilly,
country, straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. The group was
known for its energetic live performances; 1971′s Lost in the
Ozone was its debut release. Though Cody was the leader, Billy C.
Farlow actually handles vocal duties on most of these tracks.

Lost in the Ozone features Chris Frayne’s horrifying album cover.
Look closely at the left end of the cigar to see the evil music
note springing from the smoke.

A quick glance at the back cover reveals that the Lost Planet
Airmen had a man named “West Virginia Creeper” playing pedal
steel, a dubious distinction. That’s him in the upper left-hand
side of the photo.

The star on this album is Commander Cody’s own novelty song, “Hot
Rod Lincoln.” It’s a humorous and surprisingly catchy country
shuffle about the narrator’s Model A hot rod with a Lincoln V8
engine with the memorable chorus of “Son, you’re gonna drive me
to drinkin’ If you don’t stop drivin’ that hot rod Lincoln.”

About the Author:

See this original post at
http://apolloscred.blogspot.com/2009/07/vinyl-find-commander-cody-and-his-lost.html

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THIS WEEK’S CREW SPONSOR
_________________________________________________________

20% Off Guitar Straps at MusiciansFriend.com

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Page 3
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Audio Mastering Competition #1

Written By: Hakim Callier

Competition pushes creativity. Isn’t that what they say? My blog
is hosting a healthy, but intense competition between the best and
brightest among up-and-coming music producers from all around the
world. The members of FutureProducers.com decided to have a
mastering competition featuring my song, RPG Rainbows.

This is a competition where we will allow the people to decide the
best of audio mastering performance on RPG Rainbows. The
finalists are Morning_Star, Edge0125, Obitheincredible and
deRaNged 4 Phuk’dup. The winner of the competition will be
determined by a poll on Future Producers (FP).

Please vote! In addition, ALL mastered copies of RPG Rainbows can
be downloaded as FREE MP3 for your listening convenience.

This is the first time that I have sponsored a competition like
this, so if you have any feedback or questions please leave it in
the comments section. You may also ask questions to the finalists
about their audio mastering performances in the comments section.
If all goes well, I may just develop this competition into a
regular feature on this blog. Adding yet another way to get up and
coming composers, music producers and audio engineers some added
exposure to media music supervisors and content producers.

About the Author:

See the original post and get more information about the
competition at

http://hakimcallier.com/2009/07/21/audio-mastering-competition-1/

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CLASSIFIED ADS
_________________________________________________________

******

******

******

Jayna Morgan sings traditional jazz and swing standards every Tuesday at the Fair Grinds Coffee House, 3133 Ponce de Leon (near Esplanade in Mid-City) in New Orleans, LA 7p-9p no cover!

******

Want to advertise your band gig or opportunity?
Email me at paul@musicandband.com for more details.

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Page 4
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Top 5 Music Downloads for the week of July 25, 2009

1) “Got Nuffin” by Spoon (Indie)
2) “It’s Frightening” – White Rabbits (Indie)
3) “And The Ever Expanding Universe” – The Most Serene Republic (Indie)
4) “Blood Bank” – Bon Iver (Indie)
5) “Knot” – Wye Oak (Indie)

Download these and more by clicking

http://www.musicandband.com/top5downloads

That wraps up another edition of the Music and Band Ezine. Your questions, comments and/or concerns can always be forwarded directly to me at Music and Band at paul@musicandband.com.

If you would like to post an article in a future edition of the “Music and Band Ezine”, please email your submission to
paul@musicandband.com for review and consideration.

I personally thank you for your readership and interest in this ezine. Looking forward to bringing you the next edition of Music and Band, I am…

Paul Heingarten
Founder
Music and Band Ezine
paul@musicandband.com
http://www.musicandband.com

***The views expressed in this ezine do not necessarily reflect
the views of the publisher***

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Music and Band Ezine
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Volume I, Edition 23
Greetings!

Welcome to this Week’s E-dition of Music and Band Ezine!

Please follow the link to visit this week’s Music and Band Ezine
“LIVE ON THE NET!”

http://www.prhsolutions.com/musicandband/?cat=131

_________________________________________________________
ON THE COVER
_________________________________________________________

The Whole Note – from the Publisher

Night Gig in the Museum
Written By:
Music and Band Ezine’s Publisher, Paul Heingarten

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Page 2
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MySpace Music Account Creation – Are You an Artist Looking For
More Exposure?
Written By: Nancy Jamie Athens
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nancy_Jamie_Athens

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Page 3
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Creating a Press Kit or Portfolio for a Start-Up Band
Written By: Kat Nocom

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Page 4
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iTunes FREE Download of the Week of June 13, 2009

_________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINING SPONSOR
_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________
LAST WEEK’S CONTEST ANSWER
_________________________________________________________

And now for the answer to last week’s question, which was…

“What is the name of the band and the song the following lyric
comes from: ‘If the pain goes on I’m not gonna make it’”

Answer: “The band is Slipknot, the song is Duality”

Thanks to those who participated – now for this week’s question!

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THIS WEEK’S CONTEST
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Answer this trivia question correctly and get a free
ad posting in the Music and Band Ezine…

What Rock Trio’s members have the following initials:
KC KN DG

Email your answer to paul@musicandband.com. Please put “trivia
question answer” in the subject line. One entry per email
address only. We will select the winner by random drawing
from all correct entries received!

We will announce the winner next week.

*** Drawing Deadline: Thursday, June 18, 2009 10PM CST. ***

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Cover
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Night Gig in the Museum
Written By:
Music and Band Ezine’s Publisher, Paul Heingarten

I can scratch “museum” off the list of places in which I’ve never
performed. I played with Rocky’s Hot Fox Trot Orchestra last
Thursday at the New Orleans Ogden museum’s “Ogden After Hours”
series. The Ogden is a museum associated with the University of
New Orleans and it features Southern Artwork. Their “Ogden After
Hours” series consists of performances by a band and a brief
interview session with one or more of the band members about their
musical background.

We were initially a little concerned about the acoustics of Ogden
and how our sound would work in that area. Rocky’s band has 12
pieces and most of those pieces are horns (sax, trumpet,
trombone). The area we played in at the Ogden is essentially an
atrium: an open area that is five stories tall in the middle of
the museum. Fortunately the acoustics weren’t a problem as the
horns have enough sound to block out any reverb to where it wasn’t
an issue at all.

We worked through two sets of music ranging from early jazz and
big band up to modern music from the likes of Chicago and, yes,
Steppenwolf. Since we were playing in a museum, Rocky took the
chance to add a little more to the performance, and included
background information on the songs we played that night. While
this was my first visit to Ogden, I hope it won’t be my last and
it sounds like we made a good enough impression where we’ll be
returning sometime in the future.

About the Publisher:

Paul Heingarten runs the Music and Band Ezine
http://www.musicandband.com

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THIS WEEK’S STAGE SPONSOR
_________________________________________________________

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Page 2
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MySpace Music Account Creation – Are You an Artist Looking For
More Exposure?
Written By: Nancy Jamie Athens
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nancy_Jamie_Athens

If you are a music artist who would want to use MySpace as a form
of self-promotion, better read this article first before you
decide to sign-up for an account. Account creation over the
internet has always been a part of our virtual lives that we tend
to overlook details of most importance as we go through it. For a
usual membership in a social networking website, it really would
not matter much but an account creation for self-promotion
purposes requires much effort and time investment than what you
might think PLUS mistakes can cost you a good start for your
career. Below are the four steps of MySpace Music account
creation to get you started on this new venture with your best
foot forward.

How to create a MySpace Music Account

1. Sign up for a MYSPACE MUSIC account
This is supposed to be easy and obvious but some still commit
grave mistakes from this point and on. When you go to
www.myspace.com, make sure to sign up for a MySpace music page and
not for a regular MySpace account. This section of MySpace is
especially dedicated for musicians thus eventually creating a fans
base where listeners go to browse for new artists and fresh music.
Mistakenly creating an account for a regular member page would
cost you a lot of opportunities. Start right!

2. Come prepared
Like most account set-ups, MySpace would require a couple of
information from you. Come prepared and make sure to have
everything on this list handy;

•email address for the account
•band name
•band bio/personal info about the band
•band website, if applicable
•songs, videos and other promotional materials

3. Know exactly what you want for your music page
The account set-up would prompt you to enter the details from
which you would want your page to be built against. What you want
your page to look like depends entirely on the ‘impression’ that
you would want to build as an artist and how much information you
plan to include in it. Below are the page details you may need to
plan for before the actual account set-up.
•graphics
•blog
•songs (you can include up to four)
•videos
•photos

4. Expand your network
Hey, you are in a social networking website and it’s the best
place to show off your talent! Engage on a find-a-friend month
plan and increase your chances of meeting new friends and
potential fans.  Increase MyspacePlays For Free: How do you make it in the charts and get all that
exposure? Simple! Increase your MySpace Plays! Our service is the
safest way to Increase your MySpace MP3 Plays. Simple, easy and
safe. Let us take care of making you look popular and attract
Major A&R’s and Record Labels bringing you thousands of plays per
day! Our Software allows you to add MP3 Plays right to your
account! See How You Can Increase Myspace Profile Views

Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nancy_Jamie_Athens
http://EzineArticles.com/?MySpace-Music-Account-Creation—Are-You-an-Artist-Looking-For-More-Exposure?&id=2441937

_________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S CREW SPONSOR
_________________________________________________________

20% Off Guitar Straps at MusiciansFriend.com

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Page 3
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Creating a Press Kit or Portfolio for a Start-Up Band
Written By: Kat Nocom

Aside from studio rehearsals and playing guitars, a start-up
band must consider other important things to gain more
opportunities. This can be done through creating a band
portfolio to be submitted to various recording studios and
companies.

Every musician of a start-up band must participate in
conceptualizing for the overall look and theme of their
portfolio. It is also important for them to consider
 printing some materials like CD covers, band profile, band photo and list of songs. Here
are the things that compose a good band press kit or portfolio:

The Cover Page – This page must introduce your band and the type
of music you play. Your band logo must be included, along with
the band name. Provide contact details if necessary, including
telephone numbers, address, email address, website and URL.

Band Profile – This must provide specific information about the
band, as well as the individual members. You can tell your
band’s history of how you were formed, who plays specific
instruments, and what kinds of songs you cover or compose. Band
Photos – You can resort to online printing for fast and quality photo prints. Quality band photos
speak of profesionalism that is why it is important to take it to
consideration. It is also essential to make use of quality stock
to maintain the quality of the image for a long period of time.

Demo CD – Provide a CD that contains at least three of your best
songs. This will give recording studios a hint of what kind of
music you have. Through the demo CD, recording companies can
decide whether you have the potential or not.

Song List – Provide a list of songs to be included on the band
portfolio. Include the original music and even your best cover
songs.

Business Card – This kind of printed material is used to create
a visual identity and show professionalism. Furthermore, a
business card can be carried anywhere by a recording company’s
representative. With this, your band may get an exposure through
a small card.

An impressive press kit can make your band step up from the
rest. But the most important thing to be considered by a
start-up band is to come up with good and original music to be
enjoyed by everyone.

About the Author:
Kat Nocom is a Content Writer, with 1 year of experience as a
Technical Writer for a Publishing company. Currently, she
resides in Manila, Philippines, working in the field of writing
and marketing.

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CLASSIFIED ADS
_________________________________________________________

Visit http://www.ForeclosuresInOrlando.com
for the best Home Buys in Central Florida.

******

The New Orleans Concert Band will be performing two free concerts
over the Independence Day Holiday. July 3rd the band will perform
in Lafreniere Park in Kenner, LA (start approximately 7pm).
July 4th the band will perform near the Aquarium of the Americas
in downtown New Orleans, start approximately 3pm.
http://www.neworleansconcertband.org

******

Want to advertise your band gig or opportunity?
Email me at paul@musicandband.com for more details.

******

******

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Page 4
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iTunes FREE Download of the Week

iTunes software is required to download this song
(you can download iTunes software for free from
http://www.itunes.com):

That wraps up another edition of the Music and Band Ezine. Your
questions, comments and/or concerns can always be forwarded
directly to me at Music and Band at paul@musicandband.com.

I am proud to say that, as of this week, the Music and Band Ezine
has reached the 500 subscriber mark! Many thanks to each and every
one of you for being a part of this effort. It is my intent to
help musicians in any way I can, whether it is feature you in an
interview, get you or your band noticed, etc.

If you would like to post an article in a future edition of the
“Music and Band Ezine”, please email your submission to
paul@musicandband.com for review and consideration.

I personally thank you for your readership and interest in this
ezine. Looking forward to bringing you the next edition of Music
and Band, I am…

Paul Heingarten
Founder
Music and Band Ezine
paul@musicandband.com
http://www.musicandband.com

***The views expressed in this ezine do not necessarily reflect
the views of the publisher***

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Music and Band Ezine
_________________________________________________________
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Volume I, Edition 16
Greetings!

Welcome to this Week’s E-dition of Music and Band Ezine!

Please follow the link to visit this week’s Music and Band Ezine
“LIVE ON THE NET!”

http://www.prhsolutions.com/musicandband/?cat=131

_________________________________________________________
ON THE COVER
_________________________________________________________

The Whole Note – from the Publisher

Swingaroux Blows ‘Em Away at French Quarter Fest
Presented By:
Music and Band Ezine’s Publisher, Paul Heingarten

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Page 2
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Review of Fretboard Roadmaps, by Fred Sokolow
Written By: Gary Fletcher
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gary_Fletcher

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Page 3
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ITunes Plus: Is the Upgrade Worth It?
Written By: Carl Berkeley

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Page 4
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iTunes FREE Download of the Week

_________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINING SPONSOR
_________________________________________________________

Guitar Players: are you happy with the way you play? Want to
improve your ability and learn the songs you want to play? Check
out this offer that includes FREE LESSONS!
Click here for more details

_________________________________________________________
LAST WEEK’S CONTEST ANSWER
_________________________________________________________

And now for the answer to last week’s question, which was…

“What band is the most recent band to be exclusively featured in
the video game ‘Guitar Hero’?”

Answer: “Metallica”

Thanks to those who participated – now for this week’s question!

_________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S CONTEST
_________________________________________________________

Answer this trivia question correctly and get a free ad posting in
the Music and Band Ezine…

“What do Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney and Al McKay have in
common?”

Email your answer to paul@musicandband.com. Please put “trivia
question answer” in the subject line. One entry per email
address only. We will select the winner by random drawing from all
correct entries received!

We will announce the winner next week.

*** Drawing Deadline: Thursday, April 30, 2009 10PM CST. ***

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Cover
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Swingaroux Blows ‘Em Away at French Quarter Fest
Written By:
Music and Band Ezine’s Publisher, Paul Heingarten

I was at it again last weekend. Thanks to diligent effort by Billy
and Kathy, Swingaroux grabbed a Saturday afternoon slot at French
Quarter Fest this year on the Jackson Square stage. We were
sandwiched between two well known New Orleans acts: Tom Laughlin
and Ronnie Kole.

Weather-wise, you couldn’t have asked for anything better that
day: overcast with a nice breeze blowing. We took the stage with
the New Orleans standard “Big Chief”. From there we ripped through
a pretty diverse set list that included Queen’s Crazy Little Thing
Called Love, Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke, La Vie En Rose, In the Mood
and more.

One of the things I like about French Quarter Fest is that it is a
more “local” festival than New Orleans’ much more famous Jazz and
Heritage Festival. When I say “local”, I mean the acts that tend
to appear at French Quarter Fest are not your huge national or
international acts. Nothing against those big groups, but it is
nice to let those acts known on a smaller scale have a great
festival at which to play. And after 25 years, French Quarter Fest
doesn’t show any signs of slowing down

As for Swingaroux, we’ve been booking several private events
lately, but as of now we’re scheduled to perform in Slidell, LA at
their Bayou Jam on 11/8/09 and I believe there will be others
soon. Keep up with us on our website:
http://www.swingaroux.com

If you’re in New Orleans or the surrounding area and have the
chance to check us out, please do – I think you’ll enjoy yourself!

About the Author:

Paul Heingarten runs the Music and Band Ezine
http://www.musicandband.com

 

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THIS WEEK’S STAGE SPONSOR
_________________________________________________________

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Page 2
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Review of Fretboard Roadmaps, by Fred Sokolow
Written By: Gary Fletcher
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gary_Fletcher

Chords and progressions are the bread and butter of guitar
playing, without them you have nothing to spread the musical jam
on. This review presents you one of the best guitar books out
there for learning how to play chords and chord licks in any key,
all over your guitar fretboard.

Sounds like a tall order? It is, but this book really delivers
lessons that will show you how to do it. It builds your chord
vocabulary, showing you how to build chord shapes for any type of
chord.

When I came across this book I was stuck in the rut of playing the
same boring old I-IV-V chords using bar chords. Mostly I played in
only one or two keys in positions that I was familiar with.
Playing wasn’t too much fun and certainly didn’t sound much like
the interesting and varied sounds I heard in the songs I listened
to.

What were those guitarists playing to create those varied rhythm
backups? I didn’t know until this great book from Fred Sokolow
showed me. Fred opened my eyes to a whole world of new chord
possibilities. It showed how to use chords from different
positions to make up varied accompaniments, even when playing
simple progressions like the I-IV-V.

The heart of the book is a simple fretboard roadmap that shows you
how to play any chord up and down the fretboard. Using the roadmap
you can play progressions and chord based riffs and licks all over
the fretboard, regardless of the key.

You can create really professional sounding licks with this
roadmap using only a few easy to remember chord positions. Of
course, it is up to you to put in the practice time to get your
fingers moving smoothly…

The book’s thin size – 64 pages – is no indication of the power
packed into its twelve roadmaps. From the beginning the book
presents things clearly and concisely and gets you putting the
theory into practice with well designed exercises.

The twelve roadmaps take the guitarist from basic chord harmony to
playing great sounding chord and lick accompaniments all over the
neck. Novice guitarists can follow the book through from beginning
to end. More advanced guitarists will find it more helpful to dip
into chapters to fill in the gaps in their knowledge.

Each roadmap gives enough material for several days or weeks of
study. I find myself coming back to some of the roadmaps often to
revise or pick up new ideas.

As well as chord harmony and the roadmap for playing chords and
licks all over the neck Fred Sokolow shows you chord progressions
to play just about every blues, rock or pop song you’ve heard.

If you are also struggling to break out of the usual pentatonic,
or blues, boxes for your solos you’ll also benefit from the
patterns presented in this book. You’ll learn how to play your
blues licks around the chord positions that you learn. This makes
it easy to create great sounds mixing chord and scale sounds,
really cool.

The Fretboard Roadmaps book doesn’t come with a CD, so those who
like to hear examples might feel a little lost. If you’re one of
those people, you might want to console yourself with the DVD
edition where Fred demonstrates all the examples.

Should you buy Fretboard Roadmaps? If you already have a basic
knowledge of guitar chords and are ready to move onto a new level
of understanding and playing ability then I think the answer is a
resounding yes. This book will show you how to improve and give
you a good foundation for playing rhythm and lead guitar in a
variety of musical styles.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original
content for your guitar web sites. Learn about his guitar writing
services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar  to
learn more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Fletcher
http://EzineArticles.com/?Review-of-Fretboard-Roadmaps,-by-Fred-Sokolow&id=2245489

_________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S CREW SPONSOR
_________________________________________________________

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Page 3
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ITunes Plus: Is the Upgrade Worth It?
Written By: Carl Berkeley

Apple launched iTunes plus over a year ago, offering higher
quality DRM-Free tracks through their iTunes store. For those of
you who aren’t familiar with iTunes Plus, you’re probably asking
what this means and perhaps even wondering how it will affect
your iTunes music library. Well, the basics are pretty simple
and it probably won’t make much of a difference to the music
you’ve already purchased through iTunes. That is, of course,
unless you plan to upgrade. Let’s take a look at what iTunes
Plus is and what it would mean to upgrade your music collection.

First of all, with iTunes Plus all the music tracks are DRM-free
and feature 256 kbps AAC encoding for extremely high quality
audio. In fact, Apple claims that this new format makes the
tracks “virtually indistinguishable from the original
recordings.” DRM stands for “digital rights management,” so the
new tracks no longer have restrictions when it comes to
converting the files to different formats for use on non-Apple
devices, and there’s also no limit on the number of computers
you can play your purchased songs on. This offers a much greater
degree of flexibility when it comes to how you use the music
you’ve purchased.

Some people might not have taken notice of these new changes,
but everyone who’s used to purchasing 99-cent tracks has most
certainly noticed that as of April 2009 all their favorite songs
have a brand new price: $1.29. This might not seem like much,
but paying a 30% premium for DRM-free tracks and higher quality
audio can certainly add up fast when you’re the type of person
who buys several albums at a time.

So here’s the big question: do you upgrade all the existing
tracks you’ve collected in your iTunes library over the past
several years? It’s easy enough to do with a “one-click option,”
but before you click, you might want to consider these pros and
cons:

Price
—–

It will cost you 30 cents to upgrade each track, or $3 per
album. If you have, say, 200 albums in iTunes that could cost
you a hefty $600!

Audio Quality
————-

The older version tracks are already 128 kbps format, which
produces very high quality audio. You might want to compare the
256 kbps and 128 kbps side-by-side before you pay big bucks to
convert your whole collection to see if you even notice a
difference. Most people don’t!

Compatibility
————-

Do you have a new audio system or other device or application
that doesn’t support AAC? If you’re a Windows person, it’s
important to know that Windows Media Player isn’t compatible
with the AAC format. With the new DRM-free tracks you can easily
convert the files to MP3 format and won’t have to worry about
compatibility issues.

Quality vs. Quantity
——————–

What’s more important to you, quality or quantity? You can fit
twice as many 128 kbps files on your iPod as the 256 kbps files,
and if you want all your music to fit in your pocket you might
have a big reason to stick to the smaller files. The newest iPod
shuffle with 4GB of storage holds 1000 songs – but only 500 if
they’re the new 256 kbps files.

A year ago when Apple launched iTunes Plus, you still had the
option of buying the lower quality format for a cheaper price.
Now, like it or not, we all have to pay a little bit more for
our favorite iTunes songs. But we do have an option when it
comes to the tracks we already own. So, are YOU going to
upgrade?

About the Author:
MacUsersGuide offers the latest news, reviews, how-to’s and
expert opinions on everything Mac users need to know. Find
reviews on the newest software for Macs at
http://www.macusersguide.com.

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Page 4
_________________________________________________________

iTunes FREE Download of the Week

This week’s iTunes download is “Walking On A Dream” by Empire of
the Sun. Here’s a quote from iTunes about Empire of the Sun:

“One first glance at Empire of the Sun – from their album artwork,
style, and song titles, and you won’t be sure whether or not you
want to listen to them or stand in line at the theater to watch
them on the big screen. They came across as either sci-fi diehards
or glam rock warriors from outer space. Let it be known that the
mastermind behind the group’s David Bowie-in-Labyrinth style is
one Luke Steele. Steele you may know from his one man psychedelic
pop project, the Sleepy Jackson. ‘Walking On A Dream’ is the full
length debut from his newest incarnation. It’s a breezy mix of
disco-pop, indie funk, and discombobulated yacht rock. Think MGMT,
Phoenix, Alan Parsons Project, Prince – all filtered through
Steele’s melody-heavy mind. Check out the title track.”
Source: http://www.itunes.com

iTunes software is required to download this song
(you can download iTunes software for free from
http://www.itunes.com):

Click this link to download this iTunes FREE Download of the Week:

That wraps up another edition of the Music and Band Ezine. Your
questions, comments and/or concerns can always be forwarded
directly to me at Music and Band at paul@musicandband.com

If you would like to post an article in a future edition of the
“Music and Band Ezine”, please email your submission to
paul@musicandband.com for review and consideration.

I personally thank you for your readership and interest in this
ezine. Looking forward to bringing you the next edition of Music
and Band, I am…

Paul Heingarten
Founder
Music and Band Ezine
paul@musicandband.com
http://www.musicandband.com

***The views expressed in this ezine do not necessarily reflect
the views of the publisher***

I saw Kid Rock and REO Speedwagon recently at the 2009 Endymion Extravaganza during Mardi Gras 2009.  My wife and I had some great seats and I was able to get some pics of the night.  Here are some shots for you in case you missed it.

The gig went well – we played from 2pm to 4pm Sunday 8/3.  This performance was part of the WWII museum’s summertime big band series, which includes free dance lessons.  On hand were instructors from Nola Swing and a rather large crowd of people taking lessons.  Here are some pics of the event:

 

We played the typical set – starting off with “Undecided” and including standards like “In The Mood”, “Begin the Beguine” and “Summer Samba So Nice”.  Not to stick with just the long time big band classics, we threw in more recent hits like “Oye Como Va” and ”Smooth”.  The crowd really enjoyed us and it seems that we’ll be gigging at the WWII museum again soon!

If you’re interested in swing dance lessons, I suggest you check out NOLA Swing at http://www.nolaswing.com