Rammstein to play Quebec!

Rammstein will be playing at the 2010 Bell Quebec City Summer Festival! It is the only date in the Americas for this lag of the tour. It has been about 4 years since Rammstein has played in North America. The band is well known for their opposition and criticism of the USA. Till and Flake were jailed for a day after preforming a "simulated sexual" act at the 1998 family values tour. This resulted in Rammstein being banned from playing in the USA for 2 years. The band will play on July 18th 2010 at 21:30. Tickets go on sale online on May 1st.

Jazz Nights

Just a couple shots of me playing with my school jazz ensemble in 2009. We played a few gigs for a class mark. In the end it was all fun, I definitely miss jamming for 75 minutes for class every friday hahaha. Some of the tunes we covered was Blue Bossa, Equinox, Big Nick, All Blues and Black Orpheus. We had two guitarists, a sax, a trumpet, drummer, bass and piano. At one of our gigs we had to cram everyone onto a stage that could barely fit a drum set, I agreed to play off stage for the gig, and it was one of the most comfortable/roomy gigs I have ever had.

Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone, hands down my favorite movie composer. In his 81st year the composer has sold over 50 million records world wide and holds 2 Grammy's. His most famous composition is the Good the Bad and the Ugly theme. He also worked on the Untouchables, Mission to Mars, In the Line of Fire and many many more.He was also rewarded an honorary Academy Award. The road is far from finished for Ennio, he continues to tour with his symphony.

The Family

The second I buy a guitar it becomes part of a growing family. I guess I'm not one to part with a guitar, why should I? Each have hours of practice and dozens of stories. But for me it all starts with their name.

Now I CONSTANTLY get chirped because my guitars are named after men and not women, but I need to rely on them (hahahaha kidding of course). The naming process isn't limited to male names, that's just the way the dice was rolled.

From left to right:
Erik Helferty (Acoustic- Early 60's Humming Bird Copy)
Tom Cruise (Bass- Cruiser)
Eric Clapton (Aria Strat- Seymour Duncan Vintage Strat Rail)
Eric Bana (Ibanez RG370DXL- EMG-85, EMG-81 [Zakk Wylde Set])
Eric James (SX Xplorer Copy)
Eric I Of Denmark (Jay Jr.)

And there's my playing my pride and joy:
Apollo (2001 Fender Mexican Telecaster- EMG-T Set). I got him last year and the guy kept it for over 8 years without playing it once! I got it with the plastic on the pick guard. Thanks Kijiji!

My amp is however named Velvet, the female of the group. [random joke about getting plugged].
Line 6 Vetta II

Rammstein Tour 2010

Out on their first tour since 2006 and promoting their newest album since 2005 Rammstein are blowing audiences away. In a recent interview the band revealed that it is on tour with 20 trucks, loaded with pyrotechnics, stage props and everything in between. Although they have a good number of pyro effects the band uses them in a very unusual way. During the performance of Ich Tu Dir Weh, they keyboardist lays in a bathtub while the lead singer appears to be dropping a mess of fire and red glitter.

Rammstein-"Ich tu dir weh" Globe Arena 2010-02-20 HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SejR8o9DN0U

COMPLETELY bizarre on first glance I do agree, but I cannot name another act with a spectacle such as this.

Pictures from the tour can be seen at
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=151288&id=22330837712

Nino Rota

So not only is the Godfather the greatest movie ever made, but the Godfather Waltz by Nino Rota is one of the best waltz ever made. I decided to learn the e-minor tune and it was pretty straight forward and easy, did not take long at all. What I really like about the song is the simplicity, however the overall acoustic sound I get when I finger pick (I tend to pluck the strings instead of growing the long nasty fingernails hahaha, it gives me a rich dynamic tone without that is unique). For the fan of classical music and waltz I would definitely recommend learning it.

Here's a really cool duet of the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hw5iBxD86c&feature=related