With the advent of the Internet and the mushrooming of various sites, entrepreneurs operating in small and specialized niches have found a means of survival. There are many sites that offer various products and services, which could not have been found so easily earlier. Also with efficient search engines like Google, finding appropriate sites for anything that one needs has become extremely easy.

Entertainment is one such area that has seen a boom, aided and abetted by the Internet. There is no need to buy music and movie videos these days since many of the same movies and videos are available free of cost. Free movie downloads have become extremely popular these days. One of the best aspects of these free downloads is that once the download is complete one can be assured of a few hours of uninterrupted entertainment.

Free movie downloads are not replete with advertisements which disrupt the flow of a gripping thriller at the peak of the plot. These free movie downloads can be saved and be viewed anywhere and at anytime on your PC, iPod or MP3 player. There is no need to wait patiently for the airing time for the movie on television or wait in long queues to collect tickets in a theatre.

To watch a free movie download one needs to have either the Windows Media Player or Rhapsody and Realplayer or the Apple Quicktime. These are names of software that allow anyone to view free movie downloads at the click of a button.

A popular new video compression technology that has been developed by DivX Inc allows users to play free movie downloads easily while preserving the quality of the picture and sound. It offers the same image quality as DVD’s and saves up to 90% of the space required.

The plethora of free movie download sites that are available allows easy access to anyone. Some sites differentiate themselves by offering specialized movies like turnerclassicmovies.com that provides downloads and background information on classic movies. Some, like the atomfilms.com specialize in funny free movie downloads like parodies and others like the subservientchicken.com allow you to create your own movie.

With the popularity of the free movie downloads, many associated sites have also formed a niche. Sites like tunefind.com will enable you to find any music or songs appearing in movies from a comprehensive collection. Movie scripts can be read at theinternetmoviescriptdatabase.com and bloopers, continuity goofs and anachronism can be located at moviemistakes.com.

Most of the free movie downloads sites that you may come across like emol.org/movies, unlimitedmoviedownloads.com, movieadvanced.com, cinemanow.com and many others may be legal and genuinely free. But this is not true for all. Some sites allow for downloads of movies which are not in the public domain and therefore flout the U.S copyright laws. And then some claim to be free but charge a registration fee or a fee per download. Some may even have hidden viruses that may get downloaded to your PC.

Is this the end of the TV receiver, as we know it?

Ever since the 1930s we have purchased and used standalone TV sets for entertainment and up to date information but now things are changing. We live in a world that is very different from what it was only a few years ago, a world where digital TV, Satellite TV, computers and the Internet are all around us. Today the computer is as common in the home as the TV set is. I know of many households that actually have more computers than they have TV sets.

We use computers routinely for gathering information and research. Only a few short years ago this was the role of television news and current affairs channels. The TV channels haven't gone away but we rely on them a lot less than we used to. It's often so much easier to reach for the Internet browser on your PC especially when you need the information right now.

So why do we need a standalone TV set?

That's a very good question. Until recently the computer that you might typically use in your home hasn't had the power or capacity to perform the same functions as your TV set but this is no longer the case. Even the most humble of modern notebook PC is now capable of receiving and playing digital TV from sources such as terrestrial, cable or satellite digital TV. You can even watch analogue TV transmissions until they are phased out.

How to watch satellite digital TV on your PC?

Not very long ago in the early days of PC TV it was necessary to install a TV capture card inside your computer in order to watch television broadcasts without using a standalone television. This was not a difficult task but it wasn't simple or elegant either. It also made it unsuitable for use with notebook PC's which limited the appeal somewhat. Notebooks were also less common and more expensive a few years ago so there was no incentive to develop such systems.

Along came cheap powerful notebook PC's and USB 2

You can now get good notebook PCs for prices comparable with television sets. They are equipped as standard with USB 2 interfaces which are fast enough to cope with a digital TV data stream from an external receiver. This means that modern desktop and notebook PCs are capable of transforming themselves into digital TV sets provided that you can find a source of digital TV data.

USB satellite TV

It turns out that there are many products available that are designed to receive and decode digital TV signals and deliver them to your PC through its USB 2 interface. Installation couldn't be simpler, just install some software and plug the device into your PC.

There are USB digital TV units available for terrestrial, cable and satellite TV so you should have plenty of choice. All these devices conform to the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) standards in 3 basic versions. DVB-T for terrestrial TV, DVB-C for cable TV and DVB-S for satellite TV.

Disadvantages of using a USB digital TV adapter

Adding a digital television adapter to your PC to watch free-to-air broadcasts is a great idea but if you want to subscribe to any encrypted pay-for-view channels such as Sky in the UK you may be unlucky. At the time of writing the only way to watch these channels is through a set top box designed for the service.

Digital PC TV is the future

As computers become more and more like TV's the need for a standalone TV set will diminish and ultimately vanish. I don't know when this will happen but it might be sooner than you think.

A flat panel television is a lightweight television set that hangs from the wall or ceiling and only three or four inches thick. The most usual flat panel televisions are either plasma or LCD’s, which stands for liquid crystal display.

These flat panel televisions are all the rage because of not only the size but also elegance and performance. This innovative technology dominates the television market and they are now more affordable as the prices have decreased. As with any new technology, there are a few disadvantages but certainly far more advantages when it comes to flat panel televisions.

The most obvious advantage of purchasing a flat panel television is its weight and size. One person can not only carry it easily but also hang it up like a picture. You can carry it from room to room, place it almost anywhere instead of having to purchase a television stand or entertainment centre to house the old type televisions.

Behind direct view televisions, plasma flat panel televisions have an outstanding picture and the LCD’s are extremely close. When it comes to satellite programming and displaying cable, LCD’s sometimes lack a little.

The selection of flat panel televisions is almost limitless with a huge selection of sizes. Plasma flat panel televisions start at 42 inches so models smaller than that are LCD’s. Unlike plasma televisions, manufacturers designed LCD flat panel televisions to combine and interact with your PC while still operating as a television. Never use your plasma television to display video games or as a computer monitor as burn-in could be a problem.

Both plasma and LCD flat panel televisions have a great life expectancy of over fifteen years and unlike rear projection televisions, they have no lamp to replace so are more cost efficient.

What is your level of understanding about classical guitar music? Don't know much about it? Well, you can always learn. You might even own a classical guitar or have heard one played before, or maybe you just want to learn how to play a wonderful instrument. The guitar has a glorious history, dating back to the 16th century, and can seem almost intimidating when you see a master playing it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn classical guitar music and play it at your own pace while enjoying the challenge.

Surfing the net, you will find quite a few websites devoted to the guitar. Instructional manuals on how to play classical guitar music, various firms advertising free classical guitars, and in-depth classes on how to play like a professional in just one hour, yeah good luck with that. Some vendors charge for course materials, whereas others offer a little bit of information for free on their website. Some free websites will give you short classes on the correct posture, the proper playing position and where to begin.

Reading classical music of any kind can be a challenge. Unlike regular sheet music, there are a lot of special notations and marks around the notes that can be very confusing to the uninitiated. Some free websites will actually list what all these notes and symbols mean and how to play them on your classical guitar.

Your fingernail is an essential part of playing this instrument. Interestingly, in classical guitar music it is suggested that you grow your fingernail out just a little bit in your strumming hand. This may sound silly but you should seek information on proper grooming and care of your fingernail. You want to play classical guitar music well, but don’t want to damage your precious little finger do you? Needless to say, playing classical guitar is part art and part science.

The music has been with us for multiple generations. That’s great news if you’re looking for sheet music. In many cases, after a certain number of years have passed from the original composer’s death, music then becomes public domain and copyright laws no longer apply. That simply means that you can probably find a lot of classical guitar music for free. While many companies will no doubt still try and charge you for complex pieces, keep looking and you will find your favorite classical guitar music theme for quick print or download. Along with sheet music there are also MP3’s and Midi files available to listen to so you can get a real good feel of the music as well as the notes.

Learning any musical instrument regardless of what it is has mainly to do with good practice. If you’re planning a metamorphosis, looking for a new hobby or even a new profession, think about the classical guitar. I promise you will have plenty of help available on the Internet and it might not even cost you anything to get you going. Besides, of course, buying the classical guitar itself, that is!

If you have a passion for music and you have got all the instruments with you such as the guitar or piano but don’t how to initialize then here are certain tips that shall help you in learning your new skill.

First of all , you need to have on hand, is a guitar and then hold it on your lap with your left hand holding the neck and the right hand draped over the body of the guitar. We are going to use a six string guitar and play it with the right hand. Each string correspond to a musical note and starts with the thinnest string and working our way down to the thickest string – E, B,G,D,A and E again. You should not confuse yourself with the two E strings that are the same note and they differ in the way that the top E is two octaves higher than the bottom E if the guitar is tuned correctly.

The individual strings make up the chords and these chords are accomplished by playing certain notes or strings together at the same time. There are number of simple as well as complex chords but you need to learn A, D and E to play a part of the song.

The major A chord is played by placing the fingertips of the first three fingers on your left hand directly behind the first fret on the guitar. Frets are the bars on the neck of the guitar. When you count for finger positioning, you should ignore the first or largest fret bar. This might seem to be uncomfortable but later you shall accustom of the same. Press the strings down firmly and hold them one string per finger. Next use your right hand to strum the guitar strings from the top to bottom. Perform this act several times and listen to the sound you are producing.

The next major chord D should be played by using the same fingers. Place the index finger on the third string behind the first fret. Place the next finger on the first string behind the first fret. Again, hold the strings down at once and strum the guitar. Again do this and try to listen to the music being produced.

The third chord you need to learn is the E major and for this you have to place your index finger on the third string on the front of the first fret. Place the next finger on the fifth string behind the first fret and place your third finger on the fourth string behind the first fret. Again, hold the strings down at once and strum the guitar and listen to the sound that is being produced.

With the falling price of digital video cameras and the rise of PC video editing software, producing your own music video is definitely something most every musician can afford to do these days. All you need is a DV (Digital Video) camera, DV tapes, a location to shoot at, a PC, editing software (ala Adobe Premiere), and well, a band! Here’s some info and tips regarding the important pieces of equipment you’ll need.

1. Camera – You’ll be better off buying a DV (Digital Video) camera, they’re best for digital editing, later on. Decent DV cameras go for anything between $400 and $1200, and the tapes are around $8 a piece. One camera that I have used personally is the Canon GL2 MiniDV Digital Camcorder. I had nothing but good experiences with this camera. There are preset settings for the novice user, and at the same time it was very fine tuneable, for the experts out there. Make sure that your camera will shoot in progressive scan mode. Progressive scan is a particular method for displaying images, in which the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This will reduce the amount of flickering and increases resolution of the video you are recording. Most cameras come with microphones attached to them, but you probably don’t want to use the audio that will be recorded by the on-board mic as it will be pretty low quality. I suggest picking up a minidisc recorder, run all your instruments into a mixer that is plugged into said mindisc recorder.

2. Shooting – You can shoot your video anywhere, and hopefully you will take advantage of that fact! When editing your video, you will be telling a story. So varied locations would be excellent. If you can, storyboard your video out before you begin scouting locations or shooting. It makes thing 1,000,000 times easier, trust me. One other thing I would recommend would be to make sure that you have adequate lighting. Normal indoor lighting is not picked up by the camera the same way your eye picks it up. I would suggest picking up a book about the basics of video lighting, if you can. But if that is not a possibility, remember one thing, more is better.

3. Editing – You’re going to need to pull your video footage off of your camera onto your computer. Most DV cameras come with a USB cord which will allow you to do just that. You can use the proprietary software that comes with your computer to do that, or you can buy editing software which will do the same thing. Most PCs that have Window XP installed come with Windows Movie Maker. This is a great program for beginners, it allows you to pull footage off of your camera, and then edit said footage. But it doesn’t come with very many editing features. So the more advanced editors might want to plunk down some cash and buy Adobe Premiere, which is a super flexible video editing program with a very steep learning curve. The advanced Mac users out there might want to check out Final Cut Pro.

Can you Talk the Talk?

I've worked in film and video for the last several years and have always been the one to place most of the music in commercials and TV shows I work on. What's surprised me throughout my career is discovering some musicians who know how to talk the talk, and some who don't. In my line of work, I would never know if a musician was a college student or a seasoned professional, provided they packaged their work and presented themselves correctly. So how can I tell? What do I hear?

Consequences of Not Talking the Talk:

The talk isn't always verbal, sometimes it comes in non verbal cues. They may not have a label on their CD or it's crinkled or smudged or looks like it was run off from my Apple II C computer in 1985. Presentation is important in that I should look at a CD in my hands and not even notice it. I don't want to think twice about it. And if I do notice it, the artwork is either amazing or it looks like a five year old put it together.

Jewel cases are often cracked. Perhaps this happened in route, but it's easy enough to buy a few padded envelopes to take care of this. And actually I prefer cases with spines so I can group the CD's I like together. This makes it difficult to do with skinny cases. They get lost in the shuffle, I have to take them off the shelf to see what they're called and ultimately they fade away into a jumble of discarded music.

I like CD's that come in groups. A mini box set of tracks for commercials and TV. The variety is what matters. A rock, pop, hip-hop, acoustic, and mellow collection of CD's makes life easier. I'm not forced to listen to the same thing over and over again. The single CD's that come in from musicians give me pause. The music might be fantastic and I wonder when they're going to send more. I often work with the same clients over and over again and they don't want to hear the same selection of music for every spot or show we do. I need fresh variety and the musicians who keep sending me their work are the ones who succeed.

Another headache I frequently encounter is when the tracks aren't laid out to spec. A simple beat of tone two seconds before the song starts would suffice and without it, my job is twice as hard. Maybe the play list or the duration of the song is missing from the jacket and I'll have no idea if I'm working with :30 tracks or 2:00 tracks. If I'm in a rush, I'll just skip over it completely and go onto the next CD.

And when the talk does come in verbal cues, that's the ultimate telltale sign. I might call a musician to find out if they have other work that sounds similar to a track I like. Maybe I just need the tempo quickened or a little more percussion. The musician will often blurt out "How much am I going to get paid?" before my clients have even decided if they want to use the track at all. It's not uncommon for a track to be used on a commercial until right before it airs. We may nix it because the melody needs to be reworked or the client may change their mind at the last minute. A seasoned musician would know this. They would understand payment isn't even discussed by me at all, that the producer on a commercial sends out all the contracts and payment.

Or, in their excitement they'll gush on about how this is the first time they're music has ever been bought and you can practically hear the tears bubbling over. While this is all very special, for them, I don't really have time for it. Throw yourself a party instead.

The Professionals:

But when I come across a professional, I know it. They're calm, they know the drill, they're happy to accommodate a fast turn around. They don't gasp when I say I need it the next day, or even in a few hours. And if they can't accommodate, they're direct about it. They don't stammer. They tell me when they can get it to me if at all. And if they can't help me out at all, they offer to send more tracks over as soon as they can for future use and wish me luck on my project.

I can tell from these professionals that they didn't just end up trying to compose for TV and commercials by chance. They researched it, they set up shop to specifically cater to my industry. Sure, they may be in a band and looking at their work for hire as a day job until they get signed, but they never let me know that. They don't make me feel as though they're doing me a big favor by lowering their standards for my product and client. They exude experience, whether they have it or not.

Their CD's are laid out to industry expectation. I know how long their tracks are, they don't name them obscure names like A Farewell to John Lennon. Instead they're called what they sound like. Jazzy Nights and Acoustic Melodies. Although not the most creative names, I like knowing I can flip over the CD and immediately recognize if this track might work just based on its name.

But more importantly I feel their confidence and faith in themselves. There's nothing worse than working with a musician who is unsteady on their own feet. Selecting music is a small part of my day. I might spend a half an hour in my week looking through CD's and I want it to work. I want to hear your best, I want to know that when I press play I might find the perfect track. If a musician makes my life easier, that's when I know I'm working with a professional.

We all know what a CD is, we use it to play music in our cars and home stereos. By definition it is an optical disc used to store digital data, usually 80 or 120mm in diameter. It was introduced in 1982 and is now the standard playback format for commercial audio recordings. An audio CD consists of one or more stereo tracks of audio, stored using the 16 bit PCM (Pulse code modulation), with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. Originally the first audio CD was going to hold 1 hour of audio, with a disc diameter of 11 ½ cm. The final length of the CD was bumped up to 74 minutes. Some say that this was because Sony’s vice-president suggested it, so that it would be able to fit the full recording of Beethoven’s 9th symphony. But this is most likely untrue, although it sounds pretty cool! In 1988 the CD-R (also known as the CD-WO (CD Write Once)) was introduced. It retained all the functionality of the CD, plus it added the feature of being able to store both music and data. Let’s take a deeper look into the world of the CD-R disc.

The standard CD-R disc is also an 80 or 120mm disc made of polycarbonate, with a 74 minute or 650MB storage capacity. There are also non-standard CD-R discs that hole a variety of times and amounts of information. The most widely used disc is the 80 minute type. The polycarbonate disc contains a spiral groove printed in an organic dye, which guides the laser when reading and writing the disc. On top of that organic dye is a thin layer of silver or gold, which is then topped with a protective layer of photo-polymerizable lacquer. There are 3 different dye formulas used in CD-Rs. They are:

1. Cynanine dyes - These dyes are mostly green in color, and for the most part are unstable. This instability makes this dye unsuitable for archival purposes, since the dye will fade and become unreadable after a period of time.

2. Azo dye - This dye is usually blue in color, and is stable, so it is typically rated with a lifetime in the area of decades.

3. Phthalocyanine dye - These dyes can be silver, gold, or light green. They are similar with Azo dyes, and are usually rated with a lifetime in the area of hundreds of years.

There are a couple different write methods used in CD-Rs, you may be familiar with them if you have burned CD-Rs on your home computer. They are:

1. Disc at once – This method leaves no gaps between tracks and is “closed”, meaning that no more data can be added at any later dates. This works well for live performances.

2. Track at once – This method places gaps between each track and allows for data to be written to the disc at a later date. This method also allows for audio and data to reside on the same disc.

Because CD-R media will degrade over time, there are a few things you must keep in mind in order to maximize the life expectancy of your CD-R. This is not a full list, but these are definitely important issues one should pay attention to when handling CD-Rs.

1. Handle disc edges only – This will help you to avoid bending the disc as well as help keep fingerprints off of the disc.

2. CD-R discs must be stored in a cool, dry place. The optimal storage temperature for your CD-R is 41-68 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. If you are going to write on your disc, use a felt tip water based marker. Alcohol based markers are second best, but not recommended. Xylene and toluene based markers should never be used.

If you're willing to practice the techniques you learn from drum lessons on a regular basis, then drum lessons are definitely for you. However, if you're not willing to dedicate time every day to practice playing the drums, you still can benefit from learning how to play drums, but you'll definitely learn at a much slower pace then a drummer who practices would.

Without practice, it may take you months to learn something a drummer who practices could learn in weeks!

The main reason that regular practice is so important for drummers is that when you practice something like a drum roll, the movements that your fingers and wrists do slowly get imbedded in your muscle memory, making it easier for you to play a drum roll the next time you see. This concept also applies to your feet and the bass drum.

Want to start grooving? You have to practice!

In addition, the most important thing for a drummer to do is to really feel and understand the rhythm of whatever drum beat they're playing so they can start grooving to it. When a drummer's grooving, they're making the drum set piece they're playing come alive, allowing the listener to feel the drum beat. Sounds cool, right? You may be thinking, ‘just how can a drummer accomplish this?’ The answer, of course, is to practice regularly. However, you have to practice the right way to understand the concept of grooving, which is where lessons by a good drum teacher will come in handy.

Finding a drum teacher

Go to your local drum store, and ask them if they offer drum lessons. If they don't, look around the store for any bulletin boards where drummers post band information and you may be able to find an offer for weekly drum lessons. Still can’t find a drum lesson? Try your local community centers, or try going to any places with musical equipment and asking around there. By then, you should be able to find somebody offering a drum lesson You can also try checking out the links on the bottom of this page for a few different directories of drum lessons being offered all over the US.

The drum teachers that I've talked to are all very passionate about drum sets, and many of them play professionally in bands, so you should be able to get a good lesson from just about any drum teacher. Most drum teachers offer lessons once a week, for 30 minutes to an hour. (I'm sure though, if you wanted to take more lessons a week you could.) Monthly lessons should be affordable (I pay 60 dollars a month for weekly drum lessons), but if you're really on a tight budget you might be able to negotiate with the teacher for a lower price.

Anyone can benefit from a good drum lesson

What you work on during a drum lesson will be different depending on your skill level. Beginners may work on snare drum rudiments and drum fundamentals, while more intermediate and advanced drummers work on how to play drum solos. (You can really work on anything you want though, just ask your drum teacher what you want to learn and I'm sure they'd be glad to help you.) No matter what your skill level, a good drum teacher should be able to listen to whatever you're playing on a drum set, and immediately tell you what you're doing incorrectly and correctly.

Many people will not know this but there is a massive grass roots scientology movement growing outside the church of scientology. One might ask why this is. Is there some dissatisfaction with the Church perhaps?

The Grass roots movement is called the Freezone. The Freezone consists of people who have either been ousted from the church or left of their own accord as well as many people who have never even set foot inside a scientology church.

It is call the Freezone because it is just that. Since the death of Ron Hubbard, Founder of Scientology, the church has undergone a radical change by the incumbent management. Deep philosophical changes in the religion different to what Hubbard set out have been made. Text has been a altered and some even omitted. Many of the scientologists in the Freezone have found it more beneficial to subscribe to the original philosophy rather than the ‘new wave’ now emanating from the church.

Many freezoners practice their philosophy very successfully and achieve outstanding results with the methods and practices as originally researched and developed by Hubbard. In fact there are groups around the planet, especially in Europe and the Baltic States, which are expanding at a rapid rate.

Unfortunately, despite the high sounding ideals, the church is one of the most litigious in the world and seems, on the face of it, more concerned with copyright protection and acquiring property than in ‘spreading the word’. This seems to be having a devastating effect on the ‘official church’ in terms of numbers and lack of expansion.

That job now appears to have been taken over by the Freezone, who are going through a rapid expansion, even as the church is shrinking.

The future of Scientology is going to be very interesting. Indeed, we may very well see the growing movement outside the church surpass the church in numbers and expansion as they focus heavily on the philosophy and less on the material aspects.

The other day at a coffee shop some gentlemen were talking and the conversation came up why are there so many stupid people in the world? Isn't it interesting that you have also had the same thought? I think we all have had the thought and asked ourselves the question why are there so many worthless stupid humans in the world?

Most of this is our own fault due to failures in education and parenting. It is also partly due to the mass media hysteria, which seems to rule the minds of the people rather than their own thoughts.

Some people believe that the cause is actually world religions and their wine of reasoning. Perhaps it is a combination of all these things in the present period and in all world civilizations and societies? Nevertheless there seems to be a dummy down of the intellectual capacity of most humans rather than a growth in enlightened individuals.

This is rather disconcerting considering that if all the stupid people vote and believe what they hear on TV from podium pushing politicians then we will never be able to move our country or any nation for that matter forward and what does this say for the future of mankind?

Those are some scary thoughts indeed and even if it is not politically correct to point out the people are getting stupid or we all know it is the fact. Rather than pointing this fact out to you I am simply repeating something I heard at a coffee shop between some gentlemen in their 70s who have been observing the world for at least that long. Blame them they said it, not me.

Many citizens in the United States of America have stated that they believe that the politics are not good. And when asked directly what they think of politics many of them simply state; politics suck. That is truly unfortunate when we wish for every man and woman to vote in each election.

If people stop voting in the elections and they are not satisfied with the politicians then eventually they will take it into their own hands to do something about it and that could cause a civil unrest and perhaps even a revolution let's say in three decades from now.

Currently in the political climate many people are not happy, but they are not so overwhelmingly upset today to wish to take up arms. I am certainly not one to suggest a revolution or that we should destroy all that we have built and start over again, however many people believe we should start over again and get rid of the political structure as we know it today.

Why, because it is very corrupt and everyone knows it plus it is not working or helping the forward progression of our nation and quite frankly it is making us weak. Governments No. 1 job is to protect the American people, but they can't even seem to protect our own U.S. Mexican border from foreign invaders and millions of the legal aliens crossing over the border each and every year.

Classical guitar sheet music can be found in large quantities on the Internet. You can browse your server to whatever information you want to get about classical guitar music. You can download music, purchase online music, chat in specific forums with other guitarists, read through different articles and so on.

Aside from your local music store, Internet can be a great place to look for hidden treasures. There are a few very interesting places, which will offer you anything you dream of when talking about classic guitars. Most sites are made for people who are looking for specific music. You can download anything you find interesting. You can also purchase valuable classical guitar music, which is not so easy to find on local music stores.

Classical guitar music sites can be very helpful for professional guitarists. They are also meant for newcomers in guitar playing. Some sites offer tablatures, which can be really useful for people new in guitar playing. Tablature shows where your fingers should stand when playing. Every song has a tablature and you can always check up with the right position of your fingers. Learning guitar is really easy with the available tablatures on the Internet.

Another great priority of classic guitar music on the Internet is that they give you a wide insight into the tradition and history of guitar music. You can listen to selected playlists of different classic guitar music and find your own place among the guitar lovers.

Selling and buying things on the Internet is really easy. That is also valid for all sorts of classic guitar music. Classical guitar sheet music can be purchased individually by piece, or in books that feature a collection of works. You can order them or even get them at discount prices, if available.

For the newly- involved guitar maniacs, it is easier to use Internet to sharpen their abilities. You can search through and find manuals about playing classical guitar. You can order either on CDs,DVDs or MP3s and get the thing you need. All kinds of teaching tools, experiences, recommendations are just waiting for you to buy. The moment you begin collecting these, you will find that your abilities are improving. There is no stopping you when you find that you are advancing. You can learn to play as good as you want to, and admire all the valuable teaching tools that you can find on the net.

I've observed that Mexican music falls into two classes. One is very, very good; the other is so horrible that it could quite possibly induce a nervous breakdown or at least a brain tumor after forced, prolonged exposure. Listening to too much of the latter could be hazardous to your health.

The orchestra here in Guanajuato is one of the finest I've ever heard, and I listen with a critical ear. I was a music major at the university many decades ago. I majored in voice performance and music theory.

I've often been moved to tears of joyous rapture listening to some the finest vocalists and instrumentalists—all Mexicans. But, the most exciting thing is to see how many locals show up at the concerts. The symphony is big here. I love that.

Mariachi is also big here. In the city of Guanajuato, you will see some very traditionally dressed Mariachi bands in El Jardin (the main plaza). There will be several of these bands playing all at once for different groups of tourists who are eating in the restaurants or sitting on the benches. This results in what I call "The Mariachi Screech."

Playing instruments that are in tune and singing in the same key as the instruments does not seem to be a high priority with Mariachi bands. This, of course, results in an interestingly incomprehensible cacophonous roar. But, amazingly, people pay these guys to sing at their tables. It makes me wonder just how that affects their digestion. I can only speculate.

Another form of music is what I call "The Bus Musicians." I can't think of anyplace in the States where there is anything like this. Decades ago, when I traveled in New York and Philly, I saw a lot of sidewalk performers with open instrument cases or hats where you could drop a buck or two but I never saw any Bus Musicians.

Bus Musicians are people with guitars (or some other "instrument"…sometimes nothing more than a comb and a tin can…go figure!) who board the bus—no matter how crowded—and start wailing like a cat that is being tortured horribly. The guitar sound as though it has never been tuned. The singer sings like he has needed to move his bowels for a terribly long time. Then, after he has finished his torture chamber musical number and has tortured all the passengers, he starts demanding money.

These "musicians" ask for money and people actually pay them.

This, of course, simply reinforces the behavior of taking captive an entire bus load of helpless bus passengers who just want to get from point A to point B, and forcing them to endure what doesn't even come close to passing for music. I think they should be dragged away and beaten, but no one ever asks me for an opinion about anything in this town.

And, I am talking about those who pay money to the so-called musicians and not the Musical Inquisitors who dole out the agony.

Here is an additional benefit about the Bus Musicians that I cannot forget to tell you. When the bus is full (as is usually the case), you, the passenger, will be afforded the distinct honor of getting cold-cocked by the guitar as the "musician" engages in his Songs of Death. You also might have the privilege of a nice shower of spittle from the more radically rowdy spewing lips.

There is one guy, though I've yet to see him on the bus offering his version of tormenting people, who is worth mentioning. He offers a really special treat. Though I would not normally understand one word spoken from his caterwauling mouth, I understand him because he sings some of The Beatles' greatest hits. Even though he hacks on an out-of-tune guitar and sings off-key, I can recognize The Beatles. The horror is that he sings the songs in English.

His performing venues are the parks and plazas. He sits with his back to one of the many beautiful fountains. He has the "Jose Feliciano" look going for him, which accompanies his horrendously frightening singing.

The other day, he was butchering "I want to hold your hand." It came out something like this:

"Ah wanna hoe who haaaa… Ah wanna hoe who haaaa…and when ah tosh who ah fee apple in-sigh…"

And then, he got to the chorus,

"And when I touch you I feel happy inside. It's such a feeling I can't hide."

He began screeching and convulsing to such an extent he made women swoon with the vapors, made children cry, dogs faint, and shopkeepers come running out expecting to find someone being murdered.

Believe it or not, it is surprisingly easy to find classical musicians. It seems like it must be a tough life for all of these incredibly talented individuals. They train their entire lives to pursue an art, and they have a lots of competition for relatively few jobs. Lets face it, brilliant classical musicians are about as hard to find as quality rock and roll bands. Although a great deal of these musicians make some money playing in concert halls as part of symphonies, most have to go out and find other means of support.

Many must work outside their field, but most of them don't. Music is a passion, a way of life. A classical piano musician might work three or four different jobs at a minimum, first in the orchestra, then as a private piano instructor, than as a session musician helping composers record their tracks, and finally as perhaps a high school or even elementary school band teacher.

Classical musicians do something else quite a bit: they work private parties. It is not at all difficult and reasonably priced to hire classical musicians to entertain yourself and your friends for virtually any event you can think of. We recently had my daughter's graduation from college and hired a classical string quartet to entertain. How is that for class? They were really quite lovely. My daughter Erin has always loved string music, as have the rest of us, and it provided the perfect accompaniment to her evening. The classical musicians even showed their versatility when they played some modern numbers for us to dance to. It was very enjoyable.

Of course, we knew those particular classical musicians through a friend of the family. They actually had grown up with my daughter, although back in those days they didn't really know each other that well. That string quartet actually formed from a rival clique of girls from my daughters middle school. As you might imagine, or as the stereotype has it, in those days, they were kind of bookish and geeky, not at all concerned with what others thought of it to the degree that their burgers were, like the friends of Erin, but who would have known that they would have grown up to do something so wonderful. As classical musicians they furnished a wonderful ambiance for our party, and stayed tactfully in the background. Really, for such socially graceless girls, they scarcely disturbed anybody. I am of course being sarcastic because the truth is, they were quite lovely.

I am really glad that we knew those classical musicians because it was a truly wonderful treat poor Erin and her guests. I mean, how do you know that they are any good, and not just out to make a buck as entertainers? It is really best to hire classical musicians who you know or who you can get a recommendation for.

Poetry has changed over the years, and modern poetry is not the same eclectic and elitist prose you may remember from your high school reading. Modern poetry is written in plain English, filled with imagery and emotion, and is so much easier to read than poetry of the past. If you haven't read modern poetry, you don't know what you are missing!

Edgar Allan Poe wrote the Raven, which is a wonderful piece of prose or poetry, and it is filled with imagery, emotion, metaphor, and hidden meaning. It's also filled with Old English and esoteric lines, making it difficult to read without having to stop and analyze the deeper or hidden meaning behind it.

Even some current poets write in the eclectic poetic stylings of the past, but the reader will spend so much time trying to figure out what the writer meant, that the meaning and emotion behind the writing is all but lost. Poetry is not something most readers want to analyze. It is something readers want to feel and experience.

The old style of poetry writing is great if you have the time and inclination to sit and read through it and study the meanings and imagery behind it. However, with today's busy schedules, only the literary types or students have the time to stop and put that much thought into something, when poetry should really be evoking emotion, not analysis.

That's what makes modern poetry works!

Modern poetry creates a short story, with visual imagery, in a few lines rather than a few pages. Modern poetry touches your heart, by evoking emotion with which you can relate, about things you probably have experienced yourself.

The common themes for modern poetry are love and romance, nature, beauty, and loss and grief. These are all things that everyone can relate to, and when written in verse form, with modern language use, a poem or piece of prose can bring about feelings long forgotten, remind of times of strong emotion, or speak of dreams for the future...all in a few lines, instead of pages of story.

A good book or a novel makes you think, striking the imagination...poetry and prose makes you feel, striking the emotions. Why not give modern poetry a chance? You can search online for samples or go to your local bookstore and pick up a copy and check it out. You may just be surprised how much you enjoy reading modern poetry!

Cold Billy Boston

Boston Billy he went where he chose,
Wearing white spats with his fugitive clothes.
He spoke in that lingo that rang through his nose,
And sang all the while in his upstairs hose.
Cold Billy Boston, that’s how they called him,
No fellow friendlier than he was a friend,
Yo Billy Boston, yo with your pride.
Oh, all the good bishops stood up and they cried
When spiffy old Billy old Boston died.
He doffed his elegant fugitive hide
And died of a Sunday morning, oh.

I Like to Fondle Cowry Shells

I like to fondle cowry shells and I-Ching coins,
As anyone would do.
I gather rocks with smooth red sides,
And set them all in rows.
I whistle three-note melodies and yodels,
For dancing and for show.
I send my friend forget-me-nots,
In case my friend forgets.
I keep my treasures near in cases,
Boxes, files and folders,
I sand my fingertips and reach.

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Almost Sibelius, or

Moonlight on the Salt

The Salt River runs along our little sub-town,
a thumb on the glove of adjacent Citiesville.
It's hard to see the moonlight on the Salt.
The lights of downtown Thumb and
Freeway streams and... confuse the eyesight.
Is that some moon, or Christmas balls?

-------------------------------------------

My Massachusetts' Loose

My Massachusetts' getting loose,
It's stirring my impatience, and my bones
Are tired of all this carrot juice,
And never mind vanilla ice cream cones.

I want to fly to Madagascar,
Wallow in the wee wet hours of night,
Dribble basketballs of custard,
Illustrate the music in the quiet.

Don't hold me back when I'm this way,
I won't be stopped or scrubbed or pacified,
I'm a happy man today,
My beans are most decidedly refried.

And when I flit to Madagascar,
Hold your passion, I'll be coming back.
A shining, reddened scimitar
Will show that I've still got the knack.

-------------------------------------------

Ducklet

While driving today I saw a mother duck
With four ducklings full of pluck
Crossing the street with great intention,
The mother being the necessity of invention.
At the curb the mother duck hopped up
Onto the sidewalk. three of the ducklets popped up
After her. The fourth and smallest made a hop,
Hopped urgently but didn't make it to the top;
Fell back into the street. It tried again but alack,
Making it higher but it still fell back.
I thought it would try again, but it simply turned right
made a dash for the corner and at the green light
Scrambled up the wheelchair ramp to join the loop,
Marched forth in tandem behind the troop.

In America, poets are held in such low esteem that even the most Honored Representative from Nigeria won’t bother scamming us. Society says to us what Dermot Mulroney says to Julia Roberts in “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” that we are “The pus that infects the mucus that cruds up the fungus that feeds on the pond scum.”

Even being cheated by Mr. Honorable Minister, however, is preferable to the poetry scams that have proliferated. Wind Publications’ Literary Scam guide has this to say:

Hidden among the many sponsors of legitimate literary contests advertised on the internet lurk those who care little about literature, its audience, or authors. These organizations and individuals exist solely for profit through their so-called writing or poetry contests. Often you'll find these "free" poetry contests lavishly advertised in your local newspaper.

There is a cottage industry of writing scams perpetuated by pus poetry pimps, the chief among them International Library of Poetry, aka Noble House Press, aka Poetry.com. They advertise in USA Weekend and the Penny Saver--well, not the Penny Saver, but they might as well, because that sums up their opinion of poets. If you’ve seen the ads or received a letter that says, “Congratulations, your poem has been selected for our next anthology,” congratulations, you’re being scammed.

Like so-called modeling agencies or “talent agents” who prey on the dreams of nubile girls wanting to be the next Lindsay Lohan, poetry pyramid schemes exploit the number one hope of writers: publication, and more importantly, recognition. Many excellent Web sites such as Preditors and Editors and PoetryNotCom detail the outrageous mechanics of poetry “anthology” scams, and the infamous Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest by WinningWriters.com cheerfully skewers vanity poetry contests and the submicroorganisms who perpetuate them.

How do you spot a poetry scam? Look for…

1. Insane pie in the sky prize amounts.
I ran the DeAnn Lubell Professional Writers’ Competition. Most poetry contests with reading fees pay, at most, $1,000, and that’s for a book-length manuscript of poetry. For a single poem, the first prize pot is usually a whopping $100, $150 tops. A $20 million prize, as dangled by Noble House, is a big crimson flag. Oh, and no one ever offers poets a chance to win a world cruise. It’s usually assumed that we sail around the world on a Mark Twain raft, a sampan, or a Hemingway skiff.

2. No contest fees.
Wergle Flomp is the only “F*r*e*e” poetry contest. Now, people on the Internet and toiling poets naturally leap at the word “F*r*e*e”. But, like victims of those modeling scams, you’ll end up paying for your moment of bargain hunting. Modeling scams want you to work with a particular photographer (usually fake European). Likewise, poetry scams won’t let you even see your poem in print unless you pay for the anthology. When you do pay for the anthology, you may wonder if you just bought a copy of the Penny Saver, because your poem looks like it was crammed onto the page to make room for the “Spot the Difference” puzzle and the adult talk lines. Then there are those awards banquets…

3. Phony awards banquets.
Ten years ago, no joke, I received a mailing from Famous Poets Society that lured me to fork over the cash to attend an awards banquet and convention. If I paid my money, I could join the elite company of poets such as…Ted Lange of “Love Boat” fame. Who knew Isaac the bartender was a closet Langston Hughes? Plus, I could win $6,000 in door prizes. Now, if you’ve ever attended a poetry reading, especially in coffeehouses, you know that poets wear their vow of poverty as proudly as a Che Guevara T-shirt. Just the thought of winning $25 in a poetry slam made my fellow poets and me weep more cathartically than the contestants on “Deal or No Deal.” And Ted Lange usually doesn’t attend.

4. Questionable reputation or none at all.
In poetry, if you don’t have Nikki Giovanni, Czeslaw Milosz or Donald Hall front and center in your magazine, plus several angsty Eastern European poets, would-be poets drop you like Oprah dropped James Frey. Look for magazines, publishers and poetry contests that publish and are judged by literary lions. It’s Bukowski or bust. And when Poetry.com can’t figure out that Dave Barry and 20/20 are hoaxing them, the joke’s on Poetry.com. Similarly, if a vanity press charges you $3,000 to $8,000 to publish your collection of poems, and the top author promoted by Façade Press is an eighteen-year-old writing poems from the point of view of her liver, save your money for the hard work of actually submitting your poems to Threepenny Review, or literary magazines or publishers that you read about in Writer’s Market or Poets and Writers.

5. Advertising in newspapers and glossy magazines.
Real poetry contests don’t advertise in USA Weekend--sure, USA Weekend may sponsor a teen essay contest, but poetry advertisers? Forget it. People don’t pick up USA Weekend as a literary publication, even though USA Weekend features books and authors. If you see a mass call for poets in a mass market magazine, give it a miss. Real poetry contests get deluged with submissions as it is. They don’t need to fish for more.

6. Sending you a letter of acceptance for a contest you can’t remember entering or a publisher you can’t remember submitting to.
I admit, as a writer I have difficulty keeping track of what I sent to whom and when—we go into writing to avoid paperwork, not do it, although when we’re not in the mood, reorganizing files suddenly becomes as tempting as a day in Cancun. Fortunately, Writer’s Market features a Submission Tracker, and some enterprising bloggers actually post their submission schedule to make the rest of us sigh in unorganized envy. If you can’t find the cover letter/e-query in your file cabinet, on your computer, on your Zip drive (you do back up, right?), or in your Sent folder, chances are you never submitted to National Library of Poetry or Wordscum.com (apologies if there actually is a Web site out there called Wordscum.com). Yes, after 300 rejections, getting an acceptance letter may be a boost, but to misquote Groucho Marx, think twice before you accept just any club that will have you as a member. Aim higher. Imagine if JK Rowling had just said, “All right, I’ll pay a million pounds to have a few hundred copies of Harry Potter for my friends and relatives to buy.”

7. Promising to get your book or handsome anthology on the bestseller rack in bookstores.
Number one, PoetryNotCom is one of the many sites reporting that this claim is bogus. Number two, most people who go into a bookstore to read poetry probably can find the poetry section blindfolded and spend three hours debating the symbolism in Whitman over a decaf skinny latte at Borders Café. Number two, although getting your book in bookstores is still the gold standard, Amazon.com and online retailing make it easy for even the tiniest press to get books noticed. Number three, bookstores are so glutted with inventory that they can’t even stock the POD books, let alone anything from ScamPoet Publishing or Poetry.com, and bookstores will not accept vanity press books. For that matter, no poet besides Ludacris or Jimmy Carter will end up on the bestseller list in a bookstore. We don’t go into poetry to be rich. We go into poetry to sound our barbaric yawp…and a fellowship or two is nice, too.

Many beginning poets get bilked, but you don’t have to. If you’re smart and ambitious, you’ll be a successful poet with tons of lierary magazines and e-zines bearing your byline. Poetry.com and its ilk will always be “The pus that infects the mucus that cruds up the fungus that feeds on the pond scum.”