Hello Good People who read this blog

I am recovering from my evening out at the Forum last night in Kentish Town ( in London for anyone who might be reading this in Estonia) to see Steve Hillage and Gong.

Our little troupe of Hillage/Gong fans started our  journey to the gig after lots of cups of tea and a supper of winter foods including of course our green vegetables. We trailed up the road happily like well-fed hobbits, ready to face the bright lights and commuters, but had to make a detour after a rather alarming  encounter with Orcs dressed in blue accompanied by their hounds of hell.

By the time we got to The Forum , The Steve Hillage Band was already on stage, playing “Love Guitar” ,one of my favourite soppy songs.  The audience didn’t seem quite warmed up at that point and so we reckon we must have arrived pretty much close to the start of the proceedings.

(double-click on the photos to see them in full-screen)

Steve Hillage Band-The Forum-27/11/2009

Left to right

Miquette Giraudy Keyboards-Synth-Backing -Vocals-Air Guitar and fun

Steve Hillage -Genius Electric Guitarist, Vocals.

Chris Taylor (I think! at least it’s him on the 2032 new album by Gong) – Drums with a zillion tempo changes

Mike Howlett-Bass-player extra-ordinaire

I know that Steve Hillage and Gong have played The Forum before in 2008, and that they have toured quite a bit in the past 18 months or so,but this is the first time I have seen the “Steve Hillage Band”. The last time I saw Steve Hillage  playing live in a “rock” band,must have been around 1979  or 1980 at The Hammersmith Odeon. Also to my embarrassment, I had never seen Gong live until  last night. Although I know their early albums and the fantastic Japanese import  “Gong Live etc.” (Virgin,1977 ) back to front. If you do not have this double album, try to get one.I got mine on vinyl as a Japanese import around twenty-nine years ago now, but still love it.

Steve Hillage and Gong fans are very difficult to get rid of, as we could tell from the average age of the audience, although there was a minority of teenagers looking blissful while cuddling with their significant others.

We didn’t go there to take photos or film, but we took a few pictures and short clips,like the two above . We went to  have a good time in the audience, not to film, and we did have a great time, my sore  feet, sore neck and sore throat (from singing and dancing along) are testimony to this, so I’ll stop writing now and put up some photos and clips enshrined in a couple of comments.

After the first couple of songs, the audience were warmed up and the crowd had swelled, in fact the place was packed out. They had made an early start and this had obviously caught some by surprise. Steve Hillage and his band were on form. Occasionally Hillage seemed to lose confidence with his vocals, as many singers do as they get older, especially if they have not been singing for a decade or two. If you listen to Joni Mitchell in the sixties and now in her sixties, her voice is totally different but it’s good, she has had to change her singing range and vocal style to keep it up.

In terms of guitar playing and performing, Steve Hillage is still at the top of his league. As the evening wore on, he just got better and better ( and better) playing complicated solos, with key changes, tempo changes, etc..

Here is a short clip Intro to Hurdy-Gurdy Man

He played some fast and furious guitar too and the band were great, but we were too busy dancing to film it! No doubt more footage will appear on youtube. Also Mike  Howlett’s excellent bass playing was mixed in a way that was not beefy enough , we wanted to hear it louder,and yet it obliterated a bit of the rest of the band’s sound, not sure how! I guess that’s what live music is about, it depends where you stand (and the taste and/or ability of the engineer).

The set was amazing and the crowd were ecstatic, a great lightshow too with inventive animations adding to the whole performance.

My only complaint about The Steve Hillage Band was that their set was so short. I would have been happy to see them play their first five albums from start to end and would have not got bored for a second or judged them if they had missed a few bits and improvised instead.

Personally I would have been happier to see the evening split equally between Gong and Steve Hillage.

An Interval of Rainbow Dome Musick , while we got our “healing” beer would have been ideal! ( I am joking…kind of)

However,when we saw the long set that Gong played with the same instrumentalists , we realised perhaps why Steve Hillage’s set was short but quality rather than quantity. When we arrived at 7.45 pm, The Steve Hillage Band was already playing and by the time Gong had left the stage it was past 11 pm.

Miquette and Steve ( Forum 27/11/2009)

There was a long break for drinks, just as well as it seemed impossible to get served ( hence the request for Rainbow Dome Musick at this point to keep us all calm). Only two bars on the ground floor, for thousands of people, the bar we queued up at only had one person serving, although after half an hour or so ,he was joined by two others.

The mood was jolly, lots of blokes, average age 50, many still with long hair or bald.But there were also a few women of all ages and also there were young, some very young ,teenage boys occasionally with young,very young,girlfriends in tow.

There is always a new crop of hippies germinating from any background. They emerge at around the age of 13 and by 16 they are either in a band or leading some form of alternative lifestyle with individual image to boot.These budding hippies who appear from nowhere decade after decade, will always gravitate towards the music of Gong and Steve Hillage.

Gong appeared on stage at around 9.15pm. They consisted of the members of  The Steve Hillage Band , plus Daevid Allen ( vocals and  guitar, and much leaping around), Gilli Smyth ( Vocals, “Space Whispers”, Goddess/Witch) and Theo Travis ( playing some rather excellent flute and sax).

Gong at The Forum 27/11/2009 ( minus Miquette)

We couldn’t help but notice that Gilli seemed older than the kind of woman you’d expect onstage with a rock band.We have been conditioned to expect only young people onstage doing weird rock music,  especially when it comes to women in a non-acoustic band.We are super-conditioned that only certain types of sexualised young women or alternatively young teenage rebel girls who shave their heads or dye it some extreme colour, will  be there. But I believe in breaking boundaries, most of the best classic bands are older, too old to rock and roll and too young to die? No! Get on stage, I say!

According to Wikipedia, Gilli Smyth, is 76 years old and used to be in academia, lecturing at the Sorbonne before deciding to do something all the more intellectual by forming Gong with her partner Daevid Allen.

Here is Gilli being a Witch on stage along to a free-form jazz jam from other members of Gong.

The Witch’s Song Performed at The Forum 27/11/2009  originally released 1973 on “Radio Gnome Invisible.Part One”

Daevid Allen is 71. But he bounces around the stage like a kangaroo on acid (and speed). Daevid has such a stage presence  that I can’t help but wonder what on earth he would do if he didn’t go on stage and dispel that energy. He is a jester with apparently boundless tigger-like energy. He definitely needs a stage to bounce on!

Gong- You Can’t Kill Me

Unfortunately the camera ran out of memory before being able to film Daevid in his special silver-white silk catsuit, embellished by CDs, or his “No one Knows I’m a Lesbian” T-Shirt, or when he chased Miquette around the stage, or was she chasing him, either way his energy was impressive.

Daevid Allen at The Forum 27/11/2009

Miquette having fun playing air guitar along to Steve (27/11/09-Forum)

There were times when Gong shouted and repeated the same line over like a cross between a sergeant major barking orders and the rat-rat-rat of a self-loading machine gun, which reminded me of war , riots and abrupt change. At other times, Gong intoned half-sung and half-spoken poems with themes of the collective unconscious and mythical archetypes in a free-from jazz jam, then planting  a strong melodic chorus , wherever and whenever it seemed the least expected. There were times when the music became ultra-psychedelic, the same repeated riff and beat, getting faster and louder with glissando guitars and excessive strobes, it went on in a cyclic fashion until it induced the brain into resistance or acceptance. I could not help but close my eyes to take it in. I felt like I was at some spiritual ceremony and that certain harmonious energies were being purposefully raised. I was pelted with rays of  white light and the sound of repeated musical mantras ,until I felt transported from the middle of winter, to a bright dance tent at some summer festival. People didn’t dance as much as they would in a dance tent though, but then we are older and we were tired by the end of the evening.

However there seemed to be some incredibly strong positive force present within the music. ..and I couldn’t help but notice that at the end of the evening, after a long encore and a very long gig,  Daevid Allen seemed to do a little ceremony to seal off each one of his chakra points, starting at his head and working his way down before leaving the stage.

Aha! I thought to myself , that’s where Daevid gets his energy from: rituals and chakras!

I am somewhat cynical about anything too religious, but they must be getting their energy from somewhere!

Love and Peace ( off to do yoga,meditation and find my chakras now!)

Born2rant

p.s. for more of a spiritual explanation click on Pete’s comment on the upper part of the left hand column of this blog or follow this link  to hear Daevid Allen’s spiritual vision for Gong( thanks again Pete).

http://vimeo.com/1626328

new readers to this blog  might be interested in this entry as well…

Steve Hillage always looking to the future: Part one from Hyde Park to Solfest

So I went to a Thanksgiving party yesterday and I was welcomed in by my almost-the-same-age-as-me cousin, who was wearing a blond wig and a pair of sunglasses inside the house. It seems that the few lights that were there were absolutely blinding him to death. I could see the smoke coming out from behind the lenses. Of course, I just sarcastically smiled and passed through, because the whole sight was completely hilarious or something.

No, he looked nothing like this. Hellsing is to cool for him (no offense, cousin). This is more like the cartoon version of Ozzy Osbourne without the speech impediment.

After that, I just sat down and talked with my family as I normally would if I were not in a party. Don’t you find that extremely exciting? I mean, I’m not sure. It seems pretty routine, to me, you know. Holy shit I’m going crazy with the italicizing. But, anyhow, so I went with my cousin (lets call him Ed) to one of the rooms and played some form of unfair 1-to-2 dodgeball with this kid (who also happens to be a relative, apparently), and you could see the fear in his eyes when Ed had the ball. Yet he wanted to continue playing?

Apparently he didn't know the reason.

So what did I do? Knowing I was most likely wack (Whack? I don’t know. Damn these slang terms!) at making a throw that would tear his eyes or die some skin cells, I occasionally passed it to Ed. And the ball was like an angry girlfriend, because you could hear it smack him from miles away.

I accidentally hit him in the balls and he didn’t even whimper – it rebounded. My cousin hit him at his ear, and apparently it imploded and it hurt more than him getting hit in the balls (or maybe his balls are part of his eardrums?), since he started crying.

The funny – well, really, the disturbing – thing is that Ed started filming the whole thing mocking him, and then he even said he’s going to post it on Myspace. What the hell kind of shit is that? That is sick. For real. I just stood there in inner shock giving him [Ed] the face.

The Popeye Face.

Sometimes I think he jokes too much, which creeps me out. I found that sort of insensitive and crap. But I didn’t have the guts to do anything. Wish I would’ve said something. I just left the room, and when I came back Ed was giving him some talk about not crying over stupid stuff like that, to suck it up – which I found even more preposterous. I just carried along with a petrified feeling in mi corazon.

It all seemed familiar though..and that’s when I remembered: he was acting just like CJ, that asshole back in them old camp days. Pfft. What a damn role model. I also realized, that at any minute, he could do the same to me if I get out of my gender box and stuff, you know?

But, anyhow, the kid started feeling better, and there was no more dodgeball after that.

Then, thinking I’m probably going to be going to Xavier, out of all the schools I put down, I asked him how it is there, since he just entered as a sophomore. Apparently, you have to pay for food, and they do teach you how to play instruments, if you join for the class of course, and the homework is fine. Looks pretty good to me.

The he told me I’m going to Harvard, which is cool, though Harvard is just a bit overrated.

He also told me he’s planning on going to West Point. I told him there’s no way in pornographic hell I’d go there. But what I really meant was:

1) What the hell are you thinking?!

2) HA! Good luck wit’ that!

I'm sure it will be fun.

Then after that, we listened to some music – Ed dancing around humorously as I laughed at him, and me interrupting the music on his Blackberry with my radio station. He was trying to do air guitar. Didn’t do very good. I think leg guitar would’ve been better for him – that is, if he’s into contortionist stunts.

The food didn’t taste very good, and I had a lot of it left on my plate. I went and inconspicuously threw it out, because I didn’t want to insult whoever cooked that day. Surprisingly, there was no Turkey.

It’s End-Of-Year Concert time at Pelican Primary School so I am busy working with each class to prepare an item. With one class  I offered them a choice- we could either learn a song by Green Day, or we could write a song together. They chose to write a song together (though the following week told me that, really, this has been their teacher’s choice, and they had really wanted to do the Green Day song. But by then it was too late, our song was written).

The song we’ve written is a classic rock song called Long Summer Holiday. It has two verses, two pre-chorus ‘ramps’ that build up our energy, a rockin’ out chorus that most of us need to sing in a seventies falsetto, and a raging guitar solo in the instrumental break.

The best thing is, it’s going to be an air guitar solo. This started out as a joke, a bit of hamming up by one of the students. But then I thought, why not? It will be vocal improvising, it will be theatrical, and it will be a fabulously original piece of content in the concert.

Yesterday, we made a rough recording of the song so that they could keep the CD in their classroom and start working on some staging ideas (backing singers, drum kits, dancers, etc). I recorded the air guitar solos too. Two boys wanted to have a try, so I got them to take it in turns. I was surprised by how well it worked (oh ye of little faith, G) – they had an excellent feel for the kind of melodic and rhythmic motifs that could be used, they both ended up on their knees, and they got the hang of tag-teaming the solos so that there were no gaps in between.

Go home and google ‘air guitar’ I suggested at the end of the class. “I bet you’ll be able to find some great clips of people…. watch what they do with their hands and face and body… and listen to how they use their voice.” Study these to get more ideas, I suggested to the boys.

Without a doubt though, the real enthusiasm for this rock song project came about when their teacher suggested they could dress up, put gel in their hair, make mohawks, etc. That’s when they started to grab hold of the project with both hands.

I’m really delighted with this air guitar thing. Of course, it could all go horribly wrong. Pelican students aren’t known for their ability to recognise the fine line between funny performance and just being silly (‘being giddy’, my mother used to call it, that level of giggling silliness that kids get into and have difficulty breaking out of). So I need to be quite stern and serious, to make sure they instill it with some performance discipline so that they don’t crack up laughing when they are in front of their peers, and some strong musical qualities.

I think they’ll get there. The two boys who’ve volunteered are pretty committed to the whole idea, with one following up on the google idea the moment he got home.

Todos sabemos que hay dos pasatiempos en japón que son algo así como deporte nacional, el Hentai e Inventar cosas estúpidas. (No por demeritar otros inventos inteligentes suyos cómo el Tamagotchi o los “Beating Breasts“) Ahora, este país famoso por Godzilla y los empresarios pedófilos nos trae: Air Guitar Pro!

Claro! El aditamento ideal para todos aquellos amantes de la música de rondalla o para los que tocan en el grupo de la iglesia!

No sé si este invento tenga mucho sentido cuando yo puedo tocar como Randy Rhoads con mi Air Guitar™ (que además sirve cómo Air Bass™, Air Drum Set™ y hasta Air Cowbell™) y no me costó un sólo centavo. Bueno he tenido que cuidarme al manejar materiales pesados, evitar luchar con katanas y no robar en medio oriente para conservar mi Air Guitar™ intacta.

I know I promised more Halloween pics…and they’re coming…but I don’t have them on me today and so, well, screw it. Today you’re getting a mish-mash of whats been happening in our life. Let’s see…where to start.

Ah, yes. So as you know, Terry is a school teacher. He teaches 4th grade. And the entire 4th grade had a musical preformance a few weeks back…and I took photos. It was actually pretty cool and everyone was really proud of the kids.

Here’s a photo of the kids waving colored flags during one of the songs. It was rather pretty. And touching. The song was something about all the colors of people and it not mattering or something. I don’t really remember, I was taking photos and not paying attention.

A cool blurry shot of the kiddlets.

This photo was during some song about all the music of the world or something…hence all the kiddos holding flags of the world. At least, I think thats what it was?

The BEST part of the preformance is when the two male 4th grade teachers, Terry and Mr. Belcher got up and did an imroptu rap & Guitar solo. Well, Terry didn’t exactly do a guitar solo…as he was using a Rockband guitar. But he did a FANTASTIC job faking it. LOL. He totally hammed it up.

The teachers breaking it down. Downtown. To funky town.

Terry and his solo. You can see his adoring fans going wild behind him. He missed his calling.

And the big finale! Confetti! Terry on his back playing faux guitar! The kids going wild! It was a very fun night.

Let’s see…what else has been going on? Hmm. I’ve been very suzie-homemaker lately. We’re on a budget so I’ve been all…casserole-happy. See with a few inexpensive ingredients, you can make a whole 13×9x2 pan of a casserole that feeds you for 2-3 days since there are only two of us. Here’s a photo during the middle of the lasagna-making process. Btw, that was lasagna made with home-made marinara sauce. Yes. Freshly-made home made marinara. YUM. I also made extras of it and froze it for later.

Then yesterday I made my “Mexicali Casserole”. I made that name up so don’t go looking for the recipe somewhere. Technically this is totally bad for you – instead of using tortillas in the casserole, you utilize crushed up nacho doritos. YUM! Its got lots of cheese, doritos, meat, spicy sauce and served topped with olives, sour cream and avocado slices. It’s to-die-for.

Let’s see, what also has been going on? Oh, yeah, here’s a photo of what it looks like trying to give Babygirl her monthly heartworm & flea prevention pills. Popo takes he pills like candy. Babygirl (who normally eats ANYTHING)…refuses to take them even when covered in cheese. Fickle little puss. So we have to force them in and hold her mouh closed, then massage her throat until she swallows. Anyone else have this much trouble?

And in parting, here’s my favorite shot lately. Took this when we were cleaning up after the Halloween party. Look at what a little lush my Babygirl is. See how EXCITED she is to see the Rum bottle? Ha ha ha!

sexy crouchshot

Hey Guys, look here. Sam needs your help real badly. He needs to win this contest, you can help by liking this photo on Facebook. If he doesn’t win this thing, his mum will not allow him into the house. You don’t want to see Sam ending up as a hobo, do you? So yea please ‘like’ this photo.  

Heres the link to it. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/photo.php?pid=4516574&id=120508340762&ref=nf

Min något mångordiga rubrik är överflödig från och med nu, bara så att ni vet. Jag kommer ungefär en gång i veckan, (det vill säga varannan onsdag, torsdag om mitt nya knatch är så bra som jag tror att det är) att presentera en film som jag uppmanar er att införskaffa. Kommer inte ödsla massa tid och energi på skitgrejer bara för att kunna briljera med mitt journalistiskt positiva, men reelt negativa skrivande, utan jag kommer bara ge er bas-historien, en audiovisuell teaser och en tillspetsat bildrubrik tillhörande en riktigt kvalitets-rulle. Tipset kommer alltid involvera en film som går att kategorisera inom dokumentär-genren, så därför låter jag det vara osagt från och med nu.

Air Guitar Nation

Plot: Vinstsugna amerikaner anordnar nationella uttagningar för luft-gitarr VM i Finland, tjock asiat vinner och beger sig till självmordsstatistikens förlovade land. Hans pondus är abnorm och efter skepsism från både britter och österrikare ser hans chanser ut att gå om intet. Men än har inga vodkakramande finländare sett honom lira, och när det väl gör det, kommer det förhoppningsvis att vara annat ljud i skällan..

(C-Diddy har så mycket pondus och scennärvaro att även om Robert Aschberg och Carola muterade fram ett äckligt litet barn, skulle det ändå inte vara i närheten.)

Você toca guitarra imaginária? Eu toco e acho que nunca vou me “curar” dessa coisa, dentro do carro, parado no transito, é inevitável. Sempre tem umas tiazinhas que ficam chocadas com toda a situação, com os gestos, o volume do som, mas até ai, eu só vim aqui para o bem, me divirto enquanto muitos reclamam da vida e descontam na buzina. Depois de assistir o vídeo, imagino se ele apresenta uma solução para amenizar a loucura, ou piorar de vez!

Depois que milhões de pessoas já desceram na boquinha da garrafa e fizeram a cobra subir, não encontrei um bom motivo para me incomodar com caras feias e mimimis por causa da minha guitarra imaginária, ou do genero de musica, volume etc. Segura o tchan ai e vai ser feliz!

Aqui Também estamos cansados de tocar guitarra no ar, raspando a unha na barriga!

On the train home from school today, I think I encountered one of the saddest moments of my life.

Everyone has a weakness. For Achilles it was his heel. For me, it was seeing an old mentally challenged blind man singing to himself on the train. I was not sad that he was singing or because he was blind and mentally challenged. I was sad because he was alone. He seemed to be having the time of his life when he sang. He was loud and everyone stared at him (which is nothing new on the 6 train in Manhattan). He was air drumming and I could not make out the words he was saying. It was more like gibberish than actual words.

The people sitting next to him watched in horror as he was singing. As they got off, two other girls got on the train. They were the typical New York girls who were scared to sit next to someone that was not like them. One girl made sure that she was not close to him and the other squeezed herself between me and some other passenger.

When the guy was singing, the last thought on my brain was to laugh. Unfortunately, he did something that would make me laugh. I was not laughing at him. I was laughing at the girl who tried to sit far away from him. As he was singing, he got so into the song that he picked up his cane as if he was going to hit somebody with it. The girl jumped so high, that I could not help but laugh. The man only wanted attention, even if it was from strangers.

The guy would stop singing for a couple of minutes and then start again singing louder. The two girls had already gotten off the train. The train was relatively empty because it was only 2:10 in the afternoon and the train was past 96st street.

On the opposite side of the man, there was this kid sitting down. The blind man got so into his song, he accidently hit the kid. A man who worked for the MTA told the man that he could sing as loud as he wants but he could not hit the passengers. The man apologized and then stopped singing. After that, the man did not sing again. He was sad that he did something wrong. Instead of helping the man, the MTA worker laughed at him.

While he felt bad for what he did, his words actually made me sad. He kept repeating the phrases, “nobody listens to me”, “Why is no one listening to me?”, “nobody cares about me”, “I am all alone” and other phrases that made me feel bad for him. I could not understand how someone could just leave this man alone. Yes, he was loud and yes he has mental problems but he still deserves some type of companionship.

As I got off the train, I wondered about what would happen to this man. Would he be able to get home ok? Since I am in my senior year of high school, it also made me look at possible majors that I would want to take up. This man made me realize that he must not be the only person out there who is like him. There must be people who do not have a person that would listen to them. If there were someone to listen to them, maybe they would not feel so lonely.

As I watched him, I thought about my sister. My sister has this weakness with mentally challenged people. When we were on a cruise a couple of years back, there was this teen bash. There was this group of kids who thought they ran the show. No one was dancing except this mentally challenged kid. The other group was laughing at him because he was not actually dancing. My sister wanted to cry because of his condition but she also wanted to punch the kids for making fun of him. While I felt bad for him, I knew that he was not stuck on his condition because he was the only one having fun.

My weakness is homeless people. I have met some homeless people that have touched my heart. However, this man made me realize how cruel the world is. Since he did not fit the norm, people were staring in disgust or they were laughing at him.

Seeing this man was a revelation to me. It made me wonder, that maybe I can help people out and make a difference even if it small.

This is pretty awesome. They almost lose it at SCARAMUSCH SCARAMUSCH CAN YOU DO THE FANDANGO, but ol’ yellow shirt pulls it all back together again just in time for Brian May.

This begs the question, Bjorn Turoque, are air bells next?

Você é fã de Rock N’ Roll? Tem atitude Rock N’ Roll? Então não perca este super concurso que está sendo promovida pelo pessoal do Gamerview, e da Electronic Arts.

O Concurso Cultural de Air Guitar, como foi chamado, será um concurso bastante divertido, e além disso irá conter prêmios muito bons. Não irei dá muita informação, será melhor você entra no site do Gamerview e lá saber tudo que precisa.

Eu até iria participar, mais destronquei o braço e não to podendo, além disso to meio desanimado, e sem tempo. Mas a iniciativa é muito interessante e super legal.

Os prêmios seram:

1º Lugar
Jogo Brutal Legend (Xbox 360) + código da guitarra Tenacious D + uma camiseta exclusiva do Gamerview

2º a 3º Lugar
Código da guitarra + camiseta do Gamerview

4º a 50º Lugar
Código da guitarra

Mais informações AQUI.

One of my favourite reporters wrote to me earlier this summer to let me know that there was a Jimi Hendrix look-a-like contest at a little shack on Union Street in downtown Vancouver. The significance behind this shack is that Hendrix’s grandma apparently used to sell chicken out of it during the 1950s and the new owner of the building has set the place up as a shrine with letters, old photographs and Hendrix lyrics tacked to the walls with no real thought to placement. Vincent Fedora had no idea about the building’s history when he bought it earlier this decade; he discovered it on a trip to Seattle’s Jimi Hendrix Museum when he saw an old postcard written by Hendrix addressed his grandma, who ran her restaurant out of the very building he owned. Fedora, a music buff, set to work on fixing up the place with paint and a new roof and, just recently, re-released a CD he produced in the 1980s which includes seven versions of the Italian national anthem, as well as a reggae version recorded by the Wailers.

“You can’t make this shit up,” my reporter friend wrote. Indeed.

Hit the arrow key for more chicken shack photographs.

what’s more gross?

a) ben’s beyond dirty nails

b) the amount of different ‘types’ of ‘meat’ in that hotdog

c) ben using said dirty hands while playing his hotdog as a guitar

in our family, we’ve seen worse things used as a guitar, but that’s a whole other story in itself. let’s just say that body parts were involved. whichever option you pick, one answer is clear: ben is a rock star and rock stars are allowed to be as dirty as they please while eating as much questionable meat as their tummies can process.

rock on with your bad self.

–

Beginning to realize that even though I have hundreds of CDs, there STILL aren’t enough to keep me totally happy!

I’m listening to Air Guitar III right now.  Almost gave myself a sore throat last night from singing along to the first two…  Must remember to arm myself with a packet of cherry flavoured Tunes before I next attempt to hit the same notes as some of the vocalists from the big hair Heavy Metal days.  May rupture something if I don’t!

Been an expensive day too.  Had to pay for some of my daughter’s college requirements.  She’s decided to study hairdressing and it costs an absolute fortune because she’s nearly 20.  Still, I’d rather she was doing that than just bumming around whilst she’s out of work. 

Besides, it does mean I should get a free ‘do or two in the process!

Swings and roundabouts, my dears…, swings and roundabouts….

Allows you to play the Air Guitar. You need to have one of the following traits; Virtuoso, Artistic, Computer Whiz, Childish, Daredevil, or Party Animal. Unlike the other Air Guitar mod I’ve seen, this one will allow you to gain skill points in the hidden Air Guitar skill. The skill instantly levels to 10, because the animations are horrible until the higher levels.

The mod is compatible with any mod, including skill mods, as long as they don’t modify the Air Guitar itself.

[Download Here]

You must have an account or logged in to download.

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While discussing apartment stuff with The Boy yesterday, I suddenly had a worry:

2:54 PM me: As in blaring pop music and dance around miming and playing air guitar

me: 

2:58 PM Lol I bet you’re just dying to walk in on an air guitar session …

The Boy: i am

The Boy: ah ive seen u do stuff like that b4 im sure its jus a more insane version of it lol

Sylvain Quimene of France has won the Air Guitar World Championships. How do the judges choose a rock god from the motley assortment dressed in wigs, spandex and capes?

Strike a pose: The champ in action

Sylvain “Gunther Love” Quimene is 2009’s Air Guitar World Champion after windmilling his way to glory in Oulu, Finland. So how did the judges pluck his madly theatrical performance from all the others?

Contestants are not simply judged on their technical ability, such as “hitting” all the notes, but on factors such as charisma, working the crowd and an elusive quality known as “airness”.

All over the world, air guitarists abide by the same rules. They perform a 60-second solo performance with an imaginary guitar-like instrument. Try to incorporate an air drum, for example, and the judges won’t be impressed.

Personal air roadies are allowed, but backing groups (real or air) are not.

“Air guitar is about drama – it’s about telling a story with a beginning, middle and end – in the span of a mere 60 seconds,” says Dan Crane, writer, air guitarist (stage name Bjorn Turoque, pronounced “b-yorn too-RAWK”) and a judge on the US circuit.

Contestants are judged on three standard criteria as set out by the governing body in Oulu, Finland. In the United States, scoring is done on an Olympic Figure Skating scale – from 4.0 to 6.0.

Technical prowess: “That is how much the movements of your flailing hands correspond to the music to which you are playing along to,” says Mr Crane.

Basic technique would include moving your hands closer together when you hear a high note to show you are playing a riff near the centre of the guitar, and moving them further apart on the lower notes (think Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure).

Stage presence/charisma: “Have audience members’ faces been melted – and if so, how much?”

Stage presence, naturally, includes the theatrics of dressing up. Wigs, skin-tight spandex trousers, capes and other accoutrements of a classic rock wardrobe are de rigeur.

Airness: “The extent to which an air guitar performance exceeds the imitation of guitar playing and becomes an art form in and of itself,” says Mr Crane.

An ineffable quality, says one judge, and so is difficult to define.

“It’s a bit like the X-factor – you just know it when you see it,” says Zac Monro, director of Air Guitar UK and championship judge.

Work that crowd

Part of that “je ne sais quoi factor” is the ability to be taken completely taken over by the music, says Mr Monro.

“Some people go really nuts – it’s not just the fret board and the picks that take a kicking,” he says. “The body can take a kicking too.”

Jumps, knee bends, slides, windmills, and crowd diving are commonplace, as are injured knees and broken and sprained ankles.

Air is human

But, says Mr Monro, no matter how many back flips you perform, if you don’t have charisma, you’re in the wrong competition.

Ready to rock

And he advises wannabe guitar heroes to be original. “Someone does something new one year, and the following year everyone copies it,” he says.

Among the most memorable performances he has witnessed is one entirely based around a fake street fight involving 23 air guitarists.

Dan Crane, author of the book, To Air Is Human, plays the real guitar. But he says the fact that he’s a “there” guitarist often impedes his “air” guitaring.

“I just knew too much. I was frequently looking at my hands to make sure they were in the right place,” he says.

“On an air guitar, however, there is no right place. There’s an infinite number of notes on an air guitar. So, for ‘there’ guitarists, I say you must forget all you know. Air guitar is an entirely different beast for the taming.”

MORE HERE
SOURCE: BBC News