The Importance of the Drummer

Because of the fact that the drummer is the backbone of most
bands other musicians rely very heavily on him or her to
provide a strong beat that will keep a song together. A
drummer who is off beat, or off tempo, will lead the entire
band astray. Therefore, if the drummer is weak the whole
band will be weak.

Since the drummer provides the foundation for the other
musicians to follow, the drummer is the anchor of the band.
Being the anchor of the band, the drummer must have
confidence.

Confidence is what makes a good drummer a great drummer.
When you have confidence in your ability to play and
confidence in your instrument, success for the band is much
more likely to occur.

If you are a drummer in a band, then you are the anchor of
the band. The other musicians are relying heavily on you to
provide a strong beat that will keep everything together.
Other musicians may be able to cover their flaws when
playing their instruments as a group, but not you.
Everything you do behind your set will not only be heard,
but felt. There is simply no way to hide or cover up poor
drumming skills!

The drummer is vital to a band, and a great drummer can make
up somewhat for other musicians who may not be at the same
level of expertise. The reason is because your listeners
will notice more of what is in your band’s music than what
is NOT in it.

For instance, let’s say your guitarist is not real creative.
He may play well enough to keep up with the pace of the
song, but as far as adding anything flashy, he’s just not
able at his current skill level. But, there you are, with
your solid sense of rhythm and timing. That’s what people
are going to notice! They simply will not notice something
that the guitarist does NOT do.

People who are not musically inclined just want to be moved
by the music. They do not evaluate it like musicians do.
Now, if the guitarist seriously flubs something up, then
that’s a different story all together. Not being creative
and not adding to the music is one thing, but making
critical mistakes is another. Musician, or not, people know
what is, or is not, pleasing to the ear.

So, as a drummer, the anchor of the band, be solid, strong
and confident. Continue to practice regularly and never be
satisfied with your level of progress.

Daniel N. Brown has been drumming since 1976! Get his FREE Special Report,
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when you subscribe to his FREE “Drummer’s Edge” Weekly E-letter…
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A Story of a Rose, an Artist, and History

The year was 2700 AD, and the technological advances of mankind were impressive. By now, 99% of disease had been eliminated, and the average life span was around 150 years. Innovating and exciting new fields of science had been opened and subdivided. Art found new and creative ways to be expressed. The ways of the people became not necessarily simple, but all directed towards fulfilling the passion of the heart, the creativitiy of the mind.

Bastello walked with his/her lover Rols, gently trotting across the otherwise untouched cobblestone. As they passed by a housing unit, they hear some shouting. It was their friend Casva. “Hey, Bastello! Rols! I’ve got something you want to see!”

“We’re comin’!” Bastello hollered. Technology had become molded with biology in this era, and many bodies included implants that helped boost immunity, strength, and other basic functioning.

“What do you have for us, Casva?” Rols asked once the two were inside the housing unit of their comrade.

“My newest creation,” s/he replied, “Are you looking?”

“The flower?” Bastello asked, “What about it?”

“I’ve been tweaking the genes of it for the past few weeks,” Casva sad, “I bought a gene manipulation kit at the hobby store. With all the effort I’ve put into it, I think I’ve been able to create the most beautiful flower ever.” A look at the scene right now would reveal a flower, a computer attached to the flower, and a solar panel similarly attached to the flower. “This solar panel allows me to get more energy to the flower faster,” Casva says, “Sure, sure, it’s not natural like other hobbyists like, but hey, it gets it faster to the best part.”

“So, what do you have to show us?” Rols asked, “It’s a flower. It’s not even open. It’s very much closed.”

“Okay, watch this,” Casva replies. S/He turns to his/her computer and presses a few keys, and then flips three switches attached to the solar panel.

With all that, the flower bloomed. It was a rose, but not any ordinary rose. The petals started to shift in color, twisting and turning into oranges, purples, greens, blues, yellows, the colors moving in and out much like waves would smash in the ocean. The psychedelic colors of the flower molded, morphed, grew, rose, shrunk, and receded. But, just as they had managed to be amazed entirely by this one spectacle of the flower, something else happened. It started to turn. The head of the flower was turning at at utmostly slow pace, adding to the immense beauty of the plant, allowing others to afford a greater appreciation of its colors. And, then something strange happened… All throughout the room, a sound could be heard. A very gentle and increasing hum could be heard coming from the center of the flower. It almost sounded like a choral voice. Very light. Very gentle. Very delicate. This flower, whose colors were changing and morphing constantly, its head slowly turning, and now, the perfect voice of a human resonating from it… In one more minute, all these functions would stop, and it would close again.

“Wow, that was amazing,” Bastello said, “I mean, I’ve seen some flowers do some crazy things, but that was absolutely brilliant.”

“Seven thousand lines of altered genes, my friend,” Casva said, tapping his/her computer, “There are billions I have yet to tap in to.”

“I have not seen anything so beautiful in all my years,” Rols said.

“Yeap,” Casva replied, “It takes 12 hours of the solar panel being charged just to get two minutes. I’m trying to reduce that time without harming the abilities of the plant.”

“You know, Casva,” Bastello said, “Several hundred years ago, toiling with things like genetics was considered a social violation. It was considered heresy, playing as god, to do what you’ve done.”

“Oh, I know,” Casva replied, “And only a few hundred years earlier than that, it was considered heresy to paint a picture of something that didn’t include angels or god. So many paintings were burned, so many libraries were leveled. And, if we also want to dig into the past, you’ll remember that what doctors did was considered heretical, because everyone thought that god planned for them a death date — and prolonging that date was considered heresy.”

“Yeah, you think people would learn to live and let live,” Rols said, “If it doesn’t bother you, don’t f*ck with it.”

“I don’t think it’s that, precisely,” Casva said, as he unplugged a few wires from his/her computer, and then looking up to his/her comrades, “Actually, I think it’s learning what bothers you and what doesn’t bother you. The Nazis could actually argue that, by letting the Jews live in peace, they were being bothered. Homophobes of the early 20th century argued that by allowing Homosexuals to live in peace, they were being bothered. You wouldn’t think it at first, but the ’sanctity of marriage’ has just about the same foundation as the ’sanctity of the white race.’ Most of the time, it is the persecutor whose psychology is, in fact, not much more grown from when he was perhaps three or four years ago. It is the fault of the persecutor to harbor the sick ideas of oppression — not the fault of the oppressed to fight back.”
punkerslut.com punkerslut.com

For Life,

Punkerslut (or Andy Carloff) has been writing essays and poetry on social issues which have caught his attention for several years. His website punkerslut.com punkerslut.com provides a complete list of all of these writings. His life experience includes homelessness, squating in New Orleans and LA, dropping out of high school, getting expelled from college for “subversive activities,” and a myriad of other revolutionary actions.

Playing Live Casino Poker for the First Time – What You Should Know!

The type of game and the stakes you are going to play for are the two first decisions you have to make before entering a live casino poker game.

The minimum buy-ins in most live poker rooms are ten times the minimum bet, but a general rule of thumb is to never bring less than forty times the minimum bet to the table.

This means that you should for a 2/5 game bring a minimum of $80 and for a 5/10 game bring at least $200.

pokerrule-online.com/claypokerchips.html Poker chips are used as a replacement currencie for real money in live casino poker rooms.

You buy the chips from the cashier in the back of the poker room before sitting down or a chip runner will bring the chips to you after you have sat down at the table of your choice.

Most live casino poker rooms have a desk in front of the poker room with a Brush (casino employee) working behind it. You tell the Brush your name and what game you want to play.

You will most likely be placed on a waiting list when you get there but the pokerrule-online.com/pokerdealer.html Brush will tell you what the approximate waiting times are like for each table.

When your name is called, the Brush will point out the table and the seat you will be playing at.

You count seats in clockwise direction from the dealers left, so the first seat to the dealers immediate left will be seat number one.

The mechanics and the flow of playing in live poker games will become second nature to you after a little while. You will pick up a lot from watching the other players and don’t be afraid to ask the dealer or a floorperson if you have any questions.

pokerrule-online.com/pokerquotes.html True Poker Guide covers a comprehensive list of poker rules, tips and strategies for all poker games including tournament and satellite play.

Learning English as a Second Language by Webcam

Learning English as a Second Language by Webcam As you opened up this article, you no doubt have a view on web-cams? As yet I don’t have one, and regard them as a bit of an intrusion. This is probably my Luddite tendencies showing themselves, as I understand that video phone calls via the internet are very popular. Web cams do have (in my mind at least) some ‘seedy’ connotations though, don’t they? Nothing is hidden on some sites! The other day, however, I came across the Webcam being used as a teaching tool. An up to date way to get a teacher and a student together across the continents.

Actually this is an excellent idea, with numerous advantages for the student: a native speaking teacher on demand (almost); help with preparing meetings or lectures; revision of things learnt in a more conventional setting (the classroom or the language laboratory for example); even just some conversation practice. I’ve just checked out what a Luddite is: someone ‘who opposes the advance of technology due to the cultural changes that are associated with it’. I’m not one of those really, as I can see, as I hope you can, that teaching English via the webcam could be an excellent way of linking a skill with a need for a fraction of the cost (cash and time) of some of the more conventional teaching methods available in the marketplace.

The advantages are clear: experienced teachers available at times convenient to the student; businessman and school student alike able to access native speakers and get quality training without leaving their home, let alone their country; reduced impact on the environment (a Webcam doesn’t have a large Carbon footprint, does it?); a cost effective way of staff getting top-up lessons after that expensive stay in the US or UK; a readily available expert to help tune that presentation or prepare for that meeting. The disadvantages are less obvious: for some, no computer (obvious) or a computer that’s not up to the connection speeds and criteria necessary for a goof webcam session, would make this an impractical method; one hour slots don’t allow for teaching tangents – a student’s attention span dictates an hour as the ideal time for any teaching session; if this type of teaching isn’t well administered, frustration and non-availability of teachers could easily negate the benefits.

Andrew is a qualified TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher, with 15 years experience of the global Automotive Industry as a Sales manager with an International component and systems supplier. For more information about learning Business English, visit the lets-talk2.com/_wsn/page2.html Lets Talk 2 website, or for more detail on Web-based learning, visit: beltlive.com/mainIndex.php BELT Live

iPod Music Downloads – 8 Tips to Pick an Excellent Download Site

Many music download sites have emerged as a good alternative to iTunes for iPod music downloads. Which is the best download site? I would share with you 8 top tips on how to select a iPod download site that provides you with all you need.

1. Pay per download or One-Time

You should check if the site offers lifetime membership for a flat fee. Music enthusiasts are turning to such download sites as they find it really costly to build a music collection on $0.99 song downloads.

2. Unlimited Number of iPod Media Files

Dozens of download sites are offering more than just iPod music downloads. They have music files, movies, soundtracks, music videos, TV shows and so on in their list. These are worth your one-time fee.

3. Choice of Music

Find out what is the range of music the download sites offer. It make sense to find one that offers you the biggest range you can find. But if you are not too picky, perhaps the one that offers you your favorite genre is good enough.

4. Easy to Use Membership Interface

Some membership interfaces are quite easy to use. Searching for song titles must be as easy as clicking a few buttons. Locating the file you need should be fast and easy|. Instructions on downloading media files have to be clear and concise. You would be pleased to know that there are a few of such quality sites for iPod music downloads.

5. Free Software For Downloading iPod Media Files

Special software is required for to download iPod media files. It is best that these sites not only give you iPod music downloads but the software to pull them out. Several sites also beefed up their deals by giving free software and wallpapers. These are not cheap software that you can buy elsewhere.

6. Fast iPod Downloading Speeds

Having iPod music downloads itself is not enough. You need fast downloading speeds. Do not go with those that are slow in the download speeds for iPod music downloads. I know of some sites that are really slow in download speeds.

7. All-Time Technical Support

Most sites for iPod music downloads put this claim on their website but only several sites can really do that. You just have to find them.

8. Excellent Customer Feedback

Given a choice, we would want to know what the existing customers think about the download sites. So do spend some time to read the customer testimonials.

Take some time to digest these 8 tips and you should be able to find one good site that provides iPod music downloads. Anyone hoping to know which are the best download sites for iPod music downloads can visit my iPod blog for more information.

The content of this article is provided for the purpose of education and illustration only and is in no way associated with Apple, iTune, or any company or subsidiary of Apple. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Davion is crazy about iPods. Discover how you can access unlimited

Opposites Attract Laughter

Continuing from my last article on association, let’s see how this technique generates hilarious result. By association means by pairing or combining thoughts, images or even words together.

The most popular and obvious form of association in comedy is
INCONGRUITY; by pairing of opposites or contrasts. Like fat and thin, black and white, new and ancient and the list goes on. By juxtapositing two opposites it creates incongruity. This premise can whip up endless potential humorous ideas. Examples like a tall reek-thin man standing beside his rotund wife, a caveman using a handphone, a smart-talking donkey with a dumb owl or a devil having a friendly round of poker with an angel. As I’ve said before “anything goes”. But of course not all incongruities will produce funny result.

Another obvious source of incongruity is the OXYMORON. Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two seemingly contradictory words are combined. Examples like: open secret, good grief, original copies, small crowd or alone together.

Similarly to the technique of incongruity, is the REVERT. Here you take a normal situation and reverse it into its opposite. The most popular example is the bride carrying her groom into the room. Just take any ordinary situation and turn it around and see whether it can engender laughter. Like instead of having a bird in a cage, have a man in a bird cage, with the bird watching outside. “Anything goes”!

Use the association technique to light up your creative fuse and set it ablaze with ideas. Spur your brain to make new connection or new associations with opposities that will attract laughter.

A freelancer from Malaysia who dabbles in both visual and performing art. Cartooning, script-writing, acting in TV and movies, doing voice, sound and singing impressions under the stage-names: Wacky Willy and SFX-Man.

Read more articles and free tips at: funny-ideas.blogspot.com/ funny-ideas.blogspot.com/

Reach me at: mailto:kertoon@yahoo.com kertoon@yahoo.com

Strange But True Online Poker Tales

Worst Bet Ever: Here’s a case in point for self-control at the online poker tables if ever we heard one. In December ‘05, one Carl Valentine agreed to what, on the surface, appeared a modest enough challenge, presented by a multi-millionaire buddy of his. The challenge was this: that by April 18, ‘06 he, Valentine, send 2 million unique visitors to a website they perversely named savemyfinger.com.

If successful, Valentine will qualify to play in a heads up online poker tournament against said millionaire with 1 million dollars at stake. If Valentine wins the tourney, he scores a million smackers. If he loses, he loses nothing. So far, so good.

But if Valentine fails to generate 2 million unique hits on his site, he will still face off against his childhood pal in a heads up online poker match, but this time he’ll be playing for his right index finger. If he wins, he gets to keep all his digits. If he loses, it’s off with his finger – and Valentine vies for the title of World’s Dumbest Amputee.

Online poker room Poker Heaven has supposedly agreed to host the ludicrous match (whatever the stakes).

And the Baby’s Name is Chip: They met at an online poker table. The game was Omaha, $30 stakes, the site – Party Poker. He suffered a bad beat and got into an argument with a fellow player over it using the Chat feature. She defended him. They became buddies from there – literally: using the Buddy List feature, Jackie Johnson and Gary Suffir began, from that moment on, a torrid long distance love affair that culminated in Jackie leaving Las Vegas and heading to New York to move in with Gary. Now they’re getting hitched.

The first known wedding of a couple who met while playing online poker will take place in March 2006. Prior to the ceremony, friends and family of the bride and groom will participate in an online poker tournament. Poker (and more specifically, online poker) will be the theme of the wedding, with a poker-themed wedding cake and floral displays. The newlywed couple will then enjoy their honeymoon on the Party Poker Million V Cruise to the Caribbean.

“But What Do I Win?”: They’ll let you sell anything on eBay these days. An online poker aficionado and (most surprisingly perhaps) eBay Power Seller who goes by the nickname “The_Sellution” and touts a positive feedback rating of 99.97% (of 1,533 transactions) has posted what could be considered the most inane auction listing eBay’s ever seen (though there are admittedly numerous contenders for that title).

Connor Gleason (as he’s known to his family and friends) lost about $5,000 playing Blackjack at online poker room and casino Party Poker. Now he’s asking eBay bidders to help him out of the hole he dug himself into. His opening bid was $999.99. When the bidding period ended, it closed with no bidders. (Shocker!)

But there’s more to this story, and this auction, than meets the eye. In a sneaky bit of wordplay, Gleason is careful not to name the online poker room where he lost his bankroll – only that, “it’s no Party” (from which we deduce, hopefully correctly, that it’s Party Poker). By the same token, he offers his auction as a “Golden advertising opportunity for a quality online casino”.

For anyone who knows of online casino Golden Palace’s reputation for outrageous and expensive publicity stunts including spending thousands of dollars to win eBay auctions for outlandish items, this plea for aid in return for nothing but…what – a warm fuzzy feeling inside? – appears to be a clear and obvious message to Golden Palace and Golden Palace alone. At least they’ll know how to get some press out of their “investment”.

Poker-Ranking.com is the premier resource for online poker players. Visit poker-ranking.com/ poker-ranking.com for informative articles, poker rules, game strategy, and comprehensive reviews of over 60 online poker rooms.

Are There Other Types Of Photography?

As we have discussed there are many avenues open to a professional photographer. Some actually graduate from the world of business into corporate photography. Corporate photography has many facets; it is used for publicity, in the form of advertisements; for public relations, for historical purposes, and for in-house brochures. Some corporate photographers can work for the same company for many years. They cover special events in the companies’ history, as well as being as in some cases an important aspect of industrial history. The history of the steamboat, the transition from the Agrarian to the Industrial revolution has all been captured on film.

Not only industrial history but history has been captured on film. War photographers usually by press photographers’ have captured history.

In the 1940’s Ansel Adam’s was probably the best-known American photographer. He captured images of the enforced internment of American citizen’s of Japanese descent at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California. These prints record history in another way as the Photographic Division of the Library of Congress show digital scans of his negatives as well as his prints; this allows a student to study his dark room techniques.

The art of action photography is a specialised art that presents unique challenges, requiring both technical skills in capturing a moving image, as well as knowledge of the activity you are photographing. A sense of timing is vital as well as having the ability to pre-focus. Some types of photography has peak moments, such as the hour before dusk, action photography has peak milliseconds! Your sense of timing has to be well developed to know when this is going to be, because you have to shoot a millisecond before that to give the camera time to actually shoot. This is where knowledge of the activity is very helpful to allow you to anticipate the peak second. However, this is a very specialised aspect of the photography business, your techniques can be improved. Sport photography is easier than moving wildlife, or breaking news stories, as it is more predictable in its outcome. Common sense is fairly important with your positioning, you need an interesting backdrop, as well as a place that allows you to make best use of ambient light, be it also to keep yourself in a position of safety. The Pulitzer Prize for photography is no use to anyone when they are dead. Often these skills can be refined at amateur sporting events, where you do not need a press pass.

Another specialist type of photography is underwater photography, partly because you also need to be a qualified diver and partly because the equipment is specialised. It is possible to take shots underwater, with a normal camera, but amphibious cameras, get better results, unfortunately they are expensive, with a lot of things to learn and the possibility of very expensive repairs. As with action photography this is best left to the specialist and it is not a feasible option, unless you work in this media for the majority of your time. The sea can be a dangerous medium to work in, and it presents special challenges such as night, and wreck photography, as well as drift photography, all of which challenge both your diving skills as well as your technical skills.

Scientific photographers take images of a variety of subjects to illustrate or record scientific or medical data using knowledge of scientific procedures. They typically possess additional knowledge in areas such as engineering, medicine, biology, or chemistry. Often the photography of this type of record is an adjunct to a scientific career.

Assignment photography is the delivery of material for a specific assignment, often with limited appeal. It includes portrait photography, as well as wedding photography. Portrait photographers often have their own studios, as their clients come to them to have a formal portrait photographed. SLR digital cameras are often preferred to do this type of work, as there are more opportunities to “view real timework”, you do not have to wait for the negatives to be printed to see if you have created a shadow on the face with a hat. Also they can be retouched, pixel-by-pixel, which means the small time imperfections can be glossed over. The adage the camera does not lie has never been completely true, but in today’s world is even less so. A portrait photographer has the opportunity to go out on assignment and covers events such as weddings, and christenings.

Photo Journalism is another branch of photography that covers the breaking of various events; it can be general, on a local paper, covering local events such as school plays etc. International freelancers often cover specific areas such as war photography. Press photographers are often characterized under the banner of “journalism”, as they collect, edit and present news material, yet despite this they use images to tell a news story.

It is distinguished from documentary photography, street photography and the photographing of celebrities because they have a timeline in that they tell a story in a chronological order. A narrative to further complete the story nearly always accompanies the work. Implicit to a degree in this type of work is a level of objectivity rather than creativity, as the images are recording real events in real time. For these reasons it differs from a wedding photographer, even though in theory he covers an event in real time and for publication.

A further aspect of photography is the “celebrity” and “Society” photographer. The two are distinguishable, though the person being photographed can fall in both categories. The society photographer may be also a photojournalist himself. In Europe at least the Society photographer, is nearly always of the same class, partly on the ground that they have the “breeding” to cover such events, which may be Wimbledon, or the Melbourne Cup, or even a charity-raising gala. It is implicit that the Photographer has permission to take the photograph. That’s quite different to the inherent distaste often applied to the methods used by the celebrity photographer, whilst at the same time the public retain an insatiable desire to be able to see the photographs. Celebrity photographers are often these days called paparazzi, after a famous Italian photographer known for his dogged determination to trail after celebrities, and publish photographs taken in an unguarded moment.

This article has been supplied courtesy of Roy Barker. Roy often writes and works closely with profitable-photography.com Profitable Photography Business. This site is dedicated to coaching you in starting your own photography business but places a strong emphasis on profitability issues & guidelines. You can also gain many photography resources (some free) from profitable-photography.com/resources.php Digital Photography If you seek further guides, helpful hints, articles and news, you can go to photography-business-tips.com photography-business-tips.com which also has a Photographers Forum for exchange of views with other photographers.

Whats the Right Tattoo for You – 3 Methods to Choose

Picking the right tattoo for you should be extremely important and well thought out. It will be there for life and deserves careful consideration. The thought you put into your tattoo, strengthens the tattoo. Not only will you have a connection to your design, but you will have put in the careful thought and consideration necessary which makes for a stronger tattoo in the long run.

Three ways to consider your tattoo design are to think of:

1. Experiences. Thinking of important experiences you’ve had in your life make for good tattoo. These experiences need only be symbolized by a single design which has some connection to the experience. A small mural or a few pieces together can also work well.

2. People. Names are sometimes frowned upon, and sometimes regretful especially when it comes to a lover. Instead think of an image which could signify a certain individual or what he/she stands for or believes in. Facial recreations can work as well, especially for individuals who have passed away, or strong role models whom values you hold strong and firm.

3. Personal. This really is the ultimate and while the two above methods may fit in the personal category, you can also reach much broader heights and choose a tattoo design which you simply like for your own personal reasons. Whether you can put these reasons into words is not necessary, sometimes art brings about strong feeling that surpasses any verbal definition. You have perhaps found your perfect tattoo design if you do experience that kind of strong connection with a tattoo design.

Research is key when searching for your tattoo design and there is an enormous online catalog that can be found here tattoo-book.blogspot.com/ tattoo-book.blogspot.com/ The book contains thousands must see unique artistic designs to choose from – tattoo-book.blogspot.com/ tattoo-book.blogspot.com/