Music Web Site

I've tried maybe a dozen different web sites and applications for playing music.  Pandora, Last.fm, and Blip.fm are all great.  Sometimes I just want to quickly play an artist or a song right now.  This is where Puniz excels.  Fast - Free - Legal - Simple!

IBC 2010

The winners of the 2010 International Blues Challenge band competition are:
Winner - Grady Champion (Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola)
Second Place -- Karen Lovely Band (Cascade Blues Association)
Third Place - Cheryl Renee and Them Bones (Cincy Blues Society) Winner of the Solo/Duo Competition was Matt Anderson (harvest Jazz & Blues)

Once again these performers and others just knocked my socks off.  Among the memorable acts that did not make the finals were a band from India (Soulmate) and a band comprised of two 14-year olds from Colorado (Young Austin Band)  I can't wait until 2011! See pictures of some of the contestants at the end of my blog page.

Da Blues

Every year about this time Donna and I take our yearly trip to Memphis for a Blues festival.  After attending out first one in 2005 I promised myself to never miss another.  The music is fantastic and I enjoy staying and gambling at Sam's Town in Tunica, Mississippi.  We make the 30-35 mile trip to Beale Street in Memphis every night.  Tunica is only about 30 miles from the Memphis airport.

From the IBC website - "The 2010 International Blues Challenge will be the 26th year of Blues musicians from around the world competing for cash, prizes, and industry recognition. The Blues Foundation will present the 26th International Blues Challenge January 20-23, 2010 in Memphis, TN. The world's largest gathering of Blues acts represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its Affiliated Organizations for the Blues Band and Solo/Duo Blues Act ready to take their act to the international stage. In 2009, 100 bands and 60 solo/duo acts entered, filling the clubs up and down Beale Street for the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday and the finals at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday."

The bands play their best stuff for 25 minutes in front of judges in the clubs along Beale Street on Thursday and Friday nights.  On Saturday the top ten compete in the finals in a huge theatre.  In 2007 we were lucky enough to hear about and watch a young band from Tupelo, Mississippi play in one of the clubs on Thursday, again on Friday, and again in the finals.  They placed 2nd in the whole competition!  This despite being the youngest band ever to compete in the International Blues Challenge.  They were, at that time, 15, 13 and 8 years old!  These two brothers and their little sister - The Homemade Jamz' Blues Band - have now gone on to recording and playing gigs around the world.  B.B. King said in a YouTube video, “In my 82 years, I’ve never seen something musically… so remarkable.”

Your's truly and Ryan Perry (Homemade Jamz' Blues Band singer and lead guitar player)

Highly Recommended

Every day (or as often as I find them) I'm going to recommend web sites and/or applications that I know you will find helpful.  Here's the first:    http://www.spaaze.com
Spaaze looks and acts like a giant cork-board on your desktop.  After signing in, drag the bookmarklet up to your "bookmarks toolbar".  Then whenever you find an interesting web page, click on the Spaaze bookmarklet and a link to the new page will be added to your corkboard.  I have "hotspots" on my board for: "read laters", "daily web sites", "e-mail accounts", etc..  I also keep post-it notes with to-do lists and reminders.  Your spaaze is reachable from any pc or laptop.  Spaaze, used in combination with Firefox add-ons "X-Marks" and "Read-It-Later", really help save time and frustration when you need to find/keep some web-based info.  You do use Firefox as your web browser I assume.  Opera is good also.  I use two side-by-side monitors that make up one desktop - and quite often have both Firefox and Opera open at the same time.  Some sites (but not all) just seem to work better in Opera,  although the add-ons for Firefox make it indispensable.

Welcome

Welcome to the initial installment of "The BluesShak." What is it? - you may ask, and why take the time to do something like this?

Several reasons 1) I've always wanted to write a book but have never put words to paper except for a couple of short paragraphs. Perhaps I can try out those words here to see the response. 2) I believe that in order to get something you have to give something. By giving of my own thoughts and discoveries, I'm hoping to receive your feedback and therefore make this a learning experience. 3) I'm roughly five years away from retirement and I plan on making my fortune in the next five years. I've already started towards that goal - and you'll be hearing more about that later. Don't worry - asking you for contributions is not part of the plan.

The name BluesShak is the name of a small business I intend to open near the coast of NC after retirement. It will be a combination of restaurant, bar, and live music venue.

Come along for the ride. It won't cost you anything - and who knows - you may learn a few helpful tricks along the way.