July Recap

What a month on the blog World Cup, farewells, music, and football. I never thought July would be better page view wise than April with the A to Z thing. I even picked up a few more followers, I welcome them and hope they enjoy their stay.

Saying goodbye to Yahoo! Contributor Network is sad news. Being a writer there was a roller coaster with the ups and downs. In my book the place was on an upswing and I actually liked writing there again and then boom! Some of the downs could be me, misinterpretations, and some things just simply sucked at times. All of it according to my own perception.  I liked the Associated Content years the best. The group of writers who befriended me had a bit to with it. Yahoo brought out great opportunities to see my writing on a bigger stage like Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports and the such. It opened doors.

The ups and downs don't matter now. It is all history. I am glad I was able to spotlight 10 other writers on my blog this month. Hopefully in the future I can spotlight others and just not the musicians, athletes, and celebrities. I don't know what the futures holds I just stumble into it one step at a time.

The World Cup just proved my picks in any sport a wise man should bet on the opposite team! I didn't watch as much as I wanted too. 

Johnny Winter's death reminded me of miss opportunities, the need to take advantage of them when you can. It also reminded me to appreciate the living legends out there while we can. Things end unexpectedly.

Thanks readers, visitors, and accidental clickers for making July special onward into August I go with the blog!

Happy Birthday Buddy Guy

I celebrated Buddy Guy's birthday last year with this post. Buddy Guy is such a great guitarist ,musician of influence and a living blues legend he is certainly worth blogging about again. The recent passing of Johnny Winter has reminded blues lovers that life is fragile for aging blues men so certainly we should celebrate when we can.

Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy "Let Me You"..

Jeff Beck's intro certainly says it all! Here is a picture of Buddy Guy with Johnny Lang the first time I saw him..(Photo by me)



I watched him perform at the Experience Hendrix tour and you can read my review here. Below Guy performs with Jimi Hendrix on this Stormy Monday Jam..

The next time I had the privilege of seeing Buddy Guy was at Wolf Trap with John Mayall what a treat!
You can read that review here. Below is from that show with a new teenage blues phenom Quinn Sullivan..

Taking you home with "Sweet Home Chicago"

Happy Birthday Buddy Guy! A blues master who is still going strong into his upper 70s amazing!

Happy Birthday Martina McBride

Country hit maker Martina McBride celebrates her birthday today.

A couple of years ago I had the honor of reviewing her show at Wolf Trap. You can relive it here in my review.

The first video was "Independence Day" followed by "Concrete Angel." Below is from the concert I reviewed.

Here is one more hit to wrap this blog up..

Happy Birthday Martina McBride! Thanks for stopping in stay tuned for a new post!

Seven Year Itch: Farewell to Yahoo! Contributor Network

Continuing on my series..Here is what going on Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here.

I signed up for Associated Content back on this date in 2007. My first article was a humble article about a baseball trade published on July 30, 2007.

My first non-sports article was a restaurant review of the Rib Room in Charles Town, West Virginia in August. Followed by an article on Health Care fraud an industry I was working in at the time.

In October I wrote my first political article about the Democratic Primary in New Hampshire.

In December of 2007 I wrote my first music article on what I thought were some of the better releases of that year. Regular readers of this blog might be surprised it took me 5 months to do that.

That is a look at some of my firsts. A lot changed over the course of seven years. Now looking at the end which is really just a new beginning.

Happy Birthday Mick Jagger!

Mick Jagger the legendary front man and singer for the storied Rolling Stones turns 71 today.  His new movie about James Brown Get On Up which Mick produces actually has me very excited..

Mick with my favorite guitarist Jeff Beck

Of course with Mick Jagger there is so much music to choose from so let's get started..

Mick with a little help from Lenny Kravitz above. Mick with a Brand New Set of Rules below...

You know we could do this all day with no Satisfaction..

The Lows of Being High: Justin Blackmon

Justin Blackmon could have been an All-Pro last year despite missing the first four games of the season if he had not been suspended again. He should be preparing for the upcoming season, but suspended indefinitely trouble once again found him.

As a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars I can't help to wonder how much better the team would be with Blackmon playing and staying out of trouble. Another side wonders how much better the team would be if they had picked somebody else.

As a football fan I hate to see the waste of his talents. Even if he was playing for another team I would want to see the talent.

Three times he has failed the leagues substance abuse tests three times. Now three arrests. The arrests were for alcohol and ow marijuana. Not the brightest things to do and then drive. Not the worst drugs in the world but safer to have been done at home.

Maybe the drugs and alcohol help him with the pains and aches of being an athlete. Maybe it is just bad choices of youth. Signs point to a problem and sadly he is not getting help. He had kept a low profile before his latest bust.

Hopefully one day he will get it straightened out. Perhaps someday he will get the help he needs!

Rev your Engines

I have enjoyed writing my spotlight series saying farewell to Yahoo! Contributor Network. So far I have been able to give shout outs to 10 different writers. Today I am going to self promote and highlight some of my auto racing articles I have written. You can check out the rest of my writing at the site here.

Ladies and Gentleman start your engines!

Joey Logano

Here is an article I wrote on Joey Logano at the time he was a 17 year old prodigy. Now at 24 he still has a bright NASCAR racing future in front of him.

Here he is winning...

Here he is in an interview from last year...

Six Moments at Indy

One of the last articles I wrote on the site was this one about Six Historic and Exciting Moments in Indy 500 History.

Here are highlights from this year's race..

Farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network! Spotlight on a pastor, a clinical social worker, and a scientist

Continuing on my series..Here is what going on Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here. Getting my shameless self promotion out of the way!  I will reflect my thoughts on this writing place going under in a later post.

This collection of writers sounds like a joke starting with a pastor, a social worker, and a scientist. However instead of a funny joke they are walking into the sunset after Yahoo! Voices closes.

Jack Wellman is a pastor who have enjoyed in reading over the years at YCN. I would consider him a friend. He always leaves positive and encouraging comments. His articles at times spoke to me. An example would be about his article on organ donors, which I have signed up to be. I have heard people use a Christian argument not to be one even though I personally thing it is good to be one. Then Jack wrote his thoughts which I enjoyed. I know he shares a passion for helping the homeless which is something we have in common as well. You can read his Yahoo!Voices articles while they last here.

David Reinstein is another writer I have enjoyed over the years. I've enjoyed his articles on guitars as a guitar collector and music fan myself. I have also enjoyed his poetry and unique perspectives. You can check out his YCN writings here.

Vincent Summer is an active member in the forums. His writing is mostly an eclectic collection of science based articles. I have enjoyed reading several of his animal articles. A variety f other articles of his have caught my attention from time to time. You can see if any of his articles interest you here.

Thanks for stopping bye come back soon!

Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie is playing Wolf Trap tonight July 21 and Tuesday July 22, 2014.  I wrote a preview article here at Examiner.The article has a slide show of recent pictures of Lionel Richie and an interesting video of opener CeeLo Green. Recently I wrote about him in another article about musicians who have adopted children you are invited to read that article here.

Of course here in my blog I am going to add some music videos. Starting off with Lionel's first number one hit...

"Endless Love" with the amazing Diana Ross. For CeeLo Green lets go back to his Gnarls Barkley days for "Crazy"

If you are lucky enough to catch this tour I hope you enjoy! I'll say goodbye with this one..

R.I.P Johnny Winter

I was going to blog about something else but the sad news of Johnny Winter passing away trumped everything. He toured relentlessly but I never got to see him. I'm kicking myself now since I  didn't see him. Something always came up. I always thought I would catch him next time. Now there is no next time. The relentless touring musician was working on those next times when he passed away in a hotel room on the road.

"Be Careful with a Fool"

Here he jams with Jimi Hendrix...

"Mississippi Blues"

The blues world lost a great one. Johnny Winter leaves us with an album on the way. On September 2, 2014 Step Back is scheduled to be released. The album features guests like Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Paul Nelson, Brian Setzer, Billy Gibbons, Joe Bonamassa, Leslie West, Jason Ricci, Joe Perry, and Dr. John. Thanks Mr. Winter for leaving us something to long for, your guitar playing will be missed. Johnny Winter may you rest in peace.

Battle of the Bands #1 Dead Flowers

I discovered this on Arlee Bird's Tossing it Out blog. I thought well this fits well with my blog so I am giving it a shot. Apparently, it is a Tuesday thing so I am already starting it off wrong. But hey mess ups fit quite well on this blog too!

How it works

According to Arlee Bird's blog the rules are rather simple:

"   Here's how the Battle works:   Listen to the song clips in the blog post and then in the comment section vote on the one you like the best.   When you vote please tell us why you voted the way you did.  Long explanations are always welcomed.   After a week or so I'll tally the votes and announce them in an upcoming blog post.   Please do vote though so your favorite choice can be counted."

After you vote you can check out these sites for other battles:

  Faraway Series
         Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
         Your Daily Dose         
         DiscConnected   

Well I heard an awesome cover of the classic song "Dead Flowers" by The Rolling Stones. Here is a Stones version..

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Out battle will feature the great song writer Townes Van Zandt..

and a relatively new but respected blues singer Samantha Fish...

Vote for the winner in the comments!

Congrats to Germany, World Cup Champions

I thought Argentina was going to win the World Cup from the start. I became nervous about my pick when Germany destroyed Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals.

But Argentina had Messi, so I thought they had a chance...

In the end Germany defeated Argentina 1-0

Germany won the World Cup. Championships are won on the field. Germany made it through the tournament and won the championship.

Farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network! Spotlight on the Fun Groups

Continuing on my series..Here is what going on Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here. Getting my shameless self promotion out of the way!  I will reflect my thoughts on this writing place going under in a later post.

Sorry for the break had a lot going on this weekend, and it was a fun weekend. With that in mind I thought I would share some of the people and things which made my time at Associated Content, Yahoo fun!

The Pageview Gang!

We weren't the page view gang but when I first joined Associated Content I wound up in a group of fellow writers. We all agreed to look at 10 articles from each other. Some folks gave this some flack and with good reason. No it wasn't a great way to increase page views. It took up time. However, it was fun! It made my early days writing for associated content fun. I was encouraged to write more! I made cyber friends with other writers. It really made it easier for me and I thank that group. Ironically we even had our own Yahoo! Group. I looked for the group on Yahoo but it has vanished. If you were in the group stop bye.

John Gugie

John Gugie was in that group and became one of my first friends in this group. Sadly he became one of the first people who passed away that I knew. I wrote a tribute blog to him. I know others have passed away who wrote for Yahoo and Associated Content too.

Yahoo! Contributor Network - The Next Generation

This facebook group did motivate me to write more. They brought the fun factor back in for me. Like I said there were things from time to time I didn't like..the love/hate thing. So, I thank the founders Tavia Fuller Armstrong, Art Eddy and Rebecca Black. I linked to their Yahoo pages so you can visit their writings!

The Great Page View Race! 

Anyone remember the page view race with Han Van Meegerin? He did brighten the place up a bit!

 Thanks for dropping in! Please support all these writers and I will be back soon with another blog!

Farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network! Spotlight on The Helpers

Continuing what I started yesterday. Here is what going on Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here. Getting my shameless self promotion out of the way!  I will reflect my thoughts on this writing place going under in a later post. After read reading my last post a bit of my thoughts will be revealed in each of these posts first.

Marie Ann St. Jean

Marie Ann St. Jean new how to succeed at YCN. I call over 5 million page views with only 390 articles a success. What made her special in my mind was she was always willing to help. If you had a question in the forum threads she had an answer. Her answers might have rubbed some folks the wrong way. However her answers were truthful. In a place like YCN, where change happened it was nice to have someone to help.

You can check out her articles and learn more about this writer here. She is an expert on crafts, pets, and gardening to name a few.

Lyn Lomasi

I am sure many folks who wrote at Associated Content/YCN  had their favorite staff person. Mine is Lyn Lomasi. How many staff people anywhere would answer a facebook message in just a couple of minutes to answer a question about an issue? In my world not many but then there is Lyn! She always gave answers in the forum. A great communicator. She followed in the footsteps of some helpful people. However, in my opinion she was always able to bring it up a level.

Lyn was also a successful writer on the site (over 4.4 million page views). Perhaps being a writer on the site before she was staff gave her some empathy towards the site writers. She doesn't earn page view money since she is staff but you may enjoy checking out her articles. She has a lot of passions, talents outside of Yahoo as well. She is a great person! Unlike me who is losing a place for my hobby writing or at best some spare change Lyn Lomasi is losing her job.I hope things work for the best for her and I am glad I got to meet her.

Stayed tune, I plan to spotlight a few more!

Farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network: Spotlight on Don Rothra

Yahoo! Contributor Network..AKA Yahoo! Voices which used to be Associated Content and a site I have published my writing at for seven years will be calling it quits at the end of the month. So you can stop in and read my articles while they last here. Getting my shameless self promotion out of the way!  I will reflect my thoughts on this writing place going under in a later post.

Before the site goes down and before all the work is taken down I wanted to spotlight some other authors before it is too late. I should have done this earlier so it is already overdue. Though I have tried to spotlight others on this blog from time to time in a play it forward manner.

Today I am going to spotlight Don Rothra who wrote mainly poetry at Yahoo! Voices. He is especially skilled at creating limericks. You can check out his writing at YCN  here. I picked Don Rothra to spotlight because he kept the Poetry Lover's thread going on the site. The Poetry Lover's thread was favorite forum on the site. A place I went to share my poetry when I published a poem on the site. Don I think probably published more poems in a month than I published collectively in seven years on the site. The thread was a place I could go when I wasn't happy with things at the site and feel better. It was my sanctuary to get away from the bitching or stop me from complaining. So, I thank Don for keeping the thread going and also for sharing his poems!

Don Rothra is continuing to write poems at his blog at sixstring.blog.com. Don also plays guitar which makes him alright in my blog!

Stay tuned I am planning to spotlight a lot more writers this month as I say farewell to Yahoo Contributor Network

Peter Frampton

Peter Frampton is playing a concert at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC. I wrote a preview article which included a neat video and a slide show which you can read here. Thought my article was a great excuse to write more about a great guitarist and add some videos.

Let him Show You the Way...

These days he may have more "Lines on My Face"...

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Still the legend is not above covering something more current like "Blackhole Sun"

Yes, I am blending new songs, rarities, and hits just to add some flavor. I hope you like my way..

"Baby I Love Your Way"

Thanks for stopping in I hope you enjoyed your stay.."Do You Feel Like We Do"

Led Zeppelin: The Last Show

34 years ago today, the mighty Led Zeppelin played their last official show in Berlin, Germany on July 7, 1980. Here is a recording of the show..

Like the Alpha and Omega Led Zeppelin reached out to perform one of the songs they used to play when they first started "Train Kept-A-Rollin.'"  Zeppelin then played a blues rocker in "Nobody's Fault But Mine" followed by the classic "Black Dog."

Kick in a newer song "In the Evening" followed by another classic "The Rain Song" and then play a fun song in "Hot Dog."

Yes the In Thru the Outdoor album was well represented with "All of My Love" and "Trampled Underfoot." Then returning to the blues with "Since, I've Been Loving You."

Then showcase Jimmy Page on "White Summer-Black Mountain Side" before finishing strong with "Kashmir" and the required "Stairway to Heaven." The encore would be "Rock and Roll" and "Whole Lotta Love."

The concert was stripped down. Lengthy stables from the past like "No Quarter," "Dazed and Confused"  and Bonham's "Moby Dick were scratched in favor of new material  and other gems.

They were rehearsing for a tour of America when John Bonham died and cut the band's career short. Luckily we have recordings to hear what was and what will never be.

Crosby, Stills and Nash

I just finished writing a preview for tonight's Crosby, Stills and Nash show at Wolf Trap which you can read here. If you are a fan of the band check out the attached slide show with the article though I can't take credit for the photographs.

I have been lucky enough to see Crosby, Stills and Young twice even though it was like 20 years apart. Funny thing it was at the same venue Wolf Trap. Anyway the last time I watched them I reviewed the show for DC Metro Theater Arts and you can relive the show through my review.

Yes, if you read my blog you know I like to add extras. I am digging some extras to add to this post like this..

That was the encore from the show I reviewed. Below is a song they performed in March of this year..

And one of my favorite songs by them..

If you are going to the show tonight enjoy! If you catch them on the tour I hope you enjoy! If not I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog.