M Y S P A C E . C O M - Is it really my space?

OK, so it took me a while to cotton on to what all the hype was about regarding this MySpace thang. To be honest I wasn't interested. I had no time for MySpace, I was trying to work out to use this Blogger site!

So I finally joined and now I'm converted. I dig MySpace for what it offers me FREE of charge. However, I'm not so sure it's altogether 'my space' entirely. I guess I was a little naive to think I would have a place on the web where I get to control of what happens. Well to a large extent I can control my profile, I have the power to edit as I please, but I don't have control over who decides to SPAM me! And once spam arrives it then become MySpam!

Some 17year old Thug Rapper from India inviting me to subscribe to his blog of which there was none. An artist, well-intentioned I'm sure, wanting me to view her work (which I don't fancy in the least) and some then theres the folk who want to send you every minute on the minute a floral e-card with some deep and meaning quote like: Soar with the Eagles - Reach your Potential.

Anyways, if you're reading this you yourself might be wondering just what am I doing by writing this? Point taken, heres my likes and dislikes about MySpace(MS) so far, they might change next month.

Likes:

• Networking -MS has put me in contact with so many people from around the globe that I would not have met otherwise. Varied people of all ages, cultures and creeds with interests both similar and otherwise.
  
• It FREE - Yay!
• Music - MS is growing in terms of band and musician profiles plus many of them have samples of their music and FREE mp3s for downloading.
• SPAM - theres a feature once you join whereby all the people you accept as your friends can post you (and all their friends) a bulletin. These bulletins don't show up on your profile which is great. And then what comments do show up on your profile can be deleted if they aren't to your liking.
  

Dislikes:

• Cumbersome - to start with it was a nightmare! But once I found my way around it was fine. I learnt quickly that if theres something I see that I like by someone else I just need to ask them how they did it. I've made two great friends this way - they are now invaluable.
• SPAM

Check out my M Y S P A C E . C O M profile
http://www.myspace.com/nzbluesroom

KOKOMO - Music with attitude, blues and beyond

KOKOMO have been a steady arm of NZ blues and on their latest album, Kokomo - a gogo, recorded LIVE during two concerts at Baycourt Theatre, NZ you get to see why. Although the only new song is "Home Of The Blues" a song about the hurricanes and flooding in New Orleans which happened a couple of months before the concert, nearly all the other songs are considerable rearrangements of - and improvements on - their original version. The band all agree that this is their best album so far.

Hear their new album here http://www.kokomo.co.nz/html/kokomo_a_gogo.html

And hear Derek Jacombs LIVE in the Blues Room on air with me this Wednesday, from 9pm.

Bay of Islands Jazz & Blues Festival, Northland, NZ - 2007

AUGUST 10, 11 &12

Every year jazz and blues musicians gather from all over New Zealand and overseas for the annual Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival. The many venues in Paihia, Waitangi and Haruru Falls host over 150 hours of quality jazz and blues during the three-day event.

There are more than 50 acts featured.

Street performances, in Kawakawa - Jazz on the Steam Train, Paihia and Russell each morning add to the atmosphere of the festival. Street performances in the towns of Kawakawa, Paihia and Russell each morning add to the flavour of the festival.

Admission into the venues will be by badge only unless stated, they can be purchased at all Venues, B.O.I. ‘I’ Site in Paihia 0800 363 463 and Wards Music Shop in Whangarei 09 438 9063 or online www.jazz-blues.co.nz

Badges cost $40 which includes a programme, access to all venues during the weekend and shuttle buses between the venues at Paihia, Waitangi and Haruru Falls.

The 2007 programme will be available closer to the festival dates - August 10, 11 and 12.

~ FREE TO BLUES ROOM LISTENERS ONLY ~
Your chance to WIN free festival packages!
!! Badges, transport, accomodation and Dolphin cruises !!
Tune in to The Blues Room on Wednesdays from 9pm up until August for your chance to WIN.
Community Radio Hamilton
AM1206 & FM106.7
Or online www.communityradio.co.nz

For more information on the Bay of Islands Jazz & Blues Festival programme, contact: Shirley May,
phone 09 404-1063
email maysplace@actrix.co.nz

Sugar Blue

Click above image to hear samples of CODE BLUE

I first heard Sugar Blue for the first time back in the 80s.

I knew then that he was onto something.
The track that first introduced me to his talent and skill
was the LIVE cut, 'Another Man Done Gone'
on the1982 Montreux Jazz Festival album.

This song still remains one of my all time favorites!

Beeble Music is proud to announce the long awaited new release from Sugar Blue, one of the blues world’s most distinctive and acclaimed harmonica virtuosos!

The new material is phenomenal!

Sugar Blue, backed by the talents of Rico McFarland, James Knowles and Jesse Cross laid the new tracks in Sweet Home Chicago. Additional work has been recorded and mixed in Paris and Milan and the result is a very diverse, soulful, mature and powerful work.

Some songs are pure Sugar Blue, harmonica raging like a lion
and cutting like a razor!

Sensuous sounds and simmering melodies rock solid rhythms
to groove you to the bone!

There are chromatic harp solos and stark new concepts that reflect
his renewed creative fire and continued commitment to cutting edge creativity.

His vocals mellow yet ferocious have grown. His lyrics are profound, introspective
and outward looking at the same time.

CODE BLUE brings on the resurgence of one of harmonica great masters!

CODE BLUE comes from the heart of tradition and the soul of an innovator!!

Listen to the tracks on www.sugar-blue.com/codeblue.html

Mr Superharp - James Cotton

James Cotton – My Babe

Cotton is truly a living blues legend, with a career spanning 63 years. Some of his many accomplishments include: A Grammy in 1996 (and nominated for 3 other's); 7 WC Handy Awards/Blues Music Awards; induction into the Smithsonian Institution and the Blues Hall of Fame; The Blues Foundation's Howlin' Wolf Award; Honorary and Lifetime member of the Sonny Boy Blues Society; and the Premier Harmonica Player Awards for 1999 and 2000 awarded by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Record Arts and Sciences.

"Superharp", as he has been known, had his first radio show in 1952 and has recorded more than 20 of his own albums/cd's, in addition to countless others in which he has appeared.

He played and toured with his surrogate father, Sonny Boy Williamson, was Muddy Waters' harp player from 1954 through 1966, and also played with Howlin' Wolf. His live shows are legendary, to this day.

Now all I need is for him to come to New Zealand, before it's TOO LATE!

GrOoVin wiTh dELta GrOOvE PrODucTiONs

Delta Groove Productions have always been a great source of good blues since I found out about them a few years back.

Check out the great reviews of new releases here.

I think you'll be satisfied like me.

I even see they have put my feedback up on their site, man I love that! Here I am, little ole' skankin' mojo man in the heart of the Waikato doing a blues radio show and yet, because of the internet, what I have to say can be heard way over on the other side of the world.

On that note, it must be way cool to have your music listened to and appreciated by people all over the world. Oh to be that influential!

I'll be playing so me of the Delta Groove Productions I have in my collection tonight on the Blues Room.



Al Blake ~ Randy Chorkoff ~ John Long

http://www.myspace.com/deltagroovemusic

As well, I'm going to try and get in contact with Simen Taylor, one of the best Boogie Woogie pianists I know of in New Zealand, the other is Jan Preston, although I don't think she's residing in New Zealand (Australia I think).

http://www.myspace.com/simentaylor

"It's not right! ...Mom!" says Paris Hilton

The Negro tenant farmer is the descendant of the slave. For generations, he has lived in mortal fear of the white boss in the cotton country. He has seen his women violated and his children humiliated. He himself has been discriminated against, cheated, whipped, and held forcibly in an inferior position. Every white face he sees is a reminder of his brother's mutilation, burning, and death at the stake. He has no recourse at law, because he is denied the right of trial by his peers. The Negro tenant farmer on a plantation is still a slave (Caldwell 11). Source link

According to a recent Justice Department report on America's jail population, women make up about 10 percent of the America's inmates. There are now more women than ever serving time, and black women make up a disproportionate number of those women. They are twice more likely than Hispanic, and over three times more likely than white women, to be jailed. In fact, black women have almost single-handedly expanded the women's prison-industrial complex.

Female prisoners face the added peril of rape, and insensitive treatment during pregnancy. A United Nations report in 1997 found that more than two dozen states permitted pregnant women to be shackled while being transported to hospitals for treatment. Source Link

Paris Hilton was ordered back to jail Friday.

"It's not right! ...Mom!"—Paris Hilton, after a judge ordered her to be returned to jail to complete her term for probation violation.

Many have cried Paris, many have cried.

And what, are we supposed to feel sorry for Paris now that
shes seen here crying in public and on her way to the clinker.

I think jail will be good for Perez.

HA!

Least she gets a break from her busy
schedule and some down time!!!

She is a white privileged woman who gets to leave
prison alive and return to her wealthy empire.

And whats more, I loath people who drink and drive.
Their choice to do so puts me, my family and others' safety in jeopardy.

Nuff said on that one.

Go watch the Paris Jail Song, just havin' a dig!
http://www.bebo.com/FlashBox.jsp?FlashBoxId=4239089673

He's a lot like OTIS SPANN

I'm talking bout Simen "Blues Keys" Taylor.
He states his musical influences are:
Otis Spann (the one)
Leon Russell
Johnnie Johnson
Pinetop Perkins
Buddy Guy
Little Walter
Muddy Waters
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Willie Dixon
Memphis Slim
Sonny Boy Williamson
Darren Watson (NZ guitarist/singer)

http://www.myspace.com/simentaylor

For the harmonica fan

A collection of amazing i-mics. They are homemade mics for the harmonica player. They all work and theres some pretty amazing looking creations, go check the whole collection out. And then come back and tell me what the heck i-mic stands for : )

http://harmonica.typepad.com/photos/imic/index.html

Gig Posters

I love getting a gig poster. I'll even try to get the band/artists to sign it if I can. I remember going into a fish and chip shop once and seeing a Charlie Musselwhite poster hanging on the wall. I asked them for it and the owner said 'is that to have here or take away', ha ha, nah, they were only to happy to give it to me.

I found this great website called www.gigposters.com which has many awesome gig posters. Some of the art work is totally cool. Heres a few Blues ones I found plus a few favs of mine.