Jennifer Lopez and Scientology
January 28, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Perez Hilton gets the scoop: J. Lo reveals that her dad is a scientologist!
“I, myself, am Catholic. But…My dad has been a Scientologist for 20 years. It’s weird people want to paint it [the "church"] in a negative way.”
What Is Scientology?
From Wikipedia:
Scientology is a body of teachings and related techniques developed by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. It began in 1952 as a self-help philosophy, an outgrowth of his earlier self-help system, Dianetics, and later described itself as a new religion. It claims to offer “an exact methodology” to help humans achieve awareness of their spiritual existence across many lifetimes and, simultaneously, to become more effective in the physical world.
The name “Scientology” is also used to refer to the often controversial Church of Scientology, the largest organization promoting the practice of Scientology, which is itself part of a network of affiliated corporations that claim ownership and sole authority to disseminate Dianetics and Scientology.
Baby Spice Emma Bunton Banged Up?
January 28, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Via Celebspin:
As a soccer fan, most my post-Spice Girls experience is with the aneroxic one that married a footballer (any guesses?)
Anyways, it seems she’s been busy with Jade Jones, a former member of the British boy band Damage.
Here’s what Emma had to say:
“I guess I will be handing over the ‘Baby’ tag now to a deserving little new owner,” the 31-year-old known as Baby Spice said in a statement.
Bunton and boyfriend Jade Jones, 27, a former member of the British boy band Damage, have been together for eight years. They moved in together to a five-bedroom home in north London in 2005.
“We are so happy, it’s unbelievable news,” the couple said in a statement. “What a great start to the New Year.” The baby’s due date or sex was not revealed.
Get Your Grammy 2007 Nominees CD
January 26, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
From YouTube, the Grammy 2007 CD:
[ev type="youtube" data="0p9bNEQ2uhc"][/ev]
I didn’t realize that the CD’s are out. You can go get them at Amazon or something.
Yes I know James, thanks. Cant say the same about you though.
Grammy 2007 Nominees: Are You Ready?
January 26, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Ready or not, the 2007 Grammy Awards is coming soon. It felt like I just watched a Grammy last month.. sigh.
The awards will be handed out on Sunday February 11, 2007 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. The host has not yet been officially announced.
Here’s what to expect, basically its James Blunt, James Blunt, The Dixie Chicks, Some Guy, and James Blunt again. Whuhoo…
Record of the Year:
- Be Without You - Mary J. Blige
- You’re Beautiful - James blunt
- Not Ready To Make Nice - The Dixie Chicks
- Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
- Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
Album of the Year
- Taking the Long Way - The Dixie Chicks
- St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley
- Continuum - John Mayer
- Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers
- FutureSex/LoveSounds - Justin Timberlake
Song of the Year
- Be Without You - Mary J. Blige
- Jesus, Take The Wheel - Carrie Underwood
- Not Ready To Make Nice - The Dixie Chicks
- You’re Beautiful - James Blunt
- Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
Best New Artist
- James Blunt
- Chris Brown
- Imogen Heap
- Corinne Bailey Rae
- Carrie Underwood
You can get full listings, dates and more stuff at Grammy.com
James Blunt. What?
Norah Jones is "Not Too Late" With Her New Album
January 26, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Via MTVe:
Norah Jones is back with her third album from Blue Note. The new one is titled “Not Too Late” and it’s not a minute too late for all of you to hear out the entire album before it’s even been released! Wooha! MTV’s The Leak is happy to bring it to you.
I was wondering what on earth happened to her.
After her debut album album “Come Away With Me” that catapulted her to super-stardom, Norah’s second effort with “Feels Like Home” went straight to number one on the Billboard Charts ( and how many others I wonder?) and stayed at number one long enough to sell 10 million copies worldwide.
Her new album Not Too Late has 13 new tracks and includes guest vocals from M. Ward and Richard Julian.
- Get her CD on Amazon:
- Her official site: NorahJones.com
Musicians Don’t Make Money
January 25, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
One of my childhood dreams was to be a rock star.
My dad said: “Don’t be silly. Musicians don’t make money”
That kinda dampened my spirits a little. To a kid, everything is possible.
As adults, we’ve been told so many times what’s possible and what’s not, that we begin accepting it as reality. I remember listening to a so called “music industry expert” in Malaysia talk about the shit that happens in the “music business” last year, and again I got to feeling that music can never be a reality for me.
At least not here in Malaysia.
I mean is a so-called reputable music executive tells you that you should consider yourself lucky to sell 1,000 copies of your CD, he must be right, right?
Now that I think about it, that dude was just puking out his failures onto us. Just becasue he failed as a musician and probably isnt’ doing so well as a producer, that he thought he’s share his oh-so-valuable insights with us.
What a total jackass.
I’m finding out, as I write this, that it’s tough to make it when there are so many other bands around, some obviously more talented than yours.
But talent means nothing really. There’s a lot more into it.
I’m creating this blog so that I can learn about marketing my own music the indie style, and the best way to learn is to write it out. We’ll see what happens..
Ibanez RG3120 with Wizard Prestige Neck
January 16, 2007 by Jo Minor · 2 Comments
In 2004 I bought the Ibanez RG3120 after saving up for almost a year. I had the guts to buy it off Music123 the online retailer, and it arrived in Malaysia in excellent condition.
The Ibanez RG 3120 is primarily a metal guitar. In fact, Ibanez electric guitars have just about become synonymous with metal and rock music. The Ibanez RG 3120 is made of an excellent wood combination, with a mahogany body with figured maple top, finished in transparent blue or red. The mahogany has excellent resonance, while the maple top adds brightness and lightens up the heavy warm tone of the mahogany.
Ibanez musical instruments have been around for many years. The name is Spanish, but the company actually has its roots in Japan. Salvador Ibanez was a Spanish luthier who was creating guitars and other stringed instruments as far back as the late 1800’s. The Hoshino Shoten company began importing those guitars from Spain, and eventually began producing their own. Because the Ibanez workshop in Spain was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War in the ’30s, the Hoshino company was able to buy rights to the name Ibanez, which was already well known among musicians.
Ibanez was not too well known in mainstream America until the early seventies, when it was discovered that they had some high-quality imitation Fenders and Gibsons in production. People began to buy Ibanez guitars instead of the more expensive American versions. The whole mess ended with a lawsuit against Ibanez. After settling out of court, they realized they could create their own designs of high quality electric and acoustic guitars.
The RG series of Ibanez electric guitars, which are the most numerous of all their models, dates back to 1987. Steve Vai had already worked with Ibanez in designing the JEM and the Universe Ibanez guitars. The RG’s were an offshoot from these other two types. There are several different types of the RG (which must stand for “regular”) series. The RGA guitars, for instance, have an arched top.
The Ibanez RG 3120 is a professional level axe that retails for just under $2000. Unfortunately, it is no longer in production by Ibanez, but you can still find it for sale on eBay and other used instrument dealers. If you are looking for a hot rocking electric guitar, it will certainly fill your needs.
Advantages: The Ibanez RG 3120 has a Wizard Prestige neck. The Ibanez Wizard neck design is one of the fastest around, being thin and flat. It is very thin, yet surprisingly stable and tough.
The bridge humbucker gives really good crunch, while you get a nice tone from the neck humbucking pickup. The mahogany body with maple top will give you lots of warmth in the mid tones. Maple on mahogany is a combination of woods that are used in some of the most expensive electric guitars you can buy, because of the excellent tone and resonance these woods produce.
The Ibanez RG 3120 is a really good looking guitar that is sure to get you noticed, both with its looks and its great metal tone. It is perfect for shredding.
Disadvantages: Some think the Ibanez RG 3120 electric guitar would look better with a truss rod cover. Some people don’t like the bridge and tremolo system. In addition to being hard to keep in tune, it has a reputation for the finish coming off, so that the metal gets some rust on it.
Specs:
- Mahogany body with figured AAA maple overlay
- Natural binding on body
- 3-piece maple neck
- Neck dimensions: 17 mm. at the first fret
- 20.0 mm. at the twelfth fret
- Grip Wizard heel style all access neck joint system
- RG shaped headstock
- Angle/joint 14 degree tilt
- No neck binding or purfling
- Rosewood fingerboard
- 43 mm. wide at the nut
- 56 mm. wide at the 21st fret
- 430 mm. Fretboard radius
- 25.5 inch (648 mm.) scale length
- 24 jumbo frets
- Abalone off-center dot inlays
- Cosmo Black hardware
- Gotoh SG-38 die cast tuning machines
- Locking nut
- Edge Pro bridge with tremolo
- Gotoh strap buttons
- No pickguard
- No truss rod cover
- Two humbucking pickups
- DiMarzio PAF-Pro pickup at the neck
- DiMarzio Tone Zone pickup at the bridge
- Black barrel control knobs
- One volume control knob
- One tone control knob
- Black knob pickup selector switch
- Transparent blue or red color
Related sites for the Ibanez RG 3120:
- Here is the Wikipedia article describing the Ibanez RG guitars.
- For a news article about the metal music trends in Ibanez guitars, check out this link.
- For an in depth review or the RGT3120, go to this page at the website, Jemsite. In fact, if you like Ibanez guitars and everything to do with them, you probably should get familiar with the whole site.
