Welcome Friends & Fans!
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Who Inspires Me Vocally
Artists that inspire and empower
I like a lot of different artists but I am really inspired by a unique few. By far the most influential artist for me would be Richard Marx. His pure raw and emotional sound and his struggles to become an artist really inspired me to become a performer, writer and singer. His songwriting is stellar and his vocal prowress is amazing.
I really like the unique tone that the late Michael Jackson was able to produce. He was smooth and still had "bite" to his voice. He really knew how to move the crowd. His favorite saying was "it's magic", and I truly believe that it was. Michael is the most influential singer and performer that gets me tuned up no doubt. I consider him to be one of my greatest vocal inspirations.Steve Perry is no doubt one of the best performers live and had the best sound in the studio. His smooth tenor tone and ability to scale the notes with ease gave him the nickname "The Voice". Geddy Lee the voice of the band Rush has the punchy high soaring vocals that defines the bands sound. My timbre has been compared to Geddy many times and I appreciate the comparison. .
Who Inspires Me Musically
Players who are exceptional
I like a lot of different genres and musical styles. I am really not bias to any music style. I love rock, pop, blues, jazz, hip hop, classical and everything in between. I am inspired by artists who are not afraid to push the boundaries of "commerical" music and let their tail feathers fly. I like the sylings of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Buckethead, N Sync, Cher, Celine Dion, RUSH,Bobby Darin, The Cure , Journey Joe Satriani, Van Halen,- just to name a few. .
About Me
I'm genuine
I am a down to earth guy who on the surface is very shy but I tend to open up once you get to know me. I like mixing it up with friends and I enjoy spending time with my family members. I really don't have a lot of friends per-say, I tend to keep only a hand full of those I trust the most. I am agressive when it comes to getting things done. I truly speak my mind and I love a good intelligent discussion or debate. I like to spend time writing lyrics and songs and I also enjoy designing graphics and web sites like this one. This one seems simple, not a lot of graphics or distractions - thats the way I wanted it, plain, easy to read and understand so you can get to know me and see that I am a normal, real person.
Rolling Stones Cover
Music LP - Shades of Gray
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Friends of Me
Def Leppard. Need I say more?
The Tongue Dance
Shovel Ready Defense
President Obama has just ordered massive cutbacks in defense spending, eventually to total some $500 billion. There is plenty of fat in a Pentagon budget that grew after 9/11, but such slashing goes way too far.
Fairly or not, the cuts will only cement the now-familiar stereotype of Obama's desire to retrench on the world scene. They follow symbolic apologies for purported past American sins, bows to foreign royals, and outreach to the likes of Iran and Syria. Abroad, such perceptions can matter as much as reality, as our rivals begin hoping that Obama is as dubious about America's historically exceptional world role as are they.
In contrast, a robust military keeps the peace by deterring aggressors through the appearance of overwhelming force. We often forget that the appearance of strength in peace is almost as important as the reality of strength in war. When wars end, we scale back (think 1919 or 1946) — only to kick ourselves once tensions arise again out of nowhere, and we must scramble to catch up and rearm for an unimagined World War II or Cold War.
America's armed forces spend about 80 percent of their budgets not on bullets and bombs but on training and compensating troops. Often, they do a far better job of shaping the minds and character of our youth than do our colleges. Somehow the military can take an 18-year-old and teach him to park a $100 million fighter on a carrier deck, but our colleges cannot ensure that his civilian counterpart will show up regularly for classes. Young men and women leave the service debt-free and with skills. Too many of our college students pile up debt and become increasingly angry that by their mid-20s they still have received neither competitive skills nor real education.
The reason why our deficit is more than $1 trillion is not just that we have multimillion-dollar jet fighters or tens of thousands of Marines. Defense outlays currently represent only about 20 percent of federal budget expenditures and are below 5 percent of our gross national product. Those percentages are roughly average costs for recent years — despite an ongoing deployment in Afghanistan. In contrast, over the last three years we have borrowed a record near– $5 trillion for vast unfunded entitlements — from a spiraling Social Security and Medicare to an expansion of the food-stamp program to include one-seventh of America. Yet many Americans would probably prefer a new frigate manned by highly trained youth to discourage our enemies, rather than another Solyndra-like investment or a near– $1 trillion stimulus aimed at creating jobs in "shovel-ready" projects.
i've come to look forward to these friday morning op/eds from victor hanson... another good read through while drinking that hot morning coffee that i just can't seem to go without.
Rugby Babes
Sexy Scarlett
Very Busy People
another one i've been hearing recently is this one: Internet Killed The Video Star
Hipsters Going Amish
Attention trendwatchers: There's a new hipster icon in town. They wear black and white, eschew buttons, rarely wear accessories, and mostly only hang out with one another. Their elusive hipster enclave isn't in Williamsburg, Brooklyn or Silver Lake in Los Angeles – or even in "Portlandia." For the latest trend in oblique hipness, head to Pennsylvania Dutch country and the homes of the Amish.
Yes, you read that correctly, the Amish are experiencing a zeitgeist of fashion-forwardness that they haven't experienced since, well, the 1800s. Last year the New York Times ran a fashion spread under the title "Amish Fashion Week" featuring men in simply cut trousers, unadorned shirts, and broad-brimmed black hats. As with many trends from the runway, the look has finally trickled down to the rest of us. But the accidental hipsterness doesn't extend just to fashion.
In a recent Los Angeles Times profile of an L.A. hairdresser who grew up Amish, the author states, "In her first 30 years, she's butchered large farm animals ... sewn her own clothes, grown and canned her food." Whether in Austin or Brooklyn, there are unquestionably hipsters engaging in those very same activities right now. Go buy some jam, pickles, or pies at a local artisanal market and the purveyors are as likely to be young urbanites as they are Amish farmers.
'Angry Black Woman'
the words been out for quite awhile about Mrs. Obama being a bit of a bitch... and this coming from quite a few people that've worked in the White House over the last couple years.
Suicidal Xbox Workers
BEIJING (AP) — Dozens of workers assembling Xbox video game consoles climbed to a factory dormitory roof, and some threatened to jump to their deaths, in a dispute over job transfers that was defused but highlights growing labor unrest as China's economy slows.
The dispute was set off after contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group announced it would close the assembly line for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 models at its plant in the central city of Wuhan and transfer the workers to other jobs, workers and Foxconn said Thursday.
Workers reached by telephone said Foxconn initially offered severance pay for those who wanted to leave rather than be transferred, but then reneged, angering the workers; Foxconn, in a statement, disputed that account, saying only transfers were offered, not severance.
The workers climbed to the top of the six-story dormitory on Jan. 3 and threatened to jump before Wuhan city officials persuaded them to desist and return to work, according to the workers and accounts online. The workers gave varying estimates of the numbers involved in the strike, from 80 to 200, and photos posted online showed dozens of people crowding the roof of the boxy concrete building.
man, what's up with working conditions at this Foxconn plant in china? seems like they keep popping up in the news, most notably with regards to Apple... can't help but feel for the people working their asses off over there. geeesh.
speaking of Apple, i read somewhere that they've started production on the new iPad 3's and that we might be looking at new sexy ipads around march or so – if it has the retina display and siri, i might just break down and get one.