Guitar Licks and Tips

Kiss is NOT coming to Oshawa?

The contest, called Demand Kiss, that the band KISS held over the summer was to see how many Kiss fans in any city would vote to have them play there on their latest tour. Oshawa, On. was the winning Canadian city with 14,569 votes.

What is the real reason why the band took the city off it’s official tour dates?

“I’m devastated,” Oshawa Councilor Robert Lutczyk said. “Gene told us personally that KISS would be in Oshawa. He said the top three in the contest are guaranteed a show.”

The band’s publicist, Erik Stein, did say that the band had something special in store for the city. What that is, was not disclosed. I’m not sure if Gene and the boys are just trying to create a buzz for the event or what, but it certainly has a lot a people pissed off.

The Sun, CBC and The Star gave this story tons of attention. They’re certainly getting a lot of publicity out of this.

I, for one, hope that this special event will blow everyone away because the town of Oshawa seems to be in desperate need of some good news! Even the United Church of Canada is behind the show! Odd but interesting! So let’s keep our fingers cross for all those Kiss Army fans in the city!

Keep on Jammin’

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Canada (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE)

The Canadian Guitar Festival highlights some of hidden talent that we have here on this continent. The Canadian Guitar Festival and Fingerstyle Guitar Competition offers the best of acoustic guitar virtuosity on an International stage.

Have you ever planned on doing something that you really, really want to do only to end up shake your head when you realize that you completely forgotten the thing that you swore to yourself that you wouldn’t forget? Well this is the one event’s! I’ve posted about this fabulous event before on my other blog and still I forget! A dear old friend on Facebook told me about this one, thanx for reminding me Mary! She actually sent me a link from her local newpaper about the festival.

The festival is held in a town called Kepler, which is a bit west of the festival. On the last day of the show, 19 competitors, some from as far away as Philadelphia and Hawaii, entered the finger-style guitar competition. Just imagine the different interpretations that can be heard on the stage, must of been nice!

A little side note here, Air Canada(not Westjet this time around) damaged a guitarist’s axe.

Calum Graham our 2nd place winner had his guitar smashed to pieces by Air Canada. Lets “cross our fingers in the hopes that Air Canada will do the right thing”! Canadian Guitar Festival 2009

I wonder if Bruce Cockburn ever gets the opportunity to get there? He lives in Kingston, which is about 20-22kms. from downtown Kingston.

Also in the area and on that same weekend was 2 other music festivals. One is called Flinton Jamboree and the other is Blue Skies. That’s an amazing amount of music for one weekend!

Did anyone here get the chance to go to this years Canadian Guitar Festival?

Keep on Jammin’

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So I guess I haven’t been keeping all of you in the loop as of yet? I’ve met this great nurse/guitarist/humanitarian at work quite a while back and invited him over to jam. Nothing special, just to get together after work and make some noise in the backyard!!!

He came over one night and we all sat in the back garden. Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you either, we have a KICK ASS backyard! My wife, Adrian, our dog Midnight and myself were all there and we just started talking and jammin’.

I noticed right away that we jelled quickly. For example, I did a rough version of If I had a Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn and he would be quietly doing some both simple and complex soloing in the background, nice! Then he would do a tune that he took over and I would be in the distance, filling in some holes and adding a fuller sound.

Adrian has had a very unique musical experience. He is a singer, bassist and guitarist. He’s played in Asia and Europe and has a diverse style of music that allows him to pull things out of his bad of artistic tricks out of his bag.

So last night we got together and said, let’s make a set list that we can work on and take it from there. We can mull them over the next couple of days and see what works well for each of us. It sounds like a good collaboration.

So here is what we have so far!

Hole Hearted – Extreme
Life in the Fast lane – Eagles
Summer Breeze – Seals and Croft
Barely Breathing – Duncan Sheik
I’d Love to change the world – 10 years after
Lucky Man – ELP
If I had a Rocket Launcher – Bruce Cockburn
Listen to the Music – Doobie Brothers
Jungle Love – Steve Miller
Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel
Ramble on – Led Zeppelin
Walk on the Wild Side – Lou Reed
There goes my Hero*acoustic – Foo Fighters
Did I also say that we are doing it acoustic? I think that we can pull around 90% of these tunes out and do them well.

So wish us luck and I’ll get back to you on the latest results when I can!

Keep on Jammin’

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