Category: Newswire

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s <em>All for the Hall</em> fundraiser will return to Los Angeles for a second consecutive year. The event, which will take place on Thursday, September 23, at Club Nokia, will again follow a "guitar pull" format featuring performances by Country Music Hall of Fame members Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson, superstar Taylor Swift, and a very special fourth chair that must remain anonymous.

The evening offers a unique opportunity to see these acclaimed singer-songwriters interact with one another as they take turns swapping songs, stories and personal recollections. The "guitar pull" is a Nashville specialty; it originated in the homes of Nashville songwriters who gathered to try out new compositions for their peers. Nashville’s most storied guitar pulls were hosted by Johnny and June Carter Cash. The hallmarks of a great guitar pull are spontaneity and camaraderie.

The Museum launched <em>All for the Hall</em>, its first-ever non-bricks-and-mortar fundraising campaign, in 2005. The campaign addresses the Museum’s need for long-term financial security and will provide a safety net for the institution and its work. This is the fourth year the Museum has taken its "annual giving" event on the road, hosting previous <em>All for the Hall</em> events in New York in 2007 and 2008 and in Los Angeles in 2009.

"This year especially, the event will provide much needed support as Nashville works to recover from the devastating impact of a once-every-500-years flood," said Director Kyle Young. "While our exhibits and collections are all on upper floors and never in danger, flood waters did reach ‘five feet high and rising’ in our ground-floor Ford Theater."

Last year’s event, also held at Club Nokia, featured performances by Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam and Melissa Etheridge; special guests included Chris Isaak, who also acted as host, Kara DioGuardi and Michael McDonald.

"Our <em>All for the Hall</em> Los Angeles debut gave us an opportunity to focus on West Coast country music history and remind our guests that these artists and executives and their songs are a part of the story we both preserve and teach at the Museum," said Young. "By design, guitar-pull content is unplanned and unrehearsed. It was very exciting to see West Coast country spontaneously become the theme of the 2009 performances, which included musical salutes to Gram Parsons, Buck Owens and Cindy Walker, among others," he said. "We are grateful for our warm welcome last year and look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones in September."

Describing last year’s event, Ann Powers of the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> wrote, "Any visitor to the [Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum] realizes that music also can take the form of a joke, a nursery rhyme, a prayer, a come-on or a campfire tale…Harris, Yoakam, Melissa Etheridge and Vince Gill touched upon all those forms, showing the flexibility of ‘country’ as they did so…" (10/2/09).

Guests at the 2009 event included legendary producer (and former Elvis Presley and Emmylou Harris pianist) Tony Brown; recording artist and songwriter Sarah Buxton; <em>Desperate Housewives</em> actor James Denton; eclectic singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones; renowned western tailor Manuel; actress-writer-director Marianna Palka; actress Mary Kay Place, star of television’s <em>Big Love</em>; and film-theater-television actor Jason Ritter, son of the late actor John Ritter and grandson of Country Music Hall of Fame member Tex Ritter.

For more, visit countrymusichalloffame.org.

Alfred Music Publishing is publishing <em>The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Acoustic Guitar Hits, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Rock Guitar Hits</em>, and <em>The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Rock Hits for Ukulele</em>.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide series will have music makers strumming and fingerpicking to their favorite songs in no time! Written in full music notation and TAB, these one-of-a-kind arrangements sound just like the album versions and are easy to play. Each song begins with a lesson that teaches style and technique-offering important tips to help you play the song perfectly! In addition, the books begin with a short refresher course on the basics of music theory to bring musicians of any level up to speed.

Using Alfred’s exclusive Tone ‘N’ Tempo software on the included CDs, these fun and educational books provide customized learning by allowing the user to easily loop sections for practice, slow tracks down or speed them up without changing the pitch, switch back and forth between the full-performance and play-along tracks, and even change keys! Three versions of each song are included on the CD: full performance with vocals, full performance without vocals, and full performance without guitar/ukulele for play-along.

<em>The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Acoustic Guitar Hits</em> offers 25 simple, authentic arrangements of the hugely popular acoustic hits of our time. Featuring legendary artists such as Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Harry Chapin, Plain White Ts, Green Day, Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers, and Fleetwood Mac, this book will have you strumming and fingerpicking your favorite songs immediately! Titles: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You * Cat’s in the Cradle * Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) * Hey There Delilah * How Can You Mend a Broken Heart * Margaritaville * Moondance * Never Going Back Again* Take It Easy * and many more.

<em>The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Rock Guitar Hits</em> presents 25 of the greatest rock hits ever, featuring rock ‘n’ roll legends such as Creed, Santana, Green Day, Pink Floyd, Nickelback, The Allman Brothers, Cream, and Derek &amp; the Dominos. Through authentic arrangements that are accessible even to beginners, this book will have you playing those world-famous, classic guitar parts in no time! Titles: Bad to the Bone * Boulevard of Broken Dreams * Creep * Hotel California * How You Remind Me * Immigrant Song * Paralyzer * Smooth * Soul Man * Sunshine of Your Love * and many more.

<em>The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Rock Hits for Ukulele</em> is the ultimate guide to learning your favorite rock hits on the ukulele, the instrument craze sweeping the country! Featuring Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo’ole’s famous rendition of "Over the Rainbow," this book includes 25 simple, but authentic arrangements of rock hits by hugely popular artists such as Pink Floyd, Green Day, Radio Head, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Journey, Cream, and more. Titles: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) * Bad to the Bone * Do You Want to Know a Secret * Don’t Stop Belevin’ *Gimme Some Lovin’ * If You Could Read My Mind * Stairway to Heaven * Sunshine of Your Love* Wild Night * and many more.

The Manson John Paul Jones E-Bass model is a replica of the bass that Hugh Manson made for Jones in the early ’90s and has become John’s first call four-string ever since. Featuring a maple through-neck construction, figured maple top, Aged Cherry Sunburst high gloss lacquer, ebony fingerboard, EMG pickups and active circuit, Hipshot D-Tuner, Schaller machineheads and Badass bridge, the specs reflect exactly the current upgraded hardware of the bass John is currently using on tour with Them Crooked Vultures. Visit mansons.co.uk.

Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi of the legendary heavy metal band Black Sabbath have amicably resolved their problems over the ownership of the Black Sabbath name and court proceedings in New York have been discontinued. Both parties are glad to put this behind them and to cooperate together for the future and would like it to be known that the issue was never personal, it was always business.

The 2010 Coney Island Cockabilly Roadshow features, "…the trashiest, dirtiest rock and roll, the most mind-bending and bizarre sideshow and the most sultry and seductive burlesque that Coney Island has to offer." The traveling roadshow will play clubs and bars across the United States, concluding over Labor Day Weekend on the boardwalk in Coney Island, New York. Check it out cockabillyrecords.com.

The Lava Mini Coil cable has a 99.99 percent pure oxygen-free low-strand count copper conductor, right angle G&amp;H Show Saver Plugs, and low noise due special layering and a proprietary outer jacket. The Mini Coil can stretch to between one and 12 inches. It is offered in a variety of colors including black, white, purple, metallic green, metallic red, and orange.Learn more at lavacable.com.

Take a Stand guitar stands are designed to be structurally sound, aesthetically beautiful, and flattering to your guitar and its surroundings. They are handcrafted using fine hardwoods with wood trim accents, machined metal and genuine leather.

Designed and patented by Stuart Mono, the stands provide a balanced, low center of gravity for maximum stability. Minimal contact with the guitar’s finish is an essential feature. The contact points are surgical rubber covered with genuine leather, thus protecting the guitar’s finish. The supports are secured to the neck of the stand using internal hardened stainless-steel pins.

The two models available can accommodate virtually all guitars including unique shaped guitars like Gibson Flying Vs and Explorers. For more, go to TakeaStandInc.com.

While in the midst of its 30th Anniversary tour, The Michael Schenker Group will release <em>Live In Tokyo: 30th Anniversary Japan Tour</em> on DVD this October 19. Recorded in January, 2010, the group consists of Michael Schenker, Gary Barden, Simon Phillips, Wayne Findlay, and Neil Murray. The band blasts through a track list highlighting all stages of Schenker’s career, from UFO and Scorpions hits through MSG classic tracks, to his solo compositions. The tour is ongoing.