Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category
Get Dosed
February 3rd, 2012
Over at The Daily Dose, we keep a close eye on trending news topics every morning. One day an arsonist is lighting up 52 cars in south Los Angeles, and the next everyone’s fired up about a baby cursing on television. By nightfall the story is cold, but when you log on again there’s something new and unpredictable and strange, like actress Kristen Bell being driven to tears by a sloth.
My hope in writing these daily pieces for MSN is that a story might occasionally give you reason to step off the dizzying carousel of the 24-hour news cycle and just think for a minute. The relentless raining down of information doesn’t make that easy, but if a subject in the news or an oddball trend on the web resonates with you on some level, drop by and share your thoughts. The Daily Dose hasn’t officially launched yet, so your comments will help shape the content to come. Hope to see you there.
Also on Daily Dose:
Great Moments in State Of The Union Addresses
Ock Out
December 7th, 2011
Regular visitors to this site (Ma? You out there?) know that I prefer this blog to be as self-aggrandizing as possible. I like to think that’s the charm of it. But sometimes you find a reason — in this case, eight of them — to set ego aside.
The Rock Ock guitar, seen here in its video debut, was commissioned by our good friends at the National Guitar Museum. Built by luthier Dan Neafsey and designed by Gerard Huerta (who already has plenty of rock cred as the designer of iconic logos for AC/DC, Boston, and others), the Rock Ock is “the world’s largest, fully playable multi-necked stringed instrument.” To hear NGM Director HP Newquist describe it, creating the guitar wasn’t half as difficult as figuring out how to position eight grown men around the necks to play them all at once.
But play they did. Dig their version here of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads.” We had never pictured it as an 8-way intersection.
The Rock Ock will be on display through January 2012 at the Orlando Science Center in Orlando, Florida, where the traveling National Guitar Museum is currently exhibiting. You can see the Ock when NGM rolls through your town — if they can figure out how to build a case for it.
Dan Neafsey: Mandolin
Billy Perlman: Ukulele
Gerard Huerta: 6 String
HP Newquist: Fretless Bass
Connor Levinson: Bass
Dave Hill: 12 String
Glenn Levinson: Baritone Guitar
Kent Haehl: 7-String
Doug Seirup: Camera & Editing
Get TED in Your Head
November 2nd, 2011
Once a year, thought leaders from the fields of medicine and healthcare present progressive ideas at the TEDMED Conference. If you’re already familiar with TED talks, you know that the speeches and presentations can be mind-blowing. Among the topics addressed at TEDMED 2011, held last week in San Diego, were medical mushrooms, the near future of robotics, redefining cancer, the “poetry” of genetics, and surgery without a scalpel. In addition to scientistics, researchers, and CEO’s on the bleeding edge, speakers included Steve Wozniak, Diana Nyad, Lance Armstrong, and US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin.
Alexander Tsiaras, who has elevated medical imaging to an art form, spoke on the subject How Can You Visualize Your Way To Better Health? Tsiaras is also the Founder/CEO of TheVisualMD.com, a site that is revolutionizing health information online. I’m proud to be a writer for TheVisualMD and to have contributed content used in Alexander’s TEDMED presentation. Vid links will be posted here as soon as they’re available. There is a wealth of online health info beyond WebMD, friends — and not every site is peddling fear and pharmaceuticals.
- Week 19 in utero
Re-Strung
September 20th, 2011
Let’s do some catching up over the next few entries — quick, before blogging is passé.
September has proven to be a big month for guitar nerds, at least this one.
• Many thanks to my friends in the band 3rd Gear for having me share a bill with them on the first annual Playing For Change Day (Sep17), when performances around the world promoted peace and positive change through music. For just a few bucks you can sponsor a music program in Ghana or fix a guy’s djembe at PlayingForChange.org.
• The National Guitar Museum is now in Orlando, FL, where the traveling museum is closing in on its 100,000th guest. One of the first through the doors in Florida was nylon-string master Muriel Anderson, pictured below playing a diddleybo of mine – that’s the three-string Mickey Mouse job she’s holding — and actually taking the care to tune it. The did-bo was a gift from my hombres at TrueFire. Thanks to NGM Director HP Newquist for the image and for knighting me as curator.
• Those lucky enough to be in Montana for the Crown of the Continent Guitar Workshop & Festival were treated to a week of guitar slinging and fly fishing alongside greats like Steve Lukather, Lee Ritenour, Scott Tennant, Joe Bonamassa and David Wilcox. This is a trip for every guitarist to have on his/her bucket list. Hurricane Irene blew my plans this year but I’m in for 2012.
• Thanks to Dan Zaccari, a friend from Guitar Magazine days, for flagging me on this posting on DGM, headquarters of the Discipline Global Mobile record label. Fans of Robert Fripp get it.
Serious Risks for Student Athletes
February 15th, 2011
An 18-year-old student named B.J. Giannone was competing in a swim meet in Jersey City, NJ, on the last day of January. B.J. was enormously well liked, had a girlfriend he was thrilled about, and was headed to Virginia Tech in the fall. But when he finished the 200-yard relay, he dropped on the pool deck and never got up. B.J. was pronounced dead by the time he reached the hospital.
The tragedy was all too familiar, and uncannily timed, for members of the John Taylor Babbitt Foundation. The family-based, non-profit group was founded by David and JoAnne Babbitt of Chatham, NJ, who lost their son John under similar circumstances in 2006. John was an accomplished young athlete, and also a very well-liked guy, when he died suddenly at age 16 while playing basketball with friends. The Babbitt and Giannone families live just a few towns away from one another in suburban New Jersey.
But the JTB Foundation is hopeful and forward-looking. Its members are dedicated to the prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death through awareness campaigns, the placement of defibrillators on ballfields, and the raising of funds for scientific research.
On February 10th, the Foundation hosted an event at John’s school to reduce risks to student athletes. Three expert physicians spoke on risk mitigation relating specifically to concussion, ACL injuries, and sudden cardiac arrest (read more about their respective presentations here). One invaluable piece of information taken away by the coaches, trainers, nurses and parents in attendance was that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) — the leading cause of sudden cardiac arrest — may be detectable at a heart screening. If you have a heart, get screened. If your child is playing any sport, have him or her screened. There are affordable and even free programs available nationwide, so consult your physician if you can’t find a local screening center.
The Babbitts contacted me to help produce and moderate the event, and it was some of the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. Thanks to all involved and to the insights shared by Drs. Marc Silberman, John Hurley, and Martin Maron.
