"Feel It In My Bones"

T+S+Tiesto from Tegan and Sara on Vimeo.

Hear it HERE...It's killer!

Thank you Les Paul

Today the world lost an amazing innovator and musician. The creator of the solid-body electric guitar, multi-track recording, and arguably rock music itself has passed away at 94.
Paul's first electric guitar prototype was a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings, which he put together in the mid to late 1930s. He deemed his creation "The Log."
"I went into a nightclub and played it," Paul told the Associated Press. "Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He eventually attached the body of an Epiphone guitar to his invention, making it look more like a normal guitar.
In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production of the Les Paul guitar. Pete Townsend of The Who, Steve Howe of Yes, and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their guitar of choice.
From the 1940's-the 1960's he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including "Vaya Con Dios," "How High the Moon," "Nola" and "Lover." with his wife Mary Ford. Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul had helped develop.
Without Les Paul rock music probably would not have happened. Can there be a more influential figure in music? Without the electric guitar there would be no Beatles, no Stones, no Jimi Hendrix. Without multi-track recording technology there would be no White Album, no Pro-tools, no Hip-Hop and definitely no independent musicians that could go into a cabin in Wisconsin and put out an album considered to be one of the best of last year...(I am talking to you Justin V! Say thank you!)
I can not imagine what the world would be like if Les Paul had never existed...it just seems empty. Thank you Les Paul for well...Everything.

Kaki King dips into to visual art...

About three months ago, the New York-based guitarist Kaki King invited her fans to create artwork using blank guitars as canvases. The theme of each piece would be the title of one of her songs. Sixteen people were eventually selected for the project and their art will be shown at an event, titled 'The Exhibition,' which opens this Friday at Littlefield, a performance and art space in Brooklyn, New York.
At the opening, King will participate in the exhibition by placing pink paint on her fingertips and performing 'Playing With Pink Noise' on her well-known blue Ovation guitar, which was used in the 2004 music video for the song. That guitar will be later put up for auction with the money going to VH1's Save the Music Foundation, which funds music education in public schools.
The artists for the project were found through Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter and once the artists were chosen, King shipped blank guitars, donated by Ovation. Whether 'The Exhibition' could possibly expand into a traveling show depends on a number of things, such as selling the art or the responses online.
Doors for 'The Exhibition' open at 7 PM ET. Admission is free. Meanwhile, folks can check the progress of the guitars, including the final pieces, here.

Don't fear the Twitter

This is a spontaneous video made on July 1, 2009 in Hermosa Beach CA. Amanda Palmer had gathered a bunch of folks by announcing a "ninja beach gig" on her blog & twitter. Lots of people came, Amanda played ukulele for a while, there was a big group photo shoot. AFP decided it was a fine day for a music video.

Bobby McFerrin gave a powerful demonstration on humans natural reaction to the Pentatonic Scale at the 2009 World Science Festival. The "Notes and Neurons" segment of the festival asked the question is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment?
Look at this and be the judge.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

The Pentatonic Scale is a musical scale with five pitches per octave. The Pentatonic Scale is very common and is found all over the world, including but not limited to Celtic folk music, Hungarian folk music, West African music, African-American spirituals, Jazz, American blues music and rock music.