Chris Hartzog » Blog

Lost In Your Arms of Love

chartzog — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:12:49 +0000

Did you ever screw up?

Did you ever screw up your life and not realize at the time that you were screwed up?

Did you ever realize that at one time you were screwing up your life and while oblivious to the fact that you were totally screwing things up, someone was in your life loving you and standing by you and willing to take you back?

That is what this song is about. Sometimes that forgiveness and love comes from a strong person in your life, sometimes it comes from yourself and it always comes from God who loves you unconditionally.

This is the third official song release in my Podcast series for my new album, “Lost In Your Arms of Love” and this song will be the title track and believe it or not is called, “Lost In Your Arms of Love.”

But, whoa….I looked at the calendar since my last post in this series and it looks like I got distracted by life again from my release schedule. Part of the distraction is that we became doggie daddy and mommy again. Here is Kaleigh and Dylan. Dylan came from the Shetland Sheepdog rescue when he found himself suddenly in need of a new loving home. Kaleigh is always wondering where her next meal is coming from.

Anyway, the good news is I have gotten a lot of studio work done and I now have a few songs re-done and ready to post. So, for this week I decided to grab out of my finished music bucket Lost In Your Arms of Love. This tune did not require too much work in order to re-release it for this CD as my original recording was pretty solid. I did pull this song over off my PC onto the Mac and remixed it using Logic Pro and readjusted the mix levels. Since there is no direct export-import from Sonar to Logic, redoing this song was really quite a bit of work. Anway, a few lessons with Michael Powers on mixing really opened my eyes to how bad my old mixes were!

Now, here is a better mix of the song.

My Favorite Links for February 25th through February 27th

chartzog — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:20:00 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for February 25th through February 27th:

Music and the Brain

chartzog — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:27:43 +0000

The AP published an interesting article recently describing the links found in the brain between music and words including the possiblity that intense therapy with music might improve speech in not only stroke patients, but in individuals with autism as well. It’s nice to know that what my wife and I have known instinctively for years….using music to help our autistic daughter process and understand language better….is now being backed up by science. This also adds more meaning to the work I do with music with nursing home residents, especially those experiencing memory loss such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Add some music and suddenly non-responsive folks start smiling, or tapping a foot or finger or sometimes even singing.

The full article published on Yahoo News, titled, “Research finds brain link for words, music ability”, can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100220/ap_on_sc/us_sci_words_and_music

Irish Rockerwoman 2010

chartzog — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:02:53 +0000

It appears iTunes has a one track mind. I noticed today that the first post I made under this “Lost in Your Arms of Love” series, which included links to two mp3’s only provides the first mp3 when you access it in iTunes. If you go to the post in my blog, both files are there. So I am reposting the song, “Irish Rockerwoman 2010” today so that this will flow through to iTunes. I guess next time if I want to include a spoken introduction along with the song, I will have to merge them into one.

Of Ringtones and Samples

chartzog — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:36:21 +0000

We’ve not been slouching here around the Kilika Music Studios of late. A lot of behind the scenes activity has in fact been taking place. One interesting development, to me anyway, is that on a whim I decided to see if I could create some ringtones. I never really cared too much for the stock ringtones that came with my Verizon phone and I thought, “gee wouldn’t it be cool if I could turn some of my songs into ringtones?” ”Yeah, it would.” came the answer.

I have a unique sense of humor or perspective I suppose…..for some reason when I hear the word “ringtone” I think of “toe rings”….but as you can see, I don’t have any.

At long last, I set to work to figure out how to do it. Along this journey, I discovered the nice folks at Myxer (www.myxer.com) had put a system in place to let me do exactly what I was after. So I went through their process and created some ringtones with some of my tunes and put them on Myxer’s site. Well, I ran to the window and threw open the sash, and what to my wondering eyes should appear in less than a month, with no advertising at all and without even yet being included in Myxer’s official catalog, I have had over 100 downloads of my ringtones. That is pretty amazing to think that there are over 100 people walking around with one of my songs playing now whenever their phone rings. What a great country! The only glitch is that if you have a Verizon phone (like me!) Verizon will not allow you to download these ringtones from Myxer. They in their corporate wisdom are thinking you will go and buy a ringtone from them instead. LOL. Well, in a future post I will give some details on a Verizon workaround for all of you suckers like me who were left out in the cold.

In case you missed it, here is how you can get my ringtones:

From your mobile phone, Text CHRISHARTZOG to 69937 (MYXER) to get my content directly from your phone…Or,
You can also visit my site from your phone, simply go to: http://m.myxer.com/CHRISHARTZOG…Or,
Via your PC on the web, go to : http://www.myxer.com/CHRISHARTZOG/…Or,
Or if you want, use the widget below to browse through all ringtones.

And for the day when this post is buried in my archives, I created a permanent Ringtone page where you can check back for new content.

My Favorite Links for January 13th

chartzog — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:00:00 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for January 13th:

The Official Carol Kaye Web Site – One of the greatest bass players of all time! Carol was the number 1 on call bassist with over 10,000 sessions. There are tons of songs we have all listened to with Carol playing the bass line. Carol is a great educator too and goes out of her way to help aspiring musicians.
Welcome to Weather Underground : Weather Underground – This is one of the most fun weather site's I have found. No frills, no nonsense….it just gives me the weather info that I want.
Apple – What can I say about this site and company? I love Apple and their products (that's coming from somebody who lives in Microsoft's back yard). Of course Microsoft changed the computing world working with an incredibly weak architecture and that's great…but Apple's stuff is just slick, easy to use and appeals to the artist in me. My next goal is to save for a new MacBook Pro. The new iMac is quite cool, but I would rather have the laptop portability.

Michelle, When I Hear Your Name

chartzog — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:07:51 +0000

This is the second release in the podcast series for my new album, “Lost In Your Arms of Love” and this song is called, “Michelle, When I Hear Your Name.” I wrote this song for my daughter and yes her name is Michelle.

I’m sure all dads of daughters have a special bond with their child, but it is even more special when you have a special child on the autism spectrum. There are so many things I am sure that she thinks and wants to tell me but can’t because the autism and her body get in the way and there are so many things I feel that I wish I knew she understood, but when words get in the way we just look in each others eyes and I know we both know that we have communicated the unspeakable. In the end the lack of perfect speaking and hearing abilities doesn’t really matter because the love that binds us is a real, living force and it goes much deeper that speech ever could. It is God who brought us together and that’s all that matters.

And likewise, it is hard for me to begin to describe to you what a unique, spiritual, blessing filled, faith inspiring, special journey it has been ever since the day she was born.

Here is the song: Michelle, When I Hear Your Name

How to Setup Your Electric Guitar – Part 3

chartzog — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:39:20 +0000

This is the third article of a three part series on how to set up your electric guitar. Part one is located here and part two is located here.

Every time I go to set up my guitar I have to go look up the details because my memory does not retain these kinds of details for some reason. I have gone through my owners manuals and other guitar books and compiled the following tutorial that is generic enough to cover most guitars. I hope this is helpful for you. Having the correct setup on your guitar is key to improving its playability, tone and your enjoyment. These instructions should apply to most guitars, however some adjustments might be required to suit your personal preferences and your guitar might be slightly different than the examples given in this document.

This installment of how to setup your electric guitar goes over basic action and pickup adjustments to help you get the playability that suits your style.

Action Adjustment

Action (height of the strings from the frets) is a subjective adjustment depending on a player’s technique, style of music and individual preferences. Some players need lower action; others need higher action to avoid string buzzing on the frets. So here is the basic action adjustment procedure:

Check tuning.
Measure distance between bottom of strings and top of the 17th fret using a 6″ (150 mm) ruler.
Adjust bridge saddles to the height according to the values listed in the table below, “Typical Action Specifications”.
Re-tune the guitar.
Experiment with the height until the desired sound and feel is achieved.
Repeat the above steps if necessary.

Neck Radius	String Height Bass Side	String Height Treble Side
7.25"	5/64" (2.0 mm)	4/64" (1.6 mm)
9.5" to 12"	4/64" (1.6 mm)	4/64" (1.6 mm)
15" to 17"	4/64" (1.6 mm)	3/64" (1.2 mm)

Typical Action Specifications

Neck Radius String Height Bass Side String Height Treble Side

7.25" 5/64" (2.0 mm) 4/64" (1.6 mm)

9.5" to 12" 4/64" (1.6 mm) 4/64" (1.6 mm)

15" to 17" 4/64" (1.6 mm) 3/64" (1.2 mm)

Final Intonation Adjustment

Final intonation adjustments should be made after all of the above steps have been completed.

Set the pickup selector in the middle (if applicable), volume and tone controls to the max.
Check tuning.
Compare each string at the 12th fret harmonic to 12th fret fretted note.
If sharp, lengthen string by adjusting the saddle back.
If flat, shorten string by moving the saddle forward.
Re-tune, play and make further adjustments as needed.

Pickups

Note: Setting pickups too high can cause a variety of problems.

Depress all strings at the last fret.
Using 6″ (150 mm) ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the 1st and 6th strings to top of the pole piece.
In general, the distance should be greatest at the 6th string neck pickup and closest at the 1st string bridge position.
Use the measurements listed in the table below, “Typical Pickup Clearance Values” as guidelines. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull of the pickup.

Note: Larger gauges of strings need wider vibration allowances. If you are using heavier gauge strings, your measurements will need to be increased accordingly.

Pickup Type	Bass Side	Treble Side
Standard Single-Coil	5/64" (2.0 mm)	4/64" (1.6 mm)
Humbuckers	4/64" (1.6 mm)	4/64" (1.6 mm)

Typical Pickup Clearance Values

Pickup Type Bass Side Treble Side

Standard Single-Coil 5/64" (2.0 mm) 4/64" (1.6 mm)

Humbuckers 4/64" (1.6 mm) 4/64" (1.6 mm)

Well, that is the end of my three part series on the basics of how to setup your electric guitar. I hope this helped you even a little bit to improve how your guitar plays and ultimately increase your enjoyment of this wonderful instrument and friend we call “guitar”.

Peace,

Chris

Lost In Your Arms Of Love In The New Year

chartzog — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:56:05 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! Let’s have a great 2010!

I am starting a new podcast series today called, “Lost In Your Arms Of Love”. You can grab the RSS for this and put it in your feedreader. Eventually, once Apple does whatever it is that they do with newly submitted feeds, it should show up in the podcasts section of iTunes. My sales blurb for this podcast series is:

Free Creative Commons Music: “Lost In Your Arms Of Love”, is a music project in which Chris Hartzog is producing studio versions of the “The Musing Mana Song Project” songs and releasing them for free as a Podcast. Afterward, Chris will offer all of these songs on CD format at his online store and from iTunes and other digital distributors.

Recording has some very tedious aspects to it….the songwriting and playing part is “fun”, but the editing and mixing and editing and mixing over and over again is hard work.

I guess I should feel good…it only took me about 8 takes to get the vocals right for Wild Man From Tenessee (coming in a future podcast) but I think I heard Elvis took something like 28 takes for one of his songs….does anybody know which one? Hound Dog? Oh well, it doesn’t matter.

And without further adieu, here is the first song release under this project….no, sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not yet, “Lost In Your Arms Of Love” mainly because I am releasing these songs in the track order I plan to put them on the disk….for no special reason other than I am kind of anal retentive and it seemed like the thing to do….creative life is a challenge for a right brain engineer by day and left brain musician at night…but I make do. Oops, that was a bit of dieu….(doo?). OK, here you go, the 2010 edition of Irish Rockerwoman.

My Favorite Links for December 31st

chartzog — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:55:00 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for December 31st:

Washington Blues Society – If you love blues like I do, you’ll have to check out this site, especially if you are from Seattle or anywhere in Washington. There’s a band directory, a club guide, info on blues shows on the radio, and all the blues news you can use.
Mel Bay’s Guitar Sessions® Webzine | Free Online Guitar Magazine | November 2009 – Check it out. How many of you have been assigned the Mel Bay guitar method book by your guitar teacher? I discovered Mel Bay is on line (who isn’t?) with this free newsletter available. I’ll have to check it out…if you’re like me you need all the help available.

Ringtones for Christmas

chartzog — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:25:23 +0000

What a country! Free ringtones provided below courtesy of Myxer.com…and of course me for creating the music.

So….here is a little Christmas gift from me to my web site readers and visitors. Since it is Christmas, I made sure I included my one Christmas recording, the traditional Austrian melody, “Still, Still, Still”.

Thanks to the marvels of modern technology one can create their own ringtone and download it to their cell phone all in a matter of minutes and completely free. Except of course your wireless charges if that applies.

Here is what you need to do:

From your mobile phone, Text CHRISHARTZOG to 69937 (MYXER) to get my content directly from your phone.
You can also visit my site from your phone, simply go to: http://m.myxer.com/CHRISHARTZOG
Via your PC on the web, go to : http://www.myxer.com/CHRISHARTZOG/
Or if you want, use the widget below to browse through all ringtones.

And for the day when this post is buried in my archives, I created a permanent Ringtone page where you can check back for new content.

Guitar Setup Volume 3

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:00:08 +0000

For those of you who have been reading “How to Setup Your Electric Guitar” parts 1 and 2 and have asked about the final section, part 3 — This is a quick post to let you know section 3 will be finished soon. I’ve become a new doggie daddy this week, with a 2nd baby on the way this weekend, so my writing and blogging is getting done in between training and housebreaking. .

Have a very blessed and merry Christmas!

Chris Hartzog

My Favorite Links for December 22nd

chartzog — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:02:25 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for December 22nd:

Chris Hartzog on MySpace Music – Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads – It appears so far in my "Favorite Links" blog series I have failed to tag MySpace. But since I own this little square of MySpace land I guess I should go ahead and tag it. MySpace is a StrangeSpace especially from an HTML perspective, and I don't hang out here very often, but it is one of those "obligations" it seems if you are into music. So here it is. http://www.myspace.com/kilikamusic

My Favorite Links for December 16th

chartzog — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:05 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for December 16th:

500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error

How to Setup Your Electric Guitar – Part 2

chartzog — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:06:42 +0000

Every time I go to set up my guitar I have to go look up the details because my memory does not retain these kinds of details for some reason. This is the first of a three part series on how to set up your electric guitar. I have gone through my owners manuals and other guitar books and compiled the following tutorial that is generic enough to cover most guitars. I hope this is helpful for you.

Having the correct setup on your guitar is key to improving its playability, tone and your enjoyment. These instructions should apply to most guitars, however some adjustments might be required to suit your personal preferences and your guitar might be slightly different than the examples given in this document.

Basic Intonation Adjustment:

Using a tape measure, measure the distance from the inside of the nut to the center of the 12th fret wire.

Multiply that measurement by two (2) for the scale length of the guitar.

Adjust the bridge saddle of the 1st string to the scale length you calculated in step # 1. This is done by measuring from the inside of the nut to the center of the bridge saddle.

Adjust the distance of the 2nd saddle back from the 1st saddle, by the diameter of the 2nd string as a measurement (For Example: If the 2nd string is .011″ (0.3 mm) you would move the 2nd string back .011″ (0.3 mm) from the 1st saddle).

Repeat this procedure with the remaining strings.

Truss-Rod Adjustment

Tune the guitar.

Install a capo at the 1st fret.

Push down the 6th string at the last fret.

Check the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the 8th fret using a feeler gauge. – Refer to the Table below for the recommended gaps

Look down the edge of the fingerboard from behind the headstock, looking toward the body.

If neck is too concave (action too high), turn the truss rod nut clockwise to remove excess relief. (The truss rod nut can be found either on the headstock or neck/body joint.)

If the neck is too convex (strings too close to the fingerboard), turn the truss rod nut counter-clockwise to allow the string tension to pull more relief into the neck.

Check your tuning, then check the string gap with the feeler gauge and adjust again as needed.

Caution: Because of the amount of string tension placed on the neck, it is best to loosen the strings prior to making any actual adjustment. After the adjustment is made retune the strings to pitch and check the gap a second time with the feeler gauge.

Note: Minor modifications of the specifications may also be made to allow for your individual style (i.e., how hard you pick or fret the guitar). These are minimum specifications, meant to guide you, and are not unwavering rules, since each player’s subjective requirements may differ somewhat.

Note: If find a lot of resistance when adjusting the truss rod, if your instrument needs constant adjustment, if adjusting the truss rod has no effect on the neck, or if you are not comfortable making this type of adjustment yourself, take your instrument to a professional guitar technician.

Typical Relief Specifications

Neck Radius	Relief
7.25"	.012" (0.30 mm)
9.5" to 12"	.010" (0.25 mm)
15" to 17"	.008" (0.20 mm)

This is the second of a three part series on how to set up your electric guitar. Part one is located here.

This installment of how to setup your electric guitar goes over basic intonation adjustments to help you make sure you are in tune all up and down the neck. If your intonation is not set correctly you will find that even though you have tuned the instrument so that the open strings are at the correct pitch, you will find that the higher you play in pitches along a given string the notes will either be flat or sharp from what they should be at a given fret location. There is a certain amount of compromise inherent in the tuning of an even tempered instrument, but proper intonation adjustment can make it a lot less noticeable.

Basic Intonation Adjustment:

Using a tape measure, measure the distance from the inside of the nut to the center of the 12th fret wire.
Multiply that measurement by two (2) for the scale length of the guitar.
Adjust the bridge saddle of the 1st string to the scale length you calculated in step # 2. This is done by measuring from the inside of the nut to the center of the bridge saddle.
Adjust the distance of the 2nd saddle back from the 1st saddle, by the diameter of the 2nd string as a measurement (For Example: If the 2nd string is .011″ (0.3 mm) you would move the 2nd string back .011″ (0.3 mm) from the 1st saddle).
Repeat this procedure with the remaining strings.

Truss-Rod Adjustment

Tune the guitar.
Install a capo at the 1st fret.
Push down the 6th string at the last fret.
Check the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the 8th fret using a feeler gauge. – Refer to the Table below for the recommended gaps
Look down the edge of the fingerboard from behind the headstock, looking toward the body.
If neck is too concave (action too high), turn the truss rod nut clockwise to remove excess relief. (The truss rod nut can be found either on the headstock or neck/body joint.)
If the neck is too convex (strings too close to the fingerboard), turn the truss rod nut counter-clockwise to allow the string tension to pull more relief into the neck.
Check your tuning, then check the string gap with the feeler gauge and adjust again as needed.

Caution: Because of the amount of string tension placed on the neck, it is best to loosen the strings prior to making any actual adjustment. After the adjustment is made retune the strings to pitch and check the gap a second time with the feeler gauge.

Note: Minor modifications of the specifications may also be made to allow for your individual style (i.e., how hard you pick or fret the guitar). These are minimum specifications, meant to guide you, and are not unwavering rules, since each player’s subjective requirements may differ somewhat.

Note: If find a lot of resistance when adjusting the truss rod, if your instrument needs constant adjustment, if adjusting the truss rod has no effect on the neck, or if you are not comfortable making this type of adjustment yourself, take your instrument to a professional guitar technician.

Typical Relief Specifications

Neck Radius	Relief
7.25"	.012" (0.30 mm)
9.5" to 12"	.010" (0.25 mm)
15" to 17"	.008" (0.20 mm)

My Favorite Links for December 10th

chartzog — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:00:00 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for December 10th:

iBreatheMusic.com – Professional Music Theory and Lessons for Guitar & Other Instruments – A great site loaded with everything you ever wanted to know about making and playing music.
House of Blues online | HouseOfBlues.com – It’s the House of Blues. Great music. Great food. What else needs to be said?
Guitar lessons for blues, rock, jazz, acoustic, fingerstyle and slide guitar – Truefire.com is a cool site that is very supportive of independent artists and offers a variety of original music, art, and instructional items. If you search for me you will find some of my guitar, bass and ukulele educational items as well as a few of my tunes.

Favorite Links for November 17th through December 1st

chartzog — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:00:00 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for November 17th through December 1st:

The Emily Post Institute offers etiquette advice and manners advice – One thing I have noticed in recent years is the apparent coarsening of our culture. Whatever happened to manners and etiquette? Barney really was right when he sang:
We're talking 'bout please and thank you,
They're called the magic words.
If you want nice things to happen,
They're the words that should be heard!
IP Mag – Meet Our Staff – This is a site and a magazine that I wish could have continued on forever to go on inspiring and challenging me. Incredible People Magazine was founded by my friend, the late Mark Reiman. Mark was the embodiment of this magazine's motto "Hope, Courage, Determination, Compassion" as he fought valiantly in his struggle with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Mark was always a beacon of positivity to me and I will always miss his smile. Pray for us Mark!
Parent Training Complements Medication for Treating Behavioral Problems in Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders, November 20, 2009 News Release – National Institutes of Health (NIH) – Leave it to our government to tell parents of autistic children what they already know: Sometimes we need some extra help in figuring out how to manage our child's behavior and guess what else? Drugs are not the only answer. I wonder how much this study cost?
Kristine Carlson and Richard Carlson’s "Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff" site – This is yet another of my motivational sites. Today's post is especially timely for me as Kris discusses how does one prepare for an unexpected loss? Kris Carlson certainly knows about this type of loss as she lost her husband, Richard Carlson, author of the "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" series of books, in the prime of his life. We have been dealing with a similar unexpected loss, albeit on a smaller scale, with the loss of two of our beloved dogs, a Collie and a Sheltie in the span of only six weeks time.
Inspirational Prayer Requests | OurPrayer.Org – This site is a great resource for recharging your spiritual battery and I need to go here often! I have been a life long admirer of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and I bet you will enjoy him too. The daily power thoughts are especially good. Here is one from today:
Give Strength to Others.

Get a deep spiritual experience so that you have something to give people that will help them be stronger and meet life more effectively. Give strength to people and they will give affection to you.

How to Setup Your Electric Guitar – Part 1

chartzog — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:39:20 +0000

TOOLS REQUIRED:

Capo
Feeler gauge set (.002 – .025”) (0.05 – 1 mm)
Ruler with at least 1/32” (1mm) increments
Tape measure with at least 1/32” (1mm) increments
Allen wrenches
Philips head screwdriver
Electronic tuner
Wire cutters
Peg winder

Changing Strings:

It is common advice to change your strings regularly. Old strings will make your tone sound lifeless and they could have difficulty staying in tune. Run your finger underneath the strings and feel for flat spots, roughness, dirt or other build up and replace the strings if any of these items are detected. Choice of strings is definitely an individual matter. I am still experimenting with different strings. As of today, I am using Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings.

To protect your instrument from the high string tension on the neck, it is best to change one string at a time if possible.

Restringing Procedure –

Insert the new 6th string through the bridge and bring it about 1 ½” (38 mm) past the tuning post and cut it using the wire cutters.
Insert the string through the eyelet in the tuning key, and allow 1/16″ (1.6 mm) of the string to protrude through the eyelet,
Wind the string in a downward pattern (do not allow overlap of the strings).
Repeat this procedure with the remaining strings.
Once you have changed the strings and retuned, stretch each string lightly by putting your finger under it and tug away from the fret board lightly.

About String Lubrication

Lubricating all of the contact points of a string is critical to ensure tuning stability, and in reducing string breakage. String breakage often occurs from moisture that has collected on the bridge saddle contact point. This can come from the moisture and acidity that transfers from your hands or can come directly from the humidity in the air.

Another factor is metal-to-metal friction and fatigue. The differences in the metal components, over a period of time, react to each other and help breakdown the integrity of the strings. The stronger metal will always attack a softer metal. Finally, you will also find that different string brands will break at different points of tension, due to the metal make-up and string manufacturing techniques. The preferred way to help prevent string breakage is to lubricate the string/saddle contact point with a light machine oil (such as 3-in-1 oil, it includes anti-rust and anti-corrosive properties) each time you do a string change. The oil acts as an insulator against the moisture, and reduces the friction and metal fatigue. The string tree(s) should also be lubricated with a small amount of petroleum jelly.

December News From Chris

chartzog — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:15:20 +0000

Hi my newsletter friends,

It’s been a while since I sent out a newsletter, so I decided to blow the cobwebs off things over here and crank this out.

It is now the first week of December and even though winter solstice has not yet arrived on the calendar, it is definitely “feeling” like winter outside. I even read that there has been snow in parts of Mexico this week. So, that makes staying inside and getting indoor things done even more attractive. I hope you are all doing OK and enjoying this time to prepare to celebrate Christmas and the dawn of a new year. This year has been a busy year in many ways and I have a lot to be thankful for.

First CD – The Musing Mana Song Project

I reached a new milestone recently. I have produced my first ever CD! All of my work on the Musing Mana Song Project has been compiled onto CD format and is now available to order directly from my web site. If you were following my MMSP blog postings over time you know these songs are from my very first songwriting and recording project, “The Musing Mana Songwriting Project” that was published on the Internet on this web site, between March 2008 and September 2009. In this project I produced a new song as often as possible and released it for free as a Podcast. These songs are available here in their raw form, exactly as they were podcasted including some with my “Hey, this is Chris from Chris Hartzog.com……” introduction.

It’s got fourteen songs, you can either purchase the whole CD, buy one song at a time or buy the whole group as a zip file. There’s no DRM and it’s Creative Commons licensed. CD purchases get a real CD signed personally by me mailed directly to you. Learn more by clicking here. http://www.chris-hartzog.com/new-cd-the-musing-mana-song-project/

Link to My Store

Is right here: http://www.chris-hartzog.com/buymusic/download/

Future Stuff

I am working on a studio version CD of my songs which will feature songs that have been re-recorded, remixed and remastered. Stay tuned for more updates. This is coming along soon.

Woodinville Concert Band

I play electric bass in the City of Woodinville’s community band, The Woodinville Concert Band. We are essentially a wind symphony with string basses. We play a wide variety of music including Broadway show tunes, classical, marches and contemporary band literature. Some concert videos are available here: http://www.chris-hartzog.com/woodinville-concert-band-videos/

Popular Posts

Here are links to a couple of the most popular posts on my web site:

Beatles Stats – Who is the tallest Beatle? http://www.chris-hartzog.com/media_and_fun-stuff/beatles-stats/

10 Tips or More on How to Write a Demo Cover Letter http://www.chris-hartzog.com/10-tips-or-more-on-how-to-write-a-demo-cover-letter/

Are You A “Caregiver”?

If you are, here is an article with some resources for caregivers: http://www.chris-hartzog.com/resources-for-caregivers/

Know Someone With Autism?

Here is a link to some information and resources for autism: http://www.chris-hartzog.com/my-causes/

Forward to a Friend

If you forward this newsletter to a friend, they can subscribe to my newsletter to be eligible for discounts on CDs and opportunities to win free CDs. Click here to sign up.

Have a great Christmas holiday season!

Chris Hartzog

www.chris-hartzog.com
www.myspace.com/kilikamusic
www.facebook.com/ChrisHartzog

UPCOMING SHOWS
Clare Bridge Silver Lake	Everett, WA	Sun Dec 13 09	03:30 PM
> See More / Details

PRESS CLIPPINGS

““Great sound and style Chris!! Very unique and crisp sound!”” Cathey J. Johnson, Massillon, OH

““I like your music. The voice sounds great!”” Blue Copper, Phoenix, Arizona

““Your music is divine. I enjoyed listening to it.”” Maxine Balliet, West Hazleton, Pennsylvania

ReverbNation Twitter MySpace Facebook Artist Website

WIDGETS (Put our stuff on your web pages and blogs!)

TuneWidget Retail Links Grab Box Video Gallery Music Player Music Player (Blog Sized) Mini Music Player Micro Music Player Show Schedule Shows Map Show Schedule (Blog Sized) Press

links for 2009-12-01

chartzog — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:02:10 +0000

The Emily Post Institute offers etiquette advice and manners advice

One thing I have noticed in recent years is the apparent coarsening of our culture. Whatever happened to manners and etiquette? Barney really was right when he sang:

We're talking 'bout please and thank you,
They're called the magic words.
If you want nice things to happen,
They're the words that should be heard!

(tags: Etiquette, Life)
IP Mag – Meet Our Staff

This is a site and a magazine that I wish could have continued on forever to go on inspiring and challenging me. Incredible People Magazine was founded by my friend, the late Mark Reiman. Mark was the embodiment of this magazine's motto "Hope, Courage, Determination, Compassion" as he fought valiantly in his struggle with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Mark was always a beacon of positivity to me and I will always miss his smile. Pray for us Mark!

(tags: Faith, Motivation)

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

chartzog — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:24:05 +0000

by the President of the United States of America

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[Signed]
A. Lincoln

New CD – The Musing Mana Song Project

chartzog — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:20:45 +0000

Hi friends,

I reached a new milestone recently. I have produced my first ever CD! All of my work on the Musing Mana Song Project has been compiled onto CD format and is now available to order directly from my web site. Instant Downloads! Take It! Share It! Remix It!

Dedication:

As I have talked about in my blog postings from time to time on my web site, my music and work I put into it is especially dedicated to the most vulnerable and often the least remembered in our world: Those living with disabilities, especially autism, and to our seniors in nursing homes. And certainly just as importantly, the caregivers who love and support all of these special people.

As I mentioned, these songs are from my very first songwriting and recording project, “The Musing Mana Songwriting Project” that was published on the Internet on this web site, between March 2008 and September 2009. In this project I produced a new song as often as possible and released it for free as a Podcast. These songs are available here in their raw form, exactly as they were podcasted including some with my “Hey, this is Chris from Chris Hartzog.com……” introduction.

Even though it would be really nice, cool and thoughtful of you to actually buy from me, I am equally thrilled if you take the free download and take it upon yourselves to share my music with your friends. You can remix it, use it in your videos, play it on your podcasts, heck, go ahead and include it in software and games and it give it a life of its own.

Oh, I should mention that if you choose to purchase you can rest assured that your purchase is safe and secure since it is handled through PayPal the worlds largest online payment processing company. You can also use most major credit cards. Just go to my Download Music page. It’s that easy. If that doesn’t work for you, you can mail me a check or money order.

Thanks,

Chris

links for 2009-11-23

chartzog — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:02:22 +0000

Parent Training Complements Medication for Treating Behavioral Problems in Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders, November 20, 2009 News Release – National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Leave it to our government to tell parents of autistic children what they already know: Sometimes we need some extra help in figuring out how to manage our child's behavior and guess what else? Drugs are not the only answer. I wonder how much this study cost?

(tags: Autism)

Music for Caregivers

chartzog — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:38:16 +0000

My mission is to provide “Music for Caregivers” to integrate into the lives of people living in nursing homes and to those with physical, developmental or neurological disabilities living in our world.

This page and web site is a place for anyone interested in bringing music into a care-giving environment. Care-giving environments can be such places such as a nursing home, a convalescent center, a group home, a hospital or to individuals living in the community. This is dedicated to all those people with either physical, neurological, or developmental disabilities and for all those that are all too often forgotten and hidden away by our self-absorbed culture.

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
And have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
Your walls are ever before me.

Isaiah 49:15-16

I have answered God’s call to stand up for the rights of these our brothers and sisters and most importantly come to them simply as a brother with his guitar and his voice. A little music can brighten one’s day, lift spirits, revive memories, and reduce depression and feel less lonely. All this is possible with no prescription and no side effects.

If you would like me to play at your nursing home or for your group, please contact me. Click here to Email Me

Fall Concert – Woodinville Concert Band

chartzog — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:43:17 +0000

Come this Sunday at 3:00 the 50 plus member Woodinville Concert Band will be ready to raise the roof on the Redmond Performing Arts Center. Everyone is welcome for an afternoon of awesome music with selections from Wagner, Texidor, McBeth, Reineke and Dello Joio. How about a nice afternoon concert and dinner with your friends or family afterwards? Redmond Town Centre is only a few minutes away.

links for 2009-11-17

chartzog — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:02:38 +0000

Kristine Carlson and Richard Carlson's "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" site

This is yet another of my motivational sites. Today's post is especially timely for me as Kris discusses how does one prepare for an unexpected loss? Kris Carlson certainly knows about this type of loss as she lost her husband, Richard Carlson, author of the "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" series of books, in the prime of his life. We have been dealing with a similar unexpected loss, albeit on a smaller scale, with the loss of two of our beloved dogs, a Collie and a Sheltie in the span of only six weeks time.

(tags: Inspiration, Motivation)
Inspirational Prayer Requests | OurPrayer.Org

This site is a great resource for recharging your spiritual battery and I need to go here often! I have been a life long admirer of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and I bet you will enjoy him too. The daily power thoughts are especially good. Here is one from today:

Give Strength to Others.

Get a deep spiritual experience so that you have something to give people that will help them be stronger and meet life more effectively. Give strength to people and they will give affection to you.

(tags: Faith, Inspiration, Motivation)

Favorite Links for November 12th

chartzog — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:26:48 +0000

These are my Favorite Links for November 12th:

Home Project Studio: Part 1 & 2 Echoes – Insight for Independent Artists – DiscMakers is a great company with a ton of helpful resources for musicians. I wish I had had this article handy when I was attempting to initially construct my studio.
The Official Ringo Starr Site – So what the heck happened with Ringo? No news updates since January? He had his crazy, well reported meltdowns and rants at fans and old ladies, got slammed by Piers Morgan for being a jerk and now I have seen not hide nor hair of him. (which is understandable I suppose) But I thought he loved music and his fans enough that he would try to so some damage control and repent for his nuttiness. But, maybe he has earned so much money from us, his fans, that he simply doesn’t care anymore. Or, maybe he really is sick. Maybe it’s the “Paul is dead” thing playing out again, but only with Ringo now. Who knows?
Breaking the Viscious Cycle – SCD and Elaine Gottschall – I listed this site in my earlier blog post about the colitis blues. But I am relinking to this site, because I owe Elaine Gottschall a huge debt…she has probably saved my life. Crohn’s/colitis is a dreadful, downward spiraling disease. Because of the specific carbohydrate diet I am finally healing, overcoming this disease and feeling better than I have felt in 2 years. God bless Elaine.

Resources For Caregivers

chartzog — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:34:13 +0000

With the aging of our population there has been a increased need for caregivers, either professional, or those who fill the role out of love due to an aging spouse, parent or loved one. There is also a large population of caregivers of disabled children, afflicted with various things such as autism, mental retardation, Down’s Syndrome or other disorders. At any rate, it is important that you as a caregiver proactively do things to take care of yourself and work to avoid caregiver burnout.

As a caregiver myself, I have created this page as a resource for other caregivers to use as a starting place to begin to find ways to help yourself. For if you are able to help yourself stay healthy, you will be better able to take good care of your loved one or those in your care.

Here are some useful sources of information that you might want to check out.

Music For Caregivers

Did you know that music is a great stress reliever? It is also a wonderful way to connect with both the elderly and the young. Beyond that it is plain old fun and enjoyment that can be worked into many aspects of your day.

American Music Therapy Association – Fact Sheet on Alzheimer’s and music therapy.
American Music Therapy Association – Fact Sheet on autism and music therapy.

Music is a power and a language that crosses all borders and generations.

Great Music for Stress Relief

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Various studies have shown that if you listen to classical music while eating will cause you to eat less, enjoy your food more, digest more easily and attain other health benefits. I have always loved Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It is one of my very favorites to enjoy over dinner.
The Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe Many of the world’s great composers are on this album including, Pachelbel, Mozart and Beethoven. This album is perfect for the practice of mental imagery or meditation and can also soothe you to sleep.
Michael Powers A great Seattle area jazz and blues guitarist, Michael Powers, is constantly coming out with new and better music. One of my favorites is 20 Songs for 20 Years.
Abbey Road (Remastered) Who can compare with The Beatles? So much has been said about the Beatles, that I doubt I can add anything new. I can only say that one of my favorite albums is Abbey Road.
Duets: An American Classic Tony Bennett just never stops. As an eighty year old, his voice is incredible. This CD is loaded with top performers including Paul McCartney, Sting, James Taylor and Barbara Streisand. Be sure to buy this album! It will make you smile.
Musicians Who Support Autism Awareness Here is a list originally provide by “Autism Connections” MySpace site.

Music Library

Create your own personal stress relief music collection and sort it into categories. Here are a some category ideas to get you started:

For your work out
For housework and chores
For dinner
For driving
For meditation and prayer

Preventing and Dealing with Burnout

The Caregiver Manual – Comprehensive resource for caregivers, including articles on how to decrease stress, find support, and balance your time. (Strength for Caring)
Family Caregiving 101 – Offers advice, information, and support for caregivers. Includes a directory of resources, including financial advisers, support groups, and elder care organizations. (National Family Caregivers Association and the National Alliance for Caregiving)
Recognizing and Coping With Caregiver Burnout – This page, linked to a page on “Getting help to prevent burnout,” is on a terrific, comprehensive Canadian site about caregiving. (Peel Public Health)
Preventing Caregiver Burnout – Part of a handbook and resource guide for caregivers in Florida. Examines the signs of caregiver burnout and how to handle it. Includes tips for caregivers who are themselves challenged by age or infirmity. (Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas)
Information Library – 100 fact sheets and publications on numerous caregiving issues. (Family Caregiver Alliance)
Tips for Caregivers – Provides information to help caregivers prevent burn-out and relieve the stresses of caregiving. (National Family Alliance)
Tips for Family Caregivers – Ten important tips for caregivers. (National Family Caregivers Association)
Online Guide to Caregiving – A comprehensive collection of articles and tools to assist caregivers. (AARP Magazine)
Advice for Caregivers / Terminal Illnesses – Contains articles that present advice for caregivers faced with terminal illness patients. (Terminal Illness)

Locate a Caregiver

Family Caregiver Alliance’s Family Care Navigator, provides a state-by-state resource intended to help you locate services for family caregivers and resources for older or disabled adults.

The Symphony Plays Psycho

chartzog — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:41:41 +0000

I was kind of busy this past week, so I am a little bit behind in getting this Halloween related post posted.

On Friday (Halloween was on Saturday), we went to see the Seattle Symphony play the music to Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “Psycho” while the movie played on a screen above the orchestra. It was great fun, and attracted a lot of people who from their looks and dress were obviously big time Hitchcock fans and/or Halloween aficiandos. One picture that I wish I could have taken was of the guy who showed up dressed as “mother” and came brandishing a 10 inch butcher knife. The ironic part was that as this guy was pretending (I assume he was pretending, but these days you never know for sure.) to be stabbing his wife, and while he was doing this someone snapped their picture. When the camera flash went off, an usher ran over and admonished them, not for bringing a dangerous weapon to the symphony mind you, but for violating the “no flash” rule. Ha, ha.

Dale Chihuly glass masterpiece in the background. The pride of Seattle, Starbucks in the foreground.

Seattle’s “Ban Roll-On” building at night. I never have figured out what the real name of this building is.

Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, nearly empty.

Benaroya Hall with the symphony warming up.

My friend, Joe.

Secret Project

chartzog — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:38:56 +0000

I’m working on a new secret project. No one is supposed to know about this. I still have a heck of a lot of work to do anyway. Here’s a photo you’re not supposed to see that will give you a hint on what this project will be called. Extra hint: You can find a clue on ReverbNation. Any guesses? Whoever guesses correctly will receive some free stuff in the mail from me. (No, I am not planning to throw myself in front of a train.)

Free Culture in a Thrift Store

chartzog — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:36:08 +0000

There are frequently stories about someone who found a great treasure in a thrift shop or pawn shop like maybe a rare pre-war Martin D-28 or some other cool thing. Finally, I can join the ranks of the thrift shop story tellers, only my find was not a guitar or piece of jewelry, but rather the game changing treatise of professor Lawrence Lessig, “Free Culture“! For any of you who have followed my blog posts here, you will know that Lawrence Lessig and his brain child, “Creative Commons” have been a huge interest and excitement for me personally. In fact, it was Jonathon Coulton’s work that first turned me on to this whole idea that I don’t need to be afraid to share my music with the world. There is a cool middle option between the totally restrictive, conventional copyright “ALL rights reserved” approach and total anarchy – The middle, cool option is called Creative Commons.

Now, I can begin as I should have and actually read Free Culture cover to cover rather than in bits and pieces on the internet. The internet is wonderful for many things, but don’t you sometimes like to sit down in a chair with an old fashioned book? Now I will. Now I will reread the telling of the tale of how Walt Disney was one of the all time greats of “creative borrowing”, and used this carrying forward of culture to create new and more exciting culture, but now they along with others like RIAA, attempt to control everything and change us from a “free culture” to a “permission culture”. As you can tell, I love this book and the Creative Commons movement. Sadly, whoever owned this book before me appears to have never even read it…it looked like the cover had never been opened. I have changed all that. Alright, back to my book. What are you doing tonight?

Them Old Colitis Blues

chartzog — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:19:56 +0000

Well, I know this ought to be a song and that my output on this site has slowed down recently, especially in comparison to what my original goals, objectives, plans, schemes and dreams laid out for me in my mind to get accomplished. And, for a while, I debated about whether to make a post on this topic or not since it is not related to my music or to disabilities causes and I also didn’t want to appear like I was whining.

But upon further reflection I wondered is whining really such a bad thing….I think everybody wants to whine sometimes, especially when you are in pain, like if somebody where standing on your foot with high heels….”Wooouuuulllddd yooouuu PPLLEEAASSEE get OFFFFF my FOOT!” So, in that sense some temporary whining actually serves a useful purpose: It gets them off your foot, stops the pain and teaches them about body space awareness, all in one breath….or maybe 5 or 6 if you have asthma.

Anyway, I thought I would share some of my health journey with you in case there is someone out there that reads this that can benefit from it.

For my entire life, I have had a “touchy” stomach. There always seemed to be something that would cause me stomach pains and associated trouble. But beginning last summer things got much worse and I started having severe abdominal pain, urgency, diarrhea and most concerning of all – bleeding, a lot of bleeding — Enough to make me anemic, not to mention to initially freak me out at the sight of it. My first reaction was to think I was dying and that I must have colon cancer. Unfortunately, it took multiple doctors and many tests to get an accurate diagnosis of what in the hell was going on inside my body.

My diagnoses have oscillated between ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and Celiac disease. As of today, they have pretty much ruled out Crohn’s disease, thank God, and pegged me as ulcerative colitis and celiac disease. I am still in the middle of this struggle and as of today I am not “cured” or in remission, so what I am writing is a bit of a journal documenting my travels and travails. The western medicine doctors I have seen have mainly wanted to treat me with either surgery (remove part or all of my colon) and/or powerful drugs that have dangerous side effects. I have tried some acupuncture, and it was actually giving me relief, but my insurance does not cover it and at $100 per visit, I quickly ran out of money.

I September I began reading a book called, “Breaking the Vicious Cycle” by Elaine Gottschall which describes the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) that she developed initially to treat her daughter who had ulcerative colitis. I began following the SCD and I was starting to see some real improvements in my symptoms.

But in the middle of this, my gastroenterologist referred me to see an allergist for food allergy testing, and lo and behold I found myself going down yet another path. Since this did not involve any long term risky drugs or surgery, I decided that I should at least see what the allergist could do for me. The allergy testing and consult with the doctor were interesting and promising. Since this has been going on for so long and I have been given so many different opinions, I am not getting my hopes too high. The short story is that my allergy testing showed me to be allergic to just about everything on earth and consequently, the allergist theorizes that my colitis is allergy induced inflammation. Therefore, the treatment he recommends is that I undergo a round of immunotherapy to desensitize me to the allergens. He thinks if his theory is correct that he can “cure” me. BTW, like any experiment where we need to control the variables, this meant that I had to discontinue the SCD so we could have reliable results on the effects of this allergy stuff. The down side of course is that after quitting the SCD diet, my symptoms started intensifying again. Uggh.

The immunotherapy will require me to receive three injections a week for the next two months, so I am going to be at the doctor a lot. I hope they have free Wi-Fi!

Like I said, I am getting kind of jaded and I will believe it when I see the results. I know that I am going to do every alternative thing I can before I submit to surgery or hard core drugs. In case it helps you reading this, here are a few colitis/Crohn’s resources that I have looked at or intend to check out:

Non-drug, Non-surgery Options:

Specific Carbohydrate Diet http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/index.htm
Elaine Gottschall’s Specific Carbohydrate Diet website http://www.scdiet.org
Low dose immunotherapy http://www.food-allergy.org/epd.html
Fecal transplants (Human Probiotic Infusions):
http://www.cdd.com.au/html/expertise/diseaseinfo/clostridiumdifficle%20.html
http://www.jinipatelthompson.com/phpBB3/topic309.html

Traditional medical treatment:

Crohn’s/Colitis Foundation http://www.ccfa.org/

Art for Beatles’ Welsh connection

BBC News and Sport Search: merseyside beatles — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:56:19 +0000

A mosaic featuring the Beatles is one of 12 the historical links between north Wales and Liverpool.

Musing Mana 14a – The Movie – Vaccai Meets Trip Hop (Take 2)

chartzog — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:56:35 +0000

In my infinite desire to play around with new technology I ended up creating a MPEG4 video - The Movie – Vaccai Meets Trip Hop (Take 2) of Vaccai Meets Trip Hop (Take 2). So, now here you go. This has to be one of my shortest blog posts ever. BTW, happy Labor Day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Free Daysails for Special Needs Children

chartzog — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:47:52 +0000

Here is a great opportunity for you and your special needs child (or adult) that was brought to my attention by the wonderful Washington State Fathers Network.

Free Daysails with Heart of Sailing

When: various, over the next two weeks, or by appointment

Where: varies, see below

My name is George Saidah, Founder of Heart of Sailing, a non profit organization, that introduces sailing to special needs children and adults as form of education and recreational therapy. This free service is a family or group activity.

Check out our schedule, and choose the city of your choice:

Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Kirkland, Bellingham, Vancouver BC, and more …

Thank you for your time and I hope to sail with you soon, George

http://heartofsailing.org/mission.asp

Adios Tables

chartzog — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:07:41 +0000

Well, heck in my continuing effort to spend more time on my own web site and less time on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, I discovered the most important page on my web site, Download Music, was screwed up when you view it in Internet Explorer. Thanks again Microsoft! The table that I was using to list all of my songs was completely wacked in IE. With Firefox and Safari it looked just fine. Since I realized I was spending way too much time monkeying around with something as mundane as a table >> Can somebody tell me why someone can’t make a WYSIWYG table editor for WordPress that is easy to use and actually works?<< to put my important work in. I would have done this earlier if I had known IE didn’t render it correctly, so to put it to an early death I decided to convert from using a table to a simple text list. You can now find all of my songs on the same download page.

I think it should be a lot easier to update from now on. And this should serve my goal of simplifying and prioritizing things so I can focus most of my energy on what is most important to me: Writing songs and recording. I am in the blues mode right now, so I have to go get back to work on the next song and when I publish it I know there will be no agonizing tables to interfer with posting the fruits of my labors to the world. Incidentally, for now the songs are all still free. I am working on adding a shopping cart system and payment processing capability to my site. Once this is done the tag after each song, “Buy $1″ with be converted to a shopping cart icon that will add the song to your cart so you can pay me for the stuff you take. Cool huh?

Good night for now world, time for me to get back to the fun stuff.

Musing Mana 14 – Vaccai Meets Trip Hop (Take 2)

chartzog — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:46:39 +0000

Here is a new edition of Vaccai meets Trip Hop. I am now up to the 14th release in my Musing Mana song project: Musing Mana 14 – Vaccai Meets Trip Hop (Take 2)

This version has more of a tribal feel and some minor key overtones. I even had to haul out my synthesizer to play the bass line and my Irish penny-whistle for the celestial background sounds. I bet Nicola Vaccai never dreamed his music would be mixed with Trip Hop. That is what the Creative Commons movement is all about though – extending and enhancing creativity through the sharing across generations and societies of our common culture. Isn’t it fascinating that Vaccai’s parents wanted him to become a lawyer, they even sent him to Rome to study law, but just like kids today once he left home he decided he had his own ideas and turned to music. In a way, I think Lawrence Lessig would be proud.

Most guitar players know what a wah-wah pedal is and what a leslie is. But, for those not familiar with Vaccai, he is best known for his teaching of bel canto, or beautiful singing technique, popular in 19th century Italian opera. Per the Internet, “Vaccai is now chiefly remembered as a voice teacher. Nicola Vaccai wrote many books one of which is called Metodo pratico de canto (Practical Vocal Method). This book has been transposed for different types of voice (i.e high or low), to teach singing in the Italian legato style. The Metodo pratico was written in 1832 and is still in print, from Edition Peters and Ricordi, and used as a teaching tool. Vaccai notes in his introduction that only the voice of a master demonstrating accurately his exercises can really teach the student the correct techniques of true legato. The book is also an important source of information about the performance of early 19th-century opera.”

Therefore, I give you Vaccai meets Trip Hop Take 2.

Here is a new edition of Vaccai Meets Trip Hop. This version has more of a tribal feel and some minor key overtones. I even had to haul out my synthesizer to play the bass line and my Irish penny-whistle for the celestial background sounds. I bet Nicola Vaccai never dreamed his music would be mixed with Trip Hop. Neither did I actually….not until I accidentally discovered the Trip Hop beat and saw that I kind of liked it, then after I looked into it I found out that those darn British had created this vibe, appropriated our Hip Hop, made it more musical and created their own thing. Perfect! It has creative commons written all over it.

That is what the Creative Commons movement is all about though – extending and enhancing creativity through the sharing across generations and societies of our common culture. With Vaccai, to me it is equally fascinating that Vaccai’s parents wanted him to become a lawyer, they even sent him to Rome to study law, but just like kids today once he left home he decided he had his own ideas and turned to music. In a way, I think Lawrence Lessig would be proud.

Anyway, in case you missed the first release of Vaccai Meets Trip Hop, which I erroneously titled “hip hop” in the blog post, this song was a result of a quick creative burst one day when I wondered what happens if Vaccai meets trip hop meets a wah-wah meets a Leslie? I put the original song together in one short recording session…..it probably only took me about an hour. I labored over this one a little bit longer, but not too long as I wanted to keep the same level of spontaneity.

Most guitar players know what a wah -wah pedal is and what a leslie is. But, for those not familiar with Vaccai, he is best known for his teaching of bel canto, or beautiful singing technique, popular in 19th century Italian opera. Per the Internet, “Vaccai is now chiefly remembered as a voice teacher. Nicola Vaccai wrote many books one of which is called Metodo pratico de canto (Practical Vocal Method). This book has been transposed for different types of voice (i.e high or low), to teach singing in the Italian legato style. The Metodo pratico was written in 1832 and is still in print, from Edition Peters and Ricordi, and used as a teaching tool. Vaccai notes in his introduction that only the voice of a master demonstrating accurately his exercises can really teach the student the correct techniques of true legato. The book is also an important source of information about the performance of early 19th-century opera.”

Therefore, I give you Vaccai meets Trip Hop Take 2.

Lyrics (Italian)

Lascia il lido, e il mare infido
a solcar torna il nochiero,
e pur sa che menzognero
altre volte l’inganò,
altre volte l’inganò,
altre volte l’inganò,
altre volte l’inganò.

Lyrics (English)

Far from home and shore and safety
Must the pilot steer his vessel
Tho’ he know the traitorous waters
Have deceived him oft before,
Have deceived him oft before,
Have deceived him oft before,
Have deceived him oft before.

Congressional Inquiry: Washington State Schools Use of Restraint and Seclusion

chartzog — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:06:12 +0000

Thanks to the Washington State Fathers Network for providing this notification.

Congressional Inquiry: Restraint and Seclusion

Deadline: Friday, August 14, 2009

National Protection and Advocacy has a Congressional inquiry regarding the use of restraint and seclusion in Washington schools and wants to hear of any examples of abusive situations.

Washington state’s protection and advocacy organization (Disability Rights Washington www.DisabilityRightsWA.org) is interested in any situation in a public school within the last two school years (07/08 and/or 08/09) where restraint and/or seclusion (including but not limited to time out rooms) was used in a manner in which the parents or someone else at the school deemed inappropriate and abusive.

Please do not include any personally identifying information if you wish to remain anonymous. Send all responses via email or snail mail (USPO) by Friday August 14, 2009 to:

Mark Stroh, Executive Director
Disability Rights Washington
315 – 5th Ave South, Suite 850
Seattle, WA 98104

MStroh@DR-WA.org

Michael Powers at Port Gardner Landing

chartzog — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:33:19 +0000

We spent Saturday evening enjoying Michael Powers and his band scooping out some great soul in celebration of the release of Michael’s newest CD, “Soul School”. The band managed to out-run the rain showers Saturday and they even brought out the sun at one point with “New Jack Jazz”. Michael is an incredible musical gift and Seattle is blessed to have him in our presence. Michael truly sings through his guitar and the band had the crowd up and dancing. I can’t think of a better spot for a concert than at Port Gardner Landing in Everett’s Marina Village surrounded by the water, incredible boats and yachts, the mountains and fragrances of Italian cooking coming from Lombardi’s restaurant.

I was also impressed by my little Cannon PowerShot camera which has a video recording function that I never tried until Saturday night. I couldn’t resist both capturing Michael’s music but also “the cane lady” as she boogied down on the dance floor!

Check it out – “New Jack Jazz” with the Boogie Down Cane Lady:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I also grabbed this clip (partial because I not yet figured out that my camera’s auto power save would kick in if I didn’t pay attention….):

Click here to view the embedded video.

And this clip (partial):

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s All About Grace

chartzog — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:57:09 +0000

For as long as I can remember I have felt called to somehow help people. It’s all about grace. To bring happiness, encouragement, hope and healing. God has called me to walk in Christ’s footsteps as a servant to those in need of healing of body, mind or soul. Why oh why do I want to do this? It is hard for me to explain really. I only know that deep in my soul I have always believed that God is a god of goodness, that “God is love” and I have felt drawn to that love. I want to live love, be in love and give love. I want to know God and the Bible tells me to know God we must live in love. It also says that if we can’t love our brother or sister whom we can see and touch, how could we ever hope of loving God whom we cannot see?

That is part of why I am doing what I do. Because I love God and therefore, I love you! I also happen to be an artist…a singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist, keyboard plucker, ukulele strummer and sometimes a comedian, but none of these things are my raison d’être, they are merely part of how I allow God to use me and work through me. If there is only one solitary person in all the world who is somehow moved, touched or moved closer to God because of my music, then I will give thanks as much as if an entire stadium full of people gave their lives to Christ.

I might not always sing spirituals, or songs that explicitly offer praise and worship, because I believe all forms of art have the potential to give glory to the Creator. Besides, I think God loves some good rock and roll or wailing blues as much as anyone. Anyway, you can bet whatever I am playing, in my heart I am praising Him and praying that you will know and experience his grace, goodness and peace in your life. So, if you are in need of His healing touch, don’t be afraid to ask. The Lord is kind and merciful and he wants to hear from you, even if what you have to say to him is anger, confusion and anxiety. Lay it on him, he can take it. He took it all for you already when he hung between heaven and earth nailed to a tree all for love of you. If you are willing to take some risk, put your hand in his and trust him, you might be surprised at the results in your life. Like I said, it’s all about grace.

God bless.

Peace and good to you.

Blue Angels

chartzog — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:09:21 +0000

This is a bit off subject, but not entirely since there is some music involved. Most years they say if you want guaranteed warm weather and sunshine in Seattle, you can always count on the last two weeks of July. This year was not a disappointment, in fact July 29th was the hottest day ever in Seattle with the mercury topping 100 degrees in most areas. Friday cooled off to the upper 80’s, so comparatively, it felt significantly cooler than Wednesday. Nevertheless, Friday was an awesome day to cruise Lake Washington on the fine lady “Royal Argosy” and be awed by the incredible Blue Angels representing the finest of the United States naval aviation.

Here are a couple of Quick Time slideshows for you to enjoy: Part 1 and Part 2. Oh yeah, I also published a folder of photos here too.

The Therapy of Music

chartzog — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:56:41 +0000

Here is an bit of interesting music trivia for you: As noted in my prior posts, music has therapeutic effects on nursing home residents. In other venues, businesses, parking lots, parks, transit centers, music is also serving the common good. The Seattle Times reported in an article that Seattle area organizations have been using music piped into these areas that have historically been breeding grounds for trouble, to deter crime and apparently it is working. Andre Rieu was right; music is a universal language, even criminals seem to understand it. The Seattle Times article can be found here.

Musing Mana 13 – Always There Remix

chartzog — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:29:41 +0000

On Mothers Day 2008 I released Musing Mana 5, Always There for my mom. It’s one of the first songs I wrote, and arguably fairly cheesy, but hey, it was “for mom” so she had to like it.

That version was, believe it or not, and I suspect that you probably will believe it, recorded on a 1980’s era Sharp Ghettoblaster boombox tape recorder out on the workbench in my garage! Since the recording is all on one track…voice and guitar mixed together, there is not a lot one can do to improve the basic performance, and compounding that I recall that the cassette recorder in that boombox had a bit of wobble. Anyway, I decided to try anyway to stretch my home recording engineer muscles a little bit. In this iteration of Always There we have some wonderful string players helping out that I am certain would make old Blue Eyes proud along with a bit of autotuning to correct the tape wobble and some added EQ to the original recording to try to balance the “boominess” of the guitar with my challenged vocals. By the way, during the guitar intro, the little bang sound you hear in the background is my wedding ring bumping against the guitar neck and I decided to leave that part in because there was no way to remove it and keep things seamless…let’s call it a bit of live ambience. So, without further adieu I give you Always There – Remix.

This Is So Cool

chartzog — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:59:36 +0000

Do you need some joy in your life? A friend sent this to me. Watch this!

The Joy Movie

Moving Furniture Around

chartzog — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:41:59 +0000

I suppose we all inherit various traits from our parents. Me? Every now and then I get the urge to rearrange things. Mom loved to rearrange the furniture in the house, which could make it interesting if you came home after dark and didn’t turn on the lights. Today though, I am just moving things around on my web site. Why? Because I can do it. Actually, there is a deeper reason. I have been doing a trial since I launched this site of using some ads, mind you ones that I tried to keep minimal and as non intrusive as possible, from Google AdSense and Amazon.com. After a year of trying this I concluded:

They have not made me rich….not even close. Google has paid me barely enough for a fast food meal and Amazon has paid nothing at all.
They have not increased my site traffic. In fact, I have a feeling that some visitors find any kind of ad inherently annoying and immediately depart never to return.
I realized Google and Amazon have control of what ends up appearing in these ads on my site and there is no guarantee that their content is always appropriate or something that I would choose given the chance.
They are just another distraction for me to devote my time rather than the core content of what I intended this site to focus on: My music, songwriting and recording and my causes of care for the disadvantaged – Namely those living with autism and seniors secluded from the rest of society in nursing homes.

Therefore and whereas, as of today there shall be no more ads on my site. If you find one let me know right away. You might have also noticed that I moved my current blog posts back to the front page of the site. I had had a static summary information page as the default, but my hunch is that the dynamic blog will be more useful…..I hope I can leave it like this and not change my mind again in a year or six months.

Does this make my site more useful for you?

In another version of me moving the furniture around I had to make a few changes to the mix on my last published song, Saving Grace, as I discovered somehow on the first release I had shifted the bass guitar part slightly from the rest of the tracks which made the playback less than ideal. I like this version much better and I think you will too.

But you know I need to admit that there is more motivating me to do these things than simple OCD, (not that that disorder is at all “simple”) — I actually feel a need to “simplify” some areas of my life…..especially in things that distract me from being creative. I have a hunch that before you know it I will also be scaling back the amount of times I spend on other things that experts have told musicians are necessary >> social networks << ….there – I said it. While stuff like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and the plethora of music sites like iLike (did I studder?) and lastFM are strangely addictive and probably have a lot of potential to help one market their music, they take an incredible amount of time to maintain. It appears MySpace has decided to do some housecleaning themselves. So anyway, I am starting to think what if I actually devoted that time to actually practicing, or writing songs, or recording?

Musing Mana 12 – Saving Grace

chartzog — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:44:21 +0000

I am a pretty spiritual person and not afraid to admit it. I am actually very happy about it and glad to share it when someone expersses an interest. Consequently it is only natural that my spirituality spills over into other areas of my life, including my songwriting. It took me forever to actually record this song for a whole lot of boring reasons, but the writing of this song only took me about an hour…..like a year ago or something….like I said, it took me forever to record the song. So, when I wrote the song, it was one of those great times when it was just “there” and it came to me after I had spent some time in prayer thinking about how amazing God’s love must be for me that he actually puts up with me and all of my failures and weaknesses and still loves me in spite of that. I don’t think I would have the patience to put up with me all the time if I were God. Thankfully, I’m not!

For this song I had the opportunity to fully explore my new guitar, my Epiphone Dot, and all of its various tonal possibilities. All of the guitar parts you hear in this song are played on the same guitar. This song also gave me the opportunity to finally play that drum solo that Ringo taught me a while back. I have wanted to do a song that was outside the folk and acoustic genres……..Without further adieu, here is my blues-rock contribution to my future gospel album: Saving Grace

This is a song that speaks to me about the outpouring of God’s grace and love that is occurring all over the world and the message that even the most afflicted and poorest among us, such as this woman and child from Sudan, are loved by God and should be loved by us.

Woodinville Concert Band Videos

chartzog — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:27:00 +0000

I have been a bit lax in posting the many videos that have been made of the Woodinville Concert Band concerts. So here are a few. The first two are from our spring concert in May and you can see me sitting it the back row on the far left playing my Fender Jazz bass…..my bass is the gold color you see.

Perpetuum Mobile

A “musical joke” by Johann Strauss, Jr.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fiddler on the Roof

Click here to view the embedded video.

Christmas Concert?

I know this is being posted a bit (”a bit”?!) late….well, it’s almost in time for Christmas in July. Here is the Woodinville Concert Band performing some Christmas favorites at the Seattle Center House. I am hidden this time on the far right side, but you can hear me playing the bass lines this time on my Beatle bass.

Sleigh Ride

Click here to view the embedded video.

Music Preview

chartzog — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:39:58 +0000

I am working on recording a new song I wrote called “Saving Grace” that has a blues/rock feel with Gospel lyrics. Two demo versions of it are available for listening below. Let me know if the links don’t work for you.

They are not mastered so you will probably have to adjust the EQ on your stereo system. Some day I will probably learn about mastering too.

Here is Saving Grace version 1
Here is Saving Grace version 2

Which do you like better?

Any suggestions for improvement?

Shady Song Sharks

chartzog — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:05:54 +0000

Some day I might put up a few of the song shark, “just send us $200″ and you might get published record offers I have received. If this stuff was as good as they make it sound I wouldn’t need to work any more or try to sell any songs because I would be filthy rich and out cruising on my yacht. Of course I could have the ship outfitted the the latest recording gear to capture any new inspiration that comes from a life without worries or financial pressure. I wonder how many anxious artists actually send the money before they ask themselves if it really is too good to be true? You wouldn’t do that would you? I think I’ll just stay Indie and Free…..

What’ On My iPod Today? The Abyssinian Baptist Choir

chartzog — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:31:20 +0000

This post is a continuation of my mini-series tour through my own music appreciation class as I randomly choose, purchase and listen to music across genres.

This week’s choice turns out to be Gospel and we’re playing Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody by The Abyssinian Baptist Choir direct from Harlem, New York City.

Having come from a more staid, Catholic upbringing, singing like this is kinda out of my comfort zone! But it sure sounds fun anyway and is certainly contagious.

There is an article on The Abyssinian Baptist Church on Wikipedia. Happy listening.

Guitarists: Are You on a Tone Quest?

chartzog — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:53:30 +0000

Guitar players – There is a cool site for you to check out if you would like a convenient resource to sample the tone of a variety of axes, amps and effects pedals. Cruise on over to TonePedia.com and take a listen or even upload your own samples. When I get the time I might even upload some of my own.