text:
Hal Blaine is a legend. As the top
Los Angeles studio drummer in the 1960s and early 1970s, he played on more than
8,000 different tracks for hundreds and hundreds of different musicians. His
list of hits is staggering, and it's almost impossible to listen to an oldies
radio station for more than 10 minutes without hearing a Hal Blaine song.
In March 2000, Hal was one of the
first five "sidemen" inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
(One of the other inductees was Hal's long-time friend and rival, Earl Palmer.)
While officially "retired," Hal continues to play an occasional live
date with pianist Sam Ocampo, and he has recently played on albums by Mark
Wilson (www.goldenbullet.com) and
Lorin Hart (home.earthlink.net/~lorinhart/).
Interestingly, Hal's accomplishments
extend beyond drumming. He wrote the book Hal
Blaine and the Wrecking Crew, which chronicles his career and the golden era
of studio playing; you can find it at your local bookstore or online at
Amazon.com. Hal is also a bit of a comedian ("What do you call a guy who
hangs around with musicians? A drummer."), and he recorded the comedy album
Buh-Doom!, which is available at
1-800-221-DISC (1-800-221-3472) or online through Amazon.com or
What Makes a Drummer Great
I have to admit, I'm an unabashed fan
of Hal Blaine. To my regret, I was too young (and too self-involved) to be aware
of Hal during his heyday, but I have come to appreciate him greatly in the years
since. (Wisdom and maturity come with age, apparently--something else I've only
recently learned!)
What is so great about Hal Blaine?
First, you have sheer quantity. Name any 10 hit singles from the early 1960s
through the mid-1970s, and chances are that Blaine played on three or four of
them. When Dick Clark featured Hal on his Rock,
Roll, and Remember radio program, he essentially played his normal song list--because
when you play a list of Hal's records, you're playing the top hits of the era.
The second great thing about Hal
Blaine is the variety of styles he had to play--and master. How many drummers do
you know who could play for both Frank Sinatra and the Mamas and the Papas--and
play the right kind of drums for each? When you read the list of artists Hal
played for, and then consider how different these artists sounded, you really
appreciate his versatility.
Beyond this versatility is Hal's
creativity, his ability to play just the right part for whatever song he was
playing on. Sometimes that meant playing full-out, as on the Fifth Dimension's
"Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine." Sometimes that meant playing a Buddy
Holly-like tom-tom riff, as on Tommy Roe's "Dizzy." Sometimes that
meant playing nothing but bass drum and snare drum, as on the Ronettes' "Be
My Baby." Sometimes it meant playing something other
than drums, as on the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows."
(By the way, in spite of the huge
Octaplus tom setup he used in later years, Hal was a master of not
playing cymbals or toms, if that was what the song called for. Just listen to
the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds; I don't
think there's a single cymbal or hi-hat struck through the whole album.)
The point is, Hal played what was
right for the song--and then put his own mark on it. You can always tell when
you're listening to a Hal Blaine drum part, no matter what style it's in. Even
though Hal's part on the Grass Root's "Midnight Confessions" is
completely different from his part on Sonny and Cher's "I Got You
Babe," you still know that it's Hal Blaine on drums. He played for the
song, but was still Hal Blaine; his personality always came through.
Not that there aren't typical
"Hal Blaine moments." Back when he was cutting records with Phil
Spector, Hal typically played just bass drum and snare (sometimes snare and
large tom hit together) throughout most of the song, with no cymbals or hi-hats,
just to cut through Spector's heavily produced "wall of sound." When
the end of the song came, however--what musicians call the "out
chorus"--Hal would cut loose like a man possessed, with thundering rolls
around the toms and all sorts of amazing licks while the song was fading out.
When you listen to these records, listen closely for Hal's trademark lick, a
quarter-note triplet played on two toms simultaneously. You'll hear this lick on
numerous songs (the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and the Ronettes'
"Be My Baby" are good examples), and it's vintage Hal. (Max
Weinberg once wrote about how he would occasionally throw that lick into one
or another of Bruce Springsteen's songs; every time he played the lick, Bruce
would yell out "Hal Blaine!" in joyful recognition.)
I can point out many other examples
of prime Hal. Towards the end of Simon and Garfunkel's majestic "Bridge
Over Troubled Water," Hal played emphasized the backbeat with tire chains--just
one of many times when he knew that something different was called for. Any of
the classic Phil Spector "wall of sound" recordings also show off Hal
at his best; to get it all in one blast, spring for the Back
to Mono box set, which includes the legendary A Christmas Gift for You album, which may be Hal's best recorded
work. Finally, to get a taste for how Hal's drum parts developed in the studio,
check out the boxed set of the Beach Boys' Pet
Sounds album; the four CDs in this set include lots of live in the studio
takes and in-between-take recordings, providing a rare look at a masterpiece in
the making.
If you want to listen to more of the
"best of Blaine," I recommend you check out his tasteful fills on any
of the Carpenters' hit singles, especially "Close to You"; his dynamic
big band-like backup on Petula Clarks' "My Love"; his solid grooves on
a plethora of Fifth Dimension tunes, particularly "Up, Up, and Away"
and "Wedding Bell Blues"; his incredible versatility navigating
different styles and tempos on Richard Harris' "MacArthur
Park"; and his driving snare drum on the Mamas and the Papas'
"California Dreamin'" and "Monday Monday."
Hal Blaine--along with Earl
Palmer, Gary
Chester, Benny Benjamin,
Roger Hawkins, Al Jackson Jr., Bobby Graham, and other studio contemporaries--truly created the
drum sound of a generation. Hal did it with flair, with humor, with impeccable
technique, and with his own unique style. That's why I'm a Hal Blaine fan--and
why I always turn up the radio when
one of his songs is playing.
The Hal Blaine Interview
As I was writing this book, I had the
good fortune to talk to Hal Blaine about his career, his opinions on today's
music industry, and his advice for beginning drummers. I found him
charming and extremely entertaining, full of great stories and great advice; any
drummer can learn something from this master.
Miller (MM): I want to start out by congratulating you on your induction
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Blaine (HB): That was fun.
It's good to see you and Earl Palmer and the studio guys finally getting
some recognition.
I know, I know, and they cut it all out of the TV thing, which is really a pity.
Earl was just livid. Personally, I couldn't care less. It was 20 years ago,
great. Seriously, who in the hell cares? The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you
know, it's nice, and that's fine, and goodbye.
The one that I was very interested in
was Bill Gates' former partner, Paul Allen. He put this museum together in
Seattle, called the Experience Music Project. They came down here with a film
crew and filmed me. They're going to have film running for as long as the museum
is open each day--people like myself, different artists, different musicians,
talking about music. The crew that came in here blew me away! They were the guys
that just got the Oscar for Titanic!
Well, Paul Allen can afford to hire the best. (laughs)
Evidently! I didn't realize that he's a guitar player. Plain and simple. A very wealthy
guitar player. (laughs)
A big Jimi Hendrix fan, I hear.
Yeah, well it was originally going to be called the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but
then it became the Experience Music Project. They're supposedly doing a
magnificent job.
Hal, one thing that every beginning drummer is fascinated by is how other guys
got started. How did you get started
playing the drums?
Well, I had a couple of relatives who were drummers: a female, who was with an
all-female orchestra, and a cousin, Bill, who was a drummer in some little band,
and a brother-in-law who was a great trumpet player. So I was kind of around
music growing up.
When I was a kid, my dad used to take
me to work every Saturday at the State Theater in Hartford, Connecticut, and I would watch absolutely every band, every singer, every dance act--absolutely
everything. And I got hooked on drums, being a showoff. You know, drummers are
showoffs, and they get all the toys to play and hit. A guitar player has one
guitar and a piano player has one piano, but a drummer has all this stuff to
play. We're built-in showoffs, and I guess we need attention. That's how it
works. My sister bought me my first little set of drums, and you start bangin'
on 'em.
How old were you when you got your first set?
Oh, I was about 11 or 12. I used to set them up on the front porch; we lived on
the second floor. After school, with the kids coming home from school, I'd be up
there banging my drums, getting the attention.
When you were first starting off, were you taking lessons?
No, I was the only Jewish kid in an all-Catholic drum and bugle corps, which was
kind of a funny thing. The priest used to see me peeking through the bars,
watching the guys play and march and everything. Finally, he came over to talk
to me one time, and I told him I was a drummer. I wasn't a real drummer, but I
was a drummer. So he invited me in, and I got to play march music with the guys
and march with the guys. It was really a lot of fun.
You know, one thing leads to another
that way. Eventually we moved to California, and I was in high school, and I got
in some little bands. I had my own little band and played around San Bernadino
and up in the mountains of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake. You know, we used
to play a job for $5 and a free chicken dinner. For real.
That's kind of the way it starts. I
went through the service, played USO shows, played Army bands, got out of the
service, came home from Korea. I met some nice people in San Bernadino who
wanted my band in this new nightclub that was opening up.
One of the top disc jockeys, Bill
Bellman (he was known as Bill the Bellman), asked me if I could come into the
radio station sometime. They had a studio, and he was a songwriter. He wanted to
do demos, and he just happened to be a friend of mine. I'd go into the studio
with him and several other San Bernadino musicians, great musicians. All black,
by the way--most of my early days were playing with black musicians, it was just
one of those things that happened. Anyway, we got to do all these demos with
Bill the Bellman, which led to eventually being in Hollywood and doing demos for
all the big songwriters, which led to, "These guys that did the demos, we
better get them for the record."
So I'd had a certain amount of studio
time behind me and studio experience when I really got my first big break and
started working with Tommy Sands, who was a teenage idol in those days, and Sam
Cooke. Sam Cooke was a major, major artist, and of course that led to Phil
Spector, and the rest is history.
If somebody were aiming for studio playing today, how would they go about it?
First of all, studios are not like they used to be. Every kid has a garage
studio today. They make their own demos. They have their own computer that plays
their own drums and their own horns and their own violins and everything. The
synthesizers that do all of that, the sampling that has been done through the
years--there used to be companies advertising that they had me sampled, and
Shelly Manne sampled, and various drummers, various other artists. You could buy
those samples, and you could have me playing an entire track to no music--you
write your own music to it, that type of thing.
So today it's a different thing.
Today, if you go in live--well, there's not a lot of live recording going on
anymore, like we used to do with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and those kind of
people that sang live. With the Beach Boys, we did live instrumental tracks, but
they would go in and do their voices later. The same with Jan and Dean, and the
Monkees, and the Partridge Family, and all those groups. I mean, I can't tell
you how many television pilots I did, from The
Brady Bunch and on and on and on. We did everybody, because we were the new
kids in town that knew what the words "rock and roll" meant.
And it was just crude, it was just a
backbeat. There was nothing to rock and roll; it was nothing--but to the old
established guys it was a dirty word. Rock and roll was just "dirty black
music, and we're not gonna play that." So when rock and roll started to
infiltrate the television shows, the movies, the commercials, and records, of
course, whenever they were gonna do something, they said, "Call those rock
and roll guys." Well, that was us. That was the Wrecking Crew.
The reason they called us the
Wrecking Crew--that was a phrase really that I kind of coined. Because we were
working with a lot of these old established musicians who'd been in the studios
for 30 years, and they used to look at us; here we were in Levis and T-shirts,
and smoking cigarettes--no drugs--and these guys would look at us, in their
three-piece suits, and they'd say, "These kids are gonna wreck the
business." So we became the Wrecking Crew, and it got so that producers
would call my secretary, and say, "We need that Wrecking Crew for so and
so," and she'd just book the dates. I mean, we were booked three months,
four months in advance, sometimes.
And you'd be playing, what, three dates a day?
Probably a minimum of three dates a day, sometimes four, up to seven.
Pretty much the same cats playing?
It was me and a nucleus of rhythm players, you know, bass players and guitar
players. Later they would bring in their own strings, their own horns, that kind
of stuff--if they were gonna do that.
I'd do rock and roll records in the
beginning. You can listen to Sam Cooke, "Another Saturday Night"--I
think it was H.P. Barnum who was the arranger. Those were the kind of records
that we were doing that the old established guys were saying, "That music
is terrible, it's filthy, it's awful, it's not music." They had no idea--and
within a year they were begging us to work with them. After all, I became the
big contractor, and a lot of us became leaders, and these guys had their noses
up our asses. At the beginning they hated us and then all of a sudden they loved
us because we had work.
When I was a kid, I remember reading an article in Life
or Look or one of those magazines
about a drummer--later on I realized it was you--that everybody wanted the Hal
Blaine sound to make a hit record, and if they couldn't book you, they'd book
your drums.
It wasn't that they couldn't get me, but if somebody was doing a date with their
own group and they wanted my sound, they would ask if they could rent one of my
sets for their drummer. I had about a dozen sets of drums then. I had a guy that
took care of my drums exclusively, and he still is--this is his 36th or 37th
year with me, taking care of my drums. And he would, you know, deliver the drums
and set them up for whoever and then pick them up after the session.
The rental was putting me on the
contract, which today, of course, has managed to give me my pension from the
union. Because every job that we did, it was an employer's pension, and I did so
much work, obviously, in those days, and built up that pension.
What kind of set were you playing back then?
I had a little four-piece set. I started out with Ludwig, then I had some
Rogers, then I went with Pearl.
In the early 1960s, I designed a set
that completely changed the drum world. We went from a little three-, four-piece
set of drums; I built a set of drums with an octave of tom-toms so that I could
make those long filling rolls rather than just one or two or three tom-toms.
Who made that set for you--was that Ludwig?
No, no, no. I stupidly gave it to them. I was a Ludwig drummer, and they were
thrilled. I introduced that set--my set of drums--on an Ed Sullivan special, and
every drum company in the world within three months was putting out that set of
drums. Like a fool, I never patented anything; I didn't get a design patent or
an actual patent. When I do clinics today, one of the first things I do is talk
about that if you come up with any design or anything, you get yourself a design
patent, which is the easiest thing in the world--costs you nothing.
There's a little item out there
called the ching-a-ring. Well, I made a ching-a-ring out of a tambourine,
probably 1959. I was using that on my hi-hat--I still have the original
tambourines here that I was using. I should have put a design patent out on 'em,
and before you know it, companies are making ching-a-rings.
I'm amazed, listening to the old recordings, how many of the songs really didn't
have traditional drums or traditional drum beats on them. I think back to a lot
of the stuff with the Beach Boys, the song that you played the orange drink
bottles on.
That was just a matter of percussion sounds, coming up with different sounds. I
remember playing my snow tire chains on "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
Great sound.
You know, I just used to--I don't know, perhaps it was my creativity. I wanted
to know what the song was about, and wherever it led me, that's where I would
come up with a certain sound that they wanted, certain sounds.
One thing I find is that a lot of drummers just play too much. When do you know
when not to play?
Well, you know, that comes with experience, learning that less is more. That one
good knock in the right place is worth a million sixteenth notes.
Kids today don't listen. I'm amazed--when
I go into a studio today, if I go into a studio that I haven't been playing in
for some time, where the guys don't know me, everybody has headsets, and the
engineer says to me, "Hal, what do you want in your headsets?" And I
say, I just want a little bit of everybody and just a touch of the singer, and
no drums. They say, "No drums?" That's right. I don't want any drums
in my headset. "Why is that?" Well, I don't have to play with me, I have to play with six or seven or eight guys out there. If
everybody listens a little bit to everybody, you'll play together. But these
guitar players get in, and they say, "I wanna hear my guitar, turn me up,
turn me up"--it's crazy. All of a sudden they're playing with themselves.
They're not listening to anybody else.
They just don't make music today the
way we used to make music. Now maybe each generation has said that, but it's the
truth. There'll never be another golden era like the Sixties and Seventies, part
of the Eighties. It has all changed. I mean, you can't understand the lyrics
today, these kids screaming. These drummers who are using baseball bats for
drumsticks. I mean, it's hysterical.
When guys look at me, when they see
the Hal Blaine signature stick, they say, "My goodness, how can you play
with that little light stick?" I say, first of all, I got microphones on
me. I don't have to play loud. I play what I feel. I play dynamics. Now if they
want me playing really heavy, I'll just turn the sticks over and use the butt
ends, it really doesn't matter. I don't need the sticks that these guys are
using--they're building muscles and they're getting cramps and they're hurting
their fingers and they're getting deaf.
I'm still amazed by the versatility you guys had back then.
Yeah. In the morning I'd play on some rock and roll record, then I'd be doing
Barbra Streisand records, some of the most beautiful music in the world, and
then three hours later I'd be in playing a Latin session. I mean, it just went
on and on and on. It's amazing to me, and I guess amazing to a lot of people,
that we could do that. It was wild, but we were guys who, at that time, had that
experience, and we could do it.
It was an amazing era, and great stuff came out of it. They don't make 'em like
that anymore.
I know. They really don't. It's really a shame, but, you know, it'll come around
again. I remember the big bands, and I was a big-band drummer, that was my meat.
I was with Count Basie, I was working with lots of big bands. It was wonderful,
and I loved it. But the big bands were getting crazier and crazier, the
arrangements were getting wilder, the chords were more dissonant, where it
really wasn't pleasant to the ear--even to the ears of the musicians! It finally
wound up with Stan Kenton playing all this wild music, I mean, it was wild! Then
all of a sudden this guy came along with a quiet little trio, Capitol Records,
and turned the whole recording business upside down. His name was Nat King Cole.
Quiet, little wonderful music.
So people who were really getting
enough of the Stan Kentons and these wild bands who were just blowing their
brains out, all of a sudden Nat King Cole came along, and you could hear every
word. It was impeccable, and his music was beautiful.
One of the saddest parts of my career
was, after he died, going in and putting drums on all his stuff. He had a fine
drummer, Lee Young, but Lee played quiet little brushes; you never knew
he was there. Dave Cavanaugh, who was one of the big producers of the time, a
great arranger at Capitol, decided, let's update, put some real drums on Nat's
stuff. So I spent, I don't know, a week or so, everybody crying in the studio
listening to Nat on tape, talking in between takes, and so forth. Really very,
very sad. Very sad.
All this music that we're listening
to today that's so crazy--people are coming along, like this chick Diana Krall,
she's playing very quiet. I think she's eventually going to turn the tables
around where everybody starts coming out with kind of a quiet version of songs.
I've always seen a trend more toward simplicity, over time.
Oh, absolutely! Less is more. It's one of the things you learn.
When MTV had all those "unplugged" concerts, that was kind of that
trend. Take the electronics away, strip down the instrumentation, and see what
it sounds like.
Right. That's one of the wild things about David Grisman. He has this wonderful
company, and he's made over 30, 35 albums. We've done records with Jerry Garcia,
various people, but acoustically. He will not have anything electric on his
records. You listen to these albums, they're magnificent. And he sells a lot of
albums, a lot of albums.
You worked with John Denver for a long time, right?
Working with John Denver is the perfect example of how we used to build a song.
John would sing the song; we would all produce our own parts. When we were ready
to make it, we would yell into the booth to wake up the producer, who was
sleeping there or doing a crossword puzzle, and we would make a record. I had 10
major hits with him, 10 major albums through those years.
You've done studio drumming, you've done live drumming, you were on the road
with John Denver. For a beginning drummer, what's the difference between doing
studio and being on the road?
The difference is, when you're working a live performance, you're getting
immediate response to what you're doing. People are screaming, and they love
what you're doing. People are listening with their eyes.
You become more of a showman when you're on stage.
People listening to records--when
you're in the studio, you're playing music. You don't have to show off, so to
speak. You don't have to raise your arms a little higher than normal. Things
like that, the little tricks you learn--you know, how to jump up out of your
seat on the very end of the song--those kind of things that you do onstage.
Another difference is that you can
have an awful lot of fun on the road because when the show is over at night, you
know that you're going to get a good night's sleep and have a nice breakfast in
the morning. Especially the John Denver show. We never carried a bag; our bags
where all numbered, they were always in your hotel room whenever you arrived. I
mean, it was just the most incredible job, probably ever, in show biz. And
everybody made money.
Nowadays, as you know, all you have
to do is look at VH1 to see where are they now. You know, these guys are
homeless and living in the streets, and they made millions and they put it up
their nose or in their arms. Of course, now that they realize how foolish they
were, they want to start the band over again. It doesn't work. Today, the
demographics of record buyers are from 11 years old to about 24. They don't want
old people anymore. They want young kids; they want little gorgeous chicks. You
see this on MTV and VH1 when they're doing videos. It's just the way it is. It's
hard to understand the songs because everybody's playing as loud as they can,
and the singers are not really trained singers--they're people just out of high
school or whatever, and they're screaming. They're just hollering, and you don't
know what the heck they're saying.
I'm not a young kid anymore. You know, if I was a young kid in high school, and
that was the trend, and we were all 15-year-olds, maybe I'd be going along with
I know that there are an awful lot of
fine musicians out there, and they're all trying hard; they're studying hard. I
try to tell drummers, you've got to know how to read music. How do you expect to
walk in and sit down with maybe a 60-piece orchestra when they put a part in
front of you? You know, it's the old joke, how do you get a drummer to quiet
down? Put music in front of him. (laughs)
When you do your clinics and you talk to the drummers, what mistakes do you see
a beginning drummer making?
The first thing is, they don't want to study. They just want to get in and play
music. They want to play their favorite rock and roll song that they've heard
2,000 times on the radio or on their CD player at home, and now they're a
drummer because they're playing exactly what the drummer played on the record.
They think that's all they have to do, and they start these garage bands and
they play cover songs. But how in the hell can they possibly be creative and
play their own songs?
You know, it's easier to hit the
lotto than hit the jackpot with a group. There are 10 million groups out there,
and record companies don't sign groups anymore today. I shouldn't say that--sometimes
they do. But if you have a band today, and you write songs--let's say 12 or 14
songs--and you record them--they're not bad, you know, halfway-decent commercial--you
can get them burned on CDs for next to nothing. You can have them packaged for
next to nothing. And every time you go out and play somewhere, you sell your own
Now, I know, from heads of record
companies, that they watch some of these sales. I know there was one big group,
Smashing Pumpkins or Hootie and the Blowfish, all of a sudden there was some
group that was selling something like 30,000 records almost every two months.
Well, that's when a record company takes notice. They'll go in and offer them a
lot of money, to put the record on their
It's not like the old days. It's not
like you went in, you worked on a record in the studios, and so forth. It just
doesn't work that way today. That's why it's such a long shot for a drummer to
really make it.
I think the last guy to really start
to happen, along with me and after me, was Jim Keltner. Fine drummer.
Fine, fine drummer. You know, he'll even tell you, I was the guy that started
recommending him for work. Even Jim, now he's out on the road today with Crosby,
Stills, Nash, and Young, he's out there because he's making more money on the
road than he's ever known in the studio. Studios are just not happening anymore.
If you're going to be a sideman, so to speak, you have to be with a group that's
out there making it, and making money.
It's such a long shot today, it's a
Aside from popular music, there are a
lot of musicians, who are fine, fine musicians; they study classical music all
their lives, and they go into a symphony orchestra. Well, a violinist can always
find work because they use 20, 30, 40 violins in a symphony orchestra. And if
it's not this town, it's the next town or the next town.
But a drummer, there's only one
drummer in a band. If you're lucky enough to get into that band, whatever it is,
whether it be pop or classical, you're very fortunate to have a job.
I hate to discourage guys, but damn
it, it's a fact of life!
It's a tough industry--like you said, there's only one drummer in a band. But
I've been surprised at how noncompetitive--how friendly and cooperative--most of
the people in the drumming community are.
That's true. Drummers are all friends. I mean, when we, the so-called rock and
roll Wrecking Crew came along, we were all guys working in nightclubs, making a
hundred bucks a week. All of a sudden we're making a thousand dollars a day.
Now, that's one hell of a leap! Like falling into a vat of chocolate. And you
gotta be friends.
One of the things I used to tell the
guys when I was contracting was, "If you smile, you stay around a while. If
you pout, you're out!" Because a lot of guys would walk in, look at their
music, and say "Eh, the same s**t today," or "What kind of s**t
are we playing today?" Well, the microphones are on and producers hear
that, then they'll come to me and say, "I don't want that guy around here!
I want guys who want to play on my records."
So that's one of the things I used to
tell the guys. So everybody was friendly. Everybody loved one another. There
were no arguments, there were no fights. Fortunately, during our era, there were
no drugs. Rarely were there drugs.
The Mamas and Papas was a different
story. They had lots of drugs. Coming out of the Mamas and the Papas, Michelle
Phillips, who became quite a great actress--she does a lot of movies, she
recently married an old buddy of mine who's a plastic surgeon--she's the only
one, really, who didn't do drugs. The rest of them, you know, Denny was always
drunk, jumping out of windows and breaking his legs. John Phillips had a liver
transplant, and now he's drinking again. Cass, of course, unfortunately passed
I look at all these groups, there's
something like 175 groups that I worked with, did their records, and there may
only be a couple of guys still out there. Freddy Cannon goes out once in a while
to do something. Gary Lewis still goes out to do something once in a while. He's
one of the few guys that won't admit that I played drums on his records. I
played on his records, I played on his father's records, I was doing movies with
his father. I mean, it's ridiculous, I've got pictures in the studio, of him
sitting, you know, fooling around with my drums!
He's the only guy who said, oh no, he played his own drums on his own records.
Total BS.
I do need to say, when it came to the
Monkees, for an example, they really did play music, but they didn't make their
own records. Now I remember one night, there was this big, big thing that hit
Hollywood: The Monkees do not make their own records. I mean, it was the scandal
of scandals.
But nobody made their own records back then...
That was common knowledge, but not necessarily to the general public. To the
kids, all of a sudden this thing came up, the Monkees do not make their own
records. So, in order to straighten that out, they took the Monkees, and they
had them in the little Studio C at RCA one night. Coincidentally, we were in Studio A making Monkees records. Closed session, nobody
could get in there. In Studio C, all the press, all the media was there, all the
TV guys with their cameras, taking pictures of the Monkees playing music, and
singing. (laughs) So, that kind of took care of that.
A lot of guys are constantly asking
me, still, didn't it bother Dennis Wilson that you made the records with
the Beach Boys? Well, Dennis loved
that I made the records because he could be out surfing and motorcycling and
boating and you know, nothing but chicks and boozing and getting in car crashes.
(laughs) That was Dennis. The proof of the pudding is when he made his own
album, he hired me. (laughs) He really didn't mind.
There was only one drummer that did.
When I did the Byrds, that was the only drummer that pissed and bitched and
moaned, and Terry Melcher, the producer, had to tell him to shut up and sit the
f**k down! (laughs) Anyway, they were thrilled at the end, because right out of
the box came "Mr. Tambourine Man."
Of all the people you played with, is there anybody you wanted to play with that
you didn't get to?
There are many people, obviously; there were lots of people in those days that I
did not get to work with. But they were mostly people who did have their own
group and had good musicians, and went in and made their own records.
It seems that the ones you weren't playing on, Earl Palmer was.
Right! Exactly, I was just gonna say, "You've Lost That Lovin'
Feeling"--I was in England. I was always Phil Spector's drummer, so Earl
got to do that, and it was a big hit. I mean, it was Phil Spector producing.
Everything he did was a big hit.
What drummers do you listen to today--who do you like?
There are some fine drummers out there. I have friends like Gregg Bissonette--very,
very fine drummer. Kenny Aronoff, that I see with so many groups, knows
just how to play--like I said, less is more. Of course, Nashville discovered
drums about 15 years ago, so Paul Leim and those guys are down there, and
country music has become rock and roll, and they're just playing rock and roll
what we were all playing in Hollywood, and they're doing a great job.
What advice would you give to a new drummer, just starting out?
Study. You know like they say, location, location, location? Study, study,
study. Practice, practice, practice. Because practice makes perfect. You're not
gonna get anywhere if you haven't studied because you walk into a band and they
throw that music in front of you--how in the hell are you going to play a song?
Unless you happen to know it backward. Now what if it's a brand-new song?
What is music? Music is only a
roadmap. You start here and you end here, but in between there may be some stops
and starts and left turns and right turns, and so forth. That's all music is.
Everyone is reading the same part, that's so that everyone--whether it's a
five-piece band or a thousand-piece band--everybody starts at the same downbeat
and ends at the same place.
It's only a roadmap, and if you can
read English, you can read music. I've heard guys say, "I don't want to
have to read notes because it'll hurt my soul." Well, that's such BS,
absolute BS. If you can read the newspaper or a comic book, you can read music.
It's no different. You learn to read in groups.
When you first started to learn to
read English, you were reading, "the," "man,"
"dog," "cat," "c-a-t." Music is no different. When
you first learn it, you're learning your one-e-and-ahs and two-e-and-ahs and so
forth, but before you know it, you're reading in groups. Now when you read a
newspaper, you don't think about the word "the," "can,"
"run," "cat," "go," "stop." You don't
think about those things. You're automatically reading them. Once you start
reading music you learn to read in groups. Bop bop, bop bop, dadadadadot,
dadadadadot. Once you've practiced it and studied it, you don't think,
"one-e-and-ah two, one and two and"--you don't think that way; you
think in groups. So you automatically do it without thinking about it.
Once in a while you run into a figure
that an arranger has written that's really difficult, and you go back to the
old, "Let's see now, this is one-and two-and-ah three-and four-and
one-and." You spell it out and then you've got it. But if you don't know
those basics, you can't do that.
The hardest thing I ever did was a
movie called The Carpetbaggers, with
an incredible arranger who writes some of the most difficult music in movies. He
writes a lot of stuff in six. I walked into this session--why I even got hired,
I don't know. But I walked in and the percussionist saw me, and I didn't know
this percussionist. He was an older guy, and he was one of those guys that read
fly specks. I mean, he played all these marimba and xylophone parts on all the
cartoons, for years. One of the great, great guys, terrific guy. He saw me
looking through the music and sweating. He came over and put his arm around me,
and said, "Look, there's no problem, we run into something here, we just
talk it out. Nobody has to know." And it was beautiful, and it came out
great! It would go from six to three to four to two to one, unbelievable stuff.
And it worked out fine.
So, if I hadn't had some kind of
basic training, I could have never done that in a million years. That's all it
The advice that I give kids is that
you must learn how to read music. Because then you become a part of the
joke, you know. What did the drummer say on his very first professional job?
"Would you like fries with that order?" (laughs) What does a drummer
say when he knocks on your door at night? "Dominos!" You know, you're
either gonna be a drummer or you're gonna work in a fast food joint, and that's
all there is to it.
There are so many things that I try
to explain to kids when I do clinics. When you drive a car, if you remember when
you first started driving, maybe you were 12 or 13, and you were learning; you
couldn't wait till you were 16. Finally you're driving, and now you're scared to
death; you're shaking all over, you're looking ahead, you're trying to see a
light, remember to step on the brake, step on the gas, turn on your signals...
Well, within three months or four months, you're now looking at people, you're
waving to people, you're listening to the radio, you're not thinking because
you're automatically seeing that light coming up that's green or red; you're
automatically stepping on the brake or the gas or turning on the street you're
supposed to turn on. You don't think about it. You're not saying to yourself,
"I'm going to turn here and then I'll step on the brake and then I'll turn..."
You don't think that way.
Reading music is the same way. You
don't think about it; you're just doing it. You're playing those licks--they're
just in groups. Every time you see those triplets, dadada dadada dadada, you
know what they are. Not the first
time, but by the fifteenth or twentieth time.
So, I guess that's my advice.
That's great advice, Hal. Thanks for spending the time talking.
My pleasure.
How to Buy This Book
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Drums, 2nd Edition is available at bookstores everywhere, or you can order the book online by clicking the button to the right.
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9 months ago |
Wow, time flies! It has been over two months since my last post. Why? I am working again! I started this blog after I was laid off from my job at the end of 2011. I figured it...
11 months ago |
I love ground turkey. I know a lot of people who shy away from it because they say it is dry or has no flavor, but with the right ingredients, I think turkey is a great substitute...
11 months ago |
Happy Friday! Since the Polar Vortex never struck Southern California and it's about 85 degrees today, I decided to make myself a nice cocktail and spend some time outside...
1 year ago |
Chicken, Spicy
You know that scene in When Harry Met Sally where they are talking funny to each other? Saying things like "Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash," and...
1 year ago |
Pasta, Vegetables
Last week my niece came over to hang out for the day. We got hungry and wanted lunch, and while I knew I didn't have a whole lot of food in the house, I figured I could...
1 year ago |
Pasta, Vegetables |
Randi B. |
Last week my niece came over to hang out for the day. We got hungry and wanted lunch, and while I knew I didn't have a whole lot of food in the house, I figured I could throw...
1 year ago |
Beef |
Randi B. |
It's Fall! What does that mean for me? Well, living in hot Orange County, it means that the days are still above 80 degrees (it's supposed to be 91 tomorrow), the nights are...
1 year ago |
Meatless, Snacks |
Randi B. |
I was hanging out at my parent's house the other day and my niece decided to make chips to go with some salsa she had. Easy peasy! In less than 20 minutes we were all eating hot,...
1 year ago |
Chicken, Pasta |
Randi B. |
This is a recipe I have been making for years, it's adapted from a recipe in a cookbook my grandma gave me in high school. I have made some adjustments over the years, and it is now...
Randi B. says:
LMAO! Well you know, Crockpot is my favorite thing to cook. Especially with spices....
Amanda says:
Looks great! I need to get one of those fancy crockpots with a timer....
Wendy Chen says:
Great recipe for a quick but tasty meal. Thanks for sharing!...
Joe says:
I actually made it last night with asparagus instead of brussels and it turned out really good!...

subset: commoncrawl


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Definitions for MOY
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word MOY
The Moy is a Large Village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, about 5 miles southeast of Dungannon and beside the smaller village of Charlemont. Charlemont is on the east bank of the River Blackwater and Moy on the west; the two are joined by Charlemont Bridge. The river is also the boundary between County Tyrone and County Armagh. The 2011 Census recorded a population of 2,129.
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The Internet Shopping Network (ISN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Home Shopping Network, is the first large-scale enterprise to embrace the Internet as a new medium for conducting commerce worldwide. Since its initial market trials in the Spring of 1994, ISN's pioneering efforts have forever changed the way people shop not only for computer hardware and software, but for an ever increasing array of consumer-oriented products as well.
Today, the Internet Shopping Network is one of the largest retailing and mall operations on the net, offering a broad range of products -- close to 22,000 computer products from more than 600 major companies like Lotus, Symantec and Microsoft, flowers from FTD, teas from Celestial Seasonings, steak and lobster from Omaha Steak International and unique gift items from the Hammacher-Schlemmer catalog, among other merchandise -- to an audience of millions of Internet users in 120 countries around the world. But unlike traditional storefronts or mail-order catalogs, ISN can take advantage of its unique computer-based operation to create a truly personalized shopping experience.
Commerce on the InternetShopping on-line is still in its infancy as visionary companies like the Internet Shopping Network establish their presence on the Internet and other on-line services and begin to attract the attention of a relatively limited number of on-line customers. But market researchers are optimistic that the number of on-line users will grow steadily as computer hardware and on-line access costs decrease and the barriers to access are lowered, and that more users will turn to on-line shopping because of the unique advantages it offers over traditional shopping methods. The result, analysts believe, will be a huge increase in the volume of on-line shopping transactions and tremendous growth in total dollar sales over the next several years.
While estimates of the number of people on the Internet vary widely from survey to survey, Forrester Research puts the number of World Wide Web users in 1994 at 2 million (a subset of the estimated 10 to 20 million Internet users). According to Forrester, this number is expected to grow steadily to 7.5 million by 1997 as more companies begin to establish their presence on the Web, and then mushroom to nearly 22 million users by the year 2000, of which 14 million are expected to be individual consumers.
Today, most users of the Internet do so through the network connections established by companies they work for or schools they attend. For individuals, so far, gaining access to the Internet can be a difficult and somewhat costly experience. But this is changing quickly as the Regional Bell Operating Companies, long distance service providers such as MCI and other service providers make it easier to gain access to the Internet. Faster connection speeds will further enhance the on-line experience by enabling the increased use of attention-grabbing graphics, sound and even video, making the Internet much more attractive to a broader audience.
Technological improvements, including the establishment of secure transactions and ubiquitous access, a greater diversity of goods and services available on-line and lower hardware and connection costs will all combine to boost the sale of goods and services on the Internet (as well as other on-line services). While only an estimated $200 million in goods was sold on-line in the U.S. in 1993, according to Forrester Research, that number is expected to explode to nearly $5 billion by 1998. That number could be significantly larger, Forrester claims, if more women are attracted to on-line services, if more large-ticket items like cars are sold and if access to on-line services is made easier and less costly.
The First On-Line SuperstoreFormed in June 1993 as a California corporation by Randy Adams and Bill Rollinson, the Internet Shopping Network commenced on-line operation in April 1994, marking the first appearance of mass merchandising on the Internet. ISN was acquired in September of 1994 by the Home Shopping Network, a billion dollar cable television retailer.
ISN concentrates on selling computer hardware and software directly to members -- much like direct sales catalog stores -- and on managing Internet sales activities for other companies. The early focus on computer products is an effort to match the interests of Web users, and to make the best use of the net's ability to allow software demos and distribution. Membership in ISN is free to both end users and to businesses, though business have the option of paying more for the equivalent of display advertising and other promotions.
Shoppers gain access to ISN through the multimedia World Wide Web (WWW) capabilities of the Internet, a global network of networks. Once connected to the Internet, entering ISN's Internet address, called a URL (Universal Resource Locator), into the "location" field of a web "browser" such as NetScape Navigator or Mosaic connects the shopper's computer to ISN's computers. Technically speaking, the shopper's client application (the browser) can now communicate with ISN's web server, and vice versa.
Secure TransactionsSecurity is a major concern at ISN, and every precaution is taken to ensure that critical credit information is kept from unauthorized access. Once a shopper registers with ISN and provides a credit card number and shipping address, either over the telephone or using ISN's secure network communication, a Membership Code is issued for all future transactions. All credit card information is kept off-line, and the shopper's Membership Code is linked to their shipping address.
ISN employs the NetScape Commerce Server to ensure the security of commerce transacted over the Internet. Highly regarded by the Internet community, the NetScape Commerce Server provides advanced security features such as server authentication, data encryption, data integrity, and user authorization. Communications are based on open standards such as HTML, HTTP, the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. SSL employs public key cryptographic technology from RSA Data Security, an established leader in computer data security, and works with various encryption algorithms.
More than ShoppingRecent studies show that Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the traditional retail shopping experience. Fear of crime and concerns over personal safety are keeping people away from urban retail centers as well as suburban malls. Declining service is also frustrating shoppers who can't find what they are looking for, and who find they have less time to shop or can't shop when stores are open.
Because ISN exists completely within a computer connected to the Internet, it can take advantage of all the power and convenience a computer can bring to bear on the shopping experience. ISN operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Shoppers can find what they want when they want it. They don't have to buck traffic, find a place to park or walk through endless department store isles.
Not only can shoppers browse through ISN's on-line catalogs of products, they also can search for specific products, ask questions about products or services and receive answers via email and read product reviews and articles to help them make more informed buying decisions. Soon, shoppers will be able to sample their favorite artists' music on-line from Intouch and download the selections they like.
Once "inside" ISN, shoppers are presented with a graphical menu from which they can choose among a number of "doors" leading to ISN's product offerings. In addition to a variety of computer hardware and software products areas, shoppers can order flowers through FTD, choose selected items from the Hammacher-Schlemmer catalog, check out the latest "Hot Deals" and "Demos" and even download complete software products.
Shoppers who know what they're looking for can use the power of ISN's Power Searching feature to enter the names of products and manufacturers, as well as price range, to be taken directly to these items.
ISN also offers a number of value added services. Members can search through the past 12 months of InfoWorld and Computer Currents magazine articles and product reviews, read about the latest new products in "Arthur's Corner," get help with their problems from "Ask Dave" and learn more about the Internet and other resources available on it from "Bob's Bazaar."
ISN has several advantages over traditional retail operations that combine to allow ISN to offer extremely competitive prices on all its merchandise. First, it doesn't need to lease expensive storefront or warehouse space. All the computer equipment necessary to operate ISN fits into a small office. It has no inventory. All orders are processed within 15 minutes of receipt and electronically transmitted to one of 12 distribution centers around the U.S. for prompt shipment.
ManagementRandy Adams -- founder and President of the Internet Shopping Network. A 20-year veteran of the software industry, Randy has held positions as director of engineering at Adobe Systems; president of Appsoft, Inc.; founder, president and chairman of Emerald City Software, Inc.; system designer at Next, Inc.; CEO and chairman of IIAT, a publicly held international education and training VAR; Senior Associate at Booz, Allen & Hamilton; special consultant to the National Cancer Institute; MIS director of the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine; and the original designer and developer of PFS First Publisher for T/Maker Company and Software Publishing Corporation.
Randy has designed, managed and/or written eleven commercial software packages. In addition to PFS First Publisher, Randy was involved with LaserTalk, Smart Art I, II, III and TypeAlign for Emerald City Software, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe PhotoShop for Adobe Systems, early work on the NeXTStep operating system for NeXT Inc. and the creation of Appsoft Draw, Image and Write for Appsoft Corporation.
Randy graduated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with degrees in Computer Science.
Bill Rollinson -- Vice President of Marketing and a founder of the Internet Shopping Network. An entrepreneur and software industry executive, Bill has held positions as general manager of a multimedia division at T/Maker Co., founder and president of Storybook Software, director of marketing services at Macromedia, and founder and president of Rollinson Design, Inc.
In 1984, after working as an intern in the Industrial Design Department at Digital Equipment Corporation, Bill combined his computer experience and design expertise to establish one of the first graphic design firms to use the computer as a design and production tool. His clients included Apple Computer, Inc., Intuit, Digidesign, Paracomp, Cisco Systems, Software Publishing, Radius, Symantec, T/Maker, Lotus West, Emerald City Software, Digital Equipment Corporation and Beckman Instruments.
Bill's work at Paracomp and Macromedia led to the creation of Storybook Software, a company to produce interactive software for children. This company was sold to T/Maker in 1993.
Bill has a design degree from UCLA.
Boris Putanec -- Network Manager. An experienced programmer and network manager, Boris has held systems software engineering positions with several pioneering Silicon Valley companies.
Most recently, Boris was a software engineer in the Interactive Network Services department at Kaleida Labs, Inc., where he took the lead role in architecting and developing Distributed ScriptX and worked on a number of interactive TV-related projects. Boris also worked at Apple Computer's Advanced Technology Group with their Vanguard object-oriented, fully distributed environment.
Boris holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in computer science from Brown University.
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Your home can make you so much happier, I am here to help make that happen.
My mission is to bring approachable, affordable and personalized design to you. I can help you find your design voice and make your home a reflection of who you are, just think of me as your interior therapist.
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Then, if you want me to help you, I will show you what we can do together, some really simple, practical, beautiful ideas and where to get everything you need. I am based in Angel and will travel anywhere in London and further if required.
A one hour consultation is £50. Everything else is based on your budget and how much you want to do. Remember, it doesn't all need to be done at once and you choose the level of support you need.
Peruse my blog and take a look at my Pinterest boards to find out a bit more about me, or just get in touch by email.


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Christine Hopfengart and Michael Baumgartner Paul Klee; Life and Work (Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern:2012) ISBN 978-2-7757-3007-5 Paul Klee exhibited with the Blue Rider, taught for years at the Bauhaus in both Weimar and Dessau and had a major retrospective of his work at the National Gallery, Berlin, before he was fifty. Yet his work always stood apart from that of his colleagues. The authors of this first-rate monograph situate Klee's art in terms of his musical interests, travels, study of other artists, contemporary art movements, and interest in the structure and growth of natural forms. Despite the artist's avowedly non-political stance, ... More » »
Most visitors to Van Gogh Up Close at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA, through May 6, 2012, then at the co-organizing museum, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, May 25 – Sept. 3, 2012) will be excited simply to see a large number of paintings by Van Gogh; he's the artist most guaranteed to draw crowds and to send them home happy. This doesn't pretend to be a survey of his work. It is, rather, a carefully-curated theme exhibition about an aspect of Van Gogh's work that has, until now, been unexplored: the artist's novel exploration of the ... More » »
The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) is celebrating one of its most illustrious alumni with Henry Ossawa Tanner; Modern Spirit (through April 15, 2012) and it is greatly to be welcomed. While Tanner is well represented in PAFA's collection and that of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA, which organized a Tanner exhibition in 1991), his work is widely dispersed in public and private collections in the U.S. and France, and the exhibition brings them together and into public view, many for the first time since they were acquired. A deep appreciation of Tanner will involve some work on ... More » »
Unless you've visited the Musée Marmottan, Paris, or are old enough and fortunate to have seen the exhibition drawn from its collections many decades ago at the Met, get yourself to Gagosian Gallery by June 26 to see Claude Monet Late work. That is, go if you love painting. For you'll see that rare thing – an artist who attempts something different in his old age, like Verdi taking on comedy. And in doing so, Monet made himself a twentieth-century painter and a great one.


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Dr. Don G. Lamparski, Jr. received his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree and Master of Dental Science degree in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics from the University of Pittsburgh.
To better serve our patients, we have five convenient locations throughout western Pennsylvania.
At Lamparski Orthodontics, we strive to provide quality and affordable care. We accept cash, check and Visa and MasterCard credit cards. For your convenience, we offer low- and zero-interest financing.
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We appreciate you taking the time to learn more about our practice. Please feel free to navigate our website for more information about Lamparski Orthodontics. Please contact us to schedule your complimentary consultation today! We look forward to making you a part of the Lamparski family!


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How Well Do You Know A Charlie Brown Christmas?
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10 Reasons Why Charli XCX Is The Most Exciting New Pop Star Of 2014
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We Award The Biggest And Best Music Videos Of 2014!
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June 7th, 2010
The Hard Times of RJ Berger premieres tonight on MuchMusic at 10pm ET. It's a hilarious comedy about embarrassing teenagers with even more embarrassing friends and parents. What's more high school than that? So that you're not left with your pants down when your favourite new show premieres tonight, you're gonna wanna know the players. I mean, playas. Cuz, they're super hood. Not!
Click on the jump to prolong the awkwardness!
Our fearless leader of the show would be a lil more fearless if he wasn't so terrified of everything. His parents are over-the-top swingers, his best friend Miles wants to use RJ's manly member as the literal key to the cool club, and his only other friend, Lily, should be arrested for her constant sexual assault of RJ. Yay bff's!
What happens with the ticket to eternal high school coolness has been chillin' in your besties pants? Use it for everything you can! Miles is constantly documenting the rise to celebrity status of RJ and himself on his video camera. I hope he has a lot of film. This could take a while.
If Jersey Shore's The Situation and Sarah Silverman had a baby (weird!) it would be Lily. Hilarious, sexually aggressive with a touch, okay, a slab of nerdiness, Lily is RJ's friend who wants to be RJ's 'friends with benefits'. She would probably even settle for getting rid of the friends part and just keeping the benefits.
Jenny Swanson is 'that' girl. The one who never has a bad hair day, has parents who are loaded with cashola, a hawt boyfriend and a ton of friends. She even has RJ's heart. The last part's not that exciting.
Resident d bag and all around giant tool, Max Owens takes it upon himself to torment RJ's life. And date the girl RJ is in love with. And be the star of the basketball team. And be the hottest guy in school. Srsly, why he gotsta be so mean to RJ??
Tags: The Hard Times of RJ Berger
Posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 4:57 pm by Allison and is filed under Blog.Tweet


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« Macklemore Talks Homophobia, Dissing R. Kelly, & Being a White Rapper
Rap-Up TV: Michelle Williams Gets 'Ratchet' on New Album »
Nicki Minaj Shares Strip Club Adventures in New Vlog
Nicki Minaj hit the strip club over the weekend to celebrate the birthday of her bestie Safaree "ScaffBeezy" Samuels. In her latest vlog, she shares footage from her wild night at Perfection in NYC.
The "High School" rapper invited some lucky contest winners to come with her including one fan who brought his mother. "Your mother's coming?" asked Nicki in one hilarious moment on the bus. "She's coming to the strip club?"
Once inside, she took over the mic as fans rapped along to her lyrics. "Where my bad bitches at? If you got some good pussy, make noise," she said.
The strippers worked the pole in barely-there outfits as Nicki and SB threw stacks of cash at them. Future, Meek Mill, Fabolous, and Maino also stopped by to wish the birthday boy.
Check out all the NSFW action below.
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This Minute at Runco
Calibrate Good TimesMonday, June 20, 2011
My uncle is a cabinet maker by trade – he's an artist with woodworking. He's said to me, "With every project you stick to the plans exactly... until after you've made the first cut." What he means is that plans are a fantastic tool that must be in place, but getting into the project starts changing the plans almost immediately. From the beginning on it's about varying the plans to fit the reality of the situation. The same could be said for any creative, artistic endeavor. Reality demands flexibility.
No matter how good we make Runco displays and projectors (and they are the best in the world), just the fact that you take it into your home changes everything. The ambient light, the color of your walls, the size of your room and so many other variables affect the artistry of displaying beautiful images in your home theater. All of the plans that were so helpful at the beginning, now need to be adjusted to match with the reality of your set-up.
Calibration allows each Runco display and projector to be finely tuned to its new home so that you will see the absolute best image quality. The Imaging Science Foundation has developed standards for calibration that require intensive training and expensive equipment, and the reality is that you won't get a better viewing experience from your display than with a professional calibration. Your local Runco authorized dealer can provide you with top-notch, in-home calibration tailored to your exact situation. If you have a home theater room with controlled lighting for a consistent environment you won't find a better solution than fine-tuned, professional calibration services.
But you're not always in a home theater with the windows blacked out and the lights turned down. Sometimes you want to watch TV in your living room, but that means the light from windows and lamps is constantly changing. Not to worry, Runco has you covered with the LightStyle™ Series DLP projectors. They're designed to give beautiful high-definition performance in a variety of lighting situations.
To start off, they keep the blacks black using SuperOnyx™ technology with ConstantContrast™. So, instead of seeing washed-out grey during the day and squint-inducing darkness at night, the image is consistently adjusted for the right level of contrast for the lighting conditions. Next, Runco has integrated ISF calibration right into the projector, so you can calibrate the projector yourself. More than that, there are memory settings for both day and night-time ISF calibrations so no matter what the ambient light is like, you'll still get amazing video quality. We meet the reality of your life with the flexibility of on-board calibration. The artistry of video projection receives its finishing touches in your home.
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The Chuck Norris of NumbersSaturday, May 21, 2011
I often get asked why we named the D-73d the D-73d. Why not the D-42d or the D-89d? What is so special about 73? Rest assured we had good reasons, that are logical and are consistent with our naming conventions, but my favorite explanation is from one of my favorite TV shows, The Big Bang Theory. According to Sheldon, 73 is the best number. See why in this clip.
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The Genuine FightTuesday, May 10, 2011
May 10, 2011
I was reading a post from a favorite blogger of mine recently who referenced an interview with furniture designer, George Nakashima. He lamented that "it requires a genuine fight to product one well-designed object of relatively permanent value." This is so true.
At Runco we take pride in our craftsmanship, even if that means that things take a bit longer to deliver than big-box commodity equivalents (something George called "the flood of consumer goods" in 1962). It takes a genuine fight to defend the simplicity, the quality, and the uncommon performance of great design.
George's designs are very organic, reusing bits of wood to create profiles inspired by nature. We use materials like metal, glass, and, of course, elegant designs of our circuit boards and software to create well-designed objects that have distinct value. While electronics aren't permanent, due to evolving standards and innovations over time, a Runco product does reflect the passion of our clients and customers for the fight for excellence.
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Institute for Economic Policy Research
The Institute for Economic Policy Research (IEPR) was established in 2004 to promote high quality, empirically grounded policy oriented economic research at USC. IEPR's main goal is to support, enhance and promote research activities of the faculty and students, and to facilitate sustained discussion of theoretical and economic policy issues of domestic and global importance. The Institute will host scholars from the United States and abroad, establish links with leading universities worldwide and business community in California . The Institute organizes conferences, lectures, public seminars, sponsors workshops and promotes collaborative interdisciplinary scholarship, intended to contribute to a broad understanding of economic policy within and outside the academy.
IEPR Research Groups
The Institute currently support three major research groups - Applied Microeconomics/Empirical Industrial Organization (IO), Econometrics (applied and theoretical), and the International Development and Finance.
With its world renowned groups of scholars, the Institute puts its interdisciplinary knowledge to work as a prominent contributor to the marketplace of ideas.
Copyright © University of Southern California. All rights reserved.


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July 27th is National Scotch Day
That's good because, as the Gift Gurus could tell you, each of the past three years, I've made a (quite vocal) New Year's resolution to become acquainted with Scotch. And each of the last three years, I've failed to take step one towards making good on that resolution (…like most resolutions!).
On the surface, there's obviously something classically cool about confidently ordering and enjoying a Scotch. But aside from that coolness, I've genuinely just wanted to know more about and become less intimidated by Scotch whiskey. I've felt learning more about the history, the types, the production methods and about the producing regions of Scotch whisky would let me be able to dive in and start getting my feet wet with the "Water of Life".
So here on July 27th I yet again try and commit myself to becoming more familiar with Scotland's most famous import.
For now, here are some our gift ideas for the Scotch lover and/or beginner!
Celebrate National Scotch Day with this refreshing cocktail recipe
The Orkney Chapel
(Created at Death & Company, one of New York City's most well-known cocktail speakeasies.)
2 oz. Highland Park 12 Years Old
1/4 oz. Lusteau Amontillado Sherry
1/4 oz. Sugar cane syrup
1/4 oz. Grand Mariner
1/2 oz. Dolin Dry vermouth


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Our goal for the MBC Book Club - read and discuss books! Each month, we will read a great book and share in dicussion here among the club - possibly set up a chat to go along with our forum discussion! So, are you in? Best, Dannie
Members: 130
Latest Activity: Sep 16
2. Participation in a weekly discussion is encouraged, but not mandatory.
3. Weekly discussions will be held beginning the following Wednesday provided we have enough people to hold the discussion. *Still working out the chat location*
4. If you choose to do a review/recap on your personal blog, please submit links to me no later than the 3rd Monday of the following month for inclusion in the MBC post.
5. If you receive a free review copy, you must write a review on your personal blog. Reviews should be posted by the 3rd Monday of the following month for inclusion in the MBC post.
Started by Cynthia Tolbert-Wilson Apr 9, 2013. 0 Replies 0 Likes
Book Review/Giveaway: What is Love by Corine Hyman. Ends Sept 19th
If you're looking for another great book to read, join our blog's book club. More info here! You may even get a free copy of the book Crystal Dawn from the author, Jennifer Goraczkowski.
She is graciously hosting our book club this mornth. Find more info at http://theevolutionofmom.com/lets-go-book-clubbin/
I am trying to get more exposure for my friend's book. It is currently up for an award on Amazon. Here are the first 20 pages. http://www.amazon.com/Posse-2014-ABNA-Entry-ebook/dp/B00JOU35UY/ref... If you download and like it I'm happy to send you the rest of it in an ebook, whichever format(s) you would like
We also have http://www.amazon.com/Annie-Crow-Knoll-Gail-Priest-ebook/dp/B00E4XX...
Giveaway: The Recluse Storyteller. Ends Nov 25th http://mymcbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/book-spotlightgiveaway-th...
Giveaway: Sticky Icky Booger Bugs. Ends Nov 15th
Giveaway: Party Animals. Ends Nov 15th http://mymcbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/book-reviewgiveaway-party...
Giveaway: 2013 Fall Collection Titles from Sylvan Dell Publishing. Ends Nov 15th
Giveaway: Red Nectar by Heather Leigh. Ends Oct 31st
Book Review/Giveaway: Why We Give Gifts at Christmas Time. Ends Jul...
Book Review/Giveaway: Gatsby's Grand Adventure: Auguste Renoir: The...
Book Review/Giveaway: Someone's Sleepy. Ends July 17th.
Giveaway: Author/Book Spotlight: I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag…...
I would love to increase my readership as well. I am finding it a bit difficult. I do like coming on to the site and reading other blogs. I have found some great blogs. I normally keep track of the blogs that I join and try to comment on them at least once every other week until I just never hear from them. I love having tons of blogs to read and respond too.
Overview: At age twenty-one, Andrea Palpant Dilley stripped the Christian fish decal off her car bumper in a symbolic act of departure from her religious childhood.
At twenty-three, she left the church and went searching for refugein the company of men who left her lonely and friends who pushed the boundaries of what she once held sacred.
In this deeply personal memoir, Andrea navigates the doubts that plague believers and skeptics alike: Why does a good God allow suffering? Why is God so silent, distant, and uninvolved? And why does the church seem so dysfunctional?
Yet amid her skepticism, she begins to ask new questions: Could doubting be a form of faith? Might our doubts be a longing for God that leads to a faith we can ultimately live with?


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mashko Goodbye 43things.
7. Cuba
Another absolutely unique country.
I admire it for it's political history and resilience to withstand through all these years, even though most countries of the Socialist block have ceased to exist. Such a strange place to live and so different from rest of the world.
An incredible place, but I think it will not be what it is now as soon as Fidel Castro passes away. It will go through immense change, update and will be grabbed by capitalism.
Should be visited before all this happens.


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Chicago potholes are being covered in mosaics instead of asphalt
By Inigo del Castillo in New Art on Tuesday 4 November 2014
Previously, we featured artist Jim Bachor, who is known for his unconventional solution to Chicago's pothole problem: mosaics.
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Isolated Building Studies of Chicago: photos by David Schalliol
By Milo Sumner in New Photography on Wednesday 9 April 2014
Inherently, living in a city means distraction, noise, crowded streets and homes piled on top of each other. For the urban-dweller, it's almost a reassurance to hear the sound of strangers living out their lives just the other side of your bedroom wall. Quiet, solitariness and isolation are not aspects one expects to find in […]
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Chicago looks like a city in the sky in this perfectly timed photo
By Inigo del Castillo in New Photography on Monday 10 March 2014
Behold, Asgard! Oh wait, it's actually Chicago! While en route to Chicago O'Hare International Airport amateur photographer Mark Hersch snapped this amazing photo of the city's skyline silhouette reflected on the waters of Lake Michigan. Taken at the perfect moment, Chicago looks like an upside-down city in the sky, with God's rays of light shining […]
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Breathtaking photos of Chicago's modern day ice age
By Inigo del Castillo in New Photography on Saturday 11 January 2014
We all know about the Polar Vertex that's currently plunging many places in the United States into a deep freeze. With temperatures dropping to record lows, no one is seeing the beauty in this modern day ice age. Thankfully, we have superhumans called photographers, who would risk life and limb – not to mention a heavy case of pneumonia – to get a beautiful photo!
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Super-large type projected onto Chicago buildings give the city a cinematic makeover
By Low Lai Chow in New Design on Monday 6 January 2014
For her Letters at Large series, designer Audra Hubbell used the urban landscape in Chicago as the canvas for super-large typography that she projected onto the city buildings. Given the black-and-white treatment, these shots almost look like they sprung right out of film noir. Which is perfectly like the Chicago we know.
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Monopoly, played on the real streets of Chicago
By Low Lai Chow in New Photography on Wednesday 27 November 2013
Ooh, sometime back last year, a street artist going by the name of Bored apparently took to the streets of Chicago and planted Monopoly-inspired boardgame bits on the pavements — right down to the dice, the player token pieces, and even Chance and Community Chest cards. Wish we were there then.
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Chicago airport hires sheep, donkeys and llamas as lawn care
By Annie Churdar in Cool Travel on Wednesday 30 October 2013
Pilots beware! You'll now need to keep a sharp eye out for stray sheep, donkeys and llamas when touching down at the Chicago O'Hare Airport. These herds of friendly animals are all part of the new natural lawn care system employed to maintain the 120 acres of airport land. The airport even hired shepherds to keep track […]
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Goats hired to take care of landscaping at Chicago airport
By Low Lai Chow in New Trends on Tuesday 21 May 2013
If you're headed to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in June, watch out for a herd of, er, goats. Slated to provide "sustainable vegetation management grazing services" in a two-year $100,000 contract awarded to a Chicago-based company, they'll be grazing on weeds and invasive plants on the 120 acres or so weedy grounds there. The arragement […]
Stunning photo portraits of Chicago by Jon Damaschke
By Terrible Spaceship in New Photography on Wednesday 10 April 2013
Jon Damaschke is a Chicago animator-turned-photographer whose work blows us away. He has an incredible vintage aesthetic, which is easy to love, and a unique photographic perspective. Considering how amazing his work is, it's stunning that he's only been pursuing photography for a few years.
Invaders 1938: the debut album from Chicago's Terrible Spaceship
By Lost At E Minor in New Music on Wednesday 6 February 2013
Chicago's Terrible Spaceship have just released their debut album, Invaders 1938. The Chicago Tribune says that the band is 'equally influenced by Danny Elfman, Portishead and Orson and H.G. Welles'. And who are we to disagree.
Photographs of Chicago warehouse fire encased in ice
By Low Lai Chow in New Photography on Wednesday 6 February 2013
So this is what fire looks like under single-digit temperatures. An empty warehouse in Chicago was recently ensnared in a massive blaze that had a third of Chicago's firefighting force spraying water at the scene. They ended up covering affected areas — including surrounding buildings and cars — in ice. Even icicles formed on the fire hoses.
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Colourful urban art by Chicago's Chris Silva
By Hao Ni in New Art on Monday 14 January 2013
Being a street artist himself in Chicago, Chris Silva loves to collaborate with people using found objects and colorful murals to create amazing art that reflects its urban setting. Of his work, he says: 'I am interested in the visually poetic, employ ambiguity in my work and strive to express the essence rather than the details. I see opportunities in accidents, enjoy unusual combinations of materials, the unpredictable outcomes of collaboration and the general adventure of the creative process'.
Time-lapse video of Chicago cityscape
By The Flying Dutchman in Video on Thursday 8 November 2012
There is something incredibly familiar and also utterly unique about the flood of timelapse videos we currently see, a complex network of actions all forming an intricate visual ballet. I vote for a channel dedicated to streaming the best of these 24/7, a throwback to the backdrops we used to see on CNN. Like having […]
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Cityscape Chicago: a time-lapse video by Eric Hines
By Darwin Cosico in Video on Wednesday 31 October 2012
Eric Hines, a photographer/time-lapse cinematographer from Indiana, has recently completed a personal time-lapse piece consisting of over 30,000 still photos shot incrementally between July and October this year around downtown Chicago. The Windy City has always been on my list of cities to visit since I can remember, and this video has shown me again […]
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New music by Chicago's The Sometimes Family
By Lost At E Minor in New Music on Friday 10 August 2012
What sets Chicago's The Sometimes Family apart from other groups in this new soul era is their aim to bring back the vocally driven tune: the collaborative, harmonic group sound. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, including the Fifth Dimension, the Staples Singers, the Jackson 5, and the Friends of Distinction, The Sometimes Family […]


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|Eastern Conference
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|Vancouver Giants
|Victoria Royals
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's mission is to develop players for professional hockey while supporting them throughout their academic endeavors in order to mold them into responsible and educated citizens. It must offer high entertainment value in order to ensure the continued success of its activities.
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"Excellent salsa. Has a nice smoky flavor that makes it different from most other ones. Plus it's a great way to use up chipotles that I otherwise don't need. Labor day BBQ loved it. Thanks!"
"Excellent salsa. I chose to be liberal on the cilantro, which added the flavor I wanted. I think I might add a bit more tomato, and perhaps some more chiles -- it was a bit mild. Nonetheless, the flavor mixture was excellent. Thanks!"
"This was excellent. I served it over Basmati rice and it was well-received by guests who had never before tried an ethnic dish of this variety. Very sweet curry because of the honey... I might put more curry powder in order to bring some more intensity next time."
"This was my first attempt at raita, and since I wasn't aware of what it should be like, please take my comments with a grain of salt. That being said, it was rather overloaded with vegetables, leaving only a coating of yogurt on them. The onion was particularly overpowering. The cucumber & mint mix was excellent; I will probably just add more yogu..."


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Kumba Has Moved!
We are happy to announce that we have completed moving into our new main office located right in the heart of Tuscawilla:
What Can a Property Manager Do for Me?
A property manager assists you by protecting and caring for your property while you are renting it. We will advertise your home for rent, screen potential tenants and manage all the issues that come up during the rental contract. We answer the phone on holidays or late at night and work with only the most reputable companies to solve problems that come up. All of this and so much more!
In short, we take care of your home freeing you from the hardest part of renting your home and letting you collect the rewards. And the best part: we don't get paid until you do. Enlisting the services of a qualified property management specialist is the best decision you can make when renting your home. Let us help you! Click here to learn more about our property management services!
Choose Kumba, your very own property management specialist!
Looking for a manager for your property? Want to start renting your home to well qualified renters? We can provide this service to you. Kumba Realty has been managing rental homes, condos and town homes in the Greater Orlando area for years. Whether your home is in Tuscawilla, Winter Park, Oviedo, Lake Nona or anywhere in Orlando we have the expertise you need to manage your rental.
As investors and home owners ourselves, we know what to look for when retaining the services of a property manager. You want someone who will handle everything from finding qualified renters who will take care of their home to managing the day to day issues that come up for all rentals. We offer a wealth of experience, proven ability and the tender loving care needed to take care of your investment.
Interested in Renting one of our Homes?
Have you seen a home available for rent and want to move in right away? One of the ways we serve our owners is to make the process of renting their homes as quick and painless as possible for qualified renters. Click here to find out more on how to get started. All applications we receive are quickly processed and we can usually have an answer for you very quickly.


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The Chamber hosts a number of committees charged with various goals. Each committee is comprised of several business representatives and a Chamber staff member. Their purpose is to focus on a key area to help support the overall mission and goals of the Chamber.
Active Committees Include
- Affordable Housing Task Force Committee
- Business Education Partnership Committee
- Excellence in Business Committee
- Government Affairs Committee
- Leadership Bismarck-Mandan Committee


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Despite shortages in the metal supply, the Royal Air Force (RAF) made plans to broaden their air fleet to include a new variety of bomber which was somewhat smaller and faster. In 1936 the RAF commissioned several companies to submit designs for such a plane, and a civilian outfit called De Havilland responded with a highly unorthodox concept: a bomber constructed almost entirely out of plywood. Initially the British Air Ministry scoffed at the idea, and suggested that the airplane company instead use its resources to construct wings for existing bomber designs. But the people at De Havilland were convinced that their unconventional idea had some merit.
The aircraft designers originally conceived of a wooden airframe armed with several gun turrets and a six-man crew, all propelled by a pair of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. A series of calculations soon indicated that such a plane wouldn't be particularly fast given its heavy weight, so the engineers discussed adding two additional engines to bring it up to the speed of existing bombers. After some consideration, the original thinkers at De Havilland concluded that the best way to defend an aircraft wasn't with bristling machine guns, but by making it so fast that nothing in the sky could catch it.
The approach seemed reasonable, so the design team continued to tinker with their wooden aircraft concept-- though it still hadn't received the blessing of the RAF. They discarded the gun turrets and four of the crew positions, a reduction which significantly decreased the estimated weight. They also paid close attention to the aerodynamics of the craft, aiming for a skin as slippery as that of a fighter plane. With its pair of supercharged Merlin engines, the lightweight plywood design was estimated to have a top speed of 400 miles per hour with a full bomb load, easily outpacing Germany's fastest fighters.
The RAF continued to be apprehensive in spite of the impressive specs; a lightly-armed wooden bomber was profoundly contrary to the thinking of the time. Fortunately De Havilland had an ally in the British Air Ministry, a man named Sir Wilfrid Freeman. Freeman had been friends with the De Havilland family since World War I, and he saw the potential in the new design. At his coaxing, the Air Ministry finally authorized construction of the prototype, largely due to Freeman's observation that the wooden airplane would not sap the country's already bedraggled metal supplies.
After some setbacks due to equipment shortages and German bombings of the De Havilland buildings, the Mosquito prototype was transported to the town of Hatfield for a test flight on 25 November 1940. Its final construction was heat-formed plywood over a wooden frame, with sections glued and screwed for extra strength. It employed Ecuadorean balsawood sandwiched with Canadian birch, a particularly strong and lightweight grade of plywood. Metal was used in only a few parts, including the engine housings and some control surfaces. The wooden sections were covered in fabric and the prototype was painted bright yellow to discourage British anti-aircraft crews from firing upon the top-secret airplane. A series of test flights over the following months confirmed that the Mosquito was an extremely agile and swift machine, executing impressive acrobatics and reaching speeds up to 392 miles per hour. Further testing also discovered that the aircraft could easily heft four times the load it had been designed for.
The unlikely wooden aircraft quickly established itself as one of the most useful planes in the Royal Air Force. The bomber varieties could deliver a payload comparable to that of the flying fortresses, while consuming less fuel, putting fewer lives in danger, and cruising at about twice the speed of the larger bombers. The Mosquito was also useful for low-altitude runs, where squadrons of Mosquitos flying at rooftop heights dropped their ordnance with precision, departing at full speed with German interceptors in hopeless pursuit.
The heavy-fighter version proved to be fast and deadly, flying bomber escorts and shooting down almost 500 of Germany's V-1 rockets. Some fighters were given a 57mm cannon and rockets for sinking U-boats at sea. A night-fighter variant was equipped with Britain's new top-secret radar set, allowing the Mosquito to find its prey in the darkness.
When British intelligence learned that the commander of the German Luftwaffe Hermann Göring was due to address a Nazi parade in Berlin on 31 January 1943, they devised a plan to demoralize the enemy. Göring had long boasted that Germany's capital was safe from Allied bombers, but on that morning the lie was given to his claims when a mess of bombs was delivered to the rally by a gaggle of Mosquitos. Another squadron of Mosquitos went on to disrupt a second rally in Berlin on the same afternoon. On a separate occasion, British Mosquito pilots conducted very-low altitude bombing of Gestapo headquarters, destroying important records and freeing numerous prisoners. Due to daring raids such as these, the Mosquito came to be affectionately known by the nicknames "Wooden Wonder" and "Timber Terror." Even Hermann Göring himself held the Mosquito in high regard:
Perhaps the most daring Mosquito raid was that of Operation Jericho, a bold and somewhat desperate undertaking meant to free condemned prisoners of war. On 18 February 1944, a flight group consisting of nineteen Mosquito bombers along with fighter escorts dashed at top speed over Nazi-occupied France towards Amiens Prison. Allied forces had learned that one hundred and twenty captured members of the French Resistance were scheduled to be executed there the following day, and an audacious plan was hatched in the hopes that some of the prison's 717 prisoners might escape.
For several years the inexpensive Mosquito bombers dominated the skies in terms of speed and versatility. Eventually a handful of German fighter planes were developed which were slightly faster than the Mosquitos, but most of the time the wooden bombers were already on their way home by the time the interceptors arrived, and the small speed advantage was insufficient to close the gap in a reasonable time. Towards the end of the war Germany finally developed a jet-powered plane with enough speed to catch the Timber Terror, but their introduction came too late to make a significant impact. The Mosquito also played a small role in the Pacific theater, but its use was limited because its wood-and-glue construction proved to be problematic in the humid climate. Some planes quite literally came unglued due to the heat and moisture, a problem which may have led to a few crashes.
By the time the war was over, not only had the Mosquito proven itself to be capable, but in many ways extraordinary. These aircraft-- primarily built by carpenters using commonplace materials-- flew over 28,000 missions for Bomber Command, and only 193 of them were lost in the duration of the war. A Mosquito named F for Freddie held the record for the most bombing runs by a single aircraft in World War 2, having executed 213 sorties. The last Mosquito was built in 1950, and the Wooden Wonder remained the fastest aircraft in Bomber Command until 1951.
Unfortunately the wood construction has not weathered the years as well as it weathered the war; only about thirty preserved specimens remain, and none are airworthy. The original prototype survived, however, and is currently undergoing complete restoration in the De Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.


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93 %
152805 views - 6 years ago
If ever there's a girl that needs more dick than Adriana Luna, keep her the fuck away from us! This chick won't leave me the fuck alone, even after we delivered! My man Greedy ain't any better, though. Dude took the chick's bum-ass truck in exchange ...
92 %
39977 views - 3 years ago
We took a call to hit up a "bordello," and we weren't about to pass that shit up. When we showed up it turns out there was major miscommunication with the client and instead of wanted her pussy filled, she wanted a role in a play filled. Just before ...
92 %
43782 views - 2 years ago
Katie has another house to paint today. Her new client is surprised to see this cute girl at his house to do this big job!She gets to work and he can't his eyes of her ass and tits!She notices him staring and starts to really tease him while painting...
92 %
62228 views - 6 years ago
This scene is off the hook, the adorable Ruby teases for the camera before taking the cock in her mouth and have it rock hard. This sexy Latina has such a tight body you won't lose focus watching her shaved pussy riding that hard cock.
A sad day here with Milfs Like it Black. Just as we're about to seal the deal with kick-ass, wide-eyed milf, Tara Holiday, I get a call from a connect in Africa (specifically, Tanzania for you fuckin' geographers) that our man Lil Reg was fuckin' eat...
91 %
55941 views - 3 years ago