Oil Spill

-When did the oil spill happen?
April 20, 2010

-How did it happen?
A semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and sank two days later. Causing oil to gush out under water.

-Was there anyone killed in the explosion?
There were 9 platform workers and two engineers that worked on the oil rig killed. It also injured 17 others. There were 126 people on it when the explosion occurred. 79 of them were Transocean employees, 6 were from BP, and 41 were contracted. 115 were evacuated while the rest didn't make it out in time. At the time, there was a group of BP executives on board celebrating the companies safety record. They were injured, but survived.

-How could this have been avoided?
This could have been avoided if the company took care of the problems they had with the rig when they first started happening. If they would've fixed the damages to it, this probably wouldn't have happened.

-How much will this cost?
This is costing the fishing industry $2.5 Billion. And Florida's tourism along Paradise Coast has lost about $3 Billion. The oil spill not just effected the fishing industry, it also effects the shrimping industry. They had to have an emergency catch on April 29 so they could get something in before the oil got to the shrimp. And if they wouldn't have done that, they probably wouldn't be able to catch any shrimp. To pay for the clean-up, it could cost BP up to $75 million. On May 13th, BP reported that the cost of the oil spill alone had reached $450 million and it rises by $10 million a day.

Music Legends- Janis Joplin

The second person that I can think of who changed music in some way is Janis Joplin. When she arose in the late 1960's, there weren't really any female rock singers. Many female rock singers today said she was their inspiration to be a rock singer. She not only helped pave the way for rock stars today, she also helped change the way music sounds.

Janis Joplin was born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas on January 19, 1943. Port Arther was a small, southern, petroleum industry town. She had two younger siblings, Michael and Laura, but her parent's said that Janis always needed more attention than the other two. The family attended the Church of Christ. Which some people wouldn't have guessed because of some of the things Janis did as she grew older.
When in school, Janis was a part of a group of outcasts. She was often taunted in school and was called names because of her weight and acne. She painted in school and she read, which might have helped her outcast image. She also sang in the local choir and listened to blues singers, like Big Mama Thorten and Leadbelly.
Janis Joplin graduated High School in 1960 and then moved on to Lamar State College of Technology in Beaumont, Texas during the summer. She later went to the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, but didn't finish. In the University of Texas newspaper in 1962, they ran an article on her named, "She Dares to be Different".

While she was a student at the University of Texas, she discovered that she had an inborn talent for singing folk and blues music. She played small clubs and coffeehouses in and around Austin.
While in college, she had been experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Her favorite alcohol was Southern Comfort and she often used speed and heroin. In 1965, Janis's friends started noticing the physical changes that she was going through. They described her as skeletal and emaciated. They were worried about her so they persuaded her to go back to Port Arthur. She got on a bus to Port Arthur in May of 1965 with the help of her friends. When she arrived back home she changed her lifestyle. She wasn't into drugs and alcohol and she changed the way she dressed and even did her hair. She went back to college and enrolled again as a sociology major at Lamar University. She even got engaged. But soon after the engagement was announced, Janis's boyfriend ended it. While in college for the second time, Janis couldn't stay away from music. She often went back and forth to Austin to play solo in different clubs.

When an old friend from Austin called Janis from San Fransisco and told her about an up and coming band that he was managing called Big Brother and the Holding Company, Janis was tempted to drop everything and leave. And she did. She moved to a little San Fransisco community that was taken over by the flower children of 1966 and was offered the singing position in the band. She joined the band on June 4th, 1966. Her first public performance was at the Avalon Ballroom in San Fransisco.
Drugs weren't aloud in rehearsal or in the apartment where Janis and some of the band members lived. But when a visitor showed up at the apartment and injected drugs right in front of her, she flipped out on Dave Getz, who was the one who made the promise.
Big Brother was getting gigs in the Bay area and up and down the California coast. In August of 1966 they signed a deal with Mainstream Records. Soon after recording the contract with Mainstream, they began recording in Chicago. They recorded a few tracks and then when it was time to leave, Mainstream wouldn't pay the band's airfare back to San Fransisco. So Big Brother and the Holding Company was stuck in Chicago. They decided to drive back to Northern California, but they didn't have much money. They drove with the Grateful Dead and that was when Janis relapsed back into drugs.

In June of 1967, Big Brother and the Holding Company played the Monterey Pop Festival. By playing the festival, the band was getting well known and their fame was rising. They soon got noticed by Colombia Records and they signed a deal.
Janis was soon playing with people like Jimi Hendrix and Elvin Bishop. She was on a few talk shows including The Dick Cavett Show.

Janis Joplin announced in September of 1968 that she would be leaving Big Brother and she left the group in December of that year. In the next few years she played with Kozmic Blues Band and the Full Tilt Boogies.

On October 3rd, 1970, Janis went to the Sunset Studios in Los Angeles to listen to the instrumental track of a song she was supposed to be recording the next day. She never made it there. When the producer of the studio realized she wasn't there he went to look for her. He drove to the hotel she was staying at and saw her Porsche sitting in the parking lot. When he walked in the room he found her lying on the floor dead. She was believed to have overdosed on heroin.

Music Legends- Johnny Cash

The first person that I can think of that has changed music in a major way is Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash first started his music career in the 1950's. It first started out as Rock and Roll but later transitioned into what is now country music. He had a major influence on music. At the beginning of his career he toured with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, and they became some of the first to change the way music sounded back then.

Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas and was raised in Dyess County, Arkansas. He was born J. R. Cash because his parents couldn't agree on a name, but they agreed on initials. His family were cotton farmers. The land was often flooded which inspired the song "Five Feet High and Rising." Johnny Cash was very close to his older brother Jack. Jack was killed in 1944 when he was pulled into a running table saw and nearly cut in half. Cash felt very guilty over his brothers death for many years, which might have influenced his sound and behavior.

In the early 1950's, Johnny Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force. While stationed in San Antonio, Texas,19 year old John met 17 year old Vivian Liberto. They dated for three weeks and then Cash was sent to Germany for a three year tour. During that time they both exchanged hundreds of letters. Which you can see in Vivian Liberto's book, "I Walked the Line: My Life With Johnny." On August 7th, 1954, one month after Cash was discharged from the Air Force, the couple were married in St. Anne's Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas. They had four daughters together, Roseanne, Cathy, Cindy and Tara. During Vivian and John's marriage, Cash used drugs and alcohol often. He also had many affairs with different women while on tours. Including his future wife, June Carter. All of this made Vivian eventually file for divorce in 1966. In 1968, Cash purposed to June Carter, who was also a well known country singer, in London, Ontario during a show. He had purposed many times before but she always refused. This time, she agreed. They married on March 1st, 1968. They only had one child together, a boy, named John Carter Cash. He was born on March 3, 1970. Johnny and June did many duets together. One of the most famous duets is "Jackson." She helped him write a couple songs, including "Ring of Fire". There has been many stories about how Ring of Fire was written. One story by Vivian Liberto was that June didn't have anything to do with it. She said that Johnny just gave her credit because she needed the money. I agree with what Vivian Liberto says in her book about the story with June. She explains in detail what happened the day Cash told her about Ring of Fire. And other stories don't quite make sense.

Cash eventually got clean and lived a more religious life.

One of the biggest things in Johnny Cash's life that I haven't talked about was how he got started as a musician. While he and Vivian were married they moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he worked as a salesman and was studying to be a radio announcer. While in Memphis he met a guitarist, Luther Perkins and a bassist, Marshall Grant. They started a band and practiced at night. And soon after they 3 met, Cash decided to visit the Sun Records studio and try and get a recording contract. While auditioning for Sam Phillips, he and the Tennessee Two (which Grant and Perkins were later known as) mostly played gospel songs. Sam Phillips told Cash that gospel didn't sell and he needed to go home and sin and come back with a song he could sell. Cash eventually convinced the producer and they got a recording contract.

Johnny Cash died on September 13, 2003 in Baptist Hospital in Nashville. Four months after June. They were both buried in Hendersonville Memorial Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Steve Martin in music?

So Steve Martin isn't just an actor. He can also play banjo and write songs. In the 70s, Martin often used the banjo in his stand-up acts and made fun of the instrument.

He began playing the banjo when he was 17 years old. Martin told a repoter that at the beginning of his career he opened a Manhattan night club playing the instrument and no one showed up. Then he offered to play for free a second night and when no one showed up the second night, the owner fired him. But that didn't stop him. He just waited a while to pursue his music. And to write an album.

The first album that Steve Martin put out is a bluegrass album and has 15 original songs on it. It's called "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo." It was released May 19, 2009. It won the Best Bluegrass Album during the 2010 Grammy Awards.

On April 29 Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers will play the New Orleans Jazzfest. They will also be at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN on June 10th and on June 16th they will be performing at the Red Butte Concert Series in Salt Lake City, Utah.

How to Play Guitar.

The first thing you should do when you are learning how to play guitar is to buy a tuner. Tuners are usually sold anywhere guitars are sold, so they're not that hard to find. While you're tuning your guitar you need to know what the strings are. The strings are from bottom E, B, G, D, A, and then to top E. Some people can tune their instruments by ear. A person who is just learning guitar probably won't be able to do this right away, but in time, they could.
Usually the next thing people try to do is to learn some of the chords. A person who is trying to learn how to play can usually go on the internet and look up the chords. But if they don't want to do that, they can just go into a music store and buy a book with the chords in it. When people are learning to play chords, they have to be sure that their fingers are pressing firmly against the neck of the guitar. The person has to use the tips of their fingers because if they use the soft part, the string might not be held down all the way and the sound wouldn't come out. So the person might have to cut their finger nails if they're too long. So they'd be able to press down and not scratch the neck of the guitar.
After learning a few of the chords, the person can go on the internet and look up tabs for songs. On the internet there are websites with pretty much any song you want to learn. They have the lyrics to songs and then the chords are above them when they change.
And you pretty much just have to make up your own string pattern. Most people have their own way of doing that. Unless the person wants to sound just like the song, and not make it their own.
After the person has the rhythm of the song down, they can throw in things that make it sound better. Like things that lead the song in. And things that put different chords together. Just to make everything flow together.
The next thing a person should do is work on their timing. If a person doesn't have their timing right it can throw off the whole song, and possibly the people they're playing with. To work on timing, a person can play with other people that play other instruments. There are also devices you can use to help you.
I don't think that there are really any other steps that can help a person play the guitar.
Usually a person just figures most stuff out on their own. And that's how they get their sound. But if a person can't figure it out, they can always get lessons.

Goodbye McDonald's?

From this article, it doesn't look like McDonald's is going anywhere soon. But from some of the numbers in the article, like last summer's visits to their restaurants declining 3 percent, it seems like McDonald's could be on the verge of dropping from their status as one of the biggest companies in the world.
Some things in this article are good. Like the idea that people are eating at home more. And I don't think people should be eating out that often anyway. But not all people have the money to go to the grocery and buy a ton of groceries to have for dinner every night of the week. And because of this reason, I agree with some of the things said in this article. Maybe McDonald's is seeing a decrease in their sales because some of their prices are too high. Maybe if they did make a breakfast and lunch dollar menu, they would get more customers back. Or maybe they could lower their prices on some of the more expensive items on their menu, like the healthier items. Because people who rely on fast food places like McDonald's can't just live off of their dollar sandwiches.
I can kind of see why McDonald's is having a decrease in sales. I don't think it's just because people are eating at home more. I think it's due to the fact that McDonald's seems to be a cheap and unhealthy place to eat. Plus most people have eaten McDonald's pretty much their whole lives. And it's getting old. The same old stuff all the time. And their new menu items are expensive. So people who regularly go to McDonald's, don't want to buy them. And they go somewhere else like Burger King or Wendy's.
Hopefully McDonald's does see their sale prices increase though. Without them, it would be harder for some Americans to eat. Even though there are more fast food restaurants out there. I just hope McDonald's lowers some of their menu prices.

Nashville Gab

A blog that I've visited is Nashville Gab.
The blog is about country music. A thing that I like about the blog is that it always focuses on country music and it never really focuses on any other type. Another reason I like it is because it gives you news about upcoming country music events like concerts and everything. And it also tells you about things that are happening to country music musicians.
One thing that I think the blogger could improve on is talking about bigger subjects than who's going to be on a new CD. It seems like there is a lot more going on with music than the blog focuses on.
I also think the person who writes the blog could improve on leaving their personal life out of the blog. There were a couple blogs that the person would talk about what he/she was doing and that blog post really didn't have that much to do with music.
One question that I would like to ask the person who writes the blog is why did they start writing the blog? It takes alot of time for a grown person to be dedicated to a blog like this person is. I mean, this person writes every day. It seems like it would be really hard to stay up with a blog and go to work and juggle the rest of your every day activities.

My worst experience at a fast food joint.

My worst experience at a fast food joint had to be right after Christmas Break.
My dad had just picked me up from my grandma's house, and he was hungry and we were going to take my mom lunch. So we decided to go to Rally's..
Well the Rally's on the east side of Richmond was pretty new and there were alot of people there. We went through the drive-thru and placed our order and everything was fine. But when we finally got up to the window, we waited there for about 30 minutes. Then when they gave us our food, we were missing about half the order. So we waited for the clerk to finally notice that we were sitting there waiting for her. And that was probably another 5 minutes. Then when she finally came back to the window and noticed us sitting there staring at her, she opened the window. She asked what the problem was and my dad decided to get rude and he told her all the stuff we were missing. Then she got rude and snatched the bag out of my hand and slammed the window shut.
While we were waiting, my dad started to get even more mad because he just sat there talking to me about how bad the service was. And he snaps really quick. So after about 20 minutes of sitting there listening to him talk, the manager came to the window and gave us half price off of our food and the clerk came back and handed the food to me. And before my hand was even back in the car my dad took off.

Trace Adkins Bus Crash

On the way to Bossier City, Louisiana for a show, Trace Adkins' tour bus was involved in a crash that left two people dead. The crash was on February 13. Adkins wasn't in the bus because he was already in Bossier City. But the five crew members that were on the bus suffered minor injuries. The crash was caused by a truck going across the yellow lines into the other lane. Where they hit the tour bus head on. The two people that were in the truck were killed. "This is a real tragedy. Two people have been killed and I don't even know their names. So out of respect for their families, I prefer not to comment too much at this time," Adkins said.
Trace went ahead and played the show with Martina McBride, but he canceled the next show in Pensacola, Florida.
Click here for more information.

STOP DOWNLOADING!

Downloading music has become a fast and cheap way to get music. All you have to do is buy blank CDs and put the music on them. But if you really like the music or the artist, why don't you just go out and buy their CD? Downloading music is illegal and it hurts the recording industry. In fact, the Recording Industry Association of America thinks that the cause of decreased CD sales are directly from illegal downloading. The RIAA has been trying to take control of the problem by pursuing law suits against average citizens who have been downloading music.
It all started with Napster. Napster was an online music sharing service started in 1999 by Shawn Fanning. The music industry pursued a copyright infringement suit against Napster in 2001. Napster was found liable for copyright infringement because it facilitated the downloading of music and was shut down.
Strangly, during the 2 and a half years Napster was running, CD sales went up $500 million dollars. But since 2001, CD sales have decreased dramatically.

Carl Smith 1927-2010

Carl Smith, died January 16, 2010. He died from natural causes. He was 82.
Carl Smith's career started when he was signed by the Grand Ole Opry. Then shortly after, in 1950, he was signed by Capitol Records.
After having many hits, Carl married June Carter in 1952. They had one daughter together in 1955. Rebecca Smith. Who's mostly known for her career in country music as Carlene Carter.
In 1956, Carl quit the Grand Ole Opry and moved to California to try and work in movies. Soon after moving, he joined the Phillip Morris Country Music Show. He also worked on Ozark Jubilee.
In 1957 Carl and June divorced. She moved on and married Johnny Cash. And she stayed with him until her death in 2003. Carl moved on too. He married Goldie Hill. Goldie was a country musician too. She had many hits as well. Goldie also died in 2005.
By the 1960s, Smith's music career was beginning to slow down. He wasn't having as much success as he was having in the early 1950s. But he never stopped having hits. In 1961, Carl was on ABC's country television series, Four Star Jubilee. And later he had his own show for Canadian TV. Carl Smith's Country Music Hall.
Carl Smith retired from country music in the late 1970s. In 2003, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
So all in all, I think that Carl Smith had a very long and great career. He had many fans. And I'm sure he'll be remembered for his music. Even though most of the younger generation doesn't know who he is.

Southern Voice

Tim Mcgraw's "Southern Voice" tour starts on Febuary 6th, in San Antonio, Texas.
"Southern Voice", the album, was released October 20. I'm guessing that the album was named Southern Voice because Tim is from Start, Louisiana.
His birth name was Samuel Timothy Mcgraw. He was born to Elizabeth D'Agostino. He grew up thinking that his step-father, Horace Smith, was his biological father. But his real dad was Tug Mcgraw. He played for the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. Tim didn't know Tug was his real father until he was eleven, when he found his birth certificate while looking for old pictures for a school project. Tug denied being Tim's father for seven years, but when Tim started looking like Tug, he knew he had to be his son.
Father-son relationships seem to be focused on in "Southern Voice". Songs like "You had to be there" and "Love You Goodbye" hit the subject hard. "Love You Goodbye" is about a boy who's parent's were divorced. His father was a substance abuser and after leaving his dad's apartment, the boy left his mom and moved on with his life. And later the boy reunited with his dad.
"You Had to be There" is about a man who's father left him and his mom when he was very young. In the song the man's father goes to the prison where the man is and the man explains to his father that if maybe he was there for his mother and himself, then maybe the man wouldn't have such a bad life and he might not even be in prison.

My Life

I was born in Richmond, IN on August 5th 1993. I only have one sibling. A sister. She's older than me and she drives me crazy. I lived in Richmond until the summer of 2007. I miss it alot but New Paris is also a nice place to live because I live close to my Grandpa. I had the choice to either stay in Richmond schools and stay with my friends or go to a whole new place where I didn't know anyone. I wanted to go to the new school because I wanted to meet new people and I did. But now I kind of regret not staying at my old school because I lost contact with alot of my old friends. But I'm sure if I go back there it'll be like nothing's changed. I think I might be going back there for the next school year. Now I have alot of family in the high school and I think it would be fun to be in the same school as them.
But I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Something might happen and I might actually want to stay here.
Hmm, things I like to do... I like to listen to music and hang out with my family. Especially my sister. We've grown really close since she moved out and we don't fight anymore. She's pretty much the only one I can actually talk to and she knows everything about me. And we're my parents' only two kids, so I think they like it that we get along so well.
Yeah, so that's my life.