From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

Rolling Stone Magazine has announced Eric Clapton’s 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival lineup. Holy cow! I’m sure wishing I could be in Chicago on June 26th for this show.

If you don’t know, Clapton is the founder of the Crossroads Centre Antigua which is a non-profit, International Centre of Excellence for the treatment of alcohol and other drug addictions. His Crossroads Festivals raise dollars and awareness for the Crossroads Centre Antigua.

List of confirmed performers for the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival:

• Albert Lee
• Allman Brothers Band
• BB King
• Bert Jansch
• Buddy Guy
• David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos
• Doyle Bramhall II
• Earl Klugh
• Eric Clapton
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Hubert Sumlin
• James Burton
• Jeff Beck
• Jimmie Vaughan
• Joao Gilberto
• Joe Bonamassa
• John Mayer
• Keb Mo
• Pino Daniele
• Robert Cray
• Robert Randolph
• Sheryl Crow
• Sonny Landreth
• Steve Winwood
• Vince Gill
• ZZ Top

Photo credit: kebawe.com

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Motherless Children by Eric Clapton.

I’m listening to Norah Jones complete new album, The Fall, on NPR while catching the muted MLB World Series on the background television. That’s right, the whole album, free. Thanks NPR!

On The Fall, Jones maintains her jazzy, sultry sound while pushing into more contemporary pop territory. “Chasing Pirates,” “Even Though” and “It’s Gonna Be” (the album’s most rock-oriented song) are excellent examples of her new approach. But she doesn’t abandon the old one completely: “Back to Manhattan” may be her loveliest song since “Come Away With Me,” while “Man of the Hour” is set to a bluesy shuffle and “December” possesses a lullaby-like quality.

A warm, organic-sounding record, The Fall showcases Jones’ musical depth in exciting and unexpected ways, suitable for old fans and newcomers alike. Please leave your opinions of the album in the comments section below.

Listen to Norah Jones on NPR here.

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“If you’re interviewing Muddy [Waters] like you’re doing me right now, you’d be patting your feet as he talked.”

- Buddy Guy on Muddy Waters’ natural voice that was born to sing the blues.

Sunset on the River Concert
Opera in the Park

SUNDAY, SEPT. 20, 2009

FREE AND EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

Enjoy Virginia Opera’s cast of La Boheme in your Bermudas and flip flops at Town Point Park on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.

Artists will sing popular arias and favorite Broadway melodies “under the stars.”

Bring your lawn chairs and blankets to picnic on the lawn and listen to beautiful music.

Guests may purchase food, provided by The Market at Harbor Heights, soft drinks and adult beverages throughout the evening or may bring their own picnic baskets filled with food and soft drinks.

Gates open at 6:00 pm
Concert begins at 7:15 pm

Reserve a private chalet (tent) for your business or group by contacting Diane Talbot at 757.213.4554 or diane.talbot@vaopera.com.

Presented by:
Virginia Opera, Virginia Opera Guild, Festevents

Rain location: Harrison Opera House; 160 East Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk.

Thanks Troy for the link to this video. I’m not a huge rap fan but how can a God fearing person not love this video?!

For my RSS readers, video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZNEaTWxG_o

Sometimes I surprise myself at how much of a geek I am. :)  Funny video.

Social Media Blues by Scott Rogers

Holy cow. You go programmer-boy! If you’re into Steely Dan or just into music, you won’t want to miss this video.

Carl Franklin does a one-man-show of his version of Steely Dan’s hit, “Home At Last”. And it’s an amazing performance of a cool tune.

Read Carl’s blog here to understand his performing, recording and producing the video all himself.

See the video here. Make sure you have the Silverlight plug-in installed.

Way cool video. This kid rocks. Thanks, Doc for the link.

I’m not quite sure why I like this picture. I took it a couple of summers ago with the BlackBerry Pearl on the beach while we were at the Steve Miller Band concert during the American Music Festival in Virginia Beach.

Pinetop Perkins is one of my favorite blues guys. According to a story he told NPR, he ran away from home in the 3rd grade after receiving a beating from his grandmother with a piece of stove wood and never looked back.

When asked about his gift for music he said, “I can hear that stuff coming to me before it gets to me, and do it to it,” he says. “It comes in my mind. Can hear the changes coming before they get to me. ‘How you do that? You don’t read it?’ No, I don’t read that stuff. No! I didn’t get no schoolin.’”

Now, at 95 years old, Pinetop has been nominated for a Grammy Award. You go boy. Keep beatin’ on those ivories!

Tabernacle Church of Norfolk will be hosting a Worship Night this Friday at 7:00 PM. If you like contemporary christian music you’ll want to be at this event. It’s fun. It’s relaxed. It’s exciting! And you’ll love the local talented musicians that hop on stage and jam.

Music types of such artists as Avalon, BarlowGirl, Jeremy Camp, Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman, David Crowder Band, dc Talk, Amy Grant, Natalie Grant, Jars of Clay, MercyMe, Newsboys, Paramore, Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, Rebecca St. James, Third Day.

Zach Hardison, Worship Minister at Tab Church, said, “It’s going to be a fun time to just praise.” That says it all. Come join us. The worship is casual and promises to be fun if you’re into great music and love praising God.

Tabernacle Church of Norfolk
http://www.tabchurch.net/
7000 Granby Street
Norfolk, VA 23505
Phone (757) 440-8224
Directions to Tab Church

I got my hooks into this bad blues guy today. As much as I’m into the blues I have no idea how I’ve missed him. He’s been touring with B.B. King, Robert Cray and John Lee Hooker since he was 14. Yes, no typo. 14 years old.

Check this guy on on Bonamassa TV at http://www.jbonamassa.com/index2.htm.

This is an article originally published by CIO Today earlier this summer. Digital video formatting is a very competitive market even this early in the two formats’ launch stages that are seeing extremely powerful players in many industries express opinions and pour millions of dollars into their court. It’s fun to watch this kind of competition play out.

Next-Generation DVD War Heats Up
By Barry Levine
July 26, 2007 12:10PM
Microsoft and other backers of the HD DVD format are trying to press their advantage in offering HD DVD players that are less expensive than Blu-ray boxes. HD DVD players are now being sold for $299 at U.S. retailers, and Microsoft has just reduced the price of the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, dropping it to $179 from $199.

Blow by blow, the fight between Blu-ray and HD DVD entered a new round this week. On Wednesday, Target announced it would soon start selling a Blu-ray player exclusively in its stores, a major blow to the HD DVD format.

But HD DVD landed a punch too, thanks to news from Microsoft that the HD DVD add-on to its Xbox 360 video game console would be reduced $20 and come bundled with five free movies.

Target Joins Blockbuster

Target said Wednesday that in October it will start selling the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player, the first standalone next-gen player to be offered in its stores. It currently offers the Toshiba HD DVD player on its Web site, along with Sony’s PlayStation 3, which has a built-in Blu-ray player. Target said it will continue to sell DVDs in both high-definition formats in the stores, but will not stock HD DVD standalone players.

Target also said that the players and Blu-ray DVDs from three studios will be displayed at the more-visible ends of aisles. For this “endcap” position, Sony is paying a placement fee. HD DVD players and discs have reportedly been shown in endcap positions at Circuit City and Best Buy.

With Target’s announcement yesterday, the second largest retailer in the U.S. joins Blockbuster in the Blu-ray camp. In June, the video chain announced that it will offer only the Blu-ray DVD format for rental in 1,700 of its stores. The HD DVD format is still being offered through the company’s online channel, blockbuster.com, as well as through the 250 stores that currently carry both formats.

HD Less Expensive

Microsoft and other backers of the HD DVD format are trying to press their advantage in offering players that are less expensive than Blu-ray boxes. HD DVD players are now being sold for $299 at U.S. retailers such as Circuit City and Best Buy, while the competing Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray players at Target will go for $499.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is in second place among current-generation game consoles, and today’s promotional announcement, made at the Comic-Con International 2007 conference in San Diego, leverages that position in trying to help HD DVD.

The price of the add-on will be lowered from $199 to $179 beginning August 1, and any purchases made before September 30 will include five free HD DVD movies. Microsoft corporate vice president Jeff Bell said that the price reduction means the Xbox 360 HD DVD player “continues to be the most affordable way to enjoy high definition.”

The five free movies can be chosen from 15 titles, via a mail-in offer, which the Redmond, Washington-based company said represented a value of over $140. The offer was originally Toshiba’s “Perfect Offer” and had been exclusive to Toshiba HD players.

Microsoft also announced that, to accompany the HD DVD launches of the movie 300 and of the first season of NBC’s TV series Heroes, both titles will be available in high-definition on the Xbox Live network. An on-demand version of 300 will be available starting August 14, and the pilot episode of Heroes will be available as a free download to Xbox Live members.

Eric Clapton joined John Mayer on stage during his Summer Concert Series performance for ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America”. The concert took place in New York City’s Bryant Park in midtownt Manhattan. John performed two songs before being joined by Eric for “Crossroads”. After the show was over, John peformed an additional song for the live audience, many who had been in line from 3AM.

“Crossroads” was an appropriate choice as they debuted the new limited edition Eric Clapton Crossroads Stratocaster Guitar and Crossraods ‘57 Twin Amp. The limited edition guitar and amp became available to the general public today from Fender. The guitars feature a unique “Crossroads Antigua” graphic designed and originally hand-drawn by Eric. The commemorative Crossroads ‘57 Twin-Amps are modeled after the original ‘57 Twin. The ‘57 Twin-Amp is Eric’s personal amp of choice for studio and stage use. Interestingly, John’s Crossroads Guitar has been customized with a rosewood neck and John’s “Big Dipper” electronics, whereas the one played by Eric had a maple neck. After the song, John spoke for a few minutes to the show hosts about the significance of the guitars and the upcoming Crossroads Guitar Festival.

To learn more about the guitar and amp used by Eric on “Good Morning America”, you can read the previous Where’s Eric! Article: Eric Clapton Crossroads Stratocaster Guitar Packages To Be Issued By Fender.

Related: Not Just Any White Boy From Connecticut (ABC News).

Source: Where’s Eric? The Eric Clapton Portal.

What a cool story! Here’s a re-print from Oren Michels’s personal blog. Oren is the CEO of Mashery.

*****

While I was in Europe, my 90 day free trial of XM ended, so I returned to regular service and a letter from XM inviting me to sign up for a year of service for $144.

Everything is negotiable, right? So I call up XM and ask them for the better deal. They assure me that there are no better deals, although I can save 20% if I sign up for a 5 year plan. Since I was stuck in traffic heading home, I decided to perservere.

“No, I want a one year plan but don’t want to pay $144. ”

“What credit card would you like to use?”

“We’re not really communicating. I don’t want to use any credit card if it’s going to be $144. I want a one-year plan, but I won’t pay that much.”

“One moment please, let me transfer you to that department”

Apparently, XM has a “I don’t want to pay that much” department.

Sure enough, an agent comes on the line (she’s in a call center in Jamaica; I asked) to tell me that they have a “one time offer” of $77 for a year of service, 50% off. She just needed to verify something with me:

“Is it correct that you would be canceling your service if we don’t provide a discount?”

“Yes. In fact, the service is already canceled - I never started paying in the first place.”

“OK”

And with that, I qualified for the special deal. An investment of about 15 minutes on the phone.

Another way reading blogs can put money in your pocket.