Archive for June, 2009
June 26th, 2009 | 
Author: Not so long ago, watching films at home was a hopeless experience. You could only buy or rent poor-quality videos with a grainy picture and bad sound. The experience was terrible when you compared to the big-screen, surround-sound cinema.
Now, though, the advent of DVD and home surround sound means that watching movies at home doesn’t have to be inferior to watching them in the cinema. In fact, many people now think it’s better – after all, it’s cheaper, and you don’t have to put up with other people making noises while you’re trying to watch the film. Home entertainment systems (also known as home cinemas) are getting cheaper, better and easier to construct all the time.
So what are the ingredients of a home entertainment system? Basically, there are three things: a source of high quality video and audio, a display for the video, and speakers for the audio. To begin with, you should look for a DVD player. Although you can get DVD players for nothing now, you should get a good one if you’re going to use it as part of a home entertainment system. Cheap players may output inferior quality picture and sound, and might even have trouble playing some DVDs at all.
The next step is a big television, either flat with an LCD or plasma screen, or perhaps even a projection TV – be careful with projection though, as it can break if you plan to use your TV for video games. You should consider getting an HDTV version of whatever you choose if you want to future-proof your system and make your films look just that little bit better.
Finally, you should get some good surround sound speakers, together with an amplifier or stereo system to drive them. Although you can get systems now with ridiculous numbers of speakers, Dolby 5.1 is still the best system to go with, as it is the most widely supported.
Hope all is well and your soul is rested. We are going to talk about Hollywood, CA and the music scene in 1975. I was from Milwaukee, WI, Yes, where Liberace, and Les Paul, and the Violent Femmes are from. I had jammed with Deniel Edwards a fellow Milwaukee mate here in Milwaukee, and it was cool, kick butt and professional. I decided to move to LA and start a Rock’N Roll band with Deniel. I arrived at LAX and he was there to pick me up, after a killer lunch with my parents and Chris Jacobs in Milwaukee. He knew how to get to the Tropicana Hotel on Santa Monica Blvd. That’s where we stayed when I was in the Tongue Band in ‘72. I rented a room for a month. I met with Deniel, he introduced me to Jon Hyde and Glenn Hyde, Jon was playing with a group called Detective with Michael De Barres on vocals, I first saw him in “Silverhead” they opened for an English group called “Uriah Heep” he was also in the classic movie “To Sir with Love”, and Michael Monarch was from “Steppenwolf” on guitar, Tony Kaye from “Yes”, Bobby Pickett a monster bass player, and Jon Hyde, he had all the Bonham chops and Robert Palmer chops to the maxx, great feel.
As time went on Deniel had some problems. After a month Glen and Jon invited me to live there. Ruby Starr had told me Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple wanted to talk to me. I had called him from Milwaukee and he told me he hired Cozey Powell, he said seeing your coming out anyway call me when you get here. I said great, talk to you soon. Finally after all this I was somewhat comfortable in Hollywood I called Ritchie, he said he was having dinner at the Rainbow at 8pm, he said join me, I was there at 8 and so was Ritchie. We talked about music, more music, his new band “Rainbow” and we had a blast just talking about dreams and he wanted a success after leaving “Deep Purple”. Well, I had the huge fried shrimp at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset Blvd. I love those shrimps and they still have them, the pizzas are tastey too. I loved the Rainbow then! Tony always took great care of us at the Rainbow. So, we’re having great conversation and in comes Carmine Appice. I love Carmine, an all-time classic rocker and probably in my opinion one of the best drummers in the history of rock. Then Cozy Powell is here, he’s my other idle with his chops on the Jeff Beck Cd’s he did, then Ronnie Dio, golden voice…! Badfinger then comes in, and Jerry and Steve from “Humble Pie” we had the whole 1/2 of the Rainbow , girls, girls and partying! Definitely one of the best nights of my life. Rock ‘n Roll.
Posted in Digital Piano, Hollywood Music, Music and Entertainment | 
Tags: Hollywood Music | 
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