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Clint Eastwood should have thanked Italy’s film industry when accepting his second Best Director Oscar for this year’s critically acclaimed Million Dollar Baby, because without the advent of the Italian-born Spaghetti Western in the 1960s, Eastwood wouldn’t have a career.

Italians didn’t invent the Western, but they took an American staple and made it their own. By 1960, US film production companies had exhausted the good-guy-fighting-for-justice storyline, and film sales dwindled. Italian filmmakers capitalized on the lucrative American market by tweaking the conventional plot, adding a few crucial stylistic elements (including memorable musical scores) and selling them back to the Americans.

It was the golden age of Italian Cinema (1956-1971) and between the years 1963 and 1973, over 400 Italian-style Westerns (dubbed “Spaghetti Westerns” by American audiences) were made.

Italian Western director Sergio Leone got the tumbleweed rolling. He was the first to make a huge impact in the United States, with the quintessential Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, making a star out of a young, relatively unknown (but incredibly handsome) American TV actor named Clint Eastwood.

The graphic violence attributed to the series of films that Leone would complete may have had something to do with the Vietnam War, which took place during this phenomenon.

Leone’s first film, 1964’s breakthrough hit A Fistful of Dollars (Per un Pugno di Dollari) was based on Akira Kurosawa’s samurai epic Yojimbo. Leone was a postmodern mannerist, exaggerating artistic elements of a film to make a profound impact on the viewer, like close-up shots that would fill up the entire screen and exceedingly slow movements.

In contrast to the Spaghetti Western genre, American Westerns abided by an unwritten ethical code called the Hays Code, which prevented the shooter and the victim from being in the same frame together (so if the frame was focused on the victim, the shot would come from off-screen for example). But with an eye for arresting violence, Leone had a different view on censorship. The Roman director once said: “My representation of death is moral as well as intellectual.”

Take the psychedelic opening sequence for A Fistful of Dollars: It begins with a hazy white spot on a blood-red screen, accompanied by the sound of gunshots combined with Ennio Morricone’s unique music. Morricone became instantly famous for his one of a kind musical scores - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme is the most familiar of these.

Morricone’s hoof beats, whistling and use of the human voice as an instrument became the standard musical style of the Spaghetti Western. Simple but eerie, the nearly tangible presence of the music was extraordinary and absolutely original.
Leone made instant celebrities out of not just his music composer but Eastwood - who would star in his trilogy of Westerns: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), A Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).

In a scene in A Fistful of Dollars, one of the characters gets shot and a close-up of his face reveals thick, red blood gushing out of his mouth. By today’s standards it would have no impact on the average viewer, but 40 years ago it was monumental. From then on filmmakers began to allot a large part of their film budget to what was called a “blood budget”.

Critics attacked these films for their gratuitous violence, but audiences loved them. And Leone’s revamped Western formula was imitated for years to follow.

Then “The Other Sergio,” Sergio Corbucci, showed up in 1966 with Django. Critics had a field day with this film, and it was banned in several markets. Its nauseating brutality (I shut my eyes and covered my ears!) became part of the formula. The most brutal of the Spaghettis is one of the 30 unofficial Django sequels (yes, 30), aptly named Django Kill! (1967) Aside from being the most sadistic, with elements like torture, vampire bats, a crucifixion and an army of homosexual outlaws, it’s also by far the strangest.

Leone only made a total of five Spaghetti Westerns, releasing his final film in 1972 and retiring from his self-made genre when he noticed that audiences were mocking the film titles and contrived storylines.

Naturally, filmmakers began to spoof the films, and a plethora of Western comedies followed. But by the mid-’70s, the Spaghetti Western genre faded away.

I haven’t always been a fan of this genre, it just happened by fluke. These films defy description. The whole magic is in the rattling of the spurs and the cutaways to Eastwood’s squinting glare. Next time you’re at Blockbuster move away from the New Releases wall (they all suck, anyway) and pick up a copy of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. You’ll be hooked, and I ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie.

About the Author

Student writer, professional daydreamer. Go to www.pumpkin-face.com for a complete list of articles.

If you’re a musician or songwriter, your manager and your attorney should always be two different people, your agent and your manager should always be two different people, and you, your manager, and your agent should all have different attorneys, all of whom should work at different law firms.

But that’s not all…

Your manager shouldn’t be in your immediate family. In other words, don’t get a parent or spouse to do the job of a professional. Management is a real job that requires real skills.

Parents screw things up. They believe the publicist-generated hype, are too close to the situation, and are often living their own dreams through their “client.”

Worked with a 15-year-old maybe two years ago. She was a very nice, very attractive, and very talented singers. She was good and everybody who heard her demo wanted to help her. In fact, she was so good that a couple of major labels were interested. Everything looked bright for her.

But her father… That guy was a passive-agressive jerk who made it very difficult to get anything done. He was extremely high-maintenance and was constantly taking up valuable resources that would have been better used on his daughter and her career.

My time is too valuable to deal with idiots, so I stopped working with her.

A few months later, at SXSW, her name came up in a conversation. I was talking to an established music attorney who was interested in her, but had reservations because “her father is a real asshole.”

Obviously, this could happen with somebody you are not related to, but it’s not likely, especially if you’re careful about selecting somebody to work with. Professionals in this business understand how to work with people and know how to do it in a way so that things get done.

You wouldn’t get your relatives to play on your record, so why have them do something that is just as important?

This rule also applies to your spouse, by the way. Watch Spinal Tap and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. While the movie is a joke, the situation when it happens in real life isn’t nearly as funny.
About the Author

David Hooper is the founder of Kathode Ray Music, an artist development organization specializing in promotion and marketing of independent musicians and bands. Visit http://WWW.BEGINNER-GUITAR-LESSONS.COM/ for more tips and hints for musicians, bands, and songwriters.

Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music - the others being melody and rhythm - it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn’t matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument - chords are chords.

It’s certainly not necessary to learn all the chords in the whole wide world, but it is necessary to learn some of them - at least enough to allow you to harmonize the songs you would like to play.

But meanwhile, there are 3 chords — just 3 — that you absolutely, positively have to know. If you don’t know these three, there’s hardly a song in the whole world that you could play. But by knowing just 3 chords, you can play hundreds, if not thousands of songs! And those chords are simply the primary chords in any given key:

• The I chord (the chord built on the 1st degree of the scale)
• The IV chord (the chord built on the 4th degree of the scale)
• The V chord (the chord built on the 5th degree of the scale)

For example, if you were playing in the Key of C, the I chord would be C (c, e, g), the IV chord would be F (f, a, c), and the V chord would be G (g, b, d).

But as you probably know, there are thousands of other chords, so it would be helpful to at least know of their existence and maybe someday learn them.

So here goes:

Since there are 12 major keys one can play in (not counting enharmonic keys - keys that sound the same but are written differently), there are:

• 12 major triads (a triad is a 3 note chord)
• 12 minor triads
• 12 diminished triads
• 12 augmented triads
• 12 diminished 7th chords (4 note chords)
• 12 major 6th chords
• 12 minor 6th chords
• 12 dominant 7th chords
• 12 major 7th chords
• 12 minor 7th chords
• 12 half-diminished chords
• 12 9th chords
• 12 flat 9th chords
• 12 9th/major 7th chords
• 12 9th/minor 7th chords
• 12 11th chords
• 12 13th chords
• 12 suspensions
• 12 flat 5th chords
• 12 flat 5th maj 7th chords

If that’s not enough chords for you, remember that each chord can be inverted - turned upside down. So multiply all the triad chords by 3, and all the 4 note chords by 4, and all the 5 note chords by 5….

Then there are:

• poly-chords - chords that combine two or more other chords, and
• voicings - the way chords are positioned on the piano keyboard

And that’s just in one octave. A standard piano has 7 octaves, so multiply all that by 7 and you get the answer to how many chords there really are:

More than you can count.

But again, you don’t need to know them all. Just master enough so that you can play the songs you want to play, then gradually over time learn more and more chords. Your musical world will continue to grow and maturity as a musician will become obvious to others.

About The Author

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music courses for adults. His low-cost CD ROM software titled http://www.keyboardchords.com/ “Duane” Shinn’s Instant Piano Chord Finder Chart!” is used by musicians around the world. He is also the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled http://www.playpiano.com/ “Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions” with over 60,000 current subscribers.

duane@playpiano.com

People dig movies, so why not contemplate calling on our capital and discover quite a few of the places in the film? The city inspired loads of extraordinarily celebrated movies & for over a hundred years, this city has welcomed preeminent film artists to make their films in. This city is one of the most known of and also famed filming places. There are intrinsic hotspots for films around our capital; several of the most recognisable places have been selected multiple times. Quite a few of the pre-eminent movie producers, both new and old, are also from the city. Fabulous films have been based in our capital and they regularly have wonderful reviews. See the critics choice at film at Time Out.

The city is the 3rd most lively movie making area in the planet. Behind L.A. and also the big apple, Westminster borough is considered to be the leading area with over 22 hundred shooting days in 05. Accompanying the city’s motion pictures you also have the capital’s film festivals. These festivals happen annually on roughly the same date. They are very distinct, so that there’s one appropriate for everyone. There’s more than sixty film festivals in this metropolis and these festivals epitomize every one of the capital’s unique ethic mixes. The festivals in London range from anime to thrillers, documentaries to African and the list constantly keeps growing.

An example of the most appealing considerations relating to London’s film culture, are the actual cinemas themselves. Joined with the miserable hellholes exist incredible film houses which will doubtless help you to savour the film. This metropolis contains well over five hundred big screens, which range from elite film houses, inc. Vue and the Odeon, that present the recent movies and blockbusters, to the small scale movie houses that seem cosy and also sometimes present masterpieces and they more cultured movies, often films that could never be screened at the mainstream movie theatres.

There are movie theatres these days which will offer a different experience from the basic cinema. You’ll savour in the movie from within the snugness of your settee or maybe an armchair; you can also get to order nosh from stewards. There appear to be a smattering of of said places dotted about. Roxy Bar & Screen is considered to be an in vogue cinema which is placed quite near to the wonderful Borough Market. This place claims to be a combination of indie cinema, a delightful bar zone and a restaurant. Electric Cinema found around the district of Notting Hill has been showing flicks for years and years and performs a fusion of cultural films in addition to the greatest flicks of the mainstream. With the cushy leather seating, their footstools and the bar zone situated in the rear, everyone will rejoice in watching every film. London’s Rex Cinema is located in Soho in this metropolis and is purportedly one of the greatest places to check out. Baring in mind the building’s cosiness & their cocktails to rejoice in, this cinema is considered to be an establishment you have to stop by at.

It’s invariably bound to be troublesome, thinking about what flick to view at the movies, nonetheless, the contentment of a terrific location consistently enhances your fun.

Brains, beauty, sex-appeal and brilliantly shiny hair are only a
few words that can describe the celebrated star Demi Moore (born
Demetri Guynes). Her exotic beauty is considered to be ’caused’
by her French, Welsh and Native American heritage. Even if the
seductive Scorpion actress (born on November 11, 1962 in New
Mexico) is causing big waves of scandal by shaving her head
nearly bald for her part in the GI Jane movie, or kicking
Charlie Angel’s butt while her shimmery coal black tresses were
falling down to her waist, Demi Moore is famous for her unique
hair, but also for her men.

Her famous trade mark, her hair was heavily copied when she
surprised the audience by appearing with a very short, boyish
crop in the popular ‘Ghost’ movie in 1990. Demi Moore went
through a range of radically different hairstyles for
accomplishing the requirements for her following movies,
eventually completely shocking the fans by actually shaving her
head in a visually striking scene in ‘G.I.Jane’ in 1997.

In spite of Demi’s change of look for the ‘G.I.Jane’ movie, her
movie failed at the box office and mostly garnered poor reviews.
‘G.I Jane’ was not a singular case, ‘The Scarlett Letter’, ‘The
Juror’ and ‘Striptease’ had the same sad faith. Although Demi
Moore was the highest paid actress in Hollywood and the first
actress to reach the 10 million USD level for salary, and
although she was completing a string of box office hits as
‘Ghost’, ‘A Few Good Men’ and ‘Indecent Proposal’, Demi Moore
has been constantly given negative attention, being eventually
spoofed with a cartoon version (called ‘Dewmi Moore’) in the
popular video game ‘Leisure Suit Larry’.

After these series of bad review she disappeared to her ranch in
Idaho to completely dedicate herself to the education of her
three daughters. Demi Moore broke away from her privacy in 2000
to act in ‘Passion of Mind’ movie, but she carried on her
discreet life style and she didn’t seek the bright lights of
Hollywood.

Demi Moore orchestrated an amazing come-back by appearing in
another spectacular hairstyle for the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ sequel
in 2002-2003. The low profile Demi Moore emerged with a waist
long hair, with a super healthy shine.

It is like this incredible woman retreated to the remote Idaho
with minimal soldier hair in order to later amaze the world with
the gorgeous tresses you would normally expect from a person
living a healthy, private life in the beautiful wilds of Idaho.

It’s all over the news these days. Download music from the Internet and you could be sued, fined, and/or go to jail. The truth is free music downloads, done correctly, are completely legal.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) aggressively prosecutes copyright violators. And well they should - it’s piracy plain and simple. But there are millions of free mp3 downloads legally available. RIAA doesn’t want you to know this and wants you to believe any music downloads you don’t pay for are illegal. You’ll quickly attract RIAA’s attention by using file-sharing services like Kazaa and Grokster. The technology is not illegal (yet), but using it to share downloadable music is at best a grey area. And make no mistake, RIAA can and will find you!

How do I get Free Downloadable Music without breaking the law?

First understand the difference between restricted and unrestricted copyrights. Nearly all songs have an artist or record label copyright. Many copyrights restrict gratis downloads. But many musicians want to share their music at no charge through free downloads. Why, you might ask? Some are unknowns looking for exposure, but many famous musicians know it’s in their interest to offer free downloads. It inevitably leads to more CD, concert and merchandise sales. Plus it boosts their image and popularity.

Most music download services offer a free trial period when you can download songs at no cost. Cancel before the trial ends and the songs cost nothing. Of course they hope you’ll stay and pay the monthly membership fee, which in reality is a cheap way to expand your music collection.

Study the membership terms as some sites only allow use of the downloads while you are a member. In addition, a “free music” search will lead to sites - by or for musicians - that offer mp3 downloads for free.

About the Author

MP3 players information from A to Z: player types & features, how they work, accessories, comparisons and more - plus free music download tips and info at A-Z MP3 Players.com, Your Complete A-Z Resource for MP3 Players, Accessories and Information. This article may be re-printed in its entirety with this resource box included.
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