Collin Peterson Photography

What an amazing voice! Shawn Mullins voice sounds the same singing into an sm-58 at 3rd and Lindsley as it does on his albums… perfect! He has one of the purest rock voices I’ve ever heard. It was surprising to see him without Clay Cook, Clay plays most shows with Shawn as I understood it, but this turned out to be a special treat. Shawn is truly a professional and captivated the entire venue. Everyone in the place got to know him and the songs a little better. I just can’t get over how good his voice sounded!

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Not indicative of the town itself, here are some of the eye sores (and a few that don’t hurt) in Mattoon, IL. Taken on Easter Sunday Morning.

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To put it mildly… I was skeptical. I have been a die hard Blind Melon fan since early high school and I honestly believed that Shannon Hoon could not be replaced. Perhaps he never truly will be, but Travis Warren, the band’s new singer, was amazing last night in Nashville.

These songs are too good not to be played and I’m not sure there can be anyone better to sing them than Travis Warren. This guy can sing! His voice filled the Cannery Ballroom with ease and carried these (notably hard to sing) songs like a pro.

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Secret Chiefs 3 - the opener for the Les Claypool Fancy Band… very strange, very cool! No one does music like this band. Nobody.  Got this shot with my Contax Zeiss 135mm f/2.8 lens.

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The Les Claypool show in Nashville was amazing! The man is a genius. He makes playing the bass look effortless. They made us turn the cameras off right before the costumes came out, but I managed to get a few shots. He changed into a few different masks throughout the rest of the night. The monkey mask scared my girlfriend a little bit. That was when he came out during the percussion solo and played this crazy stick with a bass string on it with some sort of whammy bar up top… anyway, it’s the instrument he used on the south park song, one of his own creations. Kinda creepy the way he burst onto the stage during the percussion solos and busted out this freaky instrument in a monkey mask. Awesome, nonetheless!!!

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Priceless shot Amanda and I discovered while driving through some of the less traveled parts of downtown Nashville.

The Yonder Mountain String Band — City Hall in Nashville, TN. February 22, 2008
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Say you’re out for a photographic stroll, taking pictures of that cool old power plant on the edge of town. Suddenly seventy security guards swarm you and demand you hand over your camera.

“What is this,” you ask yourself, “a Michael Moore movie?”

You’re sure you haven’t done anything wrong, but you don’t know whose side the law is on. Fret no more- we’ve got a list of things you can and can’t do, and it’s a lot more permissive than you might think.

Now grab your camera back from that Rent-A-Cop and let’s hit the books.

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Link to photo on flickr of the “yellow house” referred to in Blind Melon’s song “Sleepyhouse” from their debut cd.  Too bad it’s not yellow anymore.

 The Sleepyhouse is what the band named the house they lived in prior to recording Blind Melon in 1991.  It was in Durham, North Carolina.

Shannon: It meant more for us to have a group that had unity and people to lean on if you were fucking up.  We established it there in North Carolina, which is priceless.  We caught up on all that sleep we lost in L.A.

Rogers: Staying up all night, then sleeping half the day away then getting up then you hear someone start playing then you move down to the living room then everybody congregates for a few hours on end. It gets to be really productive.  There’s nothing in Durham so we got a lot done.

Christopher: Living in that house for months was like being in a band for five years.

(information courtesy http://www.blindmelon.org/songlist/sleepyhouse.htm)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojoklo/2104410186/

Good article about the band who influenced me more than probably any other band in history… courtesy Nashville Scene… RIP SHANNON HOON!!!
Blind Melon somehow managed to be a mainstream band with a cult following. Whereas millions of people loved hit single “No Rain”—and perhaps millions more became sick of it and wanted to wring the neck of that spunky little bee girl—there is also a hearty contingent of die-hard fans. And they’re not the hippy-dippy folks you might expect.

Real fans will be more than happy to tell you about how that song was really an anomaly. About how the band’s sophomore album Soup is a twisted, idiosyncratic classic that’s just now getting its due. And—if you’re still listening—they might even point out that “No Rain” is actually a bleak-ass song about mind-numbing depression wrapped in an ironically upbeat package.

Those are the very same people who are raising the biggest eyebrow at this reunion. Over a decade after the demise of frontman Shannon Hoon, the four remaining members of Blind Melon have returned with a new album and a new singer, one who grew up worshipping the very band he now fronts.
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Mirror of the original site, down due to digg effect…
http://www.neatorama.com/2006/08/29/the-wonderful-world-of-early-photography/

There is evidence linking chronic health problems suffered by Gulf War veterans to exposure to pesticides and nerve agents, US research has found.

A third of veterans of the 1991 war experienced fatigue, muscle or joint pain, sleeping problems, rashes and breathing troubles, the research found.

A US Congress-appointed committee on Gulf War illnesses analyzed more than 100 studies in the research.

It found evidence linking the problems to a particular class of chemicals.

These were an anti-nerve gas agent given to troops, pesticides used to control sand-flies, and the nerve-gas sarin that troops may have been exposed to during the demolition of a weapons depot.

for complete article:
BBC NEWS | Health | Gulf War illness ‘chemical link’

NEW YORK (CNN) — Airborne - the herbal supplement company that once claimed to help fight off colds - will pay $23.3 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought against the company for false advertising, according to one of the groups that joined the suit.The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit advocacy group, said the company will refund money to consumers who bought Airborne’s product. It will pay for advertisements in major publications instructing consumers on how to get their money refunded.

“There’s no credible evidence that what’s in Airborne can prevent colds or protect you from a germy environment,” said CSPI Senior nutritionist David Schardt. “Airborne is basically on overpriced, run-of-the-mill vitamin pill that’s been cleverly, but deceptively, marketed.”

According to the company’s Web site, Airborne was created by second-grade teacher, Victoria Knight-McDowell, who “studied the benefits herbal therapies used in Eastern Medicine.” The site says Airborne “boosts the immune system with seven herbal extracts and a proprietary blend of vitamins, electrolytes, amino acids and antioxidants.”

A recorded message at the toll-free number of the class-action settlement administrator said that Airborne Health Inc. has admitted no wrongdoing. Airborne Inc., Airborne Health Inc. and Knight-McDowell Labs are among the defendants in the class action lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California in U.S. District Court.

“Defendants deny any wrongdoing or illegal conduct,” the message says, “but have agreed to settle the litigation.”

A hearing to consider final approval of the settlement is scheduled for June 16.

Airborne changed their advertising campaign when a plaintiff filed suit against the company in March 2006.

That came after an ABC News report disclosed that the company’s clinical trials were not conducted by doctors or scientists, but instead carried out by two laypeople.

Advertisements stopped mentioning the study and cold-curing claims and instead touted claims that it helped boost the body’s immune systems.

In late 2006 the CSPI joined the suit as co-counsel against Airborne and in 2007 the Federal Trade Commission and an assembly of state attorney generals began investigating the firm’s cold-curing claims professed since its creation in 1999.

Customers interested in more information about how to recieve a refund should log onto www.airbornehealthsettlement.com.

link to original article:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/04/news/companies/airborne_settlement/index.htm?section=money_latest

LODI, N.J. (AP) — Hold the poles! Is a Sopranos movie in the works? The real-life manager of the strip club that fronted for the Bada Bing on HBO’s “The Sopranos” thinks there might be. Satin Dolls manager Nick D’Urso says he’s holding off on renovations to the strip club in Lodi, N.J., after getting a tip that a movie would be made. He wouldn’t name the tipster.

An HBO spokeswoman says there’s no truth to the rumor that plans are in the works for a film about Tony Soprano and his mob crew.

As first reported in The Record of Bergen County, D’Urso says he’ll wait until after the summer to renovate in case the tip pans out.

Satin Dolls has already auctioned off its bronze-colored stripper poles and replaced them.

link to original article:
Nashville, Tennessee - Nashville Area News - Tennessean.com

Beatles engineer Smith dies at 85

Norman Smith worked on records including Rubber Soul
The Beatles engineer Norman Smith, who worked on every studio recording the band made between 1962 and 1965, has died at the age of 85.

Smith, nicknamed “Normal Norman” by John Lennon, took charge of the bands first session at Abbey Road in 1962.

Promoted to producer in 1966, he signed Pink Floyd and produced their early albums including Saucerful of Secrets.

Under the name Hurricane Smith, he also enjoyed UK chart success with singles including Dont Let It Die in 1971.

That song reached number two in the UK, while follow-up Oh Babe, What Would You Say? reached the top five on both sides of the Atlantic the following year.

Smith helped create The Beatles early sound.
His record label EMI described him as “a legendary figure in the history of EMI and British music”.

“We were very saddened to hear of his passing away, and our thoughts and