READER COMMENTS / FEEDBACK to the Acoustic Americana Music Guide

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Re: ♪  2)  3rd Annual “New L.A. Folk Fest” is Saturday, above Altadena (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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On your recommendation, I made it to the New LA Folk Festival yesterday. What a HOOT!!!

It was the picture of Dustbowl Revival that got me. Glad you had that! So many cool bands doing things I could not have expected but really really liked. One of them climbed down off the stage and played in the audience after the bass played asked the crowd for a hat to shade his bald head. He got like four or five noggin covers to chose from. That tells you a lot about the people there and the vibe.

Excellent scene. I think I got signed up to volunteer next year!!!

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Re: ♪  2)  3rd Annual “New L.A. Folk Fest” is Saturday, above Altadena (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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THIS is the future of folk music as far as younger people go. I met some way cool folks and have a whole list of people to check out when they play around town. Yay!!

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Re: ♪  2)  3rd Annual “New L.A. Folk Fest” is Saturday, above Altadena (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I had known about this last year but learned the same day it was happening. I wasn’t all that impressed with the line up then or maybe I was trying to feel better because I was missing it. I just read who is there this year! I’ll defanately be there! Woo Hoo! - Suz

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Re: ♪  2)  3rd Annual “New L.A. Folk Fest” is Saturday, above Altadena (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I remember hearing about the Zorthian Ranch some time after the whole hippie thing was over. I was too young for Woodstock and now I guess I’m old, anyway. Looks like a lot of young acts playing there tomorrow, but what the heck, I’ve always wanted to see the place and those crazy sculptures and art projects. I do recognize a few bands and I know they are good. Thanks for telling us all about it.

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Re: ♪  1)  Bob Dylan / Mark Knopfler Tix Discounted through 10 pm Friday (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Thank u thank u thank u! I got my tix just in time! I don’t even care that it’s a drive to San Diego, I’M GOING and I wouldn’t have been if u hadn’t told me!

I so want October to get here now! – Barry

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Re: ♪  5)  Check Out Canadian NORINE BRAUN’s Indie Single, “99%” (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I always like it when you include links and recommendations to something I can play through my earphones while I’m sitting at my desk. Okay, so I don’t always go crazy for the stuff you select. But this one brings up something we should all talk about. Norine Braun is a good musician and a good songwriter with a very good singing voice. When will the powers behind tv and radio and record companies realize that all those look-alike young girls bring nothing with them? They all have one thing in common. They learn to do only what they’re told and they’re all told to do exactly the same thing. Pop music is boring and it might just be all because of that. They didn’t learn a thing when that homely English woman blew everyone away with her amazing voice. Whatever happened to talent being rewarded? Whatever happened to originality? Norine Braun has both. You Go, Girl! – Judi R

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Re: ♪  7)  West L.A. Music: Liquidation Sale Saturday; Acquired by Guitar Center (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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We’re losing WEST LA MUSIC? Say it ain’t so! I LOVE that place! I bought my first guitar there and been back over the years when I could afford good gear. I’m glad everyone will still have a job, but its being replaced by another Guitarget? If you can’t say something nice, shut up, so I will. - BK

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Re: ♪  8)  Award Winning Musician Dave Stamey: Bridging Urban / Rural Divide (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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The trouble with something reasonable is it’s something reasonable. Dave Stamey makes a lot of points in a quiet, simple narrative that makes you feel you are there.

Then he gets to the God-and-guns part. WHY is that so important to so many red state people as if it were all one thing? Wasn’t Jesus the Prince Of Peace, love one another, be your brother’s keeper, turn the other cheek, give a beggar the clothes off your back?

Just how is any of that compatible with carrying loaded firearms everywhere you go? I cannot reconcile the two mind sets. To me they are opposites. That’s the way I’ve always thought.

But I’ve never been to the kind of place that Dave Stamey describes in his essay. Maybe I need to meet those people. Maybe they need to meet me. Maybe we all need to do some of that before the next election tears us apart like the Civil War did. Maybe those ranch people are being exploited by the richest 1% just like we are. Maybe they are just as disgusted by a do-nothing congress that takes our tax money and “spends” it on their campaign contributors. Maybe we just all need to talk about it without screaming at each other. - Otis

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Re: ♪  8)  Award Winning Musician Dave Stamey: Bridging Urban / Rural Divide (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Dave Stamey is as good writing something like a letter as he is when he writes a song. - Bill

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Re: ♪  8)  Award Winning Musician Dave Stamey: Bridging Urban / Rural Divide (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Those are the same strong independent types who get cheap leases to graze their cattle on our federal lands, then complain about the government being too big and controlling too much. Like federal lands? I would love it if someone who does that tells me we should cut social services and reduce federal spending and cut taxes. Then we would have to charge what it’s really worth for those grazing lands. - Steve

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Re: ♪  4)  Kucinich Mourns the Passing of Gore Vidal (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Gore Vidal was a pompous ass.

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Re: ♪  4)  Kucinich Mourns the Passing of Gore Vidal (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Dennis Kucinich, the only guy in Washington who makes any sense, was eloquent as usual when he spoke about Gore Vidal. Did you add that part at the end, or was that Kucinich, too? I think maybe you quoted Kucinich so you could talk about the kind of politics we would have if genuine intellectuals like Gore Vidal would get into politics. Maybe no smart person would ever put themselves through the nastiness. I wonder if Gore Vidal would run for anything the way things are now. I get the idea it used to be better. That comes through in the New York Times quote you included. - Sara

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Re: ♪  4)  Kucinich Mourns the Passing of Gore Vidal (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Gore Vidal died? I didn’t know. Some boob dies and we get television saturation about them for days. A major thinker and artist like Vidal dies and we don’t even know about it for days. Thanks to you for covering this. - Rollo

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Re: ♪  3)  LOAFER’S GLORY: Two L.A.-Area CD Release Shows, Starting Sunday Vidal (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Those guys are great! I already have that new CD and I put all the tunes in my iPhone. I never do that with everything on an album. I didn’t even think twice about doing it with this one. I’m calling the Coffee Gallery to go Sunday, where the sound is better and you’re up close, and I’m going with my wife to see them a week later at McCabe’s. I learned about the Sunday show from you, so it’s your fault I’m spending all this money! - Ron

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Re: ♪  3)  LOAFER’S GLORY: Two L.A.-Area CD Release Shows, Starting Sunday (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Already have tickets for next weekend at McCabes Guitar Shop. Wish I had known sooner because I would of preferred the Coffee Gallery. I know, you didn’t know in time to tell anybody.

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Re: ♪  3)  LOAFER’S GLORY: Two L.A.-Area CD Release Shows, Starting Sunday (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Am I the only one who thinks Bill Bryson is the most under rated musician in the world? That man is AWE-SOME, and so damn humble when you talk to him! And this band has him with Herb! And the Saubers! Now I need to pick one of those shows. Thanks for the info!

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Re: ♪  6)  A Tennessee Music Box, and Surprising Musical Folklore (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Just took your challenge [used the Guide’s new Search function] and brought up all the shows with the word dulcimer. It was like saying electric guitar in the Fender factory. I had NO idea. It must be a conspiracy. They’re taking over. - Julie

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Re: ♪  6)  A Tennessee Music Box, and Surprising Musical Folklore (August 3, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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BURNING their Tennessee Music Boxes every year in the fireplace to stay warm? Damn! Woody never burned his geetar through all his hungry hard travellin’. I don’t want to believe that part mostly because it doesn’t make sense. Winter is when you’re inside your cabin a lot more hours. Long nights and cold outside. So Winter is when you would be making the most music, right? How could you if you threw your instrument in the fireplace?

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Re: ♪  2)  “Long Beach Crawfish Festival” Brings Music, Dancing, N’Awlins Food (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I have been going to Long Beach Bayou and Simi Cajun Festivals for YEARS, and I had never even heard of this one. Thanks to you, I went. It’s very different from the other festivals because it has only one music stage and full length sets by every band. If it was just about that, I wouldn’t go back. But oh my lord, there was all that FOOD! We ate the crawfish bucket. Then we ate from the Ragin Cajun truck Then we ate sweet potato pie. Then we ate more from the Ragin Cajun truck and then we did that again. We made it through most of the truck’s menu even though they were running out of some things. I’ll be following that truck now and trying to get something to eat there as often as I can. We already decided we are going back to this festival again next year.

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Re: ♪  2)  “Long Beach Crawfish Festival” Brings Music, Dancing, N’Awlins Food (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I took my girlfriend and we went for the food. We went late in the day and I was thinking this was going to be a date that costs more than I should be spending for what we would get. I was wrong. WAYLON THIBODEAUX is the best Louisiana band I have ever heard. I’m like, a little of that Zydeco goes a long way. Sorry but it all sounds the same after a while, like disco with an accordion. This was different! THIS GUY really brings it, way different from any zydeco I have ever heard! Someone at the festival was telling us there is a big difference between Cajun and Zydeco and this is much more Cajun. Okay, so I like Cajun! Now I know! Bring it on! And pass the Trappey’s! – Lou & Cindie

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♪  5)  “Newport Folk Festival” Live on Web Radio / Video Stream, All Weekend (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Thank you so very much for including this! I am unemployed, too broke to go anywhere, and I got to go to the NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL, someplace I have always dreamed of going and it didn’t cost a cent except for a couple snacks and three coffees. I hung out with my big clunky headphones in the library on Saturday and Sunday in Starbuck’s for the free wifi and I got to spend the weekend at the festival! - Paula

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Re: ♪  6)  Arctic Ice Melting Shockingly Fast, as Big Oil Prepares More Drilling (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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You said before how much it is up to the artists to take action and make people aware. This is one of those times. It might even be the most important issue humanity has ever faced. Come on, artists! Let’s write and play songs and create more awareness!

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Re: ♪  6)  Arctic Ice Melting Shockingly Fast, as Big Oil Prepares More Drilling (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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You did it to me again. I seem to get a lot of news I should know, about serious things, just because I am looking for something fun in the music guide. I need to do more than just read stuff like you wrote and say bastards and go back to my own little life. They are bastards, f---g with the planet. Someone should write a song about arctic oil drilling bastards like Bob Dylan’s Masters of War song. - Krissie

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Re: ♪  6)  Arctic Ice Melting Shockingly Fast, as Big Oil Prepares More Drilling (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I just get so sick and tired of finding politically-motivated alarmist propaganda mixed in with news about music. Stop it! Tell me something about Bluegrass or Gospel music instead.

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Re: ♪  6)  Arctic Ice Melting Shockingly Fast, as Big Oil Prepares More Drilling (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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The climate change deniers are such hypocrites. They say that anything they want to do is perfectly safe for everybody. They say using oil for fuel doesn’t cause global warming. Yet they all have plans to exploit the arctic after the ice melts. They probably have a plan to burn oil making power to move 75% of the world’s population to higher ground when all the coastal cites go underwater. Wake up! It’s more than your mortgage that’s going underwater, people. - Ken

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Re: ♪  3)  “Day of the Cowboy & Cowgirl” Festival at the Autry, Saturday (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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This was SO MUCH FUN! We took the kids (7 and 9) and I just never see them get so into anything new. My mother was with us and she was telling them about watching Hoppy on tv when she was a kid and that he was a cowboy not a rabbit(!) We laughed alot, we ate great barbeque and we managed to see a lot of the museum. The kids panned for gold and made bolo ties they’re still wearing. I bought a CD and discovered I like cowboy music! - Claudia

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Re: ♪  3)  “Day of the Cowboy & Cowgirl” Festival at the Autry, Saturday (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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After last year was so terribly hot and awfully crowded I didn’t want to go back. But my boyfriend dragged me and I’m glad he did. We really had a fun time and I’ll go there for other things now as long as it isn’t hot. He was reminded about it because he checks your site all the time. I need to thank you for the Grand Old Echo and other things we have enjoyed because you write all about them. So thank you! - CC

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Re: ♪  7)  Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair” (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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You still have impeccable taste ifn' ya ask me!

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Re: ♪  7)  Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair” (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I have never learned so much about so many different bands in one place. It will help us decide who we should look up online and maybe who to see. - Bruce

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Re: ♪  7)  Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair” (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Agree with what you wrote about the ones we saw. We didn’t see as many bands as you did. You must have had 3 or 4 people covering this. I like what you wrote about that dance stage. Too funny!

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Re: ♪  7)  Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair” (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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This “review” is rather shallow. You don’t even tell us the names of all the musicians in every band. You admit you heard only a couple of minutes of a jazz band that you don’t even name. Next time, don’t waste my time with something that I won’t learn anything from.

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Re: ♪  7)  Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair” (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I really got the feeling of being there. Next year I will be, if it has the same kind of music. - Allie

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Re: ♪  7)  Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair” (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I used to look forward to the Granada Hills Street Fair when the Blue Ridge Pickin’ Parlor was there and had one of the stages. After they were gone I blew off the whole scene as trash acts and garage bands. Then I saw where this one was happening because I read your posts. I went. Lots of good stuff at this one. I’ll go again and am open to other street fairs now. Thanks, RC

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Re: ♪  7)  Review: 9 Bands at Last Weekend’s 19th Annual “Los Feliz Street Fair” (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Hey! Just wanted to say thanks again for that great live review! It was nice to see you again, you seemed… just as passionate as ever about good music! Take care and don't be a stranger! - Best, Lauren XXOO

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Re: ♪  1)  Music and The Olympics: What to Expect (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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That was good information. I had no idea that THE Olympics theme was just what we get on tv in the US, and that there are really two things by two composers--one being John Williams! Someday we’ll discover there really wasn’t a Beethoven, it was all him.

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Re: ♪  1)  Music and The Olympics: What to Expect (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Between the Queen jumping out of the airplane with 007 and Mr Bean, I was able to play know-it-all about Olympics music at our Opening Ceremonies watching party. Thank you! - Cass

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Re: ♪  1)  Music and The Olympics: What to Expect (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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The opening ceremonies were weird. I never get British humor. And that history they were celebrating? Polluting the hell out of all that pretty green countryside? They want us to celebrate THAT? The music was much better than I expected and than I think you expected?

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Re: ♪  1)  Music and The Olympics: What to Expect (July 27, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I am so enjoying that Mittens was in England with his Olympics horse prom horse being a complete fool (Mitt, not the horse) and the opening ceremonies spent so much time and spectacle on the UK’s VERY popular National Health Care System. Take that, Obamacare!

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Re: ♪  4) Guide Adds New Features (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I use your music guide all the time to decide where to see good music. I read the news stories one or two at a time until I get through all of them. I never make it through all the listings of things to do. There are so many! Sometimes I think there must be some way to decide who to go see without having to learn so much about everyone who is playing somewhere. But then I think how I always seem to discover somebody new either because somebody sends me a link or because I read about them here. I decided to write and share that because two of my friends just told me that I am always the one sending them stuff for us to decide where to go. They just found out that this is where I get all of it. They say we must be using this more than links or youtube to learn about people we haven’t heard yet. You have a lot of influence, mister! - Pam

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Re: ♪  4) Guide Adds New Features (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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It’s nice you keep finding ways to try to improve this and include more people. But what you really need is a built in search function. Can you add that?

[YES. WE JUST DID. RIGHT AT THE TOP OF THE GUIDE’S FIRST PAGE. – editor.]

It would be good if we could search to see if a band is playing again nearby when we can’t make it to the show you have listed. It’s not always easy to get that by just looking for the band’s site. Sometimes they don’t have their tour or whatever listed where it’s easy to find, if you can even find a site for them that really tells you anything.

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Re: ♪  4) Guide Adds New Features (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I am going to complain about something good. It is astonishing that there is so much music in LA and OC. It is good you try to tell everyone about it. It is bad that I can never make it through all the choices. It’s just too much and that’s what I am complaining about. But I don’t know how to fix it. If you start leaving things out to make it shorter, you might leave out something I would go see. I guess it’s a good kind of frustration to complain when there is too much of a good thing. - Oscar

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Re: ♪  4) Guide Adds New Features (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Why don’t you do one of these for indie rock? I look for some of what you have, like the old time music. But accordions are annoying unless it’s Weird Al.

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Re: ♪  4) Guide Adds New Features (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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This is always so informative. Now you’re doing even more with it? I don’t know how you do it. There must be a lot of people writing for this or else you have elves.

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Re: ♪  5)  Musical Fourth of July Lit Up the Sky, and Free Concerts Coming (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Glad to see you include classical music that isn’t really classical. I wonder if you get mail about that?

I should tell you how I got into the kinds of music you cover. I went to the LA Phil’s 4th of July concert in the Bowl a few years ago when Riders in the Sky were the guests. I knew that was the western group that had done music for the Toy Story movies and I used to hear them do a corny half hour radio show about ten years ago, early in the morning on weekends. I think they were on every week.

Anyway, at the Bowl their music was a treat with the orchestra playing with them. It set me looking for symphonic arrangements of cowboy music. I began collecting the soundtrack albums of all the classic western movies, which are all performed by orchestras. Movies like The Magnificent 7, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, etc.

With my collecting those western movie albums I wanted to find more live non-classical performances. To my surprise I found lots of symphonies doing non-classical music, like you talk about in your story.

I still enjoy my Brahms and Mozart, but I am more likely to drive a ways for something different that is well done. I will see a concert at the Verizon Amphitheater this summer since you wrote about being there. By summer’s end I will also have been at the Bowl four times, at Santa Anita Park twice, and at the Arboretum three times, all for symphonies doing music that isn’t really classical. - Sid

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Re: ♪  5)  Musical Fourth of July Lit Up the Sky, and Free Concerts Coming (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Seems like it isn’t classical music people who are being stuffy these days.  Glad to see they are not afraid of trying something different.  I like anything that opens the doors and is open to various kinds of music.  I think I should go and hear the Pacific Symphony. - Leslie

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Re: ♪  2) 9th Annual “International Acoustic Music Awards” Accepting Entries (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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This is so what I was looking for!! Thank you for telling me about this!!

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Re: ♪  2) 9th Annual “International Acoustic Music Awards” Accepting Entries (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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How well known is this competition? I had never heard of it but I am entering.

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Re: ♪  2) 9th Annual “International Acoustic Music Awards” Accepting Entries (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Thank you for helping us find ways to promote our music. There are so few opportunities for radio in this town and sometimes it feels like we cannot reach beyond the audience at the gig.

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Re: ♪  2) 9th Annual “International Acoustic Music Awards” Accepting Entries (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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For those of us who can’t afford Kerrville or Telluride or Weiser or Winfield (that’s all the people I know), finding something we can enter is welcome news! Thank you!!!

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Re: ♪  6)  2012 “Cowboy Keeper” Award Recipients Announced (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Might this be something we should look at for socially conscious folk awards?

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Re: ♪  7)  Momentous History that Changed Everything, Until We Forgot it (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I grew up with the space program. It felt like we would live in a future where everything was possible. What you said has me missing that feeling and wishing for that future that we never got. I guess all the money was wasted in Vietnam then, just like it’s being wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan now.

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Re: ♪  7)  Momentous History that Changed Everything, Until We Forgot it (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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“Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are as distant as Marco Polo or Leif Ericson or Lewis and Clark.” Ouch. No wonder my kids think I’m a dinosaur who grew up without indoor plumbing.

Thing is, we were more advanced then in ways that mattered than we are now.

“If anyone would look up from their myopic infatuation with narcissistic tech that does nothing for advancing discovery or understanding for humankind.” I had never thought of things that way but you are right and you express it with such poignancy. 

“…myopic infatuation with narcissistic tech…” Watching my kids proves that is true. But do I do any better - “advancing discovery or understanding for humankind”? No. Double ouch.

I grew up when things happened, when we seemed always to get things done, so many things that we took it all for granted. How terribly sad it is all gone, that “MOMENTOUS HISTORY THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING, UNTIL WE FORGOT IT.”

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Re: ♪  7)  Momentous History that Changed Everything, Until We Forgot it (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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First, you are right that people my age (I am 24) see your moon travel days as olden days.

Second, how did we ever come to think of space exploration as part of the past instead of part of the future? Because your generation stopped spending money to keep it going for us. It was all gone long before we got there.

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Re: ♪  7)  Momentous History that Changed Everything, Until We Forgot it (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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My generation, as people and as artists, really don’t think about space history. We know we aren’t going anywhere and the planet is so screwed up that it requires more attention than we are giving it just to save us from climate catastrophe.

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Re: ♪  7)  Momentous History that Changed Everything, Until We Forgot it (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I hope you don’t go with Newt to his moon base. We can’t afford to lose you. Newt yes, but not you  :-}

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Re: ♪  7)  Momentous History that Changed Everything, Until We Forgot it (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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You wrote something once about how we should be building radio telescopes on the far side of the moon where they would be 100% shielded from RF interference by the moon itself--shielded from all our interfering noise on earth. That intrigued the hell out of me. Why isn’t NASA even talking about that? It sounds like a solid reason to go back to the moon as a place to listen to whatever is going on “out there.” Maybe we would have a real chance to hear alien civilizations. There’s a good place for your kickstarter space program.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I liked it that you went back and dedicated this to Sally Ride when she died. As the first woman astronaut in space, she inspired me as a kid. I thought I was going to Mars. I wish somebody could, to inspire a whole new upcoming bunch of kids. - Jill

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Wow that is thought provoking. I never thought of any of those things. Other planets were always going to be like Star Trek, green babes, plenty of strange things to eat, no worries. Bio-contamination from another world, that world being Earth? I’m sure JPL was careful with the spacecraft that’s about to land, but people are essentially germ-ridden colonies of bio-invasion.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I read the whole thing and it was much longer than anything I ever read since college. Enjoyed it too. Now that Mars landing will mean something to me when it happens. Thanks. - Luke

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I liked how you got into our culture being so intertwined with our fantasies of Mars. I’d still like to see some little guy pop up and clean the camera lens on the lander.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I’ve seen a couple of those movies. I didn’t realize there were so many. The next one needs to be a documentary of when we actually go there. Let’s do something!

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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“Art and science are the shared province of innovators and dreamers and explorers. Both use technology, but neither IS technology. Art and science are creative quarters where dreamers dwell, the Valhalla from which others are inspired.”

I printed that out big and have it on my wall. I admit I didn’t believe you wrote that. It’s wonderfully profound. I googled it and expected to find that it was Carl Sagan or Einstein. But it really was you, wasn’t it? NASA should hire you to fire people up! That belongs in a stone inscription! You’ve got ME ready to go to Mars, as long as I can bring my guitar!

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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NASA should re-post this to its website and send it to every member of that useless Congress. But Congress would just focus on the part about staying away rather than risk interfering with life, and not bother to find out first if anything is alive on Mars.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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We really are screwed, aren’t we? No space suits and no place to go. When the big asteroid is sighted on its way to clobber earth on December 21st, we have no rockets to blow it up or spacecraft to take us anywhere else. Maybe that’s what happened to all the Martians. We could change the title to “But, Do We Want to Find Life on Earth?”

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Your imagery is really something. I never would have imagined someone could evoke characters based on Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood experiencing adventures with “technogeeky robotic sidekicks” as the reason Star Trek and Star Wars worked, and the essential reason why space exploration could catch fire again. You’re right about Hollywood being more important than Apollo in forming our impressions of space. We should send Spielberg and Michael Moore up if we want to get people interested in space again. Oh, wait. We can’t. We don’t have a way to send anybody up anymore, do we?

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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You talked about movies, and this was like watching a movie. All the history with all the robot rovers. The dust storms bigger than the ones Woody saw. Then, the future, and the robotic arm turning over a rock and finding a big fossil of a Martian fish, but no test ever finds anything that’s still alive on Mars. Brilliant. The fun fantasies don’t end with the canals after all, do they?

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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All those resources and links and the Mars landing game download were just what my kids needed during summer vacation. More important to me, I was able to have a discussion with them about the issues you raise about ethics, and when exploration risks becoming alien invasion that alters development of life in another ecosystem (or Marcosystem?) I am resigned that I will not live long enough to see us land on anything more exotic than the airport, but I hope my kids will. I’d like to think I’ve already got them started on the kinds of things they need to think about along with the exciting idea that they could change the world to care about reaching out without hurting other living creatures.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Sorry, but the idea of waltzing around on Mars just doesn’t do it for me. I am a biology major, so your discussion of invasive species in the context of exobiology was worthwhile and I used it as a topic in a discussion group. We concluded that it’s the best reason not to go. But I’m more concerned with invasive species that wreak havoc by being transported from one part of the earth to another. That will cause mass famine way before any bugs from Mars could.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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That video of a Mars landing is the best digital animation I have ever seen.  I had never heard Holst’s The Planets.  It was brilliant to use that as the video soundtrack.  Thanks for including it!  I never would have found any of this.  I’m into it now and plan to watch the rover land August 5.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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People might think you wrote about how science and art have interacted where our dreams about Mars are concerned. What you really wrote about is our economic system and how it is predisposed to cause widespread ruin so a few can make profits. I appreciate that you show two paths: the likely one, where the profiteers would murder Martian life if they’ve already invested a lot before they find it. And the other one, showing how we can spend money on space and revitalize our economy. But wouldn’t doing the second lead us to the horror of the first? You cover all the conundrums but that one.

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Forget Mars, let’s go to Europa and Enceladus! I had never even heard of those moons before I read about them in your Mars story. More liquid water on Europa than on all of earth? I start singing “Hoo-ee, Baby, Don’t you want to go on a sea cruise” everytime I think of that!

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Re: ♪  8)  But, Do We Want to Find Life on Mars? (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Why in the hell aren’t we teaching science in school the way you write about it? If our kids learn all this stuff, there would be no stopping them from exploring the universe. You have a knack for explaining things so any fool (like me) can understand them and get excited about them.

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Re: ♪  1)  Berklee College of Music Offers Free Music Handbook E-Books (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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They seem to make worthwhile things available for free download fairly often. Thanks for telling us about this one, which I now have. I got three other things from them before this, and I think I learned about those from you too, didn’t I?

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Re: ♪  1)  Berklee College of Music Offers Free Music Handbook E-Books (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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People, listen, really, tis is good stuff!! Go get your freebies now!!

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Re: ♪  1)  Berklee College of Music Offers Free Music Handbook E-Books (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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To think, I spent all that money there, and they’re giving things away now.

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Re: ♪  1)  Berklee College of Music Offers Free Music Handbook E-Books (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I wanted to go to Berklee. Instead I went to Berkeley, which never gives away free books by its teaching faculty.

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Re: ♪  1)  Berklee College of Music Offers Free Music Handbook E-Books (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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I just downloaded both e-books. Very cool!!! Thanks for letting me know!!!

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Re: ♪  3)  Summer Concert Trends Oppose Successful Festivals: Call to Action (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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This was not even on the fringes of my awareness and you raise an important point. During Occupy L.A., I was reminded of an old ’60s phrase, ‘Power to the People!’

We as artists often deny our own power. Maybe we sense it when a song affects some listeners at a show, then we move on and it’s forgotten. We need to get aware that we have more power than that. We can influence what kinds of bookings get made for next year.

Pick a list of summer concert venues you want to play and mobilize your fan list to ask those venues to book you. Get it together with your artist friends and coordinate so you can influence what they do with their season.

[Editor’s addition: Use the information in the Guide’s news story, about folk festivals setting records at the gate, even in the depressed economy. Present it right and present yourself as the kind of artist people will come out to hear.]

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Re: ♪  3)  Summer Concert Trends Oppose Successful Festivals: Call to Action (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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This is so true. Two summers ago, we went to a lot of free concerts in local parks. It felt like we went any night we were not gigging or rehearsing. We took picnics and wine and really enjoyed them. Then last year the people they booked didn’t look as interesting and we hardly went at all. This summer we have gone to two shows by bands we knew. It’s not like we have a lot of gigs because we don’t after a band breakup in June. So we could go a lot if we wanted to, but there isn’t that much we want to see. Certainly not the bar cover bands that get all the fat old people singing along like cows that need milking.

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Re: ♪  3)  Summer Concert Trends Oppose Successful Festivals: Call to Action (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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Well, I don’t think it is really because of smaller budgets. They aren’t just booking a lot less dates, but it’s what they choose to book. What experience are others having?

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Re: ♪  3)  Summer Concert Trends Oppose Successful Festivals: Call to Action (July 20, 2012 NEWS FEATURES edition)

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You teach a wonderfully informative workshop on working the media. Maybe you should think about doing a workshop on how to get booked, and cover the points about the culture of bookers and why they do what they do (if anybody understands it). Seriously, there are a lot of tips here that could be worked into a plan that would turn things around again. - Chuck

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Re: SPOTLIGHT EVENTS editions, recent general comments…

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Excellent weblog. All posts have something to learn. Your work is extremely excellent and I appreciate you and am hoping for more of these informative posts!

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Re: SPOTLIGHT EVENTS editions, recent general comments…

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Wow what a weblog! I am so happy to be here where you discuss all this. I will come back again and again, whenever possible.

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Re: SPOTLIGHT EVENTS editions, recent general comments…

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Thanks for great information. You write it very clean. I am very lucky to get these tips from you.

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Re: SPOTLIGHT EVENTS editions, recent general comments…

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I really appreciate the job you do. Keep it up!

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Re: SPOTLIGHT EVENTS editions, recent general comments…

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Glad to find such good articles!

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Re: SPOTLIGHT EVENTS editions, recent general comments…

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Great and really wonderful. I found this site really awesome.

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Re: SPOTLIGHT EVENTS editions, recent general comments…

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Wow, great line-up!

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As always, we welcome your comments.

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Together, we can always work to make the Guide even BETTER! Thanks for the making the journey with us.

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Send us your comments, and please reference the item in the Guide that provoked them, so we can enable other readers to know what you are commenting about. Send to

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tiedtothetracks@hotmail.com

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