President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address - A Gigapan Image

This is very cool and one could get lost in here, I did. NYC Photographer David Bergman made this Gigapan image from the north press platform during President Obama's inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009. It's made up of 220 images and the final image size is 59,783 X 24,658 pixels or 1,474 megapixels.

Click on the image, zoom surprisingly close and you can see what everyone is doing as the new President speaks.

Ain't Wastin Time No More

Gregg Allman wrote this song to help himself cope with the death of his brother Duane Allman. I feel our country has suffered a sort of death for the last eight years, it might be better termed a zombie like existence. We've been stumbling, like walking wounded, but tense, with shoulders jacked up around our neck. Even the sunshine has felt like rain for a long time. That ends today. There's very little sadness this song. It is, rather, a commitment to the present and the future. This is the best chance we've ever had. It is a beautiful day.


Last Sunday morning, the sunshine felt like rain.
Week before, they all seemed the same.
With the help of God and true friends,
I come to realize I still had two strong legs,
and even wings to fly.
And oh I, ain't wastin' time no more
cause time goes by like hurricanes, and faster things.

Lord, lord miss Sally, why all your cryin?
Been around here three long days, you're lookin like you're dyin.
Just step yourself outside, and look up at the stars above
Go on downtown baby, find somebody to love.
Meanwhile I ain't wastin time no more
cause time goes by like pouring rain, and much faster things.

You don't need no gypsy to tell you why,
You cant let one precious day slip by.
Look inside yourself, and if you dont see what you want,
Maybe sometimes then you don't,
But leave your mind alone and just get high.

Well by and by, way after many years have gone,
And all the war freaks die off, leavin us alone.
Well raise our children in the peaceful way we can,
Its up to you and me brother
To try and try again.

Well, hear us now, we aint wastin time no more
cause time goes by like hurricanes
Runnin after subway trains
Dont forget the pouring rain.

This is live at the Beacon Theater in 2003. Derek Trucks does the first solo and Warren Haynes does the second.

Pittsburgh Is Going To The Super Bowl !

Because they deserve it !..................................because they earned it !...........because ....they did it ! And tonight ............is one glorious night ...............in Steeler Nation.

It's A Steeler Nation, You Just Live Here

There will be one hell of a good football game on Sunday January 18th at 6:30 pm when the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh. Wherever you go around this country , you can find Steeler fans. Thats because for so many years many of the areas best and brightest moved on to where the pickin's were better, but they never lost the 'Burgh feeling. One can find a Steeler's fan bar in every major city and they could accurately be called America's favorite team.
The Ravens-Steelers rivalry is arguably the nastiest in all of sports. What happens when you throw the irresistible force that is Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and the immovable object that is Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis onto the same field ? Breathtaking hits, some of them late. It is not the longest rivalry in the history of the NFL, but it is the most intense.

"What else would you expect -- us and the Ravens," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Sunday after the Steelers handled the Chargers 35-24. "It would be a big game if it was a scrimmage. It just happens to be the AFC Championship Game." Familiarity between these two AFC North teams breeds, well, something beyond contempt. There have been alleged late hits, reported bounties and even not-so-veiled death threats.
"Every block, every tackle -- none of them are done casually," said Steelers radio broadcaster Tunch Ilkin, who played in Pittsburgh from 1980 to 1992. "They're all done with full intensity and malicious intent. If you have a chance to rub a guy's face in the dirt on a tackle, you do. If you can put a knee in a guy's back to help yourself get up, you do it."
This season, appropriately, the Ravens and Steelers have the league's top-ranked defenses in terms of points and yards allowed. The Steelers lead the series 17-10 -- including a divisional-round playoff victory at the end of the 2001 season -- and won both previous games this season, one in overtime, by a total of seven points.
The Ravens, though, have had their moments. In 2006, they won both games and sacked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger 16 times. One of them was a brutal shot by Ravens linebacker Bart Scott. "That's the cleanest tackle I've had in my life," Scott said later. "It felt good to hear the air leave his body."
That's the kind of game it's going to be !

After this win , February 1st at Tampa will have a scene much like this one from a few years back.

Go Stillers !..............................Number 1..........

This pic says it all

Now Guitar Heroes Can Play Real Guitar

I play guitar so I've never been impressed with the Guitar Hero game but at a bar near me on Thursday nights teams of crazy drunks compete playing it and it is loads of fun to watch. Of course no one is playing for real, they are just pushing colored buttons on toy guitars, kind of like high tech air guitar. Only the singers need some real chops / talent to play the game, the others including the drummer are just going through the motions. Well that's not going to impress the girls which is why every one learns to play guitar in the first place . Soon guitar hero wannabees can actually learn to play guitar or at least to learn where you put your fingers, which is very necessary in playing actual guitar. This is a great idea. Using a real and playable guitar in this game means you actually take something home after the experience, something you can apply to real life. The system uses a guitar with color coded strings and has lessons to teach guitar as well as featuring competitive game play. So now you can really rock out, make the other, plastic guitar guys or girls look like dorks and get the real chicks ( or guys ) too. Disney is involved in this so lets hope the music cranks and that its not High School Musical type drivel.



When I get big I'm gonna get an electric guitar..............when I get real big - Neil Young muttering between songs at a concert.


A real guitar, a 1982 Epiphone Spirit. The Spirit is Epiphone / Gibson's answer to the Fender Tele, a working man's axe, a solid slab of wood with two hot pickups and a perfect neck.
I never achieved hero status with it ( my guitar playing friends would quickly agree ) but for a few years I seldom paid for my own drinks in the local saloons.....now that's status you can use !