What do you get when you cross an air guitar and an air samurai?

Meet Japanese Teen Nanami “Seven Seas” Nagura. Winner of the 2014 Air Guitar World Championships.

 

“The American team had to give in for the Japanese Air Guitar fury when the 19-year-old samurai girl beat also the 2013 World Champion Eric ”Mean” Melin, who scored the 3rd place,” the organizers said in its release.

"Japan’s Keisuke “the Ninja” Nagatsuka, who performed his fantasy guitar in a ninja suit, also finished fourth in the championship finals.

ELB: It's a major award

KLEM FM

Whole lotta Bonzo love:

So this is the newest and coolest way for Jimmy Page to re-market old Led Zeppelin tracks -- literally one track/instrument at a time. Link  It's an analytical tour de force.  I wrote about analysis vs. synthesis in the context of chemistry here, but the same holds for any composition.

The launch of the LED ZEPPELIN reissue program, which is being led by Jimmy Page, includes the band opening 'its vaults to share dozens of unheard studio and live recordings, with each album featuring a second disc of companion audio comprised entirely of unreleased music related to that album.'

I approve! Plus it highlights the special funky groove that John Bonham had. More please!

BTW, here's the original photo used for that album:

Von Richthofen's Flying Circus

The Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen) is seated in the cockpit of his Albatross biplane. He shot down most of his kills in biplanes, but got famous for flying the Fokker DR1 triplane later in his career.

Von Richthofen's Fokker DR1 Triplane

Eddie Kramer's Sound Board

Watch this brief clip of Eddie Kramer explaining Jimi Hendrix' song "Hear My Train A Comin'." Kramer is 71 now and was Jimi's sound recording engineer. He also recorded The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and a slew of other acts. His name used to be all over the credits and liner notes of vinyl LPs.

I'm just cheered to see him still around & staying true to the music. He wrote a book which I just ordered.

One More, If I May

Jimi Hendrix died 43 years ago today. I don't mark that on my calendar (nobody should). I noticed it only because I was looking back at some old posts.

I remember that day, actually. I was only 10 but knew about him via older siblings and neighbors. Plus it was on the 6 o'clock news. The next day I learned that one other kid in my 5th grade class knew who he was.

Hendrix had something which no celebrity has had since -- not even the queen's favorite prince. It was an ability to bring races and nations together in awe and admiration. It was based on talent and showmanship. The hippies loved him while the squares just shook their heads. But even hippies who later grew edges can still see that in him.

Here is a clip from his Woodstock appearance. I think some kudos are due to the videographer on this one; the image is clear and he captured Hendrix' outsized hands and how he could just manipulate the fret board. Good crowd shots too:  Link

(time skipped embedding appears complicated for this clip; and I have seen this one go up and come down quickly)

Favorite part is around 24m10s when he starts driving the same riff over and over using only modulation while sucking down a cigarette no-handed. I think this is where air-guitar got invented,