So I practiced with my old band last night. It is good that our show got moved to the second thursday in December. That gives us more time to practice. I am now intent on actually learning to right notes to play on my Hendrix and SRV solos instead of improvising. We sound great with two guitar players. The lead singer plays some SRV and sings well. I think if we really tried we could become a real cover band. Cover bands are interesting. Even though there is no chance of "making it big" there is a good chance of becoming a well known cover band that actually makes money. Back in the day Corporate Red would play at the Yucatan Liquid Stand for a monthly gig and we'd get paid $600 for 3 sets. Divide that by 4 and you've got $150 a person. It is great getting paid to play. Now as a cover band Corporate Red was not that good. We mostly did our originals. Really good cover bands can make upwards of $1000-$2000 a show. Our wedding band, the Grooves, actually got paid $3000 for the gig. They were one of the top wedding bands in the state though. Our style is not wedding band friendly. We are more of a blues bar, guitar centric band. I can picture us playing at the local guitar festivals though. That would be cool.

I've got to gives props out to my iPhone again. There is a plethora of guitar software for the iPhone. My favorite is TabToolkit. What it does is it takes these guitar files for songs and shows you how to play them on guitar, complete with the pitches and timing. Guitar Toolkit is another favorite app as it has a built in tuner with different tunings for a guitar. Another app is Chord Play. I select which chord I want to play and it gives me the notes to play to make the chord. Chord Play also has a sample guitar that actually lets you play your iPhone like it is a guitar. It is hard to use though since I usually play all over the neck of a guiar. I wonder though, if someone was enterprising they could create a touch screen guitar which would basically have 4 iphones attached to the neck of a guitar. That would be an interesting experience, never have to buy strings again.

The iPhone is the most useful device I have ever had. My favorite apps include: OrbLive - lets me stream my video,music and documents from my computer to my phone. TV.com - lets me play some TV shows. Facebook - lets me post my status instantly. Voice Alarm - this puppy has probably saved my career. Whenever I first wake up I turn it on. It says "15 minutes before your departure." "10 Minutes", "5 minutes" "2 minutes" "1 minute" "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1" Bing. So when I am in the bathroom or getting dressed in the morning I can always stay on track. I am now getting into work at exactly 9AM every day. LogMeIn - I can actually remote into my laptop, computer at home and webserver. It has also saved me many times. Evernote - It is the place where I write all of my notes. I can edit them on their website, on my computer and on my phone and they never get lost. ooTunes - This app has tons of internet radio stations and can connect to XM(provided you have an account), also there is a pc part if you want to stream your music through there. I actually use Simplify to stream my music as it has a good interface. Photon - that is the Phanfare iPhone app for my pictures on this site. I use it as my camera as well so that the pics I take with my phone are uploaded right away. Ambiance - this makes Brennon and me go to sleep with its waterfall noise. Mint.com - allows me to actually create a budget and track all of my bank accounts and credit cards. Sportacular - I am able to see the scores of all games and even watch live game updates as well. Air Mouse - I control the mouse and keyboard on my computer from my easy chair. That is pretty cool. There are tons more, but what the folks at Apple say is true - there is an app for that. Now I jsut need an app to do my job for me and I've got it made.