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Cheryl Cole is reportedly set to be mentored by hip-hop mogul Jay-Z for her break in the US.

The X Factor judge was said to be in talks with Beyonce Knowles’ husband for a collaboration.

“Cheryl is the biggest fan of Jay-Z and Beyonce,” the Mirror quoted a source as saying.

“To hear the feeling is mutual has totally made her year. She never imagined her album would have taken off like this.

“To get Jay-Z’s support is beyond her wildest dreams,” the source added.

A newspaper also has a helpful guide to how young Cheryl Cole fans can look like their favourite X Factor judge. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Star estimates she has cost £250,000 transforming herself from ‘waitress to ber-chic chick’, including £40,000 on make-up, £145,000 on clothes and ‘up to £3,000′ on fake tan. Presumably not on each visit.

Scots rockers The Law have slammed the British pop scene, describing Cheryl Cole’s No.1 hit Fight For Your Love as a perfect example of how the charts have become dominated by sub-standard spin-offs from The X Factor.

The Dundee band are among the acts performing at the Homecoming Live - Final Fling concert at Glasgow’s Clyde Auditorium and SECC on Saturday night.

Unlike Cole, they turned down the chance of a major record deal to release their own debut album, A Measure Of Wealth, on their Local Boy record label.

Just like in everything else, choosing the right singing teacher can either make or break your singing career or aspirations. So it is of great importance that you hire good singing coach for your vocal lessons. If you learn how to sing this will be a valuable process.

Beyond learning how to read music scores, what a singing teacher will do is to impart and train you the correct singing techniques. While a university professor teaches you about what you have studied and how to interpret it, singing teachers teach and train you on how to use what you have learned.

For this reason, the ability to interact comfortably with your singing teacher is very important. There must be good chemistry between the teacher and the student. It is therefore not unreasonable for the student to request for a ‘consultation lesson,’ when you are selecting your singing teacher. This is done so that your singing teacher and you may become acquainted with each and come to an understanding on the development of an agreeable teacher student relationship.

You want to establish some kind of rapport with your potential singing teacher. Ask yourself if you will be comfortable with this person because you will be developing a relationship with this person and training together few times a week. You want to enjoy learning singing and not have your singing lesson feeling like a chore. This is why you should never sign up with a singing teacher merely on the basis of a telephone conversation.

Always arrange for a meeting as you will need to explore your singing teacher’s background although before your meeting, you will probably have researched much the teacher’s background over the phone or through a biographical sheet that professional singing teachers should have. If possible, ask for testimonies from their ex-students. These testimonies will be an indication of how popular and credible your singing teacher is.

When you think that your potential singing teacher has sufficient and appropriate professional singing background that is comfortable to you, then you can proceed to ask questions about matters you find important such as the singing lesson’s curriculum and your expectations. You may also like to sing songs of a particular genre, if so, find out if your singing teacher is able to coach you on the genre that you like, whether these are pop songs, classical or even jazz singing.

It’s ALWAYS been tricky to get your hands on a ticket for a sports event of music gig. For Instance, the entire Michael Jackson’s marathon 50 date residency at London O2 was selling at 33 tickets per minute before it sold out. So how on earth can someone who’s in full time employment get to purchase a ticket if they sell out so fast?

Go on the web and buy one.

In the dark days prior to the internet, you had to purchase your second-hand ticket via a tout at the event itself. This inevitably meant paying over the odds, or even perhaps being given fake tickets which would inevitably be identified as such as you tried to enter the gig - meaning you miss the music gig or sports event while throwing away your money by being swindled.

Nevertheless, the situation has improved for sports and music fans. The secondary ticket marketplace has cleaned up its act in the last decade or so, thanks to the internet. These days there is so much competition to resell tickets on the internet, the industry has become self-regulating. You’re offering the ticket for HOW much cash?! I’ll look elsewhere! Many ticket agents provide insurance if the event / gig is cancelled. And with stiff competition online, secondary tickets have dropped in price to the stage that it can sometimes be you’re not paying much more than the face value price. Many ticket purchasers compare prices between dozens of traders selling secondary tickets for the same concert / event. They check the sale prices, insurance, seating, and even history of the vendor prior to making a decision - so the power has considerably shifted away from the dodgy looking tout of the previous times to the ticket buyer.

Nowadays you can purchase tickets for many kinds of concerts and sporting events. From soccer to basketball matches to cricket, to getting hold of front row seats for your favourite band; secondary tickets offer up a second opportunity to attend the event you want to go to. So how to obtain tickets online? Use a search engine like Google and type in your keyphrase such as Franz Ferdinand Tickets, and you’ll discover a large range of secondary ticket brokers who have the ticket you’re hunting for.

Not all people are happy with the idea of resale tickets however. Some individuals call resale ticket brokers as spongers, and wish to see the banning of resale tickets. They are missing the point of resale tickets : there’s such a short amount of time that someone can purchase a ticket when it’s on sale the first time around.

The internet has bridged and connected people around the world. It allows you to talk to the other person from another continent across the globe. It is a marvelous technology and tool in this modern age and time. You can make lots of money online by selling digital info products and other tangible items through eBay. You can even bid for freelance jobs and write articles for your clients across the world. All it takes it using the ubiquitous email programs like Outlook or Gmail account. Likewise, music has been shared online and uploaded to some web sites such as www.audiobiblio.com.

On top of sharing and uploading music, you can also make new friends with people around the world. You can browse their profiles, gender and location and send them a message like thanking them for the music that they have uploaded to www.audiobiblio.com. This is a site that connects people and music. Music enthusiasts will love this site for its nifty features such as uploading music files up to 20GB in size and sharing them. You can then listen to music from the internet café on in your lap tops as you are traveling.

It has been known that listening to music is very relaxing and calms the weary soul. It helps to release feel good hormones known as endorphins to the brain cells. You will feel less depressed and stressed when you turn on the music, preferably sentimentals and oldies. And you can also listen to music from the comforts of home by browsing through www.audiobiblio.com.

People are also more productive and more alert when they listen to music. Students under exam pressures listen to music as they mug and study hard to pass exams. Music can be played from anywhere, in your homes, your offices, in the car, or just hook up to the internet with the lap top.

For many years I have supplied music for and played in bands that provide music for corporate entertainment. Clients have included Audi, The Evening Standard, Sainsburys, P.C. World, Safeways, Large corporate clients at Henley and Ascot, I.T.V. and H.M. Treasury. Because of this experience I felt it would be relevant in putting down some pointers in helping clients choose the right kind of music for their particular corporate entertainment.

Interestingly enough, most corporate hospitality entertainment work tends to require music as an ingredient to a larger recipe. What I mean by this is a great deal of corporate events are offering a multi service package. Typically an organization may be putting on an evenings entertainment to thank its workforce for a particularly successful year. They may be offering music, food, comedy, a close up magician, a casino and a caricaturist. The corporate client organizing needs to decide what part the music has to play in the days/evenings entertainment.

Questions he or she needs to ask are:

Is the music specifically for entertainment or is the music for background listening?

Do we need one style of music early on in the proceedings and then a change of style later in the days/ evenings entertainment?

Do you expect the corporate clients to be networking and discussing business or are they just there for a good time?

What overall atmosphere do you want to project with the event?

Is there going to be a change of location for the music as the entertainment event unfolds?

Different styles of music bands lend themselves to different corporate hospitality situations. Below are a number of typical corporate hospitality events with music suggestions for suitable music entertainment.

Corporate entertainment model 1.
Evening reception with dinner and speeches.
In a situation such as this you will typically need music from the outset as part of the meet and greet of the corporate evening. A four-piece swing or Latin group is ideal with a larger ensemble for particularly large gatherings. A professional outfit can pitch the music at just the right decibel level so your guests can talk and enjoy the entertainment without it encroaching on conversations. The musicians would typically be dressed in Lounge Suits or Tuxedos (or the female equivalent) to mirror what the guests are wearing themselves. The music portrays an atmosphere of sophistication, which again hopefully reflects the evenings overall ambience.

It is rare for corporate clients to want to dance especially as clients there relationship is business not pleasure! In most cases it is more important that the band is flexible in when it is needed over the course of the evening i.e. At the top of the night for the reception, a smaller version of the band (The pianist maybe for the dinner), stopping for speeches and then after the speeches to play until other entertainment is put on for the corporate clients. In this situation give the band a clear idea of how you expect the evening to go. What to wear, when they will be needed, when they need to get their instruments in the building and be set up, when breaks will be required, let them know if it is convenient or not to feed them and then finally how they can leave when finished so as not to disrupt the rest of the entertainment.

Corporate entertainment model 2.
Company Party.
Still corporate entertainment, still corporate hospitality but a totally different set of requirements for the music. Ask yourself these questions: Are your work force the type of workforce who will want to dance at some point in the proceedings? If they are, then a professional band with flexibility is essential. My experience is that people of all ages will join together to dance to music from the sixties and seventies. Whatever background music you require earlier in the day/evening be it Latin, Swing, Rat Pack or Lounge, if you are hoping to provide entertainment that will get people dancing remember this fact. Sixties and Seventies. For some inexplicable reason this is the music that gets people up on their feet.

When choosing your music ask the band if they can cover this part of the corporate entertainment requirement. Get samples of their music if need be. There is nothing worse than an ill equipped band struggling through alien repertoire. However good the band is, if they do not play the right repertoire, the right style of music then the corporate entertainment will fall on deaf ears.

Let me at this point provide a caveat. Your workforce work together They are not always going to be the best of friends however professional their relationships are at work. Answer truthfully, will they really want to dance together or is it asking too much? I would say that in all the years of providing music for this kind of corporate entertainment / hospitality , as long as the music is right, the workforce tended to dance 30 or 40% of the time. It could be said that a workforce who will enjoy each others company in this way is a reflection on the talent of senior management to create a happy team!

Corporate entertainment model 3.
Company Fun Day.
These come in two types. The type to entertain your own workforce or the type to entertain prospective clients. Both types of corporate entertainment require music that is fun. This means that the music must be perceived as fun and the band must be perceived as fun. In both cases Jolly Dixieland Jazz or the summer sounds of Latin music are most suitable.

Ask yourself these questions: does the band need to be mobile? Meaning do you want the music to move around the site at various points in the proceedings? If so then the jolly jazz route is most suitable. A good professional outfit of four or five players can play acoustically and move around a site as directed.

If the band can be static and close to electrical power then either Jolly Jazz or Latin Music is suitable.

Is the event outdoors or indoors and do you have provision for bad weather? This is England, never trust to luck, assume the worst! Any band that needs power cannot play in the rain for health and safety reasons. At the first hint of inclement weather a band will have to breakdown their equipment. Build this situation into your corporate entertainment music decisions.

How do you want the band to dress? It is a fun day after all! In the past I and my musicians have dressed as Elvis, Cavemen, Circus Clowns, in fact all manner of characters in the name of corporate entertainment and corporate hospitality. Good bands will have suitable outfits for most situations but don`t hesitate in providing something off the wall for a special event. Most professional players have a strange urge to jump into such costumes at the earliest possibility! As someone who has played at a nudist camp and for a toga party, both dressed accordingly, take my word for it!

To draw this article together let me say this. Choose the right kind of music for the event. Brief the band accordingly but make sure you have a professional and flexible outfit, things can change over the course of the event and you want to make sure the band are both co-operative and able to fulfill your needs. Don`t hesitate to ask the band for any special requirements you have. Do it in plenty of time so they have time to prepare.

The corporate entertainment and hospitality you offer to your guests reflects directly onto your company. The music and musicians must be the type who are aware of this. Dont go for second best just to save a small amount of money. You need a well prepared, well dressed band who are both polite and charming to your guests. They need to play the right kind of music for the event in order to help make the day or evenings corporate entertainment a resounding success!

About the author
Jeff Williams is a London based trombonist and vocalist who has worked all over the world in most areas of the business. He also runs a successful, specialist, live music agency using the best of London musicians, servicing both private and corporate clients playing all over the country. He would be happy to advise you with your own event or party and offers bespoke solutions for the perfect occasion.

Contact him on +44(0)20 8761 8932 or +44(0)7747 801471
Email him on bonejeff@aol.com

Visit the website http://www.jazznotjazz.co.uk

The Game at this time has an ever growing feud with 50 Cent. Their Fans were fooled into believing that the the Game had a good relationship with 50 Cent and his group G-Unit at the time of the Games album The Documentary’s release. Right after it coming out, 50 Cent felt that the The Game was disloyal for saying he wanted to work with artists with whom G-Unit were beefing with at the time such as Nas and Jadakiss, and he publicly disowned the Game. 50 also claimed that he was not getting his props for him featuring on the album.

During that ongoing beef, a member of The Game’s crew was shot at and injured after an incident at the popular Hot 97 radio station. While the beef between them grew, 50 and The Game held a press conference to make known their beef had ended. The Game during a event at the Summer Jam started G-Unot. Most fanatics felt that the feud, and the station incident was a stunt intended to raise their album sales. However, even after the circumstances had in fact ended, G-Unit continued to beef with The Game, insulting his street cred.

The Game will be ultimately putting out a strait to DVD named “Stop Snitchin Stop Lyin” that follows the feud with 50 and the G Unit squad. It will be released in Jan 06.

50 Cent

You’re a beginner, and you want basic guitar lessons to start you off. But you’re confused by all the choices: which would be the best guitar learning technique?

Guitar lessons are like anything else: there are two ways of learning, and they’re not the hard way or the easy way, nor are they my way or the highway. No, they’re teach yourself, or get a teacher.

Let’s look at teachers first. They come in four guises, and some are more effective than others. The more effective, the more expensive–usually.

The cheapest and probably least effective guitar lessons you can get are from a friend. I don’t say that to be disrespectful to anyone’s playing abilities, but simply to point out that unless that friend plays by the book and is a qualified teacher, you’ll probably pick up any bad habits they have. They’re also not likely to be available to give guitar lessons on a regular basis, and may either become impatient when you don’t pick things up fast enough, or may just let things slide, allowing you to form bad habits of your own. So your basic guitar lessons will remain just that–basic. The cost is good, though–usually nothing.

You may be fortunate enough to be still at school with guitar lessons available there. If so, take them. You’ll get a qualified teacher, weekly classes, and fellow pupils to swap notes with (and maybe even get together to play with!) after your guitar lessons.

Night school is the next most effective and cheap source. It differs from school because you have to make the effort to go after a day’s work. That usually means you’ve other things going on in your life–things that may intrude. Not only that, class size will probably be large, so you’ll have less input about what you want to learn. And there’s usually only two levels–basic guitar lessons, then improvers. The cost as an hourly rate will be very reasonable, though.

A professional teacher is the most expensive option. A good one will bring out the best in you, may encourage you to take grades, but will get frustrated if you don’t practice. If you have money, time, and are prepared to put the work in, this is one of the most effective routes to take, because they’ll correct any bad habits, and your guitar lessons are one-to-one. Obviously, you can save a little if you get your basic guitar lessons at, say, night school first.

If you can’t afford a professional teacher, and you don’t have evening/school classes or a friend handy, the second guitar learning technique is to teach yourself. You’ve three possible options.

You can buy guitar tutors fairly cheaply at most guitar shops, or online. They used to come in book form, but increasingly incorporate CDs and DVDs. There’s a one-off cost, non-refundable, and you progress at your own pace.

Once you’ve got past the basic guitar lessons in these tutors, you might decide the best way to teach yourself is to play your favourite songs by ear. So you listen to them over and over, work out the chords, then play. The advantage of this technique is that it’ll give you confidence, and if you mess up, no one will know. It’s also cheap–presumably you’ve already paid for the music.

Also, there are fan sites online where you can download lyrics and sheet music to your favourite songs, thus saving you the time of doing it yourself.

Finally, there’s the online course. For the cost of a few guitar lessons with a professional teacher you can get a course aimed at your level of proficiency. There are anything from basic guitar lessons online to advanced jazz. The courses usually come with a money-back guarantee, too, which is not true of the other methods. Another advantage is that you learn whenever it’s convenient–teachers are available only at certain times of the day.

So there you have it–the seven basic guitar lessons sources: a friend, school lessons, night school, a professional teacher, a book or course, learning by ear, or an online course.

Which is best?

Depends on how serious you are, how much time you can devote to practice, and what you want to achieve.

If you’re just starting, it might be best to go for the cheapest, most basic guitar lessons you can. That way, if you don’t persevere, you haven’t lost much.

If you do persevere, and you want to get really good, you’ll eventually want to consider a professional teacher.

Wherever you want your journey to take you, I hope you get there and have fun travelling!

Jamie Jones (The Guitar Dog) has been playing since…well, let’s not go there. In that time, he’s occasionally taught, written words and music, been in bands, and collected a whole lot of theory which he shares in easy-to-understand language with anyone who’s interested. To browse it or sign up for your free fortnightly guitar lessons, visit http://www.guitarism.co.uk