Eric Clapton’s 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival started at roughly 11:45 today in Chicago. If you were not lucky enough to get tickets in the 10 minutes between the time they went on sale and were sold out you can watch it live for free on MSN. Click the image above to go to the stream page on MSN.com.

Just a note… this is currently only streaming in some kind of Microsoft compatible format. This stream didn’t work on my girlfriends Mac or on my computer running Kubuntu. You seem to have to watch it on Windows in Internet Explorer. If you try from a different OS or browser it just gives you a message saying the Flash version will be available later.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months you should already know about the Crossroads Guitar Festival. The concert is featuring a handful of famous guitar players in support of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Antigua drug and alcohol rehab center. Crossroads, created by Clapton in 1997, was originally intended to help support people from the island of Antigua and the Caribbean who wanted to overcome their substance addictions. The center is now internationally recognized as a Treatment Center of Excellence.

Many guitarists are playing at the festival to raise awareness about substance addiction. Artists on the block include Jeff Beck, Cheryl Crow, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, BB King, Los Lobos, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton himself, and many more.

UPDATE: It is now 8:43am mountain time. Since this has already aired on the east coast you can catch a few video clips on the ABC website here.

Ok, who is skipping work tomorrow morning? I’m lucky enough to have the day off, so I’ll be at home. Good Morning America should air here in Mountain Time at 8am on channel 5. You can watch it on whatever channel abc is in your area.

I’m not a huge Mayer fan, but I’m a little excited to see what this Clapton guy is all about. Eric Clapton will be John’s special guest for the show.

But seriously folks, how can you have Clapton as YOUR special guest and not feel like a god among men. “Yeah, I’m going on the Good Morning America show tomorrow. What? A backup guitarist? Naah, I’m good, I’ve already got one. Eric Clapton AKA God is going to be backing me. He’s pretty good… I guess…”

John Mayer has been gaining in popularity over the last few years, and not just in the screaming lusting female-teenager demographic. He has gained a lot of respect from the guitar and blues communities, hence the whole Clapton thing (see above).

The singer, writer, blogger, stand-up comedian and shoe designer has also become a bona fide heartthrob. Since bursting onto the music scene in 2001 with his first major studio album, “Room for Squares,” Mayer has sold millions of albums, won five Grammys and broken hearts — sometimes famous hearts — in both hemispheres.

That first album featured the hit “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” rumored to have been inspired by then-girlfriend Jennifer Love-Hewitt. It won him a Grammy for best male pop vocal performance.

Source: ABC News

Ohhhkay holld on, John Mayer dated Jennifer Love-Hewitt? Seriously… her body IS a wonderland. That song just took on a whole new crazy kind of meaning for me. Every time I hear it now I’m just going to imagine John Meyer saying “yeah, I hit that”.

On a side note, Fender will be releasing their limited edition Eric Clapton Crossroads Stratocaster AKA the Sun Strat. The proceeds will go to help support Claptons Crossroads Centre. Crossroads is a rehab center created by Clapton in the late 90s.

One week from saturday the Crossroads Guitar Festival will kick off in Chicago. Clapton and Mayer will perform again, but this time it will be a full concert. Other guests include Jeff Beck, Cheryl Crow, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, BB King, Albert Lee, John Mclaughlin, Willie Nelson, Jimmie Vaughan, Steve Winwood, and more.

[Via Modern Guitars Magazine]

Summer NAMM will be kicking off July 27th, 2007 and running through the 29th at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Once again I will watch from the sidelines in pure jealousy. As we all know the NAMM trade shows are only open to association members, and to be a member you have to either be a manufacturer or retailer of musical paraphernalia. Oh yeah, and if you work in the media too, then I guess you get to go. I guess I could be considered media right? Somehow I don’t think my personal blog would get me in the door.

If you happen to be going to Summer NAMM 2007 and you would be interested in providing me with details, photos, or whatever from the show, please feel free to contact me… ya lucky bastards.

I have had this starred for a few weeks now. Arch Enemy has announced the release date of their next studio album Rise of the Tyrant. The album is slated to be on shelves September 24th, 2007.

I love the last few Arch Enemy albums and I’m excited to hear this new one. I don’t have any cover art for the album as of yet, but the track listing is as follows:

RISE OF THE TYRANT
Blood On Your Hands
The Last Enemy
I Will Live Again
In This Shallow Grave
Revolution Begins
Rise Of The Tyrant
The Day You Died
Intermezzo Liberté
Night Falls Fast
The Great Darkness
Vultures

In related news, Christopher Amott has returned to Arch Enemy after a 2 year break. Christopher was an original member of the band, but decided to take a vacation from Arch Enemy in 2005 after recording Doomsday Machine. He took some personal time for himself, saw the world and now he is back to slay some more metal.

Christopher’s brother and band mate Michael Amott comments on Christopher’s return to the band:

“So, we are back with my brother Christopher on guitar—it’s a huge rush to have him back playing in his signature style. He’s jumped in at the end of the songwriting process for the new album and added some of his unique spice. I feel Christopher’s playing has matured and is more precise and even faster than before! Guitar fans are going to freak out at the stuff we’re up to on the new album!”

This has me so much more pumped for this new album. I am pretty sure it is going to rule all of life.

Arch Enemy has already set some dates for the album tour with more to come. No Calgary date on this tour yet, but I’m holding out for some updates.

I have been following this story lately about YouTube pulling over 100 videos created by NextLevelGuitar.com that show people how to play portions of copyright songs. Apparently YouTube received a take down request stating that the lessons were a copyright infringement. I first read about it in the post Guitar Lessons Removed from YouTube in Copyright Dispute on Guitar MX Blog.

Reading on the Next Level Guitar forums I found out that the copyright claim was filed by ABKCO Records. If you aren’t familiar with their history read up on the Bitter Sweet Symphony fiasco. After reading that it is pretty obvious why Next Level Guitar isn’t planning on fighting this. Instead the site will release new videos that indirectly teach people how to play copyright songs. We will have to wait and see what kind of shape this takes.

So is it really illegal to teach someone how to play a copywritten song? I don’t really want to get into the logistics of copyright law, but I want to know where exactly the line is drawn? Are the videos infringing on copyright because they are teaching (thus taking away from sheet music sales) or just because they contain a derivative of copyright material in them? Either way it’s common knowledge that if anyone anywhere is making a profit directly or indirectly from a copyright material the record labels wont be very happy about it. There are thousands of videos on YouTube teaching people how to play songs on the guitar. I think the reason the Next Level Guitar guys were targeted was because they were using these videos to promote their guitar lesson website and were indirectly making a profit from the material.

Here’s something interesting though, Next Level Guitar has started a new channel on YouTube housing copyright free material and the channel is the most subscribed this week, most subscribed this month, and #2 most subscribed of all time. Thats pretty freaking impressive.

Justin Sandercoe from justinguitar.com has yet to run into any issues with his YouTube videos. His YouTube account hosts several different lessons for songs like Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and Cold Play’s Trouble. Justin is less obvious about making a profit from the music. He only asks people for donations to help keep his site running, which is far from a profit. On the other hand, Justin does attract people who are interested in hiring him as a personal guitar instructor. This could make him a target for copyright infringement complaints. I think he knows this though because he has taken some preventative action by moving all of his videos that contain copyright material to their own channel called JustinSandercoeSongs. So if or when YouTube cracks down on him, none of his copyright free videos should be affected.

This is a story that I am going to be paying close attention to over the next little while as I have been considering putting up some videos of my own. I would never look to make a direct profit from the videos, but the copyright holders may not care about that. I’ll have to watch what Next Level Guitar does to sidestep copyright infringement while still teaching people how to play their favorite songs.

ESP Guitars is holding a contest for the best “Air Gamer”. Yeah, you know how much people love to play air guitar? Well ESP wants you to send them pictures of yourself air-button-mashing on your brand new Xbox 360. Here is the description of the contest from the website:

Send us a photo of yourself while imagining you’ve already won “Gears of War” and are busy kicking the game’s ass. You know what “air guitar” looks like? We want to see you air gaming! Get your best game face on, hold your imaginary controller, and have someone snap a pic of you. Then come back here and use the form to submit your photo. We prefer getting JPG files, please. Preferably no larger than 640×480.

We’ll pick a winner, who we’ll feature here on the ESP site as the Best Metal Gamer for the world to see! Only one entry per person accepted. Must be 17 years old or older. All entries must be received by May 1, 2007… see below for more rules and regs, and good luck!

I’m not sure on the contest end date though. In the above paragraph it says May 1st, but then when you read the fine print below that on the ESP site it says May 31st. It’s probably a typo in the pagragraph above, but just to be safe you should get yours in by the 1st if you are really interested. It also doesnt seem to restrict this contest by location either. Some times they are limited to the US of A, but I don’t see any reference to that on this contest.

The guitar itself looks to be a ESP LTD Standard AX-50 with a Gears of War logo painted on it. The guitar is an entry level guitar and I’m pretty sure that the Xbox is worth more than it is. However, it’s free, and it’s an easy and fun contest to enter. If I get around to making a photo I’ll post it here!

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A guy on eBay by the name of ramses6615 is selling a Washburn Custom U.S.A. guitar signed by both Dime and Vinny at a Damageplan CD signing in 2004. As of writing this post there are only 12 hours left in the auction and 0 bids. The fact that the guitar is number two of six ever made makes it expensive to start with, but slap those two signatures on there and it goes up in price exponentially. I guess we will just have to wait and see if there is actually a buyer out there interested in this.

If I was a multi-billionaire, I would probably buy it, but, I’m not, so I wont.

The seller does his best to make it clear that he is not trying to exploit Dime’s death to make a quick buck. He says that the guitar has never been dusted and probably contains Dime’s fingerprints. I’m not sure if that makes it worth more… probably does.

The guitar doesn’t come with a certificate to verify the signatures, however, there are several pictures showing Dime and Vinny signing the guitar. I would be inclined to say that it is legit, but people have been scammed for a lot less.

Long story short, if you have $34,000 to spare, maybe today is the day you get to own a piece of metal history.

[Via Blabbermouth]

Modern Guitars Magazine is reporting that on May 17th, 2007 Dimebag Darrell Abbott will [finally] be inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk. Dime was the highly influential lead guitarist of the 90’s metal band Pantera. Dime was at the forefront of metal as it emerged into the mainstream in the early 90’s and is cited by many of todays guitar players as an influence.

A bronze bust sculpture of Dime to be installed on the RockWalk will be unvieled at the ceremony starting at 12pm on Sunset Boulavard.

Dimebag was shot to death by Nathan Gale while playing a concert with his band Damageplan on December 8th, 2004.

[Via Modern Guitars Magazine]

Gibson has sent out an official press release to warn consumers of counterfeit guitars being sold in the United States after several people launched complaints of receiving below quality guitars. Apparently lately there has been an influx of fake Gibsons coming in from China. If you want to protect yourself, here is your best way: buy from an authorized Gibson retailer. Authorized dealers are supplied directly by Gibson and are registered. When you buy from anyone else, you can not be sure what you are getting.

Here are some pointers on determining whether you have an authentic Gibson or not:

• Make sure the size is not undersized
• The headstock and headstock logo should match those of authentic Gibson guitars
• Pearl should always be inlaid
• Les Paul Model script is always in cursive
• If the guitar has a 3 screw truss rod it is not authentic
• Check the control and pick up cavities for sloppy routing or wiring
• Real Gibson guitars use one piece necks
• Many fake Gibsons have their pickup cavities painted black inside
• If purchasing a Gibson always ask for the Gibson’s Owner Manual and Gibson/Warranty Inspection Card
• Check the wiring, if it is plastic it isn’t a true Gibson

[Via Gibson]

Edit:
On a side note, I just found this eBay guide for spotting fake Gibsons on the online auction site. This might be helpful for those of you who plan on purchasing one through there.

Himsa has completed the writing portion of their third album and are entering the studio today to start recording. This will be their first album with Century Records.

Derek Harn (bass) states: “The new album draws from the strengths of our last two records, Courting Tragedy and Disaster and Hail Horror, but this is an entirely new chapter for Himsa and our fans. Sammi Curr (guitars) wrote a lot of the music for Courting, and Kirby Johnson (guitars) wrote most of the tracks on Hail Horror (when Sammi wasn’t in the band), so the two of them have joined forces to craft a whole new level of rage. We’re looking at about 10 or 11 songs right now, and are extremely proud of them.

I look forward to this album. I loved Courting Tragedy and Disaster, and Hail Horror was really good too. I hope the new material is just as just as crazy.

The instrumental tracks will be produced by Courting Tragedy and Disaster producer Steve Carter and vocals will be tracked by Devin Townsend (Lamb of God, Darkest Hour).

[Via Ultimate Guitar]

The guitar was sold at a benefit auction held by U2’s The Edge at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe and according to Reuters brought in $400,000. Some other items that sold in the auction include former President Bill Clinton’s saxophone ($54,000) and a pair of John Lennon’s round, blue-tinted sunglasses.

The money was raised to help support musicians who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. A total of $2,436,900 was raised.

[Via Reuters]

Wel’p. Tomorrow night is the big night, Eric Clapton at the ‘Dome. I’m pretty stoked about it. I have never seen Clapton live and I never expected to see him. I am really happy about the seats I got too (6th row). They always say no cameras, but every show I have been to I have yet to be checked and every time I see other people with their cameras taking pictures. It kills me a little inside every time. You watch, I’ll try it this time and get busted.

I’m just going to go for it and see what happens. I’ll post pictures tomorrow if I am able to get some.

I got a tip today that for 2007 the high priced Ozzfest tickets will not only drop… they will be free!

Sharon and Ozzy along with the tour’s producer Live Nation will be turning to sponsors to cover the bill. Ticket prices have been soaring over the past few years as artists demand more to play summer shows. Ozzfest has been running for 11 years and this year they will pull the plug on ticket prices. I’m not sure what face this will take. Obviously they must already get some of their funding from sponsors. I guess we will have to wait and see what a fully sponsored concert will look like.

Ozzy will be returning to headline the festival, but the rest of the bands are still unannounced. Sharon says she already has some bands that are committed, but she is hoping that more will be excited to take part in this ground breaking event and jump on board.

Sharon points out, “we have bands committed, but we’re hoping that after today’s announcement we’ll have a whole influx of artists who want to be a part of something this ground breaking. We know there aren’t any major headlining acts that would tour all summer for nothing, but we’re confident we can turn some of the genre’s biggest bands on to what we’re doing and have them come out to play a date or two. If they’re in town and want the rush of performing in front of 20,000 frenzied kids, they’re more than welcome to join us. They can sell their t-shirts, CDs and whatever else they’ve got. They’re also welcome to book their own shows in local venues on the day of OZZFEST. I’m not stopping them. People have to be creative and think of alternatives.”

How to get tickets is not 100% clear as of now, but the announcement says fans can visit www.ozzfest.com and www.livenation.com for links to sponsor websites which will have details on finding them. It also notes more details will be coming.

25 dates have been announced, starting in Los Angeles on July 7th. Although the schedule is not finalized, other cities on the tour as of now include San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Charlotte, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Nashville. Sadly, still no Canadian dates to be heard of. (Sharon: We like metal too!)

You can read the entire announcement at Ozzfest’s official website.

Well… I was going to post a trackback to Cary Miller at Electric Guitar Review and his post from a few weeks ago on the Gibson Digital HD.6x-Pro guitar to announce that it has finally been released. However, as I hit his front page I see that he beat me to the chase. So please head over to his post about the release of the Gibson HD.6x-Pro. He has all the juicy details.

Ooohhh shit yeah. I’ll be going to see Eric Clapton at the Saddledome here in Calgary on March 26th. A buddy and I both got on ticketmaster at 10am. I happened to get the better tickets, so we bought mine. We got floor seats row 6. It is pretty much going to be the pimpest event of my life. I am super excited. Eric Clapton is one of the guys that I never though I would get a chance to see live. A couple of years ago he was saying it was his last tour (we all know how that goes though) but this is just awesome. I am going to head down to ticket master next week to pick up the tickets along with my Jesse Cook tickets for may. Next year is going to be a good one. Now if I can just see Jimmy Page my life will be complete.
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