VampireS Sumo

Remember how simple it was to buy fuel for your car? There was one brand called gasoline or petrol, but today you go to the pump station and have to decide upon unleaded regular, unleaded silver and unleaded platinum or they come with numbers like unleaded supreme 98 and super 95. Why is the lead out? Why did they ever put it in? Apparently gasoline has no lead to begin with? That was when you could buy one kind: gasoline. Simple, easy and no nonsense. When and why did they put the lead in just to take it out again? And why does it now cost more to remove what was not there in the first place and later added to further remove? The answer lies somewhere with environmental issues but the question remains.

Orange juice has always been one of my favorite drinks. Delicious cold and fresh and store bought tastes like real freshly squeezed orange juice. But now, we have with pulp and without pulp. So now we must decide if we prefer the juicy natural pulp or less pulp or no pulp at all? To make matters even more confusing, calcium enriched was now added! A picture of a glass of milk on the orange juice carton is shown. If I wanted to drink a whole glass of milk, I would surely not make the error of grabbing the orange juice carton instead of the milk carton. And I don’t like the idea of adding calcium to my orange juice because now I have to buy without calcium in my milk to avoid overdose! Come to think about it, both the orange juice and milk cartons are identical?! Did the carton manufacturer one day make the mistake of pouring the milk into the orange juice and hence the birth of calcium enriched orange juice?

So, when did they put in the pulp to take out the pulp and then add the calcium to become like a glass of milk, so you get your daily overdose of vitamins? Also why all this new and improved when it is exactly the same product many years ago which had been changed to appeal to the public and then made new again to make the consumer think that they are buying something better than before.

When I buy hand soap, I used to buy hand soap. Now I have to decide upon twenty different brands of liquid soap in a variety of colors and smells. I nearly escaped this purchase decision dilemma until antibacterial arrived! I had no idea we needed antibacterial in our hand soap to get them clean? What to do? Oh dear, now we have regular, scented, unscented, sensitive skin, chaffed and rough hands, truck drivers hands and baby hands and now antibacterial. They forgot with bacteria!

The cereal isle is just as bad if not worse. To decide between organic and healthful with a variety of grains is like a job. It takes nearly a lifetime to find the right cereal. There are the ones for children with monsters and marshmallow and then the ones to control cholesterol, added vitamins, reduced calories, with and without fruits and nuts. Every imaginable combination had been produced for the grocery isle, however they forgot to include roller skates! And yet had they kept cereal at it’s original ingredients was the most healthful of all!

The same goes for nearly every product we see on the super market shelves today. Things are added without warning us and then they are removed for our better health and vitamins added for our own good to be replaced with fake butter and fake sugar because we are too fat to buy white bread which is now really brown bread in disguise to look like white bread so our kids will eat it! Had we never refined bread so much to make it bad for us, we would like the brown color bread! After all this we have to load up the car with plastic bags full of groceries and food packaging we will eventually have to either recycle because it saves our forests or strangles fish or both and drive back home stopping on the way to buy silver unleaded lavender scented with added bran petrol!

A sparsely populated state of just about 750,000 people, South Dakota is usually known for its natural beauty, historic destinations, and for the large motorcycle rally that takes place every year in Sturgis. Yet, South Dakota casinos must also be acknowledged as a source that attracts the attention of many tourists each year. Additionally, South Dakota is home to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Black Hills National Forest, and the Crazy Horse Memorial.

South Dakota has six Indian Reservations including the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and the Crow Creek Indian Reservation and the third largest population of Native Americans in the country, making it an ideal destination for people who wish to learn more about Native American culture. The capital city, Pierre, was founded as a fur trading post in 1817. The historic Lewis and Clark Trail also runs through the state. These, however, are not the only tourist destinations that this state has to offer. South Dakota is home to a number of casinos of all different sizes dispersed throughout the state both on Indian reservations and off.

Several South Dakota cities offer gaming to both residents and tourists. South Dakota Casinos and gambling are offered in Aberdeen, Deadwood, Eagle Butte, Flandreau, Fort Thompson, Huron, Lower Brule, McLaughlin, Mobridge, Pickstown, Pine Ridge, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Sisseton, Spearfish, Valentine, and Watertown. Most of these towns have just one or two small South Dakota casinos. For example, there are two South Dakota casinos in Sioux Falls: Gregg’s Substation and Casino and Borrowed Buck’s Roadhouse. Between the two they only have 20 slot machines and 4 table games.

The South Dakota town with the most casinos is Deadwood, which features 20 South Dakota casinos including the Silverado and the Tin Lizzie. Casinos in Deadwood range in size from one-room operations with a handful of slot machines to 30,000 square foot gambling complexes featuring live music, restaurants and hotel rooms, as well as the full range of gambling activities. Due to its many casinos and its proximity to national parks, Mount Rushmore, and Sturgis, Deadwood is considered to be the major destination for people looking to gamble in South Dakota Casinos.

Indian reservations are also a major destination for people looking for casinos in South Dakota. Like many of the small gambling towns in South Dakota, Indian reservations generally only have one or two casinos in a given town. However, those casinos are usually large with lots of slot machines and table games as well as restaurants and hotel rooms. Unlike South Dakota casinos in Deadwood, many Indian reservation casinos are open 24 hours, including Prairie Wind Casino in Pine Ridge on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the Grand River Casino and Resort in Mobridge on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

This article is the property of south-dakota-casinos.com/ South Dakota Casinos

Just who are some of the biggest casino winners in Vegas? The answer might surprise you. It’s not the professional poker players or the people that are paying the $100 slots that are winning big. It is people just like you and me that are just keeping the seat warm and taking a chance on the slots. The biggest winners on record are all winners of the Megabucks jackpot. The jackpot starts at $7 million and goes up from there until there is a mega winner.

For one lucky man, lightning or rather a jackpot has struck twice. At the age of 92, Elmer Sherwin won his second Megabucks jackpot. Mr. Sherwin won $21 million almost 16 years after his initial win of 4.6 million in the same jackpot game. Both of Mr. Sherwin’s jackpots were won in Las Vegas and were part of the Megabucks network of progressive slot machines. He will receive his winnings in annual installments but said that he had plans to donate his winnings to victims of Hurricane Katrina. His first jackpot win had allowed him to travel the world, now he wanted to give back.

Another big winner was Amy Nishimura from Hawaii. At 71, Ms. Nishimura was visiting Las Vegas on vacation and hit the $8.9 million Megabucks jackpot at the Freemont hotel after spending about $100 on the slots. Ms. Nishimura was another winner of the Megabucks network that is linked to over 150 casinos across Nevada. More players mean a higher payout for the lucky winners. She said that she had had dreams about her win before she hit the jackpot.

The largest jackpot ever won in Vegas was $39.7 million and was won in March of 2003 at the Excalibur casino. The lucky winner was a 25-year-old man from Los Angeles that turned a $100 stint at the slots into the biggest win ever recorded. The instantly wealthy man was visiting Vegas for the NCAA basketball tournaments and just sat down at the slot machine to play for a while. He walked away with a whopping 1.5 million dollar payout for the next 25 years.

While we can all dream, the big winners are all just like you and me. They decided to sit down and take a chance and lady luck was on their side. As Mr. Sherwin has proven, lady luck doesn’t always only strike once.

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Parents often don’t realize how much progress their young child in piano lessons can make. Some parents don’t even take their young children in piano lessons seriously! It’s hard to believe but I’ve even heard parents say things like, “Well she’s only 6 years old, you can’t expect her to really play piano!” The problem with this thinking is where does it end? “She’s only 7…..” “He’s only 8…..” She’s only 9….” This is a defense parents sometimes use because they’re afraid their children will fail in piano. It’s understandable, but it sends their child in piano the message that their effort doesn’t matter. How sad!

The truth is that children are very capable so don’t underestimate your child’s intelligence. Here are three practice strategies for young piano students that matter! Encourage your child in piano lessons to use these Best Piano Practice Tips and I guarantee it will make a huge difference in their success.

1. Keep your eyes on the music - don’t look down at your hands.

2. Sing the note names as you play them.

3. Keep a rounded hand position over the keys and stretch your fingertips down to the keys from the top knuckles.

4. Sit back on the piano bench and reach your arms out to the piano.

5. Swing your arms away from your sides so the tips of your elbows point in a horizontal direction.

Without effective piano practice habits it won’t matter how long your child practices. However, by helping your young student stay focused during home practice with these effective learning tips, they will achieve more and enjoy playing more, because they’re so successful.

For great home piano activities parents can use to help children ages 5 to 11 develop their musical talent, visit

Many people have argued that there are no great piano composers in the modern world. They say that this art died fifty to one hundred years ago. Here are the facts – there are still many unbelievable piano composers in the modern world today. However, whilst one cannot argue with their creative skills, they lack basic modern marketing skills. And the world is missing out on this distinguished talent.

The most affordable and convenient way to market your music today is through the internet. It is used by billions every single year. So why do many piano players fail to market their music online? Why do they go down the traditional route of taking it to a publisher?

Marketing Method Number One – Creating Your Own Website with A List

If you make the decision to market your music online, it is almost criminal to do so without a website. Your website must be where you send all of your prospective customers. Your website must contain details on how to purchase your music, both online and offline. I would also recommend having a ‘sample’ piece of music for clientele to listen to for free and to be able to download the score.

When you are building your website, you must include a list. What is a list? A list is a collection of email addresses of potential customers. Your list should be kept abreast on new pieces of music that you are creating. Also they should receive occasional incentives to remain on your list, eg. a free song or a discount.

It is much easier to sell to people that know and trust you then to sell to a complete stranger. But so many people in all facets of marketing spend more time on getting more customers than selling to previous customers. Do not make this same mistake. By investing no more than per year, you could and should have a major increase in sales.

Marketing Method Number Two – Piano Radio Stations

Piano radio stations are a great way to market your music online. There are numerous radio stations on the World Wide Web that specialize in all sorts of areas, and piano is no exception. Whilst I could only speculate costs, you might be able to get your music played for free, or even better, you might be entitled to royalties from that particular radio station.

The main difference between radio piano stations and normal piano stations is that online users are able to click on a link that will take them directly to your site. So make sure that the music that you submit to radio stations are some of your best pieces of work and fit the mould of the station.

Marketing Method Number Three – Submitting Your Scores To Directories

There are numerous cases where piano composers only market their actual music and neglect to market their sheet music. This is such a silly thing to do. If a piano player likes listening to your music, then naturally they would want to learn to play it. Web sites like Free Piano Sheet Music would be more than willing to put your compositions onto their web site for free. Also you would get valuable links from your sheet music to your website.

Marketing Method Number Four – You Tube

This is the new way to market your music online. You Tube has simply taken the world by storm, not only from a viewers perspective but from a marketing perspective also. Similar to video clips that you see on MTV you are able to create your own video of your music. It does not have to be a complicated task. The easiest way to do it is to record yourself at the piano playing the score and this would be enough. However if you have a theme to your music i.e. the ocean, then you would cut to shot of the beach, i.e. waves crashing on the rocks. Whatever you decide your video clip to be, make sure you put a visible URL at the end of your video as credits, so the viewer can take action to buy your music.

Marketing Method Number Five – Piano Forums

Forums are an old and popular way to marketing your music, and it still works today. Not only can you specifically market your music in the forum, you can also market your music by just posting messages about anything related to the piano. For example, if there is a discussion about what is the best brand of piano, and you post your comments, you can put a link at the bottom of your post to your website. So not only do you market your music, you also marketing to the right group of people, piano players!

In conclusion these are much more effective methods of marketing your music then taking it to a publisher. Not only do you have much more control of your music, it is also much cheaper.

The world deserves to hear your music.

Christopher Carlin is the founder of the new resource for piano players, free-piano-sheet-music.net/ Free Piano Sheet Music. If you wish to free-piano-sheet-music.net/contactus.html submit Your compositions to Free Piano Sheet Music, click here, or send an email to: mailto:contactus@free-piano-sheet-music.net contactus@free-piano-sheet-music.net

We look forward to hearing from you

free-piano-sheet-music.net free-piano-sheet-music.net

Want to know how you handle the Opportunities life brings you? Where good fortune is most likely to come from? Numerology can tell you the areas in life where Opportunity will knock. We just need to calculate your Opportunity number.

Calculating your Opportunity Number

Your Opportunity number comes from a specific branch of Numerology called Yantra or Magic Square numerology. It consist of constructing a Magic square using your birth date numbers, and then interpreting the values in the specific boxes in the square.

Your Opportunity number is found by taking your Life Path number, adding (3), and then reducing the total by fadic addition.

For example, actor Johnny Depp was born on June 9th, 1963; so his Opportunity number would be calculated as follows:

Life Path = (6 9 1963) = (1978) = (1 9 7 = (25) = (7)
Opportunity Number = (Life Path 3) = (7 3) = (10) = (1)

The Opportunity number values and their meanings are listed below.

Opportunity Number (1)

You make your own opportunities in life. You love to do your own thing, and tend to ignore unwanted input from others.

Opportunity Number (2)

It’s impossible to generate this value in the calculation.

Opportunity Number (3)

You find your best opportunities when your are expressing yourself in some way. You have a gift for communicating with others in some way. You may have a creative talent for music or writing. When you want opportunity to knock, start networking with other people.

Opportunity Number (4)

You will find your opportunities in your own back yard; close at hand in areas you known well. You will probably stumble and make mistakes when seeking opportunities outside of your area of expertise.

Opportunity Number (5)

You literally find opportunities everywhere you look; you’re like a magnet for them. Your problem with opportunities is forcing yourself to be selective and just focus on one or two opportunities at a time.

Opportunity Number (6)

Your best source of finding opportunities is through family and friends. You tend to get a number of creative opportunities thou ought your lifetime. Your best strategy is to share your opportunities with others.

Opportunity Number (7)

Your opportunities will come in the areas of spiritual growth and occult knowledge. You will receive opportunities to pursue a wide verity of spiritual paths during your life. Be careful with the opportunities you receive in science or technical fields; you may be attracted to them, but you will ultimately find them wanting.

Opportunity Number (8)

You will receive many opportunities in life concerning money and wealth; both to make it, and to spend it. You have a natural talent for assessing the worth of money-making schemes, and knowing when you’ve found a good one. You will also receive many opportunities to spend your money in ways that will give you pleasure and increase your social status.

Opportunity Number (9)

You will receive many opportunities to serve those less fortunate than yourself. You love helping others to get back on their feet, and the universe will oblige you with many chances to do so.

Opportunity Number (11)

You will never lack for opportunities in every part of your life. You need to discern which opportunities will bring you the most rewards, and choose them. Once you focus your attention on those opportunities, you can make your dreams a reality.

Keith Abbott is the developer and owner of ‘Numerology 4 You’ where you can order your own

New guitar players are often surprised to learn that there is occasionally the need to buy guitar parts. These can range from supplies as minor as picks or strings to more significant parts such as tuning pegs or bridges. Some parts can be replaced easily by the guitarist, but others need the skilled knowledge of a good luthier.

Probably the most frequently replaced parts will be the strings of the guitar. The stress encountered from playing and grease and debris left by fingers can slowly deteriorate the strings. Old, worn strings can lead to more frequent tuning, poorer sound quality, and breakage. Various parts can also be purchased that make restringing a guitar easier and more efficient. There are tools that can safely remove the pegs from the bridge, making it easier to remove old strings and retie new ones without the risk of breaking the peg. String winders make short work of winding long lengths of string around the tuning keys, and can even come in handy for regular tuning.

Picks are also replaced regularly, usually due to loss or breakage. Picks come in varying thicknesses, each producing a different result. The choice of pick depends on many factors, including the desired sound and the individual playing style of the guitarist. They are also available in a variety of materials such as nylon and steel. Nylon picks are the most widely used, but tend to wear out more rapidly. Conversely, harder picks such as those made from steel are much more durable, yet tend to cause additional wear and tear on strings. Regardless of your personal preference, there is sure to be a pick that meets your needs effectively. Additional pick-related accessories are easy to find, include pick holders that help keep picks organized and protect them from loss.

Of course, not all guitar parts can be replaced so easily. Damage to the guitar itself often requires repair by a skilled luthier. Pick guards, which protect the body of the guitar from damage due to picking, often take quite a bit of abuse, and may need to be replaced. This may involve heating the area to soften the glue, allowing the old guard to be removed. Once it has been lifted, a “tan line” may be apparent, where the wood under the pick guard is of a different hue than rest of the guitar body. This can be caused by light or smoke exposure or even atmospheric conditions. The effect is hard to completely correct, but can easily be remedied by simply placing a new pickguard in its place that entirely covers the affected area.

While at first glance they may appear to be simple in design, guitars are quite intricate instruments. Many guitar parts are used in their construction, and over time, some of these will need to be replaced. If there is any doubt about how a part should be repaired or replaced, someone knowledgeable in the craft should be consulted to avoid serious damage to the guitar.

TeachYourselfHowToPlayGuitar is an online portal with expert articles about teachyourselfhowtoplayguitar.com essential guitar tips and guides. To learn more about how to effectively learn to play the guitar, visit teachyourselfhowtoplayguitar.com teachyourselfhowtoplayguitar.com for free access.

We are familiar with the saying “ignorance is bliss”. We are also familiar with the surface meaning (note “surface meaning”) that not having knowledge of something is a good thing due to its lack of disturbance to the mind. I have thought of a meaning of this phrase from a different perspective. Probably this is the actual inner meaning to the phrase. All right here goes Thana’s perspective on this.

Let me inject a saying upon this saying. We know the phrase “the more we know, the more we realise that we don’t know”. Based on this phrase, we know that the more we learn new things, the more we realise that we don’t know some things. This is simply because whenever we learn something new, we come to know that that there is much more to learn. This is very much akin to an iceberg. By looking at the tip of an iceberg, we realise that there is so much more to be seen of the iceberg.

Coming back to our original phrase, by knowing something new, we come to know how ignorant we are of the depth of that subject. Hence, “ignorance is bliss” does not refer to our lack of knowledge. It ironically refers to our awareness of ignorance resulting from the knowledge of something. By having this awareness, we achieve the good feeling of bliss. Henceforth we have the meaningful phrase “ignorance is bliss”.

I hope the knowledge of this phrase from my perspective has brought bliss, if you know what I mean.

- Thanaseelan, click on worthofwordplay.blogspot.com worthofwordplay.blogspot.com to view his main blog. Don’t forget to check out the categories on his blog.

Most performers have had stage fright at one time or another. Most of the time people can’t help but be a little nervous, and that’s fine! The trick is to control it.

Let me paint the picture: You’re about to perform. Maybe your band is playing a gig, you’re auditioning for a contest, you have a solo in your church choir today. You get on stage to do your part, and your rapidly beating heart is making it difficult to breathe. That fact alone is making you MORE anxious, and rather then concentrate on that high note you need to hit in two seconds you’re trying to calm yourself down and slow your heartbeat to a normal level. Adrenalin rushes your body, and your voice cracks, or you ’sort of hit it’, but flat, or sharp, because your throat was probably so tight that you over-shot it.

Sound familiar?

Don′t worry! There ARE things you can do to make sure it doesn′t happen again.

Having too much stress before you go out on stage will compromise your performance. A little bit of nervous energy is good, and can fuel your performance, but too much will hurt it. Not to mention damage your confidence for future performances.

A lesson on confidence

The core problem for many people is a lack of confidence.

Confidence is the answer to overcoming stage fright and having good stage presence. It’s having confidence that will allow you the freedom to dance around and enjoy your experience on the stage, and because of that your stage presence will come out naturally!

Over-active nerves and the fear that your audience won’t like you causes stage fright. The fear that after you are done, no one will clap for you. That fear can be overwhelming it causes you to choke. Here are some basic concepts everyone needs to understand before going on stage:

1. You are your own worst critic. Read that again.

2. Any mistakes you make are amplified in your own ears, and sound worse to you then anyone else.

3. You can recover from any mistakes you make by simply moving on right away and not dwelling on them.

You just have to develop the ability to make yourself relax, and understand that it isn’t a big deal if even if you do have a less-then-perfect performance. Developing confidence on stage is also going to come from facing your fear and just doing it. Just getting up on stage and performing.
It’ll be uncomfortable for you the first time, but after you do it a few times, you’ll naturally become far more at ease with it. You will notice your heart rate won’t be as high before going onstage, and because of that you’ll be able to breathe easier, and singing will be a thousand times easier.

It just takes practice and repetition.

Another thing that helps is if you’re old enough, hit a karaoke lounge to get some practice. Even though it isn’t quite the same as singing with a band, you’ll still get the feel for being on stage in front of an audience and the words will be displayed on the screen, so you won’t have the added pressure of trying to remember the verses.
This is also a good thing to do when practicing a song for the first time in front of an audience. As long as the karaoke provider has the song, you’ll be able to practice it live.

If you aren’t already confident on stage, here are some tips to help get you there.

• Make sure first of all that you know the song you are singing.
I’ve made this mistake myself. I’m a karaoke host and at one of my shows, I started singing a song to open the night that I wasn’t too familiar with and hadn’t practiced before, but thought I could pull it off anyway. OUCH! I was so wrong! I ended up stopping the song halfway through and apologizing. I then proceeded to sing a song I did know, and everything was fine after that. It was still pretty embarrassing.

Simple to prevent that, just make sure you know what you’re singing!

Proper preparation is key for giving a good performance. If you know the song you’re about to sing really well it’s much easier. Here are some tips for preparing properly. Use them and you won′t have anything to be nervous about!

• Make sure you warm up properly before you sing. Take a few minutes to do humming warm ups, and you’ll have more confidence going onstage that you won’t crack or break because you warmed up properly.

• Take a minute to do some relaxation and breathing techniques like shoulder and head rolls. These help a huge amount in preparing you for a performance. Your voice is greatly affected by the amount of stress you bring to the stage, so the more relaxed you are, the better you will be. Here are a couple of them:

• One of my old teachers taught me this one: Sit down in a chair and put your back evenly and straight against it. Take a breath and as you do, pull your pelvis up and open your back so that is spreads against the back of the chair. At the same time, you should sink into the chair and squeeze the gluteal muscles together to support the diaphragm. Then, slowly blow air out of your lips like a quiet whistle, feeling your pelvis rise, back expand and glutes tighten. This is great for developing breath control for beginners, and illustrates the term “sitting on your breath”.

• Take a breath and hold it for a count of ten. Blow it out slowly, for a count of ten. This helps you control the amount of breath you let out over a specified amount of time.

• Don’t drink alcohol in an attempt to relax yourself for your performance. This does not help; it dehydrates you and makes you sluggish. I assure you that you will not be focused properly if you have had a few drinks before you sing. Sure you may feel more relaxed, but you will be sacrificing other important things that you need to focus on.

• This is to be done while onstage: if you can, try and start your night with a duet. Your ability to do this will depend on what type of performance you are doing. If you are in a competition for example, this probably won’t be an option. However, if it’s just a karaoke night or a band performance, you can probably begin this way. Having the added voice on stage with you will help to ease the nerves because you won’t be going at it alone, and not all of the audience attention will be on you.

• And one last thing to mention that’s extremely important is to not take yourself too seriously. Do not be afraid to laugh at yourself if you screw up. It’s not the end of the world, and by having this ability to take it lightly; you’ll be a better performer because of it. We all mess up onstage. We all go flat and sharp. We all forget the words. It’s not the end of the world, or your career as a singer. Lighten up!

Having good stage presence stems from being confident on stage. It starts with getting rid of your stage fright, and getting yourself comfortable to the point where you enjoy performing. After you′ve mastered that, you can move on to completing your performance by adding some stage presence. Having good stage presence means that a singer incorporates some form of movement coupled with singing that suits the song and is appropriate for the audience.

I was once on a panel of judges for a singing competition, and one of the things the performers were being judged on was their stage presence. Or lack thereof. The people that scored the highest overall were the people that danced a little while they sang and made motions and gestures to go along with the lyrics they were singing, instead of standing still like a stick with a microphone.

For example, there was this one guy who was singing a phrase that included the words: “I would get down on my knees for you”, and while he sang that, he got down on his knees right in front of us, and placed his free hand over his chest while singing. It was great! He showed feeling and emotion in his singing through the use of body language.

That is an example of great stage presence.

You don’t want to over do it by dancing around too much and compromising your voice, but you definitely want to do a little acting. The idea is to get your audience to feel what the song intends the audience to feel. You do this by getting the feeling of the music yourself, and portraying it with your own body language and voice to them.

Just keep in mind what the song is trying to make the listener feel, and act it out.

Some tips?

• Practice some signature dance moves that you can easily do on stage. Nothing too crazy, again, you don’t want to compromise your voice.

• Have fun when you’re singing! The best people to watch are the ones that are noticeably having fun. (Even if they don’t sound so great, they’re still the best ones to watch!)

• Practice your songs before you sing them on stage, and look for places to add some physical personality to them!
Make sure that you’re not inappropriate. If there are young children around for example, don’t sing something inappropriate that might bother them. Be considerate of the audience that you are performing for, and tailor your stage presence and overall performance to that.

Inappropriate stage presence can be offensive to audiences, and is distracting from the vocal performance itself. It can leave people with a bad taste in their mouths over you.

I’m sure you get the point. Keep in mind exactly who it is that you’re performing for. Make sure you’re well prepared, and by doing that you’ll see that the confidence will be there, and you’ll enjoy yourself as a result.

Elisha Rae Ewonchuk is a recognized authority all over the world on the subject of vocal training. Her website, www.sing-like-a-pro.com www.sing-like-a-pro.com, provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you’ll need to know about singing, learning to become a singer and taking singing lessons.

Desperate sports teams are easy to spot. And they often pay the price of desperation with a big loss, or several losses. They are easy to spot. You might say the Buffalo Bills were desperate (or delusional) a year ago when they anointed J.P. Losman as the starting quarterback after running veteran Drew Bledsoe out of town. Losman was completely untested as a pro quarterback when the Bills announced he was No. 1 and they had total confidence in him.

They were the only ones who had confidence, as Losman quickly lost his when Buffalo started 1-3 straight up and against the spread. The passing offense had 164, 100, 36 and 64 yards in those four games! Desperate organizations, coaches or managers make up reasons as to why they think what they’re doing is a good thing, even if it flies in the face of reason. It’s up to the sports handicapper to examine the reasons more so than listening to the explanations.

One act of desperation that jumped out at me this baseball season was when the Mets starting pitching got decimated with injuries in May. One guy they brought up to fill the bill was 33-year old Jose Lima, who had been an awful starter the previous four years. I wondered why on earth the Mets would even give him a shot? Lima was pounded in a 13-6 loss in his first start, giving up 4 runs in 4 2/3 innings. His next start: 5 runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings. This was followed by a start where he allowed 5 runs in 5 innings in a 13-3 loss to Atlanta. Three losses in three starts, allowing 9.3 runs in three games!

Because those positions, quarterback and starting pitcher, are so important, it’s very easy to identify desperation spots by teams. It’s less obvious, and less important, with other players on a team. One reason is that football teams generally have enough depth at wideout, offensive line, or even running back, is that a backup can come in and perform fairly well. Those players don’t touch the ball every play, either, like a quarterback.

In baseball, an outfielder who can hit may replace a star player, but he will only bat 4 times in a game and have a handful of defensive plays. A team can get by and not be at a huge disadvantage for a few games. A starting pitcher, however, touches the baseball every pitch. And when the talent drops from a quality starter to a Triple-A kid, or a has-been guy like Lima, the dropoff can be large and felt right away.

The Tigers lost starter Mike Maroth early this season and were forced to start Zack Miner. In his first start, he could only go 4 innings (a loss), and the Detroit bullpen was forced to use 5 relievers. It was Miner’s major league debut. You can see how a desperation start like that can not only hurt a team one game (a loss), but by taxing the bullpen it can hurt a team the next few games. That loss started a 3-game skid for the Tigers. Desperation and defeat often go hand and hand.

Bryan Leonard is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
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