In 1843, Hawaiian King Kamehameha the Great declared Lahaina, Maui the capital of the kingdom. Lahaina was once known as the whaling capital of the world. The waning whale industry and the move of the capital from Maui to Oahu caused the local economy to become dependent first on agriculture and later on tourism.
Lahaina offers visitors to Maui a unique glimpse into the past while enjoying what Maui has to offer today. Visitors are enticed to walk, shop, eat and enjoy. Spending the day in Lahaina is a must-do on any visit to Maui.
The Old Courthouse was built in 1859. Visitors may walk through this historic building and view exhibits from top Maui artists presented by the Lahaina Art Society. The lower level galleries still feature windows with the bars that held Maui prisoners in days past. Informational brochures about other historic sites in this Maui village are available here as well.
The Courthouse Square is home to what is, perhaps, the most memorable tree on Maui. The Banyan Tree, planted in 1873, has aerial roots that have grown into twelve major trunks. What appears at first glance to be a small forest is actually all part of one tree. The tree provides nearly an acre of shade in the square and is a popular meeting place among Maui tourists. While in the Courthouse Square, take a moment to find the restored ruins of the original Maui waterfront fort built in the 1830s.
The streets of Lahaina are lined with small shops and restaurants catering to Maui visitors. At the quieter southern end of Lahaina is an oceanfront boutique mall (505 Front Street). Stores feature made-on-Maui products, Maui souvenirs and gifts.
There are several waterfront restaurants in this area and live music is available on weekend evenings for Maui tourists to enjoy. The Lahaina Center (900 Front Street) features 30 stores and restaurants offering apparel, jewelry and microbrews. A stroll along the streets of Lahaina will fulfill the shopping needs of any Maui visitor.
Maui visitors looking for a party atmosphere at night will find it here so a well-planned day visit can turn into a night full of fun.
Lahaina offers great night life and plenty of fun but it lacks the features that make accommodations on Maui special. It is missing the clean beaches and slow pace the makes a Maui vacation special. A limited amount of lodging is available in Lahaina but most area accommodations are north of Lahaina. Lahaina is a great place to visit on Maui but not to stay.
Visitors looking for water activities to enjoy on Maui will find themselves drawn to the offerings at Lahaina. Vendors at the harbor offer day and evening cruises, submarine rides and other boating activities that provide a water-based view of Maui.
Visitors to Maui rely mostly on rental cars for transportation. Because Lahaina is a popular destination greater crowds are found here than at any other location on Maui. As a result parking can sometimes be a bit difficult. Plan arrival for before 10 a.m. and parking should not be a problem.
Lahaina offers Maui visitors a special mixture of old and new that is not to be missed.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Old And new Music Through Internet
There is an addiction waiting out there for you on the Internet. It could be a good addiction, if you like great actors performing great stories. They may be actors that you have not heard of before, and stories that you have only heard about. Orson Welles performs Captain Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty. Carlton Hobbs analyses and uncovers the answer to the Speckled Band as Sherlock Holmes. Judy Garland sings her way into your heart in another old time radio show. These great actors and actresses make these classic stories come alive, and revive the art of storytelling for modern America. It is almost ironic to have an audio book in MP3 format revive the ancient art of storytelling, but the combination works very well. These old time radio shows in MP3 format are a treasure that you should take some time to enjoy.
This interest in these MP3 audio books can also spread to your family, and with a little influence may replace the influence of television. Not only are a number of old time radio shows done with better stories, but the whole idea of storytelling triggers the imagination. When the crew of the Bounty are not given enough food and are caught in a storm on the high seas, no movie director can make it as thrilling or real as your own imagination. Even if you listen to Sherlock Holmes in modern MP3 format in an audio book, you can be walking with him in a dark and fog shrouded London street with the sound of only one other person in the street, rapidly drawing closer to you. Driving on a modern interstate to work is much more interesting when Daniel Boone is making a trail through the forest from another old time radio show. These audio book programs can accompany you anywhere, and can make many tedious times more pleasant.
One really good use of these audio books are when travelling with the family. You may have a van or other vehicle that allows the kids to watch videos as they travel. The advantage of this is that the kids are generally quieter and fight less than if they were just left to themselves. The disadvantage is that the main things the kids remember are the videos, and not the parts of America that they drive through. Having a classic story in MP3 format, such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, allows the kids to look out the windows and still pay attention to the various towns and countryside that makes up that part of America. In this way, using an audio book program keeps one of the benefits of road trips intact - actually learning something firsthand about the country that we live in.
Search the Internet for old time radio show stories that would be of interest to your family. The stories are presented by good actors, and are a wonderful way to take a trip or spend an evening with your family. Order a few on audio books and MP3 format and set a new routine for your family. Perhaps they will forget there is a television in the living room.
This interest in these MP3 audio books can also spread to your family, and with a little influence may replace the influence of television. Not only are a number of old time radio shows done with better stories, but the whole idea of storytelling triggers the imagination. When the crew of the Bounty are not given enough food and are caught in a storm on the high seas, no movie director can make it as thrilling or real as your own imagination. Even if you listen to Sherlock Holmes in modern MP3 format in an audio book, you can be walking with him in a dark and fog shrouded London street with the sound of only one other person in the street, rapidly drawing closer to you. Driving on a modern interstate to work is much more interesting when Daniel Boone is making a trail through the forest from another old time radio show. These audio book programs can accompany you anywhere, and can make many tedious times more pleasant.
One really good use of these audio books are when travelling with the family. You may have a van or other vehicle that allows the kids to watch videos as they travel. The advantage of this is that the kids are generally quieter and fight less than if they were just left to themselves. The disadvantage is that the main things the kids remember are the videos, and not the parts of America that they drive through. Having a classic story in MP3 format, such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, allows the kids to look out the windows and still pay attention to the various towns and countryside that makes up that part of America. In this way, using an audio book program keeps one of the benefits of road trips intact - actually learning something firsthand about the country that we live in.
Search the Internet for old time radio show stories that would be of interest to your family. The stories are presented by good actors, and are a wonderful way to take a trip or spend an evening with your family. Order a few on audio books and MP3 format and set a new routine for your family. Perhaps they will forget there is a television in the living room.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Bob Dylan CD,
Bob Dylan CD
My favorite musical artists are singer songwriters, especially those who write wonderful lyrics. A Bob Dylan cd is very often on my player, both new and old releases. Some albums stand out over others but I never tire of the gravelly voice and words full of metaphor. Take the music away and the songs stand up as poems, holding their own with the other great poets.
In the 1960s, Dylan was revered as a protest singer, a label he didn't really like. He refused to be boxed in and didn't want to be hijacked as a spokesman for any movement. He identified more with the hobos and wandering musicians such as Woody Guthrie than with political doctrine. There are great political songs of course, such as With God On My Side and Masters of War. He is equally capable of producing a tender love song like Just Like A Woman or Lay, Lady Lay.
He went to New York as a young man and performed in the folk clubs in Greenwich Village. Meeting his heroes and drawing inspiration, he honed his skills as a songwriter and musician. The first Bob Dylan cd was simply called Bob Dylan and the legend was born. He popularized acoustic music and developed a following that eclipsed other folk singers like Pete Seeger. His records reached the pop charts and the world was at his feet.
Dylan then did something that shocked the folk purists when he performed on stage with an electric guitar. He wanted to develop his sound and produced the first plugged in Bob Dylan cd. This lost him fans and gained others but there was no turning back. Whatever people thought of the musical method, the lyrics were just as good. Sometimes they were savage insults and they were often beautifully lyrical.
My favorite Dylan tracks are ones that perfectly blend words and melody into a sublime whole. A best of Bob Dylan cd should feature Gates of Eden, Boots of Spanish Leather and It's Alright Ma, I'm only Bleeding. He may have gone in and out of fashion and alienated some fans with his various phases but he remains one of the true geniuses of music. A Bob Dylan cd should not be played as background music but listened to properly. In this world awash with mediocre manufactured pop, he is a poet and deserves our respect. There are those who are greater than the sum of their parts and Bob Dylan is a member of that stellar few.
My favorite musical artists are singer songwriters, especially those who write wonderful lyrics. A Bob Dylan cd is very often on my player, both new and old releases. Some albums stand out over others but I never tire of the gravelly voice and words full of metaphor. Take the music away and the songs stand up as poems, holding their own with the other great poets.
In the 1960s, Dylan was revered as a protest singer, a label he didn't really like. He refused to be boxed in and didn't want to be hijacked as a spokesman for any movement. He identified more with the hobos and wandering musicians such as Woody Guthrie than with political doctrine. There are great political songs of course, such as With God On My Side and Masters of War. He is equally capable of producing a tender love song like Just Like A Woman or Lay, Lady Lay.
He went to New York as a young man and performed in the folk clubs in Greenwich Village. Meeting his heroes and drawing inspiration, he honed his skills as a songwriter and musician. The first Bob Dylan cd was simply called Bob Dylan and the legend was born. He popularized acoustic music and developed a following that eclipsed other folk singers like Pete Seeger. His records reached the pop charts and the world was at his feet.
Dylan then did something that shocked the folk purists when he performed on stage with an electric guitar. He wanted to develop his sound and produced the first plugged in Bob Dylan cd. This lost him fans and gained others but there was no turning back. Whatever people thought of the musical method, the lyrics were just as good. Sometimes they were savage insults and they were often beautifully lyrical.
My favorite Dylan tracks are ones that perfectly blend words and melody into a sublime whole. A best of Bob Dylan cd should feature Gates of Eden, Boots of Spanish Leather and It's Alright Ma, I'm only Bleeding. He may have gone in and out of fashion and alienated some fans with his various phases but he remains one of the true geniuses of music. A Bob Dylan cd should not be played as background music but listened to properly. In this world awash with mediocre manufactured pop, he is a poet and deserves our respect. There are those who are greater than the sum of their parts and Bob Dylan is a member of that stellar few.
Album covers
Album covers are conspicuous in their expression of the bands' visual side. An album cover says “I'm a painting with words”. The cover may be symbolic, a summary of stage performances, propaganda-like, the artwork of a band member or simply designed to grab more sales. Some are so simplistic in nature that two colors can say everything there is to be said. Whatever the message conveyed, album covers should artistically parallel the sound of the music.
When music first became available in a home listening format, it was engraved on large wax disks. Stored in compressed paper sleeves, the artwork reflected the classical music popular at the time. Black and white printing was the only kind available. At first, classical works of art were sketched and then printed on the covers. For example, the Venus de Milo was printed for Korsakov's musical styling. As the technology of photography developed, a few select albums had photographs of classical art printed on them. People from that time would have been shocked at how the album cover would evolve.
During the 1940's, some album covers were both photographic and printed in color. Some covers were airbrushed paintings, or pastel drawings. The popularity of these impressionistic photographs quickly waned, as the album cover gave way to color photographs. Many of the new covers depicted the feel-good sounds of the albums, with people frolicking on the beaches or in fields. Other covers featured photographs of the artist or band itself, with the person or band performing on stage or simply in front of a microphone. A few albums today use the same concept.
During the 1960's and 1970's, album covers tended toward conceptual protests of previous ideas of good cover design. Abstract psychedelic patterns were popularly tied in to this new concept. The “hippie” times were a period of mind expansion and discovery, characterized by demands for social and political reform. This was expressed through the medium of the album cover, with photographs of war contrasting with portrayals of aristocratic wealth. On a lighter note, “flower children”, nature, and Eastern religion were combined with psychedelic mind-blowing color-infused patterns.
Album covers of the 1980's and 1990's saw a sharp decline in artistic designs, changing gears, leaning towards rebellious youth looking to break away from their parents' pacifist natures. With the introduction of KISS, the heavy metal sound was on the rise. Covers often depicted harsh, gory scenes. Offensive and shocking designs became the new cover message. Unnerving and disturbing people was considered a revolutionary concept.
Today, album covers are more diverse than ever. Ideas and art work from genres and milieus throughout history are used. Everything from the original Venus de Milo to entirely computer developed graphics may be found on today's album covers. Almost every style used for album covers since their first debut has been integrated since 2000. It's hard to imagine what will come next.
When music first became available in a home listening format, it was engraved on large wax disks. Stored in compressed paper sleeves, the artwork reflected the classical music popular at the time. Black and white printing was the only kind available. At first, classical works of art were sketched and then printed on the covers. For example, the Venus de Milo was printed for Korsakov's musical styling. As the technology of photography developed, a few select albums had photographs of classical art printed on them. People from that time would have been shocked at how the album cover would evolve.
During the 1940's, some album covers were both photographic and printed in color. Some covers were airbrushed paintings, or pastel drawings. The popularity of these impressionistic photographs quickly waned, as the album cover gave way to color photographs. Many of the new covers depicted the feel-good sounds of the albums, with people frolicking on the beaches or in fields. Other covers featured photographs of the artist or band itself, with the person or band performing on stage or simply in front of a microphone. A few albums today use the same concept.
During the 1960's and 1970's, album covers tended toward conceptual protests of previous ideas of good cover design. Abstract psychedelic patterns were popularly tied in to this new concept. The “hippie” times were a period of mind expansion and discovery, characterized by demands for social and political reform. This was expressed through the medium of the album cover, with photographs of war contrasting with portrayals of aristocratic wealth. On a lighter note, “flower children”, nature, and Eastern religion were combined with psychedelic mind-blowing color-infused patterns.
Album covers of the 1980's and 1990's saw a sharp decline in artistic designs, changing gears, leaning towards rebellious youth looking to break away from their parents' pacifist natures. With the introduction of KISS, the heavy metal sound was on the rise. Covers often depicted harsh, gory scenes. Offensive and shocking designs became the new cover message. Unnerving and disturbing people was considered a revolutionary concept.
Today, album covers are more diverse than ever. Ideas and art work from genres and milieus throughout history are used. Everything from the original Venus de Milo to entirely computer developed graphics may be found on today's album covers. Almost every style used for album covers since their first debut has been integrated since 2000. It's hard to imagine what will come next.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Online Services Available For Old Music
Everyone who was old enough to be listening to music pre-CD has a collection of grooved vinyl records and magnetized tape cassettes stashed somewhere. Those records are not only great for the cover art; some of them have music that still sounds great. Now there has been a concerted effort to develop the hardware and software to allow you to convert that music from its current analog form to digital, and reorganize it on a CD or an MP3 player.
First, of course, you're going to need a turntable and/or a cassette player. You'll be using a computer to convert your old music to digital format, so a cable that connects the turntable or cassette player to the PC (or Mac) is also in order. Apparently cables that have the old audio jacks at one end and a UBS connector at the other are relatively common and can be found in electronic emporiums such as Radio Shack.
Your computer will need to have a sound card - sound cards have been standard issue for PCs for some time. You may also need to incorporate an amplifier of some sort into the mix, as the turntable or the cassette player alone may not generate enough sound. That shouldn't be too difficult however - the amplifier that drives your current sound system still has "audio in" and "audio out" jacks, no matter when it was built.
The final element in the process is the appropriate software. While you can purchase software for this purpose, there is also freeware available: one example is an open source recording and editing program called Audacity, found at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. Adobe has a program called Encore that is available for a 30 day free trial, and for Mac users there's GarageBand, which is part of a Mac software package that is sold through retail outlets.
That's the package. Once you're in upload mode with your old school hardware, you'll have to stop after each song in order to make it a discrete recording. There's a fair amount of oversight to all this, especially if you've got a lot of records. It's one tune at a time, unless you want to upload the entire album as a single MP3 file. So the sentiment that's attached to those old tunes is going to come into play, as this can turn into a labor of love.
There's a streamlining tool on the market from Audio Technica which is a turntable with all the right cabling, amplification and software. A similar product can be found at www.firebox.com which is called a USB Turntable. The cost on these conversion spinners is $100 - $130 dollars.
There are also some online services available that will make the conversion for you - but most of them appear to be pricey. One service, http://avconvert.com/audio/price_list_cassette.html, will not only convert your LP or cassette tape but will remove any audio flaws and reproduce the cover art as well. You send them the recording and they do the rest - but the prices are twenty dollars or more, depending on the medium and the level of service you desire.
Best Piano Music For Free Download
Over the past decade, the rise of the Internet has dramatically changed the availability and presentation of piano music. Free downloads of sheet music -- as well as audio recordings of piano performances -- are easy to find in abundance through a simple Web search. Because of this, old-fashioned sheet music publication has been on the decline in favor of Web-based documents -- image files, .pdf's, eBooks, and other formats. As with a lot of technological change, this is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It's just different. Today, conscientious adult piano players should have a basic understanding of the current state of sheet music publication, and where it is headed.
After all, when we examine our habits as consumers, we find that most of us tend to look for the cheapest and easiest options whenever possible. So these days, when there are so many free piano music downloads to be found all over the Internet, why would anyone ever pay money for sheet music?
In truth, more people cling to the old mediums of sheet music than one may think. And, of course, there is nothing wrong with this. Some people are simply not comfortable with the Internet, and may never be. Besides, what adult piano player doesn't enjoy the look and feel of a thick, comprehensive collection of the piano works of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, or Rachmaninoff? Most contemporary pianists learned how to play with such books, and most still own tons of those old, worn, and wrinkled collections. Until recently, these books were the lifeblood of the piano world, which had been the case ever since the advent of the printing press.
Indeed, something has certainly been lost in the decline in popularity of such books. "The Complete Piano Works of Beethoven," for instance, holds pieces even the most passionate Beethoven fan might not know. In contrast, for years since the inception of the Internet, only the most popular works by the most famous composers have been available on the Web. When it comes to Beethoven, "Fur Elise" and "Moonlight Sonata" are easy to find on numerous sites, but what about more obscure works like "Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major?" For years, pianists were hard-pressed to find such works on the Internet.
Fortunately, the world of online piano sheet music is now working to overcome such shortcomings. Yes, "Fur Elise" is as easy to find as ever, but now, former no-shows such as "Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major" are almost just as available. This is thanks to a number of sites offering free downloads of piano music. The Mutopia Project, for instance -- an online source of free piano music downloads -- offers free piano music by hundreds of composers, from the origins of written music up to the 20th century.
Plus, piano teachers are now learning about the expansiveness of music available on the Web. Many piano teachers will tell you that the most difficult thing about their work is choosing pieces to perfectly suit the needs of a student. Because of the Internet, this is no longer such an issue. When a teacher feels that her student needs to learn a certain piece, that piece is likely available on the Internet. Just a few years ago, this wasn't true. Now, thanks to the continued growth of the Web, almost every piece of piano music by every significant composer is available to download for free. Instead of those old, massive piano music collections, today's piano teacher is more likely to use folders of sheet music printouts from the Web.
Of course, the availability of piano music free to download does not change the fact that many of us still love those old-fashioned piano books. After all, such books are still high-quality products, and they always make great gifts. Thus, even though the Internet is now a huge and ever-growing source of sheet music, the old mediums aren't likely to disappear any time soon.
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