Protected: Commenting on Zooey Deschanel with a forked tongue

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Good discussion question from a Zooey Deschanel fan

First let me say that I’m very sorry about the comments made about Zooey Deschanel by gto in my last blog entry.  He’s an ass!  His comments about Zooey Deschanel were uncalled for.  But, they did spark a great and all be it important question from a Zooey Deschanel fan.  Since Zooey was the main topic of GTO’s comments I’ll help this fan out and maybe some others too that might be tempted to violate copyright laws.

The question was posed as a comment to my last blog entry by a yong lady named Deborah right after the GTO rant about Zooey being a hack.  Deborah’s comment read:  “Why don’t you put up some of Zooey’s music so that people like this gto person can see she’s awesome?”  “You put up Jeff Fiorentino’s music, or put links to it, why not put up a song from Zooey Deschanel?”  That might silence people like your previous comment poster that think Zooey should stick to acting and not sing.”  “I love her, she’s great.”  “Jeff is cool, but let’s hear some of Zooey’s music next time.”

Well the answer to that “Deborah the Zooey Deschanel fan” is that Zooey’s music is not only copyright protected but is published I believe through ASCAP.  What that means is that rights would need to be obtained for me to put link to one of her songs.  Not only that Zooey would lose money if all of her music was just available for free for anyone to download. 

By contrast Jeff Fiorentino from jfrocks.com allows some of his music to be downloaded and me to put links to it because tracks like his holiday version of Rudolph, or My favorite things that I did posts about are part of his website’s FREE content and is public on the web anyway for anyone to download and keep.

Not unlike Zooey Deschanel Jeff does copyright the material for the jfrocks.com website, but he does not publish jfrocks.com materials through ASCAP.  It should be noted though that Jeff Fiorentino does have other music that he writes and performs under a different name that is published through ASCAP.  That music which has nothing to do with jfrocks.com or the name Jeff Fiorentino not unlike with Zooey Deschanel’s music cannot be made public by me without purchasing the rights first.

So Deborah as much as I hate GTO for what he said about Zooey Deschanel and her level of talent.  I cannot prove him wrong by ripping a track off her CD and posting up an mp3 of it.  Zooey would probably be very angry with me for doing that.  Just as I’m sure Jeff FIorention would be angry with me if I took something off one of his product CDs which are not free to the public, or some tracks from his commercial work and posted them up.

It’s best for EVERYONE to remember that unless you have permission to put something up online that’s not yours, you shouldn’t do it.  Jfrocks.com for example sends out email alerts to people that have signed up for them when they put up a new song and lesson.  In those alerts they provide a link for those of us with blogs and or forums to post them up.  They do that to drive traffic to the site, which in turn sells products when those people become fans of the site and or Jeff. 

Please remember that Zooey Deschanel’s CD is for profit, not for instruction or for mass free consumption to drive traffic to a website.  Zooey hopes to make money off the CD, so she tours to promote it, and plugs it when she can in the hopes people will buy it.  If myself our others start making the songs free on YouTube or in our blogs, it might spread the word, but it will also kill sales of her CD, which in turn is not good for Zooey.  And I’m sure the record company wouldn’t like that too much either.

Great question though Deborah.  I wanted to address it in public here in my blog so that if others had any bright ideas about bootlegging Zooey Deschanel’s CD they might think twice about it.  You’ll only hurt Zooey if you do that, and that’s not cool.  I don’t know her personally, but she seems like a nice enough young lady.

But hey go ahead and download all the jfrocks Jeff Fiorentino content you want.  That’s what those boys and girls over there produce it for. 

GTO will just have to get over himself.  I suspect even if I played him one of Zooey’s songs he would still hate it.  You can’t please everyone, and I think she’s just not his cup of tea.  But that’s no excuse for being rude.  I think she’s very talented. 

Until next time

Protected: Blanket statements – Zooey Deschanel – and open blog commenting

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A few of my favorite things – Holiday guitar music cheer – Nice work Jeff Fiorentino

Song link is at the bottom of the text.

I’m thinking of deleting Zooey Deschanel out of my “5 things that rock” blog entry and just changing it to “One thing that really rocks.”  lol   OK, OK, I’ll leave Zooey Deschanel in there because she’s a wonderful role model.  But hey Zooey Deschanel is a little bit country / Acoustic.  And this my fair readers and guitar fanatics is A LITTLE BIT ROCK and ROLL!!!!!!  If you catch my drift. 

We had a whole discussion on my Google Blog recently about Jeff Fiorentino, and a couple people were surprised he did Van Halen’s style sometimes in his lesson materials because he’s Jazz guitarist, and they assume that Edward is not.  I’m surprised that they’re surprised.  Hey people.  Eddie’s dad was a Jazz musician.  He played on “Big bad Bill” off the Diver Down CD.  Edward is very Jazzy in his playing.  Jeff is on record as stating that he uses the Van Halen to get younger kids exited about playing and learning music i.e. guitar.  Most kids don’t want to play Jazz, but if you disguise it in something ”cool” like Van Halen, they eat it up. 

He’s right too.  It’s like when your mom put the medicine in the Jello.  Everyone wants to play like Eddie Van Halen.  So Jeff Fiorentino uses Van Halen as the Jello in this metaphor of mine.  Jazz and Jazz improvisational theory is the medicine so to speak.   

Here’s the scoop.  Jfrocks.com is doing a huge holiday thing.  Jeff is re-arranging some holiday classics in the styles of various artists for some great guitar lessons.  His version of “My favorite things” has been up since this afternoon and everyone at the magazine has hit it about 100 times so far, it totally rocks man!!  But he kept all of the Jazzy elements in there.  It’s a nice arrangement.

Kelly Ross from jfrocks.com gave us a link in the email blast they sent out to post in any blogs or forums.  So here ya go Kelly Ross and the rest of the jfrocks crew.  My little plug for yer “Holiday Guitar Cheer.”

The song has a note on the website that it was recorded at Jeff’s sound engineers studio in Trancas CA, which is part of Malibu I guess.  They had some friends that lost their houses in the recent fires.  I think that sucks and my prayers are with them as well.  Maybe this song will spice up their clean up efforts.     

“My favorite things” – Done in the style of Van Halen

Arrangement by:  Jeff Fiorentino of JFRocks.com
Performed by:      Jeff Fiorentino. & Erica Reese
Mixed by:            The mighty Mick the mixer himself
In the style of:     Mr. Edward Van Halen

Click here to access the MP3

Have a great holiday.  And before people comment and ask.  Yes, I’ll post up the other 2 songs they’re doing this year as they produce them.  But you really should just visit the website and no wait for me to put links to things here.   lol

Until Next Time

Zooey Deschanel – Her & Him – It & Me – She & It – Cool stuff

She and it, him and me, her and he she.  What ever it’s calloed, I give it 5 thumbs up.  A little ding on my guitar prowess, or lack there of.  lol

This is such a fitting post for this little wordpress blog of mine.  Half of this blog is either Zooey Deschanel or jfrocks Jeff Fiorentino  lol.  I really have to laugh, but this isn’t my main blog so I don’t care much. 

THIS TIME THOUGH it’s all Zooey Deschanel !!! 

I was riding around with a friend of mine from Guitar Player magazine and he had a CD playing in his car that I thought was really nice.  So I asked him I said, who is this”.  He said, It’s Zooey Deschanel.  I said NO WAY!!  Now before you jump on me for being surprised she was good just give me a chance to explain. 

I didn’t say no way because I didn’t think she was talented.  I knew that!!  I have a couple blog posts about Zooey including a huge one titled 5 things that really Rock, where I share some opinions, and once I got done babbling on and on about my favorite guitarist Jeff Fiorentino, I predicted big things for Zooey.  

So I knew she was good, and I had meant to give the CD a listen long ago.  I was very impressed when I finally heard it.  It’s funny too because I had read and heard mixed reviews on it.  And I can see how some might pan it.  What I mean is that it’s an ego thing.  A singing starlet can sometimes be, well, a little cheesy for lack of a better way to phrase it.  Just because you can act doesn’t always mean you can or should sing.  hint hint Lindsay Lohan

Zooey Deschanel however is fantastic.  I’ve touted her in my blog here and on my main much larger blog on Google as being a real inspiration to young people because of her lack of “rehabness” (I made that word up, but I think most of you get it.) 

I just wanted to say good job Zooey.  I don’t know why I was surprised it was your CD playing in my friend’s car, but hey whatever.  It’s really good stuff.  Be proud!!!

Until Next Time

Edward Van Cake – A Van Halen Guitar Lesson in Cake Baking

Now there’s a Cake that I want for my birthday.  I know a lot of Ed freaks that paint their guitars like Edwards.  Most of them don’t get the kind of detail right in the striping.

This cake baker however, did a damn fine job I think.  Right down to the Fair Warning era Black headstock.  Pretty cool stuff.

A Van Halen guitar lesson in Cake baking and decorating.

Until Next Time

Old fenders left out to pasture

I know, it’s kind of an artsy photo, but on the plus side the pick guard is probably still usable.??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Until Next Time

Protected: My next assignment – or is it a punishment?

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Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Not the movie, Tiffany’s cafe

This is a short post and really it’s more of a personal observation on my part. 

I had breakfast at Tiffany’scafe this morning.  It’s a small cafe near where I live.  I try to eat there at least once a week because if I don’t I’ll skip breakfast.  So I’m sitting there and I order up my usual morning fare and drink down my giant coffee when all of a sudden it hits me that I hate coffee.  I know this sounds weird but I don’t really like the taste of coffee much yet I drink it anyway, I suppose for the caffeine.  But this coffee tasted even worse than usual.  I mean I can go to Starbucks or something and have a cup of 10 dollar coffee and it’ll taste OK, but this Breakfast at Tiffany’s coffee was pretty bad.

So I asked the waitress if anyone complained about the coffee this morning.  She replied no, but there was a new person making it that morning.  I said, oh great, a new person.  That might explain why it tasted like used bath water mixed with one of those urinal cakes they put in men’s rooms.  lol

So I asked for a fresh cup and sure enough it tasted just as bad.  But you know what?  I drank it anyway.  And as I was sucking it down I asked myself why I was drinking this swill.  The answer was for the caffeine.  Without it I would be asleep all day.  I’m a junkie, I really am.  I’m no better than the local crack heads that sleep on the streets at night.  OK maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean.  I supposed too that I could just take a pill like one of the Yellow Vivarin things.  But that seems too easy.  I think if I took those pills I would take like 5 a day and my addiction would be worse.  The lousy taste of the coffee keeps me limited in my caffeine consumption, and that’s probably a good thing. 

So are we a nation of junkies.  Are we all drug addicts addicted to caffeine.  Do we really need it to function, or are we just so hooked on it that we don’t remember that we can function without it.  I don’t know, your guess is probably as good as mine.  But it is something to think about as you’re sucking down your morning cup of inspiration.

Caffeine is after all, a DRUG!!

Until next time

Stealing guitars from strangers

I saw the darnedest thing yesterday and I had to jot it down here.  I was at a park near my home and there was a fellow sitting on a picnic table playing acoustic guitar.  I thought to myself, wow what a great day for that.  It wasn’t too windy was mostly what I meant by the statement.  A windy day can really mess with you when you play acoustic guitar.  Either it carries the sound poorly, or the wind gets trapped in the box and blows you over. 

So anyway I went over to the guy and introduced myself and said hello and he asks me if I would watch his guitar for a moment while he went to the restroom.  I of course said sure.  So he walked away and I began to play this guitar.  I had no name on it as far as brand goes, so I had no idea what it was.  I strummed a few chords on it and ran though a blues lick or two and I noticed that this guitar played amazing.  It was probably the nicest guitar I’ve ever played.  And keep in mind that I own a 3000 dollar Taylor acoustic, which is a dang fine instrument. 

Now I’m a pretty honest guy, I’m a dad, I’m not a thief or some kind of common hood.  But while playing this remarkable instrument the thought crossed my mind 10000 times to bolt out of the park with it as fast as I could.  Yes, it was THAT NICE a playing guitar!!  lol  Of course I didn’t, I wouldn’t do something like that, and besides I wanted to find out where he got this guitar from.  It was great!!  I figured it cost about 4 to 10 grand or something in that range.

So he comes back and I asked him about the guitar.  I said, “who makes this?” He replied, “I make it”.  I said, “you built this guitar”, and he said “Yes I did”. 

Just to put this into perspective for you, and tell you why I find this story so interesting.  This guy is a totally unknown maker that doesn’t even make guitars for a living folks.  This is just some guy in his garage with tools that one day decided to make a guitar for himself.  Not only is the math involved with that complex.  You need to know about tone woods and sound box structure etc.  I don’t know it just really got me thinking and remembering that there are probably people in this world that nobody will ever know about that can do some amazing things.  We take our heroes for granted and we call our celeb favorites the “best in the world” at things etc.  The truth is I suppose they’re not the best at anything, we just know who they are. 

Needless to say I gave this fellow my phone number and asked if he would build me a guitar like his.  I told him he could name his price.  He said he would, but I haven’t heard from him yet.  Boy I hope I do.  I’ll tell you what guitar players out there.  I thought my high end Taylor was a nice acoustic guitar.  This thing made my Taylor feel like a cheap kiddie acoustic from Target or K-Mart. 

Until Next Time

Zooey Deschanel to Guitarist Jeff Fiorentino 5 things that really ROCK

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Below is a list of the 5 people or things that at this moment in time I think really ROCK!!.  Some of them are funny and some are serious, either way you wanna “slice” it, it’s my blog so it is what it is.

1. 1.  Guitarist Jeff Fiorentino of jfrocks.com - Because he’s changed the guitar world for the better.
2. 2.  Zooey Deschanel - Zooey Deschanel is a positive influence in a rehab infested Hollywood.
3. 3.  Sliced Bread - Because it’s supposed to be so good and all.
4. 4.  Triumph the insult comic dog at the Star Wars convention - Just because – Why not?
5. 5.  Ice – Blog entry was written on a HOT day in Boston with 95% humidity, Ice ROCKS, believe me!!!!

Everything here in this blog is “my opinion” of course!!!

The short list for the impatient among us:

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 1. Guitarist Jeff Fiorentino of jfrocks.com

This Los Angeles guitarist is a guitar idol to a more Thousands of guitarists of all ages all over the world. (including myself) Jeff in many ways has changed the way guitar is taught, but also for countless players he’s changed their perception of how the guitar can be played and used.

I’m in the process right now of writing a story on Jeff Fiorentino for the guitar magazine that I write for and contribute to.  I thought I would add some things here in this blog that probably won’t make it into the article.

Let me start by saying that I thought a lot about who or what to put at number one on my list.  In fact I almost put Zooey Deschanel here at number one because of the positive influence that she is and or has the potential to be to Millions upon Millions of young people.  It was a bit of a debate but I changed my mind at the last minute and put Jeff Fiorentino 1st and Zooey Deschanel 2nd on my list.

(sorry Zooey don’t take it personal!!  I’m currently doing an article on Jeff for an upcoming unknown greats issue of my magazine, so I kind of almost had to put him 1st. But off the record you’re really number 1. )
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Truth be told Zooey Deschanel is of course far more of a household name than jfrocks Guitarist Jeff Fiorentino is. Big duh there right?!! But just because you may not know who Jeff is, that doesn’t mean that others don’t. Trust me on this one, most die hard guitar freaks that haven’t been living under a rock for the last decade know who Jeff Fiorentino is.

Our magazine may be doing an unknown greats issue soon, and jfrocks.com’s Jeff Fiorentino is at the top of our list. Although with visitors to his website in the 10′s of Thousands annually he’s hardly an “unknown”.  But just in case you don’t know who Jeff is or what he’s done over the past few years, read on and I’ll give you a clue!
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Los Angeles guitarist Jeff Fiorentino among other things is the owner and writer of a popular guitar music and instructional website called jfrocks.com.  Jeff’s probably best known among Van Halen freaks as the go to guy for anything Eddie related on guitar.  Jeff’s Van Halen guitar lesson series changed every guitarists freakin’ life when it came out about 6 years ago.  Jeff knows how to play Van Halen better than Van Halen knows how to play Van Halen, and he taught half the guitar world how they can do it too, and properly I should add.  But that’s just the tip of the iceberg with Jeff, he’s much more than some Van Halen guy.  He’s a Jazz trained guitarist that cut his teeth doing some hard core improv jamming in NYC in his late teens.

Jeff Fiorentino is a guy that’s not only changed the way the guitar is approached, but also how we teach music in general. His methods of instruction have been picked up by and used by countless music schools and instructors around the world.  His tips on songwriting and structure have helped countless players write music quickly, effortlessly, and well.  He’s also done a lot of ghost writing for artists over the years that “YOU” have in your CD collection.

Let’s just say that if you want to learn how to write a song he’s probably the guy you want to sit down with. 10 minutes with guitarist Jeff Fiorentino talking about songwriting techniques will probably change your life for the better if writing music is what you want to do either for fun or for a living.

I got to meet Jeff about a year or so ago in his home town of Pacific Palisades California.  I’ll type more about that later, but for now let me share some fun facts I found out through my research for the article, which included talking to some of Jeff’s close friends and family in Los Angeles via phone and email.

Let me begin by saying that Jeff is the guy that most die hard guitarists and teenaged dude guitar heads know as the cool riffing guitarist from their favorite TV commercials, radio spots, and of course the legendary jfrocks.com, which is without a doubt the most innovative and cool guitar instructional site on the net.  But beyond all of that I’ve included below some fun facts that maybe you didn’t know about jfrocks Jeff Fiorentino since he’s not too much for talking about himself. (Which is a pretty rare find in narcissistic Hollywood. I’ve interviewed some real self absorbed Hollywood A-holes over the years, and I can tell you that Jeff Fiorentino is NOT one of them. This guy has his head screwed on straight.)

4 Guitarist Jeff Fiorentino facts:

1. Jeff lives in Los Angeles, CA near the beaches in Pacific Palisades, which is a tucked between Santa Monica and Malibu for those that have no clue where that is. It’s not a bad location, I sure wish I lived there.  As most of his following knows, the majority of the jfrocks.com music and lesson materials are produced at Jeff’s home studio in Pacific Palisades, or at his sound engineer’s studio deep in the hills of Trancas CA, which is really just the north side of Malibu for those not familiar with the area. 

2. Jeff has been playing guitar since he was 4 years old. His father was his first teacher but Jeff began formal guitar and music studies in summer programs at Berkely school of music in Boston MA at age 12. He would stay with an aunt for the summer out there so he could take the classes. Jeff then studied Jazz improvisational guitar in New York City in his late teens under Jazz sessions player Kevin Jones.  (Jeff used to improvise Van Halen and Jimmy Page like solos into jazz jams for fun during these early sessions. Coincidentally this very skill would prove useful in his session career in Hollywood later on down the road, where he was the guy they called when they couldn’t get Eddie, or Jimmy.)

3. (this one blew my mind totally when I found this out) Jeff donates a lot of time and money to music and arts education around the country. Jeff also teaches guitar workshops in both New York city and Los Angeles, mostly teaching abstract music theory and creative thinking in songwriting.

As a footnote to this I found out that Jeff also works with a gifted group of kids at a school for the arts in Los Angeles. These kids are genius IQ and brilliant musicians ranging in age from 12 to 17. When asked about these students Jeff has been quoted as saying, “If they can think it, they can play it.” “It’s absolutely amazing, and I’m honored they want me to teach them.” “They chose me, they demanded that I come back, so who am I to say no.” end quote

These kids have a regular music teacher, but I’m told that Jeff is sort of their Yoda for lack of a better word. Jeff teaches them to think outside the box and use their smarts to their advantage, often taking them on outings to explore various creative concepts, or to meet their favorite players in the studio for a real life lesson in music. The kids adopted Jeff as their mentor after he gave what was supposed to be a one time class to them as a special guest. Now he teaches them 2 times per month if his schedule allows for it.

(He volunteers his time to do this by the way which I wasn’t surprised at all by, this is a very generous guy.)

4. Jeff has done background guitar work on countless radio spots for Los Angeles radio stations over the years, and his riffing has been used in more than 100 national TV spots between 1996 and 2004. Including ads for GM, Nissan, and Miller. Jeff has also ghost written songs for more than a dozen artists.  Jeff’s primary session work these days is doing what’s called clean up work. This means he fixes other people’s junk and makes it better. (off the record I wish I could get Jeff to come over and clean up some of my lousy demo stuff.)

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In my book Jeff Fiorentino of jfrocks.com (among many other things) tops the list of people that really (well for lack of a better word) ROCK!!

He’s not just a performer or a studio guy banging out TV spots or indi film music for a quick buck. Jeff has done more as far as education and getting young people interested in being more than just cover song jukeboxes than any other professional “Hollywood” player that I can think of.

His website, jfrocks.com attracts both guitarists interested in exanding their knowledge of the instrument, and also guitar music freaks that don’t play guitar at all but love to crank up, download and purchase the awesome guitar music that Jeff and his crew crank out for the website’s lessons.

Jeff Fiorentino has stepped up to the plate, which is something music and art of any kind always needs someone to do. He decided that rather than just take up space he’d give something back. And he does in a huge way, in fact it’s a way that’s changed the way Thousands if not Millions of guitarists including myself both approach and create on the instrument.

Jeff and his cast and crew over at jfrocks.com work hard putting together entire songs and lessons based on techniques and styles. Jeff teaches people concepts that they need to understand to be a professional player and not just a schmo with a guitar strumming some chords. This guy is teaching people to be innovative, thinking, musicians. Which in my opinion the world needs more of.

On top of all of that Jeff has written, produced, and starred in more than 40 guitar instructional DVD and CD products which are distributed all over the world. Jeff Fiorentino is a big deal outside the USA, so when I say all over the world, I mean all over the world. The Japanese, Australian, & UK following makes up about 40% of the site’s traffic.

The jfrocks product line is just amazing. The older stuff is a little lacking in the editing department, but the content is great so it more than makes up for it. I own every single title including some rare stuff that I emailed them about and they actually sent it to me!! Most guitarists either have Jeff’s DVDs, or they include them on their must have wish list.

Of course no tale of guitarist Jeff Fiorentino can be complete without mentioning a very famous showdown and a masterful product line that a certain guitar legend (who will remain nameless, but his name soundes like “eddie van Walen”) forced Jeff and his group to stop distributing. It’s a long story that’s really legendary all over the internet in many VH related guitar forums so I won’t tell it, but I will say that it was a sad day for guitar indeed when that little incident happened back in 2004 or 2005. We ALL hope that Jeff and Eddie can work it out someday so that we can see that stuff again, and younger players just learning now can get to take advantage of it. I know I know copyrights blah blah blah

One of the things that makes Jeff both a legend and someone that stands out as a teacher is that he’ll take a song like “Brown sugar” from the Rolling Stones for example, and say, “hey, lets see what would happen if Van Halen or Hendrix did a remake of this song.” “how might it sound”. It’s like an acting class almost, but on guitar. This is what teaching is about in my opinion, and the opinion of countless others as well. It’s about giving students creative ideas to expand on. Teaching isn’t about just showing off for the sake of it, or giving the student the answer without letting them explore the possibilities. Sadly this is what most guitar instruction online and on DVD is these days.
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A chance run in with Jeff, “Grocery store etiquette 101″

I’ve been a fan of Jeff’s since about 1998 when I saw him perform in New York city with some of the guys from the old David Letterman band at a Blues and Rock festival.  Man Jeff was laying down some screaming leads and riffs at that show. I remember telling myself to watch this guy. I’m never wrong about these sorts of things, I’m good at predicting success, and to be honest watching Jeff play that day I though I was looking at the new guitar messiah / second coming of Eddie VH, the kid was on fire. I heard people in the crowd behind me asking, “who is that guy”, and I was asking the same thing.

I recently had the great pleasure of meeting this amazing guitarist and getting to have a moment to chat with him. It was a chance run it that I never saw coming, and won’t ever forget because it was one of the most fun days I’ve ever had.

I was on vacation with my family in Los Angeles and we were near Malibu in a town called Pacific Palisades, (which apparently is where Jeff resides) we were in a grocery store called Gelson’s getting some sodas to take to the beach. We got our stuff and got in line. Standing there right in front of me with a bottle of Gatorade was Jeff freakin Fiorentino. The guy who had not only taught me how to play my first Van Halen and Led Zeppelin songs properly but about a Million other people too.

They always say when you meet an idol of yours you sometimes say the dumbest things, and never thought that would happen to me but,,,,you guess it!! It did !!!

I turned to Jeff (who by the way was with some TV actor, one of the guys from that show with the blonde chick that’s a sports caster or reporter or something, who cares I was more interested in Jeff anyways) and I said, and I quote, “BlahsIIfoeifsf .?” or something like that. Jeff turned and smiled, and his friend said in a humorous tone, “hi”. We all chuckled and I felt like an idiot of course. lol Well anyways Jeff said “hi nice to meet you man” and shook my hand.

You never know what to expect when you meet people you admire. Sometimes they can ruin it by being a total jerk. Not only was Jeff probably the coolest dude I’ve ever met, he’s also about the funniest guy I’ve ever met. He was cutting up man. The whole line was cracking up at comments he and his friend were making at something that was going on outside.

My impression of Jeff right off the bat was that this was a really fun dude, who loved the fact that he got to play guitar all day for his job. His attitude seemed to attract people like flies to a fly strip. This is a guy you’ll hang out with and end up going home with a stomachache from laughing so hard. It was funny too because people in other lines were talking to him and joking around. He seemed to have a personality that people felt comfortable around. I thought about it later on and realized that this is probably why he’s so successful as a video guitar instructor, and his fans are so loyal to him.

I was so impressed that he was such a cool dude, and so glad that he was like that. Especially after my rather embarrassing opening hello, and a rather rude run in with another famous person when we were in Hollywood the day before. (won’t mention any names to be fair, they may have just been having a bad day, but I won’t watch their TV show anymore I say that much.)

I got a short moment to talk with Jeff and his actor friend while we were stuck in this moderately long grocery store line. It struck me that this is a guy that’s truly enjoying his life, but it’s also a guy that’s obviously very smart and quick minded. I suppose that’s what makes him such a good creative songwriter. Jeff’s guitar riffs and hooks are as catchy as they come. There are guitarists of all ages all of the world playing his riffs. Or in some cases trying to anyway. I was on a family vacation but hey I would have loved to have jammed with this guy. I probably would have ditched the family in a heartbeat if Jeff said, “Hey let’s go jam at my place.” ha ha

Look, I’m not a Hollywood guy what can I say, I was blown away that I ended up standing in a grocery store in my guitar idol’s hometown talking to him in line during my family vacation.

I asked Jeff if he gets a lot of music industry type work from the jfrocks website.  Jeff he does get some project work from the site, but that’s not its primary focus. The site is for education it’s not about Hollywood or getting work.  Jeff went on to say that any industry work he gets from the website is mostly from “industry people” (as he called them) that know him or that he’s friends with.  Jeff says these days he does a lot of freebie or “favor” work to help out various friends with their music projects indy films, or demos.

Quote from Jeff: “My friends know I’m a sucker for a sob story. (chuckle)” “So I usually end up helping them out with their projects, or at least out of any musical dilemmas anyway.” ” What I don’t bother to tell them is I don’t really need to hear the sob story, I would help them anyway.” “But it’s fun to let them nadder on and on about being stuck on this chord or that line of lyric, or running out of money etc.” “Really it’s no big deal anyway, I mean I’m always jamming somewhere or at someone’s house party so for me it’s just another chance to play some music, and I never pass that up no matter who it is, whether I get a credit or not makes no difference to me.” (end quote)

The jfrocks website as Jeff said to me, is NOT about him, or ego, or who works on it with him, it’s about teaching and education. That’s pretty rare these days so I was blown away to hear that from a guy who obviously knows a lot of pretty heavy hitting people, I mean heck he was in line in a grocery store with someone I’ve seen on TV. Being an average Joe that’s impressive enough for me. I guess that’s normal for these guys because Jeff didn’t seem to treat his TV star buddy any different than I treat my friends.

While most of the people working behind the scenes at jfrocks.com are Jeff’s employees, there are many industry people that silently back the jfrocks website, including a couple Warner Bros. heavy hitters that are big fans of Jeff’s work and what he gives back to others.

In closing for Jeff Fiorentino, (sorry so long, but I’m a big fan of this guy) my many thanks go out to him. This is guy who didn’t just sign an autograph, pose for a picture and send us on our way. This is a guy who said hey man thanks for being a fan of what I do, told us some cool stories and info, and also told us some great spots to go to along the Malibu coastline. This dude knows his coastline too. We ended up going to places that Jeff said even most locals don’t know about.

Let me tell you, the Southern California coastline is amazing. After seeing that area and cruising around I doubt Jeff will be moving to my town anytime soon. I know that I sure wouldn’t leave that area if I lived there.

(Not that I think Jeff will ever read this, I’m sure he has better things to do than browse blogs all day, in fact I would rather he was recording some new lessons for all of us instead of reading this blog post, but I need a closing paragraph) so I’ll say thanks Jeff for being a cool guy and an inspiration to Millions of guitarists and guitar fans worldwide, including myself by the way. Your lessons, suggestions, and wise words over the years have been life changing for me as a musician. But you also slip a lot of good life philosophy into your lessons too you sneaky devil.

And Jeff if by chance you do read this, and since we won’t be printing my personal thoughts in the magazine article next year. I think you should know that myself and most of my colleagues are in agreement that in the process of changing the way I and many others play music and approach the guitar fretboard, you’ve also changed the way I and countless others veiw and approach the world around us. You’re a brilliant teacher, and a genius on the fretboard. God bless you man and I wish you continued success.

Like I said earlier I’m never wrong with predicting success, and man I predict huge things for jfrocks Jeff Fiorentino.

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 2. Zooey Deschanel

OK, number 2 is Zooey Deschanel. Like I said earlier Zooey almost made number one on my little list here.

(For the record I’d like to state again that I actually think Zooey is kind of tied for first with Jeff rather than some sort of distant second. lol )
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So, why is Zooey Deschanel on my list and my number 2?? … Well I’m Glad you asked.

BECAUSE SHE’S AWESOME!! SHE TOTALLY ROCKS!!  And she just doesn’t seem to be a drugged up club hopper like a lot of Hollywood is these days. And man that’s refreshing to see.

I pride myself on being a predictor of rising stars. I’ve never been wrong yet!! I know she’s doing lots of stuff right now from what I’ve read, and it’s easy to play Monday morning quaterback, but I predicted a long time ago that she was going to go pretty far when I saw her in Mumford. Trust me I’m never wrong about this stuff. Honestly, I don’t even think her career has begun to scratch the surface of where it’s going yet. Mark my words people.

Now enough crystal balling let’s move on.
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From what I’ve read Zooey Deschanel, not unlike number 1 on my list is another one of those “Hollywood kids”. Either with a parent, or grandparent or all of the above in the business in some way behind the scenes or in front of the camera. Heck for all I know they all know each other and I could have killed 10 birds with 1 stone when I ran into Jeff in that grocery store. I have no idea. Like I’ve already said their world is a Million miles from mine. When I took that trip to LA I felt like I was on another planet.

In Zooey’s case, since I haven’t been following her career that long per say, and I haven’t met her, and I’m not writing a story on her for my magazine, I’m going to simply make some observations and offer an opinion or two, rather than what I did for Jeff which was rattle off facts and first hand experiences.

Let me start by saying that I think Zooey Deschanel is a fantastic actress, and I think that she’s very pure in her art. I don’t see that she’s just looking for a quick buck or “fame”. I think she really just enjoys what she does, and I really respect that sort of thing.

I also think that Zooey is really a very positive and influential actress and role model. People that influence others in a POSITIVE way interest me a great deal, and I think there’s a shortage of them in this world right now. (I also think that Zooey is just a really cool friggin name by the way. Even though I know it’s a reference to Franny and Zooey, the name to me still sounds like a slip and fall accident of some sort. lol.)

My prediction is that over the next few years we’re going to see a lot from this girl. I mean A LOT!! I hope however that she keeps her feet on the ground. I’ve seen it happen so many times with actors. They get some success and their career seems to go up and up, and so does their ego and problems.

In college psych we learned that when famous people start to lose touch with the common person or get a god complex of some sort then that’s when drugs and alcohol start creeping in. I don’t have to name any names here, we call all turn on the TV any day of the week and see this play out.

Now, I’m not a movie expert, I’m not a Hollywood know it all or anything like that, but it seems that young Hollywood is all about rehab and nightclubs and people famous for really doing nothing other than taking up space.

Zooey Deschanel is a refreshing change from the usual junk that I see when I turn my TV on, or go to the movies. She just seems like a great girl, I don’t read a lot of bad press about her doing stupid things, and from what I can see I think she probably trys to avoid doing stupid things, which leads me to speculate that she’s probably pretty bright. (another point for Zooey)

People don’t need to try to be role models. All they need to do is set a good example, and Zooey is doing that by not being one of these rehab morons. It’s as plain and simple as that.

In my opinion, Zooey’s success is probably in no small part the product of a happy home, great parents, or both. It’s just a guess on my part, who knows maybe her parents beat her or something and I’m wrong (LOL) but I highly doubt that’s the case of course.

I know that one of the things that Jeff from our number 1 slot told me that he credits a lot of his success with is his awesome parents, and their willingness to sacrifice and send him to schools and good teachers to hone his craft etc.

If we look at some of these ”rehab” actresses (as I call them) out there that are supposed to be role models we often can link it back to poor parenting. So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Zooey Deschanel probably came from a decent home with intelligent parents.

I don’t know about any of this in Zooey’s case for a fact. But I can say that she’s certainly talented, and getting a lot of work, which puts her firmly in the public eye. I think that kind of public attention demands some level of responsibility from the celebrity, and Zooey seems to respect that and not blindly teach our children by example that it’s OK to drink and drive etc.. After all it’s a good idea to remember that we’re a society that does what celebs tell us to basically. While I find that fact very sad, it’s also very true.

In my opinion Zooey Deschanel should be the inspiration for younger kids, certainly NOT the rehab idiots that I see all over the place now. Or even worse these reality MTV star people that to be honest I still can’t figure out what they’re good at or why anyone even cares about watching them do nothing for hours and hours. It’s a sad reflection on our society really.

You never really know what the future holds but I’m pretty sure that Zooey Deschanel has her act together enough to never turn into one of “those girls”, and I’m very interested to see the path that her career takes. My prediction is that it will take her very far.

(I’ll post some more follow ups and observations later on down the road as I get this blog rolling along.)
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3. Sliced bread

OK, now it’s time to be funny. So that’s right number 3 on my little list to open this blog is sliced bread. All of my life I hear people say, “That’s the greatest thing since sliced bread”. Well number 3 is “sliced bread”

For those of you keeping track that means that both jfrocks guitarist Jeff Fiorentino, & actress Zooey Deschanel are better than, or at least cooler than, sliced bread (in my opinion)

But hey let’s face it, they both kind of rock!!

Jeff for influencing so many guitar players, and musicians in a positive and useful way, (and living in a very cool place that I wish I lived) and Zooey for her potential to influence many young actors and actresses in a positive, non-rehab oriented sort of way.

This by the way also means that the other 2 items on this list, while pretty cool, are not better than “Sliced bread”, Jeff, or Zooey.
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4. Triumph the insult comic dog at the Star Wars convention.

I’m usually not a huge Triumph the comic dog fan, but I have to say that when they took it to the Star Wars Convention it was hilarious. This of course is not really a serious one or one that that’s particularly going to save the world, but it is one of the 5 things at this moment that I’m really liking.

I think the moment that summed it all up was when he asked the idiot in the Darth costume “Which one of these buttons do I push to call your parents to come pick you up.”

That’s a good nutshell look at a 45+ year old man in a Darth Vader costume, and a pretty darn funny one too.
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5. Ice.

Yes ice. At this moment it is over 95 degrees and humid where I am as I type this, and I’m in dire need of some ice. If you have some ice please email me a picture of it so that I can visualize being cooled off.

Like I said in the title, this post is about the 5 things that I like, “right at this moment”.

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Until next time

Giving location shoot a new meaning

I was on a location shoot today for a news story the TV station I work for was doing. We were shooting some exterior scenes for backgrounds mostly. That’s when the reporter talks and there’s background video going that’s showing examples of what he or she is talking about.

This time we were shooting a pond and some ducks. Well I guess we weren’t the only ones shooting the ducks because I was standing on an embankment shooting the pond and ducks with my camera, when I heard two distinct pops come from my left. The next thing I know the ducks take off and I see a shower of pellets hit the water, probably from a shotgun type weapon that shoots a shell filled with pellets.

Now I’m not normally an easily scared guy but I have to tell you those pellets came mighty close to ending my days on Earth early. I have two jobs. One is a writer for a guitar magazine and the other is a cameraman / video editor. These are not normally hazardous jobs. Sure sometimes as a cameraman I may have to stand on a ledge or something, but in Boston where I do my “cameramaning” (that’s a new word I just came up with) usually nobody is shooting at me. It’s Boston not Iraq.

I guess I can sum up my day nicely by giving you an example of the kind of day it was. Sure I was shot at while filming what was supposed to be a relaxed pond scene with cute little ducks in it. But that’s not a good enough example. A good example of my day is what my producer yelled when after the shots were fired. She yelled, and I quote, “Oh my god did you hear that?” “I hope none of the ducks are hurt.” end quote

She never asked if I was OK, and she even wondered if I had heard the shots. No I replied sarcastically. I didn’t hear the shots, what shots??

I never did find Elmer Fudd. But if I ever do I’ll be sure and ask him if he saw the cameraman before he took the shots at the little ducks. You know, the cameraman with the wife and a couple kids that count on him for support.

I’m not saying don’t hunt. You can hunt if you want to. Although I’m not sure if it’s even duck season in New England right now, so I think this person was just breaking the law. My point is I don’t really care if you hunt or not. Just don’t be stupid!! and hunt.