The Complete Ukulele Course taught by Ralph Shaw

ASIN: B0006HHIDY

List Price: —-

Our Price:    $29.95

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Product Description

This DVD is perfect for anyone who wants to improve their ukulele playing technique. Even if you have never played a ukulele before you will discover that Ralph Shaw (the King of the Ukulele!) will lead you through the basics and beyond so that you will learn tips, tricks and techniques that will have you sounding like a ukulele maestro! Just some of the things you will learn in this 1 hour lesson include:

Beginners uke – including tuning, strumming & basic chords

How to use ‘ornament’; notes

Play chords up the neck

How to play 4/4, 3/4 and jig time and develop right-hand techniques such as the syncopated ‘split stroke’ as used by George Formby

How to play Rolls and Triplets

The basics of melody chording In short this one DVD will set you up for a lifetime of fun and music with the world’s greatest little instrument… The Ukulele!

Product Details and specs

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28637 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-02-01
• Format: NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 60 minutes

Customer Reviews

Don’t Be Put Off By The Exaggerated Title
The title of this DVD tutorial is pure hyperbole (dreamt up most likely by a marketing wonk working for the publisher) but don’t let that put you off. Ralph Shaw is an excellent ukulele player and an outstanding teacher. He is incredibly pleasant and is adept at breaking down the process of playing the ukulele into easily learned chunks. He has clearly taught others and thought through the order he uses to teach techniques. Best of all, he has a way of making learning to play fun. A friend of mine that has seen me play for years and never expressed an interest in playing uke did so after seeing part of this DVD while I was watching. Yes, Ralph Shaw is that charming and that alone is worth the price.

I have been playing ukulele casually for 20+ years (I am mainly a guitar player) so the parts of this DVD that are meant for beginners were a bit rudimentary for me. But Shaw teaches the right way of playing and I was able to correct a few mistakes I had been making. I bought this DVD (and the other in his “Complete Ukulele Course” series, “Essential Strums for Ukulele”) mainly to learn the syncopated style of George Formby. That I learned and I was delighted with the rest of the DVD as well. Shaw’s endearing style of teaching (and the fast forward button) make his DVDs worth the money even if you have been playing for a while.

If you are a highly experienced player hoping to reach Bob Brozman’s level, this DVD is not for you. (I love Brozman’s ukulele DVD but recommend it for advanced players.) But if you are just getting started or have been playing a little while and want to take your ukulele skills above the average player you couldn’t do better than this DVD.

Caution: There is some overlap with the second DVD in the series. If you are beginner and care to work towards professional level, buy both and Brozman’s as well. If you just want to learn the basics or progress beyond simple chords and strums start with this one. If you have been playing for a while and are thoroughly comfortable with chords up the neck consider buying Essential Strums instead.

Not much content
Judging from prior reviews, some people really like this disk, so I’ll try to explain the low score I have given it. By no stretch of the imagination is this a complete course. It is an introductory course for people who have never played a stringed instrument. In fact, with just three songs you can hardly call it a course. My main interest is Hawaiian music and so this DVD was not a good choice on my part since I should have known from the description that Mr. Shaw is more into 1920′s style uke. Mr. Shaw is so darn pleasant that I hate to say anything negative so I will just try to be objective and tell you what you get on the disk. There’s a very brief introduction about the uke followed by instructions on how to hold and tune it. He shows you how to play a few basic chords, demonstrates how to strum in 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8 times and demonstrates a few ornaments. He plays three songs, “Froggie Went a Courting”, “Hello Ma Baby” and “Country Garden”. The first two pieces are extremely simple (two and three chords, respectively) and the third piece is only slightly challenging for anyone with experience playing uke, guitar or similar instrument. The booklet is four pages long and has the lyrics and chords (but no chord diagrams) for the first two songs and detailed fingering diagrams for “Country Garden”. At about the same time I bought this DVD, I also bought Hawaiian Style Ukulele (Vol.1) and Learn to Play Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele both of which fit my needs much better. The Hawaiian Style Uke is a lot of fun because you can play along with a decent band on the accompanying CD and all twelve songs are Hawaiian classics. The book has chord diagrams for all the songs and suggested strumming patterns for most of the songs. Nelson’s Fingerstyle book also comes with a CD and contains a variety of genres including Hawaiian, folk and classical. The book has musical notation and tablature for all the songs as well as helpful supplemental material. This music is definitely more challenging to play and will keep me busy for many months.

Uke-tastic
I’ve been playing uke for the last 10 or more years. During that time I entered into a ukulele-rut where I was good, but really not getting better. Enter the self-proclaimed “King of the Ukulele” Ralph Shaw. Mr. Shaw is enthusiastic and clear in this DVD and overall does a very good job at showing ukulele possibilities. It was well balanced between fingering (the left hand stuff) and strumming patterns (the right hand stuff). He does a good job explaining how to add more ZING to your playing with “ornament” notes (notes that are not part of the traditional chord but add depth and interest to it). Also, the way he breaks down more complicated strum patters like the roll and the George-Formby-Syncopation strum is really helpful. This is not a DVD where you will go away with a load of different songs (you have to find those other places), but you will go away with more tools and techniques in playing your uke better and having more fun with it.

Chartbusters USA, Vol. 2
ASIN: B00005UPL5

List Price: $19.99

Our Price: $18.98!!!!

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Product Description

Product Details and specs

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55003 in Music
• Released on: 2004-12-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Customer Reviews

Eclectic Collection of Hits
It took five years for ACE Records to release a sequel to the the initial CHARTBUSTERS USA, but the wait was worth it. This is a thoroughly satisfying collection of hits from 1963 to 1969. ACE has used the highest quality source material available and you get a whopping 29 tracks. [Not even reissue king Rhino Records comes close to putting this many songs on a single disc!]

A few of these songs were not huge hits: “Harlem Shuffle” was a huge hit in England (home base for ACE), but it barely made the Top 50 here. Likewise, the Gants’ cover of Bo Diddley’s “Road Runner” peaked just outside the Top 40. And Ike and Tina Turner’s “I Can’t Believe What You Say” only reached No. 95 in 1964.

However, this diversity of big hits and near misses only adds to the charm of this eclectic batch of songs. You not only get the No. 1 hits (“Good Lovin’,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Mr. Tambourine Man” among them), the million-sellers (including “Dancing in the Street,” “Magic Carpet Ride” and “Time of the Season”), but you also get seldom anthologized songs like Jerry Jeff Walker’s 1968 version of “Mr. Bojangles,” The Bobby Fuller Four’s follow-up hit “Love’s Made a Fool of You,” and Tony Joe White’s swampy “Polk Salad Annie.” You also get four instrumentals that–aside from “Classical Gas”–rarely get anthologized. The other three are “Mission: Impossible,” “Watermelon Man” and “Batman Theme.”

In addition, ACE provides an informative 18-page booklet that details the artists and songs. Lalo Schifrin, for example, was at one time Dizzy Gillespie’s musical director and scored the soundtracks for “Cool Hand Luke” and “Dirty Harry.” Bobby Hebb wrote “Sunny” as a tribute to his brother who was killed during a mugging. John Fred had released 15 singles over a ten-year period before attaining one-hit-wonder status with his sixteenth release, the No. 1 “Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)” in 1968.

While many of the heavy hitters are missing (Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, etc.), there are enough sheer delights to satsify any Baby Boomer looking for a quick Sixties fix. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Fellowes Powershred C-320C 14-16 sheet Confetti Cut Shredder

ASIN: B00005QXYR

List Price: $1,942.50

Our Price:    $947.95

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Product Description

The New Fellowes Powershred C-320C is a powerful confetti-cut shredder designed to meet the needs of a department with a range of 6-10 users. With its contemporary styling and soft lines, this shredder also suits any office décor. Equipped with a 1.7 HP thermally protected motor the C-320C shreds 14-16 sheets per pass into 5/32″ x 1-1/8″ confetti particles as fast as 20 feet per minute. Includes the New Turbo Jam Release button for a fast, easy way to clear jams. Durable, hardened-steel cutters accept credit cards, staples and small paper clips, while a designated slot safely shreds CDs. The C-320C also features an electronic auto start/stop function for quick, easy shredder operation and is designed to shut off automatically and alert operator with troubleshooting indicator lights when a jam occurs, wastebasket is full or door is ajar. Door offers convenient holder of oil, manual and shredder bags, while the 24.6-gallon wastebasket pull out for easy waste disposal.

Product Details and specs

• Color: GRAY
• Brand: Fellowes
• Model: C-320C
• Released on: 2006-09-01
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 35.00″ h x 19.70″ w x 21.10″ l, 122.00 pounds

Features

• Turbo Jam release clears jams quickly and safely
• Can process CDs, paperclips, credit cards and staples
• Shreds 14 to 16 sheets per pass, at a rate of 20 feet per minute
• 10″ paper entry width; 24.6-gallon pull-out basket
• Creates confetti shreds; includes 20-year warranty on cutter and two-year warranty on machine

Customer Reviews

Shred It And Keep Business (and Personal Things) Secure!
Our office needed a replacement for a shredder that we had overused and mistreated for about seven years. Shredding, routinely, between 500 -3,000 sheets of paper per day with the curve rising quickly, we needed to find a machine that would 1) deal easily with a seemingly ever increasing volume of paper. 2) shred it into confetti-cut to assure complete destruction of confidential data and 3) had the capacity to shred not only paper, but plastic cards, CDs and to not be easily jammed by commonplace staples and the paper clips that people routinely fail to remove before shredding documents. After a goodly amount of research and discussion, we settled on this Fellows C-320C and, after several months of operation are pleased to report that it is meeting our needs and expectations in all ways.

Fellows is probably one of the better known brands of shredders. I own one at home that I purchased at COSTCO and am delighted with it’s reliable performance after almost two years. I shall expect nothing less than that from this one at work. Not only does it ‘handle’ plastic credit cards, CDs, staples and paper clips – it has a separate slot into which cards and CDs can be inserted for destruction. The confetti-cut setting yields pieces 5/32″ X 1 – 1/8″; small enough to ensure the security we require. It offers a choice of strip or confetti-cut settings. This may be important to you because the settings differ in their shredding capacities. Set on Confetti, it lists itself as having the capacity to shred 7,000 pages per day, and being able to shred 14-16 pages at one pass. Set on Strip-cut (7/32″), a simpler, somewhat less secure, but good for most common usages, it’s daily capacity is upped to 14,000 and the number of pages that can be handled in a single pass (entry) to 26 – 28.

The width of paper is limited to 10″ and the card shredding capacity is far more limited to one per pass or a total of ten per day on either setting.

Regular maintenance is limited to, as with most machines of this type, a biweekly lubing of the cutting element while running in Reverse for a minute. Hopefully, that’s all it takes. It is all other Fellows machines have taken. The lubricant can be had from Fellows (their own brand) or, as I have discovered at home, good quality vegetable oil will accomplish the same thing.

The controls are simple, few and easily intuitive. There are only three warning lights: Door not closed, Paper jam and Need to empty the bin, and only four buttons: Off, Forward, Reverse and a Turbo Jam Release… just in case! The shredding feature itself is, of course, automatically activated as one would expect when material is inserted.

There are certainly other medium-heavy duty office shredders to consider, but we chose this Fellows and have had no regrets!

Great heavy duty shredder
This is a fantastic heavy duty shredder. We use it in my office every single day shredding more than 500 pages per day plus CD’s, DVD’s. Not a single problem so far since we bought it about a year ago.
The only problem is the price. Very high but you get what you pay for. I bought before several cheaper machines and now I don’t have any of those.
So it is worth it.

Powershredding at home
Though obviously targeted for an office, light commercial setting, I sought a new, beefier shredder to replace my personal-size Fellowes cross-cutting shredder at home. The latter is still chugging along just fine — kudos to Fellowes — but I grew annoyed with its relatively small basket which seemed to require emptying all the time and which was cumbersome (lifting the whole heavy cutting unit out, little pieces of confetti flying all over, etc.). Besides, the personal-size unit wasn’t rated for chewing up CDs and credit-cards and wouldn’t keep up with the demands for my end-of-year shredding frenzy without rest periods.

The significantly discounted C-320C available through Amazon proved too tempting for my OCD-ness and so I bought one. First, one should take note of the weight — well over 100 pounds. Note as of this review, the Amazon site states a shipping weight of 50 pounds which is obviously in error. This *is* a heavy beast. I’m very grateful it’s on casters which makes moving it a breeze. The large capacity and separately removable basket is easily accessed through the front panel. No more lifting of the actual cutting unit like my personal-size unit and no more pieces of shredded material ending up all over the place. A pleasant and unexpected surprise, for me, was the relative noise-level as compared to my personal-size unit. Because the cutting unit is more “contained” within the C-320C, it’s actually quieter than my personal-size shredder — a real bonus. The C-320C doesn’t hint at straining with larger volumes of paper or even credit-cards. I love it save for one issue which prevents my giving it a 5-star rating: the smell. Particularly when arriving brand new, the C-320C has a strong metal and oil odor which I was able to smell throughout the entire first floor of my house. While I recognized, and still do, that this unit is targeted for commercial applications, the odor in even a large office would not go unnoticed. Thankfully, it seems to be dissipating (or I’m just getting accustomed to it), ;-). Nevertheless, I have absolutely no regrets. This shredder more quietly and expediently devours the avalanche of those pesky credit-card offers mailed to me in volume on a daily basis. There’s no hint of strain or complaint when I shred numerous confidential material I occasionally bring home from my office or print locally which I now no longer need to cart to my office for shredding.

My relative light use of this shredder compared to the target users has not required yet for me to perform the oil-maintenance. I’m hopeful it won’t be messy nor re-infuse the unit with that odor.

3M 2020 Scotch Masking Tape for Production Painting, 2-Inch x 60-Yard, 6-Pack
ASIN: B00125TIS2

List Price: $24.00

Our Price: $19.29!!!!

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Product Description

Scotch Masking Tape for production painting, clean removal time one day, interior or exterior, high adhesion level, for use on non damageable surfaces (vinyl, wood, carpet etc.). 60 yard roll. 6 rolls/pack.

Product Details and specs

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19322 in Home Improvement
• Brand: 3M
• Model: 2020-2A-CP
• Number of items: 1

Features

• For non-damageable surfaces such as: vinyl, carpet and wood
• Adhesion level: high
• Removal Time: 1 day
• Coating being applied: water-based, solvent-based
• Interior or exterior

Customer Reviews

7PCS Cal King Black Velvet Comforter Set Bed in a Bag
ASIN: B001L1XCAW

List Price: —-

Our Price: $49.99!!!!

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Product Description

This luxurious high quality velvet comforter set is a stunning set on any bed. 3 decorative pillows Matching curtains available.

Features

• Color: Black
• Size: California King
• Face: 100%Polyester
• Backing: 80%Polyester/20%Cotton

This set includes:
1  Comforter (104″x92″)
2  Shams (20″x36″+3″)
1 Bed Ruffle (72″X84″+14″)
2  Neckrolls
1  Square Cushion

Product Details and specs

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57115 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: KingLinen
• Dimensions: 13.00 pounds

Customer Reviews

Nice, but…
I just didn’t expect it to reverse to an ugly gold color. Description didn’t mention that, and picture didn’t show a gold bed ruffle. So I hate gold, but otherwise it really is very nice.

Looks good, but looks aren’t everything
This looks like it would be of a much higher quality. I’ve had this for two months, and the seams are already starting to rip. Buy something that will last. If you want some bedding that is only for looks get this but if you want bedding that will last and not tear or pill shop elsewhere.

poor quality
I ordered this product last april, the material is still shredding. The purple I ordered is a pretty color, but when you go to bed and everyone pulls the blankets up that’s what causes it to pull apart on all the seems so now i have shredds all over it looks like nylons all over my bed, and the actual place king linen wouldnt let me return it or exchange it.

Triple Goddess Oval Bumper Sticker

ASIN: B001418ZA6

List Price: —-

Our Price:    $3.49

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Product Description

Adhesive-backed oval vinyl sticker printed in weather resistant black ink. Based on European format. Sticker size is approximately 3 ½ x 5 and kiss cut on a rectangular carrier. While originally intended for automobile bumpers they can be applied to windows, notebooks, backpacks, or other surfaces.

Product Details and specs

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48278 in Automotive

Features

• Weather Resistant
• Glossy Coated Vinyl
• European Format
• 3 1/2″ x 5″ Oval

Customer Reviews

New Belkin Headphone Control Adapter with Remote for iPod shuffle 3G 3rd Generation, 4Gb Black
ASIN: B003C1JXF2

List Price: $19.99

Our Price: $16.98!!!!

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Product Description

Break Away from the Earbuds
The earbuds included with your iPod don’t always do justice to your music, but they do offer convenient controls built into the cord. With the Belkin Headphone Adapter you can have the best of both worlds–you use the headphones of your choice without compromising on control.

As long as your headphones feature a 3.5mm jack, you’re good to go. Choose your favorite pair for comfort, bass, sound quality, or noise reduction–with the Headphone Adapter you can finally decide how you want to listen to your music.

Familiar Features to Control Your Shuffle
The Headphone Adapter has the same controls as your iPod earbuds, so you’ll get all the functionality you’re used to. And since the features mirror those on the earbuds, you won’t have to relearn all the controls. You can play or pause your music or select tracks based on the number of clicks. Also, if your device supports it, you can use VoiceOver commands to browse through playlists and hear the title and artist of the song that’s playing.

About Belkin International, Inc.
Belkin offers a diverse product mix that provides people with seamless electronics integration in their homes, cars, and on the go. Founded in California in 1983, Belkin is a privately held company and the recognized leader in connectivity solutions, MP3 accessories, computers, and more. Belkin also provides solutions for networking, home theater–with the PureAV line of cables, power, and digital wireless accessories–and more.

Belkin’s phenomenal growth has led to an expanding global presence. In addition to corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, Belkin has offices throughout Europe–in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere–and in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, Shanghai, and its regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

Product Details and specs

• Brand: Belkin

Features

• Compatible with iPod classic 6G; iPod touch 2G; iPod nano 4G; iPod shuffle 4G
• Adapter gives you in-line controls with any headphones when used with iPods
• Controls for pause, play, volume, and more
• Supports VoiceOver commands for browsing iPod contents
• 3.5mm jack lets you connect any headphone

Customer Reviews

Junk – Duped not once but twice
In spite of treating these adapters with extreme care, they broke within 3 months. The first adapter I bought broke where the cable meets the plug for the iPod. The button on the second adapter I bought started to fail within a month of light use at the gym. The double- and triple-click command started to fail, then the volume failed, finally, the whole assembly broke apart like an egg shell. I’m very disappointed.

Excellent
Better than expected. Works perfectly, and gives you some additional length. My wife is constantly breaking the wires on her earbuds, usually when they get tangled in things, and paying over $30 for the Apple earbuds with the controller would be very expensive. With the Belkin Control Adapter, she can use any brand of earbuds with her new iPod shuffle.

Junk!
I am on my third headphone adaptor. I use it for jogging and the motion of jogging has caused the wiring to come loose and sort out on two different adaptors. Not sure who is expected to use I-Pod shuffles with this adaptor but its not for runners or anybody that moves.

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
ASIN: B000053HBB

List Price: $1,369.66

Our Price: $769.00!!!!

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Product Description

Telephoto lens boasting high image quality and carrying ease. With two UD-glass elements and rear focusing to correct aberrations, image delineation is extremely sharp. Background blur is also natural-looking, as was simulated by Canon. The lens comes with a dedicated, detachable hood.

Product Details and specs

• Brand: Canon
• Model: 2529A004
• Dimensions: 5.30″ h x 5.50″ w x 8.10″ l, 2.40 pounds

Features

• 200mm telephoto lens with f/2.8 maximum aperture for Canon SLR cameras
• 2 ultra-low-dispersion (UD) glass elements and rear focusing system
• Ultra-sonic monitor (USM) for quick, highly accurate autofocusing
• 4.9-foot close focusing distance; produces natural-looking background blur
• Measures 3.3 inches in diameter and 5.4 inches long; weighs 1.7 pounds

Customer Reviews

Excellent for what it is, but look elsewhere for versatility
The grand appeal of this prime is that offers the telephoto reach and fast f/2.8 aperture of Canon’s 70-200/2.8 professional lenses, but at far less cost and size. In practical terms, the 200/2.8 is fast enough to shoot nighttime football games that would have slower f/5.6 consumer zooms struggling to reign in motion blur.

Unlike consumer zooms, it also takes well to a 1.4X teleconverter, giving the equivalent of 280mm at f/4. The USM autofocus system is quick, silent, and sure in almost any lighting, and because it’s essentially a longer version of Canon’s legendary 135/2, this 200/2.8 is plenty sharp all the way from f/2.8. Finally, because it’s small and black, the security at sporting venues is far more likely to let you take it inside.

It’s not all roses though. 200mm on a 1.6X crop body is a 320mm equivalent. That’s a lot of lens to handhold without stabilization. Pure sharpness doesn’t stand for much when the whole frame is blurred by handshake. Despite the fast f/2.8 aperture, it takes a lot of light to keep the shutter speeds up, and this lens isn’t all that forgiving below 1/400; good technique and proper bracing are essential. My copy suffers further from chromatic aberration (color fringing around highlights) and loss of contrast in sunlight to a greater extent than any other lens that I own. Shooting into the sun, or with the sun just outside the frame, is not a forte. I’d dock a star for this if Amazon would let me.

If you want versatility, there are also better choices than the 200/2.8. Framing options are limited, and you’ll rarely find the composition afforded by 200mm exactly matches what you intended. While the 70-200/2.8 series are no stronger optically than this lens, they’ll get the shot every time purely by the ability to track an object at 70mm, and rapidly zoom to 200mm to take the picture. The addition of IS (image stabilization) alone doubles the number of keepers on the 70-200/2.8 IS. If your livelihood depends on your results, that’s worth the price of admission.

But if you’re not molting fifties, and you just want a sharp and fast telephoto that’ll manage better shutter speeds, sharpness, background blur, and contrast (in most circumstances) than a consumer zoom, this 200/2.8L is a great choice.

An “L” Tele for a reasonable price
Canon L lenses are known for their great optics and priceyness. This fast tele is an excellent value. Some pictures I took at the Phoenix zoo with this lens are superb. Use your tripod and get tack-sharp images. The only thing that would improve this lens would be the addition of the image stabilizion feature found on a few Canon optics. Of course, the advantage of large aperature lenses is that you can set a fast shutter speed and still have enough light for a shot. This lens is surprisingly compact, (as long focal length teles go). The autofocus is very fast and quiet. Comes with a hood, too.

Super “L” Lens, Price not too Bad Either
There is nothing like a telephoto to bring boats at anchor up close when you’re halfway up a mountain. I got a great shot in Tahiti just that way with just this lense and a friend of mine used it on the cover of her romance novel. It’s true the lense is heavy. Canon says it weighs 1.7 pounds, but it seems heavier. No matter though, because you won’t have to go to the gym if you heft this baby around for awhile, and as a side benifit, you’ll get crisper, sharper photos then you would with any other 200mm out there today. Just think of it as body building and photo shooting both at the same time. Also this one won’t break your wallet.

Serously, this is one darned fine piece of glass, you just simply cannot go wrong with a Canon “L” lense, just can’t

French Pop-Up Sponges
ASIN: B001J5T448

List Price: —-

Our Price: $14.99!!!!

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Product Description

These colorful compressed sponges expand to full size when placed in water. 5.5″ x 3.5″ x 1.25″ when wet. Set of 6. Dishwasher safe. Imported.

Product Details and specs

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100686 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: CHEFS

Customer Reviews

Fly Jefferson Airplane
ASIN: B0002WZTJI

List Price: $14.98

Our Price: $13.49!!!!

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Product Description

Product Details and specs

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36881 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Enhanced, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 81 minutes

Customer Reviews

A worthy addition to the Airplane catalogue
“Fly Jefferson Airplane” is a musical documentary recommended easily to fans of the beloved San Francisco acid-rock group. Vintage performance footage of their best-known songs are presented in surprisingly-clean footage with good sound fidelity and in their entirety–rare for most “nostalgia” videos. The performances span the classic “hits” of the 1966-1970 era: “It’s No Secret”, “White Rabbit”, “Somebody To Love”, “Plastic Fantastic Lover” as well as lesser-known gems “Martha” and the two “Pooneil” songs.

If one is looking for “dirty dish”, there is no sniping here. The former band members reflect nostalgically, warmly and philosophically on their collective achievements instead of the often-documented acrimony and in-fighting. They have, it seems, grown up. They are all, Marty Balin points out with some satisfaction, STILL ALIVE. Perhaps no other major rock group of the era can boast such a claim. It is, initially, shocking to see these sexagenarians and reconcile them with the young and vital performers we see in the music clips.

As a documentary, it plays it safe: it avoids a critical perspective on the music, the albums, the band members or live performances. It is, in some ways akin to a souvenir of “The Summer of Love”. It does, however, go into enough interesting detail (through interviews with all the band member interspersed throughout) to give the uninitiated or casual fan a reasonably-broad and informative look at the group’s history and accomplishments. Bonus features include more interviews and a photo gallery.

WARNING: May trigger flashbacks.
I guess I developed my appreciation for the Jefferson Airplane during my college years (1977-1981). I’m no child of the sixties, but my uncle went to Woodstock, and like many college students I learned of the magical powers of certain hallucinogenic substances. There is some ineffable quality in Jefferson Airplane’s music that lends itself well to the psychedelic experience, and anyone who knows where I’m coming from ought to get this DVD. Apparently produced under the auspices of Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, this disc captures some of the magic of the San Francisco music scene, circa 1965-1972, and the pivotal role Jefferson Airplane played therein. That the members of the band are still alive and still relatively LUCID is nothing short of amazing, but if you are looking for dish, you won’t find much here; there’s nothing in the interviews that hints of the acrimony that sometimes flared during the band’s heyday. But the musical performances: WOW! Where did they dig up some of these films? And how did they preserve them so well? Particularly fascinating for me is the performance of “It’s No Secret,” featuring the band’s FIRST female vocalist, Signe Anderson. Her presence is altogether different from that of her successor, Grace Slick, but there’s something about the quality of her voice that always intrigued me. The performance is a heady mixture of exultant vocals, jubilant dancing in the audience, and of course those very trippy liquid light shows that Ms. Anderson’s first husband was apparently responsible for. I don’t think you can overestimate the archival value of “Fly Jefferson Airplane.” So break out the stash, slap this disc on the DVD player, and take a little TRIP back in time ….

Way better than I expected
Like I said, this DVD was much better than I was expecting it to be. The sound and video are very clean, and a few songs have been re-engineered into 5.1 DD. The songs are presented in their entirety without interruption or voiceover.

The interviews, interspersed between the songs, show the band members (Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Cassidy, Spencer Dryden, manager Bill Thompson, and later drummer Joey Covington) fondly, insightfully, and humorously recalling what made Jefferson Airplane tick. Don’t miss the bonus material, which includes additional interviews with discussions about their genesis, Bill Graham, light shows, Woodstock, and Altamont. Plus, there’s an interview with Maurice, who provides the only hint that there was often friction between the band members.