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The Saloon

Chapter Four

He had checked into the hotel: shaved, took a bath, and put on the cleanest dirty shirt he had. Combed his hair and wiped his boots off with spit and the shirt he was about to put on. He then looked out the window; it was 10:00 AM on the clock above the saloon he was in yesterday. Then tightening his gun belt, he went down stairs of the hotel, out the door, across the street to the saloon, then as Blue walked through the door he walked up to the bar, ordered a whiskey with a beer to wash it down. Two young gunmen were standing along the bar: fiddling with their shot glass. He hadn’t seen them in the saloon the previous day, although he recognized most of the others—regulars.

A young man at his right, blond hair, medium build, about five food eight inches tall, perhaps 22-years old or there about was checking Blue out; first his height, his build, and then how his holster was, and his gun handle. Then his partner, a little taller and heaver pointed to a picture on the wall.

“Is that you, old man?” the black haired fella said.

Blue jerked off his leather hat, saying, “Does it look like me?”

“I heard of you, Arizona Blue. Fast as fast can be but not faster than my friend standing by you,” he said with a cocky voice.

They were part of the new breed Blue thought, as he looked at both of them, one on each side of him. The blond next to him and the black dude farther down the bar. They’d shoot you in the back that was the kind they were, thought Blue.

The blond stepped back: “Meet you in the back of town, Mr. Blue. See how good you really are.”

Blue stood there with his whiskey in one hand, the other close by his gun handle; the hell with it take this kid out he told himself, but on my wedding day (?) so he questioned himself.

Said Blue with a hesitant voice, one he never had before,

“I’m getting married, flea’s, so it’s your lucky day, go home.”

Momentarily he felt odd, he should take care of these two, right here and now, it was his style. Why let another man have a chance to plan your killing.

The two men walked out of the bar, and then Ben asked,

“A local lady I gather?”

“Yaw, your sweet little Ella,” answered Blue.

“Ella,” replied Ben surprised, “she’s a pretty one all right.” Ben thought he best leave it at that, in case something wrong came out of his mouth, and he might not live to regret it, remembering what the previous day had brought.

Blue looked at the clock in the bar, it was 11:00 AM. He then took his second drink: he drank it down quick, and walked outside.

The blond kid stood in the middle of the street, said,

“I wish somebody would tell me, Mr. Blue, the true story of you, the coward part”.

Nobody had ever dared call him a coward before, and lived to tell about it.

“Where is your buddy,” asked Blue.

No response.

Blue turned to face the bond gunfighter, his hand going slowly down to his gun side. Both were thinking: would it happen here. It was becoming too much for Blue to back away he couldn’t take it.

“Okay, kid, I’ll meet you in that empty lot by the outskirts of town, no need to mess up the street here with blood.”

This was not what he wanted at all though. He wanted to marry that woman that made him laugh. She would be a good sidekick, a good wife he thought.

Ella

Chapter Five

Ella came up from the church hearing there was to be a gunfight. She stopped at the edge of town and stood by an old broken down shack that once housed slaves. Several townsfolk were there already, but she moved a little farther away from them, standing alone for a moment. Behind her were two houses with backyards and fences dividing the three acreage [open area land], where the two men stood twenty-five yards apart.

Blue looked to his right, there was Ella: she was pretty as a sparrow, and all dressed in white. He smiled; she had decided he was the one she wanted to marry and that as long as he married her he could do what he did best.

Never had she known such empty stillness, as she stood there. Her body was like a storm that wanted to break open the clouds.

“I’m ready boy, go for it, “said Blue. The boy went for his gun but before he could clear his holster, Blue shot him in the heart. The boy went back a foot but not down. Blue looked dumbfounded. He knew he hadn’t missed.

The boy was laughing so hard he didn’t even aim the gun now dangling in his hand. He had on a metal vest that started to shine as one of the buttons broke off his shirt. Blue looked closer, squinting his eyes, trying to make heads or tails out of this drama.

Something else was wrong: Blue didn’t see the black guy. He looked over to the fence; there were now a dozen or more people watching. The sheriff, Ella, and her dad stood by the shack on the right. All of a sudden Blue caught a glimpse of a gun pointing at him coming out from behind the fence. It’s the other man, thought Blue, but before he could pivot his body to position himself, the fragments from the shotgun hit his chest like a dying buffalo: thus, he rocked back and forth, and then fell to his knees and then flat on his face.

The dark young man jumped out from behind the fence,

“I killed Blue,” he yelled.

Ella, frozen in shock, grabbed the sheriff’s six shooter, and aiming it carelessly at the man, shot him four times, once in the foot, then in the shoulder, and as he fell to his knees, a bullet hit his chest, and his eye. The youth was blood soaked on the ground, next to dead. Her eyes lifted up and over to the blond, he knew if he shot her, the town folks would hang him but if he didn’t, she’d shoot him. Within ten seconds a bullet hit her forehead and she dropped to the ground. Then the fire works started, several guns started shooting at the blond. The gunfighter went down hitting the dirt like a chicken with his head snapping every which way.

Ella’s father, picking her up, with her last words she asked to be put by Blues side and buried next to him. And her father did as she asked, putting her hand into his, and turning him over so she could see him. He had a smile on his face. As she laid there: 10-seconds of life left, she whispered to her father,

“You know daddy, one day out of my life, today, was better than all the rest.” And she died, and was buried by him. Their tombstone read, Mr. and Mrs. Blue: Sidekicks.

Originally written: Originally written in 1990; Rewritten: 4/2002; Revised during the months of November and December of 2005 First time in publication.

See Dennis’ web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com dennissiluk.tripod.com

The evolution of electric guitar has brought about a revolutionary change to the world of music. Because of its exceptional features electric guitar has almost surpassed the acoustic guitar. Today musicians using electric guitar are more at liberty to play creatively and express their own individual styles.

But, with more and more music companies coming up with wide range of guitars, choosing the right guitar that could fulfil all music needs are a challenging affair.
Since deciding to invest on buying an instrument is quite significant, some careful steps are to be taken before selecting the instrument. Especially for the starters, finding the right electrical guitar can be a really difficult task.

However, the choices may vary from person to person. Every guitar may sound and feel different to every individual. But, all new buyers will be eager to find the best electric guitar. Therefore before purchasing one should be confident about his choice and do research and analysis through different sources– may be Internet, professional players or advice from the retailers. So by analysing the recommendations and reviews from customers and technical experts one find out the best electric guitar that could suit his taste.

One cannot stick to a fixed set of guidelines for buying a guitar. But definitely cost would matter for the beginners. A beginner usually considers sound, hardware quality and the feel before choosing a guitar. Above all it is a natural tendency for a buyer to choose that electric guitar which can give a pleasant sound and good feel to him.

Before buying an electric guitar the buyers should also check the wood quality and hardware of the instrument. Ignore the looks; it should be made of good quality wood. In fact there are numerous cost effective electric guitars for beginners. Above everything before buying an electric guitar one should ensure whether the retailer gives on-going support or not, because electric guitars often break, regardless of its quality.

That is why before finally deciding to buy an electric guitar one should look in to certain things, such as brand names on other parts of the guitar, for example the tuners or pickups, whether they are from reputed companies or not and the wood quality. Apart from it one should avoid buying from unknown sources and refer to the guitars played by professionals.

Jayson Pablo, an author who writes on different themes for xpert4u and appeal to visit the site to get information about xpert4u.co.uk/entertainment/ music dvd and xpert4u.co.uk/entertainment/online-music.html online music.

Don’t let your beginning student get stuck trying to learn a piece of music that is really just too difficult for them. Don’t buy music for your beginner before allowing their piano teacher to focus your child’s attention on learning the basics. Of course your beginning student wants to play a really cool piece of music they can show off with, but don’t let them spend an entire year on one piece of music. While there is nothing wrong with this for an advanced student, beginners need to focus on the basics to achieve real piano progress that will transfer to other music. Here are two ways parents can do to support their young children in piano lessons or their older beginner to stick to a long-term plan that will result in an outstanding repertoire and a solid foundation of piano skills.

1. Encourage your child in piano lessons to learn a new piece of music their piano teacher assigns each week. At the end of the year your child will have learned to play 52 songs! Plus they’ll have developed a great foundation of skills and playing abilities they’ll need to know well to play more complex music. Some of these 52 songs they’ll like much more than others and want to keep playing. This makes it fun for kids to play for others. They like to show off all the music they can play and enjoy the encouragment they receive from friends and family.

2. Don’t discourage your child from setting high goals. Instead focus their attention toward the end of the year piano recital. This is the time for your child to choose a challenging piece of music. At this time it will be much easier for your child, having spent many months acquiring skills and playing abilities, to learning more difficult music that will showcase their talent and skill at their recital. In this way your child will have playing confidence that has been nurtured over time through previous successes.

By the time your child’s Spring Piano Recital rolls around they’ll be prepared to wow the audience with a wonderful piece of music, and have the playing confidence to do this with comfort and ease.

For great home piano activities parents can use to help children ages 5 to 11 develop their musical talent, visit pianoadventurebears.com Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources You’ll find a treasure box filled with piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for your child - right in your own home! Visit their website and subscribe to their f’ree internet newsletter so you can download f’ree piano sheet music and mp3s of original piano compositions.

These exciting stories, games, piano lessons, and inspirational gifts feature the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Young students follow along with Albeart to learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand appreciate. Click here to visit pianoadventurebears.com PianoAdventureBears.com For a wealth of information about piano lessons, visit tallypiano.com tallypiano.com

In a nutshell chords are three or more notes played at the same time. Specific patterns create chords.

In order to learn these patterns that make chords we will start with learning about Major Scales.

Where W= Whole Step and H=Half Step, the pattern to making a Major Scale on the piano is….

W-W-H-W-W-W-H

In the key of C (in case you don’t know where C is on the piano it is the white key located immediately to the left of the 2 black key grouping) that pattern results in

C-D-E-F-G-A-B and again to C

Okay so now you know how to make scales. (of course you should take this pattern and try it with other keys on the piano).

Let’s move on to chords.

What we call a Major Chord is also is built from a pattern that pattern is…

R-2W-3H

Where R=Root or where you are starting from, 2W=2 Whole Steps and 3H = 3 Half Steps.

There are other ways to figure our how to make Major Chords but for the sake of simplicity this is what we are going to use. Now you can go to the piano and starting on any key use the above formula and find all Major Chords from C to Eb and beyond.

The nice thing about chords and their patterns is that your hands start to memorize, rather quickly I might add, the position it takes to form these chords and it becomes as natural as speaking…sort of.

Here are few to get you started:

C Major = C-E-G

Eb Major = Eb-G-Bb

D Major = D-F#-A

I’ve picked these 3 because their particular hand positioning are the three most common and the rest (that you will be figuring out on your own or using the chord chart at strugglingchurchmusician.us) will come much easier.

Happy Playing!

K Quinn has been playing the piano for 10 years. She picked up the guitar 5 years ago and both for her church. Visit her website at strugglingchurchmusician.us strugglingchurchmusician.us for more church musician tools and tips.

Often The Online Think Tank ponders many philosophical ideas and concepts and of course such a think tank does not condemn interesting thoughts nor does it make any subjects off limits. Recently, a young Think Tank Participant made the comment that human thoughts cannot be controlled. In fact this person went on to say that once you allow or become aware of an unpleasant or negative thought it is impossible to prevent similar thoughts from entering your mind.

As the operator of a Think Tank, I often enjoy discussing such concepts that come to mind and indeed, I have encountered this theory prior and dismissed it. As even if a human could not control their thoughts, it would not automatically proclaim that once they had an unpleasant thought that they could not stop similar thoughts from entering their minds. The reverse could also is not logically correct. That is to say if you have similar unpleasant thoughts often, this does not mean you cannot control your thoughts.

So, I dismiss this notion completely. However, I do understand all the previous science from Delgado, Vannevar Bush and other researchers of the past and forward to the present. Additionally, I understand these overwhelming potential sciences to over power the senses and the mind and how those might be used in ways to help promote peace and security, while also understand others concerns about the possible future misuse.

It is an interesting science and has fascinating implications. Knowledge of such and will power would help an individual resist such. Still as I have interests in military technologies, I think stopping combatants rather than killing them, does have some worthy future benefits; ie. the son’s of dead fathers do not seek revenge. And so when asked the question; Is it Impossible for You to Control Thoughts that Enter Your Mind?

The answer maybe for the most part yes, but under extreme mind control situations; well perhaps not always. Nevertheless, I hope this topic drives intellectual thought in 2007.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; WorldThinkTank.net/ WorldThinkTank.net/

If you have been placing bets on favorites in horse races for
a while, and still haven’t found the success you have been longing for -
than you must read on to find the answer to this problem.

Let me tell you a secret that could make you
thousands of dollars…instead of losing you bucket loads of
money…

Placing bets on favorites will make you
broke in just a few weeks!

So, do you think I have gone mad because I made
the above statement?

Let’s have a closer look…

Thousands of punters place bets on favorites
every day, but in many cases lose money,
because the favorite they bet on didn’t win the
race after all.

It is true that favorites have a better chance
of winning. That’s why they ARE favorites.

In fact, favorites win about of the time,
which is significantly higher than the other
horses.

But still, if you place your money on a
favorite every time, you will lose money in
the long run. That’s just a fact of life. If you
could win every time you would have placed
a bet on a favorite, you would have been a
millionaire years ago, wouldn’t you?

So, what’s the secret? how can one place bets
on favorites and still win in the long term?

The answer is simple - choose your favorites
correctly.

Betting on favorites can make you wealthy instead
of broke, but only if you do it right.

There are certain FILTERS you need to apply
to your choices.
These filters will make a favorite qualify,
or not qualify.

After you find the favorites that do qualify,
you place your bets on them only!

And you immediately enjoy a much, much
higher rate of success than the average
punter!

That’s why having accurate information about
the race is vital to your success.
Information like:

- track condition

- the horses’ last race

- the barrier drew of each horse

- and other details

Knowing these factors gives you the ability to pick
and choose the surest bets among the hundreds of
races that take place every week.

That’s how you gain a huge advantage over
the other punters that don’t bother with
analyzing any extra information. They just go
with their “hunches”.

Let them. You are different, and you will
enjoy long term success because you are
willing to make an extra effort and pick your
winners wisely!

Find out more about safebettingmachine.com Horse Racing Betting in Alex’s website - safebettingmachine.com. We also talk about how to find the best safebettingmachine.com Horse betting system that will help you generate huge, consistent profits.

Sensual Journey is the latest release from Superstar Will Downing, and I can only think of one word to describe it… AWESOME!

Unfortunately, it’s not everyday that I get a CD from an artist that I can just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. There is usually a song or two that I just can’t force myself to get through. Not at all the case with Sensual Journey. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

Sensual Journey has a pleasantly varied, mix of 11 tracks that are very well written songs by this clearly outstanding artist. With many of the songs displaying a lot of the kind emotion that makes for a really great listen. Clearly drawing from what I can only imagine are his own personal experiences. At different points touching on the most real emotions of love, heartbreak, pain, failed relationships and unattainable romance. They’re all here.

Will Downing possesses the characteristic of being able to bowl you over with his talent alone. The kind of artist I frankly just flat out enjoy listening to.

Overall Sensual Journey is an outstanding release. I give it my double thumbs up. You will not be disappointed with one single track.

While this entire CD is really very good the truly standout tunes are Don’t Talk To Me Like That [track 4], If I Ever Lose This Heaven [track 7], and Brooklyn Breezes [track 10].

My SmoothLee Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1, Cool Water. Wow!

Sensual Journey Release Notes:

Will Downing originally released Sensual Journey on May 07, 2002 on the GRP Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Cool Water
2. I Can’t Help It
3. Home
4. Don’t Talk To Me Like That
5. Almost Like Being In Love
6. Maybe
7. If I Ever Lose This Heaven
8. Drowning In Your Eyes
9. Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely
10. Brooklyn Breezes
11. Bolero Nova

Personnel includes: Will Downing (vocals); Vinx (scat vocals); Lee Ritenour (guitar, keyboards); Blake English, Michael Thompson, Russell Malone (guitar); Hubert Laws (flute); Gerald Albright, Boney James (saxophone); Ray Brown (trumpet); John Beasley (piano); Kowan Paul (keyboards, bass, programming); Ronnie Foster, Rex Rideout (keyboards); Stefon Harris (vibraphone); Ronnie Garrett, Marcus Miller (bass); John “J.R.” Robinson, Will Kennedy (drums); Paulinho Da Costa, Luis Conte (percussion); Lisa Vaughan, Phil Perry, Vesta Williams, Darcy Aldridge (background vocals). Producers include: Will Downing, Lee Ritenour, Kashif, Sandy Stein, Rex Rideout. Engineers include: Don Murray, Blake English, Michael Thompson.

Get the information you want on your favorite smooth jazz songs and artists at

Audiobooks generally come in two formats: MP3 and WMA. Both of these formats will play on PCs and Macs and most

portable players, like the iPod.

The book publisher chooses which format they want the title to be distributed in. When you purchase a downloadable title

from an online store, you are usually taken to a special area of the site where you can choose from a variety of file

format based on the quality of the recording.

Naturally, the higher the quality, the bigger the file and thus the longer it will take to download. If you have a high speed broadband Internet connection you will probably prefer to download the highest quality file available. If you have a slow Internet connection you can choose to download a file that is smaller in size, but will not be of quite the same quality, but it will still be very listenable.

With 70% of the digital player market dominated by Apple and the iPod, a natural question is whether the audiobooks can be transferred to the iPod. The answer is a resounding “yes.”

All you have to do is burn the files to CD first (this is a step we’d always recommend as it is wise to make a physical backup copy of anything you buy just in case your computer ever fails or is stolen) and then rip that CD straight into iTunes, when it’s transferred to your iPod on synchronization.

And don’t worry, Copying the files to an audio CD on your computer is quick and easy, particularly if you are using Windows.

It is very easy to download an audiobook. Once you have made your purchase from a reputable online store, you will be taken through to a special part of the site where you can download the files you have purchased. Easy to follow instructions are always provided on the download page.

Audiobooks will work on a standard PC and Mac and there is no risk of breaking the law as with many music sites and piracy.

ALL of the content of audiobooks has been approved by the publishers and copyright holders. As a paying customer you are entitled to download and listen to these files as often as you wish and on whatever equipment you wish. However, like any other media, it is illegal to make copies of the files and give them to other people.

The length of time it will take for an audiobook download will vary greatly depending on what kind of Internet connection you have. If you have a broadband connection it will take just a few minutes per part. If you have a 56k dial-up connection it will be considerably slower.

If a recording is several hours long we will have split it into several parts to make it easier to download so even if you are on a slow connection you can start listening to the first part whilst the others are downloading.

The author is the publisher of the AudioBookStorePortal ( audiobookstoreportal.com audiobookstoreportal.com), an online audiobook distribution service with more than 5,000 audiobook titles available.

Reflections Concerning the Translation of Poetry

Thinking about various modes of translating poetry it occurs to me that a translation that respects the rules of grammar must [inevitably] be a false translation of the original [the matter of originality will be discussed below] because a poem — a true poem — is a poem [the repetitiousness is deliberate here] that reflects on poetry as all true poems do while pretending to say something important about life, love, nature, mankind, death, religion, reality or whatever it pretends to be saying — a true poem — regardless of whether it is ancient, classical, romantic, symbolic, modern, contemporary, postmodern or whatever it is or has been made to be — a true poem cannot, must not, will not respect the rules of grammar –

grammar is the police of poetry
grammar is the IRS of poetry
grammar is the CIA of poetry
grammar is the Gestapo of poetry
grammar is worse than a concentration camp
grammar dictates and to dictate is to be dictatorial
grammar exterminates true poetry
grammar forces the one who translates into submission to the rules of grammar
grammar destroys true poetry

The day grammar was invented poetry was enslaved —
only those poets who revolted against this enslavement wrote true poems –
[the readers of these reflections concerning the translation of poetry can make their own list of poets who have revolted -- mine is already made]
and so to render the grammarlessness [thank you sam] of a true poem one must not — one cannot be faithful to the original because faithfulness would by necessity [and by obligation] introduce grammar into the new version in whatever language it has been translated –

but there lies the ambiguity, the inescapable ambiguity and the paradox of translating a true poem because a translated poem that rejects the rules of grammar can only be a falsification of the original poem — it has to be a false translation just as a translation that respects the rules of grammar is a false translation –

only the original can be a true poem but since poems always borrow or steal from other poems then the act of poetry is always an act of plagiarization and as such a true poem is in fact a false poem — this is why the act of translating poetry is a futile act just as the act of writing poetry is a futile act since one can never write a true poem — only the first poem was true but it quickly got lost, erased, forgotten into subsequent poems — and so to write poetry is to lose ground [I stole this from my Roumanian friend Emile Cioran] –

[when Cioran told me that I replied] then why kill oneself to write poetry since one always kills oneself too late — why write to say exactly what one wanted to say in the first place or what others have tried to say in vain –

[those who disagree with the above reflections can reflect on the subject by themselves -- I merely wanted to share these reflections with those who may not have reflected on the question of translating poetry -- or cannot do so] — these reflections apply also to the translation of fiction — I thank you for your attention]

www.zhongguofanyi.com www.zhongguofanyi.com
www.htffy.com www.htffy.com

A pro translator

Looking for a musical instrument to inspire you?

There are so many beautiful musical instruments around for musicmakers. I have a soft spot for baby instruments - beautifully crafted, easily stored and surprisingly cheap.

These small scale instruments - often called travel instruments, baby instruments or mini instruments - offer intimacy and easy handling to songwriters and musicmakers at the day job, crooners on the back porch and dreamers in small bedrooms!

The lower prices of baby instruments suit both professionals wanting a unique sound and beginners wanting a small instrument to play often

How can it be that something smaller is cheaper? From my experience of building model aeroplanes as a kid, ’smaller’ involves so much more effort. (Or was it just the glue?) But much of the baby instrument range is priced low enough to warrant building a little creche of ‘babies’. And that way they can play together when you’re busy.

The size of these travel musical instruments make it possible to have several in your life without clutter

Baby instruments fit discreetly in the corner of your workplace or studio allowing you to take a break and ‘have a blow’. (Imagine lawyers, truckies and childcare workers grabbing a moment to strum their baby mandos or strumsticks to ease tension and bring a little magic into the day!)

Baby instruments are not toys. They have a tangy sound each of their own by nature of the scale and materials used. I love the sweetness and intimacy that these little babies evoke. It’s the musical version of ‘oh she’s so beautiful’ usuually bestowed on little animals and humans!

Baby instruments help save songwriters and arrangers from ‘Writer’s Block’

For songwriters the perfect antedote to ‘writer’s block’ (we’ll talk about that myth another time) is to move between musical instruments to find a new insight and to release the ‘block’. So, widen your soundscape - go into unexplored territory.Often playing an instrument you are NOT proficient at leads you to exciting new places in your musicmaking. And we all know how great a teacher a chord book can be in helping us approximate ease and competence on our instruments!

Choose your baby musical instrument of choice and then something way out of your experience from guitars, basses, ukeleles, accordians, banjos and melodicas! Having a selection of beautiful baby instruments will keep you inspired for ages! And in the digital age of ’small is beautiful’ you’ll get lots of kudos for your socially relevant choice of a baby instrument. Yeah that’s right, you’ll be the point of interest wherever you go with your ‘baby’.

Andrea rieniets works as a singer/songwriter/composer/producer/musical director/community artist in Australia. ‘A rarity amongst Australian musicians.’ Black and White Magazine. Her blog is
tinyurl.com/do9pg Crikeymoses! Tips and tools for Creatives - getting your expression and activism out into the world where you live! Andrea’s gorgeous music can be heard at tinyurl.com/6643c gorgeousworld.com
‘Intensely tuneful songwriter with a swag of techno savvy’ Rolling Stone