VampireS SUMO

Now that the Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (2006) has been passed by US congress (after a back-door entry attachment to a Port Security restriction that was sure to pass) what now for online poker and what effect will it have on the multi-billion dollar US gambling industry as a whole?

The full effects of the US Gambling Enforcement Act are not likely to be known for some time, probably the end of the next financial year. The law, which restricts the provision for players to submit funds using US banking systems could be devastating, not only for the online poker companies themselves, but for the spin-off companies such as software providers, payment mechanism and the many other companies that all feed off the online poker industry. Indeed, Neteller’s share price dropped 63% upon release of a statement declaring that it was considering carefully its response to the US Act.

Some of the smaller poker sites will struggle to survive now, due to the massive loss of players from the US. You have for example Paradise Poker that has lost around 80% of the players from its network, and can now be seen as a site which will struggle to keep the liquidity of players that is necessary to be able to provide a competitive online poker site.

Already the law has forced many online gaming companies to rethink their strategy and direction, and there has been much speculation regarding mergers and takeovers with sites like Party Poker and 888 even suggesting collaboration.

However, since the Act, companies are now said to be increasing their marketing spend in the UK and into Europe, as a way of looking forward and moving away from reliance upon the US market. Party Gaming, one of the largest poker operators, already has a substantial part of the gaming market outside the US, with $150 million of revenues generated from non-US business this year, a 151% increase on the previous year. Playtech, another major player also has over 50% of its business derived from other regions such as Asia and Europe, so is likely to survive the fallout from the US Act.

A lot of the big companies have suspended the receipt of payments from US players, but sites like Party Poker still allow access by US players to its free play games.

Also, since the US Gambling Act came to pass, some US players have still been finding ways of cash playing online poker. One such player was said to have closed his Party Poker account, wired his money to an offshore account via Neteller, and then deposited via Neteller into VIP Poker Club, a UK based poker site. Casino City (who monitor online poker traffic) are said to have seen a huge increase in traffic into other offshore poker sites, fuelling speculation that US players will not be hindered in fulfilling their desire to play and gamble at poker.

On the other side of the ocean, the UK has recently seen safe passage of its UK Gambling Act. The Act could help the UK become one of the largest online gaming centres of the world. This of course will depend on the next stage processes, ensuring that tax levels and gambling commission regulations do not restrict too tightly the operations of online gambling. The UK Act will play an important part in helping age verification, gambling addiction and fraudulent behaviour to be monitored and will also allow the UK to be seen as providing legitimate access to online gaming, something which other European countries may wish to follow.

The state-run lotteries in most countries in Europe would like to see online gaming restricted, as protection of their own profits, but the future looks brighter in Europe as a whole, with countries like Italy and Portugal also looking at the licensing situation with regard to online gaming. Indeed Italy recently invited tenders to run one of its state operations.

What impact will the US Act have on the European online poker market? Well, most likely it will be a war on marketing from an increased number of competitors on a smaller market, due to the US change and the difficulties of entering the Asian market. So most likely the cost of acquiring each poker player will increase very much and the profitability will drop within the industry short term.

Overall, the future does look bright for online poker. Sites like Juega Poker Ya who operate in Spain, have seen an increase on its poker network of some 30% this year as thousands of budding Spanish poker players are queuing up to learn how to play the world’s greatest card game in the hope of repeating the success of Spanish poker supremo Carlos Mortenson, World Poker Champion just three or four years ago.

One thing the US Act has achieved since coming into place, and that is to have brought online poker to an even wider audience. It has meant that players are seeking other sites which do not have restrictions and it means that US players will fight even harder in the face of adversity and ensure that they can continue with their favourite online pastime.

Written for Juega juegapokerya.com Poker Ya, part of the IPN Poker network. Poker online in various international languages. This article may be reproduced in full, providing all links and author are retained.

Having taught the guitar for many years, I see the majority of beginners experiencing the same problems and making the same mistakes over and over again in their quest to learn how to play guitar. It’s my job to steer them through these problem areas.

These “mistakes” are basic errors that most beginners naturally tend to make. But these mistakes can cause major problems if you allow them to become habits in your playing. Unfortunately, 90% of guitarists have done just that!

Avoid These 3 Mistakes Like The plague

The three main mistakes MOST people make when learning how to play guitar are:

1: Trying to play too fast too soon.

Don′t be in such a rush. Trying to go too fast too soon causes serious problems. Sloppy playing and mistakes will become your trademark.

Learn to practice slowly and perfectly. The reason for this, is, what you program your brain and fingers with while practicing, is what you’ll get as a habitual and subconscious end result.

The GIGO computer term describes it best. Garbage In = Garbage Out. If you program a computer with faulty data, your results will be faulty too. It’s exactly the same with learning how to play guitar.

So practice everything very slowly and perfectly. Do this, and your playing will be to a higher standard than 90% of all other guitarists. Yes - even those that have been playing for years!

2: Too much body and hand tension.

Have you ever noticed how the top professionals make it all look so easy and effortless? How relaxed they are?

Take a lesson from that.

When learning how to play guitar, and in all practice sessions, you need to be as relaxed as possible at all times.

Unnecessary tension anywhere in the body when playing will stop you like a brick wall. Any “excess” tension in your fingers, hands, arms, elbows, wrists, shoulders, neck, chest, stomach, thighs, legs is extremely hazardous to learning how to play guitar properly.

Practicing the right things in the right way will give you amazing results - even if you practice only 10 - 20 minutes a day.

3: Learn the difference between practice time and noodling time.

Basically, you learn how to play guitar in two ways:- 1: when you practice, and, 2: when you noodle and try out new ideas.

Practice Time is SERIOUS Time!

It’s when you are specifically and very deliberately teaching your body and brain new motor and muscle-memory skills. This is all done very slowly, with great care and meticulous attention to detail. Never practice fast.

Practice time is where you develop muscle-memory and train your body to act in the most beneficial way for playing guitar. Remember - GIGO!

This is the foundation building time.. where you lay the foundation for learning HOW to play guitar the best way you can - without imposing limitations upon yourself through bad practice habits.

Noodling Time.

Noodling Time is where you learn how to play guitar by putting into practice what you study during your practice time. It’s where you to steal licks, chords and solos off records. It’s where you hunch over your cd player or computer with your guitar trying to hear and learn that tricky chord or lick.

It’s where good habits can easily become undone!

Better to do this… Once you learn a lick, sit down in your chair in the proper position and play that lick over and over at a slow speed while focusing on being as relaxed as possible and with absolute minimal finger movement. Program that lick, your physical movements and relaxation “perfectly″ into your brain. Only when it becomes 2nd nature to you, and you “own” that lick, should you start speeding up.

But… always focus on being as relaxed as possible.

Noodling is fun, and a necessary part of learning how to play guitar. Do as much as you can. But.. don’t mistake it for real practice time. Don’t noodle with bad habits either.

Next… you need to ensure you are practicing the correct things in the correct way too. But that’s another story.

John Bilderbeck has taught guitar for 30 years. To claim your FREE “Master the Basics” eBook course now, visit his free-guitar-chords.com/products/How-To-Play-Guitar1.php” target=”_blank Free Guitar Chords Site now.

As you probably know, a horoscope is a map of the heavens at the time you were born. Your horoscope shows the astrologer what signs your planets are in. It reveals all your tendencies, attitudes, frustrations, talents and life purpose. And a lot more!

But you don’t need to figure this out to find out what your Mars means. Just ask an
astrologer.

Let’s say I looked at your horoscope and found out that your Mars is in the sign of
Cancer. Here′s an easy way to understand this:

Mars= passion and desire to take action

Cancer= a sign that relates to food, baking, bread, real estate, home,
family, stomach, mothering and nurturing

Now, put some of these meanings together with Mars and you will come up with
some things you really have a passion for. Then you simply ask “Which one of these
things, that relate to my passion, do I feel the strongest about?”

You might say that you have a strong passion for cabinetmaking, which relates to
building homes. Or you could have a strong passion for real estate or running a
bakery. In any case, your Mars in Cancer shows that your passion is strongly related
to the areas of life that relate to that sign.

Here’s another example:

Your Mercury is in Aquarius. Mercury= thinking and communications.
Aquarius= relates to advanced technology, computers, aircraft, space
travel, astrology, engineering, musical composition and friendships.

If you have your Mercury in Aquarius, you will always approach information from a
technical or advanced level of awareness. The Aquarian signs imparts a keen ability
to look beyond the obvious and seek out radical forms of expression. Some of our
greatest pioneers, inventors, and composers had Mercury in Aquarius.

If your Mercury is in Aquarius, all of this will make sense to you.

Don’t you find it quite remarkable that the heavens can reveal so much information
about you?

Let’s take one more example.

Your Venus is in Leo. Venus= appreciation, attraction, what you like.
Leo= sign of the arts, creativity in all forms, love, romance, sports,
theater, painting music, the heart, and children.

If your Venus is in Leo, you are truly a romantic. You love the game of love, playing
the field, and expressing yourself creatively. You have a loving heart and you want
to impart that feeling to others.

When you combine the planets with the signs, think of the planet as desire and the
sign as an attitude. Then your horoscope will begin to make sense to you.

Obviously, your horoscope is far more complex than this, but I have shown you in a
very simple way how the planets and signs reveal who you are.

© 2006 Randall Curtis

Randall Curtis is a professional astrologer with world-wide
clients. Click on

One word describes the CD In The Fullness Of Time from Grady Nichols… AWESOME!

This CD literally grabs your attention right from the start with Heaven Help Us All and won’t let go until the very last note of the very last song Tuesday Morning, which by the way is another great track.

One of the refreshingly nice things about this CD is the way all of the participating artists seem to be really enjoying themselves. Combine that with the overall presentation and you’ve got one of Grady Nichols’s most impressive releases ever.

Listen to and I think you’ll agree that the song choices are excellent, the production is outstanding and Grady’s Sax work is in top form. Of particular note on this offering is his amazing rendition of Amazing Grace.

My SmoothLee Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 11, Amazing Grace. Good stuff!

In The Fullness Of Time Release Notes:

Grady Nichols originally released In The Fullness Of Time on Sep 21, 2004 on the Compendia Music Group label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Heaven Help Us All
2. Live For You
3. Awakenings
4. Seasons of Change
5. In Not Of
6. When She Comes To Me
7. Just For You
8. Oh My Soul
9. Something About You
10. I Will Be Your Friend
11. Amazing Grace
12. First Corinthians Thirteen
13. Tuesday Morning

Personnel include: Grady Nichols (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Bill Champlin (vocals); Chris Hyde (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Wallace McNary (Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards); Jeff Lorber (keyboards); Chuck Totress (bass guitar); Joe Nathan Watkins (drums); Matt Steele (percussion); The Higher Dimensions Choir. Recording information: Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Get the information you want on your favorite smooth jazz songs and artists at ilovesmoothjazz.com iLoveSmoothJazz.com

Clyde Lee Dennis, a.k.a. smoothlee.com SmoothLee is a life long music fanatic, smooth jazz in particular, and does a daily online radio show featuring smooth jazz music that can be heard at tulsasmoothjazz.com TulsaSmoothJazz.com

Lottery software plays a vital role in increasing your chance of winning a game. This strategic tool helps the player to pick the winning lottery number combinations. Lottery software is database driven and has an easy-to-use interface. You can easily set up the software for most lotteries around the world, including the U.S and Canadian lotteries.

A full and abbreviated wheeling system with filter is used in most lottery software. The filter helps to eliminate weak tickets, with combinations of numbers that have least possibility of winning. The software also includes a database for recording the details of the previous winning numbers.

Basically, there are two types of lottery software - lottery number analysis software and lottery prediction software. The lottery number analysis software provides an easy method to analyze single and group numbers, and also the numbers in lines. It can be used to find the frequency and occurrence of the number. The software uses different types of analysis methods such as mathematical analysis, visual graphical analysis, and geometry. Some software even uses artificial intelligence or neural network algorithms to determine the winning patterns.

Lottery prediction software allows the player to identify the numbers which are likely to be drawn in the next upcoming drawing. The prediction is done based on the previous draw calculations. The software reviews the previous winning numbers, sorts them, and determines the new number. Normally, the software sorts the numbers into two categories - hot min numbers and cold numbers. The numbers that are drawn more frequently are considered as hot min numbers whereas those that are overdue to be drawn are sorted as cold numbers. Some software also lists the last drawn numbers. The sorted lists are displayed both in grid and graphical forms. Apart from these, lottery prediction software provides statistical reports and ball occurrence reports.

Above all, syndicate management software and entry management software are also available. Syndicate management software allows you to manage the medium and full lottery syndicates. Entry management software is specifically designed for the lone player.

z-Lottery.com Lottery provides detailed information on Lottery, Florida Lotteries, California Lotteries, Lottery Results and more. Lottery is affiliated with e-selllotterypayments.com Present Value of Lottery Payments.

Most people think that selecting the perfect acoustic guitar is a simple task, but whether you are a beginner or an expert, choosing the right guitar can be a very difficult decision.

For most beginners an acoustic or classical guitar is a great choice because it is easy to use and requires almost no accessories.

The first step in selecting the perfect acoustic guitar is to do your research. With so many different products, manufacturers and styles of guitars available on the market, musicians need to be well informed. Talk to the sales people at your local music store and ask as many questions as possible.

The second step in selecting the perfect guitar is deciding which type of guitar you want to play: Acoustic or Classical. Classical guitars use nylon strings which produce a soft, mellow sound, while acoustic guitars use steel strings and produce a bolder, stronger sound.

The third important step in choosing an acoustic guitar is whether you want six or twelve strings. Twelve string guitars require much more precision and skill than a six string guitar. If you are a beginning player it is always recommended to start playing with a six string guitar and as your skills increase move on to a twelve string guitar.

The fourth step in selecting the perfect acoustic guitar is choosing the right body type. The body of the guitar is split into three separate parts: a top bough, the waist and the bottom bough. The waist is the narrow part in the middle of the body and the boughs are the bulges above and below the waist. Having a seamless fit between the body of the musician and the body of the guitar is very important for comfortable playing.

The fifth step is to select the type of wood the guitar body is made from. Most guitar bodies are made from a top, a bottom and a single band of molded wood for the sides. Each has a sound hole cut out of the center which emits the sound from the strings. Guitars can be made from either laminated wood or solid wood. Laminated wood guitars are less expensive and deliver average to excellent sound. Solid wood guitars can be very expensive but deliver exceptional tones and superior sound.

The sixth step for buying the perfect guitar is to test it out. When trying out new guitars always try to play the same musical selection. This will allow you to hear the different tones and sounds available from model to model. If you are a beginner and don’t know how to play, ask one the sales associates to play a sample for you. Most employees in music stores play instruments themselves and are always willing to show off their skills.

The seventh and last step to selecting the best acoustic guitar is to know your budget. Acoustic guitars can cost as little as fifty dollars and as much as thirty thousand. Look around in music stores, online and in local pawn shops to find high quality guitars at reasonable prices.

Follow these steps and you′ll own the guitar of your dreams in no time!

The asseenontvmegamall.com/esteban-guitar.html esteban guitar is a great acoustic guitar for beginners. You can pick one up at our asseenontvmegamall.com as seen on tv product site.

(C) 2007. You may reprint this artice provided you include author’s information box and active links.

Personification is the giving of human traits to non-human things that cannot have those traits. Dogs can experience fear; therefore, writing about a fearful dog is not personification. Clouds cannot experience anger; therefore, “angry clouds” is personification.

Writing a poem about a talking cat may have personification, but that doesn’t mean the personification enhances the emotion of the poetry. Therefore, we need to go more in depth to understand how the use of this poetic device can and should aid the emotions found in the poem. (Note: all poetry, unless otherwise noted, copyright 2005 by Vivian Gilbert Zabel.)

Writing about dark, towering clouds may create a feeling of dread, but look what happens when we use personfication:

The dark, towering clouds rumbled their anger
As they smothered the frightened sky in blackness.

Now the emotion - stronger, more pronounced - catches our attention. Of course anger is an emotion, but having the clouds exhibit the anger enhances it.

I often use personification in my poetry, almost subconsciously, because it does add to the intensity of emotion: sighing tree branches, whispering winds, sleeping flowers, frightened sky.

The Chapel

Like a chapel on a rugged crag,
Its steeple pointing upward,
My life doesn’t huddle protected in the valley
Beneath trees that keep the blistering sun at bay.
Walls of stone slow not the power of pounding wind.
No, my chapel fights to withstand the snarling gales,
Baking heat, and freezing chill, unshielded from attack.

Yet, as I gaze around me, eyes wide in wonder

At the panorama spread where e‘er I survey,
The view is worth the struggle, strife, and pain.
Where else can I see what beauty can be found?
Unless I live above the clutter, near the clouds,
Despite the storms that shake life’s walls,
I would miss the majesty that can abound.

The path to my mountain top may be steep
Over the jagged teeth of angry rocks.
Yet the trip merits the difficulty, the distress
Even if a towering tempest hides the sun,
For a rainbow will follow the rain someday,
Even if the storm wipes the chapel away.

In the preceeding poem we find a fighting chapel and angry rocks, both images providing a battle-type emotion.

Personification allows the reader to sense more of the emotion the poet tries to create and share. Practicing the use of personification allows us to be more proficient.

Vivian Gilbert Zabel taught English, composition, and creative writing for twenty-five years, honing her skills as she studied and taught. She is a author on Writing.Com/ Writers ( Writing.Com/ Writing.Com/ ), and her portfolio is Writing.Com/authors/vzabel Writing.Com/authors/vzabel. Her books, Hidden Lies and Other Stories and Walking the Earth, can be found through Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

Formed somewhere in London around the mid sixties, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, Bob Brunning (later axed for Jon McVie) and Jeremy Spencer drove a rough old van around the lesser known delights of The Swan in Fulham and The Toby Jug in Tolworth hoping for something better. It was probably far from their minds that it would take Fleetwood Mac a line up change and another ten years to finally reach the dream of sky high success.

And this was it….

‘Rumours’ was the rather aptly named album from Fleetwood Mac released in February 1977 following the success of ‘Fleetwood Mac’, the first album introducing Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, the lovers of both themselves, each other as well as songwriters and performers in their own right.

The controversy surrounding the long awaited ‘Rumours’ was not of the usual political sense like their contemporaries, but born out of the emotion traumas of the personal kind. At the very start of the back breaking recording of the album that by the end , had taken a tiresome 11 months, the band had just about endured all personal losses evolving each other that any human being could possibly face.

Mick Fleetwood had come into the first of two divorces from wife, Jenny Boyd (sister of the lyrically famed Patti Boyd, the subject of George Harrison’s ‘Something’ and Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’), a weary and draining separation , but short lived as only four months after their finalisation of divorce, they married again. Being the ‘father’ of the band and the one when other band members turned for security and stability, he had not only had to face the crumbling shambles of his own marriage but also to be the rock for the others when their personal troubles came to a head. Nicks and Buckingham, the golden couple of both visual beauty as well as creative genius were failing hard at their own personal relationship. After being together for some considerable length of time, they became bitter towards each other and this reflected in their song writing. Nicks, shortly after breaking up with Buckingham, started dating Don Henley from The Eagles, this added more bitterness to Buckingham’s material. The final couple of the band were the McVie’s. Christine and Jon had been married for a few years and had enjoyed Fleetwood Mac together before the arrival of the younger two. Jon drank to excess and although well mannered when sober, became irritable and argumentative when drunk. They split and Jon started dating quickly, but perhaps only to black out the love affair of Christine McVie and Curry Grant, the lighting technician for the band. Perhaps it is not obvious then as to why this million selling album became the very pinnacle of all that was , from then on, Fleetwood Mac. There has never been an album of this kind ever since by any other artist.

13 times Platinum in the U.S and 10 times in the U.K, it held its number 1 position in the American album charts for a breath taking 31 weeks. Over here it shot to number 1 again and remained in our charts for an unbelievable 447weeks. Rewarded a Grammy for Outstanding Contribution in 1988 and entered into the rock and roll hall of fame, it is not easy to find another band such as this in the 20th century.

Surprisingly, the only number 1 that the band have ever had was with ‘Albatross’ in December 1968. It is even more surprising to find that from any of the singles from the ‘Rumours’ album, not one of them made it any where near the top 20.

Where Jon McVie came up with the title of the album, he was reported to have said later that it should have been called ‘Gossip’ as it was a mere collection of whispers, between each member about each member. What we hear then perhaps is something that is so personal that the listener feels that he is almost intruding on conversations that shouldn’t be heard by anyone else other than the band. Each track was heartbreakingly true, coldly written and soul baringly correct that it appears like a musical diary of the vents that were taking place within the band at the time. It could be said that the best albums in the world are born out of tragic loss, even death amongst the groups.

Do we hear their pain and relate to it on an intense personal level? This could be said for maybe a small minority of listeners. The rest of us just hear a tune that we like the sound of….

The album was purely inspirational, not just to themselves but to other artists that followed them. A gruelling schedule of 18 hours a day in the recording studio was what it took after the first two months peppered with technical difficulties and production hitches that in the end, the entire album was recorded in 4 different studios panning from California to Florida. It was no wonder that none of the members couldn’t stand to se the sight of each other every morning, but yet, these strong willed, hard headed, passionate people may have lost their passion for each other for good, but this only drove the desire to produce an album of such strength and quality in its place.

Despite the troubles of this band and the desperation they individually felt throughout the recording of this album, it is the very last thing that the listener experiences. I have never owned such an enlightening, inspiring and soul lifting album. Born out of fears of the heart, it gives the listener joy and hope. On a dull, miserable, wet and dark February afternoon, do yourself a favour, dig this album out, blow the dust of it, and watch the sun come up in your room…..

Tracks include; Second Hand News, Never Going Back Again, Don’t Stop, Go Your Own Way, Songbird, The Chain, You Make Loving Fun, I Don’t Want To Know, Oh Daddy, Gold Dust Woman.

©michelle duffy 2006

Warner Bros. Records Inc.
fleetwoodmac.com

Michelle is a freelance writer in England and owner of the websites, generationsounds.co.uk www.generationsounds.co.uk, nevermindthebloggers.bravehost.com nevermindthebloggers.bravehost.com and their successful sister, ‘Never Mind The Bloggers’ at paperback-writeⲥ.tripod.com paperback-writeⲥ.tripod.com. She has been writing over the last year, for five major consumer websites across the world and is one of the only two music category advisors for one website in the U.K. Her websites promote young, amateur and professional bands/artists and their fan clubs whilst also reviewing them for local and world wide promotion. She has also recently launched the blogs; ‘The Ramblings Of An Old Rocker,’ ‘Bohemian Waffle,’ ‘The Rhythm Rock And Blues Machine’ and ‘The Moped’s Musings.’ She is currently working on a third website and fourth web log.

Recently, I did a Google search for the term “piano lessons.” After hitting the return key, it came up with millions of search results. Of course, I’m only going to wade through the first 20 or so. And so I did.

The one site I came upon more often than others (because of the Google ads) was something called Rocket Piano. It’s a site that promises to teach you piano. What’s not clear is just exactly what style it teaches. But it does promise to teach you piano.

On the site is a black and white picture of the creator (supposedly) named Ashleigh Southam. Now, I’m not saying this product is good or bad. It would be nice to see a sample lesson or a screenshot of what is being offered although to be fair, he does offer free sample lessons.

Another site you’ll see a lot is called Hear and Play. This site is a lot clearer in what it teaches - gospel piano. Not being a fan of gospel piano, I can’t comment on the content. What I can comment on, however, is the tacky nature of the website itself. It’s very “sales” oriented as its author wants to sell you his products and services. Nothing wrong with that. Just a little too flashy for my tastes.

All in all, a good piano lesson website will give you a sample of what’s being offered. If not, they′re trying to hide something - or they′re trying to close as many sales as possible by provoking the curiosity factor where you salivate over the benefits and features to sign up only to be disappointed after buying.

I′m not saying that what I offer is the best online piano lessons site. I am saying I show you what kind of lessons to expect. Look…you can shop around and buy anything you want. But ask yourself why a website wouldn′t show you what they’ve got first.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html now and get a FREE piano lesson!

Coko, one of the former members of the R & B trio SWV has released her latest CD titled Grateful and Wow! It’s good.

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 Grateful. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

Gospel music fans will recognize some of the well known contributors on the project including Lloyd Barry and Jimmy Bowland plus a few other notables as well.

If you’re a Coko fan this is a CD your collection flat cannot be without. In fact, this is one of those CDs that you don’t even have to be a fan of Coko, or even Gospel Music to know is good. It’s just good music. Period.

While the entire CD is really very good the truly standout tunes are Look At Me Now [track 1], Grateful [track 3], and Please Don′t Forget [track 11].

My SmoothLee Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 6, The Reason. Outstanding!

Grateful Release Notes:

Coko originally released Grateful on Oct 31, 2006 on the Light Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Look At Me
2. Mighty God
3. Grateful
4. Clap Your Hands
5. Endow Me
6. The Reason
7. I Get Joy
8. Holy
9. I Promise
10. Please Don’t Forget
11. Hymn Medley
12. Please Don’t Forget - (remix)

Personnel: Coko (vocals, background vocals); Akil Thompson (guitar, bass guitar); Lloyd Barry (strings); Jimmy Bowland (saxophone); Vinnie Ciesielski (trumpet); John Hinchey (trombone); Arthur Strong (piano, organ); Big Mike Clemons (drums); Javier Solis (percussion); Clyde “Lady Tibba” Gamble (background vocals).

Clyde Lee Dennis is a life long music enthusiast and in addition to writing music reviews he is also the Travel Editor at Oklahoma City: eNewsBriefs.com where he covers topics like oklahomacitysmoothjazz.com/local-business/hotels.htm Oklahoma City Hotels and more. Visit oklahomacity.enewsbriefs.com/ OklahomaCity.eNewsBriefs.com for the latest oklahomacity.enewsbriefs.com/ Oklahoma City news and information.