London Guitar Shop

Just to highlight from an earlier post about Wunjo's Guitar Shop located on the world-famous Denmark Street in London, England where I bought my blue Hofner Thinline 171 model. Here are some links to get you familiar with the shop!

Official Website

YouTube: Cool video featuring Wunjo's and other guitar shops in London

Link to earlier post on A Gainesville Rocker

Foo Fighters New Song

Just checked out on Rolling Stone the Foo Fighters new song off their new album 'Something From Nothing'. The band, according to the article, also has an 8 episode music travelogue that's set to premiere tomorrow, October 17th, on HBO called "Sonic Highways". Their new album is set to come out on November 10th. Check it out!

Rolling Stone article

YouTube: Foo Fighters' 'Something From Nothing'

Official Foo Fighters Website

Nominations for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2015

According to Rolling Stone, 15 artists have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2015. The acts include Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, the Smiths, Lou Reed, Sting, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and Stevie Ray Vaughan among others.

To take a look at the full Rolling Stone article, here's the link:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/green-day-nine-inch-nails-smiths-nominated-for-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-20141009

To see some of the nominations in action, here a couple videos from YouTube below:

Stevie Ray Vaughan



Nine Inch Nails

AC/DC Releases Single Off New Album "Rock or Bust"

Recently, AC/DC just released a single off of their new album set to come out in December called "Rock or Bust."

The song, "Play Ball," is available to download as a single on iTunes. It's also been featured on the ad on TBS for the Major League Baseball postseason. Here's a link to a YouTube video playing the entire single uploaded by ACDCVevo! Enjoy and rock on!

Review of Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web and Mobile Usability."

             Websites are vital, all around in general, in this day and age. They’ve become pretty much our go-to method for either finding general information, conducting extensive research, or to advertise a person or company. A lot about websites has changed, particularly in the last five to ten years. Before, we would see websites cluttered with a vast majority of information. Now with the advent of technology such as tablets and smartphones, everyone seems to be designing their websites to be easy particularly with people who are always on the go. Steve Krug makes a good argument about this overall website design concept in his book, “Don’t Make Me Think Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web (and Mobile) Usability.” Throughout his book, Krug makes a point to teach us how to effectively create and operate a web site that gets the message across, without having to be too complex.

            Before the Internet, our main sources for news and information were broadcast mediums such as radio and television, and print mediums like newspapers and magazines. There’s just that thing about growing up with newspapers: anxiously awaiting to read the paper over breakfast when you wake up in the morning, and also getting to read long, in-depth articles. Nowadays, people don’t want to wait until the next morning or a certain time of day to consume their news. With websites, and especially mobile technology, people crave their news and information every second. And they also don’t like to read long pieces as found in the daily paper, but instead they prefer very short pieces. Krug says with people on the go constantly condensing information is key, allowing people to skim websites for particular information and articles. Also, when creating a website, he tells us to “get rid of the question marks.” Instead of making it difficult for the user to decipher where to particularly point out information, put simple key words or phrases as page titles or links.

            Krug also points out the importance of each page having a title and each website having a search box. Also, unlike some websites that may have been like this many years ago, websites today don’t need to be cluttered with a bunch of different information on the home page, confusing the user. Remember, make it as easy on the user as possible and try not to make them think. Krug goes on to tell us the “Home” page is the most desirable piece of real estate on a website. He also introduces us to the “Big Bang Theory of Web Design” where the first few seconds someone spends on a website are the most critical. Tag lines are also beneficial to a website because they’re the one place next to the Site ID that explains the website’s purpose and to help ultimately draw in the viewer’s attention.

            Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Krug’s book on web and mobile usability. It really brings in full circle where we are now when it comes to websites compared to where we were just five to ten years ago. It also provides some very helpful tips for maintaining a successful website. If you’re looking to create and maintain a good, successful website, I would definitely recommend reading Krug’s book first as a good guide to help build the foundation for your site’s success. 

Shows in Gainesville for This Week/Weekend

Gainesville has a lot of shows slated for this weekend! One that looks interesting to me is on this Friday, September 26th at Loosey's on Southwest 1st Avenue. It will feature performances by folk rock band Flat Land, Pseudo Kids, and rock band The Head. The show starts at 9pm.

For more information on this show, as well as others throughout Gainesville this weekend, here's a link to http://gainesvilleshows.com/

AC/DC To Release New Album in December!

Australian rock band (and my personal favorite) AC/DC has announced its release of their new studio album, "Rock or Bust," for this December. It's their first studio album in 6 years since "Black Ice," and will be the first album that won't feature founding member and rhythm guitarist, Malcolm Young.

The band has also announced that Young is retiring from the band, after leaving earlier this year due to an undisclosed illness. For me personally, I'm very sad that Malcolm will not be on the album as he was a major part of the backbone for AC/DC. Although at the same time, I couldn't be happier for my favorite band still continuing on through the adversity to create new awesome music for many fans, like myself.

For more on this story, here's a link to the official press release on the band's website:
http://www.acdc.com/us/news/new-album-out-december-2

As well as an article by Rolling Stone:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ac-dc-confirm-rock-or-bust-lp-malcolm-youngs-departure-20140924