Antarctica Cements Act for Gore’s Live Earth

In an effort to fulfill his promise of a concert on every continent for his “Live Earth” event on July 7 to 8, Al Gore approached the British Antarctic Survey in February to explore the possibility of flying a band in to its

No, he was told, July is mid-winter in Antarctica, and no planes or boats can get in or out.

But all was not lost. BAS officials told Gore that a band was already in place on the South Pole. BAS press representative Linda Capper told blogger Tim Slagle, “We have a house band — five of our science team. They are very good indie rock-folk fusion. The remaining 17 will be the audience on location.”

Tehran Times: Lily Afshar’s guitar sojourn in Iran

At the foot of Tehran’s northern mounts in Velenjak, Lily Afshar’s family still lives in a flat where they lend a room to the head of guitar studies at the University of Memphis in Tennessee for her master classes for Tehran’s guitar aficionados.

It is difficult to imagine that Afshar, who once was a student of Andrés Segovia, is happy about having to hold courses in such a space. However, music teachers prefer this experience to dealing with the official restrictions on holding music courses.

Dallas Observer: Guitar Heroine

"Guitar has always been associated as a male right of passage," says Larkin, "but women like Rory Block, Memphis Minnie and Elizabeth Cotton broke the glass guitar ceiling years ago."

All three of those guitarists, plus a dozen more, are featured on La Guitara, making it the most representative sampling of female players. A few of the shows on the current tour will have Larkin trading licks with Erin McKeown and Muriel Anderson, both of whom have tracks on La Guitara.

MSNBC: Amid the chaos of war, gifts of music

The e-mail from Iraq started this way:

"So, a friend in my battalion received a Fender Stratocaster from you guys. It was amazing! . . . It's been about 6 months since I have played and it was so awesome playing the guitar my friend got. He told me about you guys, so I thought I would see if maybe I can get my own guitar."

And that is how Sgt. Jason Low received an acoustic guitar from Steve Baker, a Vietnam veteran of modest means and powerful purpose. Baker and his wife, Barb, run Fergus Music, a shop here in a rural patch of Minnesota not far from the North Dakota line. Together, they have shipped more than 300 guitars, mandolins, harmonicas, drums and wind instruments to Iraq to ease the strain of the soldiering life.

Posted by j_frank_carr at 8:22 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 8:33 PM EDT

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