While i was over there, i was very glad to be helping, but when the date came that i knew you were playing at the Enmore, i was really cut deep that i could not be there. My wife and her girlfriend went to see you, and were standing at the front of the stage, cheering for you, and i flattenned two mobile phone batteries, listenning to your entire show, over the satellite phone, and mate, you still brought tears to my eyes, and made my hair stand on end. i could really hear what a great time you were having, and you played a red hot show. My wife said that you kicked ass on Vai, as much as we both love his stuff. There is no other like you, and i dont think there can ever be another Satriani. So if you dont mind, please continue your amazing work, so that we have as much of your great work as we need, to last a lifetime, and to pass on to the future. I personally would like an acoustic album from you, when its time to settle down, and chill out- BB King style. for now, you are still a Rock God, and that Ibanez of yours would never forgive you for putting her down. I have an old JS 100, but will be upgrading to the JS 1200, with that nice lo pro. My other influences are anyone with talent- you have set the standard so im picky. I dont read music, not even tab, I play by ear and improvisation. Its more free. I play some Tommy Emmanuel- (he signed my Maton acoustic- you should try a Maton, Aussie made, they are like silk! Maton Messiah- beautiful.) Mr Vai- he's brilliant, Malmsteen, Garry Moore, Van Halen, Clapton, Hendrix, I love all of the 80's rockers. There is some good guiter coming out these days too, its very interesting times for music, anything goes. Quite like Creed and Pod also- for the guitar. anyway, i better shut up. Thanks again Joe!!! I believe in My dreams

Delfino, oops, something I forgot to mention in my email:

Hey Joe,

I have a suggestion or two for your site. Here goes:

How about a section for suggestions to aspiring musicians?

It would be geared more for advise and tips on dealing with the music industry more from the business/legal side of things that could come from your own experiences. I am sure that there are many serious musicians here who would appreciate and apply that info to their own situations. Just something you could update as you saw fit, based on subjects that you think might be relevant to the current day or situation. It may also include scans of past interviews on related topics that may be currently out of print, but you may still have copies of. Maybe it could include video and audio of certain interviews.

Examples of somethings that may be in here are: getting copyrights, how record deals work, protecting your work, tips for negotiating studio time and costs, and anything that deals with what a working musician may face in the industry today.

Or maybe you could have another area that is like above, but is about playing guitar and such (theory, exercises, etc)....

I have been a fan since just before/as Surfing was breaking here on the east coast. If there was an unofficial fan club at VCU here in Richmond, Va back in '87,... I was the founder and prez.... lol

Part of the reason I am such a fan is due to what I read about you and how you handled the business end of things. I thought that here is a smart musician, not just some other axe slinger. So now I also try to learn how different musicians handle this end of things too. But, I also know that there probably are some insider things that you have dealt with that, having prior knowledge of, would be beneficial to those of us looking to do something serious with music. Thus leading me to my suggestion. At, 36, I am not looking to become a rock star, but more along the lines to how to make a serious working stab in the business. Anything more is just icing on the cake.

So, wadda ya think?

Hope your webmaster isn't pissed at me for suggesting more work for him....LOL

Yes, I am original Gen X'er computer geek. LOL

Thanks,

hi joe!!

waz up?

im one of your avid fan here in the philippines, im also inclined with guitar i usually play most of your compositions especially "always with me, always with you".

hope you can give some of your latest techniques nd give me advise so that it will enhanced my capability..

hope to see you perform here in the philippines to series of concert. goodluck in your carreer and upcoming concerts..

Good Morning Satchland ! ! ! !

cheese......Thanks for your comments on Todd. Like I said...it's closure but not what I'd like it to be. But.......Take care of our Macgyver Girlie when she arrives. Sounds like a good time. Have fun as I'm sure you will.

van dutch......Welcome to the site. Your post was a grand entrance into the T2J communitee. Joe's the best and your words echo how we all feel. Joe's very inspirational and moves millions of people everyday. Take care.

Guitar Samuri....... I like your idea alot. The problem is time. I can only imagine how busy Joe is from day to day and I don't think he'd have the time. I've met Joe a couple of times and asked him about doing an instructional DVD. He said his schedule wouldn't allow that to happen. Still it's a good idea.

Stevee T...... Yeah, I'd like to go to Vancouver. Why don't you drive down through Chicago and pick me up and I'll drive to Vancouver. Will go Dutch. LOL ! ! ! !

Yeah Stevee if yer drivin sumthin other than the roadster, stop by toronto for me....

I got a corporate gas card!!!!! (poorly veiled bribe)

giggidy giggidy giggidy

hey everybody. michelle. cube. mikey. alexandre. marimari. whad'up?

music crap that i've been up to lately

nothing like single takes with crappy recording methods. It's more of a "you get the idea" type thing. Still fun for the whole family though.

Ugh... gotta go to work. Good to see some familiar names still here.

People Try to Lose Weight at McDonald's

RALEIGH, N.C. - Inspired by the documentary "Super Size Me," Merab Morgan decided to give a fast-food-only diet a try. The construction worker and mother of two ate only at McDonald's for 90 days — and dropped 37 pounds in the process.

It was a vastly different outcome than what happened in the documentary to filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who put on 30 pounds and saw his health deteriorate after 5,000 calories a day of nothing but McDonald's food.

Morgan, from Raleigh, thought the documentary had unfairly targeted the world's largest restaurant company, implying that the obese were victims of a careless corporate giant. People are responsible for what they eat, she said, not restaurants. The problem with a McDonald's-only diet isn't what's on the menu, but the choices made from it, she said.

"I thought it's two birds with one stone — to lose weight and to prove a point for the little fat people," Morgan said. "Just because they accidentally put an apple pie in my bag instead of my apple dippers doesn't mean I'm going to say, 'Oh, I can eat the apple pie.'"

Spurlock, who turned his surprise-hit movie into a TV show on the FX network, isn't talking about Morgan or the many other McDieters who have criticized his film and found success losing weight by eating healthy foods off the McDonald's menu, said his agent, David Magdael.

One person went so far as to make her own independent film about dieting at McDonald's. "Me and Mickey D" follows Soso Whaley, of Kensington, N.H., as she spends three 30-day periods on the diet. She dropped from 175 to 139 pounds, eating 2,000 calories-a-day at McDonald's.

"I had to think about what I was eating," Whaley said. "I couldn't just walk in there and say 'I'll take a cinnamon bun and a Diet Coke.' ... I know a lot of people are really turned off by the whole thought of monitoring what they are eating, but that's part of the problem."

As might be expected, McDonald's also objected to the impressions left by Spurlock's film. Walt Riker, the company's vice president of corporate communications, said Oak Brook, Ill.-based company is pleased — but not surprised — that some customers have lost weight eating only at the fast-food giant.

Spurlock's film "really spurred a backlash based on common sense," Riker said.

Morgan used nutritional information downloaded from McDonald's Web site to create meal plans of no more than 1,400 calories a day. She only ate french fries twice, usually choosing burgers and salads. Those choices are a stark contrast with those made by Spurlock, who ate every menu item at least once.

At the end of the 90 days, she had dropped from 227 to 190 pounds.

"It feels great," she said. "Because, the truth of the matter is that beauty is power, and if you're fat, or your overweight, then people don't really take you seriously."

Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, agreed that a low-calorie, McDonald's-only diet can help people lose weight but said it may not offer enough long-term variety. Whatever an individual does to lose weight, they need to do for the rest of their life, she said.

Morgan said she hasn't decided if she will stick with the McDonald's-only plan to reach her goal of 150 pounds. But she does have one complaint about McDonald's.

Part One of Two

Bored on the Phone? Beware Jerk-O-Meter

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Ever wonder if that spouse, friend or co-worker on the other end of the phone is really paying attention? The "Jerk-O-Meter" may hold the answer.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing software for cell phones that would analyze speech patterns and voice tones to rate people — on a scale of 0 to 100 percent — on how engaged they are in a conversation.

Anmol Madan, who led the project while he pursued a master's degree at MIT, sees the Jerk-O-Meter as a tool for improving relationships, not ending them. Or it might assist telephone sales and marketing efforts.

"Think of a situation where you could actually prevent an argument," he said. "Just having this device can make people more attentive because they know they're being monitored."

The program, which Madan said is nearing completion, uses mathematical algorithms to measure levels of stress and empathy in a person's voice. It also keeps track of how often someone is speaking.

"It's an academically proven thing," Madan said of the math behind those measurements. "There are a bunch of academic papers published about this."

For now, the Jerk-O-Meter is set up to monitor the user's end of the conversation. If his attention is straying, a message pops up on the phone that warns, "Don't be a jerk!" or "Be a little nicer now." A score closer to 100 percent would prompt, "Wow, you're a smooth talker."

However, the Jerk-O-Meter also could be set up to test the voice on the other end of the line. Then it could send the tester such reports as: "This person is acting like a jerk. Do you want to hang up?"

To test the program, Madan and his MIT colleagues recruited 10 men and 10 women — all strangers to each other — and brought them into the lab. The researchers paired off the test subjects, with men only talking to men and women only talking to women, and monitored 200 three-minute conversations about randomly selected topics.

Part Two

Bored on the Phone? Beware Jerk-O-Meter

The study indicated that men and women are interested in conversations for different reasons.

The subject of the chat was more important to men than women, Madan said. "For the women, it was more dependent on who they were talking to and what the mood was like," he added. "It wasn't just about the topic itself."

The researchers also tested the technology at a bar in Cambridge where a group of singles were "speed-dating," rotating through a series of five-minute conversations.

"Mathematically modeling" each person's speaking style let the research team predict whether a speed-dater would agree to a real date. It was a good sign, Madan said, if the speed-daters engaged in "back and forth exchanges," punctuated by "ahas" and "yups."

Frank Guenther, a professor of cognitive and neural systems at Boston University, said there are a host of "non-linguistic" cues, such as pregnant pauses, flat pitch levels and slow speech rates, that indicate boredom or disinterest.

"To me, it sounds like it's great for the entertainment factor," he said of the Jerk-O-Meter. "But I don't think you'll be able to get definitive measurements. There is just too much variability across individuals."

The prototype version of the program runs in Linux on a phone plugged into Voice over Internet service. Once the Jerk-O-Meter is completed, in six months or so, Madan envisions selling it as software that could be downloaded off the Internet — a potentially useful tool for focus groups, telemarketers and salesmen.

"It sounds pretty cool," said Jeff Kagan, a telecommunications analyst in Atlanta. "But if someone was using it against me, I'd say, `How dare they!'" he added with a laugh.

The Jerk-O-Meter is one of many projects at MIT that aim to make cell phones and other communication devices more "socially aware," said Alex Pentland, director of the Media Lab's human dynamics research group.

Madan and Pentland have formed a company, iMetrico, to commercialize some of these technologies for sales and marketing efforts. But it's too early to say whether the Jerk-O-Meter would be one of them.