Justin Germino Ramblings

It is very hard to be in the local music industry, my gal who runs Rock Along Productions wades into this business with razer thin profit margins and high risk booking bands and fronting venue fee”s not because she is looking to get rich, but because she truly loves promoting local musicians and bands.

There is a ton of competition and there are also many people who just done experiment and listen to local music, all they know is what they hear on the radio and they don’t want to broaden their horizons.

Then there is the door fee, people don’t mind spending $9 to see an hour and a half movie at a theater, but will balk at spending $7 for four hours of live musical entertainment. This is a shame really, because many of these bands play original music and walk away with less than fifty bucks for a gig.

They all do this in the hopes of reaching more people and collecting more fans, which slowly but steadily happens unless the band is really lucky. Talent has less to do with success in this industry and luck reigns supreme.

So good luck to all musicians playing the local bars and clubs and the promoters who try and put together local shows.

-Justin Germino

I am an active participant on BlogNetAwards website, which is a great site for bloggers to vote, comment and find other blogs that are truly of very high quality.  All voting and entries are added and tallied, and a random drawing is done every month to determine the top 10 prize winners, with cash prizes for the first three winners.

I won first place and a cool $150 CAD is coming my way via paypal for commenting and voting on the site, this is my 5^th win in the last 7 months on BlogNetAwards, and my 4^th win that actually earned some money.  So overall I have actually won if you add it all up about $400 CAD from BlogNetAwards from September 2008 through April 2009 so far and that isn’t too bad just for voting and leaving comments.

I encourage everyone who is a blogger and a paypal account to register and start voting and commenting, you can start by voting for my poetry blog Wanderer Thoughts and earn your entry for April’s drawing.

-Justin Germino

Casa Grande is a small city of just over one hundred thousand residents and has its fair share of restaurant which grows every months. There are at least five Chinese restaurants in the city at this time and there is one that has been here for over seven years and consistently served the best tasting Chinese food in the city.

Having lived in Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe and Casa Grande I have frequented about twenty or so Chinese places over the last decade and I can tell my readers that Lucky Chinese Restaurant is the best of the best. I have ordered seventeen items on the menu over the past few years and have been satisfied with each and every item ordered.

I wrote an article reviewing Lucky Chinese over on Associated Content which talks about some of the menu items and why I think its the best in Casa Grande, so go over and read about The Best Chinese Restaurant in Casa Grande

Here is the address for those living in the Arizona neighborhood who might want to check it out:

Lucky Chinese Restaurant
1350 E Florence Blvd
Casa Grande, AZ 85222
(520) 836-0102

-Justin Germino

My friends, especially those of you who live in the greater Phoenix area, I will be at GoatHead Saloon in Mesa, Arizona tonight from 8pm until 2am to help run Rock Along Productions Rock Music Showcase. This show is 5 live rock bands playing starting at 8pm, and tickets are only $7 dollars for four hours of music, which is cheaper than a movie and you get much more entertainment.

If you go to RockAlongProductions.com and print out the coupon, you can get in for only six dollars instead of seven which makes it easier, also if you sign up for our Rock Along Productions Club Meetup Group you can save a dollar of every show if you declare your from the meetup at the door.

Here is the poster for the show, I will be at the door so if you want to stop by and chat, say hi and talk blogging, music, poetry or anything, feel free to hit me up.

I look forward to seeing some of you there.

-Justin Germino

My wife and I have been watching NBC E.R. series every week since 1996 together (she was watching since Episode 1).  Thursday nights have been our couch time and we would just sit together and enjoy the show while I rubbed her legs and feet.  This is now a 13 year ritual that comes to an end tonight (only the TV Show itself, we still watch other shows and leg rubs are always part of it).

So tonight I order in Chinese (Lucky of course) and we sit and say farewell to what used to be one of the most innovative and interesting television drama’s in  a while.  Sure the show has had its ups and downs, and I personally enjoy House as a better medical show, but it still was fun to watch and has a lot of history in this household.

I wonder if Southland the replacement show will be any good, I intend to give the first episode a try and if it doesn’t work out then Thursday’s still have The Office and I can always make it a Blockbuster movie night.

-Justin Germino

I wrote on DragonBlogger.com how I have been using the MagicJack for about two and a half weeks now and have cut down my cell phone usage tremendously, the product works very well at least here in the United States and I have only had about 2 dropped calls out of about 96 calls made with the service. It is nice being able to use the Internet and computer to make phone calls and not have to rely on a cell tower or other device that mobile phones are Dependant on, I don’t have to worry about minutes, contracts, long distance or anything.

I do eventually see in the near future cell phones becoming more and more competitive and cost efficient, eventually in five years I predict there won’t be such a thing as “minutes” that you have to track and all cell phone plans will be unlimited calls nationally, with only extra expense for international calls. I predict the plans will drop from the current prices to around fifty dollars a month for such an unlimited plan especially if cell phone companies want to compete with Internet telephone service providers now.

-Justin Germino

I wound up submitting an article to Associated Content that was specifically targeted toward bloggers, I didn’t know if AC would publish my article but was surprised when they offered me $3.10 cents to host my article, so I decided to accept it figuring some payment was better than posting it for free on my blog instead.

I often submit articles to Associated Content as exclusive, and if they are rejected, I turn them into blog posts, figuring if they aren’t offered money up front, I can re-use them on my blog. I have made about $11.00 from Associated Content in the month of March, but March was my first month using the web site so that is still better than some of my blog earning sources.

Check out my article called “Don’t Be a Slave To Your Blog” on Associated Content and let me know what you think of my article.

-Justin Germino

Zeolite is a volcanic mineral that has been used in many industries as an absorbent or purifier, medical devices use it to purify gases to help create pure oxygen for oxygen generating machines, it also is used as a purifier for liquids or solids for its various abilities to screen at a molecular level. So it was interesting that I learned that Zeo Health has an array of Zeolite products which are designed to help purify your blood stream and gastrointestinal tract.

The theory is that the Zeolite which also has a negative charge acts as an absorbent which causes minerals and impurities in your body to be attracted to so they can be flushed out of your system. This should allow your immune system to grow faster and recover without having to fight so many foreign sources at the same time. If you do a Google search you will find that Zeolite right now is undergoing studies to show whether or not it can be effective in assisting children with autism as its ability to trap and collect mercury from the blood may be of benefit.

So if you are looking to try a new product that may help with your immune system and purify your body, do some research and see if Zeolite is something that may be something worth trying.

-Justin Germino

So now that I have my Gamefly account I received my second Wii title the Monsters Vs Aliens game and was sorely disappointed when I tried to play it.

The game starts off well with you playing the role of Susan on the first level, but the scene where you have to shake or wave the Wiimote to have her open the door doesn’t seem to work.

No matter how hard, fast, slow or soft you shake the Wiimote the game doesn’t recognize the shakes often enough to even open the first door in the game.

My five year old and myself tried 16 times over and over, even using 3 different wiimotes thinking the motion sensor was not working in one of them.

So after giving up in frustration I sent the game back after having it less than an hour. One bad thing about Gamefly is you don’t get any game manuals and the newest games don’t have much online yet to wiki or google for such issues. All I could find were some initial reviews of the game, nobody reported any such control problems that I could find.

Oh well, I hope the next game that comes is more fun to play and works better.

-Justin Germino