Friday, June 15, 2012

Mafia Wars Bangkok Looted Items

Mafia Wars Bangkok is the latest addition to Mafia Wars. Mafia Wars is the most popular app on Facebook and Myspace. Listed below is a complete loot guide to Mafia Wars Bangkok's looted items. It's been separated by episodes and by factions (Triads vs Yakuza). After mastering each episode, you'll get a special mastery item which has been listed at the end of each episode's respective list.

Click on the following location links if you were looking for other Mafia Wars looted items for Moscow, Cuba or New York.

Episode 1 - Brawler

Yakuza
Silk Scarf (Armor) [20 Attack, 22 Defense]
Muai Thai Bodyguard (Armor) [18 Attack, 25 Defense]

Triad
Attack Cobra (Weapon) [24 Attack, 20 Defense]
Jade Inlaid Pistols (Weapon) [23 Attack, 15 Defense]

Mastery Item = Tiger Sak Yant (Armor) [65 Attack, 42 Defense]

Episode 2 - Criminal

Yakuza
Dirtbike (Vehicle) [24 Attack, 14 Defense]
Royal Thai Army Beret (Armor) [28 Attack, 21 Defense]

Triad
Riding Elephant (Vehicle) [18 Attack, 30 Defense]
Bosozoku Convertible (Vehicle) [29 Attack, 15 Defense]

Mastery Item = Royal Thai Police Tank (Vehicle) [58 Attack, 74 Defense]

Episode 3 - Pirate

Yakuza
MalayMobil Helang (Vehicle) [19 Attack, 34 Defense]
Seua Daao Sub (Vehicle) [35 Attack, 22 Defense]

Triad
Komodo Dragon (Weapon) [34 Attack, 22 Defense]
Fugama Kame SUV (Vehicle) [33 Attack, 21 Defense]

Mastery Item = Harpoon Cannon (Weapon) [88 Attack, 51 Defense]

Episode 4 - Commandant

Yakuza
Forest Scorpion (Weapon) [25 Attack, 37 Defense]
Royal Thai Army Jeep (Vehicle) [38 Attack, 25 Defense]

Triad
Hung Fa RPG (Weapon) [39 Attack, 20 Defense]
BRM-38 (Weapon) [23 Attack, 38 Defense]

Mastery Item = Armored War Elephant (Vehicle) [96 Attack, 69 Defense]

Episode 5 - Oyabun (Triad Trusted Status)

Yakuza
Scalding Hot Tea (Weapon) [26 Attack, 35 Defense]
Tanto (Weapon) [43 Attack, 28 Defense]

Triad
Kage Jet (Vehicle) [27 Attack, 42 Defense]
Optical Camo Suit (Armor) [43 Attack, 26 Defense]

Mastery Item = Ronin Armor (Armor) [72 Attack,111 Defense]

Episode 5 - Dragon Head (Yakuza Trusted Status)

Yakuza
Lloyd's Spectre (Vehicle) [18 Attack, 45 Defense]
Cleaver (Weapon) [25 Attack, 44 Defense]

Triad
Type 103 Machine Gun (Weapon) [42 Attack, 29 Defense]
Monk Robe (Armor) [29 Attack, 41 Defense]

Mastery Item = Typhoon Cleavers (Weapon) [70 Attack, 112 Defense]

Looted items can give you the added boost you need in your fights. Good luck with looting all the items in Mafia Wars Bangkok.

Yantra Tattooing and Other Magical Tattoos in Thailand

Visitors to Thailand may have noticed men displaying Yantra tattooing. What they may not have realized is that they likely met many more people who had invisible tattoos. Magical tattoos in Thailand have a very long history.

Many cultures around the world have used tattoos as part of their traditions. These can be a way to signify status positions within the group or in many instances they are believed to offer supernatural protection. Magical tattoos in Thailand are popular among young men who believe that having these designs can make them invincible or even irresistible to women.

What is Yantra Tattooing?

Yantra tattooing is also referred to as Sak Yant and they are associated with the animist beliefs that were popular in Thailand before the arrival of Buddhism. These magical tattoos are usually created by Maw Pii or spirit doctors, but some Buddhist monks are also willing to apply them. Sak Yant dates back to ancient times and the art is greatly influenced by Khmer culture; in fact the blessings are written in a Khmer script called Khom.

Yantra tattoos are believed to protect those who have them from all physical dangers, illness, and mischief from ghosts. The tattoos will only remain powerful so long as those who wear them follow certain rules; the tattoo will also need to be activated for it to be any use. In the past the ink used in the tattoos would contain such things as chin fat from dead human bodies. Sak Yant/ Yantra tattoos are very popular among Muay Thai fighters and military people.

Invisible Tattoos in Thailand

These are another form of Yantra tattoo only this time they are created by invisible oils so they can't be seen by the human eye. The power of the tattoos is in the blessing itself so actually seeing the design is not the important thing. This has meant magical tattoos in Thailand can be worn by almost anybody.

As well as being well respected for their power there are also those who fear visible tattoos. In recent times they have become associated with bad elements in Thai society such as gang members. This is why the invisible tattoos have become more popular. They promise the wearer all the benefits of protection without any need for social stigma. Anybody can wear an invisible Yantra tattoo without other people ever needing to suspect a thing; business men and politicians can have tattoos without any fear of it hurting their reputations. The popularity of the invisible tattoo has meant that even some of those who believe in the power of tattoos see the visible designs as a bit vulgar and exhibitionist.

Westerners Getting Yantra Tattoos

Many tourists feel the urge to experiment with magical tattoos in Thailand. Like all tattoos these pose health risks if not applied correctly; there is a very high rate of Hepatitis B in the region. Anyone choosing to get Yantra Tattoos should ensure that they are applied hygienically using sterilized needles. It is also worth while bringing along somebody knowledgeable about Thai tattoos to ensure that you are getting what you are paying for. Remember as well that magical tattoos in Thailand don't come with any guarantees.

Why Are Tattoos Popular?

Tattoos are on the uprise in today's culture. They are seen everywhere; in TV commercial ads, on rappers in music videos, and even in movies. As some begin to accept the tattooing fad, many begin to question the reasoning behind body art. Several would agree that the increased number of tattooed persons is caused by the attempt to cover up scars and the influential ways for one to express as well as tattooing for memorial reasons. All of these reasons play a role in the increasing of body art; however, they simply are not the main causes. Tattoos result in popularity because of peer-pressure.

At one time, tattoos were looked at as signs of rebellion by many. Some examples of people who got tattoos back then were often gang members, rock n' rollers, sailors, soldier, etc. This gave people with tattoos the image of being rough or at times established a feeling of fear in others. At the time, the workplace was not the place to show tattoos because of the images they portrayed. In result, many skilled people were denied jobs because of their tattoos, or in other words, the way that they looked affected their job status. When more people started getting tattoos, employers were forced to look beyond one's image as the demand for skilled workers was steadily increasing ("Tattoo, Bling"). While tattoos were becoming more accepted in the work place, they began to appear everywhere, from rap videos to movies to sports and even shoe ads. As sources say, even the new Chuck Taylor sneakers have gone to a new approach this year; making a tattooed sneaker (Wasserman). Eventually, tattoos overcame the stereotype of being rough, causing people today to adopt this new source of culture, and tattooing became a form of body art which created the trend we know today.

One assumed reason why some might choose to get a tattoo is to cover old scars. People get all sorts of scars and it becomes a self-conscious issue to them. Simply dressing scars up with the help of body art often becomes the result. One of my friends had a scar on her back because of surgery that she had and she became self-conscious of the scar. Once her wounds healed she got a tattoo over her scar, consequently, she seemed to feel better about herself, and in fact, wanted to show off her new tattoo. Tattoos that cover up scars make it difficult to see that a scar was ever there, and with this being the case, it becomes a more likely reason as to why people who have scars get them. While covering of old scars by tattooing is convenient, it is not the main cause because the majority of persons who get tattoos do not get them merely because of a scar. Many people get tattoos to cover scars; however, there are some who have scars that are not so coverable, such as burn scars that could cover most of the body. In this example, the scar cannot simply be tattooed over. In saying so, because the number of persons who get tattoos in an attempt to cover scars is low, it becomes apparent that while a reason to get a tattoo would be to cover up a scar, it is indeed, not the main cause.

As proposed by a number of persons, another cause of the increasing trend is that many people get tattoos as memorials. One reason why someone might choose to get a tattoo for memorial purposes might reflect a good or bad memory. A person might get a tattoo that reflects a bad memory probably to remember one specific time of trial, and in return it could help them remember the positive effect that this trial had on the person. A good time might reflect a memory that the individual enjoyed so much that they wanted a personal reminder, and possibly show off to friends or family. These memorials include loved ones, loved ones who passed away, values that are especially important to the individual, sorority and fraternity symbols, and some even get tattoos of their family crest. While memorials are in fact are a reason as to why some choose to get tattoos, not everyone has a memorable time that had such a tremendous effect on them, resulting in the desire to get a tattoo as a personal reminder of the event. As some might agree, most people who get tattoos might get symbols that are important to them, however are not linked to a memory. An example of this would be getting a zodiac sign such as the Gemini symbol as a tattoo. In result, it becomes clear that the main cause as to why people get tattoos is not memorials because only some people get tattoos that serve as memorials.

One of the most recognized reasons for getting a tattoo is self-expression. As many sources say self-expression is when people express themselves, whether it's an emotion or an idea, through a behavior or activity such as art. In this case tattoos are said to help deliver the message of expression. In many cases the will to want to express oneself through the form of a tattoo would seem to involve a desire to want to fit in or feel better about ones self-esteem. For example New York Amsterdam News wrote an article on an under-aged girl who got her tattoo to express herself however, she claimed that she got her tattoo to express herself, and in return she stated that she felt better about herself afterwards ("Kids..."). Because of this example, while it is apparent that self-expression becomes a major part of the reason as to why people get tattoos, it now is obvious that it is not the main reason. The reason behind self-expression is to feel better about yourself and to portray who you are on your body. In result, while tattooing is often seen as a way to express ones self, it in return is not the main cause as to why some people get tattoos.

Finally, while reviewing what others perceive to be the main cause in the increasing of the tattoo trend, what all of these points have in common is peer-pressure. It seems as though everyone has a tattoo, and everyone makes having a tattoo appealing because most do not regret the decision they made. Suddenly, tattoos are everywhere! With the media displaying tattoos universally it becomes a new fashion that everyone wants to have. Tattooing becomes the new fad when surrounding friends and family get tattoos also. Peer-pressure comes into play, for example, when some girls decide to go get tattoos to show their support and dedication to their sorority. Personally, I have a tattoo; I got one for my 18^th birthday. I decided upon a butterfly tattoo, representing the new life ahead of me at college. Sadly enough, prior to getting my tattoo I began to notice in my senior year that many of my friends had tattoos and that had a major effect on me. Once I got one, some of my friends who did not have a tattoo now desired one. Appeal and peer-pressure have a lot to do with why tattoos are so popular. On the contrary, not everyone gets a tattoo because they want to fit in. Some people do not get tattoos by being influenced by those around them, or in other words have their own reasons for getting a tattoo. On the other hand, simply because some one decides to get a tattoo for their own reasons, does not prove that everyone that gets tattoos is not caused by peer-pressure. Many people get tattoos because in their opinion they look cool; however, by getting a tattoo they are subject to feeling better about themselves because they got a tattoo. Whether it involves someone getting a tattoo and it looking appealing to others, or even telling someone that they would look nice with a tattoo peer-pressure is the answer. The increased confidence in someone after getting a tattoo also proves how tattoos are the result of peer-pressure, in which wanting to fit in and having a better ego is desired. Being self-conscious is often the result of peer-pressure and because of the reasoning; it becomes apparent that peer-pressure is indeed the main cause as to why the trend of getting tattoos is increasing.
While there are many reasons as to why tattoos are popular, the main reason consists of peer-pressure, tattoos are a part of today's youth culture, forcing society to open their eyes and to look past the images that tattoos once portrayed. A decade ago tattoos were considered bad, as they portrayed rebels and hard core rock n' rollers who in fact were not approved by onlookers. However, the truth is that tattoos are a social trend today and despite many reasons such as expression, covering of scars, or memorials, peer-pressure everywhere seems to be the main influence and the need to be "bad" or indifferent is no longer the reason. Conclusively, tattoos are popular because of peer-pressure that we receive from our friends, television shows, movies, music and much more. And because it's seen everywhere, it becomes desired everywhere, generating the trend that we know today.
Works Cited

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Tips for choosing a signature perfume

Holding the power to flash memories from the past, ignite feelings you were hoping to forget and poking nostalgia through the mere sense of smell, a whiff from a perfume strip is mightier than anticipated.
A spritz on the wrist was traditionally done to camouflage bad smell from the body, but over time, it’s become a symbol of status and personality.
We wear perfume to complement our own odour, rather than to mask the natural essence of our skin. But what is the smell that we want to leave behind? Do we want perfume to add character to our existing self or are we looking to recreate a new individual? Almost, like an alter ego.
choosing a signature scent

History of perfumes

Egyptians get a big chink of credit for making perfumes part of their lifestyle around the 6th century. They used real flower petals, food spices and cooking oil to create various scents that were applied by both men and women on their body, pre and post bath.
Then Cleopatra came into the picture and gave perfumes an equation of pure luxury and class, by laying in the bathtub and soaking herself in aromatic essential oils.
This craze for a splash of liquid spread to Syria, Lebanon, Italy, England and, of course, France where Marie Antoinette took serious notes on what she wanted her signature scent to be.
About 200 years ago, inspired by the flower garden of Palace of Versailles, Marie Antoinette got Parisian perfume-house Lubin to put together a custom-made scent for her and keep it a top-secret (now back on the market as Black Jade).
But in the world of fashion, it all commercially started in the 1920s, when Ernest Beaux created Chanel No.5 for Coco Chanel. Coco was famously quoted saying that a woman should wear perfume whenever she hoped to be kissed.
Truly so, perfumes are a tool of allurement; a scent ignites the fire of sex and sensuality – both in men and women. A perfume should entail a scent that makes you feel sexy and wanted. Its initial inhalation needs to levitate to a cloud of pleasure and contentment, a place where the mental metaphors go wild. A perfume should make you want to daydream two seasons ahead, the crispness of spring needs to come alive on your skin, while you should also be embraced by the dead warmth of autumn.

Rise of celebrity perfumes

So, this brings us to how to choose a scent: your signature scent, so to speak.
Do you stick with classics from the rulebook or let a celebrity dictate your senses?
Elizabeth Taylor launched the celebrity-fragrance phenomenon in 1991 with White Diamonds, and ever since, it’s become a ritual to launch a perfume for every big screen star. They don’t even have to be a superstar to do so.
Till date, Jennifer Lopez has released 16 perfumes, Celine Dion is close at 15 releases and Paris Hilton has 11 perfume titles to her name (with three for men). These numbers provide evidence for celebrity perfumes not being an alien concept anymore, be it a boy band or a mega Hollywood star.
As a consumer of pop culture, are we inclined to buy a fragrance that is bottled with fame? Surely, the prolific perfumes are attached with an aura of entertainment. Obviously, we don’t expect a tall bottle to burst out in a song, but we do relate them to a music album or movie. It reinstates our faith in the said celebrity and the bottle on the dressing table gets an image.
How could you not trust Justin Bieber to launch a top-quality perfume?

Luxury brand perfumes

But in all seriousness, where does this leave mainstream luxurious brands? Fashion houses like Elizabeth Arden, Christian Dior, Tom Ford and Gucci, who’ve been the trendsetters in the fragrance industry, are now competing in a market inundated with Disney kid stars with anime-shaped perfume bottles. Their exquisitely styled and photographed campaign images with the season’s top model, might get the consumer roaring towards their individual counters, but it still gets down to solving the dilemma between Beyonce’s latest and Chloe’s top-seller.
Has the perfume industry lost its niche with an avalanche of options readily available at airport counters? Would swimming in a sea of Chanel No. 5 still be considered a novelty? Or would you rather pick an obviously chosen scent, so when next time you walk on the street, people recognise you as Rihanna’s doppelganger?

Build your own perfume personality

A fragrance really needs to be about what you want to smell like, as opposed to who. Be it freshly cut grass, a vanilla milkshake or your Grandparent’s ancestral home, the linger in the air needs to be about the top, middle and bottom notes in the fragrance, not the name on the bottle.
And while you’re choosing that signature scent, you need to acquaint it with your natural scent. Adding your own personality to the perfume is, somehow, more valuable than letting a luxurious label introduce itself to the crowd. When you’re stuck in an elevator, would you want people to say, “Oh, she’s wearing CK One,” or would you rather have them insinuate the fragrance in an embrace?
It honestly comes down to a personal choice of letting your aura decide who you want to be for the day. You could pick the most expensive bottle on the shelf, but it’s all about the scent honoring your style, personality and lifestyle.
You need to pick a scent, whose tantalizing whiff can be associated with you and your skin. Be it patchouli, rose, ylang ylang, vanilla, musk or spicy wood, you need to decide who you want to be that day and what you want to leave behind you.
Over the next few weeks, Fashionising.com will take you on a beautifully scented tour of perfumes. We’ll feature season’s top fragrances, do perfume reviews and help you find your personality via a simple spritz. Do come back for more.

Five tips to picking a scent

The Perfume Jargon: These are difficult to understand, without a doubt, so here’s your perfume counter cheat sheet. Ranked from strongest to lightest – Parfum, Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette, Eau de Cologne and perfume mist. Parfum is the richest, most authentic form of perfume with 15-20% of aromatic compounds, while Eau de Toilette is the most commonly worn type (5-15% of aromatic compounds).

Try it on your skin: As tempting as walking around a departmental store with 20 differently scented paper strips sounds, you need to try the perfume on your skin before heading to the checkout counter. Every person’s skin pH is unique; you won’t get its true flavours unless you let the fragrance seep through your skin.

Give it time: It takes at least five minutes to smell more than the top notes of the fragrance, and about 20 minutes to get to the bottom notes. Spray it on your skin and walk around the store (or airport), if needed. No rash purchases here.

Keep the Coffee Beans Close: Remember that perfume shopping can get overwhelming. Don’t be like a child in a toy store; slow down with testing perfumes on your arm. It’s also advisable to keep the container of coffee beans handy; it’s crucial to neutralise your senses every now and again. Smell the coffee beans.

Go outside: The aromatic oils in perfumes react to the heat on the skin and your surroundings. If you’re testing them in an air-conditioned room, you might not get the real sense of how the perfume reacts on your skin. If possible, head outside for a few minutes and get used to the scent on your skin. Even better, if you come back the next day to finalise your purchase.

How digital printing is transforming high fashion

Digital fabric printing is “probably the greatest innovation of 21st-century fashion,” Christina Binkley declared in the Wall Street Journal last month. The “vastly improved digital printing technologies allow designers to innovate while beefing up their brands,” she says.
For Binkley, the printing revolution means that the textiles print isn’t just the new big thing, but is becoming more important and more recognizable than the logo in the branding of fashion companies – whether it’s Prada, Pucci, or Jil Sander.
michael angel digital prints

From Michael Angel Resort 2012
Danielle Locastro, Director of Operations for New York and Los Angeles-based digital fabric printer First2Print, agrees. Digital printing technology “is enabling creative individuals to get their ideas out and on to fabric,” she says.
Because designers now rely on digital technology – from Photoshop and illustrator to digital photography – digital printing is “the tool” that works best with that, says Locastro.
“Before the advent of digital fabric printing” the average designer “couldn’t take an idea – whether it was a custom design for your dress, or a photograph or a painting – and put it on to fabric,” she says, “because you had large yardage minimums that had to be met for rotary or flatbed screen printing. And you had a whole process in between about how do you get that image engraved to be printed onto fabric?”
In contrast digital fabric printers tend to specialize in small runs. First2Print focuses on “the three to 300 yard” runs.
Typically this means two types of designer are interested in digital printing. The first is the major design company that needs to produce a prototype. They want to “make their product, show it to the buyer, and get an order that is committed to 15 or 20,000 units.” Once they have the order, the client will run the thousands of yards he needs with a traditional silkscreen printer, usually in Asia.
The other major use is for short-run commercial printing. Here, it’s either new designers or high-end or couture companies that are interested. And, “this is where we’re seeing a major explosion in the fashion market place,” says Locastro “particularly with products that are being made with silk, nylons, and various types of polyester.”
“Because digital fabric printing is short run… products that fit into this market are naturally higher end, where you’ll retail at a higher price point per garment. A lot of couture designers are only producing maybe three garments per size for six sizes, so that when they need a new order they just call us up again.”
Our printed “fabric is washable, wearable, and retailable,” says Locastro. “We have to meet AATCC specifications, or trade standards, so you can sell them at retail.” And First2Print’s technology is being employed by design companies such as swimwear company Shortomatic and womenswear designer Jeremy Scott.
But short runs is only one reason why designers are turning to digital technology for printing. The major appeal comes from its relative lack of limitations, in comparison to traditional silkscreen, and its compatibility with the technology designers are using during the creative process anyway.
With “screen printing you typically have to cut a screen for each color that you’re going to use,” Locastro notes, “and its usually a limited number of colors, averaging about six to eight colors. With digital fabric printing there are no color limitations.” If a designer creates a print with 500 colors for the first time in textiles history it can be printed.
Locastro says digital printing has “broken down the barriers of traditional textiles. In digital fabric printing you also don’t have to have a specific [pattern] repeat, so you can custom engineer panel pieces to fit your garment, and the fashion designer can become more of a designer with strategic placement, about where they want their prints to fall.”
“Some high end fashion companies, such as Elie Tahari and Michael Angel, are really taking to that,” designing placement prints individually for each pattern piece of their garments, and then sewing them together.
The question for the fashion designer then becomes “do you want the print to come from the highpoint of the shoulder, or from the waistline? And that’s giving fashion designers freedom to be creative with textiles and fashion. They can think of their garment as a sculptural form.”

Friday, June 8, 2012

Lorrie Morgan

Lorrie Morgan performing live.

After 30 years of going into the studio to record music, veteran country star Lorrie Morgan decided to take on a challenge she had never attempted. She and the session musicians would sing and play live with no vocal or musical overdubs. That means no tinkering with an individual's part once it's been laid down.

"I was nervous at first," Morgan reflects. "Oh, my God! I put a lot on myself. Did I mean to do this? it was exhilarating for me. It was a high—I love a challenge. Anything that is a challenge I'm going to take it. When the music came in and the strings came in and voices were there, it was like we were all in this huge room together. Nobody was in a booth. The microphone was in the middle of the room. It was like a band. "

In two days Morgan and the musicians recorded 14 songs for her CD of country classics, A Moment in Time (on Country Crossing Records), which was released in late October (2009).

"I didn't want to do the album originally, because it seemed like everybody and their brother was doing cover songs," Morgan said. “Let's do a country album and let's sing ‘Help me Make it Through the Night,’ and I was concerned that my album was just going to get lost in the shuffle."

However, her attitude changed when she and her producer, Wally Wilson, thought about recording the album the old-fashioned way, a method Lorrie says she used to observe back in the golden days of Nashville's music scene.

"We brought in Harold Bradley and Jimmy Capps and some of these guys that were on some of the original records," Morgan said. "They said they hadn't been this excited in the studio in a long time because this is how they used to cut. It was boom, boom, boom, and you learn the song right then and you were done and moved to the next song. It wasn't so technical. You weren't taking the heart and the soul out of the song, cutting it and cutting it, that you sliced it up so bad it was gone."

Although these sessions were wrapped up within 48 hours, Morgan said overall it took a couple of years to do the project, including the excruciating choice of which classic selections to record in the first place.

"It was very hard to decide what we wanted to do," Morgan remembers. "These are some of the songs that made me want to fall in love with music and want to do music for my life. We listened to thousands of songs. It was like 'okay, you have to narrow this down to 14 - I don't think so.' I want to do them all. One would be twin fiddles and the next one would be lushy strings. I love them all. I finally narrowed it down to about 25. I said to my producer Wally, you pick the final 14."

Lorrie Morgan

Making the final cut were masterful songs like "Are You Lonesome Tonight" that Elvis Presley took to the top of the pop charts in 1961, Patsy Cline's 1963 smash "Leavin' on Your Mind," "Break It to Me Gently" (recorded by both Brenda Lee and Juice Newton), "Borrowed Angel" and "Lovin' on Back Streets" (recorded by Mel Street), and Glen Campbell's classic hit, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."

Morgan and Mavericks former frontman Raul Malo did their own spin of Freddie Hart's 1971 chart-topper, "Easy Loving," and Morgan also shared the microphone with Tracy Lawrence for "After the Fire Is Gone," which Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn originally recorded.

"I like ‘After The Fire Is Gone’, and Loretta told me about a year ago, she said (in Loretta's voice), 'Darlin', why don't you write some good cheating songs? Nobody's writing or singing them good cheating songs anymore.' I thought when I heard it, I said, well, by God, there it is. I'm just going to re-cut hers," Morgan adds with a laugh.

Morgan also had to do "I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall." "This is my favorite Merle Haggard song, and I think it's because I'm always on that damn mountain when I fall," Morgan recalls. "There's no small fall for me. There's no scraping my knee. I'm falling off that mountain and really messing myself up. It's kind of like my anthem."

Morgan also re-cut "All Right (I'll Sign the Papers)" that her father, the late Grand Ole Opry legend and Hall of Fame member George Morgan, recorded 45 years ago. The song's writer, Mel Tillis, did his own version of the song four years later in 1968.

Many of the songs on the new album are the standards that Morgan cut her teeth on during her days in the clubs and growing up at the Opry. Over time, Morgan began developing her own repertoire of hits like "Five Minutes," "A Picture of Me (Without You)," "I Didn't Know My Own Strength," "Dear Me," and "Out of Your Shoes." So, the CMA award-winning singer had less and less time to squeeze in the other classics into her show. With this project, she' s introducing them on tour at her shows to a new generation.

"This is a song that probably some of you have never heard, but maybe, after tonight, it'll be one of your classic favorites," Morgan tells her audiences. " I think just reintroducing some of our great country songs and the way we used to record, that it will excite some of these newer acts too, to get back to the basics of how we used to record them. You'd send [your single] to radio, and you didn't have to go out and beg somebody to play them. They wanted to play them because they were great songs. Hopefully, we're going to move people--not just me but a few of us who are recording this way now--show some people how it's really done and how it was meant to be."

Performing On Broadway Next Year

Besides her new album and tours, Morgan is planning to leave her comfort zone again when she moves to New York City next year to perform the musical Pure Country on Broadway. This time she's reviving the character that Lesley Ann Warren made famous in the film. Morgan will take on the role of Lula, a tough-as-nails manager, to Rusty, the George Strait-like character that hit country artist Joe Nichols will strap on.

" I'm going to love this role, because it's going to bring out the evil side of me," Morgan said with a laugh. "I'm going to get a lot out on stage. She is a toughie, and I can't wait to incorporate a lot of managers I've known and put all their little bad parts altogether and make up Lesley Ann Warren's character, Lula."

Morgan said she has been offered roles on Broadway a couple of times before but didn't accept them because her children were too young. She moves to New York in March for about a year.

"I'm not nervous because I don't think I can do the part," Morgan said. "I'm nervous because it's a change in my environment. I'm moving to New York. My kids said they'd come and be with me some and of course, so will my boyfriend. But Nashville is my home, and this is my safety net. This is my four walls. I'm going to New York to a big room and I'm taking my two dogs with me."

"My dad always told me if you're not a little bit nervous before you go on stage, you've lost your love for what you're doing, and I believe that with all my heart," she adds. "Once I'm on stage I'm okay, but before I go on in the wings, do not talk to me. I can't hear you. I don't want to hear what you're saying, but once I get out there I'm fine."

Colby O’Donis

Colby O'Donis (right) with Akon.

Colby O, the self-titled debut album by 20-year-old R&B/hip-hop singer/songwriter/producer Colby O’Donis on Akon’s KonLive label, is set for release sometime this summer. However, that’s not stopping the NYC bred, L.A. based artist from looking a year or so ahead right now, completely excited about the long- term rollout schedule for the album’s first three singles. The first of these tracks, “What You Got” - which features Akon, who also co-produced the album with O’Donis - is quickly moving up on several chart formats.

By late-April, “What You Got” had reached #31 bullet on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. The song also has R&B and Latin flavors, which has translated to a strong presence on Latin stations; “What You Got” reached the Top 20 on the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart, and it was close to cracking the Top 50 on the iTunes Top Songs list.

Already a hit on the road with a series of packed club dates throughout Southern and Northern California, and Las Vegas, O’Donis will keep the momentum going over the next year with the upcoming singles “Don’t Turn Back” and “Sophisticated Bad Girl,” both of which include the beats of mixtap DJ, hip-hop producer and syndicated radio host Clinton Sparks.

While O’Donis is also a gifted dancer whose charisma makes him a compelling presence onstage, everyone’s talking about the way he’s developed into a versatile musical threat. In addition to his formal music training on the guitar under the tutelage of Johan Oiested (a member of Carlos Santana’s rhythm section), he’s also become a solid pianist. At one point O’Donis considered signing a recording deal with Babyface, until a career-altering meeting with Akon occurred. Akon was immediately impressed with the young prodigy, and offered him a record deal with his Konlive label. O’Donis joins R&B singer Ray Lavender, Atlanta based rapper Jay Money, Jamaican R&B duo Brick & Lace on the growing roster of KonLive, which is affiliated with Akon’s Konvict Muzik and Interscope/Geffen, and distributed by Universal Music Group.

“My manager helped hook me up with some of his contact people, and he really connected with the 14 songs on that first demo I had floating around,” says O’Donis. “From there, we just kind of took off and started vibing in the studio, with a chemistry that was totally off the chain from the start. Akon told me he was starting this label Konvict Music and wanted me to be a part of it. Because labels take awhile to get going and to achieve the stature they need to launch new artists, there was a bit of a waiting process for me. But the two years was worth it. When you see us work and hear the tracks we do, you can see that Akon’s and my ideas are identical on everything. He fell in love with everything he heard me coming up with, and we just have a cool bond going on. Everything’s really exciting for me right now, and I feel blessed to have this opportunity.”

O’Donis may be new to the pop, hip-hop and Latin charts, but he actually broke into the music industry years ago when at the age of nine he started working with platinum producers Full Force (Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Backstreet Boys, N’Sync). O’Donis’ father bought him his first studio set-up when he was nine, and his self-produced demo of the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” inspired Full Force to shop him to numerous labels. O’Donis signed to Motown briefly and recorded “Mouse In The House” for the Stuart Little soundtrack That initial breakthrough didn’t immediately evolve into the success the young prodigy had hoped for, but he and his family were committed to making his dream happen somewhere down the line.

“I remember how hungry I was back then,” he says, “and I’m even hungrier today. I’m so thankful to have such supportive parents as well as a sister who helped to pay for my guitar lessons, which is a big part of what I do. I guess all those things that happened when I was a kid just came at me too early and it wasn’t my time yet. But everything happens the way it’s supposed to, and all the time in the middle helped me grow into manhood and develop more of a vision of myself as an artist.”

Because of Akon’s hectic globetrotting schedule and the demand for his writing & producing by so many artists, he and O’Donis developed a unique working arrangement in creating the tracks for Colby O. O’Donis did everything in his home studio - from the engineering to recording keyboards, beats, drums and laying down the vocals - then sent the cuts off to Akon, who would finish off the production. “Most of the time he’s off somewhere else doing his own thing, but then he’d jump on my project and add the amazing cherry on the top. We recorded so many songs for the project - maybe 40 or so - so it was hard to get it down to a manageable number. The writing process has been so much fun, and it’s been great working with Akon. On the real, he is a very humble guy.”

Together, the two have created a collection of “joints” that Akon says are “beyond definition…we are doing whatever is hot. Colby is my secret weapon.” While O’Donis would like to include more guitar playing on his next project, he loved his debut’s mix of pop, R&B, hip-hop and the Latin guitar flavors that enhance those vibes. Starting in late summer, he will be going on his first formal tour in support of Colby O with Akon and another Akon associate, superstar R&B/hip-hop singer T-Pain.

“I’m really looking forward to hitting the road with those guys,” says O’Donis. “My shows will include all those styles,” he says. “Performing and entertaining is what I live for. I want to be able to show the fans that I’m a real musician as well as a singer and dancer. I always begin my concerts with an unplugged intro where I sing with just the acoustic guitar. I want to show everyone what I can do without the plug-in. The fact that I’m finally getting to this point is proof that persistence pays off. If you think you’ve got what it takes, it’s just a matter of putting things together at the right time.”

Sunday, May 20, 2012