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More New Year's Firework in Germany

Wahnfriend: the home of German composer Richard Wagner

The front of the home


The rear of the home

Learn more about Richard Wagner's home at Wahnfried.de.

How I began a new year in Germany

Fireworks were set off all throughout the city of Bayreuth, Germany and up on the hill overlooking the city.



I've been around some cool firework shows but this was something like I had never experienced before.



To be in the very middle of all that celebrating and festivity was unbelievable.

This photos can only give a small idea of what it was like.

Hot chocolate on a stick

Lars Klove for The New York Times

They look like the kind of chocolate lollipops SpongeBob SquarePants would have in his cupboard. But they are actually Petrossian’s hot-chocolate-on-a-stick, a clever way to make the warming winter drink. Scald a cup of milk for each serving, pour into mugs, then give each person a pop, which melts as it is stirred in.

Read more of this article in the New York Times.

Visit the website of Petrossian to order and learn more.

Nashville Restaurant Health Scores This Week

HIGH SCORES:

McDonald’s
8050 Hwy 100
Date Inspected: 12-26-07
Score: 95

Las Pontrancas
114 Haywood Lane
Date Inspected: 12-26-07
Score: 89

Whitt’s BBQ
3621 Nolensville Road
Date Inspected: 12-19-07
Score: 97

LOW SCORES:

No low scores for the week.

Merry Christmas from Webbspun Ideas

Merry Christmas to you all! May this day be filled with joy and blessings.

Webbspun Ideas will be closed for Christmas and New Years.

We fly out tomorrow afternoon to Germany and so Webbspun Ideas will be closed for Christmas. We look forward to starting the new year with you all and hope Santa brings you all the gifts you wanted.

During this time of giving and receiving presents, remember to help the less fortunate and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.

We'll be in the air most of the night so I wouldn't be surprised to find Santa flying past us as he delivers toys to all the girls and boys around the world. I look forward to bringing back pictures and video of our trip to share with you all.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night,
C. S. Webbspun

Nashville Rises due to Cooperation and Competition

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A consensus has formed among Middle Tennessee leaders that cities and counties need to work together more closely, but many critical decisions still have to be made before regionalism moves from a political promise to reality.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and other local elected officials have said they want to cooperate on a range of issues that cross city and county lines — traffic, air pollution, water and sewer rights.

These have grown in importance as the Nashville area's population has swelled from slightly more than 1 million in 1990 to more than 1.4 million today.


Nashphoto


But while the region's leaders say they support more cooperation, they differ over some fundamental questions:

• Should Nashville and its suburbs give regional authorities more power to make basic decisions, such as where and when roads should be built?
• Should the suburbs help pay for downtown Nashville's cultural and civic institutions, which benefit the entire region?
• Is competition within the region for company headquarters, factories and jobs good or bad?


Read the entire article in the Tennessean newspaper.

Jazzman, Milford Graves, Helps to Heal with Rhythm

Milford Graves, 63, a jazz drummer who made his mark in the 1960's with avant-garde musicians like Albert Ayler, Paul Bley and Sonny Sharrock, performs only occasionally now. He spends about half his week teaching music healing and jazz improvisation classes at Bennington College in Vermont, where he has been a professor for 31 years. He spends much of the rest of his week in his basement researching the relationship between music and the human heart.

After descending the psychedelic-painted stairway into his laboratory, visitors are faced with a collection of drums from around the world, surrounding a network of computers. Wooden African idols spiked with nails rub up against medical anatomical models. Amid a vast inventory of herbs, roots and plant extracts sits an old wooden recliner equipped with four electronic stethoscopes connected to computers displaying intricate electrocardiogram readouts.



In 1967, Mr. Graves was honored in a Down Beat magazine critics poll as the year's bright new talent. He had offers of lucrative gigs from artists like Miles Davis and the South African singer Miriam Makeba.

But after years of hard living as a jazzman, Mr. Graves began studying holistic healing, and then teaching it. He became fascinated with the effect of music on physiological functions.

"People with ailments would attend my performances and tell me they felt better afterward," he said.

Curious about the heartbeat as a primary source of rhythm, he bought an electronic stethoscope and began recording his and other musicians' heartbeats.

"I wanted to see what kind of music my heart was making," he said.



Read the entire story in the New York Times.

Visit Milford Graves website for more information on the man, his music and his studies.

Country Music Newsmakers: 2007 In Review by Country Hound

November

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) announces it is buying Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Café to use as a songwriters venue.

Oklahoma native Toby Keith is inducted into the Sooner state's Hall of Fame. He also joins fellow Oklahomans Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, and Carrie Underwood in the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular celebration.

The Judds announce they will reunite for one night only in May 2008, as part of the second annual Stagecoach festival in Indio, Calif. Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Big & Rich, Carrie Underwood, and Dierks Bentley will also perform at the two-day event.

Kris Kristofferson, Shelby Lynne and the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart perform during a Nov. 10 concert honoring Jerry Lee Lewis at Playhouse Square's State Theater in Cleveland. The event also features Wanda Jackson, Cowboy Jack Clement, George Thorogood, Narvel Felts, Billy Lee Riley, Jason D. Williams, NRBQ's Terry Adams and Jerry Lee’s sister, Linda Gail Lewis.

Chris Thile and bandmates Sara and Sean Watkins are taking an indefinite break from Nickel Creek. The band’s Farewell (For Now) tour concludes with shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Chris forms a new band, the Punch Brothers, whose debut album is due in Feb. 2008.

Charlie Daniels is invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. His induction is set for Jan 19, 2008.

Shooter Jennings and his longtime girlfriend, actress Drea de Matteo, welcome their first child, a baby girl they name Alabama Gypsy Rose.

Read more at the Country Hound.

Judge Bean's Bar-B-Que is Moving and They are Growing

The well-known barbecue restaurant is hitching up its saddle and settling in new territory in the former Brown's Store at 6605 Lascassas Pike. The business is scheduled to open Wednesday, said owner Aubrey Bean.



The first Judge Bean's Bar-B-Que and Steakhouse opened in Nashville in 2003. It's current location on 12th Avenue North near downtown Nashville will relocate behind Greer Stadium the first of next year.

The Lascassas restaurant will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m Wednesday through Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday afternoons, the restaurant initially will close in the afternoon. Bean said that may change depending on customer traffic.

A breakfast menu with tacos, eggs and hash browns will be featured served until 10 each morning. Bean said it's also BYOB - bring your own beer, wine or whiskey.

Bean said he and Rutherford County Sheriff Truman Jones are close friends, and Jones asked him to move out to Lascassas. Bean described the area as being "more me."



Read the entire story in the Daily News Journal.

Jessica Simpson's Movie Bombs, Cowboys Fans Hate Her and Maybe Time to Rethink the Country Album

Seems like Jessica's hopes of becoming a movie star wont happen with the movies she is choosing and I'm assuming her skills aren't so good either, I didn't see "Dukes of Hazzard" though so I might be wrong.

Maybe she should rethink the whole "country music" attempt as well and just stick to her anti-acne products and ditzy blonde music.

I doubt she is torn up about all this because the money is still pouring into her bank account. I think it might be a good idea to do a little more and better planning for the future though.
~C.S. Webbspun



Her current beau, Tony Romo, has made some folks in Texas mad and now she is being targeted at other stadiums around the country as the Cowboys play.


This section is from Perez Hilton.
Blonde Ambition averaged an embarrassing $48 per screen on Friday for a total box office of $384. Based on an $8 ticket price, that means that 6 people paid to see the movie at each of those theatres, and only 48 people went to see the movie!

A Berry Odd Dish for Christmas

Springfield Biker Church Protects Shoppers

Riders with Covenant Confirmers Motorcycle Ministries are patrolling the parking lot after dark to deter any criminal activity and keep shoppers and their belongings safe.

Men and women on foot approach shoppers to offer an escort to their cars and a hand carrying bags.

The "Biker Escort Service" began in early December. It is the idea of the Rev. Ron Baptiste, who leads the Covenant Confirmers Ministries in Springfield.

Baptiste says he was looking for a way to give back to the community that has been so accepting of his motorcycle-riding church congregation. A Wal-Mart official says the store has no objection to the church's offer of extra security.

Visit the church website HERE.

Ride the entire article in the Tennessean newspaper.