Hear that sound? That's your money whooshing into Dick Cheney's pocket. I've added the Cost of the War in Iraq at the top of my blog... with interest! Wars are expensive... for good reason. SAFETY... This war's budget is EXTRA CASH on top of the regular Defense budget. It's important to allot more CASH to provide our troops with proper armor, vehicles and many, many bullets. Oh yea, let's not forget bribery. Amazing how quickly the need for EXTRA CASH stacks up... REPARATION PART ONE... You blow it up... you fix it. We're RE-building a nation we broke. That is expensive, espcially when the deposed leaders led poorly. One hope is... after getting the nation stabilized, we'll create a new "market" for U.S. Industry to flourish. Takes many stacks of EXTRA CASH to care for an orphan-nation. REPARATION PART TWO... You must have an Army of Infrastructure-builders. Enter Halliburton. I've heard much of the EXTRA CASH is for commercial contractors... one the largest, Halliburton. Dick Cheney used to run that company before becoming our VP. Profiteering? Awesome! MEANWHILE, AT HOME... Millions of middle-class Americans foot the bill with their income and sons. The wealthy and elite are free from tax-burdens. A sluggish economy continues to outsource high-paying jobs to the lowest foreign bidder. Displaced professionals return to school for re-training paying a rising premium for tuition. With all this EXTRA CASH slipping into our own VP's pocket. Sounds like a PR nightmare during an election. MY IDEA FOR BUSH/CHENEY TO WIN THE ELECTION: Halliburton should consider setting up a college fund with a portion of the company's profits before the election... Republicans could influence millions of votes from low and middle class Americans..... not to mention the related family members. Or... is there another rogue oil-laden country ripe for the pickin'? peace- seanrox

So... American Idol 3 Final is later tonight. ... Fantasia's Magic vs. Diana's popularity? Tonight, the Governor of Georgia, Arsehole Purdue (yes, the chicken man) reserved the Georgia Dome for Diana DeGarmo fans to join together. It's a couple miles from my house... yet, I will watch comfortably near a bathroom and my Mr. Coffee. Gotta love the fire in Atlanta's own powerhouse -- Diana DeGarmo. She pushed right through to the end. Surprising me at every turn. Then, there is reality... Fantasia. Her escalating performances single-handedly made this competition worth watching. Earlier today on Ryan Seacrest's "On Air", they leaked the voting results were within 1% of each other! Wow... and to think, last night, the performances weren't even comparable. Fantasia's artistic presence, tone, and emotional performance... not even close. Each song Fantasia has performed this season could easily live on a CD... in fact... go download them at Rickey.org: --------------------------------------- >> Download her tracks on Rickey.org --------------------------------------- Welcome to America's popularity contest. Where anything can happen. :) More on this after tonight's "crowning". peace- seanrox

SEANROX LAUNCHES NEW MULTIMEDIA SITE/BLOG: Camp Jam Atlanta ... 38 Special Former Guitarist's Rock Idol Camp WHAT IS CAMP JAM ATLANTA? So... Jeff Carlisi, formerly of 38 Special, established CampJamAtlanta with Leading Edge Promotions. It's a Summer Day Camp here in Atlanta for 10-17years old boy and girl musicians. Like a REAL "School of Rock". PREVIOUS WEB DESIGN. They designed their web site in-house, and acquired some awesome local radio and TV promotion... but needed help with Search Engine Optimization and information design. Hey! That's what I do! THE REFERRAL. Alan Yates, one of my clients and music producers, who is planning to help with "studio curriculum" for the young musicians referred me. SOLUTIONS. Well, after several weeks of my "super-secret rocket-science VooDoo Action" they're at the top of the Search Engines. We added a blog in front of the current site for easy updates that are registered around the web. Rearranged some information to make it a bit easier to find on the site... and I remixed some SuperMatic tracks fora cool Flash intro... CHECK IT OUT MUTHA: Camp Jam Atlanta architecture, media, blog design by seanrox.com! peace- seanrox

REMEMBER: Enlisted Military follow orders. How can we BEST support our troops? Begin by firing the guys in charge. Understand this... from my 24 years experience in and around the military... enlisted (military workerbees) don't create their own orders. I'm suggesting there are some Officers, NCOs, and most probably... the ethically twisted CIA more responsible for the Iraqi prisoner/detainee debacle we see on TV. These low-paid, encouragable enlisted men and women are being publicly smeared across the television screens over the past week. They're due for Court Martial very soon... but I ask, "What were the orders given?" I'm concerned they'll be sent off to Leavenworth before we get the TRUTH. Someone with a higher pay-grade is MORE responsible, I'm sure. Let's ensure our enlisted military, most from low income or military families, have top-notch legal representation. There's a slew of college-educated officers and intelligence agents passing the buck to the lowest guy/girl in the chain-of-command. What can we do? peace- seanrox

If I ran the American music industry... (PART ONE) I would replace record stores with tables, chairs and a fat pipe to the Internet... Music stores bore me. Full of CDs virtually unrelated to each other side-by-side. This isn't a new issue, but at least before vinyl died, leafing through the stacks of creative album became some ritualistic creative journey. Websites now are the ever-changing visual statement of a musician's art. I digress... Although I miss that dusty "album cover journey", I've personally moved on and am indifferent that the CD won against the vinyl record. Hello data. I suspect, very soon, fewer fully packaged CDs will be sold. Data will win. Mp3s, mp4, or whatever "i-Name" the engineers and marketers come up with data will win. Imagine now, a music store with every artist, every album, every song, every version or remix always in stock. We're almost there. Assuming, in the near future we share an ubiquitous wireless connection... why would we need a physical record store? Except for the physical products we must touch immediately, we don't. However, we as humans congregate. The ultimate "P2P app" is conversation. A NIGHT AT THE PUB. If I were in charge... next Wednesday night at the pub, when your best friend says you've gotta hear this song by "some obscure goth band" from Topeka whose father roadied for Frank Zappa in the '70s ... you could do just that. Thirty seconds later, the fat Internet pipe at the pub allows you to download your buddy's recommendation directly to your iPod. Costs you a buck. No biggie... and you'll have that song in data format.... forever. Or trash it if it sucks, and as we know your desktop trashcan adds nothing to the landfill in your backyard. ON THE LAKE. You're with your buddies again out on the lake. You're partying, skiiing, having a great time... everyone wants to hear David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" ... your vinyl LP has been scratched up for years... you've been meaning to buy it anyway... you can, you do. It is good. We still need a new and better way to enjoy album art... that tactile experience is still a void. But, when it comes to aggregating music... with an ubiquitous opportunity to purchase music, people will do it. peace- seanrox

American Idol, Season 3, Top 4... bye bye George Huff. The curse of mediochre ballads stole George's magic. The dude has an amazing voice, and when the energy is "right" he's on fire. Since the Barry Manilow suckage a few weeks ago, he hasn't been the same. Can't feel too bad... assuredly, he'll be on the Idol tour this Summer. Thanks for charming the television audience, George, and consider a Blood, Sweat, Tears cover on your first CD. OUR TOP THREE: Fantasia... #1 in my mind... great voice. Consistent and moving performances. Difficult to understand why people wouldn't choose her as the next American Idol. Diana DeGarmo... ATL's own... waaaay beyond her years. Awesome to see her support strong enuff to get her to the TOP THREE. LaToya London... great perfomer, she actually made Barbra's showtune palletable. Showmanship A+. She found personality in the song... keep with that. I remember weeks when I forgot LaToya was still in-the-running. COMPARE. Remember season #1? Nikki McKibbon? She was in the top three. We move on. peace- seanrox