Best Worldwide Undiscovered Artist

~ Mark Johnson, founder, Playing for Change

The act of playing music with people of different cultures, religions, economics and politics is a powerful statement. It shows that we can find ways of working together and sharing our experiences with one another in a positive way. Music has the power to break down the walls between cultures, to raise the level of human understanding.

As we made our way around the world we encountered love, hate, rich and poor, black and white, and many different religious groups and ideologies. It became very clear that as a human race we need to transcend from the darkness to the light and music is our weapon of the future. This song around the world features musicians who have seen and overcome conflict and hatred with love and perseverance. We dont need more trouble, what we need is love. The spirit of Bob Marley always lives on.









For those who want their own CD/DVD you may order the CD/DVD Playing For Change Songs Around The World" now at amazon.com!
http://tinyurl.com/c6mhgd

The Playing For Change "Songs Around The World" CD/DVD is also available at your neighborhood Starbucks and everywhere music is sold.

Order the "War/No More Trouble," "Stand By Me," "Don't Worry," and "One Love" videos and the new Songs Around The World album now at itunes!
http://tinyurl.com/pfcitunes

Young Guitar God Protégé

I just stumbled accross this young inspirational music man in South Korea.

His name is Sungha Jung. Happy to see this gifted young man accomplish so much in his spare time, instead of playing hours of Xbox 360. This young man is already an inspiration to over 4 million video viewers, on this video alone!

Here are the young mans own words from his website:

Hi, I'm Sungha Jung from South Korea. My dream is to become a professional acoustic fingerstyle guitarist.

I had been watching my dad play the guitar for awhile before I finally jumped on it myself three years ago. I turned twelve in September, 2008.

Currently, I am taking drum lessons and teaching myself fingerstyle guitar.



I'm very grateful to those prominent guitarists who have had a great influence on my guitar playing. I'll continue to study them and learn more about interpretation of music and various playing techniques.

My daily practice routine lasts for one to two hours when school is open, but I play up to three hours a day during the school breaks.

Last, but certainly not least, I can't thank Ulli Bögershausen enough for being my musical inspiration.



Here is this young music guitar gods website:
www.sunghajung.com

Let's here some inspiration from one of Sungha Jung's favorite guitar artist, Eric Clapton.

Man Can Fly

My grandparents witness the birth of man flying inside a machine but I have lived to see man fly.

I was having trouble relating to my son and daughters generation of lingo. You know, INSANE, SiCK and Freaking Awesome Dude.

But once I saw these video's of Man Flying I knew immediately this was beyond INSANE and SiCK this is Freaking Awesome Dude. Or as Austin Powers might say, Groovy Baby! And I would add Holy Sh@T Batman....man can fly!



Warning: Make sure you are not on medication while watching these men fly. I'm having a hard time believing what I'm seeing.

Get out your French book, pump down a fast pint of Red Bull and put in your Heavy Metal Ear Plugs to watch this video.



It’s a bird, it’s a plane … no, it’s just the latest high-altitude sports craze that has grabbed the attention of thrill-seekers worldwide. Forget hang-gliders, the latest sport to take off is wingsuit flying. As the name suggests, just don a special Batman-esque jumpsuit and away you go. The wingsuit flyer exits from a plane or from a base-jump exit point such as a cliff wearing the space-age suit and a parachute. The flier then manipulates the shape of their body to create drag and lift. While still in the early stages of development, powered wingsuits using small jet engines that are strapped to the feet are now also being developed — what next?!



Wingsuit flying is the sport of flying the human body through the air using a special jumpsuit, called a wingsuit, that shapes the human body into an airfoil which can create lift. The wingsuit creates the airfoil shape with fabric sewn between the legs and under the arms. It is also known by the public as a birdman suit or squirrel suit.

A wingsuit can be flown from any point that provides sufficient altitude to glide through the air, such as skydiving aircraft or BASE jumping exit points.

The wingsuit flier wears parachute equipment designed for skydiving or BASE jumping. The flier will deploy the parachute at a planned altitude and unzip the arm wings, if necessary, so he/she can reach up to the control toggles and fly to a normal parachute landing.



Wings were first used in the 1930s as an attempt to increase horizontal movement.

These early wingsuits were made of materials such as canvas, wood, silk, steel, and even whale bone. They were not very reliable. According to wingsuit lore, between 1930 and 1961, 72 of the 75 original birdmen died testing their wingsuits. Some of these so-called "birdmen," most notably Clem Sohn and Leo Valentin, claimed to have glided for miles and inspired dozens of imitators.

In the mid-1990s, French skydiver Patrick de Gayardon developed a wingsuit that had unparalleled safety and performance. Unfortunately, de Gayardon died on April 13, 1998 while testing a new modification to his parachute container in Hawaii; his death is attributed to a rigging error which was part of the new modification rather than a flaw in the suit's design. Despite his tragic end, de Gayardon planted the seeds for a new generation of birdmen.

New World Records

On July 24, 2008, Australian doctor Glenn Singleman jumped from 37,000 feet over central Australia setting a world record for highest wingsuit jump.

The largest wingsuit formation flown involved 71 jumpers (a "71 way") in a "Stealth Bomber" formation at Lake Elsinore, California, on 12 November 2008. The US record (satisfying USPA judging rules) is a 25 way diamond flown at Ottawa, Illinois, on 28 July 2009. A 25 way diamond was subsequently flown at Pepperell, Massachusetts on 15 August 2009.

Extreme Ski - A New Breed is Born

No doubt these are desendents from the orginal Dogtown and Z-Boys club kids. Long steep slopes in dangerous terrain where a single mistake at the wrong moment can mean death would rightly be classed as extreme skiing! Jumping out of Helicopters is extreme skiing. But this is a different breed of extreme skier. This is a combination of BMX biker and Urban Skateboarder extreme skier/boarder.



Every generation has its share of adventurers and envelope pushers. But this is beyond triple black diamond and out-of-bounds thrill seeker skiing. My friends, even King Leonidas and his mighty 300 Spartans would say...This is Madness!!!!!! And it's that very madness that makes this so damn inspirational to this old geezer.

I salute the younger generation of XXX-Extreme Skiers for doing what I never even dreamed was possible. Watching you guys gets my old heart a pumping and a thumping again.





Congratulations to a new breed of ski film producers. After 60 years old king Warren Miller is finally getting competition.



A salute to the orginal school now old school Frank Bare. Frank Bare made a mad man jump back in 1983 that proved he was the 80's Freestyle King. This jump sparked a new generation of freestyle skiing that moved on to a new frontier of out-of-bounds skiing and mindboggling urban style skateboarder rail runs. In the 80's Frank Bare was the king of freestyle ski jumps. But frank was no young blood dare devil, he had been a top gymnast for years.

Don LaFontaine: The Legendary Voice

750000 television spots, 5000 movie trailers, 1 voice, Don LaFontaine, the most recognizable voice in the game died Sept 2008. Here is the legend's story.



The voices without faces that delivery captivating inspiration.

Patrick Henry Hughes - Inspirational Story

This is an amazing inspirational story. The most unlikely story of a Music Man. This video proves it's possible to be born with talent which you can choose to develop or leave behind. This is also a fantastic father and son story of love and commitment.