Best path to success not virtual.

Byline: BUZZWORTHY The Register-Guard

What's really cool this week is David Jacobs-Strain and Walker T Ryan sharing a date at the Axe and Fiddle in Cottage Grove.

What's not as cool is that it's tonight, the same night as the Pocketful of Change benefit at the Vet's Club. It's feasible to attend both, but not all that convenient.

Blues artist Ryan became Jacobs-Strain's mentor when he was a guitar prodigy. They've had a musical and personal friendship since.

MySpace.com certainly has changed the way people meet and connect, but true, meaningful relationships still are earned the old-fashioned way: good ol' face time, sharing gigs such as Ryan and Jacobs-Strain are doing or getting together to raise money for a cause, as SpunHoney is doing at Mac's.

MySpace will never replace late-night jams at the Oregon Country Fair, singalongs around a camp fire or the magic of a good live stage show.

Even old-schoolers such as Ryan are on MySpace, although it doesn't appear he's really gotten into it yet; he doesn't have any music on his site, nor has he made any "friends." Perhaps now, the student can become the mentor and teach Ryan to use MySpace.

After all, it's not as difficult as improvising a blues tune on a slide guitar.

Those of us in the print world would like to think nothing will replace the experience of sinking into a comfortable chair with a newspaper or magazine in hand. But MySpace sure is a handy way to share information.

Take, for example, an opportunity to get your name in Performing Songwriter magazine, posted on former Eugene resident Mare Wakefield's MySpace blog.

Submit your vote and help the magazine come up with the 99 greatest songs ever written for its 99th issue. Submit your comments at performingsongwriter.com/ pages/home/99songs.cfm.

Meet the Dec. 15 deadline and your comment could be published.