socks

Tell me about it! Chatty! My remaining strands group together by color, black, dark brown, gray and white, like the hardy warriors that they are, straight and strong even to this day! That sound you hear in the distance is the playing of "Taps" in the far right southernmost quadrant as another proud soldier goes none-too-quietly to his final reward. A moment of silence please.... Anyone taking or giving lessons? I've given my first lesson in quite awhile, yesterday. Went very well, we're starting out with the basics. Had their guitar action adjusted and new strings put on. I'm switching them out to Super Light acoustics, .009 for the first few months, then will move to .010's once we're off and running. They know a little but we're starting from scratch with the "G" chords and they did very well. Covered some basic maintenance, tuners, and have introduced them to musiciansfriend.com. :) I'm looking to have 3 students a week, over time. We'll see how it goes. They've got a Takamine Jasmine acoustic. Nice guitar, with a good sound and solid neck. I'd played a couple in a nearby store that had bad action, but this one's playing pretty well so it will be good for awhile.

I've given up on tongue lashing twinot. I'm saving my tongue for more useful activities. Sorting through this is interesting reading, and I'm thinking you mean why does Mrs. Werrwille get off the hook (here on GS), as in why aren't there more posts criticizing her for not taking public action regarding VPW's sexual exploits, such as - direct confrontation, like "that's enough! this is wrong, STOP!" and done something about it. Possibly leaving him, divorcing him, etc. So, why aren't more people posting more on what basically sounds like an allowance on her part to let it happen and go on. I don't really know. There may be topics of more interest to people than that one. Mr.s Weirwille was certainly more likable than Donna Martindale, IMO. Donna was (is? I haven't seen her in many years) more transparent, had a flatter personality, for want of better terms. She wasn't really personable and by the sounds of it didn't do much for people on a personal level. She sounds like she could be meaner than a snake when she opened her mouth. So she's not liked as much. That would be one reason I think, at least a possibility. Mrs. Weirwille could be caustic too, standoffish in appearance, but was also a very warm person once you got to know her. She enjoyed doing things for people, little things that were private. If she knew a person needed something she could provide she'd help out. She did good when it was within her means to do so, and sometimes when it wasn't she'd extend herself of seek out other means. I never knew Donna Martindale to do that or be that kind of person. Maybe she was and I just wasn't around when she was. This is just my impression, experience. I don't know that Mrs. Weirwille gets a "free pass", but being a more likable person and one who did some good with what she had goes a long way towards how I remember her. I'd put both her and Donna in about the same boat, far as it goes. One difference is that if Donna had walked 10 years ago, she'd have had a family and a support system to turn to. Mrs. Weirwille's circumstances were less providing years ago. I think it's a vast over simplification to say, if we are, that Mrs. Weirwille knew everything that VPW did over all the years they were married and that she, with full knowledge, gave him permission to do so, tacitly or otherwise. How it all shook out, I don't know. They were married, with a marriage much different than the one I live everday, but it's possiblle that Mrs. Weirwille decided to suck it up and make it work as best she could believing that she was making progress in her own way, at least for a time. Not knowing a lot of the details, I would still say though that they were adults and were obligated to act accordingly - they were interacting with people much younger than themselves, people that trusted them.

Sounds like a great time Bluzeman. :) And that sample of Pierre Lacocque sounds great, love that harp sound. Nice fumky band backing on it too. Visitng Lurrie Bell's site there some nice sample under "Listen". Nice! Man, isn't it weird how so many of our friends are getting old? Must be tough. *kaf kaf*

Yea hoo dmiller, let me know if I can help you get 'er online. Would love to hear some!

Very true, waysider! :) I find the same thing true. It's really incredible what radio did, allowing people to hear news, music, other people and their ideas - all from other parts of the country they were completely unfamiliar with. It really brought the world together, all around that little speaker cone. Back in the late 50's when I started listening to local radio stations, there were stations that played a much wider range of music than we get today on a single station. Hearing things for the first time that I'd never heard before or even imagined was really incredible. Locally we have 1 24X7 jazz station that covers a lot of ground. There's a couple NPR stations that have some interesting stuff. Throughout a day I like to hear different stuff and thankfully with a little knob tweedling I can do it. There's also a couple "smooth jazz" stations that play some decent music now and then, but most if it's the R n B stuff with sax and guitar soloes that's popular. I like it too, and I'm glad that format is there so more musicians can make a living with some degree of dignity, and occasionally stretch. Some musicians really have what I think of as an "American" sounding sound, where there's a lot of influences mixed in. In it's day, The Band was like that. Bob Dylan still is. Bruce Hornsby. A lot o fhe "alterntive adult-some or other-artists like Lucinda William, Nora Jones. They all have or had great musicians and guitarists in their bands too.

alrighty then! Yes, dmiller, break it out. Or down. It would be a pleasure! A la, the concert sounds wonderful. I'm glad you enjoy Keb Mo. He's really interesting, diverse. Simple and straightforward at the same time. And Bonnie, you said it all. She's a keeper. Blues and jazz are often cited as our country's "only" native musics, born and bred in America. I would agree, with the addition of "bluegrass" as it's called. (Native American music wasn't pulled directly into the mix early on, for a whole range of reasons, probably due mostly to the politics of the early American culture). I think blues and bluegrass form the first layer and jazz and rock and roll build on that. Rock just takes the simplest aspects of blues and expounds on it, jazz takes it somewhere else entirely, incorporating other forms of music in the process - different classical genres, Eurppean musics, Latin, etc. etc. and rhythmic and harmonic development. Some of the best rock pulls from both blues and bluegrass and cuts over into the "jazz" category by virtue of using other cultural influences. Hendrix is a classic example. He's blues based and at first hearing doesn't sound like "jazz" but the incorporation of other sounds and structures moves it in that direction. His music carries some Native American influences, the airy horizontal sound of some of the major scales he played on one string. Some of his signature chord forms, the little 2 and 3 string hammer-ons and offs, work in both bluegrass and blues music. The Wind Cries Mary, Little Wing, the solo section of Purple Haze, Spanish Castle Magic, where he plays the major and harmonic minor against each other - stuff like that draws from a lot of different sources. And to me, 'S all good. :)

SWEET A la! Were they good? Ha! Of course they were good. If you're gonna snap that gum, ya gotta share with the whole class now. Pieces for everyone, please. How was it? Soemthing's landed on the front lawn and it doesn't sound local. I'll be back....

I think - he's playing a Gibson Les Paul on this, although it sounds like a Fender Strat too. Not sure.

White kicks - snappy! Reminds me of....

Aaaah, would those be Texas Longhorns???? They do have a southwestern look to them, dontcha think? The V guitar - hmmm. Y the V? Well, as James Taylor said, "B.S.U.R.S.U.C.S.I.M.I.M. " That pret' near says it all. Something smokey and sublte about those Danelectro's. Not even sure how they sound to be honest. But if you wear what you buy, they're made to be worn, for sure. Here's something worn, made back in the 70's - as electric guitarists go Todd Rundgren is about as good at rock as you'd need to be. His first solo album titled "Something/Anything" had this gem - a classic sounding pop-rock scream titled "Couldn't I Just Tell You". It's a serious Testosterone-laden teenage-guy-anthem. Lunch time in High School the Day After the Date That Went Wrong, young hearts on sleeves. Plus, he speeds up right after the intro like a race horse that can't find the can and moves back and forth between fast and faster. Check it out. Couldn't I Just Tell You Delaney Bramlett - a pal of Claptons, once married to Bonnie, ah, Bonnie. He shouldn't have let THAT one get away. But story is he's the guy who got Clapton to start singing, "witnessed" to him and talked Jesus with EC, got George Harrison started playing slide. The list goes on....EC and DB toured in the early 70's and ripped.

You're surely welcome, Young Lady. Glad you enjoyed it! Here's another unusual style - the Danelectro "Short Horn" and "Long Horn" guitars. Check out the first pic on that site, Chatty. Who dat? :) These guitars have been played quite a bit over the years. If you ever saw the Shindogs on the TV show "Shindig", aside from possibly being up too late for your age, you might remember Delaney Bramlett playing one in that band.

Go!!! Have fun!

( A la - I know you were just kidding' )

Chas, those are some fug-gugly guitars alright! 8 k plus for the one - yow! Busy, I hear ya. It runs like that here too. But you're in need of some groove soothe - and compliments of a Yellow Jackets alumnae - Robben Ford. Indeed T-Bone, the Yellow Jackets sting! Founding member Robben Ford - guitarist extraordinaire, natch. Here's a sample from his site, the title "Indianola".....check it out, it's got big bass :) Indianola

T-Bone and waysider - yeah, Dave's working with TOP, nad Skip's an alumnae of course, and was a founding member of Coldblood. Both great bands. Lydia's in full voice. I can't plave that song, I'll have to check it out. Thanks! Albert King and the V, yes indeed. That's "his" alright!

Ah, the Flying V - Wikipedia has a nice brief write up on it - HERE Some more stuff and cool vintage pics HERE The Explorer shown there is also a very cool guitar. The guy that got me started on the guitar had a custom Explorer builit, similar to the one on the left, but with an additional cut similar to the Flying V, so it was a one of a kind combo of both. He played some cu-razy stuff on that guitar. The V's are su-weet! Cold Blood are alive and well, by the way. Sounding very good. They did a gig at the Fillmore in San Francisco several months ago, with Tower of Power. Double bill, and it was great, all the way around.

Check it out. Nature's Way is from that album Chatty, and although I wouldn't describe that song as the "sound" of the band, that's kind of how they were, lots of variety. And I have to say, it's REALly intersting that now here we are, all this time later, and we know about theur music. So many bands and collectives come and go and make no lasting mark and as Tom says, they really did put out some memorable stuff. 'S Weird and one of the beauti-ous things about music I guess. I like them, and liked most of their stuff. Live they were a good band, Jay Ferguson, the lead singer (finally remembered his name) was a good performer and front for the group, with Randy California. The drummer, Ed, was older than the rest of the band and kind of stood out with the shaved head. Randy had such a sweet smooth guitar tone for a lot of his stuff, kind of a smoothed out fuzztone "oooooooooh" tone. But at the same time I never liked using that particular tone myself, except if a song called for it. It just wasn't my personal preference. So go figgah! :)

To all those yet to be born, Happy Birthday!

Greasy Ladies? Cool! Happy Birthday!

:) Cut the cake!

Thanks Jonny! I'm witya. Want to hear your stuff, I know it's sure to please. I'm still getting that vocal squared away, I'm putting TomS verse in with the second one. So it's in the works. It's in E. I love that kind of blues. I pictured that as a - don't know if this makes sense - but like a Road Runner cartoon. Which brings up a question - is the Road Runner male or female? I dunno. But if RR was a goil, she'd be in that car and showing up every once in awhile, as Wile E. is building these wild contraptions to get his car back, and she'd pull up, he'd go "KABOOM!" and she spins off sprroooooooink in the car again. Some mayhem, mixed with solid blues. So the first solo section has the guitar with a kind of "nanner nanner I got yer car" sounding riff and then takes off into the first solo guitar verse. The other sections try to do the same thing.

Well, thank ya Chatty! Hey,you have great taste. Spirit - I would fall more to your opinion of them waysider, and my two sample don't really do justice to their whole range of music. I really like them in their day. Randy California's death was tragic to be sure, I remember reading about it. The 60's era produced a lot of bands and music. In California there was a kind of "line" between the north and south, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Some of the bands associated with either area weren't really generic to that area (Steve Miller and San Francisco, as an example) but they settled there and worked, recorded, etc. and were closely identified with it. Some of the San Francisco bands that were part of the "hippie © " era weren't always that good in performance, IMO and probably sounded best on their albums. Jefferson Airplaine would be an example. While they certainly had talent in the band, especially early on, live they were pretty thin. I only saw them a couple times and figured, that's enough of that. The Starship with Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick together was good, but that was really a whole different thing. Other bands like Big Brother and the Holding Company seemed to have good musicians but live - forget it. But a lot of the bands that seemed to really have it going on never had the reputations, or got much if any national media recognition. "The Loading Zone" with Linda Tillery singing were CRAZY good. Funky, jazzy, tight, interesting improvisation. "The Sons of Champlin" are another, often referred to as the best "unknown" S.F. Bay Area band. Both had albums released and performed, and while some were sketchy (The Sons could take 20 minutes just uh, finding their way onstage and getting tuned up). they had ain identifiable and repeatable live sound. Spirit was a little like that in that they didn't quite hit it nationally, although they did have some radio play. Randy California is known amongst musicians as a unique guitarist. He could really rip live and played several styles well. Their music always seemed like a personal discovery and telling someone about them was a little like passing on a tip - "Check these guys out and tell me what you think". I don't have anything else digital around, but off their first album "Fresh Garbage" is full of classic Spirit sound. They were one of the earliest band I remember making statements about the environment in a clever and musical way. Anyhoo.....

Aaah, yes. Classic TV. There were a lot of guitar innstrumentals in the 60's, right around the time the Beatles and the British "invasion" was percolating the instrumental guitar track was pretty strong. Glad you enjoyed it, Chatty! Thanks for the pics! Ed Cassidy - waysider's got the 411 on him. He was the drummer in Spirit, indeed. Spirit, one of the lesser known bands of the 60's, out of L.A. Randy California - ! His signature sound was a smooth sustained tone, and he played great. They played a lot in California, where I saw them a ocuple times at Bill Graham's Winterland and Fillmore, maybe more at Fillmore. Long time ago. :) . Excellent band. I think their lead singer did a solo career after leaving Spirit and had a hit or two, I know I was hearing his stuff for awhile. They were a good live band. A lot of the 60's bands of the psychedlic era as it's called, weren't that good live. Spirit really played well. Couple cuts - they had a top 40 hit with I Got a Line On You and it kind show California's range for pop. And this one - this tune's rattled around over the years, I hear it every once in blue moon on something. It has a very familiar sound to it, so someone may know more of where it's been used - Nature's Way

Love 'em! The sand, the surf, the guy with the guitar! Book 'em, Dano!

Thanks waysider for the info on the Chili Dog. I've seen some of the Danelectro pedals but never tried them out. That sounds like it would add a lot to the sound. As you say, with pedals, a little usually goes a long way. Which reminds me of a chuckle - my amp set up downstairs has a 4 channel pedal selector and each one is set up for some basic sounds I like - 1 is kind of a fat Fender sound with a tad of chorus, 2 is set at a Marshall model, 3 is a custom setting with a little overdrive and 4 is set for high gain and I change it out. When my son's over I can always tell if he's been on the amp as it's on "4" and everything on the amp is up and on 10. You turn it on and everything goes "waaafzzzqq!@@#%$!!!!" and the walls shake. It's funny, I love it! That's my son, quiet till he's on and then it's all fun, all the time. :) Some Saturday links to go with your dancing lady ChattyKathy! I was reminded of the 60's and that made me think of Hawaii-5-O for some reason, and that made me think of the greatest instrumental rock guitar band of that era - The Ventures. Of drum solo and Mosrite guitar fame, those guys had to be the quintessential cover-band. Some very good guitar work throughout their albums of that time frame, and a lot of clunkers too. Some sound like they were recorded in the time it took to warm up the amps. Not that the Mosrite guitars helped - I used to ogle them in the local music store but by the time I tried to play one I realized they wouldn't stay in tune to save your life. But they had a very interesting sound. Anyhoo - they were BIG for years and never bigger than in Japan - below, the live intro of the band from that album - Intro And a classic example of Ventures, a cover-cut, "Penetration", the Mosrite in all it's glory, and some tweezy electronic instruments to boot. Originally done by the Pyramids, and if you go back far enough to remember them, you remember they shaved their heads, they were all bald. Strang, unless you were a surfer, which I wasn't, but that was the only possible explanation and I'm not sure it was the correct one. But they were skin heads, before there was punk. Polish up those Gp-Go boots and pass the paisley for some - Penetration