jff

I've really been enjoyinng his guitar sound from Band of Gypsies era. On some of the earlier stuff, in particular some of his live TV appearances, he has a terrible guitar tone.

Seriously? I thought that was stellar. That song could hold it's own on any of the Experience albums, and certainly wouldn't be the worst song on any of them.

Someone please explain to me why it's ok and commonplace for a president during the SOTU address to make disapproving statements about the opposing party's congressional acts/policies, but it is controversial and not ok to say anything disapproving about the Supreme Court's decisions? The legislative branch is not above reproach. Why should the judicial branch be?

Obit from the Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bunch_of_phonies_mourn_j_d

Bad Brains.

Here's a review of the currently available Dan Armstrong guitar from Vintage Guitar Magazine: http://www.vintageguitar.com/features/gear/details.asp?AID=3527

My wife just had LASIK a couple weeks ago. So far so good. One of the reasons she became interested in it was because during a roadtrip we were in a pretty bad car crash on the interstate. Her glasses were knocked off and buried under a bunch of our stuff which had been strewn all over the car. We weren't able to find the glasses for several minutes, and as a result she was pretty terrified by not being able to see what was going on. Granted, that's a rare scenario, but fear is a strong motivator, and there are a number of ways you can find yourself in scary situations of you can barely

I know what you mean, but if there were only 30 people at his show last year in Asheville, that's roughly the same as his pre-Wilco shows. I think Nels could pull in 30 people even if he had never been in Wilco. Is the Asheville show typical, or does he normally play to larger audiences these days?

I saw them before Nels joined Wilco. Most people seemed to be there to see Carla Bozulich (during her Red Headed Stranger period). There were probably 50 people there. During Nels' opening set, there were probably 25 people. I think most of the people there (like me) probably knew about Nels after having seen him kick so much ass in Mike Watt's band.

So much talent.

I saw New Riders of the Purple Sage with Goose Creek Symphony at a theater that holds 1000(+/-) people. There were approximately 30 people there. That was 1993, I think. I saw Walt Mink play to five people, and it was one of the best musical performances I've ever seen.

Me too. I'm ambivalent about the music.

Coincidentally, I was just reading an old interview with Carol Kaye. She said at one time she played a Gibson Grabber bass, which is another instrument with a sliding pickup (so designed because she couldn't decide where she wanted the pickup to be placed). Different design and more limited sliding range than the Armstrong, but similar concept:

Faces.

Van Halen would be pretty good, even in their current bastardized form.

Jawbone's a good song. I probably would have said Tobacco Road.

That'd be amazing. I'll bet $100 Metallica does it within the next five years.

That's not the one I saw. The body shape was the same, but the pickup was mounted on a rail that was parallel to the strings. EDIT: Here's a link with a photo of the sliding pickup I'm refering to, although it is on a wooden guitar: http://www.danarmstrong.org/londonguitar.html

Steven Tyler is now singing over the intercom at Home Depot. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/steven-tyler-serenades-shoppers_1129871 Who is this guy's agent?

I wasn't able to find an example online of the one with a sliding pickup. It's possible it wasn't a Dan Armstrong, but I don't know what else it could have been. Maybe it was a one-off. Judging by the band's equipment, they seemed to be sort of wealthy, so maybe it was a custom feature.

I've never played one plugged in, but I used to share a practice space with a band that had one, and I'd pick it up from time to time. It felt like a very solid, playable instrument. It had a single pickup that was mounted on a slider, and you could position it anywhere you wanted between the bridge and the neck. Are they all like that? I thought that was a really ingenious feature.

Steven Tyler is now on the karaoke circuit. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/01/22/steven-tyler-sings-aerosmith-at-a-california-pubs-karaoke-night/

I didn't bother with the Sting solo album that is side two of this album. This would be a lot better if it weren't for the Mickey Mouse vocals.