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Someone always walks around a corner unexpectedly and startles me. Or a cat jumps on me from out of nowhere.

Headphones are great, but I get spooked too easily when I wear them.

Amboy Dukes - Journey to the Center of the Mind Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit King Crimson - Great Deceiver Rolling Stones - Get Off of My Cloud Jimi Hendrix - Love or Confuison Chic - Le Freak Tin Machine - Heaven's In Here (Bowie might be the master of killer song openings)

Depending on their motives, they could see this as a major victory.

They have an album to work on.

Aerosmith - Back in the Saddle. So nasty. Ike and Tina Turner - It's Gonna Work Out Fine. Bowie - Ziggy Stardust. Miles Davis - So What.

That'd be awesome. I don't know how they find the time. I hope they'll eventually release the improv material they recorded during the Giant Pin sessions. Nels seemed really proud of that, and was happy that he recorded the whole thing on a Gibson Howard Roberts guitar. I think he said they were toying with the idea of a vinyl only release. I'm guessing the bad economy has sidelined that plan.

Yeah, Destroy All is one of my favorite Nels albums. That Carla album is kind of spotty, but I enjoy it. I was lucky enough to See Nels and Carla three times during the year or two in which those live recordings were made. The cd doesn't live up to the shows, but it's a nice document of that era.

I haven't heard any of Coward yet, but based on Nels' acoustic playing on The Inkling, Watt's "Contemplating the Engine Room", Carla Bozulich's "Red Headed Stranger", etc. I'm really looking forward to this. Nels spent a significant portion of his life playing acoustic guitar almost exclusively, so although he is probably best known as an electric guitarist, he has pretty deep roots in the acoustic world.

That makes sense. I guess I'll find out what the local stores are doing with their prices soon enough. I don't know the price of a USA Fender, but a MIM Fender is $449 (up from $399), not $700...unless you're talking about an upgraded MIM, like the Jimmy Vaughan Tex-Mex Strat ($699) or the Classic Player '50s and '60s series ($799) which have components equivalent to, or possibly better than standard USA Fenders. The difference is Mexican vs USA labor costs, and the MIMs come with a gig bag rather than a case (which I assume comes with a USA Fender).

Where did you get that date? Feb. 1 is the date I've been seeing on the several guitar/music websites I've checked out since hearing of the price increase earlier this week.

I saw them once (actually my old band opened for them...or more accurately, we "supported" them by playing to a mostly empty room after they and their audience left). They were really, really good. We were really, really sucky. Back to topic: Two Foot Yard

Even if his guitars are technically owned by StoogesCorp, or some other entity, this is despicable

Wow, this came out of left field. What an unfortunate time to go. RIP Ron. I guess if there's a silver lining, it's that Mike Watt will be able to take the inspiration he's gained from working with his heroes and apply it to his own albums/performances.

I've been reading today that Fender is planning on raising their prices by 25%, across the board, on February 1, 2009. If you've been thinking of buying any of their products, you might want to buy in January before the price increase. Some folks are speculating that this is just a Guitar Center ploy to make some quick sales, but apparently reputable guitar dealers are confirming that the price increase is for real. I'm bummed because I'm about $300 away from upgrading to a better Strat.

I suspect they aren't the same. I used to read the Wurlitzer Yahoo Group for a while and I don't recall reading anything about the Pianet reeds. It could be a well kept secret, though. Replacement reeds are still being made...or were a few years ago. They supposedly don't sound quite the same, though. NOS reeds are out there, but the last time I checked (two or three years ago) they were selling for $20 for each reed. It'd cost a fortune to redo an entire instrument. The good thing is that the reeds on the really low and really high notes are less likely to need replacement since

I like both. I used to have a Wurli and now I'm keeping a Rhodes at my house for a friend. One downside to the Wurli is that the reeds that are struck to produce each note are fairly fragile and it's apparently a laborious process to tune the replacement reeds (it involves whittling away at a little mound of solder at the end of the reed, and adding solder if you whittled away too much). I understand it's getting tougher to find replacement reeds for Wurlitzers. They're not something you can get at Guitar Center or a typical mom and pop music store. Rhodes seem to have much more durable

I'll have to pull that one out and listen to it. The "one note" Cinnamon Girl guitar solo went over great...maybe that concept doesn't work so well when applied to a whole song.

Two Live Crew

An intentional lack of consistency is the definition of his entire career. He has basically said that himself in numerous interviews.

Nice drums! Your floor tom is upside down. Is that intentional?

Same here, except I have one under his name. "Ready for Freddie". I think Hubbard considered that his strongest session as far as his own playing was concerned. I haven't listened to it in probably seven or eight years, but I remember it being outshined by other things I was listening to at the time. It probably wasn't out or free enough for me at the time. I'll have to add it to my pile.

Ten Years After