jff

I agree, for instance... Some doofus on You Tube commented on an Otis Redding video saying how it's a shame that nobody realizes Otis died in the same plane crash as Buddy Holly, Big Bopper, etc. The best male singer in pop music history deserves better.

I think I have a VHS tape with him playing on a late night show. He had a hit or two when I was in my 11th grade guitar shredder phase. That's too bad. 41 is way too young.

Totally, but I'm more of a Justine Shapiro fan.

Duane Allman used his big toe to stop/start and back up his record player when he heard something he wanted to learn. I still don't buy that the average guitarist can out play Bloomfield. Name some average guitarists from the present. Maybe we disagree with the meaning of average.

I couldn't disagree more.

I have a cassette comp of theirs. Some of the stuff is very good, some is so-so. It's too horn dominated for my taste, especially considering Bloomfield was the guitarist.

And "Marbles"...now, that's a jam. Buddy Miles played on John McLaughlin's Devotion album, which is where "Marbles" comes from.

A lot of people rave about JJ tubes. I put a set in my Traynor YCV15 and I noticed an improvement over the stock tubes. That probably would have been true no matter what replacement tubes I used, though. Anyway, here's their link: http://www.eurotubes.com/ If you click on "Shop Online" you'll see that they have full retube kits for most of the well known amp makers, including Vox. You can probably order individual tubes from them, also. I hope this douesn't sound like I'm shilling for them. I have no connection with them at all, other than being a satisfied customer.

I don't know why a musician's offerings should be for charity, rather than for personal income, just because they don't fit within the typical music industry business model. Cool idea. I hope she makes enough money to at least rasie her four or five (or is it six now?) kids to adulthood.

What makes you say the Hagstrom would hold it's value better? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious. I would expect it to hold it's value better than an Epiphone (just because there are SO MANY Epiphones out there), but I'm not sure how the used market works for lesser known brands. In Atlanta, Reverends seem to be highly regarded and Hagstroms are sort of a new, unknown brand (even though it's actually an old brand).

Let us know what you think of them. I'd like to get a humbucker equipped guitar sometime this year. I'd really like a Les Paul, but I don't have the money. I definitely intend to try out the Hagstrom and the Reverend. I could probably scrape together the money for one of those. As for Flying V guitars, if you're not a Flying V guy now, you'll probably be even less of one as you get older, so you're wise to stick with a less flashy style of guitars.

I don't have a lot of experience with any of those guitars, but from what I've read and heard, Epiphones sometimes have poor quality pickups and wiring. My Epiphone Casino, which I no longer own, had some wiring issues. I saw one of the Hagstroms recently in a shop. I didn't get to play it for more than a few seconds, but it appeared to be well made and it felt solid when I picked it up. Nice looking guitar. I always hear good things about Reverend guitars. I didn't know they had a Les Paul style guitar. You can read reviews of music gear on Harmony Central. Here's a link to the

Nah, not among my favorites. I do enjoy both of those bands, though.

Georgia: Otis Redding Flap Little Richard Toenut Gold Sparkle Band Ray Charles Allman Brothers Hampton Grease Band

It's awesome that Wilco did that. It's an amazing concept and a great gift to fans, especially considering that they would probably rather leave some of those tunes in the past. I wish I could have been there. I think a typical touring schedule is much more draining than playing five nights in a row in your hometown, though. That's no more draining than some guy working the 3-11 shift at the local airport, or something...and those guys don't receive raucous applause (or anywhere near as much money) for their efforts. Nor do they experience the spontaneous, and VERY invigorating moments of

You can see her singing this one (and one or two other tunes) on the Monterrey Pop outtakes video.

That guitar makes me think of pretzels.

Not having seen the photos, I was going to ask if that's what it was. Here's another photo of one:

It seems like there are more music magazines now than ever (or at any time since I first started paying attention in the mid-'80s). There are only so many ad dollars to go around. As far as "respected" music magazines go, I would have preferred to see Paste bite the dust before No Depression.

natural? NATURAL? Don't you mean natch'l?

You mean her?

My first guitar was a Seagull S6. I still have it. It's a good quiality instrument. Good recommendation. Another option is a Yamaha acoustic. I played a couple in the $250 range over the weekend and was impressed. Sam, are you looking for an acoustic or electric guitar? So far, all the recommendations are for acoustics. If you want an electric, maybe you could check out a mexican made Fender Strat or Telecaster. Those are in the $300 - $350 range, I think. Epiphone also makes some decent quality lower priced electric guitars.

I had the Epiphone Valve Jr. 5 watt head for a while. I played it through a Peavey tweed 112 cabinet (and a Tele). It was sort of dark and muddy sounding by itself (no tone control, only a volume knob), but somehow it sounded like magic with a $15 Danelectro Fab Echo pedal. I'd imagine an EQ pedal would probably be a valuable addition to one of those amps. I sort of regret parting with that setup.

While looking for a new snare drum over the weekend (a failed endeavor) I came across a used/like new Fender Deluxe Reverb for $650. I went home and tried to take a nap, but I couldn't sleep, so I loaded up my car with my Ampeg Reverberocket and my Epiphone Casino and worked out a trade. Awesome amp. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to really put it to work sometime this week.