The Cereal Killers
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“I think there’s nothing better than seeing a three-chord straight up rock ‘n’ roll band in your face with sweaty music and three minute good songs.” Joan Jett
Saaaay….you’re mighty fancy. What’s a purty little thing like you doin’ in a place like this?
So I’ve managed to maintain my composure and not go blindly seeking this his one guitar (and the case, c’mon, how can you resist a leopard print case?) mainly because I have so many damn guitars already. The other fact is that I don’t use any one of them enough to justify another purchase (and really, isn’t that what I said about the last one?). I’m so lame that I almost didn’t even realize that could upgrade the pickup in one of the SG’s to a P90 and get pretty close without having to get another guitar. Although…..I really like the white…..
One of the realities that one has to face eventually is that there isn’t a piece of gear that’s going to make you play any better than just straight old-fashioned woodshedding. In the case of the above guitar, I’m not even sure how it plays. The RI series that I’ve played lately have had baseball bat necks (which I hate). The one above is a sig model, the Billie Joe Armstrong and it’s supposed to have a “play fast” neck (like my 61 SG RI). Which of course I find intriguing.
Here’s the part where I admit that I’ve got kind of a man-crush on Billie Joe. My daughter (should she ever read this) will give the obligatory “ewwwwwwww”. It sounds really stupid, but I’m a huge fan of his songwriting. Back in the 90’s, I listened to Dookie (like everybody else) and gradually fell off in interest as some of the later albums kind of kept going. At the AstroArena, we watched Billie Joe slobber all over the stage – good show. It wasn’t until American Idiot came out that I became a reborn fan.
Here’s the thing that REALLY freaks my daughter out. All the guys in Green Day are pretty much the same age as me. It’s hard to believe, but while they were singing about being burned out on a couch, I was sitting there burned out on a couch watching them sing about it. Not that I think, “Hey that could have been me!” because obviously I wasn’t driven enough to really push myself with my guitar playing. It’s just easy to relate to an artist that’s almost the exact same age as you. Oops. So Tre Cool has the same birthday as me. I knew I was forgetting something. But they were all born the same year as me.
Geez! These Geezers…..
How come THEY don’t have grey hair?
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“Cats have it all – admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it” Rod McKuen
So I was killing some time the other day at the local Guitar Center.
As usual, there were some knuckleheads playing loudly, annoying everyone. Then as I’m checking out the used amps, one of those guys cranks up and I hear the solo to “That’s Alright Mama” played perfectly. Seriously, it was dead on.
The guy then launches into the intro to La Bamba, then switches the echo and starts playing the intro to a Joe Satriani tune – *Midnight*.
Needless to say, I was pretty damn impressed.
If he’d broken out some Jerry Reed I would have fallen over.
Since this has been a YouTube fest, here’s some Angus. Yeahhhhhh.
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“In the audio and video archives, there are 7,000 taped concerts alone. I’m a rock fan who wanted to get into the music business and own intellectual property.” Bill Sagan
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the following book to any musicians who happen to read my blog:
Honestly, it’s not the easiest read – it’s dense. It’s almost textbook-like but it is very well worth sticking with. I’ve found myself saying (out loud) “Wow” several times while reading.
