Another freaking awesome piece by God-Awful. This one may be going on my arm (the other one).
- Tag Archives rockabilly
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“Like a thunderbolt in your Cheerios, son.” – David Lee Roth
Dang it, I couldn’t find the video I was looking for.
Where was I? So in 1996 or so, I was working at the aforementioned movie theater and The Great White Hype was playing. This was a bad movie. Just overall bad. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY came to see it. The theater that it was playing in was consistently empty so I’d wander in there from time to time to see if anyone was actually watching it.
I walked in one time and Brian Setzer had a cameo appearance playing “Danny Boy” all Brian Setzer styled, and things are starting to percolate in my brain. A bartender at one of the poolhalls I frequented said, “Dude, I just saw this movie that is so YOU.”
That movie was Swingers.
So I’m really getting it all together, and realizing that this kind of music is what I should be playing on guitar. The whole vibe and scene was just too cool – it was what I dug all along. Hot rods, low-brow, twangy guitars…..the works. I picked up the guitar again. It had been a few (ahem) years since I played it with any regularity in high school and many MANY years since the time I played it seriously. So I set to work. It sounds stupid to “realize” it, but a lot of my guitar playing years were stunted because of my ear.
I’ve got a good ear. I can hear something, match the key and then usually fake along (depending on how much I’ve been practicing lately). In elementary school, I played cornet. I couldn’t read music so they just sang the note to me and I played it. While it’s nice to have a good ear, ultimately I think it made me lazier. Especially on guitar. While it makes it easier to jump in, you don’t work as hard so you don’t retain as much information.
But my daughter was born in 1997 so while she was a baby I actually had PLENTY of time to practice. And practice I did. I tracked my original guitar teacher (in Houston) and started meeting up with him to start getting this rockabilly stuff down. I learned a lot of finger picking. I spent a lot of time running scales and learning songs. I was using my long-time guitar my Ibanez Destroyer (!).
Found a pic of one (although mine didn’t have the cherries).
Since I was familiar with the wide fretboard it was great to be pushing through on, but I ended up pickup up my first “rockabilly machine” Gretsch in 1997. It was a factory second out at Parker Music on I-45 (Houston).
After a while, I felt pretty confident in my playing. Over confident really. I set up to meet with this guy who played stand up bass. What a disaster. The guy was what I/we call a “purist“. He played the rockabilly records on a turntable (only). He preached the rockabilly superior. Original rockabilly artists only, etc, etc. He turned his nose up at my Gretsch (not a rockabilly guitar?!?) but oddly enough approved of the leopard print strap I had on it? He knocked me off-balance so badly that I couldn’t remember the chords to Blue Suede shoes (!) It was bad. It knocked me back for quite a while. Such a defeat. Now I realize he was just a…..jerk…..but back then I really took it to heart that I wasn’t a good guitar player.
–to be continued–
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“Life has its music; let us seek a way – not to jangle the chords whereon we play”
Whaaa? Why did I pick that title? Jangle is what it’s all ABOUT!!
I spent the last hour or so annoying the house finally putting fingers to fretboard to figure out the licks in the General Cinema trailer:
As I’ve mentioned before, it was one of my favorite ever jobs…General Cinema. I heard that freaking bumper a million times too. I finally goofed it out. Took me about 20 minutes to where I thought the ending slides should start from, but I’m pretty happy with it. Finally, I can rest easy, knowing that I can play air guitar absolutely correctly in regards to fretboard placement when I imagine this stupid bumper playing in my head. As it so often does.
Since I started playing guitar in the late 80’s, I’ve always been a guitar based music kind of guy. One of my favorite songs *younger than guitar playin’ years* that really really struck me was Stray Cat Strut. Right around 1995-1996, I caught Brian Setzer playing on Letterman. (Check out that jacket!) I was like, “Hey, that’s the dude that did Stray Cat Strut! One of my favorite songs evar!” *Note: We didn’t talk like that in the 90’s. It’s a recent phenom.
So I set about hunting down a big band version of Stray Cat Strut. Right about this time, I was also working at the movie theater, and kept hearing the echo drenched rockabilly flavored bumper (above) over and over again. I’m trying to find some clips…
….to be continued…
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“That rockabilly sound wasn’t as simple as I thought it was.” ~ Carl Perkins
Oh, Hard Rock Cafe. How I despise thee.
Possibly the only Barbie Doll that I would ever buy (Rockabilly Barbie) is $80. Sorry. Not spending $80 on a Barbie Doll. I’ll quietly admire from a distance though.
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“I found there was only one way to look thin, hang out with fat people.” Rodney Dangerfield
I opened my blog to search engines again and for the same reason I quit that last time is happening again…..
Since I posted Ren & Stimpy’s Naked Beach Party clip, search engines have hit my blog for “naket beach” and “naked men on beach”. *Sigh*
In other news, I forgot that when I was at the burlesque show on Sunday night, one of the acts was a sideshow guy. He needed volunteers, so I went up and got to be part of the “Gay Table” act. It was pretty fun – we had knives juggled around us while us four balanced on each other as a table.
One of the dancers used Imelda May’s “Big Bad Handsome Man” to her burlesque act. Speaking of Imelda May, she posted a new video today:
And also, I found a rockin’ version she did of an 80’s classic:
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“There is a very real brain component to addiction, and society up to now has for the most part has viewed it as failure of will.” Richard Pops
We have entered the culture of lowered expectations – please raise your tray tables and fasten your seat belts, this will be a bumpy ride…..
I managed to get a “B” on my Texas Politics test. I was a little disappointed that it was an “on the edge” B – it was an 80. Although, for the time I put in, I deserved exactly what I got. So, I went to class today and the professor was astonished that our class did so poorly. The class average was 53. FIFTY-THREE. This is a class where we were allowed to use an index card (both sides) with notes for the test!
As it turns out, there were two A’s, two B’s, about 6 C’s, 12 D’s, and the rest were F’s. Freaking amazing. I too was astonished. Just think if I had put some time in on it!
Piano class, I managed to underwhelm myself when I volunteered (too early) for something that I wasn’t really ready for. I thought I was going to get away with not-really-practicing-at-home, but I’m not going to be comfortable doing that. Many of the playing elements are solid, but other parts are not.
For golf class, we went to Mansfield National and hit some balls at the driving range. Now that was fun. Although, I didn’t realize that I was supposed to use my almost-full-stroke yet, so when the coach was saying, “Bring it back more” I’m like, “Huh?”. So I think I’ll be heading to Top Golf this weekend with Rod and hit some balls. Stretch out my aching triceps anyway. Monday was a snowy/wet day so we hit the cardio room. I also hit the weight room and REALLY pushed myself. Ouch.
A student got smart with the RnR History/Appreciation class professor. I couldn’t believe it. He looked like he loved Nickelback and was like, “Duuuude! Why are you talkin’ smack to me?” to the professor. A hush fell over the class.
Stupid kids.
In other news, when in a funk I managed to mangle one of my rims, and I’m in the process of buying another one. Also, got some windshield wiper blades which are Honda year/model specific which is crazy. At least they were easy to install.
The amp showed up – somehow I thought it would be bigger. LOL.
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“I usually take a two hour nap from one to four” Yogi Berra
I took a nap a little earlier and I’m feeling better after this weekend. Friday and Saturday night some friends and I went to a burlesque festival – it was a lot of fun. We ate sushi at some place I’ve never gone on Friday. At the show, drinks were plentiful and made merry – and looked at the pretty girls.
BTW – I totally stole these from my friends since I didn’t take my camera. There were approximately 50 performers total over the two nights, so this obviously is just a sample.
“There’s plenty more fish in the sea” is a very quick, glib way of explaining the truth. And the truth is………………
……there are plenty of women in the world that will “get” you. You just have to seek them out.
I’m working on a project again after realizing that life is short. I’ll update as the project gets harder (which it is already hard, but for some reason I chose superbowl sunday to start again)
My piano class is fun – I keep getting included on the really hard stuff. Two tests coming up this week – RnR History and Texas Politics. I’m really not taking this semester seriously (unfortunately) but I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’ve been practicing guitar like a mofo and I’m happy to report that I’m very pleased with my progress. Woodshedding (when done right) works.
On the way:
