• Tag Archives Slash

  • “Ever since dying came into fashion, life hasn’t been safe.” Proverb

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Hoppy July 4th. So far, I have the day off. This could change at any moment.

    I’m going through all my bookmarks – yes, those things that occasionally save your place on the internet. Usually, they’re all pointing to dead links, etc. So I’m looking at some of them and determining if they still exist. If not, “ Baleeted.”

    Some of the links go to some really cool T-shirt websites. You know the ones, the ones that have such cool designs you never thought you’d see in a million years. It makes you feel like a kid – picking out the coolest design.

    Unfortunately, there are very few of these t-shirts that don’t make you look like an oversized kid. Or, rather, a middle-aged balding gentleman who can’t seem to grow up. While anybody can buy those shirts, it doesn’t mean they should. I’m all for geek chic, within the proper age range. Much like the Twilight Zone episode I just glanced at, with Cliff Robertson – I thought, “Boy, that top hat looks great!”


    However I’m realistic enough that I know that I can’t rock a top hat. Very few people can.

    Slash.


    Ummm. And Charles DeMarr.

    And……uh…..Abraham Lincoln.

    That’s it. The only three people who can rock a top hat.

    I guess that’s about it. For me Steampunk is cool in limited doses, but walking around Texas in a top hat and tails in the middle of summer not only looks foolish, you’re severely risking heatstroke.

    Speaking of inappropriate – how many older white guys out there are wearing white tennis shoes? As a rule I don’t purchase white anything, but since it was pointed out to me I notice it a lot more. Guys out there, look in the mirror before you go out. Shirt? Check. Pants? Check. White tennis shoes? Turn around, try again. If all you own is white shoes, save one pair for yard work and buy something else.


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  • “He who wants a rose must respect the thorn.” Persian Proverb

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare 2 Comments

    “Cha-na-na-na-na-na-na-knees! Knees! In the jungle….”, she sings.
    “Wait”, she says. “How come I know this song?”
    “Probably because you’ve heard it one million times playing Guitar Hero”.

    Guilty as charged. Guns ‘n Roses “Appetite for Destruction”  has been rotating in and out of my CD player in my car.  It started at the last “Heavy Metal Burlesque” show that I went to – the sponsor had hired a GnR tribute band to play. The dude that was playing “Slash” didn’t impress me much, but that was because his Les Paul kept pulling out of tune. But it reminded me of all the songs off Appetite that I loved. I sang along to a bunch of them and couldn’t believe that I remembered the words. Stopped at Forever Young and scored a used copy.
    Initially, I didn’t warm to GnR until right around the end of high school – around 1991.  In passing, we would see the video for “Paradise City” when waiting for the Metallica video “One”  (somewhere around 1989). GnR initally struck me as kind of a hair metal band so at the time I was pretty non-plussed. Looking back, we also didn’t think much about the instability of the guys in GnR. Just when you thought they SHOULD be releasing an album or something – they just didn’t. There was a LONG stretch of them releasing nothing until that double album set came out (which I only bought one of – and I can’t remember why). At that time, I wanted my music to be harder/heavier

     on AM radio! Rawk!
    It wasn’t until a few of us drove down to Galveston with Ty’s crappy boom-box sporting a (cassette) copy of Appetite did I really start to dig the album. I have to say, it still really holds together and stands the test of time (for me anyway). Whenever I listen to it, the reckless-energy vibe still is there for me.
    As a guitar player I’ve never been a huge Slash fan, although his playing on Appetite (to me) is a great exercise in judicious Wah usage. When I got bored at lunch, I popped over and picked up his autobiography. There were only two things that really surprised me. One is that he got a pacemaker at 34. (After continually having heart attacks onstage!). The other that shocked me was that Slash drove a Honda CRX. Seriously? A CRX? I was in an accident (as passenger) in one of those. I can’t imagine a less masculine car for a guitar-guy like Slash to be driving. I mean sure, it was black-on-black, but c’mon…..a CRX?  Heroin usage? Blah, blah, whatever. Expected. That CRX thing blew me away though.
    Listening to Appetite now, I have to agree with Slash’s assesment that Stephen Adler was essential to that album’s success. No matter how much you dog him for whatever else he’s done, his drumming is really an essential part of that album.
    I haven’t gotten into GnR live stuff yet – their Youtube stuff is not really doing it for me.  If you see me walking around with a top hat on, you’ll know I’ve lost it.


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