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Congrats to the boy. I too am envious of his opportunities.
I wonder if I'd have made much progress in a formal lesson environment of 'rock' guitar? I sometimes think that I had a (hobby)/career in spite of my lack of formal training and that some of the great songs have been written by unqualified people with a passion. The trail blazers like Chuck Berry played what felt and sounded good not what was technically possible. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not equating myself with the greats, just musing over the situation.
Enjoy the proud Dad moment Dave, you'll sure have earned it along the way.
I kind of feel the same - rock guitar wasn't meant to be tamed! Having said that, he's learned techniques that I'd never have though of. And it means he can drop back down to do more normal rock guitar stuff with ease. He's very talented, even if I say it myself, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes him.
DESERT ISLAND DISCS
Here's a departure. have any of you heard of, or listened to, the Radio 4 show "Desert Island Discs"? The concept is that they have a celebrity on who has to choose the 8 songs they'd have if they were washed up on a desert island and happened to have washed up with them a gramophone and 8 records (it's the longest running show on the radio, hence the slightly out-moded concept! )
So, you have to choose your eight songs .....
Mine are as follows:
Paperback Writer - The Beatles
Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
May You Never - John Martyn
New England - Billy Bragg
Deeply Dippy - Right Said Fred
The Motown Song - Rod Stewart and the Temptations
Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield
Oh, and you can have a book and a luxury (they give you a Swiss Army Knife, The Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare for free as it got boring that everyone chose those). I'd have a guitar and a book on raft building
If I ever got famous I've always sworn that I'd never go on Desert Island Discs.
Why I hear you all asking (well, someone might give a toss)?
The reason is that they never play whatever is chosen all the way to the end. Whoever wrote it, whether it's a classical piece, or the birdie song, intended it as a complete piece to be listened to all the way through.
So unless they'd give me dispensation to have a longer show whereby all my selections could be played in their entirety I'd refuse to go on, because in it's current format I find the programme really annoying to listen to, irrespective of who is on and their selection of music. I'd even still get annoyed if it was Derek presenting his eight favourite country classics just on the off chance I might like an outro - always the best bit of a C&W song anyway!
So that excuses me from listing my eight tracks. Which is good because if you asked me again next week it would be a different eight tracks.
Cheers, Reg.
Someone mention country songs?
I couldn't pick eight songs either - mine would also change weekly. I suspect that I wouldn't have any country songs in my list either. There'd be a mixture of singer-songwriter stuff with John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, and Jeffrey Foucault topping the list, I'd for sure have some Little Feat tunes, some finger-picking, probably a Beatles / Stones / Who / Kinks section, some Shostakovich, Frankie Miller, Jimi Hendrix, some acoustic blues, lots of Jerry Reed, an Eva Cassidy, an Aretha, and maybe a Janis Joplin, Etta James, or possibly one of those duets Ella did with Joe Pass. I'd try and include some Ry Cooder and definitely some John Fahey and some Leo Kottke. Couldn't do without several Djangos (maybe some Angelo DeBarre, too) and I do like a bit of clarinet - maybe Mozart's clarinet concerto. Not much rock in my list - I wouldn't mind including a UFO track or maybe Highway Star by Deep Purple. Probably end the first half of my Desert Island Discs with some Creedence. Oh what the hell, I reckon a Kris Kristofferson song would be acceptable after all.
I'd have a raft and a book on guitar building.
I guess Radio 4 isn't a music station so they're more interested in the chat with the celeb than the music. Maybe it should be revived on 4+ or whatever it's called now with the songs played in full
I remember many years ago, on a Sunday night, there was a radio series in which famous musicians were given a two hour slot to play their favourite music. Two hours was a good length of time - IIRC Eric Clapton was on there and expressed how much he admired Brian May's playing. But the funniest presenter was Ted Nugent - about 50% of the stuff he played was his own music!
It would be great to have something like a weekly draw to allow a member of the public to do a two hour session somewhere on digital. For an individual the music selection would be hit and miss in terms of listening, but I reckon on every programme you'd come away after listening having discovered something new that was worthy of further investigation.
What's "a gramophone" ???
Probably best to aim this one at drummers!!
We play a game in the band whereby we all try to be the one to play the last note. Song endings can go on for hours ......
Well, we've lost our Mojo a bit, tbh. We haven't played together since Xmas, I don't think, and nobody seems to have been pushing to get back together, but tonight we gather for a bit of a jam and a set list summit. It's about time we put a whole bunch of new songs together, but I feel I need to hold on to the reins to make sure we stick to our original credo regarding song choice, and I'd be interested to hear other members thoughts on this.
Our brief, put simply, is rock music to dance to and dance music rocked-up. Whatever we do, we do our version of it, not just a straight cover, trying to sound exactly like the original. We do it our way, which gives us a bit of leeway in machining a hard edge on to everything we touch. But, the way I see it, we need to choose songs for the most part that you don't hear every other covers band doing. I want each song to make the crowd go, "Wow! This one. Brilliant!" and get up and dance. And we've done pretty well at that, and had a lot of comments after gigs where people have said how it was the song choice they loved about us. My take on it is that if we get the guys up and dancing, too, then we're doing something right!
So as far as I'm concerned that means stuff like "Moves Like Jagger" is right out, but just about anything sung by Jagger is in. This is our last set list (the gig was cancelled, but it's what we would have done:
Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top
Alright - Supergrass
Mr Brightside - The Killers
Jumpin’ Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones
Dakota - The Stereophonics
Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry
All Shook Up - Elvis Presley
Tutti Fruitti - Little Richard
C’mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran
Rolling in the Deep - Adele
Echo Beach - Martha and the Muffins
Maria - Blondie
Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams
Mustang Sally - The Commitments
Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
Rocks - Primal Scream
Sex on Fire - The Kings of Leon
I’m a Believer - The Monkees (or Neil Diamond)
Love Shack - The B52s
Time Warp - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
Fairy tale of New York - The Pogues and Kirsty McColl
Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade
Is there anything in there that would make any of you get up and dance or, conversely, make you leave the floor if you were already dancing?
I think bands do benefit from having a bit of a rest occasionally - I'm sure you'll be back up and running before long. Not sure re the songs to be honest Dave - I'd think do anything that appeals and which your audience will know really. I've been listening to this one in the last couple of days - I find it to be insanely catchy:
Perhaps a rockier version? Might not be well enough known though, so possibly a bad idea. Maybe a bit too synthy to adapt anyway - ah well, just a thought.
That is the kind of thing we take and do our way, but our lady vocalist has the wrong type of voice for that particular one. We're thinking of doing a rocked up version of 9 to 5 but we'll see how that goes. Also Stone Cold Sober by Paloma Faith seems a likely candidate.
Another one I heard on the radio yesterday was Drop Dead Gorgeous which I thought we could do well.
Being of a more mature presence (old), I use Radio 2 as a barometer. If it gets airplay there but is not obviously covered by other bands it gets a listen.
Despite the fact that many bands do them, some songs are pretty much floor fillers and not too difficult to pull off.
Walking on Sunshine (Katrina and the waves)
Mustang Sally
Jailhouse Rock
Gimmi some Lovin'
Sweet Home Chicago
Long Train Running
Venus
Play that Funky Music
Well, we had a good rehearsal last night, or in other words we drank beer and played a lot of songs to each other. Newbies to be worked on are:
Drop Dead Gorgeous - Republica
Stone Cold Sober - Paloma Faith
2000 - Pulp
Perfect 10 - Beautiful South
Twist and Shout - Beatles and Isley Brothers
and we agreed to find a Bowie number. I favour Suffragette City, so that will be the one we end up doing. The rest just don't know it yet.
We'll also do in the future:
Think - Aretha Franklin
The Midnight Hour - Wilson Picket
Sounds like a good night.
I'd personally go for Gene Genie. Only two chords most of the way through - right up my street! How do I know this......
Cheers, Reg.
My Bowie moment would Rebel Rebel because the riff is just gorgeous.
You're right there, fantastic riff. Good ol' Mick Ronson, eh?
I do love the politics of song choosing in a band. I suggested "Gold" by Spandau Ballet as a potential number for us, to be met with, if not howls of derision, then some robust skepticism, shall we say? Interesting though, is that we are resurrecting our hardened and tempered version of Mamma Mia, by mutual consent, if not enthusiasm - a song choice that was met with, if not howls of derision, then some robust skepticism when I first suggested it. Will they never learn?! It's just as well Groundhog Day is one of my favourite films
NEW SONG DAY
Just downloading tab and working through some new songs today. On today's list are:
Drop Dead Gorgeous - Republica
Disco 2000 - Pulp
Stone Cold Sober - Paloma Faith
Perfect 10 - The Beautiful South
Nothing too taxing there, but should be fun to play.
But, the politicking goes on! I had a message from the drummer suggesting an alternative Paloma Faith song. He said it might be more "accessible", but I know what's going on. The drums on Stone Cold Sober are a bit tricky, and he's tried it but doesn't want to say he can't do it, ha ha. But it doesn't work like that! We chose Stone Cold Sober because we all like it. We don't have to choose and alternative Paloma Faith song if it doesn't work out. Nowhere in our Royal Charter does it say, "The Rookies shalt do a Paloma Faith song". It's true what Billy Connolly said in Still Crazy: "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and drummers are from f@cking Pluto".
Well, we had an interesting rehearsal last night. Wednesday nights are always a bit tricky on the domestic front. My wife, Verity, sings in a choir who practice on Wednesdays, my oldest boy had his band rehearsal, so I have to drive him down to the Rock House in Andover, along with his hefty Fender 5150 amp head and cab, then my youngest plays 5-a-side with his godfather's adult team, and the middle boy .... well that's where the interest kicks in. He's involved in the Youth Council in Andover and was at a meeting in Andover Town Council's offices in the town centre - a pokey little upstairs office in an ancient building up a dark alleyway.
So I dropped Ali off at The Rock House, then texted Theo to see if his meeting had finished to give him a lift home. He texted back that it hadn't so I asked how long he thought it would be. I got no reply so after a couple of minutes, no more, I headed home. I've driven for perhaps 3 minutes when Theo calls, properly panicking. In the 5 minutes since we exchanged test messages the meeting has finished, he's nipped to the toilet, and when he comes out they've all left and locked him in the offices!
So the saga begins .....
First I try to find a number to call someone and find a number for one of the councilors. I call it and ....
.... Theo answers! It's the number of the office he's in so that's no good. There being no more numbers apparent, I call the police on the non emergency line. It takes what seems like ages to actually talk to someone and we have a problem because the control room isn't in Andover, the person I'm talking to doesn't know Andover at all and the only way to give them the location is to discribe it because it's up a dark alley (Knockturn Alley, or somesuch). So the nice lady says that if Theo dials 999 using the landline in the office they'll be able to tell exactly where he is and get a keyholder out to him - great! So I call him and tell him what to do, and to call me when someone gets there and I'll come and get him.
A few seconds later my phone rings and it's the nice lady telling me that Theo called, got through to her, coincidentally, and they're on the case and everything is going to be alright - great! So off I go to band rehearsal, and we work on Stone Cold Sober by Paloma Faith and it's all going swimmingly.
But ... after about an hour I haven't heard from Theo, so I call him. He's seen no-one. So I call the police again. They tell me that they got a keyholder, but he went to a different building, couldn't find Theo and went away again. I turns out he's from Test Valley Borough Council, but the offices belong to Andover Town Council and he has no key for it. I explain that perhaps .... just perhaps .... the council aren't taking this very seriously as they have an unattended minor locked in a building with no fire escape and maybe they police would like to put a rocket under them, please and thank you. I then speak to Theo, who confirms the nice man from TVBC has called him, and said that there are no council offices in the town centre, is he sure? Theo tells him that yes he's very bloody sure there's and office in the town centre as he's been locked in it for an hour!
After another half hour I call the police again. By now we're on first name terms. I explain that, to my mind, things aren't going too well and that maybe this ought to be escalated to an emergency and one of our brave boys in blue should go round there and smash a window to get Theo out, but I'm told, in a shocked voice, that they can't do that as they would be liable for the damage!
Now, people, I grew up watching The Sweeney and The Professionals, and none of those characters would have been worried about "being liable for the damage" I can tell you. But we live in a modern age ...
He's been in there two and a half hours, during which time not much rehearsing has been done (or not by me, at any rate) when they finally call me and say, OK, Regan and Carter are on their way down there with the fire brigade to spring him, so I zoom down there to meet them and bring home our little hero.
Now, I mentioned earlier that there was no fire escape. Well, there was. But .... it was a first floor window with bars across it. Now, some might say that's not a particularly effective fire exit. I'll leave you to make your own minds up, suffice to say the fire brigade got him out by going up a ladder and giving him a screwdriver so he could take the screw out of the bars at the window and they could get him out and down the ladder.
So, finally he was out after a mere 3 hours of ineffectual buggering around!
Unfortunately for Andover Town Council, Verity works in marketing and PR and now the local press and radio, plus BBC Radio Solent are breathing down the Council's neck for an explanation and baying for blood. We feel a little bit bad as the guy who actually locked Theo in Emailed an unreserved apology first thing this morning, closely followed by the Town Council clerk - but only a little bit.
Theo, on the other hand, actually had a bit of a fun evening. He drank their tea, ate a lot of their biscuits, used a PC to watch Netflix and Snap-chatted the whole thing, including a photo of him being helped down the ladder by the Fire Service. This is now going viral, apparently it was the hot topic of discussion in every high school in the area today, and he's started a hashtag #freetheo which is, I believe, trending (whatever the f@ck that means!) If you're quick (and interested, of couse) you can listen to his live BBC Radio Solent interview on their website. You have to find Louisa Hannan's show from today and listen at around 1hr 20 min into the show
God help us if he ever decides to go seriously into politics. Frank Underwood is an amateur!
I hope to report a more productive and less stressful rehearsal next week
But other than the above, a pretty uneventful day eh Dave?
Typical police bu**eration.
You're obviously too good an influence Dave. If he smoked a quick fag under a smoke detector would have short circuited the whole exercise.
Cheers, Reg.
This is the modern world. He'd have been arrested and prosecuted for smoking in a public building! We considered all sorts of ways to get a quick response, including:
1) set fire to the building (discounted due to there being no fire escape
2) Phone the police and tell them he had hostages and would start shooting one every 5 min (discounted due to being prosecuted for wasting police time)
3) Contact Scotty and get beamed up (discounted due to lack of reality)
Ah, but the fact is that the man from the council had already denied there were any council offices in the town centre so he could hardly be prosecuted for smoking in a public building that didn't exist
You should've been a barrister, Reg
Whereas me, all I can do is make nice coffee ....
... I should've been a barista!
For this post I thought I'd write about my pride and joy. In a post not far up there I said I'd been cured of GAS .... well ..... that wasn't entirely true. You see, for some time I'd been formulating a pipe dream that became a vague plan which evolved into a subtle and devious campaign. I wanted a true vintage guitar, and had read an article some time back which pointed towards some of the less auspicious guitars of the big makers as being a neat and inexpensive way of getting your hands on a nice bit of history. Forget a '62 Strat, they said, try something like a Musicmaster. Don't hanker for a '58 Les Paul, take a look at a Melody Maker.
So it came upon me by stealth that I would one day acquire the budget version of my beloved Gibson SG - an SG Junior. And it was fortunate that they were being made at around the right time for me to get one the same age as I am.
So, my campaign started in a simple way. Everytime someone asked what I wanted for Xmas or birthdays I'd say "a '65 SG Junior". Sometimes, if the person had momentarily let their guard down, I'd go further and state that it had to be in cherry red and have a stock wrap-around tailpiece. This went of for a mere 10 years.
Then my beautiful, generous, darling wife and I went to Bath for an anniversary day out and I just happened to steer us in the direction of Vintage and Rare Guitars there. They didn't have an SG Junior at all. They did have a rare '65 SG in stock cherry sunburst, but at around £8k even I could see it wasn't happening. Similarly a £4.5k Les Paul Special single cut was out of range, but the idea went in there, and on the way home my wife said, "find one - I want you to have it .... er .... how much will it be?"
So I started trawling t'internet, and actually tracked one down at the Vintage Guitar Emporium on Bethnal Green Road in London a couple of weeks later. It seemed perfect. '65 SG Junior, Cherry Red, factory stop tailpiece, "strong investment potential". That means VGC to the rest of us non-guitar-investors.
So my good lady was good to her word and we had an afternoon out in London.
The vintage department was down in the basement - and oh, my God - what a vintage department! It was just as well it was her credit card it was going on as mine would have taken a battering. They had "my" SG, plus a '61 SG/Les Paul Junior, a pristine double-cut Melody Maker, a beautiful, beautiful butterscotch blonde Tele from about 1954 .... I had to roll my tongue up, brush off the fluff and put it back on my mouth.
I played the SG/Les Paul, as well, and I did like it. I kind of felt that it had a bit of history, being from that rare crossover period when SG's still bore the great man's name .....
.... but, no, I wasn't born in 1961. I was born in 1965, so it had to be the '65 ...
But how did I know it was a '65. Gibson serial numbers in that period are haphazard and unreliable. Series of numbers were used, skipped, gone back to and, in some cases, re-used. I asked the (extremely likeable) guy in the shop how he was sure it was a '65? He talked about pickup numbers, pot suppliers, vagaries of wiring methods ....