Monday Lr-Lets Get It Going! 09/17/12

Honored to be back for another stint. For you new folks, my name is Darwin Ohman and I am a retired guy living in Minneapolis/St Paul Mn. and am approaching my 70 th birthday. Music is of great interest to me and I am gigging more than ever. I am with a cover band called THE AGATES. I was hoping to have some videos to share but they are being transferred this week so they will not be ready in time. I am a huge fan of G&L and currently own 13 G&Ls, having owned over 20 in the last 3 years. I hope you can help me with having some entertaining discussions this week.

Lunch is unknown today but I suspect it will be left over spaghetti from this week end that Ginny prepared for the band Saturday evening.

G&L topic today has to do with with performing and what guitars look good on stage. I am sure that some will say that looks are not important but sound is the important thing. That is true but if you are playing a G&L you already have that covered, and adding a little G&L bling never hurt anyone. I have owned Black, Honey Bursts, Wine Transparent Red, and Amber basses. I didn't think any of them were that cool to look at on stage. Yes, this is subjective, but you cannot beat a flamed Maple cap in Cherry burst on an L-2500 to fire up the stage. Here is a photo to demonstrate what I am saying!



The middle guitar of the 3 guitars on the left is the G&L Legacy with the Synth that I used to own. It is Steves main player and he has a couple of Teles for backup, one with drop tuning. He is lusting for an ASAT Special but it isn't in the cards at the moment. The Vintage White Legacy is a class act!

So, show us the guitar that you would use on stage if you were going to knock 'em out. G&L Sparkles would have bonus points here.



The other topic for the start of the week is what I call precious moments.

We had our annual Edge Arts Center concert a week ago and much to my surprise a professional photographer, for publicity at the Arts Center, took about 125 photos of our concert. He sent them to us last week and they were really cool. He mentioned to me that he sometimes really has fun doing these photos and that some of the photos really stand out to him. He sent a couple to Kari and I that stood out for him and he captioned them. In the end they are priceless to me. For those of you that are new, Kari is my daughter and is in our band.

The photographer captioned this "Dad watching over daughter"



He captioned this as "Music without Shoes"



I hadn't noticed but Kari had removed her shoes shorty before the end of the concert. The photographer was moved by this photo.

Do you have photos of some precious moments that you can share with us?

See you tomorrow when we will be discussing backup equipment and gear failure at bad times!-- Darwin

Darwin,
Looks like a great time was had by all. Everyone knows that having a good stage show does matter. There are some excellent players that are less than interesting to watch and some lousy players that put on a good show. Let's face it, you go to a concert to be entertained and for some of us the equipment is a big part of that. It's great when you see great musicians put on a good show with nice equipment, the Trifecta!

Hey Darwin,

Good to see you at the helm again. I'm sure it will be a hard act to follow.

Lunch is still coming and I have no clue what it'll be. I'm working from home today reading up on some new stuff we want to do at work while waiting for some service guy to come by.

Darwin,
Looks like a great time was had by all. Everyone knows that having a good stage show does matter. There are some excellent players that are less than interesting to watch and some lousy players that put on a good show. Let's face it, you go to a concert to be entertained and for some of us the equipment is a big part of that. It's great when you see great musicians put on a good show with nice equipment, the Trifecta!

In that vain: I saw Pat Metheny play Jazz Alley over the weekend with his Unity Band (the incomparable Antonio Sanchez on drums, the young and very talented Ben Williams on bass, and who I think is the best sax player right now: Chris Potter). First, the stage these guys were playing on was considerably smaller than the stage in your pictures. Second, Pat brought part of his Orchestrion with him. It's hard to explain so I have the master do it for me:
[youtube]9VymAn8QJNQ[/youtube]
To see the whole thing live, as I did in 2010, is quite something. But even maybe at only a tenth of its complete size, he had the bottles, accordion, xylophone, glockenspiel, hand cymbals and other small percussion instruments, that is still some equipment. It left those in the audience who had never experienced it first dumfounded and surprised followed by big smiles and elation.

The best guitar on stage is white It takes on any color the light folks throw on it. In that respect I'm in Dave Navarro's camp. So I guess, if I were to play on stage it would be the only white I have:


- Jos

Most of my G&L's aren't very flashy. My '96 Asat Duluxe would probably look the best under lights.

Darwin, Thanks for getting the week off to a great start! I don't play out, and if I did my only G&L's are Rampages. Boring, plain solid color guitars that don't have the bling! The thing I like about this site, and what sets it apart from other guitar sites are the personal stories that are included in the conversations. Thanks for sharing the photo's of you and your daughter! You guys look great! I look forward to seeing your videos when they are ready!

Jos, Great looking Phyllis Blondie! I love G&L's vintage white. Very classy looking. My '86 Rampage has yellowed over the years and has a great vintage white look to it. If that thing sounds as good as it looks, I bet that is one sweet guitar!

Dave

Hey Darwin. Nice to see you in for the entire week of reports

Nice photos. There's such a difference when there's a professional behind the lens. And if you're getting it for free then even better. And what a huge stage you're on!!!

So, show us the guitar that you would use on stage if you were going to knock 'em out. G&L Sparkles would have bonus points here.

Best onstage - sunbursts. They're not my favourite finishes nor the most blingy, but they are very interesting to look at. I guess thats blingy in an understated sort of way, if thats possible . I sold my sparkly ASAT about a month ago, it was just a little too 'out there' for me.

Here's my Old School Tobacco sunburst Classic S

Hey Darwin,

Great photos! Love the one with you and your daughter.

My band is all about having FUN.... so lately it has been nothing but sparkles for me! Here is a shot from a recent gig - a private birthday party in a garage... literally a garage! It was a full functioning auto shop. The strangest stage setup ever. Someone was taking pictures and i was sent this...


Time to grab a cold one and watch some football! Have a good night

Scott

Some great pictures so far!

Fred, I agree with you. I always go early to watch someone else to look at their equipment on stage. `

Jos, I saw a Pat Methany video that you posted some time ago and it is amazing that he can get all that stuff to work together. He is unbelievable and too bad you didn't get to see the full compliment.
Onstage, the pearl pickguard on you guitar onstage would knock 'em dead!

Sprinter, your Deluxe would melt the ladies standing close up front!

Dave, think about the Rampages in your avatar lined up on stage and you switching guitars for different songs. Super cool!

Jamie, Tobacco Burst would work on stage anytime. That S is really sweet. It looks like sparky just wasn't meant for you. You are young and handsome, old dudes like me need bling!

Scott, that picture is awesome with the B/W background and the Sparkle SC-2. Boy, I would like to have that one. Think I'll have a cold one but may miss the football.

Thanks everyone-- Darwin

So, show us the guitar that you would use on stage if you were going to knock 'em out. G&L Sparkles would have bonus points here.

Do these count as bling?

He captioned this as "Music without Shoes"

That Ovation looks almost as tall as she is!

Do you have photos of some precious moments that you can share with us?

I went to dig out some photos a friend took a couple of years ago of my sons (then aged four) sitting in on a gig back in Ohio. He walked right up, pulled a cowbell out of my gear bag, and started playing along. He was actually on the beat and everybody thought it was funny, so we kept him up there for the rest of the number. It seems that the photos were lost when I replaced my computer, so I'm trying to track a copy down now. If my friend responds tonight I will post one.

I sold my sparkly ASAT about a month ago, it was just a little too 'out there' for me.

Jamie, I know the feeling. I absolutely love the feel and sound of the new ASAT Bass, but it is a bit too over-the-top for me (my wife agrees with this assessment). The salesman made it sound like Shoreline Gold Metallic, which would be much more my speed. I could see swapping it out for one with a translucent finish and a lot of figure in the wood if the opportunity came up. The same goes for the Jorgenson Signature ASAT, but I would hope to turn it into a Leo-era rarebird...

Ken

Good to see you at the helm again. I'm sure it will be a hard act to follow.- Jos

Agreed .... but I'm also worried about the guy coming up behind me!

Guitars that look good on stage. I don't really think much in those terms but I do make choices based on what guitar will look right on stage. My band plays with a number of different identities. In a week or so we will be doing a Corporate function in the Grand Ballroom at one of the premier resorts in town. Despite the fact that I have guitars I would rather take from a sonic point of view there's no way I'm taking time worn "player" gear to this show. The rockier Halloween party show on the other hand will definitely feature gear that has well and truly paid for its keep.

cheers, Robbie

I sold my sparkly ASAT about a month ago, it was just a little too 'out there' for me.

Jamie, I know the feeling. I absolutely love the feel and sound of the new ASAT Bass, but it is a bit too over-the-top for me (my wife agrees with this assessment). The salesman made it sound like Shoreline Gold Metallic, which would be much more my speed. I could see swapping it out for one with a translucent finish and a lot of figure in the wood if the opportunity came up. The same goes for the Jorgenson Signature ASAT, but I would hope to turn it into a Leo-era rarebird...

Ken

On a 0-10 scale of difficulty to describe a colour, 10 being impossible, 0 being real easy, G&Ls "outrageous sparkling gold" is a 0. Pffft, sales people Too blingy or not, those two make a fine couple Ken!

darwin, that looks like a fun gig, and the photos have emotional significance, but that was a professional photographer? really? both focus and motion blur issues.

Some more great photos!

Ken, that is HIGH Bling factor! They are lookers and after seeing the clear pickguard on the ASAT I may have to put one on my Gold Sparky.

Aussie, A great idea to tailor your stage presentation to your audience.

Louis, I don't know the guys credentials, but he does the promotions for the center. He was using a camera with a huge lens and most of the pictures were taken from a significant distance away from us with no flash. Also, the pictures I used were downloaded and average 300 to 400 KB in size so they are not nearly as many pixels as the originals. When I first viewed the photos on his site I was blown away by the quality but I am not even a novice when it come to photography. He shot some great pictures of each person in the band.

Thanks folks!-- Darwin

Ken, that is HIGH Bling factor! They are lookers and after seeing the clear pickguard on the ASAT I may have to put one on my Gold Sparky.

Thanks! That's actually not a clear guard on the JJ Sig. It's one of the ones that has a layer of sparkle sandwiched between two layers of clear plastic.

Some more great photos!

Ken, that is HIGH Bling factor! They are lookers and after seeing the clear pickguard on the ASAT I may have to put one on my Gold Sparky.

Aussie, A great idea to tailor your stage presentation to your audience.

Louis, I don't know the guys credentials, but he does the promotions for the center. He was using a camera with a huge lens and most of the pictures were taken from a significant distance away from us with no flash. Also, the pictures I used were downloaded and average 300 to 400 KB in size so they are not nearly as many pixels as the originals. When I first viewed the photos on his site I was blown away by the quality but I am not even a novice when it come to photography. He shot some great pictures of each person in the band.

Thanks folks!-- Darwin

that makes sense, trying to hand hold a long lens in low light. really need to be aware of the focal length/shutter speed relationship.
of course it is possible. here is a few taken at 200 yards at night, no flash, handheld.

Great resolution Louis. A tripod will save the day for photos of this type. I looked at the photographers Web Site and he took 115 photos in a 2 hr window, from several vantage points, in the dark as only the stage was lit during the show.