Wednesday the 28th of November

Tonight’s dinner was eaten in one of the local pubs – a ploughman’s lunch style platter. Nice fresh bread with assorted cold meats and cheeses and some token vegetable matter. And beers of course! The girlfriend and I were out to see a Mia Dyson song writing clinic type thing for an organisation called 'Play Like a Girl', which is all about women in music. I was one of4 or 5 guys in attendance Thankfully Mia was on first (go figure...) so we didn't have to sit through the open mic/jam section. Some of you might recall Mia Dyson from the last time I did the LRs. She is easily my favourite current Australian artist – its great when you can see someone you admire so much literally a stones throw from your front door.
I think that this is the current single from her new record, though it might be one of the other songs. Either way, they're all good. If you like it BUY it HERE.
[youtube]792ga7vULgk[/youtube]

From one successful Australian female to another. This is Clairy Brown and the Bangin' Rackettes. Another Melbourne based band who have made inroads to the American market. I saw these guys at a tiny venue one night after a god-awful interpretive comedy-circus troupe. It was a miracle that there were still people there. At the time it took myself and the girlfriend to get people dancing, nobody else was sure enough that it was cool enough to dance to - and I'm not a good dancer. Its great to see a local band doing so well - this was shot somewhere in LA.
[youtube]3PCbCMcyLD0[/youtube]

Todays poll is all about space, rather than cases specifically, which is a topic that has been flogged to death several times. Cases take up a lot of space in the house, I can only imagine how much room you guys with 20+ guitars deal with it! I know that my music room/study/storeroom would have a lot more space if I didn’t have guitar cases cluttering the place up. Would you choose a no case option?

Tragics
I came across this one on the weekend at one of the places we play and couldn’t resist.

Go Charlie!
On the topic of bad, check this guy out (sorry about the link, but I don't want a youtube account). We saw him at Marina Bay, Singapore last Sunday. He was a star in the late ‘60s and 70s. The rest of the set was fine, all the other guys in the band could sing really well, and played very well but in this tune his falsetto is shot to hell! This is last chorus, of around 4 choruses, each as bad as the next.

http://s1007.beta.photobucket.com/user/jamie1761/media/VIDEO0004.mp4.html

Ever seen anyone who should just give up? Of course you have! Lets hear about them.

Enjoy day people

paul mccartney at the london opening ceremony. he was horrible. he needs to quit or start using autotune.

its great when you can see someone you admire so much literally a stones throw from your front door.

Yup, one of the great things about living in Aus is that with only a few major cities there are no shortage of opportunities tio catch great talent. And, yeah its great to see ms Dyson back home.

Tragics Ever seen anyone who should just give up? Of course you have! Lets hear about them.

O-h y-e-a-h!!

2011 .....
Melbourne Cricket Ground ....
AFL Grand Final ....
I certainly wouldnlt have done that ..... (especially 5:10 onwards)
[youtube]XZdiaFXW2U8[/youtube]
... welll maybe I would as long as I could get to keep doing the duets!
cheers, Robbie

Ever seen anyone who should just give up? Of course you have! Lets hear about them.

Chuck Berry, still active: http://chuckberry.com/messageboard/view ... t=3192&f=4

But on the other hand, as long he enjoys and it's sold out, why not?

Youtube exists, if you plan to go to a concert, there should be at least one recent video there, on which you may decide to go or not.

Jamie, it sounds like a fine dinner last night. I am still working on chicken, dressing, and mashed potatoes with gravy left over from last Sunday.

It is nice when you have access to local musicians. Mia Dysen is good. As for people who have gone past their time, there are several but I think Bob Dylans voice gets more raspy each year. Some artists get better with age.

I voted other on the poll because I really like the new G&L cases. I do not use them for gigging but use Wolfpak cases to take guitars to gigs. I want to keep the original cases like new. Case storage is a problem and Ginny was tired of closets full of cases. She told me to fix the problem and here is how I solved it.



And for the basses



I will view some of the video clips later.-- Darwin

Jamie, it sounds like a fine dinner last night. I am still working on chicken, dressing, and mashed potatoes with gravy left over from last Sunday.

It is nice when you have access to local musicians. Mia Dysen is good. As for people who have gone past their time, there are several but I think Bob Dylans voice gets more raspy each year. Some artists get better with age.

I voted other on the poll because I really like the new G&L cases. I do not use them for gigging but use Wolfpak cases to take guitars to gigs. I want to keep the original cases like new. Case storage is a problem and Ginny was tired of closets full of cases. She told me to fix the problem and here is how I solved it.



And for the basses



I will view some of the video clips later.-- Darwin

Darwin you have a PM.

Louis - I forgot about that, he was BAD!

Robbie - Thats a good one too, great to see Mr. Loaf still messing things up with a similar performance for Mitt Romney's fundraising thing a couple of weeks ago

Miles - Chuck Berry must be very old now. Beats sitting around the house, I guess.

Darwin - I saw Bob Dylan last year. A friend got a couple of free tickets. His voice was terrible. His constant harmonica playing was terrible. We left after three or four songs and went to a Dale Watson show, a show I'd been to the previous night that was at least a million times better than Dylan. I enjoy Dylans studio albums immensely, especially the new ones, but IMO he's a bit old to be on a never-ending tour. Maybe he and Chuck Berry could get together! Great storage racks too

paul mccartney at the london opening ceremony. he was horrible. he needs to quit or start using autotune.

You win, Louis!

Hey Blarg, as an amateur songwriter, I really enjoyed that Mia D song. That's some powerful medicine there.
Can you tell us anything about the guitar she's using in the vid? The three, angled single coils looks interesting if not unusual. I imagine Leo himself played with this design somewhere along the way, and ultimately rejected it. Very interesting (to me, at least).

Regarding cases, I'm all for the buyer having options to suit his or her needs. Maybe a good gig bag comes standard, with various upgrades available at additional cost. I just don't like the idea of not being offered something G&L to carry a nice new guitar out of the store with....

Thanks! - ed

Jamie,

The videos you've posted over the past year have turned me on to some wonderful Australian performers - Clairy Browne and Cash Savage come to mind, as I browse their videos pretty often. I think you've commented before about Clairy Browne's backup singers. I love those loose dance moves!

As one of the 20+ owners, I admit that case storage is an issue. I generally have all of mine in their cases whenever they aren't in my hands. I have one closet that is completely full of guitars (I built shelves to maximize the capacity), and several have migrated to the different rooms where I play them on occasion - usually a guitar and bass each in the bedroom and living room. They rotate pretty frequently, but there is always one at hand.

I can't think of anybody who has played for too long, but I did see Dylan on a double bill with Phil Lesh back in 2000. Considering that they are about the same age, there was no comparison in how they had withstood the test of time. Phil's set had a great mix of Grateful Dead classics and various covers, great supporting musicians (Derek Trucks sitting on top of his amp and wailing away for the whole set comes to mind), and as much energy as any Dead show. Dylan's set was like listening to a greatest hits album in the Hall of Presidents at Disneyland. He stood in one spot for the entire set and rotated back and forth the whole time. The voice was fading, and the harmonica overwhelming.

its great when you can see someone you admire so much literally a stones throw from your front door.

That must be nice. The closest I have is knowing that there used to be a dance pavilion a couple of blocks up from my house in the 40s and 50s. It was on the circuit for all of the East Coast big bands of the day. Sometimes when I look out my practice room window I realize that John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, and the others who went on to jazz stardom in the 50s and 60s walked literally through my front yard to get to those gigs.

Ken

Hey Blarg, as an amateur songwriter, I really enjoyed that Mia D song. That's some powerful medicine there.
Can you tell us anything about the guitar she's using in the vid? The three, angled single coils looks interesting if not unusual. I imagine Leo himself played with this design somewhere along the way, and ultimately rejected it. Very interesting (to me, at least).

Glad you enjoyed it Ed. The guitar is a Dyson, hand made by her father Jim. As far as I know he uses Australian wood just about exclusively - he had a website as recently as June this year but it seems to have disappeared into the ether. The one she used last night had a highly figured neck. Its too wide to be maple, at least like I've ever seen. A local luthier tells me that he uses a Tasmanian wood called Huon pine for the necks. We were sat right at the front of stage and it sounded fantastic through the old Goldentone amp she uses - even my girlfriend commented on it!


Ken - No doubt that you're right, I probably seem like a broken record sometimes

Dylan's set was like listening to a greatest hits album in the Hall of Presidents at Disneyland

Thats the best description ever

Ken - No doubt that you're right, I probably seem like a broken record sometimes

Please keep them coming! I don't bookmark many videos, but most of the ones I have are from your posts.

The reference to one of your previous posts was that you had commented about the slow/sloppy dancing style and how it fit with the whole vibe. I agree completely. It adds something that wouldn't be there with tight choreography.

Which reminds me - you also threw out an Australian term for a Kabob vendor a while back. Some sort of wagon, from the sound of it. Do you recall what it would have been? I wanted to tuck that one away for future use in conversations...

Ken

Darwin,

How deep are those overhead shelves? I want to put something similar in my garage, and would like to avoid re-inventing the wheel if possible.

Ken

Ken - No doubt that you're right, I probably seem like a broken record sometimes

Please keep them coming! I don't bookmark many videos, but most of the ones I have are from your posts.

The reference to one of your previous posts was that you had commented about the slow/sloppy dancing style and how it fit with the whole vibe. I agree completely. It adds something that wouldn't be there with tight choreography.

Which reminds me - you also threw out an Australian term for a Kabob vendor a while back. Some sort of wagon, from the sound of it. Do you recall what it would have been? I wanted to tuck that one away for future use in conversations...

Ken

Glad you've liked them!
The sloppy thing is great. I much prefer seeing 4 ladies doing their own thing, rather than some overly choreographed North Korean army type thing
I don't recall the Kebab vendor name, sorry. Late-night lamb sandwich? Thats all I got at the moment.

Louis - I forgot about that, he was BAD!

Robbie - Thats a good one too, great to see Mr. Loaf still messing things up with a similar performance for Mitt Romney's fundraising thing a couple of weeks ago

Miles - Chuck Berry must be very old now. Beats sitting around the house, I guess.

Darwin - I saw Bob Dylan last year. A friend got a couple of free tickets. His voice was terrible. His constant harmonica playing was terrible. We left after three or four songs and went to a Dale Watson show, a show I'd been to the previous night that was at least a million times better than Dylan. I enjoy Dylans studio albums immensely, especially the new ones, but IMO he's a bit old to be on a never-ending tour. Maybe he and Chuck Berry could get together! Great storage racks too

i think dylan was terrible live even in the 60's. he couldn't sing, or play harmonica and had a terrible voice. chuck berry is definitely having a hard time on stage, and i saw johnny winter sound horrible a few times, but the the last time he was here he sounded good.

All the music for the opening and closing Olympic "ceremonies" was unexpectedly, hideouslyly badly done; astonishingly, cringingly badly chosen and incompetently sound-teched. Some of the presentation looked like a sort of Spinal Tap / Monty Python satyrical mad half-breed (except it was meant seriously!!) It was really embarrassing to be British.

I'm pretty sure no players or singers could hear properly. And McCartney managed to do better than most only because he remains a unusually good singer. He looked pretty pissed-off though, in spite of his best efforts to pro it out the best he could .

I'm still storing in cases, though I fancy the idea of a secure, insect and fire-retarding metal gun cabinet, where they could all stand safely to attention on their butts without any unwanted stresses.

All the music for the opening and closing Olympic "ceremonies" was unexpectedly, hideouslyly badly done; astonishingly, cringingly badly chosen and incompetently sound-teched. Some of the presentation looked like a sort of Spinal Tap / Monty Python satyrical mad half-breed (except it was meant seriously!!) It was really embarrassing to be British.

I'm pretty sure no players or singers could hear properly. And McCartney managed to do better than most only because he remains a unusually good singer. He looked pretty pissed-off though, in spite of his best efforts to pro it out the best he could .

I'm still storing in cases, though I fancy the idea of a secure, insect and fire-retarding metal gun cabinet, where they could all stand safely to attention on their butts without any unwanted stresses.

the closing ceremony was all canned music, lip synched. including the who. the worst performer in the opening was sir paul. he didn't manage to hit a single note and his voice was cracking and not working at all. both the voice itself and the singing was horrid.

Ken, the overhead shelf is 32" deep. Mine could have looked better but I used left over wood that I had and also made an addition to it. Didn't plan to have this many guitars and I see you leaning in that direction! -- Darwin