~~~~~~~~WEDNESDAY LUNCH REPORT~~~~~~~~~~~

[Katefan]

Kia Ora Everyone,Welcome Back -
Its the Middle of the Week Edition of the LR and what a Full on day its been - Crikey Dick!

Thanks to all who responded and it was esp nice to receive a reply from the man himself to hear bout the Hellecaster and the new Bottom Feeder column - Too Cool.
Wish I had the extra time to respond to everyone's replies today (remember its the future here) but as mentioned it has been Full on and as I type this I still have half of this report to compose. Having said that, I'm digging it & glad to hear you guys are enjoying them.

Btw, the teaching went smoothly - our class turned out to be a great bunch of interested & motivated students which really makes the task of teaching easy as & a pleasure. The audition went great too - I passed the first part. I met with the singer and we hit it off & have much common ground re our goals, influences, & personal philosophies. So I'm really excited bout that and am looking forward to part 2 which will be getting together and having a proper go at playing together. She already has an ace drummer and a solid bassist lined up.

Ok, So diving back in - here's another great Late Nite STP clip with a little twist...
[youtube]zKUkRgzCL44[/youtube]

I really dig watching Late Night live performances as they really showcase the band's/artist's talent & ability + since it's live, there's always that anything can happen factor... Love the intro tho you can really see alot sadness in Weiland's eyes.... he was struggling with heroin by this point...

Seems Dean Deleo's guitar was a bit out of tune at the start and he nearly takes a spill but recovers at the last mo
right before he runs over to his brother, Robert and does some Classsic Page moves.... Dean is a huge Page nut and has bluntly stated in interviews he wants to be Jimmy Page...

Anyway, his near tumble brings me to the topic of gig disasters or near misses -- If you play out, what embarassing or humbling situs/mishaps has ya'll encountered? Or what things have you witnessed when seeing bands play live.

Here's one of mine from last Dec in Seattle... You will hear in the vid I'm way out of tune but didnt know it til it was too late. All I can say is I was grateful for the Ernie Ball volume pedal that was in line.... Oh, and I apologise for our singer's stripper antics preceding the tune... and that's fellow GbL'r Spot on the right rocking his old Yellow Dog Superhawk - Sweet!
[youtube]oCwE9xlnvAI[/youtube]
Having only performed live a half dozen times, I relied strictly on the tuner and read it wrong. Subsequently, I've learned to always check my tuning audibly before the song by quickly strumming a few chords.
As you can see in the vid, I spent most of the time retuning but recovered at ~ 4:00 min mark. It was a bum tho as I had the song down and really wanted to rock it. I was pretty deflated by the mishap and was being hard of myself for about a day til a good friend gave me a reality check by sharing its one thing to feel disappointed & another to beat yourself up. Good advice and which I was grateful for. That whole experience really help me...


[youtube]UpVKPUoI554[/youtube]
A not so known tune from the artist I take my handle from...

Getting back to Gilmour's Black Strat and the Echoes vid clip - that's from Pink Floyd Live @ Pompei. In the early 90's I'd was mesmerised by how awesome that strat looked.... Seems I wasnt alone -
http://www.theblackstrat.com/The_Black_ ... ome...html

Anyways bout 10 years later I snagged the G&L version off eBay -


Freaking Nice -eh?

I saw this listed as being a stock G&L SC-3 by a pawnshop and that no one was bidding on it...
Early 90's SC-3 Maple neck + pickups on a aftermarket Fender strat style body. As most of you know G&L neck & Fender bodies don't mix due to the different neck lengths...
So taking a cue from Will Ray's Ebay Strategies Column, I contacted the pawnshop & politely told them what they had and that most folks wouldnt be interested in the guitar b/c as it sat it wouldnt play in tune due to the mismatch neck/body situ. They promptly told me to make an offer. If I recall correctly, I got the guitar for like $225 incl shipping.
Originally I was only interested in it for the neck but when I got it I dug it so much I took it to Mike Lull and asked him to make it work. He said the body was maple and thougth it may be a Tokai body... anyway, he deepened the neck pocket to make the neck work and charged me a pittance.
I later decided to sell it to help finance my move to San Diego and who should respond to my ad but my old friend Spot. We met back in '91 but bout 8 years later both our lives went thru some major changes and we lost touch for a few years. Funny -during that time we both got hep to G&L. We have had a long history of selling guitar back & forth so this was more of the same... except now (Marla) has a permanent home. And yes, that's an SC-1 neck on her. (long story short - we swapped necks)
Spot can tell you more bout her & later this week you'll see her in action.

Moving on...

I don't want to exclude the bottom enders on the forum so here is a former fellow employee and a SOLID bass player, Todd Morehouse.

Todd was my lead when I worked at Essential Foods back in the day (the delivery job that schedule allowed me to time to hit up pawnshops. One day Todd saw me bring in an '88 ASAT I scored from GC (As Darwin & someone else mentioned - GC can be a great place to score deals on depending the staff. I got said ASAT from GC Lynnwood for $350 out the door with OHSC case b/c at the time the store was staffed and catered to mostly late teens/early 20er's who were into metal style guitars. It helped too that the tilt adjust was tweaked abit too much so the action was off so they thought the neck was a bit stuffed) and mentioned he owned an early 80's G&L bass and was thinking of routing it for a different pu. After seeing that it was an early model L2000E and dripping with Mojo, I suggested he have a rethink it bout carving it up. After playing it again and hearing how good it sounded stock, he decided against doing so.
Todd has recently lent a hand recording some bass tracks for Spot on a recording project he is working on and which I also took part in right before I headed over here. More on that as well later this week.

So a couple months after arriving here I suss'd out a local Swapmeet. Ok, locals call it the Avondale Sunday Market but its a swapmeet... regardless I was stoked to discover it and have found some cool gear including this for $10 -


Can't suss what make it is but its UK made and tube...12AX7 & an ELC86. Tiny spkr but plenty loud for recording plus good tone (and everyting but the recording light works) Another nice thing is it has RCA style plugs - alot of this old ones have funky plugs/connectors. THe output tube's pretty worn tho so it will sound better & it will be put to use more once that's replaced.
GOt a carrying case of reel to reel tapes with it too as well as a nifty black nylon carrying/tote case all for the tenner!

Reminds me a pic of the Binson echorec tape unit that Gilmour used in LIve @ Pompei vid....
To read up bout that & more - Check out all things Gilmour...
http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=416

YEsterday's answer to the trivia question was The Thin White Duke aka Davy JOnes. Nice one Jos, + bout his attire and Yes, Robbie I definately can see some John Lyndon - good (eye) on ya mate!
Which brings us to...

Today's Trivia Question -

What's does John Lyndon and David Gilmour have in common?

Ok, Lastly.... I saw this vid for the first time last year on the plane during the long flight over on one of my visits...
Not having cable tv, I do like to hear what's current from time to time... while its def not my cuppa, I have to say its catchy as...
[youtube]iP6XpLQM2Cs[/youtube]
Check this out tho - I stumbled across this last week on youtube and had a good laugh.
Enjoy!
[youtube]d7n8GqewJ2M[/youtube]
Nicely done -eh? Check out their version of Katy Perry's California Girls - its just as good.

ALright, I'm Knack'd. Til next time...

And no, I haven't forgotten bout the $40 dollar organ teaser...

Cheers,
Kf

[willross]

I met and hung out with Scott Weiland in the mid-nineties. Remember the "old" days of him dressing in that black and white outfit and painting his head? Yeah, back then... Great guys. Stage near misses: when I was a percussionist, there was an outdoor gig where I was swamped by yellow jackets (little annoying wasps). Oh, and a big gig where our sound-check was better than the actual performance. There's a video of it out there somewhere...


Cheers,

Will

BTW, that SC-3 is badass!

[Ledergeist]

Kf,
Another action-packed LR today.... Trivia A: they are both Knights of the British Empire...

STP -
Caught them once. Went to see Megadeth on their 'Rust in Peace' tour, and STP was the opening act. Never heard of them until that gig. Of course, they were all over FM radio soon after that tour.

Bad Gigs -
Besides breaking strings, pedal batteries dying, cords shorting out, amp problems, forgetting songs, and starting songs that we aren't playing that show, every show has been perfect!

Always cool too see the old gear folks run across.....

BW

[sickbutnottired]

Nice reports -

Gig disasters you ask? Playing an outdoor show our drummer was set on the edge of a deck with a tree growing right behind it. He somehow got one leg of his throne of the edge and while trying to fix that fell in the tree whole. Drums just gone. I turned around and he popped up and got back on the snare...which was now higher than his head.

Tuning, I have often been a little out-of -tune, tried to fix it mid-song and then been a lot out-of-tune. That's the worst. Panic city...

Recently I was doing a willie nelson medley for a dollar dance at a wedding reception. After going through my songs I was getting bored and decided to free-style some lyrics. My brain is much to small to make up words and remember the chord progression. The bass player somehow decided that I had forgotten the song so he just started trying to figure out what I as up too. He's my brother and we have played together a lot over the years, but haven't been performing much. Anyway, I was sure he would just hold the line and could just follow him, but he was following me. Disaster. A 'G-D-C' flipping disaster. After the show the event manager of the hotel was like. 'You guys were really good except that country stuff at the beginning!'

[blargfromouterspace]

It sucks being out of tune in the middle of the song. If it happens to me I have he luxury of having another guitarist to rely on for the few seconds it takes me to tune back up. Mistakes and stuff happen, I've learned to laugh/make a joke of them now. Consequently I laugh throughout entire shows... . Worst thing I've had at a gig is chronic feedback. I was in a sea-shanty/Irish drinking music band where I played banjo and a friend played double bass - two instruments prone to feedback. We had a really important gig at an event in a very popular venue (Little Creatures in Fremantle) and the sound guy for the night was certain we didn't need to sound check - he was pro enough to do it on the fly. Wrong. An all acoustic band is a lot different to an electric one. If my banjo wasn't ready to take off for all the feedback then the double bass was. For anyone who hasn't heard it, banjo feedback is about as awful and bloodcurdling as a cat-fight on a blackboard. It seemed to never end. All I remember is looking at the sound guy, and trying to get him turn turn everything down. He either didn't understand my frantic movements or was ignoring me.

[Kit]

I have only played in public a few times, but I've had my share of disasters. One time our hobby band played an open mic at a bar/restaurant, and one of the songs we played was "Whiskey In The Jar," the Metallica version. The song starts with like 2 bars with just bass and rhythm guitar, and then I'm to come in with the main riff. We launched the song and immediately I hear that either the bass or the rhythm guitar was in the wrong key. It threw me off so badly that I completely missed coming in with the riff. I finally got back in sync when the vocals came in, but the damage was done.

One thing I always do before I play, either at practice or for an audience, is to get my guitar in tune. At least I've never had the out-of-tune disaster for that reason.

I have a teenage daughter, so I get to listen to popular music quite often. I actually do keep up with modern music, but my taste runs more toward alternative than straight ahead radio pop. Because of my daughter I am familiar with Kesha (plus Lady Gaga, Beyonce, etc.) I actually find the parody version to be funny and very well done.

Kit

[Philby]

My biggest public disaster was at my band's biggest gig ever - the B-stage at the annual Falls Festival, a large Australian rock festival held around New Year each year.

The band before us were called Epicure, and they were brilliant. The large crowd were really into them. Just before they went on stage the lead singer peeked out at the crowd and said to me 'man I think I'm going to vomit'. But he sang really great. It made me even more nervous. After Epicure had finished the sound guy said that they were behind schedule and he wouldn't have time to mike up my Fender amp. We wouldn't have time for a quick sound check either. I'd have to plug into the Marshall JCM800 that the Epicure guitarist used. The Epicure guitarist was playing a Gibson 335, a fairly mellow sounding guitar and it sounded fantastic the way he had the amp set. So without any sound check I plugged my ASAT Special into my effects rack and then into the Marshall and held my breath as we started the first song. It sounded terrrrrrrrible. Like a plague of locusts buzzing around. Everyone in the band looked at me. I wanted to do a Pete Townshend and smash my ASAT into the Marshall. The ASAT was way too bright for the amp settings, and worse still I had no idea where to start tweaking the Marshall to tone it down. So I sat out the first song. I ended up playing the rest of the gig using a spare acoustic guitar plugged into the PA. What a humiliation. It taught me to never take what a sound guy says at face value.

On the up side, my ASAT has never gone out of tune or broken a string in a live situation. So I've been lucky in that respect.

[jonc]

Great LR's so far! Wish I had time to participate but work is slamming. Worst on-stage moment. Having my singer whirl around, lose control of her mic, which knocked beer into our bass players V4, which then started smoking and shorting out, and which then took down the club and the surrounding streets along with it. Suffice to say we were never invited back to play that club again.

[Michael-GnL-Michael]

What's does John Lyndon and David Gilmour have in common?

David Gilmour was responsible for Bush being introduced to Terry Slater of EMI who signed Bush as well as The Sex Pistols.

Both Gilmour and Lydon are also atheists.

Love the intro tho you can really see alot sadness in Weiland's eyes.... he was struggling with heroin by this point...

I dunno about this. Sadness is a romantic concept. Listening to the lyrics of the intro he appears to be intentionally dripping with irony. Knowledge of his heroin addiction provides a back-story to what you are either seeing or reading into. Maybe he has described how he was feeling exactly what you described. He seems to be pouring it on for the intro whether he was feeling sad at the time or not. Other than the intro I think he acts pretty much like he always has except this time he is not wearing the eye make-up. Even though he was dancing throughout the song he does look a little uncertain on his feet when Letterman joins them at the end, could have been dizzy.

[Aussie]

Can’t see the clips here in the office but will check them out this evening.

Great news on the audition!

Trivia: What do Lydon and Gilmour have in common - probably lots of stuff. Both Q Award winners? (So was kate Bush btw). I know Lydon regularly wore an “I Hate Pink Floyd” T Shirt back in the ‘70’s punk days. I have seen some reports that Gilmour invited Lydon to join the band on stage to perform Dark Side of the Moon but Lydon declined the offer.

Gig Disasters: Fortunately haven’t had too many major disasters. I remember one show where the rhythm guitarists Strat/Marshall rig kept acting like a radio receiver and picking up taxi radio calls on and off all night while we were playing. Crowd thought it was hilarious … but Steve didn’t seem to share their sense of humour … and the sound tech was looking awfully stressed. Strange thing is that it never happened before or after that particular gig even though we played the same venue on a number of occasions. Perhaps it was just one of those bizarre atmospheric condition things???

Cheers, Robbie

[Ledergeist]

... one show where the rhythm guitarists Strat/Marshall rig kept acting like a radio receiver and picking up taxi radio calls on and off all night while we were playing.
Cheers, Robbie

That's wild. Our rehearsal spot is a block away from a taxi dispatch joint. Every once in a while my Marshall will pick up some radio chat from them. Maybe 3 times in the last year. Crazy...