Lunch today will be leftover oven baked chicken, a handful of potato chips and some ice tea. I was born on the East Coast but spent a good portion of my adolescent years in the Midwest and like the south, ice tea is a pretty big deal down there. I shed the accent (except for the yalls) shorty after moving to the Pacific Northwest in the ‘80’s but still love me some perfectly steeped ice tea. When I’m at restaurants I tend to be a bit judgmental when it comes to their ice teas and won’t even order it at fast food places. Anyone else a snob for certain foods?
G&L content: Think we’ll stretch the G&L content into BBE content today. I’m in the process of rebuilding my pedal board as we speak and pedals are very much on my mind right now. I am the proud owner of three BBE pedals (Crusher distortion, Sonic Maximizer and a Boosta Grande) but I really only use the boost pedal on my board. The distortion pedal is handy with my small house amps that have weak gain and the Sonic Maximizer is kind of a candy pedal I use now and then to clean up my old Super Reverb. I just purchased a real deal ‘80’s TC Electronic chorus/flanger pedal to replace my old beat-to-hell Electra Harmonix Small Clone. I have wanted the TC since I first heard Eric Johnson almost 20 years ago and finally found one for a reasonable price. I also just dumped my Line 6 delay for a new TC Electronic Nova Delay system. Replacing these two pedals meant making room for them on my board and gave me an excuse to tear it all apart and try a new layout. More about that later this week once it’s finished.
I think BBE has a solid line of pedals and, like G&Ls, the bang for the buck is undeniable. Well made, good sounding and a relatively diverse line to choose from. They aren’t boutique but they certainly hold their own in the working man’s market. And those paint jobs – can we say enough about the loud an colorful designs on these things! I borrowed a BBE wah from my friend and it was really sweet sounding, think I may be getting one in the not too distant future.
So how about those BBE pedals? Who’s tried what? What are your opinions on their durability and performance? Which ones do you like the best? What would you like to see BBE offer that they don’t? Let’s see some pictures of your “boards” or whatever is at your feet.
Humor: In your opinion, what’s the funniest thing on TV these days? Any shows you find particularly hilarious besides Dancing With The Stars? A friend recently turned me on to Nurse Jackie and The United States Of Tara and now I’m hooked.
And while we’re on the subject of humor –
Hobbies: If you’re reading this you’re a guitar or bass player, we already know that and it’s not that special on this forum. And the majority of yall like G&L instruments? We already figured that out as well. What we really wanna know is what else do like to do when you’re not working or taking care of day-to-day responsibilities? What else do you do for fun? Give us a few lines of your other passions and post up some pictures.
I used to be very into SCUBA diving and I’m getting back into that this summer with my daughter but currently outside of music my main hobby is 4x4ing. Specifically I’m into old box Broncos. I have always been around 4x4 guys and spend a lot of time in the woods banging around trails but it took me a few years to save and find the Bronco I wanted that was already 75% built to my taste. I remember how excited I was the day I drove it home but at first it didn’t play out the way I had pictured it. You know those Navy commercials where they show the guys standing at attention on the deck of a massive carrier with the sun setting behind them and all the cool music and tough guy narrative? And that 18 year-old kid is sitting in his living room watching it thinking “Man, I should join the Navy because these guys look like they are seeing the world and living the ultimate adventure.” Then he signs up and 4 months later he sitting on a scaffolding hanging of the bow of a ship in 100 degree weather scraping barnacles wondering why it didn’t look like this in the commercial? My truck was the same way. I imagined myself bounding through the forest negotiating impossible terrain, climbing steep and narrow passes, sinking it in the mud to the running boards and the occasion fantasy of pulling out stuck Jeeps. But what owning a 40 year-old truck really meant was lying on my back in the driveway repairing one thing one evening so I could run it for one full day until the next thing broke. The first year that truck was not running a total of 48 days for 9 separate issues. Didn’t help that I chose to do most of the repairs myself to keep the costs to a minimum. It did however afford my hot little wife an opportunity to tease me quite a bit. I missed two big club runs because it was down for repairs and that first year it only saw about 5 real off road trips. But I’m happy to report that it’s been running fine for the past three months and I am hopeful it will make it through the summer before it’s next big breakdown. Here’s a shot of me trying to break an axel up in the Cascade Mountains last summer.
This Day in History: In 1961 FM stereo broadcasting was approved by the FCC, 1972 - Apollo 16 landed on the moon, in ’99 the Columbine High School tragedy, Dennis Leary and Carmen Electra share birthdays today.
Yesterday’s Mystery Guitarist: Robert Fripp of King Crimsom – looks like Elwood nailed it first.
Today’s Mystery Guitarist:
Born in Jersey, this jazz guitarist started performing at 14 years old with Charlie Barnet and Tony Pastor. He moved to New York and developed a serious drug habit in 1960 that landed him in a 2 and a half year recovery program at Synanon which he would name his next album after. In the mid 60’s he worked with Frank Sinatra, Louis Bellson, Joe Williams, Johnny Mathis and Sarah Vaughn. He moved to LA and worked the live TV circuit on The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show and The Steve Allen Show. In the mid 70’s his group The Trio won a Grammy. He recorded 4 albums with Ella Fitzgerald and towards the end of his career. Ibanez was the first to offer a signature model guitar named after him.
Thanks for tuning in
