Remind Me Again ... Who is this Aussie Guy?
Hi all. I generally go by the name Robbie. This will be my third stint as LR with a couple of open mics for good measure. Rather than take up valuable space, for more information check my last Lunch Report.
I’m approaching 56yo and have played guitar since I was a child having been taught by my father. I played in bands continuously from my mid teens except for a period from 2010 through earlier this year. For all that time I've been semi pro in that I've always been in working bands but I've never made my living solely from music. Over the years I've probably covered most genres form rock to metal to country to punk to indie to ....
A reminder .. I don't do pics or talk much of my gear, and I'm very sensitive about preserving anonymity for the reasons I mentioned in last years LR. The commitment I made to my wife is kinda limiting when it comes to lunch reports and general forum discussions but I'll see what I can come up with.
Lunch
Nothing exciting - roast beef sandwich eaten as usual at the desk while I worked through.
G&L Topic - Prototypes to Production
We've all seen the prototypes that have been shown on the G&L website with the new body woods (pine, spalted alder, monkey pod, black and white limba), new finishes, roasted necks, tone pros bridges, alnico pickups in ASAT Classics, etc. Some of these items have already made it to production and the fate of others is yet to be seen.
Q1. Which of the prototype features are you happiest to see or would most like to see make it to the option list? Which would you be most happy to see consigned to the "well it was worth a try" bin?
Q2. The alnico ASAT classic - a good move or not? Will it reinforce the opinions of the uninformed that see G&L as just another Fender wannabee? Would Leo cringe given his early reluctance to take G&L into reproducing teles and strats.
The First Rose of Spring
Following from Darwin’s theme last week, it was a beautiful spring weekend here and our first rose has arrived ...
Non G&L and a theme for the week - Music from First peoples
Through my work in rural and remote health over more than two decades I have developed something of an empathy for issues faced by Australia's first peoples. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of the T-shirt wearing placard carrying activists, but I am a strong advocate for relating to health and wellbeing. Despite Australia's economic status and an overall high standard of living, if you are an indigenous Australian your children are 4 times more likely to die in their first year, as an adult you are four times more likely to suffer diabeties and eight times more likely to experience renal failure, and your life expectancy is more than 10 years shorter than your non indigenous countrymen. The sad thing is that these statistics are not uncommon for first peoples in many settled lands.
This week is Deadly Week with the 2012 Deadly Awards being presented tomorrow night, recognising the achievements of Aboriginal people in music, the arts and other community endeavors. I have a great admiration of many Aboriginal musicians and their music which so often ticks the boxes for me. It usually has something to say, embodies personal experience and comes from the heart. So each day I'll share clips from a couple of indigenous musicians -
hopefully you will point me to similar artists from your part of the world.
And if you haven't explored music from your first peoples I'd highly recommend you seek it out.
Over the week I’ll post singer songwriters, the pioneering Aboriginal bands, native language music and then some contemporary mainstream artists. But I’d have to start the week with a couple of tracks from the late Jimmy Little who was probably the first indigenous singer to achieve mainstream success. Jimmy started in the early '50s, was named a National Living Treasure in 2004 and passed away earlier this year.
Jimmy Little Yorta Yorta Man
[youtube]PbKAtG7GE5w[/youtube]
Jimmy Little on Rockwiz
[youtube]3aXQYzFXiGA[/youtube]
Tomorrow I’ll post a couple of my favorite Aboriginal singer songwriters.
Cheers, Robbie
I wonder if their inception was influneced by a certain fellow who goes by the name burnt999...