J-Bass Relic!

Nowadays in the music world, you can buy your guitar (or bass) relic-ed or "road worn". This means they beat it up for you, so it looks like you've had it for years. Well... we don't need to pay no stinkin' fee to make our stuff look like it has been mistreated!! Above is a brand new photo of the first bass I bought. Obtained way back in 1978 from a Pittsburgh Pawnshop. I sold it to a freind after a year or so, and after he played a few years it went into storage. He gave it back to me last weekend!

Now this baby has personality!! Not sure who did what mods when, and (what damage) when... but this one has seen some action. And too many years in a basement!

It seems to wook fairly well. The bridge pickup isn't working. That may just be a loose wire, or bad switch, though

I love the replacemnt knob....

The big decision is what to do with it.... Fix it up nicely?? Or just get the first layer of grunge off, and fix the wiring.... I'm leaning the latter.

Sad Pirates...

As the Pittsburgh Pirates close the books on their 5th straight last-place finish, saved byfrom 100 losses by an un-played rainout, I’m left to ponder. How did this franchise get so incredibly bad?? And is there any hope of them recovering?

How bad is it? 2009 is the 17th straight season that the Pirates have had a losing record. An amazing feat of futility, a record for any North American sports franchise. They’ve finished in last place 4 of the last 5 years, and it’s been a decade since they managed as high as 3rd…

But it wasn’t always that way. I lived in Pittsburgh every summer from 1971 through 1980. During those 10 years, the Pirates won the World Series twice, won their division 5 times, and never finished below 3rd place.

I grew up watching those great Pirate teams of the 70’s, and I will always be a Pirate fan at heart. A high point of my life was attending a World Series game in 1971, with my dad (when I was 11). And I still have the Pirates cap I wore as a back then. But the reality is the current Pirates stink, and they have stunk for a long time. And there is little hope that they won’t stink down the road. And while I’ll always hope that the Pirates come back, I see no reason to expect it.

Nowadays, I live in the St. Louis area. Not a bad town for baseball, and the Cardinals are usually pretty good. And I follow them, and root for them, and hope to watch them in the World Series with my son (who is almost 10). Maybe we could manage a game, like my dad and I did 38 years ago…..

Has the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame “Jumped The Shark”?

Has the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame “Jumped The Shark”
So….. today (9/23/2009) the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees for the 2010 class… Criteria include "the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll. "

On the list this year:

KISS

They’re kidding, right?? KISS?? The cartoon band, big on flash and showmanship, but oh so little when it actually comes to music? What a joke. On the other hand, at least Kiss isn’t as boring as every inductee from last year

OK, Time to voice opinions, if there’s anybody out there… In you opinions:

1) Who, among the current inductees, is least deserving?
2) Who. Among those not inducted, is most deserving?

Voice your opinions!

It's a strange strange world we live in.....

I have no idea why this song popped into my head this evening... but it did. And easy to find on youtube! Meanwhile, 4 Jacks and A Jill has to be on e of the worst group names in history.

Thistle

An oldie, but I don't think its been posted before.

Darkness, Darkness, No Color, No Contrast...

Ok, so I don't know exactly where that line came from (the one in the title). I'd expect a song, that's where most of what pops into head comes from.... A quick google says it's lyrics from Joni Mitchell's "Hissing Of Summer Lawns". Possible, but odd, since that's not among the Joni Mitchell stuff in my collection.... I was thinking something from the narration of Rick Wakeman's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth". Whatever.

Before I got sidetracked, the point of this post was SUPPOSED to be that the days are getting shorter, and the mornings are getting darker. Sunrise this morning was 30 miniutes after my alarm. Makes me want to sleep in.

Guild Jetstar - Refininshing Project

Regular readers may recall that my 1967 Guild Jetstar is being refinished. Here's the latest photo, as it is almost finished!! I'm pretty eager to get it back!

Never Forget

And stay vigilant

Ohio River, from Leavenworth, IN

We took a short vacation to southern Indiana back in June. I'm still WAY behind processing photos, but here's one. This was from the Overlook Restaurant, when they have one really cool overlook!! We had a great lunch before heading off to do some more sightseeing.

Foggy Friday

Geese in the field, otside my office window.

My First Bass

Here's a scan of the first bass guitar I bought.... way back in summer 1978. It was a Fender Jazz copy, some unremembered off-brand. One of my earlier attemps at artistic photography.

And another scan, of my first real gig, playing at the Vibrator's Corp club in McKees Rocks, PA. Late summer '78. That's my brother on guitar, photo was tken by Greg Benson.

I sold that bass to a friend, oughta see if I can buy it back. Just for old times sake.

Job Hunting 101

I know it's a tough job market out there, so here's a hint for those of you out there looking...
If you are applying for a full time position that does not have anything to do with development of wireless products and / or high speed digital systems, dont start your resume with:

- - - - - - - - -
OBJECTIVE
Seeking a position related to the development of wireless products and / or high-speed digital systems. A contract position is preferred but not required.
- - - - - - - - -

Cause the hiring manager isn't going to read past that.

R.I.P. Les Paul

"Les Paul, who invented the solid-body electric guitar later wielded by a legion of rock 'n' roll greats, died Thursday of complications from pneumonia. He was 94. According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side. As an inventor, Paul also helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll with multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the tracks in the finished recording."

Rock on.

What's The Buzz?

Many (many, many) moons ago, when I was in college, I had the bright idea to design a digital tuner for my bass guitar. Pretty cool stuff for the time (1981/1982), but never quite completed. I don't even remember the details, but I do remember that one of my biggest challenges was to define what the "correct " frequencies were. And it turned out to be a pretty daunting task.

Of course, nowadays, with the internet (and Google!), it's just a matter of a 0.26 secong search, and then picking from the list. THIS would've made my life so much easier back then.

And, with the strange way that my mind works, I now know that the 60Hz hum of our power grid is halfway between a "B" and a "B-flat".... And that's good to know!

Randomness

A face, a voice,
an overdub has no choice
And it cannot rejoice

from The Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)- The Monkees (written by Goffin/King)