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Stoopid music stories


polara

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I was thinking today I'm an idiot. And it would be fun to share stories of the stupidest things we've done, musically. Top this.

  • Auditioned for Ed Roland's new band. Went great. He asked me back and I said no thanks, I wasn't really into what he was doing. The band went on to sell a few million records as Collective Soul.
  • Instead, joined a band that had a 3-1/2 star review in Rolling Stone and was named one of their Ten New Faces to Watch. I quit while we were recording the follow-up album.
  • When a friend (in 1992) offered to sell me his '72 Tele thinline for $200, I said no.
  • I did however sell my Ric 4001 for $300 that year.
  • Played a festival on a good-sized stage with a big crowd, and didn't put straplocks on my new bass. Jumped up so I'd land on the opening hit of the first song and the bass went crashing to the floor.
  • Last year I went to a festival to see my Number One, I Will Leave My Job and Family For You, music crush. In the airport I almost literally ran into her. Was so shy I talked instead to her guitarist, and then when he tried to introduce me to her, I said," Oh no, she has to deal with fans all the time, nice meeting you, bye!"

I'm an idiot.

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  1st job out of college, my punk band had a 6 week tour of Europe   (gee, there's

a real future career full of potential!!)  instead of putting in a request for a 6 week

leave of absence I quit job, this was 91... they got 100 resume's in three days...   

and your first job out of college, you don't exactly have a STRONG resume... so maybe

a leave of absence would have been better. 

 

re: above punk band with crazy lyrics  (swears, misogyny, drug references)...  

possibly might have been a good idea to call myself Johnny Trash or something, 

instead of my real name,   which 25 years on, possibly will show up in employers

google searches...   thankfully, I haven't had to deal with that.....

 

  traded an 81 les paul custom for a dean ML bass...   a Dean ML bass is huge

and even today, is a tough sell.   began a series of trades and ended up with a

washburn A-20   so basically traded a $3000 guitar in todays dollars, for $150 in

1985 dollars.  

 

traded an AWESOME 1994 Aztec Gold FM special which looked cool, sounded

great  (still have some multitrack recordings of it,  sounded nice)   traded it plus $100

for a sunburst fm special at the boston guitar show,  the sb was an absolute dog  (Hamer

dogs can exist, sorry to say).      Never trade your good sounding guitar for one in the

better color unless you are absolutely sure it sounds good on it's own.   that goes for

nice flame tops too.    

 

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The decision to not join a band is often right at the time.  Predicting the future, getting along with everyone, and having to play music you do not like that much are all part of the situation.  A former music teacher told me he was in college, and one of his friends asked him to join his band.  My teacher wanted to finish college.  He turned down his friend's offer.  The friend was Bruce Hornsby who went on to become big on his own and as a guest player. 

In the early 90's some of my gear decisions were not the best.  I let go of my Ampeg V-4B over concerns of not being able to replace the odd numbered tubes.  I let go of my Rickenbacker 4001 because the truss rod nutss were bent down, and a refret would require a refinish of the fretboard. 

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Hindsight is always great.  

In an old band in the 80s, I jumped off the drum riser as if I were EVH, well, when I landed, my right foot was sideways pointed outward as if I were laying down.  I was straight upright.  I had sprained my ankle, but I put my weight on my left leg, so I could get through the gig.  

Same band, but my drummer one night decided that it would be cool if the rest of us ran around behind him, so he pushed his set to the front of the riser.  After two songs he runs to the light and sound guys.   Turns out he didn't realize that a bunch of par cans 4  feet from his arms would burn when they're turned on for five minutes.  I still laugh at that one.  

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Had a tall skinny squirrelly looking blonde dude come by the house in Los Angeles in the late 80s. He brought along a tall skinny GF that could well have been some sort of "super model". They went home with my original '56 Goldtop. Some guy with a Gretsch endorsement deal. Named something Setzer. Never did see him play it anywhere. Probably flipped it. I guess it WOULD be worth a bit more today.

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Stupidly and regrettably sold a '60's Vox Continental organ and same-era tube AC30 head/cab on trolley combo in '83 for $150.

Busted up a very nice MIJ set-neck LP Custom over a concrete patio deck in '80 in an alcohol-fueled attempt to impress friends with my best Pete Townshend impression.

Brought an '82 Tele on a round-trip flight across Canada thru checked baggage (WTF?) without even a hardshell case.  Believe it or not, I fibreglassed the shipping box it came in and added a plastic handle from an extra-large Tide laundry soap box, whole thing secured by a bungee cord.

Even I'm amazed at how effing stupid I was back in those days...:ph34r:

 

  

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Thank God I was too stoned back then to remember all the dumb stuff I did. I did somehow manage to hold on to the important gear (LP, '63 Vibrolux).

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In high school, my band had a “big gig” in the cafeteria for some fall festival kind of thing.

I had to play acoustic for one song so I sat down and put a mic in front of the sound hole. The song ended with me popping a couple of harmonics. Of course, I missed the last one, and the mic was right there to catch me say “Aw, shit!”

That, of course, was the most popular moment of our show. I never got in any trouble, though our grade level principal talked to me about it. I was just like “It just came out.” I think he was trying not to laugh.

More high school fun - I accidentally unplugged my guitar during a performance  by our jazz choir, leading to a guitar-less intro to “25 or 6 to 4.”

Good times. 

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2 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

  I let go of my Rickenbacker 4001 because the truss rod nutss were bent down, and a refret would require a refinish of the fretboard. 

This was a very wise move.

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Left my drum set at a house with friends I bailed on just out of high school and wondered how they could sell them to cover rent when I swang back into town three months later.  A mixed blessing, as I moved to guitar, which fit my lifestyle better, but lost the drums for 25 years or so.  Today, I'm still a better drummer than a guitarist.  And yet, I now find myself wanting to do nothing but play bass, its like the perfect crossroads of the two.

Sold the only LP I ever owned, a 1982 I traded my first Hamer for here on HFC.  I think both the original seller and I regret not currently owning that guitar.

 

Getting married and having kids.

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I sat out my prime 18-22 age - that time where you can try anything, travel, be broke, fail spectacularly, and it doesn't matter. I chose to play grown up with a really damaged girl who was obsessed with obtaining normality. Played sporadically, careful not to dip into the sex drugs and rock & roll instability. Any bets on how well that worked out?

Right after that disaster, jumped into the first band I jammed with. Good people, but clearly not going anywhere. Stayed in the band 2 years too long cuz I was trying to bang the really damaged girl that sang for us (see the pattern?). Came damn close, but no cigar. Almost worth it. :rolleyes:

Anyone working on a time machine? I want a 18-28 do-over.

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I was running sound for a band back in 1977 and we get a chance to be the warm up act for some up and coming band called Styx. They were doing a tour of the county fairs and ballrooms at the time. The lead singer backed out because his girlfriend threaten to tell his wife if he was gone longer than a week. She had trust issues I guess.:blink:

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I’m no t sure this qualifies as a stupid music story, but upsetting fellow members and loosing friends here.  

It’s difficult to admit, but My health has been declining over the past 3 months, and I’m preparing to start the cycle all over again with a 3rd surgery this Friday.    During this time I’ve taken meds that gave me weird/bad nightmares and made my personality dark and negative.   I know my sense of humor can be dry and sarcastic on a good day, but I was over the top and not my normal self.   

So, I regret the damage done, and personally apologize to 2 good people, Mike, that was building me a beautiful guitar, and Chris, that has had to deal with all of this.   Mank thanks to these 2 guys.   

But I do have a stupid story, I took apart an Erliwine Laser guitar to reverse the trus rod and add a neck pickup, similar to the white Johnny Winter laser, never finished it, and its been in pieces for about 3 years with a filler strip in the neck, and the original pickup cavity plugged.   It did happen and I have pictures    

 

 

 

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