Brooks

this has happened several times to me. i no longer buy guitars off the web, i want to play them 1st (plus i can no longer afford it!)

i felt the same way w/ my axe fx. i just dont use a buncha tones, usually a few variations of fendery clean and high gain w/ some light delay & eq/volume tweaks, maybe an occasional phaser or trem. plus i'd get all OCD tweaking chasing tone for hours on the axe-fx & feeling like my ears weren't sophisticated enough to hear the difference in voltage/sag/etc i REALLY like the feature set on my blackstar id15 ("few variations of fendery clean and high gain w/ some light delay & eq/volume tweaks, maybe an occasional phaser or trem", all storable / footswitchable, & a tuner). i like the high gain only slightly better on my mesa mini recto, and miss the above conviences & flexibility. really thinking about trying a 60w or 100w version. but as always, use what works for you, use what you enjoy, use the right tool for the job, yada yada... i would never swear allegiance to any one technology, brand, or style of equipment, or deride others who do.

wow, i remember jimmy from riding my bike from richardson over to garland to gawk at guitars at the store he worked, arnold & morgan music

yeah, i can't imagine a new tour topping the entire MP album, that was a great show. better for me as i was doing the rush tribute then. plus i'm not paying $80 bucks or whatever for balcony seats like i did last time.

hey i owned that there guitar, briefly. also owned a cali, slammer series cali, diablo, setneck short scale chap, and my stickered mutt (cent body/chap neck). maybe a few hamer shredders i'm forgetting too, before i realized that i am in the minority here because i really *like* the typical thin/wide/flat ibanez wizard neck with jumbo frets. now my only hamer is my duotone.

i got to hang w/ zen today and had a blast!

don't rule out GFS lil killer

wow, that was cheesy, ha

crazy. whats worse is there's 6-7 vids of folks doing it on YT, ha

watson does it w/ speed picking, but there's a way to tap it; plus i'm the type of lazy player who will just fake something close to the record, nobody cares. rawk owt.

i always sang "don't tell me you're pregnant", ha

plus one on the only NR song i ever liked (i want to like them, but just too pop for me... but amazing players). we are learning this tune in wizard sleeves for the next gig, 8-22 in hight point nc, then 9-11 in gastonia (next to charlotte). i lucked out because stike doesn't play floyds, so HE got stuck w/ the impossible watson solo, ha.

the newest metal band i really dig is mastodon, and they are 10-15 or so years old... most of my fave jazz & fusion stuff is somewhat newer; aristocrats, wayne krantz, bad plus, medeski scofield martin wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Bm9CZSCvM

my brother from another mother

i found a cheap compilation at the quicky mart called DIO - METAL HITS, it filled in some of the blanks after the 1st 2 albums; 1. Rainbow In The Dark 2. Holy Diver 3. Night People 4. The Last In Line 5. Evil Eyes 6. Sunset Superman 7. Dream Evil 8. Hollywood Black 9. Wild One 10. Evilution

there's a few newer bands that are heavily sabs influenced to the point of being like a tribute band w/ original tunes;

huh? what, the short hair? wish i was that tall & skinny. and talented. i love the sound of the early dio albums, very crisp. viv never shined like he did on those records. def lep?!? ozzy era sabs is my all time fave music; ozzy w/ randy, dio era sabs, and the early dio band is also way up there. ozzy is indeed super distinct in his voice quality, phrasing, and melodies; that is why he is so iconic & successful. ozzy is NOT pitch perfect, just listen to "warning" off the 1st sabs album, or any bootlegs/untouched live vids. vinny appice is a fantastic drummer because of his huge relaxed backbeat, it smooths out the feel and is super unusual in metal.

hmmm, i can't find the not rush vids on youtube anymore. but they are still on our myspace page; https://myspace.com/notrushtribute/videos

Thanx for the kind words (except HHB, bastid). Chops of doom is not accurate, more like chops of malaise. And that's stike tearing it up on the Ratt tune from the posted wizard sleeves vid. I guess I have earned the poster child of frugal gear title, but i have gone thru some more than decent gear ( Newport, artist custom, Jackson pc1, Carr rambler, axe fx, gibsons, 50s & 60s fenders, etc) but none of it lasted. A lot of mid priced and cheap gear has gone by too, ha. I am still very happy w my Mesa mini recto ( bought new, you fukkers ;-) . As always, the best tools for the gig.

seems our gig on the 16th is not gonna happen, the club stopped communicating. wizard sleeves has a gig this friday may 2 in durham, and tentatively fri may 30 in raleigh. "dave and brooks" have a gig in greensboro fri the 23rd, but thats more a duotone thing. if nothing else pans out, maybe david barker can come out w/ the guitar for a photo op...? either that or i'll pop over to his house when he has it. i was just there sunday to check out THE LAST HAMER EVER™, as well as his sweet LP.

cool, we'll pass that thing around like a free crack pipe

didn't that belong to long-ago-banned-from-HFC spidey / joe?!?

steve, we have another date that is tentative, may 16 @ slims in raleigh. bob, nice job on the pretenders tune!

i used to have that cd somewhere, i should look for it.