MCChris

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. The only "work" I can see in the new paradigm is being tethered to a mobile device and having to always be on the grid. In terms of putting out a legit story with confirmed named sources, a.k.a. real hard work and news, I'm seeing less and less of it these days. Anyone can put out anything whenever they want with no accountability to the truth if there are no named sources. Look at Deadspin in their original breaking of the Manti Te'o story. It was based on an unnamed source who was "80% sure Manti was involved" in the hoax. You'd have been kicked out of the journalism school I went to if you tried to turn in that story in a class.

If you mean that you are sure my opinions have nothing to do with the issues you brought up, "media ignores more deserving subjects, resorts to hyperbole and doesn't work harder...," then you would be incorrect in that assumption. I used some hyperbole of my own with the "100%" bit, as there are exceptions to every rule. But if what you say is true (and it is) that audiences prefer easily digestible and ultimately meaningless crap, then there's no point for a media outlet to seek out more interesting stories, ignore provocative language and work a single iota harder than is minimally required to serve up pablum. So, tell me how I would be incorrect. Like I said, I have no idea what your opinions are, but if we were talking about science and my opinion is that the sky is orange, who's incorrect?

No, they weren't. I have my opinions, and I can tell you the arguments, but it is much more interesting to know what the audience believes. As far a the television aspect, I'll admit to being more familiar with the camp itself than the series, but it was my understanding that there were only two seasons but that the fantasy camp itself is not a part of VH-1 but several different camps with the initial being founded in 1997. If they are bringing the series back for a third season after missing 2012, then it would certainly make sense. I don't know what your opinions are or what you've come to know about what audiences want or believe, but I'm sure they have little to do with the fact that everything I listed is 100% characteristic of the mass media in the digital age. Case in point: Diane Sawyer and others like her speaking at length about Michelle Obama's bangs. Walter Cronkite never would have stooped to those depths. As for the second part, show or no show, someone in a PR capacity is promoting this kid, either someone employed by the camp for its benefit or someone the kid knows for his benefit. A large percentage of media stories get placed that way.

I'm not singling you out, Luc. This happens all the time on guitar message boards, not just this one. It's predictable. In your case, since you research media, you should know that a.) the site where the story lives is skewed toward a hard rock audience, so it makes sense that this kid is featured and b.) he's a participant in Rock'n'Roill Fantasy Camp, which I assume will be on VH1 Classic, so the Viacom PR machine is behind this kid, trying to drum up interest in the show. As for your questions about why the media ignores more deserving subjects, resorts to hyperbole and doesn't work harder, I hope they were rhetorical.

And there you have it, the requisite over-critiquing of a child on a guitar message board. Of course he's not going to bring much personality to his playing, he's NINE. He doesn't have the life experiences yet. Of course he's copying, he's NINE. No one bashes child classical prodigies for sight-reading and doing exact renditions of timeless compositions. Plus, it's fun for a kid to play the licks of his hero. EVH did it with Clapton, then went on to do his own thing. Of course there are others his age who can "smoke" him, there always are.

I was kidding. Pre-emptive dismissive guitar-nerd critique.

Soulless and robotic.

If you have to ask if you're still in, you're probably out.

Only two SuperPros.

Ask Kizanski. He has an aztec gold SP.

So am I, and I don't want to be!! Your name isn't even on the fucking list! The Narcissism continues to reach new depths. What will you do next? Proclaim yourself to be a microwave oven so JohnnyB can wax poetic about you?

I don't believe that for a second.

Like I said, just because it's totally inappropriate doesn't mean fools won't do it. Some guys would mosh at a Yanni concert if they felt inspired to express their latent desire for other men. Between that crap and pointing camera phones at the stage, I'd say about 20% of the crowd at any given concert could care less that actual musicians are performing.

Moshing to Candlebox would be an exercise in idiocy. Not that it would stop anyone from doing it, especially in Florida. Now, making the beast with two backs to Candlebox (their first album at least): that I've done, and I highly recommend it.

Have fun guys. The weather wasn't catastrophic enough for me to make the drive.

DiNizio was a customer at the Chicago GC when I worked there. He was one of the first in line for the new EBMM EVH models. I remember him being something of a surly cock. Probably due to the fact that we charged him full retail because everyone was paying that price for those when they first came out.

Just using your word - not implying that you were high. I just meant that you're older now and not as impressed by these random events. I dunno. There's something about being in the same room as EVH that will always be impressive.

That was a loooonnng time ago. I doubt you's be as "misted" now if that happened again. No, I was stone sober then, as I was working (not that I never worked a shift there wasted, but not that night). Now the time I was at a Houston icehouse and offered a simple "What's up" when realized I was sitting next to Billy F'ing Gibbons, I was completely shitfaced lol.

I must say I misted up a bit when I met Eddie Van Halen at the Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago. I was working there at a reception for a bunch of musicians who played at a Jason Becker benefit show in town. Billy Sheehan, Steve Lukather, Rod Morgenstein and a bunch of other guys like that were there. Toward the end of the night it was me, one of the restaurant managers (Boz Scaggs' brother, actually) and EVH in a back office where Eddie was signing some memorabilia on his way out the back door. I gave him one of my band's CDs and he was very gracious and cool about it. I got a little emotional because I flashed back to the first time I'd ever heard VHII as a kid, one of my all-time greatest musical memories. The whole thing was beyond surreal.

Such a horseshit nickel-and-dime tactic. How can a seller predict how a buyer will like the way a guitar plays and have it set up accordingly? Hell, even taking your own guitar to someone yourself for a set-up won't guarantee you get it back the way you like it. eBay sucks.

I like those elements of your description. You'll get pushback from the inclusion of the word "soul," but generally that means a human element to the playing. The knock on a lot of shredders is that they're too mechanical, precise, and robotic. Thus, little or no human element.

"I enjoy simple pleasures like butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth."http://youtu.be/cH0kOWNtLFo

Ultimately it boils down to what impresses you about music and guitar playing.

Must be the same guys who have their personal techs/luthiers give the instrument a once-over before the sale.

That upper horn fits perfectly. Explains why the trem bar is sticking straight up. Lame jokes aside, she has a very cool lead style! Not just a retread of the Shrapnel Records legato playing and tone.