MCChris

Airplane and the Doobies each had their share of hits before they were taken down the toilet by an emasculated singer. Journey wasn't going anywhere with their fusion direction.

Mickey Thomas is to that band what Michael McDonald was to the Doobies. In college I was the entertainment editor of the school newspaper. Starship was booked to play a 2,000-seat venue on campus on the "Knee Deep in the Hoopla" tour. A week prior, the promoter called the newsroom to inform me that the show had been cancelled. When I asked why, he told me off the record that they had sold a grand total of eight tickets. Why he or anyone else thought that crap would go over in a college market is beyond me.

'Tis true. Nothing delivers that upper-midrange crunch like a Marshall.

The Artist 3203 will be coming out at tonight's Rub. The sound of rock'n'roll!

Yeah, I lucked out with this one. Switched to black pickup rings and knobs (a la a Koa Mirage II) and that seems to bring out the darker shades of the flame.

You sure it's not because of the slight blurriness in the middle caused by a stain on the lens?

I have no issue with the Wilkie either. Put me down as preferring the II, as I'm a humbucker guy in general. I can also see how Mirages could be considered ugly; the horns are a little funky, but the Strat-style configuration results in a better balance for me than a Sunburst or Special. At least they don't have the club-foot lower horn of an Eclipse.

Wasn't tobereeno in the market for one of these?

Proof that the minor pentatonic scale, not modal noodling, makes folks moist in the loins.

I won't lie, I totally want one of these.

It won't. Only Aerosmith album I own (and have ever owned) is the Crespo/Dufay release Aside from that album they just never latched onto my pleasure centers.

First time I ever got stoned I ended up face down on the floor with my ear right next to a stereo speaker with "Manic Depression" wafting out of it. I will never forget how great that guitar solo sounded as it swirled through my altered brain.

I'd think you'd need to add keys to be able to pull off a wedding band repertoire.

Another version with Keith St. John, David Ellefson and Jimmy DeGrasso:

I'll suggest BRABUSTER

.38 Special recently or back in their heyday? I ran spot for them a couple of times back in the mid Eighties and thought they put on a good show... maybe I was just distracted trying to make sure I was shooting the right position with the right gel... but my memory is favorable. You talking about spotlights or your '80s hair-styling ritual? Serial just despises Donnie Van Zandt. He'd hate a Cheap Trick concert if DVZ were onstage.

More or less painful than "Tattoo"? Most boring act ever? That can't be. I'm guessing you've been to a Cars concert. The one time I saw Santana live was on the Freedom tour. Maybe it was because Buddy Miles was in the band, but they were blazin'.

You mean playing the same solo in every song for the past 40 years? Actually I'd prefer he play a T-51. You know, for the perfect intonation.

I wish it was mine! It's Hamerica's.

Yeah, a triple pickup with block inlays. I think an employee built it for himself. The multicolored one was Vernon Reid's, I believe: In fact, I'll just say that my top 10 probably are owned by Hamerica lol.

Hamerica's triple-pickup Vector:

Grohl clarifies: "Oh, what a night we had last Sunday at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. The glitz! The Glamour! SEACREST! Where do I begin?? Chillin' with Lil' Wayne...meeting Cyndi Lauper's adorable mother...the complimentary blinking Coldplay bracelet.....much too much to recap. It's really is still a bit of a blur. But, if there's one thing that I remember VERY clearly, it was accepting the Grammy for Best Rock Performance...and then saying this: "To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most important thing for people to do... It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]." Not the Gettysburg Address, but hey......I'm a drummer, remember? Well, me and my big mouth. Never has a 33 second acceptance rant evoked such caps-lock postboard rage as my lil' ode to analog recording has. OK....maybe Kanye has me on this one, but....Imma let you finish....just wanted to clarify something... I love music. I love ALL kinds of music. From Kyuss to Kraftwerk, Pinetop Perkins to Prodigy, Dead Kennedys to Deadmau5.....I love music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn't matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician's personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and.....human. That's exactly what I was referring to. The "human element". That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became "bad" things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily "fixed". The end result? I my humble opinion.....a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place. And, unfortunately, some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance. Look, I am not Yngwie Malmsteen. I am not John Bonham. Hell...I'm not even Josh Groban, for that matter. But I try really fucking hard so that I don't have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that's what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real. I don't know how to do what Skrillex does (though I fucking love it) but I do know that the reason he is so loved is because he sounds like Skrillex, and that's badass. We have a different process and a different set of tools, but the "craft" is equally as important, I'm sure. I mean.....if it were that easy, anyone could do it, right? (See what I did there?) So, don't give me two Crown Royals and then ask me to make a speech at your wedding, because I might just bust into the advantages of recording to 2 inch tape. Now, I think I have to go scream at some kids to get off my lawn. Stay frosty. Davemau5"

The "microphone/tape machine" statement aside, for me it boils down to Grohl lambasting the state of music today, and in the same speech not forgetting to thank Sony/BMG, an entity that's largely responsible for it. It's not unlike Michael Moore making a movie about how evil Nike is, yet constantly appearing in U of M or Michigan State garb, schools whose athletic programs are sponsored/funded by huge shoe companies. I can't decide if it's subtle hypocrisy or simple cluelessness.