JohnnyB
-
Posts
11,473 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
11
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by JohnnyB
-
-
...a much better singer than I am.
...a very good replacement for Axl Rose.
...most likely the next AI winner.
That's right. Not just Axl, he can cover Robert Plant, Steve Tyler, Mickey Thomas, and probably Freddie Mercury. If you examine the actual vocal qualities of Plant and Tyler cutting through the mix and going for the high notes, they don't have the most pleasant vocal qualities either. Whether he's to your taste or not, a rock vocalist with Lambert's range, control, and power doesn't come along too often. I count maybe 8 in the last 40 years (i.e., Plant, Tyler, Paul Rodgers, Mickey Thomas, Axl Rose, Bobby Kimball of Toto, Lou Gramm of Foreigner, and Freddie Mercury). Lambert could be one of them.
For a vocal interpreter, I like Danny Gokey and Kris Allen much better. Gokey can rock out at least as well as Huey Lewis but with more range. Kris is an excellent singer when in his zone and could be an excellent arranger/producer. But if you want somebody to rock out in front of a band, it would be Adam.
Edited to add:
Isn't Adam Lambert what GnR fans have been waiting for--an Axl Rose who shows up on time, sober?
-
I saw James Cotton a few years ago. He can't sing anymore (hell, you can barely understand him when he talks), but he's an engaging performer and still a monster harp player. His band was very talented with a good vocalist and they put on a really good show.
Two that I kick myself over: I lived in Silicon Valley in the '80s, and every year, a cowboy-themed nightclub called the Saddlerack hosted Ray Charles for a 2- or 3-night engagement. I always caught the newspaper ad when they were already sold out and told myself I'd "catch him next year," which I never did. I also had the chance to see Gatemouth Brown at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival in 2004, but passed on it for the expense, the crowds, and the hassle. A year later he died from the stress of evacuating New Orleans to escape Katrina.
I did, however, get to see Cab Calloway at Bumbershoot in Sept. 1993 (d. Nov. 1994) and cellist/conductor Mstislav Rostropovich in April, 2006 (d. April 2007). They were both great concerts.
-
I just saw Buddy Guy last week, and he was really good. Great shape for a 75 year old man...lots of energy, good playing, good show. Very entertaining 90 minute show.
He has a new album I just picked up as well, with several guest collaborators (e.g., Eric Clapton).
-
Beatles Abbey Road
Tommy Bolin Private eyes
STP Purple
Alice in Chains Dirt
Zep In through the out door
Steely Dan Royal Scam
Every Steely Dan from 1972 to 1980, especially Can't Buy a Thrill, Royal Scam, Aja, and Gaucho.
Ry Cooder: Bop 'Til You Drop
Beatles; Sgt. Peppers, Magical Mystery Tour, Rubber Soul (Parlophone release)
Charlie Haden: Ramblin' Boy
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Count Basie and Oscar Peterson: Satch and Josh
Beatles Abbey Road
Tommy Bolin Private eyes
STP Purple
Alice in Chains Dirt
Zep In through the out door
Steely Dan Royal Scam
Every Steely Dan from 1972 to 1980, especially Can't Buy a Thrill, Royal Scam, Aja, and Gaucho.
Ry Cooder: Bop 'Til You Drop
Beatles; Sgt. Peppers, Magical Mystery Tour, Rubber Soul (Parlophone release)
Steve Miller: Fly Like an Eagle
Jimi Hendrix: Axis: Bold as Love
James Taylor: Gorilla
Charlie Haden: Ramblin' Boy
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Count Basie and Oscar Peterson: Satch and Josh
Now that I primarily play vinyl, I pretty much listen to everything all the way through. It helps me learn to appreciate songs I didn't take to the first time around. That's another loss of the end of the album era--the album's ability to expand our awareness.
-
I remember seeing pics of her posted on www.guitarsbyleo.com, the G&L appreciation website, about 10 years ago because she was playing a G&L ASAT sometimes (as below). All the current pics of her on her official website show her playing either a Tele thinline or a green top PRS.
Haven't heard her stuff though.
-
The '59 is a good all-around garden variety pickup that has a pleasing tonal balance and easily controlled distortion curve when you drive it. At some point, however, you realize it's not all that dynamic and that increased clarity and more air and overtones would be nice.
The pair that does it for me is the Rio Grande Texas at the neck and BBQ Bucker at the bridge. Huge range of applicability. Great dirt, great R&R sounds, and the BBQ can take you right into overtone and pinch harmonic territory, but also very musical, rich, and dimensional. Played clean it yields a rich, yet clear, complex harmonic structure.
Right now I don't have a set, but I've played the PesoPro after Peso put this combo in and it's really good. I also had a set put in my stepson's Epi Les Paul and it absolutely transformed it into a serious rock machine.
I'd like to put a set in my Anniversary and my ES-335 style Ibanez AS-180.
-
For a bolt neck import, I favor the G&L Tribute series.
-
I played a carbon composite guitar this weekend, and I was very, very impressed.
I tried one of this manufacturer : CA guitars, their website seems to be down now, but here's the link to some HC reviews.
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews...raditional/10/1
I am sure my next accoustic will be a carbon composite.
The carbon fiber stringed instruments are improving quickly and gaining acceptance. Notice that the reviews in that link mention the Rainsong graphite guitars a lot as well, some of which are also in the desired price range.
There is a widely acclaimed graphite classical stringed instrument maker, Luis & Clark. Co-founder Luis is a cellist with the Atlanta Symphony and his instruments have gained wide acceptance from classical musicians, and it's not easy to gain widespread acceptance of differently shaped instruments based on new technology among classical musicians.
Cello soloist Yo Yo Ma has a Luis & Clark and endorses it.
Also, check out the sound quality on the demonstration videos. These are beautiful sounding instruments by anyone's standard.
My brother is thinking of getting one of their cellos. I really hope he does.
As I said before, I'd love these guys to make an archtop guitar and an acoustic bass guitar.
Oh, btw as long as we're talking graphite, how about Kaman's own Adamas graphite-topped guitars? Isn't that one of the selling points of the Adamas over the Ovation--there is more volume and less dynamic compression with the graphite top?
-
As per jwiii's recommendation, 5 hours to go and still no bids @ $1500.
This is at least a $3,000 guitar. Jonathan sez his parlor-sized guitar by this maker is louder than most dreadnoughts. So if you want max volume in your price range...
-
Happy birthday and enjoy your new TV ... and the incoming Blu-ray player!
-
+1 on Rod Stewart
I also liked Brian Wilson on the SmiLe! tour. Incredibly tight band of 18, musicianship to burn. But the most important thing was from the opening number Brian & co. got the house rockin'. They opened with a set of vintage Beach Boys, starting with "Let's Do It Again." Say what you want about how Wilson's damaged goods, he came alive with that opening number. He had the delivery and swing in his voice to deliver that song and everybody got on board within seconds.
-
Hmmm ... studios have a belly cut do they? I wish you hadn't told me that!
So do the late '90s Phantom Customs.
-
"I tried to run away. Run away and hide.
But Jesus came and found me, and touched me deep inside.
He's just like a mountie, he always gets his man...."
If someone always gets his man and touches him deep inside, wouldn't he be the mounter and the other man be the mountee?
-
Jimmy Cliff or Peter Tosh should cover that. Take it down tempo and add in some timbale whacks.
Unfortunately, Peter Tosh hasn't done much of anything for years now, owing largely to the fact that he is deceased.
Oh, SNAP!
-
Jimmy Cliff or Peter Tosh should cover that. Take it down tempo and add in some timbale whacks.
-
What are you planning to do Monday? Woody Allen still plays clarinet in a Dixieland band at Michael's pub most Monday nights.
Monday is also Les Paul Night at the Iridium Jazz Club. Les is 92. I think he plays guitar.
-
Looks like a Bo Diddley model that got left on the radiator.
-
when I stopped listening to Country Western, I got my trailer back, my dog, my car, my wife, my kids, my gun, etc...
Don't forget all those great things followed because they let you out of jail first.
-
I have an extensive music collection that includes many many country records. (Yes, Records)
Records! Yaaayyy!
I got back into vinyl playback 1-1/2 yrs ago and although I like pretty much everything better on vinyl, it's the country albums that really grab me--Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, etc.
-
Western music was a genre of its own from the 20's through the 60's. The reason we have the phrase "country and western" is because sales of both were listed in the same charts. They were two different types of music, but to keep from having too many sales charts both types of music were listed together. Country singers also took on the look of the flashy cowboy singers, too.
That's right, and another casualty is the marginalization of Western music as its own genre. Country music, or hillbilly music, has its roots in the displaced Scots and Irish who left the highlands of the old country and settled in the Appalachians, continuing their habit of living on the side of a steep hill. If you look at early "hillbilly" or "mountain" music, it largely uses the same instruments (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, zither or autoharp), scales, and modes as Celtic music. When it arrived in America it picked up the banjo from the African Americans.
Western music represents the completely different tradition of the singing cowboy. Although it got gussied up with the fancy outfits of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy is very much rooted in reality. Cattle do not sleep deeply and are skitterish. It was customary in the days of herding cattle, and especially on the long, open range cattle drives, to sing to the cattle at night to calm them and help prevent them from being spooked. Generally every cattle outfit had at least one guy who packed a guitar and could sing. I read in one history of the old West that at least one cattle outfit would not hire a cowboy unless he could carry a tune.
Cowboy songs have a different structure and song content than hillbilly music. They're often about loneliness, isolation, lack of a permanent home, migrant lifestyle, high mortality rate, and the cattle drive, such as "Good-bye, Old Paint," "Git Along Little Dogies," "Streets of Laredo," "Don't Fence Me In," "Skyball Paint," etc. The frequent use of the word "paint" refers to the pinto (Spanish for paint), which refers to the markings of a pinto mustang.
Although Eddie Arnold was a native Tennesseean and primarily a country singer, he did a true cowboy tribute album titled "Cattle Call." The title track became one of his signature songs. I have that album and his rendition of the opening track, "Streets of Laredo," is poignant to say the least.
-
Don't forget Dwight Yoakam, especially his first five records IMO. His lead guitarist Pete Anderson will knock you out.
And Dwight's latest release is a tribute to Buck Owens. Dwight and Buck became buddies and Dwight is a great admirer of Buck.
I used to think Dwight Yoakam was a punk-ass tater-chip-hat wearing poser. Then I listened to Guitars, Cadillacs, etc. etc. and it knocked me out. It's one of my favorite albums regardless of genre, and I have it on LP which sounds marvelous. I can particularly relate to the sensibility that informs much of Dwight's songwriting. I have married twice into families of displaced Appalachians who came north to make a living. Dwight was born and raised in Columbus, OH, but he's of Kentucky coal country (i.e., Appalachia) stock. His granddad worked the coal mines for 40 years. There are several songs on Guitars, Cadillacs... that address the angst of the displaced Appalachian, including the title track.
The real old-timers are guys like Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Red Foley, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Jimmy Martin, Oswald Kirby (Dobro), Ralph Stanley...
An album that collected most of these legends and recorded them on acoustic instruments is Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" It's a 3-LP extravaganza and was re-released on CD. In fact, it was so successful that they did vols. II and III. I have the first one on LP.
Then along came Eddie Arnold. I have a "Best of" and "Cattle Call" both on LP. He represents the beginning of the transition to country as a form of pop music. He was perhaps the first country artist to have serious crossover success, such as "Make the World Go Away." But what a voice! And what pitch control.
And you gotta get some Patsy Cline. She's another one that's so good she transcends the genre. I picked up the LP soundtrack to the film, "Sweet Dreams" about Patsy. The soundtrack is interesting, because to keep Patsy's real voice in the film but bring the recording quality up to snuff for the '90s, they got ahold of all the musicians on these recordings and re-recorded the accompanying tracks in the same studio where they'd originally done them 40 years before. Then they cleaned up Patsy's original vocal tracks and mixed them into the refreshed accompaniment.
-
I remember a lot of things differently than my wife does. She's pretty much always right. I've learned to shut up most of the time now.
Man, when I was young, I was "sure" about tons of stuff. Now I'm not sure about anything.
Or, as Mark Twain reputedly said,
When I was sixteen, my father was the most ignorant man in the world. By the time I reached 21, I was surprised at how much the old man had learned in five years. -
As I age and revisit some music, films, and books of my past, and check chain letters and assertions against Snopes and other reality checks, it makes me want to do a study into the phenomena of false memory. If I were younger, I'd make it my Master's thesis.
There are times I've been sure of a line in a movie, or how a scene played out, and then I watch the video again, and it's not like that at all. My wife and I were watching a film from 1972 a few months back, and she SWORE that the video had recut a couple scenes and changed the backdrops. Yet I researched everything I could and came across nothing in Wikipedia, IMDB, or anything else written about the film that any such thing had happened, and in fact, the cover of the soundtrack LP showed the characters lined up with the same setting/backdrop as depicted in the video we saw. So it's highly unlikely the original release had flipped these venues as she had remembered.
I also remember having a coworker who SWORE she remembers sitting on her couch at home and that she watched Oprah the day Calvin Klein was a guest and said he had not intended for his designs to "go ghetto" or some such, and how indignant the co-worker was because her kids were of mixed race. And then I went to Snopes which affirmed this was nothing but another bullshit chain letter, and that not only had Calvin never been on Oprah, they had never even met!
There are zillions of people across the nation who swear they saw the foul-mouthed kid tell Bozo to "Cram it, clown," but that incident aired only once live in the New York City market; it was not syndicated or broadcast nationally.
Paul McCartney swears he remembers working on the lyrics of "In My Life" alone, but it is so obviously John's song. For one thing, each Beatle sang lead on whatever he wrote, and that song is SUCH a John song. And the melody's quirky and introspective, more like something John would write. Yet Paul insists he remembers writing it. Maybe he dreamed it or tried to write alternate lyrics that ultimately didn't make it into the song.
The idea that the Fuzztone came out in 1957/58 is pretty ridiculous. No one but the black blues players were trying to get distortion at that time, and they did it by overdriving underpowered, cheap little amps, sometimes with broken speakers. Listen to any rock'n'roll guitar from '57-58 and it's all clean and undistorted. Sparkly, even. It wasn't until the '60s when people started seeking out new tones. Hendrix was a pioneer in the use of pedals and effects; he got ahold of anything he could get his hands on, which often meant getting a prototype from the designer, and even at that, he only had around 5-6 effects by 1966-7.
-
They fell out of favor after that realization.
That and the stigma of being made by American Motors.
Adam Lambert is ______?
in Hamer Fan Club Messageboard
Posted
Let's not forget that "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour" was the breakthrough venue for show-biz perennials and greats including Joey Bishop, Pat Boone, Maria Callas, Jose Feliciano, Connie Francis, Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Beverly Sills, and many others. Oh yeah, and this guy from Hoboken named Frank Sinatra.
It's been done before--all the way back to the radio era--but it's still effective.