Steve Haynie

Your vote count has to start somewhere. How many of those other bands have a social media network that is large enough to run up the votes quickly?

I listened all the way through. The song never really jumps out until that last part at the end.

There is someone around here who did a wrap on a new Camaro with a blue that looks like polished metal The Camaro really does look like a giant Hot Wheels car.

Hip hop beats in country... That's just twangy hip hop. I expected the harmony to be fifths. Harmonized vocals are overdone on everything in country today.

I voted.

One has to wonder if the thieves are fans or just crackheads looking for quick cash at a pawn shop.

The Shishkov was on stage a lot last night. Getting a good photo was impossible because Dustin is rarely playing along the front of the stage. He mostly stays on a platform while Chris Caffery and Joel Hoekstra take the spotlight. The only time Dustin gets a spotlight is when he is singing, and he does not sing while playing guitar. For all the great lights in the show, the performers are not often in enough light for taking photos unless they are featured at the moment. After the second show all the performers sign autographs. Last year I got a tour book signed by everyone. This year there was only one new person, and I was not spending another $20 to get another tour book signed. A friend who loves TSO gave me some of her extra photos which I got signed by some of the members of the group. They just zip everyone through quickly, and conversation is extremely brief. When I got to Dustin I said, "So, blue guitars sound better." He immediately went off on how there is this guy building incredible guitars like he had discovered the greatest guitar builder of all time, but he was not looking at me while he was talking. I told him to look at my shirt. I had on a Shishkov shirt. He just went, "Oh, ****!" and laughed. When I got to singer Robin Borneman he was asking about Shishkov guitars because of my shirt. I had to tell him to talk to Dustin.

Gabe Kaplan felt the same way about the real Arnold Horshack.

A friend who worships Thin Lizzy said the Colorsound Wah has a different throw on the pedal gear that takes getting used to. Was there an issue with that for you?

A switch? No tone knob, but it has a switch. Or is that a tone knob and it has no volume knob?

Seeing bad pickup reroutes or extra screw holes that look like a bad experiment is a turn-off. A well done repair to fill the holes is acceptable. The look of genuine play wear might be overdone on some instruments, but some of those old instruments had finishes that were not durable. I remember gummy feeling Fenders back in the 70s. Binding shrinking and cracking is another nuisance that would be best not replicated by a relic process. The one thing that I have not experienced with a relic is the feel of old lacquer. No matter how perfect the look is, there is still something that feels different between the new lacquer and lacquer that is 30 years old.

Al Jolson had an ego about him that would fit the Diamond Dave persona well. Check out where he is buried.

Hartley Peavey did two things that probably cost him in the end. One, his company was one of the last major manufacturers to allow catalog and online retailers to have his product line. He was trying to keep them from competing with the dealer network that was in place. Two, he held out on moving production to Asia. That was long before Undercover Boss. Ampeg had moved to Asia a long time ago. Peavey was trying to make the mid-priced amps here in the USA longer than other companies.

It depends on the wear. Dumbassery is unforgivable. Honest wear is OK. Headstock repairs are OK if they are done right.

Who? I have heard of Lorde. I never heard Lorde.

Dave would have known some of those names because as a kid he would have been hearing some of the music leftover from when his parents and grandparents were around. Radio changed, but the big bands would have gotten played somewhere on an "oldies" station. The movies shown on television when Dave was a kid would have had big bands in their soundtracks or on screen.

Yeah, well, if she names all of Sarzo's bands alphabetically we will know that she just memorized a list someone gave her.

A relic never gets old, but the frets will have wear. The pots might get worked a lot. A jack may go bad. Those are the things to look for when buying any used guitar. On a relic it would be the only thing that could affect the value. So, a used price should be constant. Then you subtract for the cost of a fret dressing or replacement and maybe a couple of small parts.

That video sucks.

Cool. I am hearing a lot of new music right now that has melody and great arrangements to make it all work. This fits right in.

That Tele looks like you are supposed to pick it up and play the crap out of it.

Should a relic'd guitar have a relic'd case or not?

Mötley Crüe went out on their final tour doing basketball/hockey arenas and outdoor sheds that may have maxed out at 18,000 seats. Def Leppard usually links up with an equal headliner and plays the same venues. Poison varies on the size of venues they play, but they still fill large concert venues. I heard Mötley Crüe wanted $2 million per show, plus Def Leppard at $1 million, and Poison at $250,000. Some state fair figured out that to have that big show they would have to raise the gate admission to a ludicrous price that would turn away most of the patrons. At $4 million a sold out show in a 15,000 seat venue would require $267 per ticket before fees, and then the promoter would still have all the expenses of renting a venue and paying for advertisement. Insurance, security, catering, transportation, etc. would add to the costs. Who is going to pay $300 plus Ticketbastard fees to sit way in the back or on the lawn? Metallica and Guns N' Roses fans are paying $300 to sit on the side of an arena bowl, and $200 to sit at the ceiling. Mötley Crüe never turned themselves into a band with a zombie following like Metallica or KISS, nor have Def Leppard. KISS are pushing their prices upward, but they have not lost site of reality.

It is easy to keep up with new bands. If one of them gets your attention, you keep up with them. It is equally easy to miss most of them. The big money that gets behind trying to make someone a pop star with lots of TV wants everyone to know that "star" in order to make money. It only works on the people who keep up with the TV shows and industry events. Some of us watch the TV talent shows. Some do not. It seems like no one really cares about award shows. We moved ourselves out of that demographic.

Eddie Van Halen has a son?