polara

I confess I had no idea who Ian Thornley was, and Googled him there in the GC Platinum Room. My goodness that man can play. And sing.

When I was winding down my job and preparing for my move to Sweden, I needed to get rid of guitars. In true dumb guitarist fashion, I went to Guitar Center and decided I'd Find the best electric guitar there. Like blindfold test best, price no object, no brand in mind. Not for looks or resale but for pure performance. And Then trade as many guitars as necessary to get it. This Suhr Ian Thornley was and is the top dawg. It's happy in Sweden. Mine is slightly different in that it came with a series-parallel switch for even more sounds. All the Suhrs I tried were impressiver: congrats on your NGD!

Such great guitars. Mine is pretty much identical except it has Phat Cats.

PLEASE FORGIVE THE MANY GAPS IN CONTUNUITY AND SOME WEIRD TYPOS. I'M TIRED WHEN I WRITE THESE, BUT FIGURED Y'ALL MIGHT ENJOY READING ABOUT THE ADVENTURES OF MY RETIREMENT PLAN TO COSPLAY AS A TOURING MUSICIAN. March 8 I’m on the balcony of my little Vrbo apartment in Buenos Aires, and the sun is low in the sky as the sounds of traffic and children playing echoes amongst the concrete towers. I’ve been here for a few days, but I’m only now starting to feel settled in any way. Where do I start? On February 22nd Mom died. It wasn’t a shock, as vascular dementia had taken a toll, but as this condition isn't dramatic, we didn’t know what week or day she’d go. I was cycling through the center of Cannes when I got the call. Thankfully my brother is there in Decatur and could sign the various forms and such, and we began notifying the family. There wasn’t much I could do from Europe, so I went along to the Nice Carnival with my friend, not feeling festive but thinking that seeing people alive, being creative, and celebrating would help. I guess it did, and while I'm not sold on an afterlife, if there is one, I hope she got to see a bit of the Carnival. At least Argentina is welcoming. It was good to see Victoria again, and to eat food with spices and flavor again. We’ve rehearsed three times and done a lot of work on getting the presets on our digital guitar modelers to be balanced and complementary from song to song. I love seeing and hearing parakeets in the trees, and every day is warm and breezy. Tonight is the first show, in downtown Buenos Aires. Over the month besides our seven shows we’ll also go see Drink the Sea, a supergroup with Pete Buck and Alain Johannes, and we were given tickets to see Steve Hackett, of Genesis, as V knows someone in the band. I have no knowledge of Genesis aside from a fee 80s hits, so I need to some homework. March 11 Last night we played at Velazco, a cozy bar full of old LPs and art. We had trouble with the backing tracks not playing the first note or click: that made starting a song interesting. I’ll re-do all the tracks today with an extra two seconds of silence at the beginning. But apart from some minor volume things it was good. The audience was small but even the staff seemed into it and gave us a lot of compliments. I’m in Vs tiny apartment for the day until we take a bus to San Luis overnight. It’s a huge money saver to travel at night. I liked San Luis before, and it’s a cool venue with good vegan burgers and a good sound system. The local support act broke up so they’re scrambling to find another. I feel better now that we’ve started performing. The rehearsals were okay, but I had too much time to worry about banks and taxes and stuff before. Now it’s time for movement. In our true rock n roll decadent way we’re ready. After I checked out of my apartment we went to the library for l supplies. V got volume 5 of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, while got Time’s Arrow by Martin Ami’s. \m/ March 14 It’s March 14 and we arrived yesterday in San Luis. The bus ride was okay, eleven hours through the night. I was able to sleep for most of it, but sometimes the roads were rough, and having the guitar and backpack under my feet was awkward. I don’t like to have the guitar out of my sight: it’s a Fano and in fact the first of that model, built and signed by Dennis Fano. It’s so fun to play I’d miss it if it were ever damaged or stolen. San Luis tries hard. There are some charming old buildings, a tourism office, some good restaurants, lots of trees, and it’s quite walkable. There are also more police on the streets than I’m used to seeing, and loads of graffiti. The hotel is okay, probably quite nice when it was built decades ago but with no updates since then. Clean and functional but well worn. We handed out flyers in the square to promote the show, practiced the set, and had a good dinner. I’m at the pool while V practices, and we’ll do the set again this afternoon. The opener bailed so we’re doing two short sets tonight. Tomorrow we’ll have an empty day before catching a night bus, and I don’t know what we’ll do. Maybe take a taxi to go for a hike. Next week will have vocal recording and photo shoot, just one show in San Isidro. The following week is heavy with travel, hitting four cities I think. March 15 Last night was the performance at All Right in San Luis. If you’re not yet well-known and touring, it’s crucial to have a local artist on the bill. That way you get the draw of the unknown plus the draw of the known. Unfortunately our local support broke up the previous week. We unknowns posted like crazy on Instagram and handed out flyers in the city square and along the street. Sound check was okay, but the guy running sound liked a lot of low end, and it was sounding boomy through the mains and kind of loud through the monitors. We went on to an almost empty room and a few people trickled in, seeming to like us well enough. There was also the late-night covers band in attendance. The mix was fighting us a bit, as even anything on the low E string got lost (why don’t sound guys roll off below 80hz?) but the late band liked us. We had a drink and slept hard. This morning we had to leave the hotel but had 9 hours to kill before the bus to Buenos Aires so we’d booked a taxi driver who did local tours to show us the surrounding area. It was n unexpectedly great day. We went up into the mountains, which felt like another sharp and shadowy world, with grey rocks and dusty green scrubland ribboned with shining rivers and cloaked in damp clouds that slithered over the peaks. Now we’re slumped in the hotel lobby until it’s late enough to get a sandwich and head to the bus station. March 21 San Isidro is a neighborhood on the north side of Buenos Aires and seems pretty nice. It’s where we found ourselves on Thursday, playing at Cerdos Voladores, which I guess means flying pig, or something close to it. It was an okay gig but we spent a lot of time arguing, mostly from fatigue. We were tired after spending most of the previous day in a photo session and at the U.S. embassy. Because the building in which we have two apartments belonging to V’s family is next to a demolition site, from 8 to 5 there are jackhammers, sledge hammers, and various other hammers um, hammering continuously. The cacophony of car horns, unmuffled motorcycles, and construction had me mentally frayed. Then the experience at the embassy was a trip. I had to go there to get the papers authorizing Mom’s estate to go to probate notarized. No DocuSign or any other kind of non-physical authorization was admissible even if I was living in another country. The $150 notary fee at the embassy plus $100 to ship via DHL was still more practical than flying to the U.S. to get the magical sacred ink stamp of a notary, though. We’d worked with Nico, the photographer, on a music video before. Met him at a vast cemetery to take pics all over the crumbling, somber grounds until the guards told us to vamoose. We both had done some modeling in our youth and had been in enough videos and shoots to know to just assume the pose and do what you’re told. Then we went on a a city park to strike awkward poses, stare straight into the sun, lie in the grass and not make a face as insects devoured us, with poses treading a line between morbid and romantic. The next album is called The Wedding, and we wanted to have a vaguely Cocteau Twins, Cure, Sisters of Mercy kind of ambiguous life and death, blood and sky balance. We ended after dark and had an excellent meal. Yesterday we saw the unedited photos and a few were spectacularly good. That was a boost. And today we went to Museo de Arte Latinoamericano, which was fantastic. The Diego Riveras and Frida Khalos were fine of course, but they also had the biggest retrospective of Olga de Amara in 30 years, which blew me away. The imagination and skill of contemporary Latin American art is amazing and I frankly can spend days exploring new art here, while I can only tolerate a few minutes in the High Museum or MOMA. Now I’m practicing, after working out some vocal lines for the new album on keys (for some reason I prefer writing on keyboard.) Monday we’ll go to see Drink the Sea, a supergroup featuring Pete Buck and Alain Johannes, then it’s off to Uruguay for our first gig in that country. March 27 Uruguay. Well, I like Montevideo. It’s rather pretty and on the Plata. Had a good dinner on a place that had Grandaddy on the PA and met a really cool guy who was a luthier and connected us with a venue for future visits. The gig wasn’t much. The PA was sketchy and the opener was nice but more like pop karaoke than a band. So back to Argentina we go. After four trips, I am comfortable saying Buenos Aires is not for me. It has a reputation as a world capital, the Paris of South America, a cultural icon. I suppose if you’re there for three days at a boutique hotel it’s all that. If it’s your home base for a month in a normal apartment though, it’s a city where everything is cracked and covered in graffiti, it smells like sewage, drivers don’t stop at intersections because there are literally no stop signs, and the sound of un-muffled motorcycles, pneumatic drills, and car horns never stops. Yesterday I watched a cruise ship the size of a city glide past Montevideo as I walked down a silent street past a monumental, once-lovely building that had been shuttered and abandoned, sprayed with graffiti, and now gave shade to some people pushing grocery carts of gazing into space. March 30 We saw Steve Hackett play last night. I was aware of his existence as the guitarist for Genesis at their most arty and ambitious. But I’d never listened to him. Tonight he was with Genetics, who are primarily a Genesis cover band, I guess. They must be huge, as they filled Movistar Arena, probably 10,000 people. V is friends with two of the Genetics guys because they’re all in the Guitar Ensemble of Buenos Aires, so we had free tickets with some other people from the ensemble. The show was…well, terrific. Great sound, great playing, very entertaining. We skipped hanging out with the band after the show. Charlie Garcia, Argentine legend, was backstage. The next day we met some of the ensemble for JS Bach’s birthday. Five if them were going to perform Bach pieces on the subway. There wasn’t much planning, and much negotiation with police before we - ensemble, friends, and fans - got onto a train. It was moving - literally and emotionally - and hilarious in equal measure, as five guitarists battled train announcers and blaring horns. Then it was time to get ready for more gigs. Second time in Corrientes, a small city consisting of a wide, landscaped boulevard along the river and a sprawl of cracked and crumbling concrete once one ventures a block further. After the constant noise of the big city I had splurged on a room at the Marriott for our two days here. It was a scramble to work out this bit of the tour. Last week we had gigs Thursday in Corrientes, Friday in Resistencia, and Saturday in Roque Saenz Pena. Then the first two canceled because of some kind of permit thing for having concerts. V was on the phone for a day and we ended up with Thursday in Resistencia, followed by RSP and ending in Corrientes. The geography was tricky but two of the cities are neighbors so it worked out. The Marriott was nice. Quiet room, a pool, and clean. We did a lot of hanging out in the sun, separate guitar and vocal practice, reading, and swimming. Well, wading in Vs case. The gig itself was last-minute and only a handful of people were there. Some hyperactive guy who had been doing a mural at the entrance decided to unscrew a light bulb after two songs and that tripped a breaker so we had a long break to troubleshoot. People were smoking so my voice was shot afterward. The sound guy played a bit of the recording off the mixer and we realized we sounded good. Now we’re in the bus station waiting for the bus to RSP. You never quite know when the regional buses will run, but we only have to wait 45 minutes. I’ll try to get some sleep, as we got back to the hotel around 1 and woke at 7 April 2 Roque Saenz Pena is so odd, at least to me. V thinks I might be the only American to ever visit. It is far to the north, in Chaco, and as close to Paraguay as I’ll ever get. Most of Argentina is crumbling concrete, but RSP has the look of a place decimated by a plague or alien invasion. Quite empty, lots of overgrown vacant lots and empty buildings, and brapping little scooters carrying couples and helmetless families along cracked streets in scorching heat. We played here a few months ago and returned to the same hotel (the only hotel) and music venue (probably the only one.) The hotel feels like it was abandoned shortly after its 1990-ish construction and has since gone without renovation or repair. The carpets seem to have been used in a slaughterhouse, doors don’t quite close, paint is peeling, and there was what looked like a hobo cave in the wall of the pool area. The club, run by a gentleman named Beto, always has good music on the PA and cheap beer flowing. It was so hot that he suggested we set up his second PA outside and play in front of the club. We sounded good, though he kept bringing me up in the mix, forcing me to turn my Quad Cortex down and work the volume knob on the guitar. There was a decent turnout and people were recording videos and liked the music. As we ended at close to 3:00, the police came to shut us down. Rock and roll. Then a badly intoxicated goth fell down over the monitor. His goth girlfriend was walking better despite having only one leg and was yelling at some of the audience angrily. They sat at a table and were calmed a bit, but her friend who looked very much like a nighttime professional also had a scary vibe so we were glad to leave. Now waiting for a bus to Resistencia. Last show is tonight in Corrientes, then we get a day off in Resistencia before heading back to Buenos Aires. April 5 Back in Corrientes at Espacio Sexto. We played here last time, and it’s sort of a house, sort of a rambling compound, sort of an underground music venue, and has a kitchen that serves the best empanadas ever. We’re the first band on the bill, which is fine as we were playing until 3 this morning in another city, and we didn’t sleep much on the bus. Sound check was decent, and the other bands seemed really interested in what we did. As egotistical as it sounds, we’re unusual and we’re professional so people notice even if they don’t like the music. We get set up quickly, we know the material, the sounds are dialed, and we can actually sing. April 8 About 45 minutes from Amsterdam now, after almost 13 hours on the plane. It’s amazing what we can get used to. A few thoughts. The last gig was good. The volume was loud and there wasn’t much room in the mix for vocals, so we were pushing our voices. V was a little hoarse by the end. We did pics with fans and Alex, a guitarist who likes our music, gave us a ride back to the apartment. It’s always sad to end a tour though. We went to Resistencia in the morning as the flight to Buenos Aires was out of that airport. It’s not a remarkable city except for the quantity and quality of outdoor sculpture. If the essence of a place is represented by its art, Argentina is awesome. But if it’s represented by social equality, it’s less awesome. The poverty in the country is unsettling. I suppose Brasil was even worse, and what I saw of Chile and Uruguay wasn’t wonderful, but most things in Argentina seem to be hanging together with tape, wire, and hope. I’m rereading David Mitchell’s book Unruly, and in this history of England’s monarchs he points out that these rulers were essentially brutal thugs who ruthlessly gained and held power. Human nature doesn’t change. The most powerful and wealthy of us are still brutal thugs who will stop at nothing to fulfill their insane craving for dominance. V and I got along better than ever and seem to have a good groove musically and personally. We’re going to focus on marketing the band, using the repellent but effective media known as « social » and working her connections in South America. I’m looking forward to finishing the album. I’m also looking forward to doing a lot more cycling. I’m not going to do any more consulting work, as the addition of five or six hundred thou from mom’s estate provides extra cushion and my time on earth isn’t forever. And now to land in Amsterdam and run to my Copenhagen flight.

Glenn Phillips is a BEAST of a player. We definitely have a Venn diagram going if you know Calder and Elsey. Bob ended up doing some guitar on the last Anne Richmond Boston album I was on, which finally came out at the end of 2025 on DB Recs. I once was at the old Cotton Club and for some reason Elsey, Phillips, and Rob Gal were all jamming to All the Young Dudes, so it was as epic a 90s Atlanta head-cutting session as you can imagine. Well, Shawn Lane would have been something there.

I can't match Roberto Clemente. Damn. But actually played with or recorded with? I've been lucky. Chris Robinson (Black Crowes) sang at one of our rehearsals. We shared the room with his girlfriend's band, Doll Squad, as well as with The Jody Grind, who had a horribly tragic ending and are still revered in the Southeast today. He came to some of our shows and hung out backstage. In that same band, Billy, the keyboard player from Follow For Now played on one of our tracks. That was a great band. My next stint was a couple years with Anne Richmond Boston. I consider her a big deal, as her old band The Swimming Pool Qs, were on A&M and later Capitol and made a bunch of top ten critic lists and toured with Lou Reed. Rolling Stone named her a Top Ten Names to Watch one year. Her husband, Rob Gal, was our guitarist and also had been in the Coolies, who were pretty big on the college/indie scene. We had some famous people on the album I played on: Syd Straw, Marti Jones, Don Dixon. Oh, and Terry Adams, the keyboard player from NRBQ, played on one track. It was cool hearing Syd Straw doing harmonies on a song I wrote. I jammed with Collective Soul and Ed Roland asked if I wanted to come back, as he had not found Will yet to play bass. I declined. Ed is a really good player and a super nice guy. Also around then I jammed with Magnapop, who got fairly big. Then I putzed around with different people. I had a band with the guitarist from Crossfire Choir. They were signed to Geffen and did an album with Steve Lillywhite, and Eddie was a hell of a good guitarist. But they kind of fizzled for really crazy reasons. Then I started a band with Leah Song, who achieved a good bit of fame with Rising Appalachia, doing the world tour and legions of fans stuff. She's a sweetie. After that I had a band with Joshua Lamar, who was the drummer from Mondo Generator (Nick Oliveri's band after Queens of the Stone Age.) Josh is a hell of a drummer and I really liked playing with him. I know Hoss had also played with the Queens or maybe Desert Sessions, as Troy knew him when he came up in a conversation we had. The last album I did with I Am a Rocketship, as well as the last Aerolinea album, had Kellii Scott on drums on one song each. He was in Failure, as well as Veruca Salt, Christina Aguilera, Pink, and a Troy Van Leeuwen album or two. He's very funny, and a freaking monster drummer. It's interesting to play with people at that level. They generally are super responsible, come prepared, and are fast learners. It's not so much about mad chops (though my goodness Terry Adams can play the shit out of a piano) as just "getting it" very quickly, musically speaking.

I did sent Mike - well, some Mike but he works at Shishkov - an email to maybe ask people if they have gotten anything sketchy and to be on the lookout.

Got a super sketchy email claiming to be from Mike. Double check the sender before clicking any link! Subject line was “Re: 2024-2026”

Having gone to Florida State University, I hate to say it but my Gator LP case is a freakin' tank. They build 'em to last.

We're touring because we're lucky bourgeoisie who eke out meager livings off freelance and investments, not because we are getting money thrown at us. Still, if you make original music and love playing, it's a wonderful experience. This is our third rodeo, after doing Argentina, Chile, and Brasil last year and some Florida dates early this year. Seven shows across Argentina. Plus some radio and YouTube and podcast interviews in each city. Top things I'm learning. Tour with a guitar you really like playing, even if it's not a cheap beater. My Les Paul Traditional happens to be a beater but also dead reliable and I can find the notes and pickup selector even if exhausted and on a dark stage. Comfort and reliability rule. Use the toughest acoustic guitar case you can, so you can carry the guitar wrapped in all your socks and underwear and t-shirts. Buses, taxis, and airlines just see "guitar case" so you now have way more room in your suitcase. letting you use a carry-on instead of checked bag, saving on flights. The Quad Cortex is awesome. Takes about ten seconds to hear a consistent tone in the monitors every night, easy to tweak on the fly if necessary. Sleep, vitamin C, and laundry are our obsessions every tour. Seeing new countries is way more fun but jolting if you're taking rattling, smoking old Peugeots to dive bars than if you're in the Marriott with a bunch of rich tourists. And you get better food this way: my goodness I've had some great epanadas. A few diary entries. I didn't start until a few days in. OCTOBER 18 Yesterday was busy. After the nonsense with trying to get a car to Roque Sáenz Peña, we got a bus, which was pretty comfortable, if a little worn and sporting a toilet that was like a scene in Saw. At one point the driver pulled over and two cops got on the bus to question a guy. The driver asked us if we’d seen how long the guy had been in the toilet but neither of us had noticed him at all. Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña has about 75,000 people and seems to be in the middle of no place. There’s one hotel, which looks like it was pretty nice 20 years ago but now features stained, crunchy beige carpets, missing ceiling panels, broken tiles, and an air of resigned defeat. We checked in and got omlettes at the restaurant across the street, then tried to sleep, as it was a full evening agenda. If you like the mopeds, stray dogs, chilling on the front steps vibe, you’ll like this city. People seem very nice and pretty relaxed. We got a driver to some sort of video production place in a new building where a bunch of 20-somethings were doing their weekend YouTube livestream. We sat with them and Victoria fielded questions, while I felt like a befuddled Bill Murray character on a Japanese chat show. We played two songs with an absolutely bizarre audio mix and snuck back out to watch an episode of The Mighty Boosh before going to the gig. Another driver and we were at a tiny club where the proprietor, Beto, did a great job getting the sound dialed, and so we went for ice cream and then went on at 1:25am. Roque Sáenz Peña is a late night town. We played well and the place was full and enthusiastic. V’s Line 6 sounds were inconsistent in the mix so we need to sit down with the app and reprogram with a simpler and more consistent batch of presets. Same with her vocal processor: we finally just ditched it. By the end, there was enough smoke drifting in that our voices were cracking though. I think my Quad Cortex is the best music tool I’ve ever had. The thing sounds great in any situation. It was nice that people had questions and enjoyed it. A girl posed with us for a photo, and dudes were enthusiastic about something in Spanish. I like Roque Sáenz Peña. It’s not glamorous and the hotel is kind of a mess, but the birds sing, the people laugh, and it has a real charm. Utter collapse back at the hotel, and now we’ll take a bus to Resistencia, then a taxi to Corrientes. Tonight another show there, then a few days off before two shows in Cordoba and one on San Luis. V is tireless as a day-to-day tour manager, navigating the world of taxis and accommodations and when we load in, etc. I like to think I was as useful when we played in the U.S. I hope I was. OCTOBER 19 Last night was at sort of a house-cum-club, with a small room and PA but quite a few people there who know where to go for new music. There was a chef who apparently is chef at the big fancy new Marriott, and he made the most amazing empanadas I’ve ever had, even making the dough himself. But in the north people start their weekend night late. Like, really late. Like the night before, doors might open at midnight, while all the street vendors and families skating and eating ice cream are still going full-force. And bands don’t play before 1:00. We were so wiped out after getting to sleep the previous night at 3:30 and then leaving the hotel five hours later for a long bus ride that we were a little sluggish at 1:30 when we started. There were some sound issues in the first song but by and large we performed the songs well, and were well received. We need to learn a couple emergency songs as we’ve had to do an encore every night so far, and last night had to do two. A lot of people wanted to talk after the show, and we got some nice comments about our sound, referencing late Bowie, Björk, and Portishead. Girls like getting pics with V, while guys want to talk guitar with me. The videos that popped up on the interwebs sounded pretty good. Another 3:30 bedtime, but slept pretty late and got a great breakfast down the road. It’s funny how the priorities of a tour - and it’s applied in my long years of business travel as well as the handful of music tours I’ve done - are so very Spinal Tap. All we talk about is how to get laundry done, where to get something like orange juice, how to get more sleep, and trying to remember which lodgings had the best bathrooms or pillows. Just like the conversations back when I was going to Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, San Diego, Denver, and a dozen other cites to exhibit at trade shows. It’s laundry day and catching up on journals and a little social media today. Tomorrow we’ll need to wander around all day because we’re taking an overnight bus to Cordoba. OCTOBER 21 We had a couple days off in Corrientes, but V was feeling ill, so we didn’t do a lot. I’ve been working on a song idea and wish I had a keyboard to work out the chords better, but I’m happy with the overall mood and the lyrics. Yesterday, the 20th, we were planning to go on a quick boat ride on the river to experience some jungle-ish nature-ish vibe, but the guy canceled, which was just as well, as V’s phone then quit. A quick run to a repair place up the street and they guy had it fixed by the time we grabbed an Uber and stuffed it full of guitars and bags to go to the bus station. Bus travel is interesting anywhere. In the U.S. if you’re too crazy to take a plane you take a train, but if you’re too poor for Amtrak you take a bus. Buses are a little more mainstream in Argentina but the stations do have a whiff of Blade Runner to them. The bus in question was scheduled to leave at 19:00 and go through the night to Cordoba, arriving at 7:00. The seats were big and cushy, reclining to nearly flat, so I plugged in the noise-canceling AirPods, selected a Grandaddy mix to get the warm melancholy flowing, and tightened the Manta sleep mask. I managed to sleep for most of the time. V was still sick and didn’t fare as well. The AirBnB was ready early so we’re in another apartment that smells vaguely of sewage and garlic, in a busy part of Cordoba, which is sunny, bustling, and dusty. V’s roll-aboard suitcase finally fell apart so this morning she scored a very expensive replacement and I got a backpack just right to hold the Quad Cortex, cables, and spare stuff: the bike messenger bag wasn’t at all protective. We’re playing here for two nights, then on to San Luis for the last gig. I’ll focus on rest and vocal practice.

A little more power pop on this one

Cory Hanson seems to have a hint of Nick Lowe, a bit of Raspberries, a soupcon of Drive-By Truckers, and in Drivin' Through Heaven, a bit of proggy Kansas kind of thing happening. If you like jangly and crunchy guitars, poppy melodies, and don't require the musicians to be AARP members.

I need to stay away from that. Wow!

Never met him, but we knew quite a few folks in common. He had a reputation around Atlanta that I suppose is much like a lot of folks who are battling some darkness, but I hope sun outshone the shadows for him.

That was a good price. I love my Newport Pro (came with Phat Cats, so even better for my particular band). KK? I saw her perform once: very impressive, even if not completely my thang.

Sold

Okay, final bump for INSANE prices.

BIG BUMP for the Earl Slick guitar and a price drop. Seriously, next stop is Guitar Center. I simply have to unload a couple things to fit it all in the shipping container.

BUMP FOR PRICES SO LOW WE MUST BE GOING CRAZY!

It depends on where Missus Polara gets a job (biotech). Probably Malmö, but maybe Helsingborg. All very exciting and stressful!

1997 Framus Panthera Pro, made in Germany HFC PRICE $500 + SHIPPING Mahogany body, bookmatched flame maple top, flame maple neck with a cool super-stable mounting system. Ebony fretboard. Trapeze tailpiece, Duncan pickups in whatever spec Framus gave them. This one was built in January of 1997, so one of the very first from the Warwick factory when they re-launched Framus. It has, as you'd expect, a kind of snappy Les Paul sound. Neck is kind of average medium, never gets too fat even at the body, and is finished in some kind of oil or wax "raw feeling" treatment. Weighs, I'd guess, 8.5 to 9 pounds. Not chambered. Has one big ding that was drop-filled so you can't feel it, and a few little signs of wear here and there. Custom shop quality for seven bills? Go for it. Comes in a TKL hard case with Dean logo. 2009 Framus Tennessee Custom Shop, one-off made for Earl Slick, HFC PRICE $1000 + SHIPPING This one is pretty cool. To welcome Slicky to the Framus family, they made one Tennessean with satin white finish, black binding, figured ebony board, aged TonePros hardware, and uncovered mystery pickups. He had it for sale at Spinnaker Music in Connecticut and I got it with some sort of signed thing from him. The Tennessee is 335 sized, hollow with a center block. I believe it is mahogany back and maple top, but as this was a one-off there ain't no COA. Pickups may be Duncan but I haven't checked as it sounds awesome. Slick doesn't look too excited when holding it, but he must have played it a fair bit as it had normal scuffs and pick wear when I got it. This leads to the big condition issue: I think he must have just liet it sit for ten years with no adjustment, as with the truss rod nut backed off to no tension, the neck is straight with .010s. If you use .009s it bows back a little and you get buzzing. Now, if you use 10s, it plays great and sounds great. It has some scuffs but no real dings. There is a very fine crack in the paint, about 1/8" long, behind one tailpiece stud. I suspect ten years in Slick's basement and Connecticut weather changes didn't do it any favors. I am on the fence about selling it, but well. $1700 for a one-off guitar owned by Bowie's guitarist (and the dates line up for him owning it wile recording The Next Day but no way can I say it WAS) that is pretty amazing on its own... I am not inclined to hear lowball offers. But I don't want to move more stuff to Sweden than absolutely necessary.

Awww, that turned out great! That guitar had so much potential. I just was not up to tackling a major project then, but you did a great job. It's wired normally? When I got it, even the wiring was jacked, with two volumes and no tone.

I can't wait to see the results! I got that guitar from a Music-go-Round for... well, next to nothing. It had been very thoroughly played over the years, and my original idea had been to simply get it functioning, and my kid had a bunch of hexgonal stickers lying around so... it was better than the rattle-can black it came with. I am VERY happy to see the love Kiz has put into this, even if it looks like a mad project in the Herzog sense...

Might be price drops because that guitar is so associated with a moment in time, and that moment is now a memory only for people with AARP cards. I'm the age group that remembers the impact of Eruption, but the number of people who want a very distinctive and objectively ugly guitar from 45 years ago is dwindling. It's like if you were trying to sell Woody Herman signature model clarinets in 1990. The target demographic are more worried about the RMDs from their 401(k)s and Medicare than rockin' like Eddie.