Willie G. Moseley

OKay, my "shipping tale" is an "inexpensive sequel" to a USPS episode from a number of years ago where someone sliced into a manila envelope and stole the vintage guitar catalogs therein. I was sending them to Vintaxe in St. Louis so they could add the pages ot their website (I've been using it for research for at least a couple of decades. Recently I mailed a small package containing some memorabilia--celebrity picks, key chains, etc. to a friend in CA. Same tyep of event---envelope precisely sliced open and contents removed. Dollar-wise, not particularly valuable but a gesture of appreciation for our friendship based on and around guitars. And I don't collect anymore, but the recent incident underlines in a small way why, at times, I don't miss the collecting phenomenon. But those times aren't permanent.

I was running a department store TV/Stereo/Records dept. when their first album came out. Store manager made me take it out of the display rack and put it under the counter. "Personality Crisis" rawked.

Pat Travers: Swing!: New album of Big Band music from a blues/rock guitarist (!) Prepping for an interview with Travers King Crimson: Meltdown--Live in Mexico: Three CDs (over 3 1/2 hrs. of music) + a Blu-Ray by the latest incarnation of the band, which features three drummers (! again). Prepping for an interview with guitarist Jakko Jaksyzk, who recently garnered a PRS SE signature model with the "Schzoid Man" face on the body.

I don't feel like going back to the article but was Trower on there at all? I'd go w/ "Into Money"from him... Then there was "Sex Machine" by Sly & The Famly Stone, which was blatantly erotic.

I found this link to a different list: http://www.guitarworld.com/high-strung-25-all-time-weirdest-guitarists?page=0,0 Of the ones on there that I've actually heard, I tend to agree with their placement thereon

I haven't been to the Orlando show but have known the promoter for about two decades. Morty has his act together, unlike some other opportunistic would-be guitar show promoters who've come and gone....if he didn't, he wouldn't still be doin''em. Hopefully I can make it down there one of these days.

Looks like larvae of some kind. Never seen or heard of such. Homer: "Where ya goin'?" Jethro: "Thought I'd go a-fishin'." Homer: "Have ya got worms?" Jethro:"Well,yeah, but I'm goin' anyway..." We presently got our own problems at my home---yellow jackets that nested inside a gap near the front door and went goodness knows how far indoors. A couple will creep out each day into my man cave/office next to the entrance. Cold weather's 'sposed to get to 'em and kibosh the queen. Have tried more than one spray but they're apparently still around.

Plagiarism can be, er, subliminal. Been there done that w/ a song I wrote, Didn't even realize part of it was a ripoff of a Dire Straits song (and in the same ****in' key!) until some non-musician listener pointed it out to me. That's not to excuse any alleged plagiarism of the songs mentioned previously

When I was an active band member, I ended up on bass by default (at age 36, in 1986) and we ended up as a trio (first time I'd gigged that way). What I would end up doing was primarily root-five while singing---on most songs, the melody of the vocals counts for more than a bass line, and I would have to be keenly aware of staying in sync with the bass drum. When we took an instrumental break, I'd try to do guitar-like lines an octave lower (if I opted to be creative or we opted to jam), still having to be cognizant of the bass drum. Small wonder that in spite of my dearth of talent, Jack Bruce and Lemmy were my primary "influences" back then. Maybe that's one (subliminal?) reason I related to the original list on the Gib site.

This thread on the Gib site is over a year old, and I got the link from Greg Lake's web site. I'm hard-pressed to find anything to disagree with on both the list as well as the responses---a rare occurrence, since all too many internet users are self-appointed experts/historians/know-it-alls: http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/Top-10-Bass-Players-Who-Handle-Lead-Vocals.aspx

Just getting around to posting this on accounta I was out of town (what's more, the newspaper changed out my Mac while I was gone): ‘Arena rock’ bands have the last laugh The Missus and I recently went to a concert in Orange Beach that was an excellent triple bill for Baby Boomers. Billed as the “Soundtrack of Summer” tour, the lineup of Styx, Foreigner, and ex-Eagle Don Felder was quite appropriate for the amphitheater at the Wharf, an upscale entertainment and shopping complex that is the antithesis of what Alabama’s “Redneck Riviera” used to be. As a former member of a supergroup, Felder obviously has his work cut out for him regarding a subsequent solo career, but he’s up to the task, as he started things off in admirable fashion, deftly incorporating Eagles material and well-written solo songs into his set. And for me at least, the highlight of the entire evening was his slightly-electrified version of “Seven Bridges Road” (a song about Woodley Road south of the Southern By-Pass in Montgomery). It was nothing less than enthralling, with an insistent beat and harmony vocals that were spot-on. Another memorable moment happened when Felder pulled out his iconic white double-neck Gibson guitar for “Hotel California,” and was joined onstage by Styx’s Tommy Shaw and Todd Sucherman. In addition to singing, Shaw played the guitar parts formerly done by Joe Walsh. Wow. Styx had the middle slot (they flip back and forth with Foreigner as closers), and we’ve seen them so many times in the last dozen years that we know the band will always deliver a professional-yet-loose show, and such was the case in Orange Beach. Keyboard player/vocalist Lawrence Gowan always has an “audience participation” segment prior to the introduction of “Come Sail Away,” and this time around, he got the attendees into a funny sing-a-long of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” of all things. Foreigner’s solitary original member, Mick Jones, didn’t come onstage until about the third song. Nevertheless, the band put a lot of crowd-pleasing energy into its performance. The Missus was particularly embued with multi-instrumentalist Tom Gimbel, who played guitar, flute, keyboards, and sax (doing justice to Junior Walker’s classic solo on “Urgent”). The band also showed a lot of class by bringing on a local high school choir to sing on “I Want To Know What Love Is” (they do that at many performances). So while the concert validated, once again, the propensity of music fans to hold onto the music with which they came of age, Styx and Foreigner also need to be cited as former “arena rock” bands, from a time when that term wasn’t complimentary. Y’see, rock music critics (too many of whom are frustrated musicians themselves) used to denigrate those two aggregations, as well as Journey and REO Speedwagon, as the, er, “Big Four” of such a “concept.” Those bands were slagged, from what I could tell, for a supposed lack of creativity, including songwriting and recordings. But here’s the point: One person’s lack of a cutting-edge approach (a matter of individual interpretation) is another’s dependability, and by its very name, “arena rock” indicates success…at least with audiences, and that’s to those bands’ credit. The critics? I know of a few that are still around, and they’re the same sanctimonious, boring boors that they were decades ago. Didn’t care what they thought then, don’t care what they think now. I can tell you for a fact that the Missus and I enjoy such events, as do thousands of other folks.

More Rory Gallagher gems can be found on the terrific live album Irish Tour '74, including the intro to the very first song, "Cradle Rock". "Walk On Hot Coals" is also chock fulla meaningful squeals.

Rory Gallagher came up with some good stuff; a personal fave was the first note of the last solo on Taste's "Same Old Story" Although REO's "Ridin' the Storm Out" isn't one of my favorite songs by that band (most of the ones I like are on R.E.O.-T.W.O.), there are some repetitive chirps after one line on the live version from the late '70s album that are interesting. Felder was mentioned in last week's newspaper column, which I haven't had a chance to post; my family just got back in last night from a trip to DC. Will get the text up here prolly on Monday, but if you want to go to it online (it's up there), here's the link: http://tallasseetribune.com/2014/06/04/arena-rock-bands-have-the-last-laugh/

What's the medical term for right-angle/sideways dyslexia?

+ 1 on the statute of limitations probably gonna be invoked. Unfortunately, what's often overlooked---by musicians, at least---is what a dynamic effort Spirit's first album was. Certainly blew me away when I first heard it right after it was released. Randy C. was 17 when he recorded the album, and got his iconic oozing/snarling sound from a Danelectro/Silvertone guitar with a piece of thick guitar string across the wood part of the bridge, a DeArmond amp with a 12" speaker, and a Bosstone fuzztone (that plugged into the guitar). "Mechanical World" was the first song I ever heard and it was mind-boggling with its loping and, er, mechanical time signature, and California's harmony guitar leads, which included bends. This was pre-Allmans and pre-Wishbone Ash, and Randy credited Barry Hansen (Dr. Demento) for the idea. As it turned out, he didn't like the first album on accounta "the drums were buried in the mix", to quote him. The drummer was his step-father, BTW. Spirit first came to prominence during the most creative half-dozen years in popular music history ('67-'73). They sounded totally unique back then, and they still do.

Interestingly, the eBay advisory noted that "54 people per hour are viewing this item" (it's usually one or two with the stuff I check out). That's not as, er, impressive as a strategically-placed Les Paul a few years ago and a younger female with long hair. Anyone remember that one?

All entertainment is optional. ZZZZZZ

"Kees me goodnight." A simple, iconic phrase that's as memorable for Baby Boomers as "Hey kids! What time is it?" (Buffalo Bob Smith) The Sullivan show also had the earliest televised performances of Rodney Dangerfield, and I dug the way Ed said the comedian's name, as well. I was 13 when the Beatles were on. A hormonal epiphany.

Jazzmaster body shape on accounta it's the most comfortable. Three pickups, with the switching ability to use any pickup individually and any combination of 'em (seven different options) without complex switching (one reason I like the Peter Frampton Les Paul and the Harmony H77) Coil tap would be nice but not mandatory. Price would be lower if you do not have a vibrato system. If you're taking the Ford truck approach, owners can add their own choice of vibratos....and/or pickups, for that matter. Basic colors. Aftermarket refinishing shops can be utilized by the owners. The proposition sounds, in some respects, like Hartley Peavey, whose mantra is still "quality equipment for working musicians at fair prices."

"Yawn".... I've had green instruments (including a custom-built hollowbody thinline called the "PackerPicker" w/ gold hardware and oval-G emblems on the headstock and 12th fret), but anything with a peace symbol on and/or that word in the type of Woodstock script as found on the tailpiece is an obvious time-warp nostalgia item, regardless of what kind of job it can do as an instrument. One might expect the marketing of this guitar to include a case that exudes a patchouli aroma when opened....

http://wonderwall.msn.com/music/kiss-guitarist-frehleys-ny-home-goes-up-in-flames-1787718.story I suppose cynics would wisecrack about the irony, compared to what his guitar used to do onstage, but this is a bummer, nevertheless.

In a mid-'90s interview, Lesle West recounted: "Let me give you a story about 'tone and style': A long time ago, I went to a club in the Village called the Cafe Au Go Go when I was first starting out. In fact, it was the week I first saw the Cream at the Village Theatre... There was a jam session at the Cafe Au Go Go; Elvin Bishop was there, Bloomfield, Clapton, Hendrix, and B.B. King, too. Hendrix plugged into his pedals and played everything he knew around a twelve-bar prgression. Everybody got up and played every lick they ever knew in about 30 seconds. Then came B.B. King's turn, and of course, he wasn't a 'speed demon' but he had a certain style. He hit one note, got it to feed back and sustain, and held that note throughout the entire progression. The place went absolutely crazy! Now, if that's not 'saying it', I don't know what is!"

Bass: Still the '83 G & L L-1000 (sunburst w/ maple board) New backup bass: '84 Peavey Patriot (black w/ maple board) Guitar: Still the '83 G & L SC-2 hardtail (black w/ maple board, which I sometimes play if someone sits in on bass, in which case they play the Peavey)

Pragmatism: Unless the advertiser was born w/ a silver spoon in his mouth, I'd speculate about how lucrative those genres listed are (I never heard of any of the bands), so one wonders if such players could even afford whatever kind of upgrade gear the advertiser would be oriented towards. Plus, if that's the actual transcription from the ad, his grammar and spelling are so atrocious it's another reason it can't be taken too seriously...but I bet he texts a lot....