Reader Appreciation

Just wanted to drop a quick line to thank all of my readers.  I've eclipsed my record for views in a month.  It's a big deal to me, because it actually means people are reading or at least looking at my blog.  Which also means to me at least, I'm not doing the blog just for myself.  Thanks again.  I hope you'll all continue reading.  Tell friends while you're at it.

Nine By Design 33

I can't believe I've done a list 33 weeks in a row.  I started this little segment a little less than a month after finding out my wife was pregnant, so if you do some math...you can figure out we are pretty close to delivery day.  My most popular Nine By Design goes all the way back to week 4, when I did guitarists.  So, trying to equal that popularity, today I'll be doing famous guitars.  Lets see if it comes close in popularity.  On with the show.

Famous Guitars:

Tom Morello - Arm The Homeless:  Morello's main guitar since the early 90's.  Like a lot of guitarists, he has customized his weapon to personal specifications.  I'm not a "tech" guy, so me starting to talk about pickups and "whammy bars" would be ridiculous.  I understand it all to a point, but just not enough to talk intelligently, so I won't even try.  It's a pretty blue, with some hippo pictures painted on it.

Chet Atkins - Gretsch Country Gentleman:  Atkins has many Gretsch's associated with him, but the Country Gentleman has his name attached to it.  Chet Atkins was one of the early guitar heroes, with Les Paul, Chuck Berry and Duane Eddy.  An amazing player in the country/rockabilly genre, but could play any style.

Buckethead - Custom Signature Gibson Les Paul:  The super prolific, super secret and quite odd (he wears a mask and a KFC bucket on his head) guitar monster's main axe.  A highly modified Les Paul with dual kill switches.  Beware of his nunchuku skills, which he often breaks out, while break dancing.  I'm not kidding

Paul Gilbert - Ibanez Fireman:  Gilbert literally lives a few blocks away from the Ibanez Custom Shop.  Designed this guitar (a reverse Iceman) and said build it.  They did and it has become his main guitar since.  Just a fun guitarist to watch and listen to.  Has been a favorite of mine for a very long time.

Eddie Van Halen - Frankenstrat:  One of the most iconic guitars in rock music.  The average music fan will recognize this guitar.  Another highly customized guitar.  I don't know if I have enough space to talk about everything that EVH did to this guitar.  It's very much like Eddie's style, it's all over the place.  Reflectors, tape, paint, chains, you name it, it's there. 

David Gilmour - Signature Fender Stratocaster:  I'll admit that I'm not the biggest Pink Floyd fan ever.  I like them, but would rather listen to many other bands if given the choice.  However, the guitar solo Gilmour plays with this guitar in "Comfortably Numb" is probably the best and most tasteful guitar solo, ever.  I'll give credit where it's due.  He doesn't overplay and the solo rips.

Steve Morse - Signature Music Man:  Sadly, Steve Morse is so underrated as a guitarist, that he's practically unknown...probably not by fellow guitarists, but by the general public.  He's been in Deep Purple for close to 20 years.  Blackmore's shoes are hard to fill, but Morse is more than up to the task.  He has a very unique style, kinda like country fried rock, with some southern metal on the side.  His guitar is equally unique.



  

Rory Gallagher - Worn Fender Strat:  The Irish Guitar God.  The more I hear from him, the more I wish he was still around.  Never really appreciated in his own time.  A very tasteful shredder, has never received the credit he deserves.

Steve Vai - Green Meanie:  The main guitar for Vai in Alcatrazz and on David Lee Roth's first album.  Then he literally ripped the bridge right out of it, while abusing the tremolo.  This is iconic for me, because it's the first guitar I ever saw him use.



So, there you have it.  There's the Nine By Design entry for this week.  Wait a second...I've just been handed a urgent news bulletin.  The researchers here at For Lack Of A Better Title, were not happy with the pick for Steve Vai.  So, to ease the tension and quell a possible coup d'etat...I'm going to add some bonus material.

Steve Vai - Mirrored Ibanez (Bad Horsie guitar): Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, those are LED lights on the fretboard.  The boys at the blog like shiny things.  Leave it to Vai to provide it for them.  This guitar is mainly used for the song "Bad Horsie."  I think this is where Frank Zappa rubbed off on Vai, always making things interesting for his audience.






Now we're done.  Everyone has had a snack of milk and cookies and are getting ready for their late morning nap.  They work "really" hard around here.  Cheers, Happy Weekend!

Off The Beaten Path Show # 3 - Now With More Fiber

Actually folks, it's the same amount of fiber content, but we do have some show news.  There is an official schedule!


Off The Beaten Path Official Schedule:

Wednesday at 12PM EST (The premiere, every two weeks)
The following Thursday at 4PM EST (replay)
The following Friday at 8PM EST (replay)
The next, NOT FOLLOWING, Saturday at 8AM EST (the off-Saturday, this show is a replay, but is mainly for the overseas readers of the blog and early risers in North America)

Ted, the Benevolent Overlord of Rock401.com, was nice enough to give the show a fourth day.  I asked specifically for my readers in foreign countries.  This is for my friends Chris and Kevin, who live in Singapore and Denmark, respectively.  If you'd like to tune into the show, now it's a little easier for you guys and everyone else living outside of North America.  So, I'm very appreciative of that and we should all thank Ted by listening to Rock401.com and not just my show.

Off The Beaten Path - Show # 3 Play List

The Age Of Pamparius – Turbonegro

Shake Your Blood – Probot

Love Comes In Spurts – Richard Hell & The Voidods

Little Dawn – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

Elmira St. Boogie – Danny Gatton

Lucky – The Shods

Save It For Later – The English Beat

Barbarella – Scott Weiland

It’s All I Can Do – The Cars

Take A Chance On Me – ABBA

Friday – Joe Jackson

Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes

Blue Light – The Amazing Crowns

Jesus Just Left Chicago – ZZ Top

Pills I Took – Hank Williams III

Slippin’ And Slidin’ – Little Richard

Teacher Teacher – Rockpile

Start! – The Jam

In This House That I Call Home – X

Born With A Tail – Supersuckers

Keep On Running – The Spencer Davis Group

Beneath, Between and Behind – Rush

Love Me ‘Til The Sun Shines – The Kinks

Fake Friends – Joan Jett

My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama – Frank Zappa

Somebody Save Me – Cinderella

So Sad About Us – The Who

See A Little Light – Bob Mould

Closing Theme

Please tune in...My goal is to play great music, some forgotten, some unheard and some unknown.  Plus, it's very fun.  Hope you enjoy it.

Fake Friends

Joan Jett wrote a song called "Fake Friends."  It's about what you'd expect it to be.  I think all of us have fake friends.  People you've grown apart from, people you can't figure out what you had in common with, in the first place.  I suppose it's just the progression of life.  As you grow up, you change and adapt, some never do.  I know people still stuck in "college" and even, "high school," mentally at least.  Of course, it's sad when you lose touch with people you've known for a long time, but in the end, it's probably better for everyone.

We've all cut people out of our lives, on purpose or not, at times, even family.  Sometimes, they just have to go.  As I think about the next chapter of my life and how certain people won't be involved, it hits me that a lot of these people have already made their choice and I, for once, don't have to play the bad guy.  I've already been cut out of their lives.  Since nothing is ever really officially ever said or written down on paper, there is always the illusion of friendship and the theory of camaraderie.

I'll quote Henry Rollins, "It's sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew."

Nine By Design 32

Those aren't colored Easter eggs, although they do kinda look like them...so that's good enough for me.  This weeks Nine By Design is all about Easter, well more specifically, the candy.  Easter has always meant candy to me, almost more so than Halloween.  Halloween, you have to dress up and walk around your neighborhood and work for that candy.  With Easter, the candy just shows up, because the "Easter Bunny" showed up and dropped it off.  (If you're reading this, I highly doubt you still believe in the Easter Bunny, if you do...you're way more special than I'll ever be)  So, that's a pretty good deal right there.  Yes, by the way...I'm technically Catholic and know the whole deal of what it "really" means, but I'm Catholic in the sense that Michael Jackson was still black before he died.  I survived my upbringing and the Catholic boot camp.  Anyways, onto what this week's list is about; Candy!

Candy:

Snickers - were probably my first favorite candy bar.  The caramel, nougat and peanuts, were tops with me for a long time.  Now, not so much.  I still like them, but would rather have others, if given a choice.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - might be the greatest candy ever made.  What works better than peanut butter and chocolate?  Especially, that peanut butter...it's just perfect with the milk chocolate.

Milky Way - I'm a big caramel nut.  So this candy bar ranks pretty high with me.  It's basically a Snickers minus the peanuts, but it's still different.  I'd say it's my number two favorite right now.

Bit-O-Honey - I'm going "old school" with this one.  It's not something you can find all the time.  I've had to go to specialty candy stores to find it.  It's a honey flavored taffy that has nuts, I think it's almonds, if I remember correctly in the pieces.  They are a favorite.

Swedish Fish - I'm Swedish, I'm supposed to like them.  One of those candies that once you eat one, you've eaten 40 of them.  They are small, chewy and addictive.

Gummi Bears - also small, chewy and addictive.  I only like the Haribo brand of gummi bear, because they are the originals.  They started in Germany in the 20's.  I remember walking through Epcot on my honeymoon and buying some gummi bears in the Germany section of the World Showcase.  It made my day.  I wish I was kidding.

Raisinets - they are one of those candies that you can pretend is healthy, because it's raisins.  Chocolate covered raisins, but still, better than most candies.  I know, not really, stop shaking your head at me.

Heath Bar - English toffee and chocolate, delicious.  I do like the candy bar, but prefer to eat my Heath bars in ice cream.  Heath Bar Crunch Ben & Jerry's, still a classic going strong.  I'm not a big ice cream fan, but that might be my favorite, if I had to choose one only one flavor to eat forever.

M&M's - most kinds are favorites.  Peanuts, plain and peanut butter, basically the old favorites.  I've seen some of the new kinds and I will stay away from those.  I'm a simple kind of guy.


This is the list for the week.  It's also what Easter means to me.  Don't give me any religious stuff, it's all in fun, plus if you're as religious as you think you are, then...forgive me, if I offend you.  Cheers, Happy Weekend...Happy Easter!

The Year That Was - 1988

I've been wanting to do another year in music retrospective, but just hadn't gotten around to it.  Until now, so here we go.  The year is 1988, I'm a freshman in high school and I'm wide open to new music.  It's a very good year for new influences, even if I didn't recognize it right away.

If I Should Fall From The Grace Of God by the Pogues was a sound I was unfamiliar with at the time.  Irish folk punk, what's that all about?  It's definitely music that will get you moving.  It also features probably my all-time favorite Christmas song.  The late, Kristy McColl and Shane MacGowan form an odd, but perfect duo.

Another very foreign sound appeared in 1988 for me, an all black heavy rock band.  These were my formative years of getting into music.  I did not yet know the greatness of bands like; The P-Funk family of bands, Sly & The Family Stone and various others that would influence, Living Colour and their debut album, Vivid.  When "Cult of Personality" hits, it really knocks you on you're collective ass.  Vernon Reid, became a guitar hero, almost overnight.  They were discovered by Mick Jagger.  What was he doing at CBGB's?

The breakout album for the progressive metal band from Seattle.  Operation: Mindcrime is a stunning album.  The story, the music and Geoff Tate's vocals, really make the album.  The man has major league pipes.  He can sing, so he doesn't have to scream like most metal vocalists.  The double guitar attack of DeGarmo and Wilton remind you of the best Thin Lizzy guitar duels. 

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back is one of those "here we come, you better fasten your seatbelts" albums.  I almost thought about putting Straight Outta Compton here, because I think they were both equally important at the time.  The difference I believe was NWA was about opening your eyes, but Public Enemy was about opening your eyes and then educating you.

Their first full length album and what an album it is.  Surfer Rosa was the beginning of the critically acclaimed and highly influential band, the Pixies.  Often, in fact, maybe all the time, the band that influences the most, doesn't succeed.  The Pixies had minor success, in my opinion.  They had to break up and wait about 10 years and then reform for people to go, "How did we miss this?"  No Pixies, probably no Nirvana like you know them.  They adopted the song formula of Black Francis.

The band that you either love them or you hate them.  There is no in between with Sonic Youth.  Daydream Nation is the perfect example of that.  It's their magnum opus, but also one of the (if not the) most difficult of their albums to get into.  it took me quite a bit to "get it."  It's not an album that you can just throw on, you have to pay attention to it.  They aren't just a "noise" band, the feedback is used as a device for their songs.  They can really write some great music and lyrics.  It's all there, you just need to know the password or code to get into the club.


This barely touches on the great year for music that 1988 was.  Maybe, this gets you interested in bands you had heard of, but never heard before.  I recommend it all, but with Sonic Youth, you might want to start with Dirty or Goo. 

(New England) Patriot's Day

 

Patriot's Day is a holiday only celebrated in Massachusetts and Maine.  I grew up in MA and just knew we had a day off in April, often times it would coincide with the kick off of April Vacation.  I never knew it was to commemorate the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which were the first battles of the American Revolutionary War.  At times, I also thought we had the day off, because The Boston Marathon is run every year on this day and the Boston Red Sox play at 11AM.  Take the day off just in case you want to run this year.

I guess it's like VJ Day (Victory Over Japan) in RI, where I live now.  I had no clue what that was about until I moved here.  It's a state holiday in RI, but nowhere else.  Its very interesting to learn about state holidays that are individual to that area of the country.  

So, Patriot's Day has nothing to do with the New England Patriots American football team, but then again, it has everything to do with it...if you think about it.