Category: Music

An Audio Obsessive

Not that anyone probably cares, but here are the records I got for $1 each in Memphis a few weeks ago:

Keith Jarrett – The Koln Concert
Keith Jarrett – Staircase
Keith Jarrett – The Survivors’ Suite
Keith Jarrett – Sun Bear Concerts
Keith Jarrett – Arbour Zena
Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette – Ruta & Daitya
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette – Tales of Another
The Zombies – Odessey & Oracle
Al DiMeola – Casino
Al DiMeola – Scenario
Al DiMeola – Splendido Hotel
Richard Lloyd – Real Time
Calculated X – Some Change No Change
Chick Corea – Return to Forever
Chick Corea – The Leprechaun
Allan Holdsworth – Atavachron
Jan Hammer Group – Melodies
Billy Cobham – Life & Times
Stanley Clarke – Time Exposure
Stanley Clarke – Journey to Love
John Abercrombie – Night
John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner – Five Years Later
Bill Frisell, Tim Berne – Theoretically
Ron Carter – Blues Farm
Lenny White – Big City
Billy Vaughn – La Paloma
McCoy Tyner – Focal Point
Buddy Rich – Stick It
Pat Metheny – New Chautauqua
Bill Laswell – Baselines

Yes I had to update my vinyl list, too.

Oh the Wells Fargo Wagon is A-Coming Down the Street…

Somehow a song about “the UPS truck” doesn’t quite fit. Maybe someone needs to update The Music Man. Anyway, shiny red keyboard goodess is all mine!

NE61

It’s a 61-key, Nord Electro 2. It does all the old cool organ and keyboard sounds: Wurlitzer, Fender Rhodes, Hammond, etc., in addition to standard piano sounds. And it doesn’t do a thousand crappy useless keyboard-programmer-wank sounds like so many companies make. It does a few classic sounds and does them exceptionally well. This is the best Christmas ever.

Oops I Did It Again

Another $150 black Ibanez 7-string came my way today. This time with hard case. How could I not get it? What a steal! I was having lunch with Natalie at Vino’s and she mentioned that her friend Clint was selling his, so I called him and checked it out. It’s in even better condition than the other one I’ve got. Of course this one was made in Korea rather than Japan, but who’s counting? [1]

We got my brother Trey married off yesterday. I was a groomsman for the first time. Tons of family members came in. Rehearsal dinner was Friday. The ceremony was at 1PM Saturday at St. Paul’s United Methodist in the Heights. Reception at the event hall inside the train station. Pictures soon. The groomsmen all had a lot of fun watching the sad, sad Razorbacks game in the church meeting room before the wedding. After the reception, Heather, my sister Mandy, cousin Leslie, and myself went downtown to find something to do, and found the Dave Matthews Tribute Band playing at Sticky Fingerz. I highly recommend this group. The drummer absolutely nails it. You can get by on sax, bass, guitar or violin in a DMB cover band, but you cannot front on Carter Beauford. You have to have serious chops to play his stuff. My old drummer friend Thelton came out for the show and we totally geeked out on the drummer’s performance. We talked to the guy afterward and he said this sort of thing wasn’t his usual bag – he has been a gospel drummer for 22 years (the guy couldn’t be older than 30). The sax guy sat with us during the break, too. His background is classical. Interesting bunch.

1.) For those of you playing at home, we have now hit the 17 guitars mark. Or 16 since the Turser tele is in Austin with Tara. Or 15 if you count the Atomic Strat being at Barry’s for the kids to bang on. Anybody want to buy the purple OLP?

Ted Greene (1946-2005)

If there were any one person deserving the title of World’s Greatest Guitar Teacher, Ted Greene was the man. You’ve never heard of him (most guitar players haven’t, either), but any serious guitarist with an interest in chord theory has his own copy of Chord Chemistry, a book of spells that continues to delight and disturb novices and professionals alike. I’ve still really only absorbed the first 10 pages. It’s a cavernous tome of chords, and a standard issue field guide at places like Berklee College of Music. I got my copy from their bookstore at the recommendation of Dream Theater’s John Petrucci.

Try not to giggle at the cover:

Ted died last July, and I only found out yesterday. That gives you an idea of just how un-famous he was. He has very few recordings to his name, but he was one of the hardest working musicians and music teachers in the business. That he died in an apartment in Encino gives you an idea of how little money he made.

Rod Bryan, King of the Promo

I stopped off at Anthro-pop on my way home today to order the new Fiona Apple and King’s X CDs, and to pick up the latest Ho-Hum. As I was browsing through the store, I looked for something by Longwave (on a recommendation from Matt). Nothing in the main racks but I noticed a stack of $3 promotional CDs, and there it was, along with Lyrics Born‘s Later That Day, Owen‘s I Do Perceive, and a couple other random things that just looked cool. All $3 each. This comes on the heels of Sunday night’s discovery of Zero 7‘s Simple Things at Hasting’s in Conway for $4. Yay cheap good music.

Funny Story

Here’s something funny to take your mind off the worst natural disaster in US history. About a year ago I bought Death Cab for Cutie’s “Transatlanticism” for $3 in a pawn shop in Hot Springs. I listened to the first few tracks and thought, “this doesn’t even sound like a band, this is electro-dance insanity with drum machines and synthesizers everywhere – this is the band everyone’s been talking about?”

So I put it away, thinking maybe it was their experimental freak-out record or something. It stayed on the shelf until last week when I saw a video from that record on my Comcast “On Demand” service. It did NOT sound like the CD I heard, so I put the disc back in my car for a second listen. I turned it on today and heard something very familiar. The Faint. In the intervening months since I bought the CD, Jamie had turned me on to some tunes by the Faint, so I knew what they sounded like. I pulled the disc out of the player, and it’s one of those damned discs that record companies just decorate and don’t tell you the title or artist. I did notice the label was Astralwerks. I did a Google search on some of the lyrics just to be sure, and it turns out I did indeed buy a copy of Danse Macabre by the Faint. That’s what I get for buying $3 CDs at Boll Weevil Pawn in Hot Springs.

Official Declaration of Vacation

I bought my tickets. Now it’s for real. In September I’m flying to California for vacation. I’ll land in San Francisco and be guided about by my friend Erika who works north of the city in the wine country. Then I’ll rent a car and drive down the coast to LA to meet up with my cousin David and hopefully my friends Tracy and Mary. I’m hoping to catch Chris Poland at The Baked Potato on Thursday the 22nd and Jon Brion at Largo on Friday the 23rd. Other than that I have no real goals other than to be some place else and find interesting pictures to take.

Free Stuff!

My hero and virtual friend Jamie Myerson is now offering free downloads of his latest album. Click here to find out more.

Jamie is an interesting guy. I got his first record back in 1998 when he was an ambient drum n’ bass producer. The Listen Project (on sale now for $3.99 at Djangos.com – BUY IT) was a gorgeous piece of work that managed to keep the interest of an ADD widdly guitar player like me. His two other records were brilliant as well. Now he’s reinventing himself as an electronica-based singer-songwriter. Normally this is where the audience heaves a collective groan, but he has pulled it off. I almost hate this guy for being so talented and versatile. Check him out.