Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday ol' S! Happy Birthday to you.
The giddiness is palpable. A special anniversary is taking place this year. One that has been anticipated for a long, long time. Ol' S is 50! 50 years old. Eligible for AARP and a 10% discount at IHOP. (something I, myself, now use) For so long, it felt like this day would never arrive. It has and I am the proudest owner that ever wound a string.
Ol' S is my guitar. You see it, resplendant on a Cracker Barrel blanket, in the picture atop this blog. What we have is a 1961 SG special with a single tailpiece and natural cherry finish. S came into my life in 1977 in Scott City, Missouri. David Daniels, I wonder what he's doing these days, offered it to me for $125.00 and I jumped at the chance. Back then, as a stupid, starving college student, $125 might as well have well been a million. But I scraped it together and S and I became a team. Through the years, it has laid on the floor, stood in a closet, played some gigs and generally been by my side through life's adventures.
S earned its trial by fire in the rock blues ensemble "Puke". If memeory serves me correct, Puke consisted of myself, the aforementioned David Daniels, Billy Dodson, Randy Briggs, Tim Wade, Billy Briggs Jeff Jackson, Bob "Turk" Jackson and Race Car Roy. We would spend hours on stage in a rural high school auditorium playing to no one and having the time of our lives. Allman brothers, Whishbone Ash, UFO and a few others I can not recall where practiced over and over again. Eventually, we took over a rural farm house where we could drink beer, smoke squares and enjoy life as only an irresponsible 23 year old could. The culmination of that run happened when Puke took to the stage for a community gathering. Renamed "Race Car Roy" to appease the less enlightened in the audience, we burned through a set that culminated in the long lost, but still inspiring original, "Pull Down Your Panties Lorraine"
And while I look back to that time with affection and whimsy, I would have to pinpoint the highlight in our relationship to one magical day in 1980 and the front room of Darryl McQuinn's house. Darryl, Tony Fagfolia and myself shared the two story Victorian Style abode in Edwardsville, Illionois. Both of my roomies were accomplished musicians, they actually made money, and Tony had run across a Sony 4 track reel to reel recorder to practice some licks. He was away one afternoon and I was alone in the house, just me and S. I plugged in and layed down a basic track F,C,G. Layed down a second track of fingerpicking the same chords and two tracks of riffs and leads. For that one magical afternoon, I was able to play a seamless run of anything I willed my fingers to do. As Ringo Starr once said, there's me and my drumming and then there's Rain. Well, as a crappy guitar player I can honestly say there's me and my playing and then there's that one afternoon. Somewhere in a box, buried deep in a closet, or garage, or attic, is that tape.
Ol' S was one of the few reasons I stayed sane in Manhattan, Kansas and stood by me as the media took me from Missouri, to Mississippi and to Arkansas.
And now, it's 50! They grow up so fast. I plan on getting it appraised this year. Sort of a half century birthday present. And while I will never sell this one of a kind personal treasure, I would like it to know just what value it has in dollars and cents. It has been invaluable in the 34 years we've been together. Let's try for another 34.
Unless, of course, it's worth something!!!!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
And so it begins...
My job offers ample opportunity for a wandering mind and I've utilized that time in developing a huge array of useless thoughts and pursuits. So many thoughts are running through my head as to what should be first. After more thought than this decision deserves, the categories have been whittled down to three, all of which will be explored at some point in time. The three...Hamilton Fish, my unnatural disdain of Foriegner and Mark McGwire in the hall.
I'm leaning toward choice number two as I really do, genuinely, dislike this band. Not merely for its ability to produce insipid waste in the form of poorly written and produced pop drivel, but for its complete assimilation and subsequent burying of one of the greatest rock saxaphone talents ever to wet a reed.
If you need evidence to support my first assertion, look no further than the guitar solo from Foriegner's 1978 hit, "Hot Blooded". The band's co-founder, Mick Jones, begins his schtick competently enough. But soon, he's falling all over himself, slipping strings and missing frets in a recording that is unbelieveable in the fact they left it on tape and in the song. A quick disclaimer. Jones is a credible professional guitar player. Much better than I could ever hope to be. But to leave an abomination like that in a song that is supposed to be your signature is unforgiveable.
And, honestly I could ignore that, subscribing to the motto, "If you don't like it, don't listen".
That leads to my second assertion.
Ian McDonald co-founded Foriegner with Jones in 1976. It was a wildly successful venture for the two. But think for a moment what comes to mind when you think of the band. Certainly not Saxaphone. And that's a shame. McDonald co-founded another band previous to Foreigner in 1969. King Crimson was the brainchild of Robert Fripp. The talents of multi instrumentalist McDonald fit in well with his concept of jazz-fusion tinged rock. If you've not listened to their first album, "In the Court of the Crimson King", do yourself a favor. It can be more than a bit pretentious at times. However, it is also loaded with gobs of entertaining twists and turns, all prominantly featuring brilliant saxaphone work by McDonald. To compare this to his later efforts with Foriegner really does bring a small tear to my eye. He recorded only the one studio album with King Crimson. And aside from Foriegner, McDonald has been, and still is, a featured session player for a wide range of acts. But nothing he's done since has come close to the magic he brought to the table some 41 years ago.
As my closing comment, I do understand the value of a paycheck. Foriegner allowed McDonald a much better lifestyle and level of financial comfort than anything he has done before or since. I will never fault a person for making it big. I just rue the path taken to that success and the loss of what might have been.
And so it begins...
I'm leaning toward choice number two as I really do, genuinely, dislike this band. Not merely for its ability to produce insipid waste in the form of poorly written and produced pop drivel, but for its complete assimilation and subsequent burying of one of the greatest rock saxaphone talents ever to wet a reed.
If you need evidence to support my first assertion, look no further than the guitar solo from Foriegner's 1978 hit, "Hot Blooded". The band's co-founder, Mick Jones, begins his schtick competently enough. But soon, he's falling all over himself, slipping strings and missing frets in a recording that is unbelieveable in the fact they left it on tape and in the song. A quick disclaimer. Jones is a credible professional guitar player. Much better than I could ever hope to be. But to leave an abomination like that in a song that is supposed to be your signature is unforgiveable.
And, honestly I could ignore that, subscribing to the motto, "If you don't like it, don't listen".
That leads to my second assertion.
Ian McDonald co-founded Foriegner with Jones in 1976. It was a wildly successful venture for the two. But think for a moment what comes to mind when you think of the band. Certainly not Saxaphone. And that's a shame. McDonald co-founded another band previous to Foreigner in 1969. King Crimson was the brainchild of Robert Fripp. The talents of multi instrumentalist McDonald fit in well with his concept of jazz-fusion tinged rock. If you've not listened to their first album, "In the Court of the Crimson King", do yourself a favor. It can be more than a bit pretentious at times. However, it is also loaded with gobs of entertaining twists and turns, all prominantly featuring brilliant saxaphone work by McDonald. To compare this to his later efforts with Foriegner really does bring a small tear to my eye. He recorded only the one studio album with King Crimson. And aside from Foriegner, McDonald has been, and still is, a featured session player for a wide range of acts. But nothing he's done since has come close to the magic he brought to the table some 41 years ago.
As my closing comment, I do understand the value of a paycheck. Foriegner allowed McDonald a much better lifestyle and level of financial comfort than anything he has done before or since. I will never fault a person for making it big. I just rue the path taken to that success and the loss of what might have been.
And so it begins...
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