In yesterday's thread, we learned that despite all the years of engaging warmth, affirmative courtesy and gentle clarity which I've brought to her blog, Amy & her readers can't find a measly $29,000 to spend on a gift for me... Specifically, one of the 44 original Gibson "George Gobel" L-5CT's.

Well.

That's fine, but it doesn't really solve the problem, does it? I'm still here... And I still have needs.

Alright, fine... Just go here and pick something.

Obviously, the preferred gift will be a Florentine '65-to-'68 (for the reduced [1-5/8"] nut width) with natural finish, but do what you have to do.

This seems like a good compromise, but again, this is the decision that Amy & her readers have to make.

I can't find a Dumbleman to go with it, or you'd be golden. Heh.

I don't do amps. Zappa, one of the most demanding and sophisticated animals to ever prowl a studio, did some of his best work through a Pignose. Amps are dusty, bulky, expensive, and loudly offensive to wives and girlfriends. And mistresses. To Hellwiddum.

Two more stankers.

"I don't do amps."

I am sure it would be interesting to hear you play, given your, er, eccentricities? I know many musicians with other jobs because they can't make enough money with an instrument, even with... surprising... skills.

Allan Holdsworth passed earlier this year with scarcely a notice. I never got to see him.

Eating pork is “one of the worst sins you can do,” Moughni told the Free Press.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/27/muslim-man-sues-little-caesars-for-100-million-over-pork-pepperoni/

" I never got to see him."

His live performances were as flawless as his studio work. I've seen him several times in small-ish venues around the Bay Area. Absolutely jaw-dropping.

The man was a master. RIP.

Obviously, the preferred gift will be a Florentine '65-to-'68 (for the reduced [1-5/8"] nut width) with natural finish, but do what you have to do.

How 'bout I send you a beat-up 2001 Lumina? That way, even if you don't have a professional guitarist's axe, at least you'll have his car.

> I've seen him several times
> in small-ish venues around
> the Bay Area.

Envy is a darkening force in many lives, including, preeminently, my own, in this moment... Never had the pleasure.

Didden know you guys were into it. And him.

It's maybe not a career highlight for any of them, but the start of this contains 90 of my all-time favorite seconds of rock and roll music.

http://ijr.com/2017/05/883830-two-children-found-locked-car-hot-day-police-puzzled-got-inside/

"As soon as the police arrived, Fox 4 reports, the mom told officers that she had last seen her two children — Juliet, 2, and Cavanaugh Ramirez, 16 months — playing in the sunroom.

They “took off” when she wasn't looking and managed to get inside her car. Once inside, they locked themselves in with the keys and her phone. At the time, the temperature outside was around 96°F."

Those were some enterprising toddlers. Advanced for their age. And with the foresight to take Mommy's phone with them. Goodness.

Anyway, we all know that these things always are a "tragic accident" and that we should send the family "thoughts and prayers," as they're the real victims in these cases.

Tilapia skin grafts anyone?

https://mobile.twitter.com/NinjaEconomics/status/868222471597510656

Better keep an eye the next semester's freshman attendance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO1agIlLlhg

"Didden know you guys were into it. And him."

EVH studied for YEARS with him - and people were thinking guitar was an instant thing not requiring study, so I'd point out Eddie's hard work. Even though talent is the big part, working things out so the angel of song can express herself properly is the bane of musicians, as far as I can tell. I've been a mimic at best, not a musician, and not a guitarist. I can just see the struggle sometimes.

Fun in Pacific Beach in 1979:
I got to see John McLaughlin lead the One Truth band in the Roxy theater in Pacific Beach, California. In the front row, I was just ten feet or so away.
I was sure I was missing something. I have seen fast guitarists before; I can tell how they are playing. You've seen Eddie Van Halen's "tapping" and "pull-offs" as well as his pickwork, even if you can't do it yourself. "Modern" guitarists like Tosin Abasi, with Animals as Leaders, are wonderful at this, producing complex sounds you wish occurred around you more. You can see Yngwie Malmsteen bending into his notes with scalloped frets, and every guitarist Ozzy has had is fun to watch carefully.
But try as I might, I couldn't see how John was doing what he did. Either he had the ability to pick two or more strings in sequence while strumming or his hands were just too fast to see from ten feet away. NOT ONCE did he tap.
I thought it was me.

Later, I saw that John had released an album called, "Friday Night in San Francisco", with revered acoustic guitarists Paco de Lucía and Al Di Meola. In an interview, Paco and Al were asked about John's playing, since he was known as an electric-guitar specialist. Essentially, they shrugged, saying, "He picks everything. We don't know how he does it."
It wasn't me!

John McLaughlin's most famous work might be with Mahavishnu Orchestra. Their 1973 album "Birds of Fire" actually made it to #15 on Billboard (!). Not a chance today, huh? Not only is it not "explicit", it's an instrumental, in which you can also hear Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham.
I have had professional guitarists tell me that *how* John does what he does is damned near impossible, one essentially saying, "I used to try that, but I don't do advanced mathematics for fun nowadays."
Yeah. 1973. 44 years ago - and WORJ, Orlando, actually played it on the air back then!

This four-and-a-half minute anecdote begat that guitar solo.

This is pitiably obvious in retrospect. At the time, there was so much great stuff floating around that nobody thought of it as a product of competition.

Besides, the title was too clever.

One of these look suspiciously as a young Elizabeth Warren.

http://www.clickhole.com/article/5-disney-princesses-reimagined-caucasian-698

Final verdicts, in no particular order:

☑ IMOE Reed

☑ Midnight Rider (v.1)

☑ Jessica

☑ Midnight Rider (v.2)

☐ Ramblin' Man

☑ High Falls*

☐ Whipping Post

☑ Blue Sky

☑ Sweet Melissa

*I know. Still.

As the daughter of a french noble Esmeralda WAS Caucasian

Also Pocahontas was eleven

Jasmine was actually Chinese

And Mulan is as real as King Aurther

In that case, Jasmine's name would be Badroulbadour.

Gog, I am totally envious.

Crid, nice choice with the Bruford stuff. Besides Holdsworth, Bruford and Jeff Berlin, I'm a devotee of Dave Stewart stuff, and I gather up whatever I can find with him in it. Plus, he wrote a really clever book on music theory. (Pull quote: "The tritone trots out... ARRRRRGH!")