Departure / Arrival

One of the toughest things to do as a dad is leave in the morning to go to work. Work, the place where you know you're going to waste away doing pretty much nothing productive for most of your life. Just punching a clock and trying to feel like somehow this is all worth it in some crazy way. Then you remember you can't buy food without money and you can't get money without a job and you just lean back and let loose a big sigh.

But then one of the best things to do as a dad is come home from work. That crappy day is behind you, it's in the past (stop living there) and here, right in front of you is the reason you grin and bear it. How awesome is that?

Two Things:

1) Bridezillas (one of Kim's favorite shows) is a total crock. I firmly believe that it is ALL a lie. There are no women out there that nuts and if they were they would not be able to function in a normal society, let alone get boyfriends who want to MARRY them.

No way. If I was dating Kim and she was as nuts as some of the women on that show, I'd leave her in a second regardless of how much I love her. There's such a thing as self-preservation.

Also, I don't think I'm alone in that thought. If you're SO whipped that you act like the guys in that show, you don't even have a man-card to turn in, your mom probably took it from you at birth.

It's ridiculous.

Ah, but I watch it. If I don't Kim tells me about it and my mind makes it SO much worse and I actually get pretty depressed by it. Especially this one story she said that STILL hasn't left my brain. I'm sure it'll stick around for a while longer too. So I watch them with her. We laugh at the (completely fake) people and thank heaven neither of us are like that.

Also, I'd hope that women would realize how silly they look when they wear the clothes they do on that show (it's a fruitless hope since I see people wearing the same fashion out and about locally), that they will NEVER look good when they are talking to the camera while either in line at a drive-thru (thank you, drive thru!) or eating. It's not flattering in the least and I doubt the folks being filmed are worried about looking like gods and goddesses so they have to prove they're normal just like Joe the Plumber and Ed the Milkman by eating on camera.

Yuck.

Also, my guitar blog (located at: http://5th-fret.blogspot.com/ feel free to subscribe, tell your friends about it and visit often for updates) is turning into something I'm pretty freaking proud of. Right now there are only three authors, myself included, but the quality is good and the articles are growing.

So those are my two points.

In cute Annie news, today we watched figure skating (Annie's first time) and she spun around with her arms up trying to be a skater. My sweet princess. It was adorable.

Today's Halloween!

Kind of.

My squadron had a Halloween shindig and while I wasn't there for all of it, Annie was able to make it to the show and go trick or treating for the very first time. She's obviously never done it before but she was really excited to be wearing her lion (there's my little horse) costume and carrying around her candy bucket which was a snake coiled up. The whole stick the bucket out thing and get random prizes from strangers was new for her, but it was definitely something she could get used to and by the end of her trip, she was walking into my bosses' offices talking very loudly and holding out her bucket even if they were on the phone.

Most people would probably care but come on, it's Halloween, and my little girl is super cute in her costume. How on EARTH could you look at her and still be upset about your phone conversation being interrupted?

My costume, since I didn't have time to go home and get ol' faithful (When I was a freshman in college I handmade a costume of Corey from Slipknot that took over a month to make and I'm incredibly proud of even to this day) so I went as a Navy Flyer, meaning I rolled up my sleeves, wore sunglasses inside and unzipped my flight suit to my belly button (this ensemble makes you look like a cocky ass, by the way). I got a LOT of looks from fellow flyers since I was definitely NOT following the dress code but when I told them what I was, they all got a good laugh out of it, as anyone would when confronted with the idea of a Navy pilot.

Heh heh.

Ah, I'm just kidding, Navy.

Anyway, here's pictures!

MORTAL DC!

Growing up I really enjoyed playing Marvel Vs. Capcom.

It’s great stuff. Where else could you play as Spider-Man AND Venom against the likes of Guile or Ken?

I was always wondered how Mortal Kombat felt about this deal. There’s no denying that MK is a better fighter (in my opinion) and would have lent itself better to a Marvel Vs. game.

The old MK, anyway. I’m not too huge into a 3D MK game.

But now there’s going to be a MK Vs. DC game! On the back there’s a picture of Scorpion fighting Superman.

Superman.

Really? How could ANYONE fight Superman?

Ridiculous.

But I would love to rent it.:-)

The Return Of LPs?

As a guy who loves music and grew up in the 80s, I always loved LPs. My dad did not because I was a kid and my jumping in any section of the house would always, without fail, make the record skip and the only times that a record would be playing was when he was recording to tape for the car.

I didn't grow up in an incredibly musical household, but did grow up in an incredibly musical car.

Anyway, CDs hit in a big way (obviously) and now MP3s are starting to take root, but there are some out there like me who prefer to have at least a copy of their music that is as tangible as music can be. A CD that can be ripped to any computer that I happen to need it ripped to and something that I can read the liner notes of and stare at album artwork.

And growing up the little punk that I did, I like LPs. I used to sell them at Hot Topic when I worked there and have always been a fan of BIG artwork on the covers. CDs are way too small and because of their size, you find a lot of musicians not really seeing a need for a gripping cover.

I see it though. I think that if you're going to say that music is art, you might as well embrace the whole package as art too and make it a fully immersing piece of artwork from the music to the visuals.

But LPs are bordering on dead. Not many people want to pay for them and their fragility or their non-ability to potentially last a lifetime like CDs.

On an interesting side note, my copy of Metallica's Ride The Lightning actually came with an insert that said how to take care of your CD and even went so far as to say that there is no reason that, should proper care be used, the CD shouldn't last your entire life (at least).

How about that?

But at Best Buy today I saw Metallica's Death Magnetic in LP form. It was actually packed with TWO LPs, which threw me for a REAL loop considering that the album is only ten (glorious) songs long.

It made me IMMEDIATELY think that maybe this has something to do with the recording quality I talked about previously but have not been able to find any information on the subject though I DID find another LP version for 110.00 with FIVE LPS and a CD.

Doing some more quick research a bunch of people on Amazon.com (so take this with a grain of salt) said that they used the same mix for all renditions of the album so, the two LP version is confusing, but a FIVE LP version just blows my mind. What could possibly be on these LPs?

Anyhoo, I kind of hope they ARE coming back. If you think about it, it would be kind of cool to have an LP collection you rip to MP3 (easy enough) and maybe the transfer rate would be better (going to have to look into that one) so your MP3s would sound better and theoretically you'd only need to rip it once and then just use your MP3 player to listen to it, much like I now only use my CDs once.

Art could be embraced again and we could see amazing covers.

Man, I'd love for LPs to come back!

My Opinion On The War (M. Pt. 1)

The volume war, that is.

Supposedly there's a volume war going on in the music business, for what purpose is a little unclear, but some say it is indeed going on.

It is said that it is to grab your attention and make you buy the album as if volume is the one deciding factor you have. Now, I know I'm getting older so that'll be my excuse but when things are loud, I turn them down. That's just me. I mean, if I'm all alone and it really rocks, I'll crank it up, don't get me wrong, but it has to really rock for me to turn it up.

That's my prerequisite: it has to be good to demand an increase in volume. And I should be the one in control of the volume.

I think the greatest invention is Soundcheck in iTunes. When I first got my CDs ripped to iTunes I didn't notice it, but after I ripped them to my iPod and was running it was alarming how big of a difference in volume there was between songs. I didn't get it, but Soundcheck fixed all that and lowered the volumes of other songs to the lowest volume in my collection (I'm pretty sure that's how it works) allowing me to control how loud I want my music and to have it be even across the board.

I'm not the only one with this complain either. Relatives of mine, when I make them MP3 CDs often say they won't listen to them because a friend of theirs made them a CD that had radical jumps and dips in volumes and it's annoying to keep on top of the volume control. I get it, I say, don't worry about it with me since Soundcheck exists.

But is volume really so bad? Not really, especially when controls like Soundcheck are out there. If you were to make a CD louder than another that ISN'T a big deal.

It IS a big deal, a VERY BIG DEAL, when the volume the album is mastered in is SO loud that there is unwanted distortion in the music. Even with metal (some folks know where I'm going with this) where distortion is a welcome thing when it comes to guitars, and sometimes basses and even vocals, it is NOT welcome in the mixing as an accident or consequence of recording at such high volumes.

The latest release that upset a ton of people? Metallica's Death Magnetic.

The cynic in me would like to point out that since ANYTHING in the world is a possibility, it might be that Metallica recorded it at such a high volume to present a decoy to fans for them to complain about instead of the songs. This is not to say the songs are bad of course (I love them), but maybe they were unsure of how it would be received after the bomb that was St. Anger.

It's a possibility.

But what worries me is the differing tones I hear from the band about this. James Hetfield was saying before the album was released that Metallica is very interested in an upgrade to audio quality from your normal run o' the mill MP3 or even CD. Terms were tossed out like LP, HDCD, HDMP3, etc.

And then the album comes out and it is distorted, just listen to the drums. It makes me wonder why a band so concerned with audio quality would release something so obviously NOT concerned with audio quality.

Meanwhile, Lars Ulrich says that that's just how CDs are made nowadays, that it's 2008 and everything has to be louder to get your attention and jump out of your speakers to grab you. He said he hears nothing wrong with the album and that it smokes while he's listening to it in the car.

Now, I know Hetfield and Ulrich don't agree all the time but come on. With something so freaking obvious like sound quality, there's little to disagree about.

"Do we want the CD to be as clear as a bell?"

...

Why the pause? The answer is YES. Over and over again, yes! YES. YES. YES. YES!

The distortion is such a rampant complaint that 16,861 people as of right now have signed a petition to have the album remastered. If you're interested you can sign it here:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/re-mix-or-remaster-death-magnetic/sign.html

I didn't sign it, by the way. I don't think it should be remastered. I generally don't think ANYTHING should be remastered. Saying you want the album to remastered (to me) is saying you're willing to buy it again so long as they promise to fix the problem and I'm not willing to do it because the distortion isn't bad enough to warrant it.

It IS bad enough to complain about though, and I think Metallica and any other band who wants to do this should have to hear the complaints so long as the album is out there for sale and learn from the experience. When a child burns their hand on a stove, you don't turn the stove off, wait for it to cool down and have them touch it again to say "see, it's not so hot." Just let the kid know a stove is hot! No sense trying to address the original situation, it's already happened. Turn on some cold water and let it run over the burn and let them remember not to touch a hot stove.

Now, this is just one of a duo of Metallic blogs, all coming out today. Be on your toes for the next one. I promise it won't be nearly as long nor as complaining.

It's Personal

This is a personal experience. Not like I don't want to share, I'm all about sharing, but I mean it's a personal experience like you might not feel the same way kind of thing. It's subjective is what I'm trying to say.

When we had our daughter, Annie, it was awesome, no doubt about it. Life changing too. Tons of sleepless nights and I'm not kidding, a ton of frustration. But I think we put on our brave faces and lots of smiles and it all worked out for the best because I haven't seen a happier baby out there.

Listen to me - baby. She's a toddler now.

Anyway, I didn't want anymore kids. Neither did Kim. We were very much of the mind that those first few months sucked so bad that no one in their right mind would EVER want to relive them. But now that Annie is 13 months and such a joy to be around, I want more. Well, I want at least one more.

As much as life changes with one child, there's still quite a bit that can remain the same. SOME level of spontaneity is allowed, you can still drive around in any kind of car you want so long as it has a back seat and life isn't SO far from what it used to be. But with more than two kids, you're out of the normal car zone, and very much out of the normal world if you know what I mean. Look around. The world is made for a four person family.

But am I willing to have more than two kids? I think so, but no more than three, I think. I mean, obviously if we have one more and then pop out twins, I'll take them, but three kids just might be all I can handle.

I haven't forgotten the joys of having a child who needs to eat every two hours and doesn't know how to do anything but cry, poop, and eat, but I'm not dissuaded from it either.

Not that I CRAVE crying, pooping babies, but I'm not scared of them either.

And the benefits in the future are pretty appealing too. Imagine big family reunions every year, like in that movie, Dan in Real Life. I tell you, that's my dream life.

Nope. Not scared to have a bigger family at all. In fact, I'm pretty excited. But there's still some time before we start trying for our second so I'll just enjoy the time I have with my wife and one baby.

Humility, Table of None

Looking around at computers nowadays, the advertisements in particular, I'm pretty sure we've gone far beyond any sort of normal use that might have been standard ten years ago.

It seems that computers define who we are.

Case in point, the I'm a Mac, I'm a PC gag.

And while it might have been fine for the PC to stand still while Apple proceeded to mock and ridicule them, they were put in a tough position. Stay still, hoping this rising beast has vision based on movement and will eventually lose you in your surroundings and go off and attack, I don't know, Linux. Or you can stand up and do something.

PC stood up. Now we have commercials that say I'm a PC and this is why I'm awesome. Like you need to be validated for owning and using a PC.

It would be interesting to see a commercial where ol' Justin Long says "I'm a Mac and here is an example of my buying market" (15%) and have PC, say "I'm a PC and here's MY buying market" (85%).

This is coming from a guy who would really like to one day own a Mac.

I think the whole draw to the I'm a Mac vs. PC is that Justin Long represented a guy who was down to earth, chill, relaxed, able to take things as they come without getting too stressed. The kind of guy you'd like to hang around and maybe call your bud.

A humble guy.

Oh, but how much of this image do I buy? Not much, honestly. Apple's a business just like any other business but maybe with less of a dress code. Do I believe that the vice president of ANY company would wear a two day beard? Maybe on the second day of the weekend. But in an official video? A piece of propaganda? I don't buy it. As much as they want to put out the image that they, even at the top of their ranks, are guys just like your neighbors and friends at the bar, I don't buy it.

I don't buy it.

AND I think they've lost whatever humility was the attraction to the ads in the first place.

It's time for a new ad campaign.

Remember a few years ago when Volkswagen released their new versions of their cars? The slogan was something aimed for folks who have graduated college and are trying to grow up without being the stuffy old man everyone knows and hates. A guy pulls up to the airport to pick up a business manager and when he turns on the car it's blasting death metal.

Professional, but not stuffy kind of stuff.

Because you could take a VW to be a professional automobile. Something everyone could drive, not an elitist faction like, say, BMW or Mercedes.

I think this is what Mac needs. Because until Mac decides to put out a front that says they are professional, able to be used for professional means, able to be used BY professionals then a majority of the market (read: businesses) will continue to support PC. I'm not saying ANYTHING should change on a Mac either, just their ads.

I don't think I'm crazy here. I get that Mac's targeting the youth probably because the youth will buy more computers in their remaining lifetime than people who are advanced beyond the youth's years (for obvious reasons), or maybe to maintain a cool guy image, but you can only ride that wave for so long before it crashes and you're left with nothing but foam.

Tip O' The Hat, Wag O' The Finger

I stole the title. Sue me. I could think of no better title to begin the spelunking into today's topic though since I'm thoroughly impressed with one party and thoroughly disappointed with another.

Got your harness on?

Then let's delve:

Tip O The Hat goes to airport security at the Albeguerque airport. Mucho kudos go to you kind people. Not only was the baggage handler a little rough with my suitcase (I don't mind when they get a little rough, makes for good guitar scars), but the security lady called me by my first name, which I returned by calling her by her first name (good job on security, Amanda!) and the whole airport was filled with able staff who were kind and focused.

But the best part was the lady whose name I did not get who was coralling the elderly through the metal detector. She was so patient that it blew my mind.

Here's the scenario: I'm in line, shoes off, everything in my tub EXCEPT my boarding pass and ID. Why, you ask? Because every thirty second someone screams it at the top of their lungs that you need to send everything through EXCEPT your boarding pass and your ID.

Now, I don't know how I managed it, but I ended up in a line that was filled exclusively with the elderly and I got to watch them work.

"What do you mean "where's my boarding pass?""

The next guy:

"I need WHAT now?"

"Here's my boarding pass. What else do I need?"

Jeez. Like pulling teeth.

There was even one instance where a guy walked through the metal detector and the lady behind him must have thought if she didn't follow immediately that he might disappear into a suddenly-opening abyss and she'll never see this particular stranger (and they did not know eachother as evidenced by their loud back and forth) again which apparently struck her as tragic. She rushed into the detector as if their future relationship depended on it and as a result, the guy had to go back through but not before telling the woman to NOT follow him through until the lady gives her the go-ahead.

To the Albaquerque Airport personnel: a tip o' the hat.

Guess who gets the wag o' the finger?

You know it:

Non military travelers.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't draw too much of a line between the military and civilian HOWEVER, traveling is a strong point for us and you'll never see a person more prepared for a flight than military (aircrew especially). Not one set off the metal detector and no one had to wait for us. Everything that we put in the bin to send through the X-ray was put back into our pockets with alarming speed and we were off like a bullet to our gate (where we could sit around for a few hours looking for a clock on the wall).

So civilians, I say this: the airport is a thing that demands a little thought to be as productive and efficient as possible. This includes: letting the row in front of you get off board before you, not only because it's good manners but because you know once everyone in front of you is off the pane you won't have to stop in the middle of your walk to let someone out. Your bags should be marked VERY WELL so as not to inspire confusion because everyone has the same looking black softshell suitcase.

Moving sidewalks don't mean stop moving yourself.

In your pockets bring only what you absolutely need, a wallet for ID, some cash and your boarding pass.

In your backpack (and I think everyone should bring a backpack instead of the usual "I swear it's not a full-sized suitcase" carry on bag), you should bring only what you need to get through the flight including any electronics that you will use, a book, a sweater and any medication you might need. You will not need your huge winter coat, you will not need fifteen changes of clothes. Believe it or not, all that stuff can be packed in your checked luggage (which I'm not even going to go into for packing except to say this: huge ziploc bags are your FRIEND when packing a big bag).

Now, on a lighter note, I've been gone for about a week and have not been able to get to a computer since my laptop's dead (Apple, if you're looking for someone to sponsor I need only a laptop with a DVD burner in it) and because of this, I have not been able to blog.

I missed it.

But I have been gathering topics to spew forth to you, the reader, who will hopefully enjoy the results.

So check back tomorrow when I'll put up another hopefully great blog about something that caught my attention on my trip.

Until then!

The One That Got Away (And Then To Mock Me, Came Back)

In 2007 we went to Tucson for Thanksgiving. I love Tucson. Ever since I started playing guitar I've only been satisfied with the amount of guitar stores (or at least quality at A guitar store) on Oahu, Hawaii and in Tucson, Arizona. I started playing in Hawaii and was into Gibson Les Pauls and Ibanez guitars and lo and behold, one shop in Honolulu had a ton of Ibanez guitars to play and it was there in that shop's amp room that I first played with gain. My dad, who was there with me, said I couldn't stop smiling at the sound.

There was another shop that specialized in Les Pauls. Honestly, I don't think they stocked anything else and they had a TON of them, even a seven string model (which threw me for a loop considering that I thought Ibanez was the only seven string manufacturer at the time).

Then I moved to Biloxi where there was a guitar store hat was decent but run by a guy who wasn't so nice to customers with a guitar tech that you were never entirely comfortable with handing your guitar to. I once handed in my Peavey Pradator to get a set up and it came back with a different neck plate. I didn't mind, I prefered the black so I kept my mouth shut, but still thought the chrome to black (including screws) was a little odd.

Anyway, I moved places and theey didn't have very many quality guitar stores. I think they're a breed that's going away, but that's the topic of another potential blog.

Today I'm talking about Rainbow Guitars in Tucson.

When I lived there with my wife the first time, before I joined the AF, I was waiting for a call from them saying I'm good to go and this is when to report and here is where to report, etc. To fill the time and pay the bills we worked at Target in the nighttime. It was an easy job, but working at night really took it out of me. I literally ate, slept, worked, ate and slept. There was no going out. There were no fun activities. On days off you fought the rhythm you had put your body in to maybe go outside and see the sun for once.

I did fight it though, that evil rhythm, and went to A guitar store down the road from me. It was an adventure to say the least. The windows were covered with ads and the parking lot was next to a busy street so Kim was worried that the car was going to get stolen. I saw a Squier X-155 and it became the first hollowbody I ever plugged in.

Scary. That's the only word to describe it. The salesman wanted to know if I wanted to plug it in and I did. He asked what kind of amp I wanted to play and I said I didn't know, I'm very new to hollowbodies, though all of my heroes seem to have a very vintage vibe going on, even if they're doing modern things.

"Oh well, if you want vintage there's only one brand and that's Fender. Right this way."

He proceeded to turn on an amp, plug in the guitar, sit me about a foot away from the amp (directly facing it, by the way) and he turned up the amp. It was ridiculously loud and I was scared stiff. I had never had so much feedback in my life and I'm not kidding, I was so stunned I could only hold the strings and try to wrap my body around the guitar in an effort to make it shut up. I asked my wife to turn the amp down but she couldn't find the volume knob. I figured out which knob on the guitar was the volume and backed it off to almost nothing. It didn't matter though because even with the feedback gone I was still traumatized by the experience and vowed to never buy a hollowbody.

I was really sad at my promise and wondered how all of my heroes weren't doing the same fighting with THEIR guitars. I had to figure it out.

And eventually with help I did and when I finally did get my hollowbody I was prepared for any feedback that might occur and now I've grown to love it to a degree. I love it when it can be controlled and is musical. Up until I had started playing hollows I said there was no such thing.

My how things have changed.

Though looking back, I never wanted to play another one then and frankly, never wanted to go to another guitar store there again. The whole thing was a pain, from Kim constantly checking to see if the car was still there, to the salesman who was probably spitting coffee out of his nose at the ruckus I was making to a deep, deep dissatisfaction in my playing, especially on an amp so loud.

Anyway, I joined the AF and moved here to Georgia where there are two shops locally, one that just expanded to showcase their sweet amount of empty space between their selection of eight budget acoustic guitars and their ten budget electric guitars, and another who had to half his store in an effort to stay afloat in these trying times.

But last year we went to Tucson for Thanksgiving and a buddy of mine, Mark, took me to Rainbow Guitars (great jazz player, former teacher, great guy and a Minnesotan so you KNOW he's nice). They had a slew of Gretsch guitars, vintage amps, relic Fenders, etc. etc. I was in heaven. I played all of their Gretsch guitars including what I firmly believe is a prototype 512X Electromatic. If it indeed is, they've come a long way in a short time.

But I was on a mission. Walter Broes of the Seatsniffers had lit a fire in me about Guild guitars and I was determined to play one (an electric. I'm not huge into acoustic guitars. Yet). They had two. They had a modern one which was OK in that it played like a modern guitar which was good but not what he had been talking about, or what I had been reading about on-line and in Hans Moust's Guild book.

But then I saw one peeking out and it looked old. It WAS old. I THINK it was made in the sixties, but that's so much a stab in the dark I feel a little guilty for even hazarding the guess. It was a Guild CE-100 and it was SWEET.

A little about me: I was not a fan of sunbursts in general but esepcially on the cherry side of bursts. I don't like venetian cutaways and wasn't really into one pickup guitars. I had been in love with Walter's X-175 and another friend's X-500 from pictures and this one was not nearly as flashy. It lacked the fancy inlays and the headstock shape like the one above.

But this guitar won me over in a HURRY. It felt ALIVE in my hands. I wasn't so much playing it as it was helping me play. It was as if it knew exactly what I was trying to do and it was doing everything in its power to help me do it. My god, what an amazing guitar.

It put guitars I was trying there to SHAME. I had previously been impressed with a modern Epiphone archtop and the Joe Strummer tele, but it was not the level of smitten that I was experiencing with this guitar. It hurt to leave the shop without it.

It did not help at ALL, that Mark was saying he bets I could talk down the owner of the shop a couple hundred bucks off of its already incredibly agreeable price. I'm not kidding, I would have bought it in a heartbeat if I had the money. I might have even added to the bill to show my gratitude to Rainbow for their part in finding me this amazing instrument.

But I didn't buy it. I walked away and from then on was wondering if the joy that I had experienced, the feeling that I might have found one of those mythical, magical guitars that legends would use, like SRV's number one, Setzer's '59 or Clapton's constructed Blackie had been real or just a first timer's feeling. Maybe, I'd say to myself, it wasn't really all that great and the passing of time has done nothing but amplify the good things while hiding the things that might not have been good. I didn't plug it in after all, so maybe it was just feedback city, but jeez loise if I had to string it with flats and play it clean as a whistle for jazz I still woudn't be bummed.

I heard later on that it was sold. Someone came in and bought it and I was happy. Surely whoever bought it was appreciate it for the marvelous instrument it was.

But then it was RETURNED to Rainbow. As far as I know it's still there. I like to think it's waiting for me to come back to it. I hope it's cool with waiting for a LONG time because even at an agreeable price, it still costs more than I have.

But the sheer joy of the experience of playing such a fine instrument is worth it, even if I can't own it. I'm still happy having played it.

"'Tis better to have played and lost than to have never played at all."

The First Step To Realizing Just What You're Enjoying...

Hello, everyone. My name is Russ and I... I have something to say.

I... I'm addicted. I'm an addict. To podcasts.

Sure, mock me if you will, it doesn't have the same buzzing power of booze or the latching power of drugs, but it's there nonetheless. With such great podcasts out there, I'm shocked we aren't sending free money to Apple for making this widely available.

It's like they've given us our own licenses to make pirate radio!

Oh, but it's more than radio. You can learn languages, listen to the presidential debates, listen to music, listen to talk radio (sort of), to opinions and spoofs. The world is at your iTunes enabled fingertips and all you have to do is search.

Now, all truth be told this started with Penny Arcade. They have great podcasts. The production quality leaves a little to be desired though. I guess that's one more thing that's so great about all this, is you can learn from other people and utilize the lessons yourself. Constantly leaning in and out of the microphone's sweet spot is going to make people constantly adjust their volume so maybe headsets are a good idea.

You can go as nuts with them as you want too. One of my subscriptions has everything you'd expect in a real radio show, only it's a podcast.

Anyway, it started with Penny Arcade and I remembered someone saying they liked Sarcastic Gamer's podcast (the amazingly radio-like podcast that could only have come from someone who is in radio) and with Kim's wicked huge hard drive, I was inclined to try things out. It turned out swimmingly. Then I searched for music lessons and politics (not together of course). Some are good, some are bad, one's in German, which I have not deleted yet because I want Kim to listen to it. I'm sure she'll enjoy hearing a real German speak her favorite language.

Here's what I have so far. Please keep in mind that I have not yet listened to some of these (or watched them since some are videos) so don't judge. I'll let you know if I think it's cool.

Common Sense with Dan Carlin - I'm not a fan. There's this guy in Atlanta, Neil Bortz I think his name is, who is very entertaining and it seems like Dan Carlin is a watered down version of Neil. I tried to like him but just couldn't.

Dolphinstreet Guitar Lessons and Gear Reviews - Not bad. One of the instructors will slow things WAY down for an easy grasp of what's going on. I got them all to take to the desert with me.

Downloadable Content (Penny Arcade) - I love this podcast. The way they talk makes you feel like they could be your friends and you're just chilling out watching as they brainstorm their comic strip.

Flatpicking Guitar - This is one of my new favorites not only because they have full length songs that Annie really likes to listen to in the car but because it's very professionally done, clean, and very interesting. The artist interviews are always interesting. My theory is that this has more to do with life experience making for good stories, but I could be wrong. The could just have a wealth of artists that happen to be good story tellers too.

Guitar Music Theory Lessons

How To Play Guitar - Beginning Guitar - You can never be too sure you haven't missed steps on anything when you teach yourself. I'm awful at math because of the amount of stuff I've missed bouncing from school to school.

Jazzpath podcast

Learning Guitar Now

Masters of the Delta Blues Guitar

Monster Guitar Podcasts - Actually pretty good stuff. The one that I've listened to so far was short on lesson material, but very motivating.

The Rockabilly Podcast Show - This is the German one. Very interesting to listen to.

Sarcastic Gamer - Great podcast. If yo like video games, this is one that should be checked out.

And that's all. I love it. I wish I could sit around and watch them all day, but work needs to be done and attention needs to be paid to other things. I'm not too bummed because with an iPod, they are never too far away.

If you do have iTunes and have not yet utilized podcasts (or genius for that matter) you should check it out. There's some crap out there, no doubt about it, but it's easy to sift through and the good stuff makes everything worth it.

Annabelle Gretschen Denied Gretsch. Ears Suffer.

Annie thought I gave her my guitar (maybe one day, but not today) and was very mad when she found out it wasn't so.

Today's guitar blog is just me saying I'm proud of my sweetie for getting so much joy out of my guitar. The funny thing is she's not nearly as interested in my tele.:-)

Overdriven Batty!

When I was younger I bought a seven string guitar and looked all over for a case. Ibanez at the time was not guaranteeing that an ordered case would fit the seven string’s neck, which is something I always thought was weird, but disregarded for the most part and just took care of the guitar as much as possible without a case. It turned out I went quite some time before the first ding (and it was a doozy!).

Anyway, I always wanted a case and found a picture on line a guitarist from Korn with his seven string in a coffin case. They work really well for guitars with both conventional shapes and slightly unconventional shapes (I bet the Gretsch Corvette would fit like a glove in one). They also hold up pretty well over time. Mine was bought when I was about fifteen or sixteen and is still around (9-10 years), though it’s braving the falling Indiana temperatures with my Les Paul right now. I bought it not only because it looked cool but because it was very reasonably priced.

And obviously there’s a bit of a market out there for something like this. I mean, Coffin Case has expanded their line from the original case available in a whopping choice of two interior colors, to flight cases, mic cases, purses, gig bags, etc. They sponsor events and for a while you couldn’t put a Guitar World disc in your computer without seeing some half naked Goth chick showing you a poorly-lit party (which I guess adds to the realism since anything well-lit is probably manufactured).

But part of me thinks maybe they took a bit too big of a bite with this one. $399.00 for a pedal is a LOT of money, a TON of money. I mean, even if you were looking at multi-effects pedals that’s still a good bit of money. You could buy amps for that much!

Also, it’s designed to be a collector’s item, which I’ve never understood in the guitar world. Boxes were meant to be stepped on, guitars were meant to be played.

If we can take a step to the side for just a little bit, even if you were to pay 20K for a Blackie clone, wouldn’t you want to PLAY it? I mean, I know the usual suspects who supposedly buy these guitars as investments only hang them up in glass cases, or store them away (maybe banks will make safety deposit boxes shaped like a Strat for this growing trend?) but come on. In your heart, you know you just bought your hero’s “guitar” and you want to play it. Maybe you want to pretend to be Clapton. Don’t worry about it. It’s natural. We all want to play dress-up sometimes.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming:

My question is that out of the obvious audience of consumers that Coffin Case has built up, who is going to be willing to part with 400.00 for a pedal that, yes, it’s stamped and assembled in the States, but isn’t made to be played but stared at on a shelf AND is just a copy of another pedal? An attractive looking pedal from Analog Man based on the same circuit is a whopping 235.00 (and that’s with the sun face powder-coating) and, no offense to Coffin Case, but it isn’t like Analog Man got THEIR start making plastic shells for guitars.

Yes, Analog Man’s pedal isn’t quite so… bat shaped. But is the shape and “collectability” worth and extra 165.00?

What I can’t get over is their seeming recommendation to not play this, but to stash it on a shelf where other folks can come over to your house and ogle it? Doesn’t that seem a bit much? Maybe like buying a couch and not sitting on it? The whole idea staggers my mind.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure someone who buys this will play it, if for no other reason than to know how it sounds. Can you imagine your friends coming over saying “hey man, cool bat! How does it sound?” and you looking down at your shoes saying “well, uh, see, hm I didn’t actually, er, play it?”

That would be a horrible situation to be in. It be much more preferable if your friend asked how your pedal sounded and you plugged it in and told them to go nuts and listen for themselves.

Guitar Mags

Guitar magazines are tricky things.

When I was in college I read Wizard magazine every month. That's a comic book magazine, by the way. I bought it for the price guide in the back to see if any of my collection had gained in value or not and thought it was not practical to get this magazine and not read the articles in it.

Well, not really surprisingly, the maazine is filled with propaghanda to get you to buy new comics, try to find older comics of this title or that title, to go see this or rent this, and it was basically just a huge ad.

Modern guitar magazines are no different, but not because they want you to experience this or that, but because YOU want to experience this or that. They run on trends and their writing points reflect what's hip at the time. In the early 2000's they were interviewing Korn, probably because of the huge clamor for such an interview and their huge record sales to date and spent most of the article asking Korn how it felt to revolutionize the music industry and guitar in general. Now, they look back and shudder at the thought of something Korn-like ever being popular, often making references to just how bad (and simple) their music was.

Perhaps they hired new staff.

But if you open them up you'll see tons of artist interviews that have little to do with guitar making the magazine little more than a Tiger Beat with a tad more dignity or at least the knowledge that without this facade, they'd never be taken seriously.

Perhas Tiger Beat should get a lot of credit for having the balls to say they are what they are.

But what can you do, really? Guitar magazines have to sell issues and maintain a readership which means they have to write about things the reader cares about and if most of the readership who is reading your magazine is 13-18 years old who read the magazines in class, well, that’s who you cater to. So you put all sorts of trendy stuff in there, fill the interviews with juicy non-guitar related gossip about sex and drugs and rock and roll in general and in the end, ask what kind of guitar the artist uses and call yourself legitimate.

I don’t really see anything wrong with this though. It’s tough to, knowing that they’re just catering to their audience and a lot of players who are getting older and working and raising families have less and less free time and would probably like to spend that time actually playing guitar instead of reading about it.

My thing is that there doesn’t seem to be much curiosity anymore. Everyone seems to think that the only things they want to know about are the things that directly affect them. I could see why, I mean, it is directly influencing you. But don’t you wonder about stuff? Anything in particular? I’m not talking about just guitars here, but other things too. How do radio ratings work? Do they collect data from everyone’s cars? If I’m playing a CD or tape but the radio setting is on that station do they still get credit (because if so, I’m changing the station in my wife’s car)? What exactly is stopping the government from utilizing on-line voting or voting from another source, say, the phone?

I’m a curious guy (not curious like that) so I like to watch shows about things I don’t know about. Modern Marvels, How it’s Made, etc. I watched a show about how concrete came to be and how it’s changing for the modern times into something that is even more valuable.

And when I open a guitar magazine it seems like it’s the same old thing. The latest greatest band is doing this, while yesteryear’s greatest band is doing this, you should buy this, shouldn’t buy this (ever notice how the good reviews outweigh the bad ones exponentially?), look at ALL THESE ADS!

Jeez, the ads. Look, I understand you have to have ads in a magazine. They keep the cost down to the consumer, but let me let you in on a secret. They (the magazines) should be cheaper with the more ads they sell and looking from one to another, I can’t see why they should cost 8.00. I have a tough time buying them too because they’re fluff.

There. I said it.

They’re fluff. Fluff guitar magazines.

But there’s one out there, a shining example of what a guitar magazine COULD be.

The magazine is called Fretboard Journal. It’s pricey, don’t get me wrong, but the quality is ridiculous. First off, when you pick it up you’ll notice the heft. It’s a heavy magazine and the cover is thicker and more sturdy then most paperback books. You just pick it up and you know that this is a magazine that you could save, archive, for future readings. Not like Guitar World, where you read it and before long you have creases in the cover and the page corners are all flipped up or down.

Then you open it up and see that it has stitched binding. STITCHED BINDING. Not glue, not staples, but stitching. That’s awesome. Everything is elegantly laid out, the pictures are absolutely amazing, well worth the price of the magazine alone if you like pictures of guitars, and the writing is very nicely done. You can tell that professionals wrote the articles and that they cared both about their finished product and about guitar playing. They aren’t just typing out enough words to fill the small columns next to the ads.

Speaking of ads… There are a few, but FAR fewer than in other magazines and they don’t interfere with the articles in the same way that the ads affect the articles in other guitar magazines.

Going back to the articles, they are longer than other magazines too. I wouldn’t say they’re TOO long, but they’re long, pleasantly long. The kind of long where at the end of the article you aren’t starving for more, flipping back through the pages to see if you missed oh I don’t know, four or five PAGES.

It’s worth it. They don’t just talk about guitar players either, or even just guitars, but anything related to it. In the issue I bought I read about guitarviola construction, ukuleles, guitars (of course) some seriously in depth articles about construction preferences and history and wood choices and adventures to find really choice wood. It’s awesome and I urge everyone to buy a copy and check it out. It might give you faith in the guitar magazine again.

I was thinking that it must be a shame for them when, if you find a normal shop, a Target or CVS, that stocks a guitar magazine it’s always Guitar World or Guitar One and this marvelous magazine is looked over. But then I think that there’s really no competition between them. The quality difference is STAGGERING. So staggering that there’s really no competition at all.

I wish Fretboard Journal all the best. I hope they maintain their quality and succeed in the future.

Laughing Little Girl

Here's Annie laughing hysterically. She's been in a good mood all day long from what I can tell. I dropped her off at daycare and she ran to play with the other kids instead of trying to hold on to my leg, crying. She was happy to see me (though she did cry and I haven't figured out why she does this), and she's been a gigglebox all the way to bedtime.

What an angel.

Now, my cat on the other hand... I don't understand cats. That's part of their magic I guess, the quirks, but when a cat meows, jumps in your lap, nuzzles up to you and then FREAKS out when you pet it, leaping into the air doing flips, scratching your face AND your ribs (which makes me think if I had seen it from a different perspective I would have laughed as four limbs all of a sudden grew weapons and went flailing looking for something to grab on to) only to crash back into the desk, knocking all sorts of stuff over, then proceeds to run away like YOU did something wrong only to meow again from the doorway like "what's going on?" it leaves me a little dumbfounded. That's not cool at all.

Your Ad HERE!

I'm kidding, I have no ads on my blog.

But that doesn't stop me from sharing the products I enjoy so much as if they were paying sponsors and me merely a mouthpiece to get the ad out.

Watch the above space because soon it'll be filled with an article of yet another product.

Little More Than A Riff

I've had an idea rolling around for a little while and have been trying to flesh it out a bit and tonight I decided to record what I had and see what happened, how it sounded on "film" and just how long I could play it. Since I play with my thumb on the back of the neck toward the end of this, it started getting pretty cramped making my pull offs diminish rapidly. Toward the end I was glad for a bad note (the final note) so I could stop.

It's a bit sloppy at parts and could stand to be improved but I'm particularly proud of this and wanted to share with those of you who visit. I hope you enjoy it.

Please, disregard the fact I'm in my PJs and in the bathroom (my recording studio).

The Hardest Thing I've Done Today

We took Annie's nuk (pacifier) away yesterday. Kim says it's messing up her teeth, so we took it away. Sleep came, but she was kind of fussy going to bed. No big deal, though.

Tonight was a completely different story. First: Annie loves to brush her teeth. I've never seen anyone love to brush their teeth so much. I don't know what she gets from it, but she freaking loves it and when you do take the brush away she freaks out and cries as if you did something REALLY crazy like stab her in the leg. She wails and wails and wails. Jeez, it's nuts.

But she needs to brush her teeth (and stop too) and I don't see much point in brushing her teeth before she has her bedtime sippy of milk. I don't see why people brush their teeth BEFORE eating. Freaks me out.

So tonight she took a bath, then we had her sippy, then we brushed her teeth and stopped brushing and then, you know, the neighbors started calling sayingthey know I'm attempting to murder my daughter in a new and painful way, so I tried to read her bedtime books, that didn't change much and then it was off to bed and she cried forever.

It's tough to listen to your kid cry. Especially when you know that you can go in there and fix it all (but you ALSO know if you do, she'll realize she has new power over you and doesn't have to go to bed when she's supposed to, all she needs to do is cry).

Jeez.

My only consoling thought is that tomorrow wil hopefully be a better day.

A New Appreciation For The 5120

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the 5120. I can't help but compare it to my 6118T with TV Classics and it isn't fair. I know this. I can't help it though. That's why, even though I have mod ideas galore for the guitar because of its price and similarity to the upper end models, I haven't persued it seriously.

And recently a buddy of mine bought one and a mini Marshall Zakk Wylde stack. He deployed and left all of that with me to watch (and I wouldn't turn that down any day) and I messed around with his amp and my annie, but I never really paid too much attention to his 5120. It just hung there on the wall next to my annie as a little reminder to myself about how another Gretsch would look in the house (good!).

But my friend came back and took back all of his stuff, bought another guitar and is starting to learn to play. Between the Gretsch and the LTD AX-50, he's got a wide spectrum of sounds covered guitarwise and his amp is actually pretty good (especially considering the price).

Well, on Friday we went to his house for lunch so he could let the dog out and I got a hold of his AX which BADLY needed tuning, so much so I put it down. It's a cool guitar, the satin silver finish on the neck makes for very quick movements and the neck is actually pretty chunky without being fat, something I wasn't really expecting from a guitar that seems so close to shred status. But I can't tune by ear and didn't want to put time into trying to do so when I know his Gretsch has been untouched since he took it back. So I pulled it out of the case and plugged it in and turned on the dirty channel and turned up the volume. He had been saying he couldn't get a metal sound, the amp wasn't doing what he wanted it to do (I remember being frustrated thinking about the sound in my head and how it is NOT matching the sound coming out of the amp) so I was trying to adjust it to help him.

The 5120 kept the pace with the AX, a very metal guitar. I mean, it's dedicated to the genre (I'd like to see anyone try to say otherwise just looking at its shape). The fact that the Gretsch did everything just as well really says something about versatility because I was able to switch to blues, jazz, country, rock, rockabilly, and metal all with a couple flips of switches, pushes of buttons and tweaks of knobs (on the amp).

The best part was the feedback. It did feedback but I had it up kind of loud and was sitting right in front of it. The odds of the pickups picking up their own sound from the speakers was ridiculously high considering where I was and how loud it was. The feedback caused notes to sustain for an eternity, surprisingly without going into the WHHHEEEEEEEEE phase. It just helped the note along and I'm not kidding, I could have held the note forever so long was I was willing to add some vibrato to it.

Which I was.

My mission stopped being adjusting the amp, it sounded plenty metal to me, and start pushing this guitar. I started playing wicked thrash on it and while the pickups weren't tight and some notes were lost probably from my sloppy playing, they did sound good.

I had a blast. The neck, which seemed so cumbersome to me before what with it not having a V contour was actually pretty comfortable and I had a lot of fun.

I remarked to the guy that he's got a really great set up and should maybe consider getting over his idea that Gretsch can't do metal based solely on his looks. I mean, I played the hell out of that thing and it took it all in stride.

Great stuff.

So I walked away with a new appreciation and less hesitation of the possibility of getting a 5120. They're great guitars.

An Old Friend

Before I start this blog, I just wanted to say I feel a lot better now. I'm trying to get a grip on my exaggeration and maybe I'm more interesting than I think I am. In any case, some of you have expressed concern and I appreciate it. I'm feeling very good now.

Now, moving on!

Before we went out this weekend to the chili cookoff and Ellijay, Kim lost her camera. It might not be the best camera in the world, but Kim loves it and is a shutterbug, especially when it comes to Annie (which is MUCH more exciting to look at than her huge catalog of the cats' pictures) and she was freaking out.

I found it for her, of course. She said she really, REALLY appreciated it and she'd give me a prize for it.

Turns out it was a gift card for iTunes.

I love iTunes. Love it. They might not be the most fair when it comes to artist payments and shares, but they do have a ton of music in their catalog for a fair price. Most times I buy a CD in order to hold on to it, see the liner notes, etc. but this is a great time to try out new music that I might not have been willing to pay more for just to see if I like it or not, you know?

But everything I thought of, I'd be willing to buy in a tangible form.

Except for one CD. I was looking at it on Amazon for a very long time but the price was almost 40.00 and that is a TON of money for a CD. I didn't check cdbaby.com where apparently I should have gone a long time ago, but on iTunes it was the normal 10.00.

So I bought it and from what I've heard it's good stuff.

By the way, it's Volume 1 from the Seatsniffers (great name, eh?).

But I also bought a Flight of the Conchords song that was STUPIDLY left off of their CD since it's one of their funniest but also most catchy and melodic called "If You're Into It."

Check it out. Just buy the song before you listen to it. Trust me. If you don't like it, you're only out a buck, but if you listen to the sample you'll ruin the build up.

The last thing I bought was something I've been looking for at CD shops for a while and have never found. I used to own it, I'd say it was the fourth CD I ever bought (in order: Crossroads by Bon Jovi, Bad Hair Day by Weird Al, Daydream by Mariah Carey (ugh) and this one. After that I lost count what was bought when).

A Fistful of Alice by Alice Cooper. What an amazing CD. I have stuff of his that isn't live, stuff from his real CDs and I prefer this so much more. If you read reviews they say stuff like he's not as powerful of a singer in '97 but I disagree. I think it's awesome. There's so much energy to it, the songs are all amazing, the production quality is stunning for a live album and it's one of my favorite CDs of all time. I didn't so much buy it in place of a physical CD, but more to get me by until I can find it in a shop because it is something else. There are only a few albums that I can listen to from front to back and love every song and this is one of them.

This album made me want to play guitar, it made me want to get into music, it made me interested in theatrics and fun horror stuff. I tell you, this album is an underrated gem of musical history that no one seems to know about so I'm here talking about it. If you've ever liked Alice Cooper or want to give him a shot, THIS is the one to buy, not a greatest hits album but THIS one. Everything you need to know and like him is right here.