Imagine that! This is Roy Lanham, playing "Love Come Back To Me."
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Great Guitar Store In The Sky
A mostly chronological list of all the guitars I've sold, lost or smashed over the years (OK, I probably haven't lost very many).
1976 or so--Began noodling with my uncle's gut string guitar that he picked up on a trip to Mexico. Took it home one day, layed it down on the floor, and stepped right through the top one morning when I jumped out of bed. Guess I still owe ya one, Uncle D...
1978--Picked up a Yamaha FG-Series acoustic, though I can't remember exactly where. May have been Royal Oak Music in Royal Oak, Michigan. As you will see later on, I bought a lot of guitars in Royal Oak...
Played this right up through college until it was replaced by a Washburn acoustic/electric. Stuck a bunch of Avery polka-dot labels on it one day when I was bored. Lived in my parent's garage for over two decades until I got over my sentimental feelings for it and tossed it in the trash.
Somebody came by and pulled it out of the trash soon after and drove of with it.
1980--Bought my first electric--a new beige Magnum Les Paul Copy also from Royal Oak Music. Worst $208 my parents ever spent. Even though I was still just a kid, I knew this was crap even back then.
Never played right, or sounded good, and it was beige! Beige is not a rock and roll color! Had single-coil pickups hiding under humbucker covers. Did I mention it was beige?
1983--Traded in the Faux Paul for a real, honest-to-goodness, 1961 Gibson SG/Les Paul at Rock City Music, in, you guessed it, Royal Oak.
This was a very early SG that someone had routed out for humbuckers to along the way. Had the bright idea of removing the replacement "Badass" bridge and mounting a period vibrato unit instead. Guitar was never much good after that.
To be continued...
1976 or so--Began noodling with my uncle's gut string guitar that he picked up on a trip to Mexico. Took it home one day, layed it down on the floor, and stepped right through the top one morning when I jumped out of bed. Guess I still owe ya one, Uncle D...
1978--Picked up a Yamaha FG-Series acoustic, though I can't remember exactly where. May have been Royal Oak Music in Royal Oak, Michigan. As you will see later on, I bought a lot of guitars in Royal Oak...
Played this right up through college until it was replaced by a Washburn acoustic/electric. Stuck a bunch of Avery polka-dot labels on it one day when I was bored. Lived in my parent's garage for over two decades until I got over my sentimental feelings for it and tossed it in the trash.
Somebody came by and pulled it out of the trash soon after and drove of with it.
1980--Bought my first electric--a new beige Magnum Les Paul Copy also from Royal Oak Music. Worst $208 my parents ever spent. Even though I was still just a kid, I knew this was crap even back then.
Never played right, or sounded good, and it was beige! Beige is not a rock and roll color! Had single-coil pickups hiding under humbucker covers. Did I mention it was beige?
1983--Traded in the Faux Paul for a real, honest-to-goodness, 1961 Gibson SG/Les Paul at Rock City Music, in, you guessed it, Royal Oak.
This was a very early SG that someone had routed out for humbuckers to along the way. Had the bright idea of removing the replacement "Badass" bridge and mounting a period vibrato unit instead. Guitar was never much good after that.
To be continued...
Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Death Of The Mixtape, Or Why iPods Suck At Parties
Even as recently as a few years ago, I would usually put together a collection of rockin' tunes every time we had a few friends gathering at our place. For years and years, they were usually recorded to cassette, and I was always careful to maximize the levels to tape to facilitate smooth transitions from one song to the next.
Maybe there was something about the natural tape compression, or the inherent limitations of the media, but I never remember having to adjust volume levels or EQ settings once the tape was rolling.
However, I have a radically different experience these days when I set up a playlist on my iPod to use our parties.
I'll admit you can't beat the convenience of being able to endlessly reshuffle and add or delete songs to your "mixtape" on the fly. Laying down a good mixtape used to take hours; now I can get my iPod to do the same thing in seconds.
But the main problem I have with the iPod is the variation of audio levels and frequency response from one song to the next. Even using their "soundcheck" feature, it still seems like some songs on the playlist are barely audible, while some are overbearingly loud. Additionally, some songs now seem to have an overabundance of bass, while some sound flat and lifeless when sequenced consecutively on the playlist.
As a former audio engineer, I know that every recording is different, and that some CDs today are mastered to maximize every dB that they can squeeze onto the disc. But there has to be more to it than that. For some reason, the process of converting a CD to an mp3 file seems to subtly change the original file in such a way that amplifies the differences between recordings to a significant enough degree that they now become noticeable when played back-to-back.
As I said earlier, you can't beat the iPod for flexibility, or ease of use. But Apple needs to figure out a way to let us enjoy ourselves at our own parties, without having us get up every five minutes to turn the volume up or down on our stereos, or roll off or boost the bass on every other song we hear.
Maybe there was something about the natural tape compression, or the inherent limitations of the media, but I never remember having to adjust volume levels or EQ settings once the tape was rolling.
However, I have a radically different experience these days when I set up a playlist on my iPod to use our parties.
I'll admit you can't beat the convenience of being able to endlessly reshuffle and add or delete songs to your "mixtape" on the fly. Laying down a good mixtape used to take hours; now I can get my iPod to do the same thing in seconds.
But the main problem I have with the iPod is the variation of audio levels and frequency response from one song to the next. Even using their "soundcheck" feature, it still seems like some songs on the playlist are barely audible, while some are overbearingly loud. Additionally, some songs now seem to have an overabundance of bass, while some sound flat and lifeless when sequenced consecutively on the playlist.
As a former audio engineer, I know that every recording is different, and that some CDs today are mastered to maximize every dB that they can squeeze onto the disc. But there has to be more to it than that. For some reason, the process of converting a CD to an mp3 file seems to subtly change the original file in such a way that amplifies the differences between recordings to a significant enough degree that they now become noticeable when played back-to-back.
As I said earlier, you can't beat the iPod for flexibility, or ease of use. But Apple needs to figure out a way to let us enjoy ourselves at our own parties, without having us get up every five minutes to turn the volume up or down on our stereos, or roll off or boost the bass on every other song we hear.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
This Jetta Goes To "11"
Uber-cool auto manufacturer VW is offering a free guitar that plugs into the stereo of certain Beetle, Jetta and Rabbit models. Rock on!
Link
Link
Friday, September 15, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Check Out The Groovy's
In glorious PowerPoint! OK--I realize it is also in German. But this has to be one of the most touching and entertaining things I have seen in ages.
Groovy!
Groovy!
Monday, September 04, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tracks Of My Tears
A new site is selling mp3s of singled out instrumental performances pulled from multitrack masters of classic songs.
Here are some of the original soloed guitar tracks, plus some tracks with the guitar removed, that they are offering from legendary recordings (click the speaker to audition):
Link
Another "great idea--why didn't I think of this" sorta deal...
Here are some of the original soloed guitar tracks, plus some tracks with the guitar removed, that they are offering from legendary recordings (click the speaker to audition):
Link
Another "great idea--why didn't I think of this" sorta deal...
Monday, August 21, 2006
Massive Amp Collection
Must have taken forever to set these up! Wonder what the plan was if it would have started raining?
Link
Link
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Checked Out "LaLa" Yet?
This is a great service that lets you trade CDs with other members for a buck per trade. Check out what we are currently offering on the site for trading:
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Patto w/ Ollie Halsall
The best prog band you never heard of. Great guitar as always from Ollie Halsall on his prized SG custom.
This is the only video of Patto known to man.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Cigar Box Rock!
Check out this track recorded on a homemade cigar box guitar...
powered by ODEO
A guy that plays here in Florida named Ben Prestage plays a home made cigar box. He makes his using broom sticks for the neck and the pickups are made out of sewing bobs wound with copper wire, it is then all grounded to bottle caps stuck on to the end on the broom sticks. He is a one man blues band playing all the instruments himself.
powered by ODEO
A guy that plays here in Florida named Ben Prestage plays a home made cigar box. He makes his using broom sticks for the neck and the pickups are made out of sewing bobs wound with copper wire, it is then all grounded to bottle caps stuck on to the end on the broom sticks. He is a one man blues band playing all the instruments himself.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Lazing On A Sunny Afternoon
With my $150,000 Gibson 1958 "Flying V" guitar. Betcha Dave wishes he hung on to that one!
The story behind it was, I used to play a Guild custom built guitar and the airline lost it on our first American tour in '64 or '65. In those days I used to only carry one guitar around and I had to get a replacement quick. I went into a store and they didn't have anything I liked. I saw this dusty old guitar case and I said 'What have you got in there?' he said 'Oh, that's just some silly old guitar.' He got it out and I bought it for about $60.
The story behind it was, I used to play a Guild custom built guitar and the airline lost it on our first American tour in '64 or '65. In those days I used to only carry one guitar around and I had to get a replacement quick. I went into a store and they didn't have anything I liked. I saw this dusty old guitar case and I said 'What have you got in there?' he said 'Oh, that's just some silly old guitar.' He got it out and I bought it for about $60.
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