Deep thought

Today is the first George W. Bush-free Halloween in 9 years.

Just wow

Brother Ray

Beautiful.


I ask you: Who else would rhyme "tequila" and "disappear"?

Fusion gem

Early Return To Forever, pre-Al Di Meola. Dig that NCSU shirt on Bill Connors. And Stanley Clarke's Rickenbacker bass!

Good kitty

Faux AC15 approaching doneness

I'm mostly finished with the faux AC15. Here's the amp in cab, pre-tolex.



Here it is with tolex, corners, handle, face plate, and spiffy walnut front panel with pilot lamp. (I'm probably going to drill a few holes in the front panel for ventilation.)



This thing will peel the paint of the walls. Its only fault is a very slight hum. I tried everything within reason to get rid of it. Maybe someday I'll rewire it using star grounding.

Brian Blade's Fellowship Band

I am loving these guys more and more.



Discovered Brian Blade last spring when I saw the Corea-McLaughlin Five Peace Band. (Blade had replaced Vinnie Colaiuta mid-tour.) That just shows how out of the jazz loop I was for years. There's a whole new generation of leaders now.

How did we miss this?

Via destination-OUT, I just learned for the first time about guitarist Ray Russell.

His early 1970s album Rites & Rituals is a gem of the era, an odd concoction of distorted solos, freakbeat swagger, and punchy swing. Most of the songs are extended multi-part suites, confidently segueing between various modes and styles. Russell brings the noise and the strum, along with compositional deployment of horns, drifting sections of lovely stasis, and outright hard swinging pomp.

Check out the song Sarana that's posted there.

There is a light, and it never goes out

There's lots more groovy Marr on YouTube. I especially like this one, embedding of which is disabled.

Apropos

Winton Marsalis joins Jerry Lewis as winner of France's Legion of Honor.

Gigantic

Absolutely one of the coolest vids on YouTube.

Rebranding

This is a refinished Aria Jazz Bass copy.

BoBo

This cat is a union thug.

How is this possible?

Whoever had the good sense to make this video back in 1981 (there are several on YouTube) and to do it with such skill deserves an award of some kind.



I was fortunate to see the Replacements at Cat's Cradle a couple of years later -- much drunker and sloppier.

BooBoo

This cat is a liberal fascist.

Latest Amp Project

A few weeks ago I got it in my head that I had to build a replica of the famous VOX AC15. I was already thinking about buying new parts when I realized that an old Silvertone mono hifi amp that I had found on eBay months ago had the right output tubes (a pair of 6BQ5's) and nice hefty transformers. So I ripped its guts out and converted it to something close to the AC15 (normal channel only).



Actually, I more or less followed the circuitry of the Rikstone C15. For the preamp tube I used a (Brimar) 6BR7, which is supposedly quieter than the normal EF86 but essentially equivalent, other than its different pin-out. Plus, they're cheaper.



The sound of this thing is incredible. Super bright, and loud as all get-out for a 15 watt amp. Total cost so far: somewhere between $100 and $150. (Can't remember exactly what I paid for the Silvertone.)

Now I need to build a small box to house the thing. Stay tuned.

Inaugural Post

I hereby stake claim to this lonely outpost in the nether reaches of the internets.