I've long had a thing for fender's offset waist guitars, even with their well documented idiosyncrasies. Probably to do with idolising j mascis and the guy from teenage fanclub in my late teens. Pretty stoked to have a Jazzmaster and a jag sat in the "music room" now.
It's been a bizarre start to spring so far. Mellow sunny waves a week or so ago, then freezing temperatures, snow at sea level and pumping waves today, shame it's been so windy.
I'm off to the lake district next week, supposedly for a little bit of mountain biking amongst other things. I'm wondering if i might be better off taking my snowboard instead looking at the current conditions!!
What with the changeble weather and dodgy swell conditions i haven't managed to get wet over the last couple of weeks but i have finally got around to learning one of my favorite guitar intrumentals, "classical gas" written by mason williams.
It's a song thats been recorded by lots of different people over the years, Williams himself recorded several different versions. My memories are from childhood and my Grandfather giving my Dad a cassette copy of the shadow's version which we played to death in the car on the way to school. Listening back it sounds quite dated now and the version above is much truer to the original acoustic guitar version.
My dad is a pretty useful folk guitarist and i can remember him playing this when i first took my first tentative guitar steps under his tutelage. Hanging out with my parents a couple of weeks ago i spotted the music and brought a copy home. It's kept me occupied in the slow times at work this week and while i'm not posting myself playing it on youtube anytime soon, it's coming together!
So if you've got a minute or two, play the clip, marvel at this guy's technique and forget the rain outside
Plenty of you will have come across the names Tommy Guerrero and Ray Barbee on the music credits of Thomas Campbells surf movies, fewer of you will have recognised their names as two of the most influential street skaters ever. I was listening to one of Tommy's albums the other day and it struck me that they are the point where most of my interests collide, surfing, guitar, skating, music...
The Video part above is from "Future Primitive" and it was the first section of american skateboarding i ever saw, it opened my eyes to what skateboarding was about, not long after getting my first board, sometime in 1988 i think. (although the film is from much earlier) It's actually held to be one of the first catalysts that kick started street skating as a "thing" distinct from ramp skating which was the dominant force within skateboarding at the time and it was massively influential, not only to skaters. If you think about it, the way good snowboarders (like nico mueller for example) ride the mountain, using natural hits as they flow top to bottom, it connects in a straight line back to Tommy ruling the hills of San Francisco. TG was my first favorite skater.
Fast forward a year or two and Powell Peralta released their "public domain" video. In this age of readily available web content it's difficult to explain just how exciting waiting to see the new powell video was, they were almost the only company making films then and virtually the only chance to moving pictures of skateboarding! Not far into the film was the black and white "rubber boys " section set to a classic skate punk track and featuring a young ray barbee. watch it here. One of the coolest things about this section was the flatland tricks (no comply's etc) that didn't need classic american urban architecture for us to emulate. I actually snapped the tape in the badly copied video of this film i had from rewinding and watching it too many times. Barbee is also significant in being one of the first african american skaters to become widely known.
So neither TG or Ray Barbee surf but they do know Thomas Cambell, part of the "beautiful losers" art scene and who originally worked as a skate photographer before becoming widely known for his art and surf film making. Through releases on his galaxia label and his use of their music in his movies, both have begun to become known for their music as much as their contribution to skating.
Of the two, it's probably Barbee's clean bright jazz influenced noodling that i come back to more often. His tone and melody just say sunlight and mellow sunny happy days to my ears, whatever greyness my eyes can see outside the window. There's a pretty good introduction to him here or watch the clip below for a good introduction to one man, a tele, a bassman and a looper pedal!
One of the peculiar (and also best) things about surfing is how all-consuming an activity it is, while you're out there i mean. There's the oft-used quote of the "church of the open sky" and hackneyed though it is, the sentiment behind it rings true. For me, and for lots of others too, no matter what's going on in our lives or how busy or stressed we feel, we can leave everything on the beach and let our minds be all consumed by the activity itself. The lines of whitewater serving as breaks to disconnect a busy mind as we wade out, the physical effort bringing peace through repetition of simple action. The rhythm of the sea, not the ticking of a clock dictating the pace of the activity. It becomes a touchstone, a constant in our lives, marking the passing of events, helping to deal with the peaks and troughs, a stillness we can come back to, a place of refuge in a sea of change.
Playing the guitar is a lot like that too. I've been playing a long time, counting up just how long makes me feel old, and though the desire to play waxes and wanes as the years pass, it never leaves. It's hard to explain to a non-player but, though your mind is partly focussed on making your fingers move, letting the notes flow through you and out of your fingers, especially while improvising, brings a kind of relaxing that makes minutes drift by and nothing else matter. Sounds cheesy typed out but some of you will know what i mean.
As an aside, i was well into music before i picked up a guitar. Not long afterwards, I remember one day looking across at my guitar in the corner of my bedroom and thinking how cool and amazing it was that pretty much all the music i'd ever heard or would ever hear could be coaxed out of those six strings. The breadth of the human condition and the full gamut of our emotions expressable for anyone with enough imagination. My tastes and views are more mature and broad and sophisticated now but its still true and its an idea that still fills me with wonder whenever it flits through my conciousness.
By the time Garret "G Love" Dutton kickstarted Jack Johnson's career with his Rodeo Clowns single , he was already four fine albums deep into a career that's still going strong today. I forget exactly where i heard him for the first time, i think it was on mark radcliffe's old late night show on radio 1 in the early nineties, or maybe on the soundtrack to an early snowboard video at my friend ed's house. What i do remember is how the mix of blues sounds with a strong groove and elements of hip hop topped with g love's laidback delivery was something i'd never heard before. Hell he just oozed cool!
After starting out busking acoustic blues on the streets of philadelphia before hooking up with "special sauce" his sound has evolved several times over the years but it's his early stuff i still like best. He's a very fine slide/acoustic blues guitarist and really underated. check his youtube channel for some evidence! (under the moniker phillyglove) He's still one of the best artists i've seen live and his first couple of albums are well worth re-visiting or discovering for that matter!
I haven't been playing guitar much the last few months, and when i have it's been the 335 through my little vox combo and Mayall style blues, but as of this week the Gretsch hollow body is back in heavy rotation.
Maybe because i've been grooving on Chonoski's hot rod style, it got some setzer back on the old ipod. There's just something about a 6120 through a fender on the verge of break up that makes me smile and remember there's more to life than sand between your toes....
This is a slight cheat as it isn't my photo, it's taken on a diana by my friend Jim (star of the old blog banner!) but it is a picture of me indulging in one of my other obsessions, keeping the winter blues away with some proper blues (a bit of john mayall if i remember correctly). I really like the picture and, as you know, love a bit of self promotion :-)
So i've kept this fairly surf based so far, but those who know me will know that guitar & music in general is another of my life's obsessions. I recently treated myself to the little vox amp in the picture. Four watts of lovely rich tube tone, looks like a handmade chocolate and best of all?
It's quiet & aesthetically pleasing enough to be allowed downstairs in the house!
This pic and the water shots on film are from another new toy, an ebay bargain waterproof film camera + some film that expired 6 years ago. Seems like an experiment that has worked so far!
Last night i had the great pleasure of accompanying my wife & Mr Douglas E Powell to an evening of musical entertainment at Lilicos in Barnstaple. There are free gigs there for the next few mondays as part of North Devon festival. Last night was a very mellow singer songwriter kind of deal featuring Peter Bruntnell, who despite living in Mortehoe, is regarded internationally as one of the finest British acoustic talents and is sadly not so well known at home. Pete (who i feel may have a slightly fuzzy head this morning) was followed by Neil Halstead who is probably one of my faves on my ipod at the moment. Many moons ago he was in shoegazer band slowdive and has since found his way onto a few surf films and into a lot of cd players as the main songwriter for mojave3. Last year he released his second solo album on Jack Johnsons label, and it's great!
He (along with Mr Powell) is on the bill for the upcoming Goldcoast Ocean fest at croyde. Next Monday@lilico's is Douglas E Powell & The Caves, the week after features Otis Gibbs
Highly reccomended.
(Still flat today here but fingers crossed waves are on the way!)
Some of my friends got married last week. Congratulations, best wishes, hope you have a wonderful life together to Billy (a fine navigator of the nasal passage on his backhand) and Lucy.
Also massive congrats, best wishes etc to Doug and Tamsin, both fine people and a great couple. We wish you every happiness.
Doug is a superb singer/songwriter with a somewhat english folk influence (but in a really good way). Visit him here. If you get the chance to catch him live it's well worth it, if you haven't had the chance yet, spend a few minutes watching him in action, he is most definately worthy of your time and attention.
This is a slight cheat as it isn't my photo, it's taken on a diana by my friend Jim (star of the old blog banner!) but it is a picture of me indulging in one of my other obsessions, keeping the winter blues away with some proper blues (a bit of john mayall if i remember correctly). I really like the picture and, as you know, love a bit of self promotion :-)
So i've kept this fairly surf based so far, but those who know me will know that guitar & music in general is another of my life's obsessions. I recently treated myself to the little vox amp in the picture. Four watts of lovely rich tube tone, looks like a handmade chocolate and best of all? 
Posts
