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Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Hoodies
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Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Product Review: Tapastring StrapKeeper
Some time ago I wrote about the great guitar strap that my friend Jim made for me. Well, it's just about the greatest thing ever, and it's my "official" acoustic strap. Yep, I use it all the time!
Wait. Not quite all the time. Actually I stopped using it for just a little while. You know how it is with straps. After a while, the hole starts to work itself open a bit, and before you know it, you're thinking more about the security of your guitar and the strap, and less about what you're supposed to be doing -- playing. When Bowser came along, he became my go-to, but brought an endpin jack with him, as opposed to the sidejack that can be found on my others. Simply putting a nylon washer on it as a strap lock didn't sit well with me, so after hanging out, waiting, and making excuses, I finally started looking into the options for this application.
There aren't many. Nope, not many at all. The simplest option outside of the aforementioned hardware-store washer was a little item called the "StrapKeeper" from a small Colorado company called Tapastring. It seemed pretty applicable to my situation from the website description, so I took the ten dollar risk (to use the term rather loosely), and received it in the mail just about two days later.
It's simple, unobtrusive, effective, and (my favorite part) only took me about two seconds to figure out. If you have enough talent to slip your strap over the pin in the first place, you can figure out how to put this together. You can see from the image that it is easy on the widened strap hole, and completely out of the way, lying flat against the base of the guitar's body. The endpin isn't wearing on the hole anymore, so even if it is called into use for another guitar, it isn't currently being harmed.
It seems extremely secure, which is the point in the first place. Tapastring uses the image of a brass-bodied resonator suspended head-down by a StrapKeeper. I don't quite have that much faith in my new little piece of gear. It's not that I don't think it can hold up to the task; I just don't think I can hold my guitar like that. Call me the nervous type. In any case, I don't plan on swinging it about by the strap, so it works well enough for me. (On the other hand, viewing the site while listening to Little Big Town started making me get the "wants" for a reso. Mrs. NoGoodGuitarPicker isn't gonna like this.) For good measure, I put a regular "push-button" strap lock on the other end, but that might be over kill.
One of the best parts is that it comes from a small US company. Purchasing items from the big guys is not necessarily dissatisfactory, but there is something particularly cool about getting a great piece of guitar gear and knowing that you're not just getting another part that rolled off an assembly line somewhere. Your money isn't going to a bigwig somewhere -- it's going back into a small business in the United States. Yep, that's a fair bit of satisfaction right there.
The strap lives on.
Wait. Not quite all the time. Actually I stopped using it for just a little while. You know how it is with straps. After a while, the hole starts to work itself open a bit, and before you know it, you're thinking more about the security of your guitar and the strap, and less about what you're supposed to be doing -- playing. When Bowser came along, he became my go-to, but brought an endpin jack with him, as opposed to the sidejack that can be found on my others. Simply putting a nylon washer on it as a strap lock didn't sit well with me, so after hanging out, waiting, and making excuses, I finally started looking into the options for this application.
It's simple, unobtrusive, effective, and (my favorite part) only took me about two seconds to figure out. If you have enough talent to slip your strap over the pin in the first place, you can figure out how to put this together. You can see from the image that it is easy on the widened strap hole, and completely out of the way, lying flat against the base of the guitar's body. The endpin isn't wearing on the hole anymore, so even if it is called into use for another guitar, it isn't currently being harmed.
It seems extremely secure, which is the point in the first place. Tapastring uses the image of a brass-bodied resonator suspended head-down by a StrapKeeper. I don't quite have that much faith in my new little piece of gear. It's not that I don't think it can hold up to the task; I just don't think I can hold my guitar like that. Call me the nervous type. In any case, I don't plan on swinging it about by the strap, so it works well enough for me. (On the other hand, viewing the site while listening to Little Big Town started making me get the "wants" for a reso. Mrs. NoGoodGuitarPicker isn't gonna like this.) For good measure, I put a regular "push-button" strap lock on the other end, but that might be over kill.
One of the best parts is that it comes from a small US company. Purchasing items from the big guys is not necessarily dissatisfactory, but there is something particularly cool about getting a great piece of guitar gear and knowing that you're not just getting another part that rolled off an assembly line somewhere. Your money isn't going to a bigwig somewhere -- it's going back into a small business in the United States. Yep, that's a fair bit of satisfaction right there.
The strap lives on.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Test Post From My Android
Hoping that we'll get more consistent content if I'm hooked into the ol' Droid here.
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
Failbird X
Dear Gibson Guitar Company,
I like guitars. I like guitars a lot. Some people might even say I love guitars. My wife says I do, but... well, that's another story entirely.
From time to time, people ask me what kinds of guitars I like. Naturally, I give them my top two, but always manage to fall into so many others I like as well. Big fan of Telecasters. There just isn't much you cannot do with a Tele. Love Danelectro baritones, and some of the U2 and DC models. Those are fun, too. Jaguars are a hoot, Gretsches with Filtertrons are awesome, and... well, you get the point. I really like guitars.
Oh, and I like Gibsons, too! I like them a lot! In fact, along with that Tele, the other guitar in my top two is the ES-335, and that's not #1 and #2 -- they're both at the top! The ES-335 has the most soothing neck pickup tones of any guitar ever made, and great versatility in the bridge. Yep, it's a classic.
So is the Les Paul. I'm particularly fond of old goldtops and double-cut specials with P90s. Nothing like a Les Paul with P90s for that stinging sound with just a bit of overdrive to really set apart lead tone. Good stuff.
Your Blueshawk was a pretty cool guitar, and even though I can't say I'm a huge SG fan, they definitely have their place, too. And the Melody Maker! Now there was a cool guitar! Straightforward, no-nonsense single pickup simplicity. Yep, that's good stuff!
Wait, I almost forgot the Firebird! Those are amazing guitars! They have the best sustain of any electric guitar ever created, let me tell you! Yes, sir, if someone sat me down in the studio and said, "All I need is sustain, son", I'd grab a Firebird and that would be all it would take. That neck-through design with the angled headstock really is something unique, and it's a thing of beauty! I like them in red and white, but the sunburst is pretty cool, too, and black is always doable. It took me a little while to get what you were doing with the headstock shape, but eventually I saw how it complimented the body shape, and it certainly isn't confused with anything else!
So, tell me, Gibson. When it came to the Firebird X...
What the heck were you thinking?
Frankly, this is a guitar that completely befuddles me in almost every possible way. I like Firebirds, but when I clicked on that page, all I could think was, My good Heavens, that is one ugly guitar! Seriously, from the strange orangish-red finish to the mismatched fretboard wood and inlay combination to the sawed-off headstock to the hardware store selection of knobs... I mean, do any of those knobs even match each other? Holy Toledo! None of those knobs, levers, switches, or gadgets match each other at all!
Still, it's not fair to judge a book by it's cover, nor a guitar by its JPEG, so let's see what the details are.
* One of those knobs is an 11-way selector switch. Wait, but it's not the same as the 5-way selector switch? Umm, this is one of the reasons Airline Guitars by Eastwood never really "made it". I mean, they were cool, but too high maintenance and finicky. Like those old Teiscos from the 60's, remember? Too much to fiddle with on the fly. Honestly, I'm not even sure what the 11-way switch does. You might want to mention something about it on your page. More about its function might justify that "TM" symbol up next to its title.
* One of the knobs is volume. That's great because you can control the volume. Three pickups, but one volume. They also make a big deal about the (single) tone knob being a momentary switch. So... that's interesting.
* The headstock design is changed because it has a robot headstock. Oh. Maybe because the Robot Guitar was such a stunning success? Wait. It wasn't, was it? It's not that it's a bad concept, but it doesn't understand intonation, doesn't always get the top two strings, and is beastly expensive to repair. Putting a PolyTune in the chain is a much better and less expensive option, apparently.
* The toggle switches are for onboard effects. This is just a bad idea. Aside from more obvious reasons, you can set your compression, reverb, and whatnot on this guitar, but what if I decide to switch to another guitar? Do I have to play it direct into the amp? And if I'm using that Holy Grail for my other guitars, why do I need to dial in two sets of reverb settings? Or EQ? Or compression? Or...
*The neck design is mortise and tenon, which makes the least sense of anything on this guitar. The biggest feature that sets the Firebird apart is the neck-through body. Get rid of that, and you have a guitar with a Firebird shape. It doesn't even have a Firebird neck or headstock. Just the body shape. I can't call it the "Firebird". It is what it is. It's a Failbird.
Here's the worst part, though. The MSRP on this guitar is $5,570. That's right. Sticker price on the good ol' Firebird V is $2,299, but the new version is twice that. If you ask me, this is downright insulting to musicians. Most hard working musicians I know don't have 5 and a half to drop on this sort of guitar. They are doing their best to provide for their families and love playing their gigs, but this kind of thing is way out of our league. Heck, I have a wife and four kids, and can't even go poking around for new guitars that are half this price, not to mention that a nice, vintage 335 could be had for this price! I know, I know, Gibson. I'm not your target audience. You want the pro to buy this one, right? The pro who spent hard-earned cash for a real echoplex that has authentic tube warmth. The pro who saved his per diems over so many road trips to get that old Fender amp that has an oceans-deep analog reverb at the correct placement in the loop. (Last, that is.) The pro who got that antique ribbon mic from a legend who saw potential in them. The pro who gets out there and night after night gives the people what they want, just like you do Gibson.
Correction. Just like you did.
See, this really doesn't count as "bringing it". You are Gibson. You are the LP Jr. You are the Varitone. You are the PAF. You are Gibson. Have you read the comments on this new guitar? Nobody has touched one yet, and yet pages are filling up with negative comments. Why? Because your customers are getting just too used to this. We've lived through the Zoot Suit SG, the Dark Fire, the Robot Guitar, The Eye Guitar, and the Nighthawk. These are not good guitars, but they keep getting worse and worse. We have now come to expect this from you. Substandard, bad guitars.
Know what people want? Firebirds with neck-throughs with two volumes and two tones. We want Les Pauls like the great models of the 50s and 60s. We want 335s and 345s and 330s and 339s that give us a classic look with tones that range from traditional to cutting-edge. We want searing performance from SGs, and even... yes... Vees and Explorers. We want the things that made Gibson great. Not this. This is just making you a laughingstock. This is the guitar version of the now-popular "fail".
Please. Be Gibson again.
Kindest regards,
NoGoodGuitarPicker
I like guitars. I like guitars a lot. Some people might even say I love guitars. My wife says I do, but... well, that's another story entirely.
From time to time, people ask me what kinds of guitars I like. Naturally, I give them my top two, but always manage to fall into so many others I like as well. Big fan of Telecasters. There just isn't much you cannot do with a Tele. Love Danelectro baritones, and some of the U2 and DC models. Those are fun, too. Jaguars are a hoot, Gretsches with Filtertrons are awesome, and... well, you get the point. I really like guitars.
Oh, and I like Gibsons, too! I like them a lot! In fact, along with that Tele, the other guitar in my top two is the ES-335, and that's not #1 and #2 -- they're both at the top! The ES-335 has the most soothing neck pickup tones of any guitar ever made, and great versatility in the bridge. Yep, it's a classic.
So is the Les Paul. I'm particularly fond of old goldtops and double-cut specials with P90s. Nothing like a Les Paul with P90s for that stinging sound with just a bit of overdrive to really set apart lead tone. Good stuff.
Your Blueshawk was a pretty cool guitar, and even though I can't say I'm a huge SG fan, they definitely have their place, too. And the Melody Maker! Now there was a cool guitar! Straightforward, no-nonsense single pickup simplicity. Yep, that's good stuff!
Wait, I almost forgot the Firebird! Those are amazing guitars! They have the best sustain of any electric guitar ever created, let me tell you! Yes, sir, if someone sat me down in the studio and said, "All I need is sustain, son", I'd grab a Firebird and that would be all it would take. That neck-through design with the angled headstock really is something unique, and it's a thing of beauty! I like them in red and white, but the sunburst is pretty cool, too, and black is always doable. It took me a little while to get what you were doing with the headstock shape, but eventually I saw how it complimented the body shape, and it certainly isn't confused with anything else!
So, tell me, Gibson. When it came to the Firebird X...
What the heck were you thinking?
Frankly, this is a guitar that completely befuddles me in almost every possible way. I like Firebirds, but when I clicked on that page, all I could think was, My good Heavens, that is one ugly guitar! Seriously, from the strange orangish-red finish to the mismatched fretboard wood and inlay combination to the sawed-off headstock to the hardware store selection of knobs... I mean, do any of those knobs even match each other? Holy Toledo! None of those knobs, levers, switches, or gadgets match each other at all!
Still, it's not fair to judge a book by it's cover, nor a guitar by its JPEG, so let's see what the details are.
* One of those knobs is an 11-way selector switch. Wait, but it's not the same as the 5-way selector switch? Umm, this is one of the reasons Airline Guitars by Eastwood never really "made it". I mean, they were cool, but too high maintenance and finicky. Like those old Teiscos from the 60's, remember? Too much to fiddle with on the fly. Honestly, I'm not even sure what the 11-way switch does. You might want to mention something about it on your page. More about its function might justify that "TM" symbol up next to its title.
* One of the knobs is volume. That's great because you can control the volume. Three pickups, but one volume. They also make a big deal about the (single) tone knob being a momentary switch. So... that's interesting.
* The headstock design is changed because it has a robot headstock. Oh. Maybe because the Robot Guitar was such a stunning success? Wait. It wasn't, was it? It's not that it's a bad concept, but it doesn't understand intonation, doesn't always get the top two strings, and is beastly expensive to repair. Putting a PolyTune in the chain is a much better and less expensive option, apparently.
* The toggle switches are for onboard effects. This is just a bad idea. Aside from more obvious reasons, you can set your compression, reverb, and whatnot on this guitar, but what if I decide to switch to another guitar? Do I have to play it direct into the amp? And if I'm using that Holy Grail for my other guitars, why do I need to dial in two sets of reverb settings? Or EQ? Or compression? Or...
*The neck design is mortise and tenon, which makes the least sense of anything on this guitar. The biggest feature that sets the Firebird apart is the neck-through body. Get rid of that, and you have a guitar with a Firebird shape. It doesn't even have a Firebird neck or headstock. Just the body shape. I can't call it the "Firebird". It is what it is. It's a Failbird.
Here's the worst part, though. The MSRP on this guitar is $5,570. That's right. Sticker price on the good ol' Firebird V is $2,299, but the new version is twice that. If you ask me, this is downright insulting to musicians. Most hard working musicians I know don't have 5 and a half to drop on this sort of guitar. They are doing their best to provide for their families and love playing their gigs, but this kind of thing is way out of our league. Heck, I have a wife and four kids, and can't even go poking around for new guitars that are half this price, not to mention that a nice, vintage 335 could be had for this price! I know, I know, Gibson. I'm not your target audience. You want the pro to buy this one, right? The pro who spent hard-earned cash for a real echoplex that has authentic tube warmth. The pro who saved his per diems over so many road trips to get that old Fender amp that has an oceans-deep analog reverb at the correct placement in the loop. (Last, that is.) The pro who got that antique ribbon mic from a legend who saw potential in them. The pro who gets out there and night after night gives the people what they want, just like you do Gibson.
Correction. Just like you did.
See, this really doesn't count as "bringing it". You are Gibson. You are the LP Jr. You are the Varitone. You are the PAF. You are Gibson. Have you read the comments on this new guitar? Nobody has touched one yet, and yet pages are filling up with negative comments. Why? Because your customers are getting just too used to this. We've lived through the Zoot Suit SG, the Dark Fire, the Robot Guitar, The Eye Guitar, and the Nighthawk. These are not good guitars, but they keep getting worse and worse. We have now come to expect this from you. Substandard, bad guitars.
Know what people want? Firebirds with neck-throughs with two volumes and two tones. We want Les Pauls like the great models of the 50s and 60s. We want 335s and 345s and 330s and 339s that give us a classic look with tones that range from traditional to cutting-edge. We want searing performance from SGs, and even... yes... Vees and Explorers. We want the things that made Gibson great. Not this. This is just making you a laughingstock. This is the guitar version of the now-popular "fail".
Please. Be Gibson again.
Kindest regards,
NoGoodGuitarPicker
Friday, May 7, 2010
Meet Bowser (My New Washburn Guitar)
The one nightmare that might plague a musician more than anything is that of broken gear. This being the case, you can only imagine my distress when on the Friday before Christmas 2009, I set up all my gear at the coffee house, plugged in my main acoustic, and...
Nothing.
Broken gear. There was no time to cry, whine, or complain, though. It served me well while it worked, but it was time for something different, and thus the search began.
Although my ideal guitar comes from Breedlove Guitars (namely the C250/EF, J350EFe, or a concert-style cutaway with Myrtle), they're far and away out of my budget, so my search began closer to the pocketbook than the dream. About the time I began to hunt in honest, though, a guitar from Washburn called the J28SCEDL "Cumberland" came my way. Now, a year ago, I didn't even know this guitar existed, but as soon as I heard it this time, it brought to mind seeing Rodney Atkins at the fair, and how impressed I was with the Cumberlands he was playing. I had dismissed these because of the $1279.00 MSRP, but a deal came my way that I couldn't pass up... so I didn't!
The Cumberland is another of many Jumbo models that are based on the classic Gibson "J200" design, but with its own twists. It features a solid spruce top, maple back and sides, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, abalone inlays, Grover 18:1 tuners, and B-Band electronics system. The specific model I got is gloss black, which might be my least favorite of the common guitar finishes, but it's growing on me. Their transparent black finish must be seen to be believed, and the natural is also quite nice, showing off the highly figured maple they use for the back and sides.
As one would expect from a guitar of this size, it is a boomer. Even new-to-me with its old strings and stock hardware, this guitar was ridiculously loud when played unplugged. There isn't much for delicate work here, but for all-out chord power, it makes a person sit up and pay attention. Yes, the Queen Bee did make me stop hammering on it because the kids were asleep, in case you're wondering.
The guitar looks simply beautiful. Even in gloss black, the binding and inlays are well done -- not exorbitant, but not plain-jane, either. I immediately replaced the stock plastic bridge pins with buffalo horn, and plan to replace the nut with a horn nut I have sitting here, but I don't have the tools at
my disposal right now. Stock plastic annoys me, doesn't transmit sound well, and looks chintzy, so if you happen to pick one up, do yourself a favor and grab pins and a nut, too. The saddle is Tusq, and since that material is reputed to be good with undersaddle pickups, I will probably leave that as well. My only other mod might be to replace the ebonite tuner buttons. Some of my friends really like them, but I'm not so impressed. I love the Grover 18:1s, but I'm inclined to put Imperial-style buttons on instead.
So far the electronics have been reliable and issue-free. I have played it through a variety of DIs as well as my Peavey Ecoustic 112, and everything seems to work just fine. The three-band eq with volume and presence give you plenty of tone-shaping options, and the tiny knobs keep the preamp footprint to a minimum.
The only other thing I might alert potential buyers to is the string gauges. Washburn recommends 11s on this guitar, but I moved up to D'Addario 13s with great results. Ultimately I settled on D'Addario "Bluegrass" 12s because they just seem to get the most out of the guitar, and they just feel good under my fingers. You might find your own set of favorites, but be aware that this guitar is big, plays big, and wants to keep being big, so try some nice, fat strings to help it do its job.
Not being one to name my guitars, I was a bit surprised to find that it soon started going by Bowser. This is not an instrument that will give you delicate work or much subtlety, but what it does, it does as well as any other Jumbo I've played. The number of poor reviews this guitar gets on internet forums confuses me, but reading them in detail makes me think the reviewers don't really know which guitar should be used for which purpose.
Which reminds me that I've been looking for a small-bodied, shorter-scale guitar for high-strung tuning. Michael Kelly Nostalgia 15CE anybody?
Nothing.
Broken gear. There was no time to cry, whine, or complain, though. It served me well while it worked, but it was time for something different, and thus the search began.
The Cumberland is another of many Jumbo models that are based on the classic Gibson "J200" design, but with its own twists. It features a solid spruce top, maple back and sides, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, abalone inlays, Grover 18:1 tuners, and B-Band electronics system. The specific model I got is gloss black, which might be my least favorite of the common guitar finishes, but it's growing on me. Their transparent black finish must be seen to be believed, and the natural is also quite nice, showing off the highly figured maple they use for the back and sides.
As one would expect from a guitar of this size, it is a boomer. Even new-to-me with its old strings and stock hardware, this guitar was ridiculously loud when played unplugged. There isn't much for delicate work here, but for all-out chord power, it makes a person sit up and pay attention. Yes, the Queen Bee did make me stop hammering on it because the kids were asleep, in case you're wondering.
The guitar looks simply beautiful. Even in gloss black, the binding and inlays are well done -- not exorbitant, but not plain-jane, either. I immediately replaced the stock plastic bridge pins with buffalo horn, and plan to replace the nut with a horn nut I have sitting here, but I don't have the tools at
my disposal right now. Stock plastic annoys me, doesn't transmit sound well, and looks chintzy, so if you happen to pick one up, do yourself a favor and grab pins and a nut, too. The saddle is Tusq, and since that material is reputed to be good with undersaddle pickups, I will probably leave that as well. My only other mod might be to replace the ebonite tuner buttons. Some of my friends really like them, but I'm not so impressed. I love the Grover 18:1s, but I'm inclined to put Imperial-style buttons on instead.So far the electronics have been reliable and issue-free. I have played it through a variety of DIs as well as my Peavey Ecoustic 112, and everything seems to work just fine. The three-band eq with volume and presence give you plenty of tone-shaping options, and the tiny knobs keep the preamp footprint to a minimum.
The only other thing I might alert potential buyers to is the string gauges. Washburn recommends 11s on this guitar, but I moved up to D'Addario 13s with great results. Ultimately I settled on D'Addario "Bluegrass" 12s because they just seem to get the most out of the guitar, and they just feel good under my fingers. You might find your own set of favorites, but be aware that this guitar is big, plays big, and wants to keep being big, so try some nice, fat strings to help it do its job.
Not being one to name my guitars, I was a bit surprised to find that it soon started going by Bowser. This is not an instrument that will give you delicate work or much subtlety, but what it does, it does as well as any other Jumbo I've played. The number of poor reviews this guitar gets on internet forums confuses me, but reading them in detail makes me think the reviewers don't really know which guitar should be used for which purpose.
Which reminds me that I've been looking for a small-bodied, shorter-scale guitar for high-strung tuning. Michael Kelly Nostalgia 15CE anybody?
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Interesting Website -- "King Quack, Jr."
Thought I'd share with you an interesting little site I stumbled upon, quite by accident. It is called "King Quack, Jr." has a lot of information about hunting and fishing, but particularly compelling are the recollections of the old times, and a page full of vintage pictures like the one below. This fella took quite a share of ducks back in the '30s in Colusa, CA. That was the town where my grandparents set up shop, and I'd be willing to bet that if granddad were more willing to be photographed, he'd have a stack of snaps just like this one.
Visit the site and see if it makes you miss your granddad and his hunting stories like it did for me. Oh, and take pics when you're out with your kids doing what you do. Future generations will appreciate the world in which you lived! Thanks, King Quack, Jr.!
Visit the site and see if it makes you miss your granddad and his hunting stories like it did for me. Oh, and take pics when you're out with your kids doing what you do. Future generations will appreciate the world in which you lived! Thanks, King Quack, Jr.!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Jason Aldean with Luke Bryan and Ash Bowers in Boise, ID
This is the story of a boy who knew what he wanted. This is the story of a 9 year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome who got a DVD for Christmas and surprised us all. See, this little guy doesn't talk much at all, and only when absolutely necessary at that. He doesn't like loud noises or much commotion, but he absolutely loves his music, so when we took him to the Rodney Atkins concert at the fair last Summer, it was met with minimal enthusiasm. He liked the songs, but the volume and crowd were a bit much for him, so after it was over, he let us know that he didn't really want to go to any more concerts. Fair enough -- if he's not ready, he's not ready.
Along came the Christmas of 2009, complete with the gift of a DVD of Jason Aldean in concert in Knoxville, TN. He's liked Big Green Tractor since the day it hit the radio, so we thought this might be a good one for him. (That and he's wearing out the Josh Turner soundcheck DVD he loves so much.) One run through the DVD was all it took for him to latch onto that, and then surprise us with this statement:
"I want to see Jason Aldean in concert!"
Now, statements from him in general are somewhat rare, but this one really took us unawares. Nevertheless, we honoured it by letting him know that we'd do our best to get him to one. Little did we know that within a few weeks, a March 20th show would be announced for Boise with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan! So, knowing all the while that taking him into a venue that seats roughly 10,000 people to a show that will give the mains a good workout would be a bit of a gamble, we made arrangements nonetheless, and hoped for the best.
By the time yesterday rolled around, he was beyond ready to go, as were all of us. (I think the anticipation of a show makes it all the more enjoyable sometimes.) We piled on into the arena and caught the opener, Ash Bowers, with whose work we were relatively unfamiliar as a newcomer to the country scene. His set was a quick four songs, but he did a good job with a band consisting of two acoustic guitars, bass, and cajon. With all the emphasis on the headliners, we didn't even know he'd be there, so that was an interesting little surprise.
My only issue with Bryan's part of the show is twofold, and both parts are similar. As a sportsman and hunter, the song Drinking Beer And Wasting Bullets has bothered me since the first time I heard it. When he got through the first chorus and the 11-year-old Waterfowling Wonder looked at me in shock, I hated the fact that I'd have to have that conversation with him. Even he knew that was a violation of one of the 10 Commandments of Hunters' Safety (namely that alcohol and firearms do not mix), and I don't think our kids need the mixed messages. The second issue I had was his comment regarding driving around Boise's backroads while drinking whiskey from a Dixie cup. Maybe I'm just taking things too seriously, but that was a bit much for me.
All the hits were here, well-executed by one of the tighter touring bands. "The Three Kings" of Rich Redmond, Tully Kennedy, and Kurt Allison were joined by Mike Frey and a mysterious, unnamed steel player. (He has a name, I'm sure, but wasn't introduced.) I have to say that after hearing the live sound from the DVD, the pedal steel brings an extremely compelling aspect to the overall sound. Aldean's approach has typically been straightforward rock 'n roll -- two electrics, bass, drums, and his acoustic. It certainly works for him, much the same way we observed Little Big Town's similar arrangement, but the steel lends a bit of the traditional "country" sound that had been missing on the DVD. It all works quite well together, and won't disappoint he audience looking for the rocker image or the country sound. (On a related note, I think Little Big Town could use a touring mandolin player for the same reason, and I just happen to be available!)
Gibson Les Paul models ruled the roost on his set, as one would expect for his high-gain, cranked-to-10 sound. A nice Nashville style Tele made a few appearances, a PRS or two showed up, and of course you can't play Big Green Tractor without a Strat, so there were some of them, too. It was interesting watching all the guitar changes and wondering how many of them were absolutely necessary. Sure, I'm a guitar geek, but it actually seemed a little distracting, especially when one of the changes went very wrong. Give these guys credit, though. They have their sounds dialed in, and they know exactly what it's going to take to get them from song to song. It's a very studio-worthy approach, and it works for them. Ash Bowers' bassist had made use of a lovely goldtop LP bass in their set, and an identical model (looked identical from our seats, anyways) showed up for one Aldean song, which was a nice little treat since you don't see them very often at all.
The set was about what you's expect from a Jason Aldean show. We were expecting Wide Open for the opening number, but got Crazy Town instead; a move that really works, as the latter is more of a high-energy romp, and got the crowd really worked up from the get-go. It's been one of my favourites since the first time I heard the album, so that was a pleasant surprise. We also did not expect him to cover the Bryan Adams tunes, Heaven and Cuts Like A Knife in the middle of the show, both of which were done to a high standard of excellence. Of particular interest, aside from the first two songs mentioned here, was his performance of two earlier non-singles, I Break Everything I Touch (accompanied by guitar issues), and I Use What I Got. Both are great live songs from the very beginning of his career, and I'm glad he still puts them in the setlist.
As far as putting in a cover of Kid Rock's Cowboy goes, though, that ranked way up there on my list of "what the heck?" concert moments. Still, everyone else was having a good time and enjoyed it regardless of what I thought. Consider the source of this comment, though -- I've never liked anything by Kid Rock.
And how did the kid respond to the show? He kept his fingers in his ears all night, but smiled and smiled... and smiled some more! As soon as the show was over, we asked how he liked it, only to hear him reply, "Now I'm ready to go see Josh Turner!" I guess he's hooked like us now. Cool.
Along came the Christmas of 2009, complete with the gift of a DVD of Jason Aldean in concert in Knoxville, TN. He's liked Big Green Tractor since the day it hit the radio, so we thought this might be a good one for him. (That and he's wearing out the Josh Turner soundcheck DVD he loves so much.) One run through the DVD was all it took for him to latch onto that, and then surprise us with this statement:
"I want to see Jason Aldean in concert!"
Now, statements from him in general are somewhat rare, but this one really took us unawares. Nevertheless, we honoured it by letting him know that we'd do our best to get him to one. Little did we know that within a few weeks, a March 20th show would be announced for Boise with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan! So, knowing all the while that taking him into a venue that seats roughly 10,000 people to a show that will give the mains a good workout would be a bit of a gamble, we made arrangements nonetheless, and hoped for the best.
By the time yesterday rolled around, he was beyond ready to go, as were all of us. (I think the anticipation of a show makes it all the more enjoyable sometimes.) We piled on into the arena and caught the opener, Ash Bowers, with whose work we were relatively unfamiliar as a newcomer to the country scene. His set was a quick four songs, but he did a good job with a band consisting of two acoustic guitars, bass, and cajon. With all the emphasis on the headliners, we didn't even know he'd be there, so that was an interesting little surprise.Luke Bryan came along next with a full set -- a very full set! I didn't time how long he played, but it was all his most popular songs plus a good handful from his newest CD, and other stuff thrown in here and there. As it turns out, he's quite a funny guy with a very genuine sense about him. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and gave an all-out, full band performance that was quite well done. In my opinion, it might have been the better part of the show, but that's all relative to personal taste.
He acknowledged that he might not have been at the top of his game due to a mild injury, and seemed a bit frustrated when a guitar he was handled didn't play properly (sent it across the stage on its back, even!), but really put it all out there for the audience, who responded enthusiastically at all times. It was great fun, and I doubt anyone present didn't enjoy it.
My only issue with Bryan's part of the show is twofold, and both parts are similar. As a sportsman and hunter, the song Drinking Beer And Wasting Bullets has bothered me since the first time I heard it. When he got through the first chorus and the 11-year-old Waterfowling Wonder looked at me in shock, I hated the fact that I'd have to have that conversation with him. Even he knew that was a violation of one of the 10 Commandments of Hunters' Safety (namely that alcohol and firearms do not mix), and I don't think our kids need the mixed messages. The second issue I had was his comment regarding driving around Boise's backroads while drinking whiskey from a Dixie cup. Maybe I'm just taking things too seriously, but that was a bit much for me.Aldean was next, and after the high energy and fun of the Luke Bryan set, the kids were already starting to wear down a bit. It was getting late, and they'd heard so many of their favourite songs already, it was fairly understandable that they'd be dragging. When his silhouette came up on the curtain, 12 feet tall and unmistakable, though, they joined right in with the rest of the crowd whooping and hollering, and stayed right there with him through the end of the show.
For his end of things, the concert was quite a spectacle. There was a fairly elaborate set with catwalks and ramps, curtains used to various effects, and a wall of amps and cabinets (none of which appeared to have been miced, interestingly enough). One thing I really appreciated from a visual perspective was that the light show, while fairly elaborate, was not overwhleming. It wasn't the razzle-dazzle cavalcade that distracts the audience, but a well-designed asset to the production that highlighted the performance well.
All the hits were here, well-executed by one of the tighter touring bands. "The Three Kings" of Rich Redmond, Tully Kennedy, and Kurt Allison were joined by Mike Frey and a mysterious, unnamed steel player. (He has a name, I'm sure, but wasn't introduced.) I have to say that after hearing the live sound from the DVD, the pedal steel brings an extremely compelling aspect to the overall sound. Aldean's approach has typically been straightforward rock 'n roll -- two electrics, bass, drums, and his acoustic. It certainly works for him, much the same way we observed Little Big Town's similar arrangement, but the steel lends a bit of the traditional "country" sound that had been missing on the DVD. It all works quite well together, and won't disappoint he audience looking for the rocker image or the country sound. (On a related note, I think Little Big Town could use a touring mandolin player for the same reason, and I just happen to be available!)Gibson Les Paul models ruled the roost on his set, as one would expect for his high-gain, cranked-to-10 sound. A nice Nashville style Tele made a few appearances, a PRS or two showed up, and of course you can't play Big Green Tractor without a Strat, so there were some of them, too. It was interesting watching all the guitar changes and wondering how many of them were absolutely necessary. Sure, I'm a guitar geek, but it actually seemed a little distracting, especially when one of the changes went very wrong. Give these guys credit, though. They have their sounds dialed in, and they know exactly what it's going to take to get them from song to song. It's a very studio-worthy approach, and it works for them. Ash Bowers' bassist had made use of a lovely goldtop LP bass in their set, and an identical model (looked identical from our seats, anyways) showed up for one Aldean song, which was a nice little treat since you don't see them very often at all.
The set was about what you's expect from a Jason Aldean show. We were expecting Wide Open for the opening number, but got Crazy Town instead; a move that really works, as the latter is more of a high-energy romp, and got the crowd really worked up from the get-go. It's been one of my favourites since the first time I heard the album, so that was a pleasant surprise. We also did not expect him to cover the Bryan Adams tunes, Heaven and Cuts Like A Knife in the middle of the show, both of which were done to a high standard of excellence. Of particular interest, aside from the first two songs mentioned here, was his performance of two earlier non-singles, I Break Everything I Touch (accompanied by guitar issues), and I Use What I Got. Both are great live songs from the very beginning of his career, and I'm glad he still puts them in the setlist.
As far as putting in a cover of Kid Rock's Cowboy goes, though, that ranked way up there on my list of "what the heck?" concert moments. Still, everyone else was having a good time and enjoyed it regardless of what I thought. Consider the source of this comment, though -- I've never liked anything by Kid Rock.
And how did the kid respond to the show? He kept his fingers in his ears all night, but smiled and smiled... and smiled some more! As soon as the show was over, we asked how he liked it, only to hear him reply, "Now I'm ready to go see Josh Turner!" I guess he's hooked like us now. Cool.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Let The 2010 Fishing Season Begin!
Nothing like panfish and kiddos to get you all charged up for the fishing season. Kind of makes you overly ready for Summer!
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