And so on and so forth

Hello,

I have a very insteresting story that I am not going to share with you so please just get over it. There are times in life when something is interesting and I am not going to share it here.

Also, I am kind of pissed off about something and I guess I would feel better if I got it off my chest. The only thing is that I am not wanting to say that much about it since I could be wrong.

I have been wrong before. I am not perfect. Give me a break dammit.

I don't know why I am having to explain this.

You are not the boss of me and I will post here when I feel like it.

I did get a new pedal for my guitar. I normally don't use them but I bought a "Fab" Danelectro Echo Pedal. I got it for $20 at small guitar store near my house. It was the second time I have been in there and the guys working there were cool to me.

I asked them about it and one guy took it out and put a battery and plugged it in. I wasn't really that excited about it since I really wanted a delay pedal but since it was not that expensive anyway and everybody was so nice, I decided to go ahead and buy it.

Turns out it is a cool little thing.

Now Rock on with your bad self.

Casino Royal

Hello,

I went to a guitar store the other day called Fullers Vintage Guitars. They have a really really good selection of guitars. I went there because John Richardson told me I should. He also mentioned the Epiphone Casino when I told him I was thinking of getting a Epiphone Sheridan. The Casino is a hollowbody type electric guitar that has been used by some real notables. John Lennon and also the rest of the Beatles owned and played casinos & played them on several recordings. It has the famous single coil p90 pick ups and not the humbuckers that most gibson type guitars have.

Speaking of John Richardson, The reason I was talking to him in the first place is because for the past couple of years he has been hosting a blues jam at the Abbey Pub right near my place of residence. The bar owner recently anounced that the Jam is being replaced by a dude named Leon who is a DJ. Good for Leon, Bad for the Blues. But the Blues and the Jams will live on.

I would like to mention that John (richardson) & Larry Evans, along with a host of other various musicians, have been hosting the before mentioned Abbey Pub Jam since it started. They both can be found at the Wednesday Night Blues Jam at the Big Easy on Kirby except when John is touring with the the Blue Mercy Band that is lead by Houston's Own Diuna Greenleef. I am not good at spelling her name but she won the National Blues Society Competition last year. It was for best unsigned blue band in the country. They also just go an award for "best new artist" at the Living Blues Awards. John is the long time guitar player for her band and they really seem to being going places. John also won an award called the Albert King award for most promising new blues guitar player. He is good. Larry Evans is also a great player. He is a bass player that has worked with most of the notable locals. He plays gigs right now with Texas Johnny Brown.

OK, Back to the Casino:

John also works at Fullers Vintage Guitar and he was kind enough to give me some good advice as far as looking at the Epiphone Casino. I headed over there last Saturday but John wasn't working but I did run into a guy named Sparky that hung out sometimes at the now defunct Tuesday night blues jam. He is a band called the Rising that recently opened for Johnny Winter. He is a great player his ownself.

I did get a chance to sit down and play an Epiphone Casino and I like it. I haven't purchased a guitar for quite a few years now so it will be a big deal if it happens. I would have bought one already but I had to pay some shakedown kick back to the oil companies.

I think that is plenty for you to exist on for a while.

I think it is time for me to put some cucumber slices in my eyes so I can stay pretty.

Bye.

Peanut Butter Greetings

Hey,

Have you ever took a big bite of a peanut butter sandwich & then the phone rang.


I hate that.

Unauthorized Phone Video Productions, Inc.

IF a picture is worth a thousand words, Then a video must be worth even more. As far as worth goes, That has to be a good value.

Here is a video I saw posted on Youtube by Darla from Clear Lake, Tx. It was taken some time around Easter this year at the Gravity Bar.

Howdy Again

Yeah, It has been a while since I posted here.

I have been very busy not posting here. Specifically. Almost. Sort of.

If you have a problem with that then take it up with the complaint department.

Besides that, I wish you the best and I hope you are feeling quite groovy.

We will be back very soon with more details.

YouTubed

OK. If you gotta know everything, I just posted some videos on YouTube.


You can find them by clicking on this Link:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MarcTwyman

(or paste it in your address bar)


I had recorded 15 songs on a DVD in November but I couldn't upload any of it to YouTube because the format was not compatible. Fortunately Michael-Ann was kind enough to offer to help me out. She knows about stuff like that & other stuff also. She actually has a blog called Stuff, Stuff, & stuff to prove it.

http://www.artonthewing.com/blog/index.html


Thanks Michael-Ann.

Hi friends and nosey people,

I hope you had a good Christmas.

I had to work a coupe of hours on Christmas Eve day and then I had business to take care of. I had been hearing some noises from the fireplace during the night and I realized that something had moved in. It was starting to bother me a little so I finally decided to take care of the problem .

I went to Home Depot and bought some wire mesh material to put around the top of the chimney where the end cap vent type thing is and also picked up a fire log at the grocery store.

I went home & lit the fire. I wanted whatever was in there to have a chance to get out so I waited about an hour before I went up and put the screen material around where it was getting in.

I went to my garage and got the ladder which I keep hanging sideways on the wall on a couple of large nails.

First I leaned it on the patio cover that I built a few years ago and then climbed up and pulled the ladder up and leaned it on the chimney and climbed up there and installed the screen material with some bailing wire. It took a few minutes but I wanted to be careful not to fall.

Now is when the plot thickens.

When I came back down fromt the patio cover I found a hunting arrow that was very loosely lodged in the ground. I figured that some idiot was doing target practice and shot it over the fence by mistake. I climbed back up the ladder and again pulled it up on the patio cover so I could climb high enough to get a good look. I then walked around on the top of my roof also but still didn't see any sign of a target or where it may have come from.

I then climbed back down & when I got off the ladder the second time, I found a second arrow in about the same spot but it wasn't lodged in the ground from the same agle. I figured that I would have seen it before so someone was shooting right now and was either playing a sick joke on me or just a bad shot.

I decided to take the arrows and walk around the block and start looking in back yards and knocking on doors. I won't lie, I was pretty fired up and wanted to have a word with whoever was shooting arrows in my back yard. Those Muther F#@%ERs!

I changed clothes real quick so I would look presentable to the neighbors from around the block since I had never met any of them and I went out through the garage and opened the garage door and got in the car.

Then I rembered something. Sometime back there was a guy at work that was going to throw away some arrows and he gave them to me instead. I have a bow that I keep up on the garage wall above where the ladder is. The bow was still up there and the third arrow was also.

Apparantly the arrows had fallen onto the ladder and had fallen off one at a time when I was raising and lowering the ladder.

I calmed down and went back inside and had a diet coke and enjoyed the fire for a few minutes and haven't heard any critters since then.

Happy Festivus, Good Golf, Good Tennis, Bow and arrow target practice, Or what ever blows your skirt up.

THanks,

Marc

2001, A Technical Odyssey

2001 may sound futuristic to some folks but not to the kids thesedays. That is about when my computer was built and I have a dial-up connection.

I don't have an Ipod or a Zune. No Blackberry or DVD Burner. No Cable TV either.

It is one of my soon to be New Years resolutions to get caught up with some of the current technology.

I want to have a new computer so I can do some home recording to make a new CD & I hope to get a faster Internet Connection also.

We will see how it goes.

I did just get a digital TV a couple of weeks ago when my 14 year old Toshiba went out. I bought an off brand one this time and it seems to work just fine. I never new there were alternative broadcasts for Channels 2, 11, 13, & also the pbs station.

I do want to thank Micheal-Ann & Gordy for helping me by converting my DVD tracks so that they can be uploaded to Youtube and other Internet sites. Very kind people in deed. Also, Eric who offered to help also. He is the guy who converted the songs on my CD to MP3s so I could put them on the Myspace Bands Page.

Hollywood!

Hello,

I just wanted to say "Hello to all the little people"

You know, Tiny Elvis & the rest of you.

I bought a DVD recorder at Wal-Mart and I am going to hook my Video Camera up to it and also a mixing board with some Condensor Microphones and make a DVD. That is my plan anyway. I was going to buy a Digital Camera but I thought it would work better this way & also I can record straight to a DVD. The DVD will hold up to an hours worth of recording so that should be plenty for 10 or 12 songs plus a few bonus tracks. It will give me an excuse to goof around with the video camera and pretend like I am working on a "production"

I went to Guitar Center last night and bought a couple of Microphone Stands and some cables & I was lucky enough to have a couple of friends who were kind enough to loan me some Condensor Microphones.

I am going to experiment with it. I may just try running my main mixer right into the Recorder but I want to try using the condensors so I can catch the sound of the maracas and also use the Reverb Tank on the Vocals as well as use the Overdrive on the Harmonica.

My plan is to learn the best way to set it up by recording at home first and then carry everything to a couple of live shows & record a little bit like that.

If all goes well I think I will by myself an Island. Otherwise I may need to borrow a couple of bucks next time I see you.

Thanks.

"It is what it is"

I have had a hard time buying G strings lately.

NO, I have not been lurking at Thong stores. I use a 17 gauage G string on my main Fender electric guitar. I bought it new in 1988 but I have not named it yet. BB King calls his guitar "Lucille" & Stevie Ray called his "Number One", At least that is what his guitar tech called it in the articles I read in the guitar magazines. Billy Gibbons calls his 1959 Gibson Les Paul "Pearly Gates" & usually just refers to it as "Pearly". He has used that guitar on probably every album they have ever done. He uses other ones also but that one is his main axe.


I had been trying to swing by a Guitar Center on the way to a gig (to save gas) since November 1st when I was on my way out to the Balinese Room to play the opening day of the Biker Rally at the Seawall Bar. I had never been to the Gulf Freeway location so I looked it up on the Yahoo Maps and was sure I could find it with no problem. It turned out to be on the East Side of the Freeway & after about 15 minutes of driving around on the west side, I just gave up and went on out to Galveston.

Then on November 4th on the way out to Pinehurst to play the First Annual Fin, Fur, & Feather Festival, I stopped at the Guitar Center on the North side at 45 & 1960. I went in and there was a kid there with a nut in his ear, like one that goes on a bolt. When I walked up to the counter, I asked him if he had any 17 Gauge strings & he didn't say a word but he did pick up the phone & dialed over to another dude who was working at the entrance and say in a growly type voice "Whatsuuup?" He then looked through the string box with the individuals and told me "No, No 17s". He did find one 18 so I said OK on that and asked for a set of GHS Boomers since I didn't want to be that thin on strings & he looked at the other dude & who reached up and got the strings. I then asked him if they had any EL84 Groove Tubes since I needed a matched duet. He checked the computer and said they were out. I then asked if they had any 12AX7s which are some Pre-Amp Tubes that I have been needing & he found them on the computer and said they they did have some in stock. I asked him how much he was going to sell them to me for & he said that they wer $15.99 each. I told him that I knew the list price but I was asking what kind of price he would give me. He then said that the manufactuer would not allow discounts on that item which is a standard line that they have started using but is only true in some cases and not on the Groove Tubes. I know that since I always get a discount when I buy them. I told him that & He said "It is what it is man" So I told him to forget it and started walking off. I got about halfway to the door and then turned around and went back and told him that I had worked in retail sales for some time now & I know about everything being "All hip and cool" but at the same time I felt like he was rude to me. I let him know that there is nothing Uncool about saying hello to a customer. He just looked at me and then I left.

Then last Thursday I stopped by the Westhiemer location on my way to the Gig at Sweet Mesquite and Paul helped me was very cool. Sold me the 12ax7s for $12 & strings for 75 cents each. They were also out of the EL84s but he said I wanted he would call me when they came in. I had been helped by Paul last time I went to the Guitar Center on Westheimer & I purposely went to him this time. Thanks Paul.

I had just put some new EL84s in my Fender Blues Junior. They are the power tubes and the Blues Junior burns them pretty hot so they wear out a little faster than other tubes in other amps. I keep a back up set & those are the ones I just installed. I am now using the ones I took out as a back up set so that is why I am looking for new ones. The ones I put in are rated at "5" but I really prefer to have "4s". It is a rating system that Groove Tube uses & will tell you how easy the tubes will break up or distort. I don't use any effects or pedals so I like to have some tubes that will give a little bit of distortion. I am now wanting to try some 3s but I will probably end up with 4s which work just fine & are easier to find.

Last night I put the 3 12AX7s in the blues Junior so it now has all new tubes and it does sound better. I had been noticing that it was starting to sound harsh and the tone was harder to find. I kept making adjustments during my sets & still not finding the tone. It was particularly noticable when I plugged my acoustic guitar in. There is no substitute for tone & these tubes really do make a difference so I am happy about that. It already sounded better last night but it usually takes a few hours of playing time for them to "burn in". Normally I would just leave the amp on for a couple of hours but it was late last night & I will use that as an excuse to practice a little bit of straight up guitar this week since I need to get back to working on scales and riffs & stuff like that.


Thats all for now.

Remember that we are all going to die at some point so go ahead and enjoy your life. Do whatever it is that you want to do.


Later.

Pipe Dreams

I used to have a cassette tape called "Bach Large Organ Works" that somebody gave to to me back around 1980. I would listen to it from time to time & have always like that sound.

Last night I was listening to the radio & decided to check out KUHF, the local classical music station, which is 88.7 on the radio dial in houston.

There was a program on called "Pipe Dreams" which is archived on the internet & you can hear it by clicking this link: http://origin-pipedreams.publicradio.org/listings/2007/0743/

It is a weekly show & hosted by Micheal Baron.

He plays a series of live recordings of Notable Organists playing notable pipe organs which are located mostly in old churches.

Very cool show. Check it out.

The main web page is www.pipedreams.org & it looks like they have an archive o fthe weekley shows going all the way back to 1995.

Down at the Balinese (revisited)

Thursday Night I went over to the Continental Club to meet my friend Eddy to check a band called the B Side Players. They are a touring band that plays Latin, Reggae, & world type music. It is a nine piece outfit with a couple of horn players, a drummer, a percussionist, a conga player, keyboard player, bass player, a back up singer, and a lead singer who is the lead vocalist. They are a good band it was relaxing to get to hear them play.

Little Joe Washington stopped by for a minute & talked to the bartender but he left right after that. It was good to see that he is looking OK.

On my way over there, I took a wrong turn on Main street and was sitting at a light and I noticed 4 young blonde headed girls that jumped out in the street and stopped a car that was taking a turn onto Main. I then noticed that a dude had passed out in the street and they had pretty much just saved his life since the car was about to roll right over him. It was good to see that some people still give a shit. They ended up moving him off the street and I doubt he will ever know that somebody cared enough to look out for him. He seemed a little upset to be interupted from his nap but it didn't take him long to get back to sleep.

The Lone Star Biker Rally is coming up next week and I will be playing on the Opening day at the Balinese Room Seawall Bar. I had played there once before when Jon Steel put on a slideshow featuring his surf photography & there was also a band called Herbn'Pipeline (urban pipeline). I was the opening act & it turned out to be a very cool gig. I think it is going to be the same lineup this Dec 21st down in Corpus Christi at the Executive Surf Club which I hear is very nice. I am looking forward to that gig.

The Balinese Room is probably mostly remembered these days becuase of the ZZ TOP song "Down at the Balinese" which was on the Fandango Album. It has an interesting history and was once a hangout of Howard Hughes and Frank Sinatra used to sing there also. You can read about it on Wikipedia.

The Lone Star Biker Rally is a big event and the Island will be crowded so I am thinking there should be alot of business. I guess I will find out on Thursday.

Saturday November 3rd I have another interesting Gig up in the Country at a private party & will be the opening act for a country singer named Davin James. I have never heard him before so I am looking forward to that.

I am also looking foward to playing at the Gravity Bar tomorrow. The weather should be nice & I really enjoy playing at the Gravity Bar. Part of the fun for me is that I never know what or who to expect. There are usually some tourists & it is interesting to meet poeple from different parts of the country. I consider the Target Market there to be Humanity. If you are out that way, Stop on by.

Thanks,


Marc

Gravity is Heavy

Last night I played until about 8:10pm at the Gravity Bar. Carl Smith was sitting in again on Upright Piano and it was a fun gig. At 8:30 (or so) They have an open mic that is hosted by Todd. He is a cool guy and a good musician also. He also plays every Friday night at Boudreaux's on the Bayou which is also located on the island.

I ended up being a little slow loading up my equipment since several of the local musicians that participate in the open mic were there & it is nice to be able to say hello and see how things are going. All different kinds of people. There is a lady who looks completely like hippie. A dude who is a street musician and a preacher & couple of other street musicians who I have gotten to know a little bit over the past year or so. I don't know them that well but fellow as fellow musicians we usually will chat for a bit and talk about how the day went & so on. All of them are nice people.

The open mic started a little late as it usually does and there ended being quite a good crowd and quite few musicians. It turned out to be a really cool night. It was kind of like what you would expect in Grenich Village in the 60s or something except nobody was reading poetry. It was very relaxing to me to get to hang around a little bit and get to hear some good music. The sound system was set up well and everybody seemed to be "on". I really enjoyed the whole thing. There was alot of energy & everybody seemed to be in a good mood & very supportive of each other. To me it really doesn't get much better than that.

Don't mess with Karma

Lately I have been thinking about what I call the Punk Rock Vibe (PRV). It is a state of mind that I would try to bring to a live performance but it is also sort of like Enlightenment from the standpoint that with the true PRV, A person would not care about what other people think so much.

It worked for Bob Dylan when he decided to go Electric. The folk crowd would boo him for playing electric music but he did it anyway.

Of course Bob Dylan was already famous when he decided to not care. Before that I think he did care. He would make up stories that he had been playing music and learning from all these obscure blues and folk artist when in reality they were just poeple that happened to be on a collection of records that he stole from another dude that condidered him to be a friend. I am not saying this to trash Bob Dylan either. I am a Bob Dylan fan and would be honored if he stole something from me.

I think part of what the PRV is about is not Selling Out.

It is hard not to sell out at some level if you want to play live music and make money. I guess the money part is where you have to sell out.

I guess the true PRV could be attained by playing live music in the forest and if your guitar fell over and you had your ears covered up then it would be a question if it really fell over or if maybe you were just drunk and they found you playing guitar in the forest. You see what I mean? It isn't all that simple.

Don't shoot the piano player

Hey Sports fans,

I used to be more of a sports fan myself but when the Houston Oilers left town it made me realize how much of a business it is. Now when I see professional sports, I see millionaires that will be millionaires even if there team loses. They aren't gonna be worried if I am broke so it is hard for me to worry about them winning or losing.

In other news a spider bit me on the ass. I don't have that much of an ass to go around so I don't really appreciate it. I used to be more towards the catch and release policy with spiders in the house but now I have an urge to stomp on them. I did resist the urge this morning. There was one walking acroos the living room floor and I put it in the back yard. It may find it's way back in to the house and bite me but I just don't enjoy killing things. Even spiders.

This past Sunday at the Gravity Bar was a little different. There is a guy named Carl Smith who plays piano at various bars on the strand and he brought one of his pianos to the gravity bar and now plays there from time to time. He came in on Sunday at noon and played while I was setting up from noon (opening time) to about 1:15 when I started. He plays a real piano, Not electric keyboards. I had never heard him before but I enjoyed what he was doing. He played some Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Tunes and even though he didn't have a PA system he did a good job on the vocals. He really has the Jerry Lee Lewis vocals down.

The Gravity Bar has very big doors all the way across side that faces the sidewalk where poeple are walking by and Carl had his piano at the west side on a small raised area where there are some couches. It is right next to the sidewalk. My stage area is about 15 or 20 feet west of that also near the strand sidewalk.

They had all the doors open this past Sunday since it was pretty nice weather. Carl had offered to sit in with my one man band so after I played a few songs in my first set, I invited him to play along.

It was kind of cool to have two separate stage areas with music coming from two directions. I also like the fact that it was a traditional piano which gave a kind of honky tonk sound and a little different type of effect on the vibe.

I started at about 1:15 and ended up staying until about 8pm. I started out by playing a few tunes, Then Carl joined in and then Carl played a tune or two by himself and then I played a couple of tunes and then Carl joined back in and so on. I liked being able to mix it up where it was really three different types of presentations rolled into one.

Carl ended up staying until 8 pm also and he seems like a cool guy. He told me he would be back next Sunday and I told him it was cool with me if he wanted to do it again.

"Show some Respect"

Loyd's comment on the last post about Benny Valereo made me think of something.

Benny Valereo Passed away back in January of 2006. I had posted something on this blog right before the funeral.

Benny was a Texas Blues Guitar player & he regularly hosted blues jams here on the west side of town. That is how I knew him.

I wrote out a post about him about the time he died & he is someone that I find myself thinking about from time to time.

Benny was the kind of guy who would not hold back when he talked to people. There was nothing phoney about him. Not from my perspective anyway. Whenever I played at his blues jam it would usually be Danny Velereo, Benny's brother playing bass. It was always a cool feeling if Benny would walk up to the stage in the middle of the set and pick up his guitar and start playing along. Hanging out with him & Danny was always a good feeling. They would sometimes play a game of pool & they seem to be pretty serious about it.

Speaking of Pool, There was one time when I first started my One Man Band that I had a one-time kind of gig at a place called Forgetabout it II. It had previously been called the Landing Zone and before that "The Horseshoe" I think it was the first place I met Benny & his band.

When I first got the the gig, There were a group of pool players sitting in the spot that was going to be the stage area for me so I let them know and they moved there chairs a little bit. I brought in the rest of my equipment and went ahead and asked them if I could go ahead and set up. The pool tables were right behind the stage area and they were there for a pool tournament.

There was one guy that was more vocal than the rest but as a group they made it known that they didn't care for live music during thier tournament. After I played and took a break they started being a little nicer. The one guy who was giving me a hard time came up and told me that he thought I was going to be too loud and he didn't really apologize but he started talking to me and being a little more friendly. It turned out that his daughter had been one of the musicians who I knew from Benny's jam and I had jammed with her several times.

Benny had showed up at this gig and was pretty quiet for the most part. He drank a couple of beers and kind of stood off to the side and just watched. During my break I told him how the pool players were being rude to me and then they seemed to warm up a little after I started playing.

He told me that he had had a word with them. I asked him what he said to them & he said that he had told them to "show some respect".

I think that was the only time he saw my one man band but it meant a hell of alot to me that he had taken the time to stop by & also that he was gave enough of a shit to look out for me at my gig.

Toad Herder

Hello,

I have been kinda busy lately so I haven't been keeping up my blog entries and I know that the masses and throngs are going to revolt and tear down the castle walls if deprived any further.


I saw two butterflys yesterday and I liked that since it seems like butterflys have not been around that much for several years until last year. This is not a scientific report, just what I noticed.

The other thing I have scientifically deduced is that the toads are back again also. I don't know where they went but last year I started seeing them again and this year I have quite a few in my yard. It makes it kind of time consuming to mow since I don't want to chop them up. I try to mow in a pattern where I start at one side and work towards the side where they have somewhere to go.

As I mow, I have to watch for them hopping and usually just see the grass moving so I know to look out for them.

Toads seem like peaceful creatures and I wish them all the best.

Last night I stopped over at the Abbey Pub to listen to John Richardson, Larry Evans, Dennis Clapp (Applehead), Robert Taylor play the opening set of the Blues Jam. I didn't sign the list and wasn't feeling like playing since I had several other things to take care of. When I walked in they were on stage but not playing. Larry told me that his bass amp was out and asked if I could let them borrow mine. I live about a mile from the Abbey Pub so headed home real quick to get my amp but according to the DPS officer that was stationed near by, I was a little too quick. Actually I went into the light on a yellow and it turned out to be a fast yellow. It was a close call but technechally I did run the light. I was hoping that he would see my driving record and give me a warning but I didn't want to argue with him since I knew he was doing his job. He let me know right away why he pulled me over but he then made me stand back behind my van while he walked around front and looked in it with his flashlight. He then went to his car and pulled me up on the computer. It isn't fun to stand out in front of a police car with the lights flahing and the headlights shining on me but I don't think the guy was trying to treat me bad or anything. It just sucks to get a ticket.

I have to go see Judge Yoeman before December and I am hoping that he will give me a break but I have no plans to make up any stories or call the cop a liar. I have been to Judge Yoeman's court before when he performed a marriage ceremony that I attnended.

I went on home after the ticket and grabbed my amp and carefuly drove back up the Pub.

After that I went back home ate a bowl of Cheerios mixed with grape nuts and then went to bed. I think I had some dreams but I don't know if I remember them. I think you are being a little nosey at this point. You don't need to know all my business.


Long Live the Toads!

George Martin

I caught the end of Little Stevens Underground Garage last Sunday night on the way home from Galveston & Then they had a broadcast of a David Gilmore (Pink Floyd) Concert and some interviews. David Gilmore was talking about his approach and how he tried to keep it fairly simple musically & focus on the vibe. That isn't exactly how he said it but it was something like that.

I was driving along today listening to 93.7, The Classic Rock station and they played Eleanor Rigby.

I have heard the song quite a few times but for some reason it struck me how good it is. The song itself AND also the the arrangement. Paul McCartney came up with most of the song but George Martin ("The Fifth Beatle") did the arrangment for the strings and it is very good.

I was noticing that he used the approach that David Gilmore seemed to be talking about. Not that the arrangment is overly simple but it is just very good. Really perfect for the song.

Stay Grounded

Last week I was setting up for my gig on Thursday night and I noticed my 15 watt Fender Tube guitar amplifier was not comeing on. I fooled with it a little bit and then I decided to go with plan-B and use my back-up amp.

When I got home I took a look at it and realized the plug was not any good. I replaced the plug with one from Wal-Mart ($2.97) and the amp worked fine.

The very next night, Friday, I was again setting up and this time I noticed that the amp I use to power my PA was not coming on. I got a screw driver and took a the plug apart and found a loose wire and re-connected it.

I also found that the ground wire had come loose and re-connected it.

That explains why I have been getting shocked by my microphone lately.

"Aqualung my friend"

Back when I was in 6th grade, I heard one of the other students was repeating the lyrics from the song "Aqualung" and talking about the record so I went to the record store near Westbury Square called Evolution Records and bought it. Evolution Records was a Hippie type shop and I thought it was one of the coolest places in the world at that time. They always had a hippie dude working behind the counter and insense burning. That and all the Rock records (now classic rock) displayed on all the walls. They had some black lights and lots of posters which they sold also.

I listened to it quite a bit and when the band "Jethro Tull" came to town about a year or so later I went to the concert. It was in the Sam Houston Coliseum which was right next to the Music Hall in downtown Houston. It is the same place the had Houston Wrestling with Paul Bosch, The guy from the I W marks commercial who wears the earing and says "If I.W. Marks can make my ears look this good..."

When I went to the concert I thought it was absolutely the coolest thing in the world. I went with a Junior High School friend named Paul Coke. One thing that struck me at the time was how much the band sounded like the record. Very good sound quality compared to other rock concerts. It was the tour associated with the next album after Aqualung which was called "Thick as a Brick"

Ian Anderson is a great songwriter and musician and I still feel like those are the two best Jethro Tull Albums. Not that the others aren't good but they don't have the same feel. To me anyway.

The song "Bungle in the Jungle" was a pop hit at the time but it didn't sound like what I expected Jethro Tull to sound like. The later albums are very good also but they are more Ian Anderson as a Solo Artist compared to the early Jethro Tull which sounded more band oriented to me.

Aqualung was big album as far as impact on Rock. It had sort of a metal sound but also was folky at the same time. There is alot of Acoustic Guitar and each song is very strong on it's own. The whole album seems to fit as group and there are quite a few refences to the church and how they got it wrong. It was sort an early attack on the "moral majority" mentality.


The reason I was thinking about Jethro Tull & Aqualung is that I was driving home from a gig last week and they played the album at midnight.

I still have the record. Not the original one from when I was a kid but I bought another copy at a used record store about 10 years ago.

It is my Internet Album Pick of the week.