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Archives for August 2007

Canada’s own John ‘JD’ Roberts

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Now I grew up watching this guy when he was one of the first Video jockeys in Canada. He talked about and interviewed many of the days greatest bands of our time. He was always soft spoken and very intellectual in my eyes.

Now a days, he is a anchor person at CNN. When I see him in his new refined roll for the American cable company CNN, I still get a chuckle and wonder what reaction people would get if they saw one of his blasts from the past interviews? Well, here goes!

This next flick is of JD, as we know him, with a member of the Canadian 80’s band FM. The member of the band is the always entertaining mandolin player, Nash the Slash!

If you recognize John Roberts and watch him on CNN, I honestly want to know what your initial response is to this video. I realize that it may make you do a double take but I hope it makes you think!

Keep on Jammin’




More on my 1959 Fender Duo Sonic

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This baby was first introduced to us in mid 1956, the original Duosonic (two pickups) were Fender’s 3/4 size, student model, 22.5″ short scale beginners guitars.

With the switch in the middle position, the two pickups are in series, giving a humbucking pickup type sound. These short scale student models were made to the same high quality standards and materials that Fender used for its more expensive models. For this reason, Duo-Sonics are very well made.

In late 1964 both models moved to second generation, coinciding with the introduction of the Mustang. A buddy of mind, Serge Roy of Brantford has one of these puppies! The “II” designation was then added to the DuoSonic and MusicMaster names. These models are more like the Mustang (except the Mustang has a vibrato), than the original DuoSonic/MusicMaster models. The differences in the new generation were in the body shape, pickguard, and electronics.

It was available with either a 22.5″ or 24″ scale, but is most often found with the longer scale. The 24″ scale Duo-Sonic II, Musicmaster II, and Mustang of the September 1965 to October 1966 period are sometimes found with a slab rosewood fingerboard, usually of Indian rosewood.

Some Fender experts today speculate that the slab board necks were leftovers from 1962 Jaguars. Don’t tell Serge about this one,ok?

No matter what is said about this vintage instrument the only thing that matters is how it plays and sounds. I am truly blessed by having this little gem of a guitar and I know that. If you ever get the opportunity to play a 1959 Fender Duo Sonic you will know what I mean and remember this post!

Keep on Jammin’

Glenn Gould’s secret lover

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Thank God for that little area beneath the current newspaper that holds the previous days editions!

I was shopping with my wife this past Sunday and I was stopped in my tracks by the front page news caption ” The Secret Life of Glenn Gould”. I just had to have a copy of this article about my favorite Canadian Pianist of all time.

As to the title of the article, many autobiographies tried to tackle this topic, but it was mostly pure speculation. Mr. Gould was such a private person that most fans knew nothing about him besides his being the most refreshing interpreter of Bach’s pieces. “He was the James Dean of classical music,” said Tim Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic of the Washington Post and a friend of Gould’s. “He made Bach swing.” Some consider him perhaps the greatest piano virtuoso of the 20th century!

corneliafoss.JPG For most of his life, there were rumors he was either asexual or gay. Now with this revelation in hand, the idea can be put to rest once and for all.

In 1967, Glenn Gould carried on an affair for five years with a married women named Cornelia Foss. She, 25, and her husband, 34, Lukas Foss, were great friends and admirers of his work. Glenn and the Foss’ first met in LA one night in 1957, and later on Lukas found work as a conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1963. Both Glenn and the Foss’ couldn’t have been happier.

lucasfoss.jpg With Gould calling them all the time, Lucas became suspicious of them. In 1966 Cornelia says that Glenn asked for her hand in marriage. Then in 1967, she put her kids in the family station wagon and moved from Buffalo to Toronto to be closer to him.

glenngould.jpg Everything was going fine until she noticed some unsettling behaviour with him two weeks after she left Lucas. She must have been saying to herself what have I got myself, and more importantly, my children into?

After many years with Mr. Gould she returned to Lucas in 1972. Gould never really got over her some close friends would say.

After the tragic passing of Mr. Gould on Oct. 4, 1982, friends found notes in his St. Claire Apt. stating …

“I am deeply in love with a certain beautiful girl. I asked her to marry me, but she turned me down but I still love her more than anything in the world and every minute I can spend with her is pure heaven … “

gouldspiano.jpg

I can only imagine the facial expression on the one who came across the earth shattering confession!

Glenn Gould R.I.P.

Keep on Jammin’

A Canadian Amp called Traynor

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I never did have an interest in the sound that Traynor amps had so I didn’t pay any attention to them. No great guitar player played on one except my most influential guitar teacher Chris P. Even the place that he taught at, the old “Alonzo’s Music” on Colbourne St. in Brantford which is now called LA Music, was stacked to the ceiling with Traynor amps. Ah, but Mike Defo from the Brantford 80’s band “Vigilance” used Traynor guitar and P.A’s. Boy did I envy his playing as a young guitar player!

petetraynor.gif Peter Traynor is a longtime friend to Dominic Troiano, both from Toronto area , who made these Traynor amplifiers that are the most famous amplifiers that ever came out of Canada.

Troiano and the boys from “Bush” were the first band to take that equipment across the border and play it in the USA.

Peter Traynor isn’t a wealthy man, because he sold out to the person that was funding him.

Anyway, it’s a company called Yorkville Sound. It’s probably one of the biggest corporations in Canada, but it is Bush’s amplifiers that were made by Peter Traynor that actually broke through in the United States and made them money.

traynorhead300×161.jpg Traynor went well out of his way to make sure he got it right for them. He was a great innovator. He’s a genius and a very important person in the Canadian culture of music. After the infamous accident in Death Valley on their way to Vegas, they played the gig, and it was all that Traynor gear – the guitar amp, the bass amp… they just dusted it off, stuck things back on, and it all worked. Talk about Canadian toughness, I guess he got that toughness from our way of dominating the ice in HOCKEY!!!

I was inspired to write this post after reading a “Bush” site about John Prakask, the great bass player from the band.

Keep on Jammin’

The Mosport peace concert July 1970

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While reading the Toronto Star the other day, I found a great piece of music history that never was.

lennon_ono.jpg It was to be organized by John Lennon and whats her name. This event was to be part of their peace campaign, shortly after John left the Beatles. It was to have been a star studded event North of Toronto Ontario.

Unfortunately for us the US government got involved with it. I still to this day have no idea why the US Government was so concerned with John Lennon in the first place? If he was such an eyesore to them then why didn’t they just ignore him. You know like what I say about Micheal Jackson all the time, ” If you just ignore this freak, he will eventually just go away”. Just like the school or village idiot?

But even common sense has to prevail once in a while. Although the Ontario government at the time tried to put the ca bash to this one, the courts stepped in and said that it was ok to proceed.

When was it to have taken place, Aug. 7-9, 1970. I bet it would have been a blast!

John Lennon R.I.P.

Keep on Jammin’

Rick Wakeman’s band is terribly talented

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Oh my GOD!!! The show left me literally in a state of incomunicato.

Not just because of R. Jackson’s generous gift of buying a ticket for me (which I WILL remember for the rest of my life!), but due to the pure talent of Rick Wakeman and his band mates.

The tour is called Rick Wakeman’s Grumpy Old Picture Show.

The caped keyboard crusader was at his all time best!

When they started to play the first song I thought that these guys were just a rinkie dinkie band of whoever that he put together at the last minute. A funny thing happened later on though, they started to morph into this MEGA BAND right before my very eyes!

The band consisted of Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble.

I only wish that you all were there to enjoy it as much as we did. Thanx again R. Jackson for the memories!

Keep on Jammin’

To the guy who practises random acts of kindness

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I hereby announce the winner of this years “Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty” award is R. JACKSON the proud owner of Prestige Glass International!

Ok everyone … please calm down and take your computer seats!

It wasn’t hard to come to this decision. You see … Earlier this month I was ill and we thought it might have been a heart problem that had plagued me a few years ago. You might have heard about this on my wife’s blog You are in my World Now. During the short period of time that I was ill, I’m better now, I found out that one of the greatest keyboardist in Rock history, no it’s not Robert even though he is an accomplished keyboardist in his own right, Rick Wakeman, is playing a concert this Sunday at the Danforth Music Hall here in Toronto.

The prices for these tickets were quite pricey and at the moment I couldn’t afford them. The concert might even be sold out by now too.

Now this is where Robert comes in. He was searching for information about the Rick Wakeman concert and he came across the post on my wife’s blog that discussed how much I wanted to go to the concert. He read it and then replied:

I just realized that Chris is ill, by looking at this site a little closer. The spare ticket to Rick Wakeman is yours for free.

Now that is the reason why he is this years recipient! The man went way out of his way to provide me with music that will sooth my ill heart!

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that Robert has a company called Prestige Glass International. Well I took a moment to visit his company site and his company makes some very cool stuff that you should check out.

My favorite pieces are under “Canadiana” Inukshuks (in-ook-shook) and Vases & Bowls. The Vases & Bowls remind me of some of the ones that my relatives make in Ireland.

I don’t think that I told you about my family roots, but we are from Waterford Ireland. Yes, the place that makes the world famous Waterford Crystal. As luck would have it, I still have 2 cousins that do the glass blowing and cutting at the plant. Too bad they weren’t there when we were doing the tour of the factory a few years ago.

Since my cousins weren’t at the Waterford factory when we visited we did a tour of the plant with the regular tourists. While watching some guys do their work on their benches I kept asking the the tour guide some detailed questions about cutting and the tools they used. After a while he kept wondering why I had many questions I told them that I was a goldsmith and diamond setter. I also said that during the tour we saw some pictures of our cousins through out the plant. He then laughed and said “Oh ya, they did say some of their cousins were going to show up some time.”

At this point we were nearing the end of the tour and he said why don’t we hang out and talk to the boys on the floor, and that’s what we did. After being introduced to them the tour guide told them who we were and they said “Do you want to take a crack at it?” and I said “Why not!”

So cheers to this years recipient! Maybe he’ll let me take a crack at glass blowing behind his bench.

Keep on Jammin’

Time to overhaul my Gibson RD – Artist?

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This guitar is my baby! I have been through thick and thin with this thing. I now feel and fear that this perfect instrument has to be improved in one area and one area only.

I love the “character marks” on it, that means “wear and tear” for the uninitiated. The oxidization or colour change in the Ivory throughout the guitar, makes it look beautiful and vintage. The neck is perfect. The tuning pegs are still working quite well, stays in tune for ages. The active electronics need some work and I want to have that looked at. Now the only biggest drawback to it is the weight. If you ever had to play this thing for 2 hours while your playing live, you will know what I mean.

This is the only big obstacle that I have to deal with. The way to resolve this will tax my nerves to the limit.

By reading a great site in blog land, I’ve found that I have a little voice in my head pushing me more and more towards confronting this issue. The site is called Building the Ergonomic Guitar.

He says that the way to get the best results are to change to an ergonomic strap called “The Dare Strap“. This idea is the least invasive out there that he’s heard.

So I was just wondering if I should just router some areas on the back of the guitar to lighten up my load. I realize this sounds like some “Hillbilly that just fell off the turnip truck” idea but it may work? I am just asking for ideas here people. I don’t even own a router.

There is this guitar player in Brantford in the early 70 -90’s called Scott Merrit. The man was a god on guitar. He played in the open tuning style that I had only heard of at the time, but have never done anything quite like. I must admit that when he went into the local guitar shop called “Music and Sound”, I would just put down my guitar and pretend that I didn’t play. I know it was a fantastic missed opportunity by a little kid, but could you blame me I was in grade 8.

He was awarded a Juno for the best upcoming artist and vocalist in Canada in the mid 80’s. Scott had the same 1959 Fender Duo-Sonic that I have. The big difference between both of ours was that he had cut a handle hole in the upper right portion of the guitar where you might rest your right forearm on, while I left mine complete. It was the neatest thing to look at. While I was over at his place in high school, he showed it to me.

I guess if Jimmy Page can use this guitar at all of their Knebworth shows for Misty Mountain Hop throughout the 70’s, then it’s good enough for me!

If someone has ever done this type of work on their guitar or is very talented with a router, can you give me some advice on the pro’s and con’s or even alternatives to this procedure?

Keep on Jammin’

A beautiful little dittie

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This is a little dittie that I came across on JT Music and it is something that I just had to share with you all!

It’s Little Wing played by SRV and the video is a combination of great blues players and also shows the making of what seems to be Fender guitars.

SRV R.I.P.

Keep on Jammin’


Tremolo Bars

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Has anyone ever wondered what the tremolo setup in their guitars look like, but was too afraid to take it apart. I’ve never had a guitar with a tremolo bar but my buddy did and one day he decided to show me.

My buddy in Brantford was a collector of guitars. He was rather talented, but was more into collecting them, then playing them. Nice hobby if you can afford it. I was very fortunate one evening to see a “59 Fender Strat” that he had picked up for his collection.

One night I was invited to bring my HiWatt and Gibson RD to his house with a couple of buddies to jam. I had come in, set up my amp and he gave me a beer. The boys always looked forward to jammin’ with me because I was one of the few guitar players who liked to challenge myself with different playing techniques. Most of the time they just watched and asked questions. That always drives me crazy! Then my buddy went over and brought out a guitar case and placed it in front of me.

When he opened the case, I felt my body shaking inside. It felt like someone had just opened up the “Ark of the Covenant” and was looking at the “10 Commandments” written by God and given to Moses on the mountain, inside!

I had never seen this legendary 59 Strat let alone had the ability to play it.

I just looked at it for a while and then he said “why don’t you plug it in?” I then picked it up and studied it intensely. After 10 minutes of viewing every angle and part of this mythical beast, I plugged it in and played for around 2 hours straight.

After I stopped playing I asked him “What does the Whammy (Tremolo) Bar system look like?”. He drew a quick picture on a pack of smokes and then asked me if I wanted to see this one’s? The guy who he had bought it from then took it from me and started to take off the back to expose the inner workings of it. It looked something like this:

fender-trem-as.jpg

Now to give you a better understanding how it works, I have a video for you.

So if you have one of these on your axe, you now have a better idea of how it works and how to roughly adjust it. I strongly recommend that you take the back cover off it and just take a look around just for an educational experience.

Remember by taking the cover off the back of your guitar to take a look, you won’t blow it up! This will make you more aware of your overall guitar and make you feel more comfortable with it. Knowledge is power and besides, it makes you look like you know what your talking about.

Take pictures and save them. Later on this may become a life saver if you do start adjusting it. This will allow you to see what it looked like before you started. Actually, take pictures of every stage of it. There is nothing worse then having a couple of screws left over when you think your done! It happens to the best of us!

Keep on Jammin’

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