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Archives for 2007

The lead Dogs specialize in Lead Generation

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Over the years a lot of the guys that I used to be in bands with have started their own music related companies, and I know that some of them have struggled to promote their businesses. There’s a lot of competition out there, especially in niche markets like the music trade.

I’ve just come across a site called “The Lead Dogs”. They specialize in
Lead Generation. They assist a companies business marketer by helping them manage inquiries, and in generating leads by phone, as well as nurturing interesting prospects into sales ready leads.

The lead dogs have been in business since 1994 and have built a solid reputation in the lead generation business.

Off the top of my head I can think of at least two of my friends who have started companies in the past few years that could use the help of a company such as The Lead Dogs. I know their businesses would do well if they managed to get more sales and business leads. I’m going to pass this link on to them right now.

The Lead Dogs is a lead development company that works with business-to-business marketers helping them manage inquiries, generate leads by phone and nurture interested prospects into sales-ready leads. Established in 1994, we have built a solid reputation by hiring the best talent, giving them to tools to succeed and being rabid about quality control.




This past Saturday

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Well this past Saturday was my mother’s birthday and my wife and I were going to take her out to dinner with my younger sister and family. While in Brantford, I thought that I could hook up with my old buddy Steve B., the ex-bass player (turned guitar solo artist) and get some tracks down for a song that he is currently recording. As luck would have it, both my wife and Steve were sick.

So I went down the street of my parents home to the scene of the crime for New Years 2007 at the May’s! I had to go out and pick up my Mom’s cake at a local bakery and when returning home I decided to just drive down the old street for fun. That’s when I saw Mr. M. walking into his house. So I went in and had a couple of beers and then my favorite brother-in-law Stevie H. had to come and rescue me from certain inebriation.

So after that we all went out for dinner and had a great time.

While driving home to Toronto I started to get a headache. I’m not prone to these things so I thought it would just pass, boy was I wrong.

I felt like someone was drilling into my head at the temples. I thought about pulling over and getting a hotel room and get better. When I got home I just lay on the couch and placed a heating pad on my head. Finally after 1/2 an hour I went to bed. I got up the next day and it was still there. The afternoon and evening was a bit better but wow, what a headache. Today, Monday, is better but I feel it coming and going again!

Trish, my angel of mercy, told me that it could be a virus, sinus problem or maybe there was some MSG in the food we ate at the Chinese restaurant. Don’t know what it is, but I wish that I could tag someone and it would be their turn to be it! I really don’t mean that, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

Keep on Jammin’ (but very quietly)

A Realization that I can play guitar

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I was just surfing while listening to one of my favorite Canadian musicians of all time, Bruce Cockburn (B.C.). I came to the realization that I am finally playing like a great guitar player of the 80’s, Mark Knopfler.

In grade 8, a song came onto the music scene that was really new and refreshing. It was a band called “Dire Straights”. The song that caught my ear was “Sultan of Swing”.

The guitar player was just a jammin’ on this tune. His name is Mark Knopfler. This popular song at the time was a song that I just had to play. I was taking lessons from the best guitar teacher of all time, in my mind, C. Peterson. I had requested that he show me how to play this tune and he said that he had already figured it out.

Mr. P. was just unreal at figuring out anything in on guitar. So off he went and started to show me the song. It was fun and challenging to play, just the way I liked it. After a couple of lessons, I could play the song pretty much inside out, which is the way he taught me.

While playing the song for many years, I decided to re-visit this song to see if there was any other way(s) to improve playing it. Mr. Peterson introduced me to the technique that Mark Knopfler used on the song but I thought that this guy was one of those off beat musicians that would fade after a short success, boy was I wrong.

I had listened to this song repeatedly over the years,and I noticed subtle tones that I had missed while playing. When I played it, it had a crisper sounding to it then what he had. His version almost had a muddled sound. In my younger years listening to the song, I had noticed that, and I thought it was just the recording technique at the time and that was it. So I then tried playing it with just my fingers and wow, it was really hard to play.

Being a classical guitar player, I was use to using my fingers but had to use my nails to attack the strings but, this guy used his thumbs and at a lightning like speed during his solo’s to boot! I tried and tried and tried but I could not get the calluses on the sides of my fingers that I really needed to pull of the song so I went back to the original way of playing the song.

Now fast forward to 2 years ago when I fell in love with the B.C.’s style of finger picking. The attack technique used here was different from my classical training but I loved the sound he got out of his axe. It was just plain fun to listen to.

So today while I was surfing and listening to B.C. at the same time, I was listening to this song called “It’s Going Down Slow” and “Mamma just wants to barrelhouse all night long”, from Waiting for a Miracle (1987). Today I can play these ones not bad and I just enjoy listening to them. It was at that moment that I noticed the similarities between both techniques and it had just dawned on me that, I can play guitar.

Keep on jammin’

I found a great site for tax related information

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It’s the dreaded tax time of year. I should correct myself – all year round is tax time what with sales tax, and here in Canada GST taxes, however it’s now the time of year when we figure out all of our expenses, deductions and earnings and file our tax forms.

I really dislike this time of year. I’ve never had much of a problem with having to pay very much extra for taxes, but I still dislike doing my taxes. Which is why I was very happy to discover all of the Tax Debt information at Secureloanconsolidation.com.

I think I’m going to spend the next while reading all of the Tax related articles on the site, and see if I can figure out ways to avoid tax debt, and maybe if I’m lucky when I go through their Tax Help articles I’ll be able to find some new deductions that I hadn’t thought of applying to this years tax forms.

If you are like me and you’re in the middle of getting all your tax information together it couldn’t hurt to visit the site and read all of the tax related articles. I’m certain that it’s going to help me.

My DigiTech – Multi Chorus

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I bought this item from Tim at the Twelve Fret in Toronto in July, 2006. My DigiTech Multi Chorus was bought with my acoustic guitar in mind.

I just love a big full sounding guitar when I’m playing live. I first try to achieve this while playing unplugged so when I play live, it sounds perfect. As you may or may not know, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I have to have something always ringing on my axe when performing. I just hate a nano-second of dead air. I am just a sucker for a true full sound. This is where the sound of my new pedal comes in handy live. The owners manual is a big help as well!

I always plug in stereo whenever I can. I’m a huge Alex Lifeson nut so … that should say it all! He has sound that just hangs in the air while, other parts drift in and out. When playing live I strive for the sound that he gets when playing Lime Light, Red Barchetta, or my all time favorite, Spirit of Radio. This type of sound is sacred to me. This pedal allows me to take this direction without the high cost of multiple rack mount units to lug around.

The ” Voice ” button is my best friend on this unit. It goes up to 16 voices like a joke and the level control is a close 2nd. The fading/panning aspect that you get out of your P.A. using this is a real pleasant and relaxing sound to listen to when you are playing intricate pieces. I hope to one day play on a true QUAD P.A. but, I may have to wait awhile for that one.

The casing of this unit looks strong enough to drive over it with your car a couple of times but, I truly don’t recommend it. If I was a betting man, I’d try it or, if I had more dollars then cents (get it?) why not.

I honestly don’t use it a lot because I do not play live too often so, I can’t tell you how long the battery life is. You’ll have to try it for yourself and get back to us on that one.

Keep on Jammin’

My old HiWatt, 50 watt 1/2 Stack

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Boy was this HIWATT thing freaking HEAVY!!! It was such a bitch to lug around. But I loved my HIWATT 50 watt, !!!

I vividly remember being in the band for “GOD SPELL” at St. John’s College in Brantford. The music director for this production, who admitted to only be able to play the stereo, use to help us load the BEAST onto a dolly and moving it back and forth from the music room to the gym for rehearsals. He always said ” This big thing sure sounds great but, HIWATTS SHOULD HAVE WHEELS!!!” The cabinet and the head where the same weight I think.

I sadly do not have this beautiful piece of my history with me but ahhh, the memories! My parents bought this for me from the now defunked Brantford icon, “Music and Sound” run by Bruce P. He fled the country to the US because of some tax stuff, or so the story goes.

I had went and checked out amps and decided on this one. The sound was just HUGE! It also had a warm and soothing sound as well. Great from RUSH to Renaissance. With just a acoustic, it was wonderful. I used “Groove Tubes” in this with great results and changed them yearly, they were a bit pricey but you get what you pay for.

Check out this demo that I found on YOU TUBE

The morning after my 16th birthday was fuzzy and quite warm to say the least, the days before air conditioning in my house. I woke up and saw the sun coming into my basement bedroom. This was nothing new but this time I could barely make out a big fuzzie rectangular object sitting in the door way. When my eyes started to focus on this off thing, I realized that it was a FREAK’N 50 WATT, HIWATT, 1/2 STACK!!!!!! I ran over to this thing and plugged it all in, in a nano-second! I then plugged in my RD and let it rip REALLY LOUD! I think it was set to 11 on the volume control.

At this point my parents must have known that I was up and went on downstairs. They told me that God called over from next door (we lived around 100 ft. away from St. Pius X Church) and said he can’t think or something like that. Then came a knock on the door and the sound of a heard of guys flying down the stairs. Yes, it’s the boys from Gemini! They just stood their with their jaws on the ground, right along with me. I think that my parents did the same thing, not realizing how loud this new toy was.

My 1959 Fender Duo Sonic

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This is a picture of a Fender Guitar, not my 1959 Fender Duo Sonic (pre-CBS) but one that I found on-line. Unfortunately, I have lost the tail piece cover and the volume and tone knobs on my Fender. The 1964 Duo Sonic Manual is a blast to look at, check out those beatnik guys dancing around on the front page!

This guitar is like a “Student” model but it plays great if you are a speed freak! The guitar player in Steely Dan, (Walter Becker) and Scott Merrit from my home town of Brantford, Ont., use one!

The guitar is a Student model which is great if your a speed freak. The pick ups are single coiled that has a rich warm sound. The neck on it is fast and smooth flowing and very small. It’s well worn to the point where it practically plays itself.

I remember the day I first saw it. I was in my parents living room doing something when my mom walked into the house with this dusty old guitar case. I asked her what it was and she said that this was an old guitar that sat up in a friends of hers attic for many years. Her son was said to have had it forever and that he had just died and she wanted to get rid of it. Here we go, my mother was always looking for great deals in anything. She had brought some guitars home that would be great to break on stage but that was it.

So she plopped it down on the couch and she let me open it. My jaw just dropped and I proceeded to play this blast from the past and then asked her how much. She replied ” $130.00 (Can.)”, I said “YES!!!!”. I said yes just because it just felt so right! I didn’t even plug the thing into my “Hiwatt, 50 watt bulldog, 1/2 stack”( I will talk about that later).

I also remember vividly the day that i went to look at guitars from Steve’s Music in Toronto and took this with us to see what the price of it might be for curiosity sake. When we opened it up, some older guy came up to us and offered $2000.00 (Can.) right on the spot. We looked at each other and said ” No thank-you sir ” and acted like good country bumpkins that we were, that had just fell off the turnip truck.

In todays market it’s not worth that much but it sure as hell made my mom feel like one of those people on the Antiques Road that used a violin called something like “Stradivarius” to hold open the barn door only to find out that it’s worth just a few more bucks! I just loved that look on my mothers face that day!

Keep on Jammin’

My 1980 Fender Lead II

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This is the guitar that I have is to play more Rock and Roll tunes on. It’s a lot lighter then the RD Artist but heavier then the Fender Duo Sonic. The width of the neck is right in between both of the other ones. The intonation is perfect for the Ozzie stuff but it’s not as wide for the Jazz approach. I find is fabulous for playing the electric version of Neon that allows me to use my thumb on the upper E string.

The 1980 Lead II and the 1982 Lead II are both fine guitars. The Lead II Manual, which I wish I had the original, went missing somewhere in my parents house in the 80’s.

Not many scratches (I think that they’re character markings like the colour of the neck being worn down) on the body. The pick guard on the other hand has lotz of character, because of my aggressive NOT THRASHING style of attack in my playing. I use the D’Aaddario True Blue medium strings on this puppy.

My Serial # is E0009736 which makes it made in 1980. The guitar came with a brown shoulder strap bag and that was it, bare bones. I purchased in Hong Kong by a foreign exchange student but, his name eludes me right now. He live at Mr. Zryrini’s house down the street from my parents home in Brantford. I remember him being a great guy who could play the guitar not that bad but, he sure looked like he was having a hell of a lot of fun playing it!

He was a bit strapped for money at the time so I bought it off him. He was always at our house that summer and i showed him tons of stuff. I really felt bad for the guy because he no did not have an axe to jam with at home so I lent him the one he sold, weird eh? I had to because there is nothing worse then stunting the growth of a guitar player!

Tone Port by Line 6

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Last night I went over to saw Rick and Steve at G-Force Media Productions and was re-acquainted with this little toy that Rick picked up at a Long and Mcquade year end sale.

Rick, the man with his eyes always open to new innovative electronic support equipment, had heard of this device called a Tone Port by line 6. He had done his research on line about this product and had heard from other people in the industry that had used this product with great results. With the event of last years “year end blow out sale on all in-store products” fast approaching, he went on their website to see if it was on the list of items on sale. He found that this product, along with other equipment that he had his eye on, was on sale and knew that he just had to have this in his arsenal, so he went and stood in line for 12 hrs before the doors had opened and was 3rd in line. And thank God he did!

He had came to work at the Hospital, where we work, the next day I think and, told me that he had snagged this for a steal at $130.00 (Can.) Weeks later after completing their reno on the studio, he finally installed this beast. I went over one day and he showed me just how it worked. I was totally amazed at the diversity that this thing had. I had so many sound tabs to chose from, that I didn’t know which one to target on first.

Rick then told me to just start jammin’ and that he was going to record whatever I was playing, just so he could get use his board again after a short hiatus from it. I know that ‘m far removed from my RUSH days but, I started off with Working Man(1st album called RUSH,1975). The sound was very fat as well as raw, with sustain that went on forever with this effect peddle! I was using this electric guitar that he had bought, can’t remember the name, that had a wammie bar on it and said that no one liked it because it’s too hard to play. Those guys must have been joking, the thing soared like a dragon, really. I’ve never owned a guitar that had a wammie bar so I just went nutz. I had the honour of breaking in his studio by being that first guitar player to play in his studio as well as the Tone Port, thanx Rick!

I truly hope that you jump to their(Line 6’s) site and check out for yourself the versatility that this item has. The site has a video of how it works and it’s an eye opener. Rick just has the 1st version but, still it’s nothing to sneeze at, trust me. If anyone picks this thing up, can you write to me about the pro’s and con’s of it? I want to see if there are any improvements to the first that would make it worth my will to pick it up, besides the price. But I’m really lucky cause, I’ve got Mr. Jones and his Tone Port on my side!

Keep on Jammin’

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