Guitars, tips and great music discussions
This was, in my mind, Canada’s greatest Rock and Roll band of all time!
I think they had more in the tank then they let on.
This is a really weird video from a show called UK Gold. This was when the band was touring support of the Million Vacations album. So, for all you Max fans out there, Enjoy!
Keep on Jammin’ Max and the Maxa Machine!
The BBC has produced one more gem of the documentary! This informative Rock and Roll documentary titled the Seven Ages of Rock was great to watch right from start to finish.
It was my wife’s birthday this past weekend and while at home eating her favorite Greek take-out food, we came across this amazing show that i just happened to tape earlier on in the week. The segment we took in was the We are the Champions section. It talked about, and with, some of the Arena Rock bands and how they achieved mastering this part of our R & R experience. The BBC brought us through it’s evolution of this period and how it shaped us morally and politically and it didn’t disappoint.
We both love all the bands of that era and the way they explored the sequence of it. Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Police, U2, Dire Straights, Kiss and to a lesser extent Springsteen. I realize I’ll take some heat for my comment about Springsteen from some of my readers, but that is for another future post.
This one hour doc was even making our puppy Midnight sit up and take notice (we’ll take any help to settle her down where we can get it!) It had all of the standard nostalgic rock doc footage, but it also brought us behind the scenes of the bands inner workings of their business dealings. The best and most insightful in this regard was from The Police’s Stewart Copeland.
The hats off best musical guitar lesson was from Mark Knopfler. He just casually picks up his trusty axe and shows us how he plays Money for Nothing from the 1985 album Brothers in Arms. That was just plain and simply amazing!
I’ve tried for years to figure out this song in many different ways, but I was never quite satisfied with my own end results. So when he picked up his Les Paul, and started showing us exactly how he plays this tune practically note for note, I almost died! So did my wife because we have a PVR (or TVo to my US readers) that allows me to go back and forth to pick apart any section of the video that is recorded with ease.
Having and using this piece of technology, is what helps in driving my wife up the wall and down the other side. The other is when I re-play the song for ever, because I am so annul in reproducing ANY song on guitar. If you have the ability to tape this part of the program and you honestly want to play this tune properly, them tape it! You WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!
OR, just check this out!
The only bands that where noticeable absent in the segment was Pink Floyd and The Who. Thank God they were in the first two programs. Otherwise, we both give this one 2 thumbs up! And, if the situation presented itself, I’d get the DVD for my collection … and I can be quite tight with my money!
Keep on Jammin’
This super group of the from late 1978 to the present, played in Toronto last night at the Molson Amphitheater. This also happens to be the band’s new lead singer’s, Arnel Pineda’s, birthday. I bet he put on a fabulous show this night!
I have been a fan of Journey for some time now. I remember figuring out how to play Don’t Stop Believing on the piano when I was attending St. John’s High School in Brantford and I played it all the time. The vocalist Steve Perry range was unforgettable and some of the guitar work was just so in your face.
I only regret that I did not get the opportunity to have played any of their songs with Pylis. Now that was tragic indeed. Anyway your want it, would have been the best fit in mind!
The former lead singer Jeff Scott Soto is replaced by Arnel Pineda. Arnel is from Quezon City in the Philippines. While looking for a replacement for Jeff, Guitarist Neal Schon, located Arnel on youtube singing many tunes with his band The Zoo. He got a hold of him through youtube and the rest is history.
This show also had Heart and Cheap Trick on the billing. This would of been one hell of a show to see, I wish that we could have been there for this one!
Keep on Jammin’
The name of the song/album from Steely Dan titled Aja, is from a Korean women.
I’m not sure if I told you all before but some of my earliest exposure to Jazz guitar influences was from this fabulous band, Steely Dan and I owe a lot to this band in terms of my playing style. This is a little bit of music trivia that I found out while viewing youtube searching for Jackie Blue from the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.
First of all, my wife and I were watching this new show called Swingtown (go tot he bottom right for music samples). It’s about these couples from the 70’s, who were swingers, in the Chicago area. The music for this series is top notch, in our eyes! So while viewing the show, this song from the Ozark Mountain Daredevils (viewed by some to be a country version of Steely Dan) entitled Jackie Blue was playing. This song, like most of the songs on this show, just blew me right back to the 70’s during my childhood.
I remember this song as a comforting song, regardless of it’s content. During this part of the show, I picked up my acoustic and tried figuring it out. I was leaning towards a unplugged version of it and I soon nailed it very promptly.
Never perfectly happy in how I play songs, always looking for multiple ways to it, I looked in youtube to see if there was someone else who plays it in an unplugged style with no luck. Then in the Related Video section I found a video called Steely Dan – “Aja” The Making Of:
It was an interview with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen talking about their album Aja. As a kid, I was always interested in who that was on the front cover of it, this is when I found out who it finally was!
Donald Fagen said that a high school friends older brother brother had went off to Korea and married this women, and her name was Aja. The couple later on moved back to the US. Donald Fagen thought that it was a very romantic image with a feeling of tranquility that comes with the name. Now after writing this particular song, he put her name to it, neat eh? AND she is the one on the front cover!
Another musical mystery solved!
Keep on Jammin’ everybody
Just in case you have not heard of these guys, here is a little ditty and my old band Pylis played way back in the day.
It has everything you want in a tune to play live! It’s fun, difficult to play and most of all IT’S A CANADIAN BAND!!!!!
Enjoy!
Keep on Jammin’
Max Webster R.I.P.
Ken Greer has to be the best Canadian guitarist/slide guitarist/keyboardist that has ever flown (for way too long in my eyes) under the radar that I know of! He certainly has to be the most underrated Canadian guitarist that I have ever heard. And I have my brother in-law to thank for this.
He has it all, he plays it all and he understands it ways we can only dream about. Ken Greer has that special something that we all strive for in our own playing approach. Seeing him play with Tom Cochrane was like seeing a wall of sound hit you right in the face. It was like going to a nice old church with an organ that has 75 foot pipes with all the stops out. We experienced what it must of been like for people when they were first exposed to Phil Spector’s revolutionary wall of sound.
They guy plays his slide like it is a freight train rolling through you head one moment, then he tickles the plastic ivory like my buddy Tony F. from my old Pylis days! He then will pick up his axe and then blast off with some back up rhythm guitar playing that makes you just shake your head … that’s what I did throughout his show with Tom Cochrane at the 2008 Canadian Open.
I’ve been trying with no real luck in finding some of his stuff on-line to show you so if you have anything on this guy then PLEASE send me a link! I just want to give you a little taste of what it was that we experienced that faithful night.
Keep on Jammin’
Tom Cochrane and Red Rider were out of this world at the 2008 Canadian Open. They rekindled my love and deep appreciation for this band not only for their song writing ability but the level of musicianship to boot!
My wife’s brother called us a while ago and asked us if we wanted free tickets to the 2008 Canadian Open in Oakville (God bless this man). At first we were a little bit luke warm on the idea of watching a golf tournament, with the weather that we’ve been having here in southern Ontario this summer, until we found out that Tom Cochrane was playing a free show at the Canadian Open!
This guy is hands down my wife’s favorite band of all time. So with these tickets my wife had just received the best free tickets/concert that she ever could have asked for this year!
We arrived there right at the end of play that Saturday night to find out that nobody was around the stage at all! To say that this was our lucky day would be an understatement. The show had a general seating arrangement so we brought along our two seater foldable lawn chair just in case we could use it. With this in tow, we RAN to the front of the stage. I still couldn’t believe my eyes, nobody was there except the security guys! The beer tent was even around 50 feet behind us, mind you they were quite pricey but at that point who cared.
We were about 20 feet away from Tom Cochrane at worst and 15 feet at best throughout the show. He just rocked from the get go and just kept getting better as the set progressed.
Tom started out by singing Victory Day, then followed up with Big League, then Sinking like a Sunset. After that he did a song dedicated to his daughter Cody which I believe was called Northern Star, after that they did a slowed down version of Good Times, followed by Human Race, White Hot and Life is a Highway. They came back for an Encore and did Lunatic Fringe and ended with Boy inside the man.
The part of the show that I just couldn’t keep my mind off was the guitarist/slide/keyboardist named Ken Greer. The only thing that I will say about this guy was OMG, this guy is one !@#$%^& hell of a GREAT MUSICIAN! More to follow on this guy.
Tom Cochrane and Red Rider(Ken Greer), keep on Jammin’ for the love of GOD!
Long gone are the ones who use to play passable karaoke and we now joyfully enter the era of The von Drats. We finally have really cool neighbors!
We ran into them the other day and they seem to be a great fit for the neighborhood. He plays lead guitar, a huge bonus for me, and they are into renovating their new home! They are around our age and she is into sprucing up her garden!
Looking forward to getting to know them better and the best of luck to them in the future!
Keep on Jammin’
First of all, Amos Lee is a guy who is a bit of an acquired taste, but when you get him, you really get him!
Second, I know I must apologize to my regular readers for not writing on this blog for ages, but it’s the summer time here folks!
The tickets we got for free and the added bonus were the seats. They were 1st balcony, 1st row center right above the sound board. It has been a while since we’ve both been out together and it couldn’t of been better.
His sound was that of many influences. Folk, Jazz, Dixie Land and Jazz were right there front from the start. The band that was with him complimented him perfectly. They seemed like they all were high school buddies, that just happened to stumble upon this thing called playing in a band and was enjoying every minute of it.
The drummer was simple but yet very tight. He also caught my wife’s musical eyes in that he plays the drums the other way from what she normally sees in other bands. The bass player reminded me of Billy Wyman in his stage presence. Great bassist, but seemed very, very relaxed on stage.
Now the keyboardist with Amos Lee was another story. He was the most colorful on stage. His sound was big and bouncy! His stage demeanor had the essence of Levon Helm, the drummer for The Band. He was just a grooving to everything and he knew when to fade in and out perfectly! Now for the man of the hour, Amos!
The style he plays is quite simple, most of the time, but he shows how to pull out all the stops at the drop of a hat. His voice took some time getting use to, but in the end he made quite the impression on all of us! The song that stood out in my eyes was Sweet Pea. When I was first deciding which free show to go to, it was this song that drew me towards seeing him. The way he plays this one live is just plain and simply amazing! To see what I mean, I highly recommend going out and seeing this guy live … I know you’ll won’t be disappointed.
Keep on Jammin’
I just won tickets for Amos Lee at the Danforth Music Hall on July 9th! A day after my birthday, thanx for the B.D. present! I know that signing up for e-news letters can certainly be a royal pan in the ass, but this time it was a great idea!
My wife opened the e-mail announcement the other day and thought it was just one of those weekly e-flyers with nothing really of any substance. Then after reading a few lines, she realized they were announcing winners for their weekly or monthly draw and my name was listed. It said that we could check out ANY of their summer shows on-line and then pick one!
They say that he has this minimalist approach to his song writing. His bio on the site sounds neat. It says that his shows are like going back in time when you use to listen to your older brothers record collection! The Music Hall also states that Amos’ influences are those of Neil Young, Stevie Wonder and John Prine all rolled up into one. I think that this guy is someone of future interest.
BTW, if you check out his MySpace site, check out ” Sweet Pea” it’s right back to the roots of guitar. It has a real nice Donovan or Leon Redbone feel to it … if your into that sort of music, I am big time!
So I’ll have to give my impressions on this guy on July 10th. I hope that you’ll all come back for my assessment of this guy and maybe you can put your 2 cents worth into it as well.
Here’s what other bloggers are saying about Amos Lee:
Amos Lee announces Last Days tour dates – When we first brought you news of Amos Lee’s third studio album Last Days at the Lodge, we also promised you tour dates. And we just learned the Philadelphian, who put down his elementary-school teacher chalk to be a full-time musician, …
Amos Lee-Last Days at the Lodge – It’s hard to argue with the success of a young artist like Amos Lee. His first two albums have sold nearly half a million copies and he has opened entire tours for such legends as Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. Upon the release of the his …
Amos Lee – Street Corner Preacher – Shoutouts for the soft rock flavor of Jails & Bombs, the country taste of Ease Back, the jazzy smiles of Baby I Want You, and the deep soulful seasonings of Won’t Let Me Go. Thanks for the variety of eartastes! Amos Lee …
Keep on Jammin’