Posts Tagged ‘Rock & Roll’
Iowa State Fair (Summer 2009)
When I Was Young And Full OF Grace
Chris and I are jammed into a stifling-hot yellow cab locked in gridlock somewhere on Nineth Avenue. Worse, I’m locked in gridlock with my usual pre-show jitters. “I’ve never felt less prepared,” I told him. “There’s too much going on, too many variables. We barely rehearsed, for God’s sake.” “You always say that,” he says.…
Read MoreSummer Teeth
It was hot this morning. Africa hot. Panama hot. Walk twenty blocks to work then change your shirt hot. Walk on whichever side of the street is in shadows hot. All of which is worse with an acoustic guitar is slung over your shoulder. My freshly-repaired Martin DXE15 was slung over my shoulder this morning…
Read MoreCorner Office Concert Series, Vol. I
I’m rarely one to turn down an opportunity to perform, no matter how odd the venue. I’ve played basements, attics, porches, open fields, backyards, street corners, art galleries, cafeterias, gymnasiums, and worse. If you wanna’ hear, odds are I’ll give ya’ something to listen to. So when my colleague, MTV 360 EVP Ross Martin, emailed…
Read MoreHalfway Between The Moon & Me
Lately, it seems like I go weeks without picking up my guitar. Not so these days. On Thursday night at nine o’clock, Chris Abad, Tony Maceli, Ryan Vaughn and I return to Rockwood Music Hall to perform our first prime-time, full-band, full-on rock show in months. Thursday’s set has at least one major surprise (hint:…
Read MoreWhat’s Left Behind To Shoulder Grows Weightless
Sometimes, tragedy brings good things in its wake. On Saturday afternoon, drummer Ryan’s Vaughn’s girlfriend Kasey’s family vehicle was struck by a drunk driver on South Carolina Interstate 26. Kasey’s father was killed. Her little sister, Allie, was thrown from the vehicle. Her mother, niece and friend sustained minor injuries. The Williams were on their…
Read MoreIt Might Get Loud
Director Davis Guggenheim’s new documentary love letter to the electric guitar, “It Might Get Loud,” is loaded with unbelievable moments. First, he manages to shoot Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page’s visit to Headley Grange, the East Hampshire, England, home studio where the band recorded “Led Zeppelin IV.” Page is regal in his puffy, white shirt…
Read MoreHome Is Where Your Friends Are
God bless The Nadas. First they ask me to contribute a song to their “Crystalline” project, a compilation of Authentic Records’ artists covering The Nadas in honor of the band’s fifteenth anniversary. So I recorded a bang-up version of “Feel Like Home” with Chris, Jamie and Tony a few weeks ago which Jon Locker (sustaining…
Read MoreRock ‘N Roll Reconsidered
For years now, I’ve tossed around “rock ‘n roll” as an adjective. Sure, it’s a popular musical genre that evolved in the United States after World War II that combines African American rhythms and blues culture, country and gospel. And yeah, its instrumentation is typically guitars, bass and drums (typically a boogie woogie blues rhythm…
Read MoreWoodgrain
Master Luthier Carlo Greco’s dusty workshop sits two stories and two thousand miles above 48th Street through an unmarked, glass door, one flight up a rickety staircase from an accordion maker. Carlo was the General Foreman of Guild Guitars from 1959-1977. A classical guitar builder from Italy by way of Argentina, he traveled to South…
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