MCChris

My favorite CL requirement was by a band looking for a bass player that stated a minimum strap length.

Oh all right. Finally got my old man to cave and get me a guitar in 1979. We went to Fiddlers Music on the far east side of Detroit and although I wanted one of the Hamer Sunbursts that were behind the counter (how i fell in love with the brand; the guitars themselves sold me) I ended up with a Mitch-approved Yamaha classical guitar. There was one condition: that I take proper lessons, so I did at the same music store. My first teacher was Tom Neme, a local player of some renown for having played on the Noah album by the Bob Seger System. First half of the lesson was from the Mel Bay books; second half was learning songs (first one was "Sandman" by America). Eventually graduated to a Hondo II electric a year later, and a '70s Strat a year after that, at which time I switched to a different teacher at the same store, Tim Allen (not the comedian). I'll always remember his '50s Gibson Junior and the fact that he showed me the pentatonic scale, after which I was off to the races as I could finally play solos that sounded like the ones I dug from rock radio. Eventually switched to a third teacher at the same store, Chuck Miller, who was the cat's ass in everyone else's opinion but after a few sessions of sitting there doing nothing while he scribbled down modes and transcribed rock songs, I quit lessons in favor of playing in the high school jazz band, which was my first experience with ensemble playing. Of course, it all went irrevocably out the window when I formed a dirty rock band with my buddies in college.

I owned Ace's solo album. Never heard a note from Gene's.

You shoulda given it the "ELO Out of the Blue" treatment.

I've still never heard a note from his album, but I soon will on the Podcast, I'm sure.

And it aggravates them that fans know it, too, and that some fans prefer Ace and Peter to Tommy and Eric, no matter how much Gene and Paul try to spin that it's a better band now. Alan It has cheesed Gene for decades that Ace, even with all the defects of character, is infinitely cooler than he is. IMO the solo albums were a vehicle to publicly embarrass Ace and Peter and prove who really made the band tick. It totally backfired on Gene, who I'm sure was convinced that Ace would release a total turd. In fact, the opposite happened.

They're already on it: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nfl/story/_/id/9571497/members-kiss-buy-stake-la-arena-expansion-franchise

Peter is like Philthy Animal Taylor and Steven Adler: Eric Singer, Mikkey Dee and Matt Sorum are far superior technical rock drummers, but their respective bands lost something without the original guys.

LOL I like their recent recorded material, but as a live act, they are beyond finished.

I wouldn't treat a Carvin to a protein swirl.

I'll stop short of calling them a favorite, but I have no qualms about admitting that I like almost all of Loverboy's material.

Although my ear isn't good enough to hear the tonal difference between fretboard woods, I do know that you'd probably have to actually fret a note in order to hear them. Of course I could just be a dumb motherfucker.

My copy arrived today. Well done, Not Chris!

Don't spoil it for the rest of us.

Just got a shipping confirmation email. Perfect timing, as I need to prop up one of the legs on my coffee table by next weekend!

Just ordered my copy direct from the publisher. I'm a writer by trade and I'll probably sooner do a backflip or run a marathon than write a full-length book, so major kudos to you!

"But in recent years, she struggled with job woes and the stress of care-giving for her elderly mother." Yep, I can relate. Life can be overwhelming at times. Sorry to hear she chose this method of exit.

Great call on the Hollies tune. First heard it on a K Tel compilation and that's was when I fell in love with the sound of the electric guitar. Kiss turned me on to the sound of a distorted electric guitar. I had the same reaction as Matthes when I first heard "Mean Street." On vinyl, so the snaps, crackles and pops added to it. Still doesn't have the same effect without them.

Are you kidding? Of course there was malicious intent. If the imposter is a twit, you cannot acquit.

I won't rain on your parade, other than to say that the demise of Hamer was a combination of the company's own failures in the marketplace and the unwillingness/inability of enough people to pony up and place a custom order, myself included. In other words, the toothpaste left the tube long before FMIC arrived.

No. Fuck no.

FTR that's what I paid for my NOS wraparound Studio back in '97 or '98. $1.2K is 40% off original list price for those. Not that it particularly matters in this market or among us cheap fucks at the HFC.