The Swamp

That Pro-Ject turntable. Drool.

I nearly got that one. Instead, I went vintage - Oracle Alexandria

Psycho-delic!!!

Trivia - Jay Ferguson of Spirit did the theme song for "The Office" (American version).

More trivia:

Spirit guitarist Randy California is the stepson of the band's drummer, Ed Cassidy. Not many multi-generational rock bands in my knowledge. I'm excluding cases where rock stars brought their sons into their bands decades after they became big (e.g., Van Halen) or they took the place of their deceased fathers for awhile.

Cassidy was the real deal. In the 40s and 50s Cassidy played in jazz bands, including those fronted by Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Cannonball Adderly. He then founded the legendary Rising Sons with Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal. After that it was Spirit, formed when his step-son Randy was just 15 or 16 and already a guitar-playing pal of Jimi Hendrix (who gave him the 'California' stage name.)

Randy California's composition Taurus is widely believed to have been ripped off by Plant and Page for the famous guitar intro to Stairway to Heaven. Led Zeppelin had played gigs with Spirit at which Taurus was played, prior to the composition of Stairway.

Zep ended up paying them a lot of money didn't they?

Holy Crap!

This is awesome - if you like John Lee Hooker, you are going to plotz!





Amazing stuff from a 1970 TV show in Detroit.

That's the real deal.

The drummer, Muruga Booker, plays around this area now in various combos, as well as being a Greek Orthodox priest. Back in the day he played at Woodstock, and recorded with various George Clinton groups, Weather Report, Al Kooper and others you might recognize.

This is great stuff about a musician I've never really understood. I recognize that Knopfler a brilliant player, but I had no idea where his distinctive sound came from. He keeps moving and changing as well. His masterful, original work pops up where I don't expect it -- soundtracks, country albums, duets with interesting Americans.

Here's the origin, told through the story of Knopfler's six guitars.

Knopfler's blues background -- starting around minute 12 -- is news to me.

The penultimate scene in the Monteleone guitar production workshop fascinates me. Long ago I made furniture. Nothing as exacting or magical as making a guitar, but enough to give me a visceral feeling for what using a chisel on a piece of wood is about. So what a thrill to see a master at work.

um....yeah. wow - can't believe i've never heard this before

(...i suppose i have, actually...)

DC47 wrote:Randy California's composition Taurus is widely believed to have been ripped off by Plant and Page for the famous guitar intro to Stairway to Heaven. Led Zeppelin had played gigs with Spirit at which Taurus was played, prior to the composition of Stairway.

howard wrote:I nearly got that one. Instead, I went vintage - Oracle Alexandria

What's your amplification? (I'm in the market for an upgrade.)

I have a set of Tandberg amp/preamp (3006/3002) I usually use. Sometimes I switch to an Adcom GFA-545ii (with the rare white facing, and a matching preamp, GTP 500.) And in the office I have a Dynaco ST-70 tube amp - it took a while before i found a set of speakers that paired well with the Dynaco.

A few years back I got into buying vintage gear online, intending to step up to a nice modern tube amp. But I became very satisfied and comfortable with the quality of solid state gear from the 80s/90s, and I got tired of the habit of chasing this stuff down. I also came to recognize how much my hearing has deteriorated, and the limits of my ability to appreciate higher end gear. So that phase passed, and I enjoy my current setup. Speakers - Snell C/IV monsters, also a pair of Vandesteen Model 1 (the most modern component I own) that I keep intending to send to my niece in California, but I enjoy listening to them too.

What's up with the needles in that photo, Doc? Keith Richards starter kit?

The photo is from the internets, that is not my table. I'm not sure, but I think they are for lubricating some of the moving parts for a refurbishing project.

Right. So says the anesthesiologist. But I get it. NSA and all. Once slip, and the next thing you know it's the sound of whirling blades in the air, and then ... excuse me while I answer the door. Be right back.

Oh, don't get me wrong. A random photo of my house is likely to show drugs, weed, underage boys, all kinds of stuff lying around.

Sure, I saw all of that in the photos the CIA guys showed me on the way to the air force base just now. Good thing they stopped to get some Starbucks and to arrest more apparently law-abiding citizens for being brown, or I couldn't have slipped out of the back of the black mariah. Saved by the frappucino.

One question though -- what is up with that framed and signed Obama poster? They were okay with the other stuff, but had quite a few questions about this. They speculated that you were in the Obama cell. I assured them that you were no doubt a subversive sleeper cell of one, and that your seeming disgust with government was probably just a clever front for being really disgusted with government. They also wanted to know if you had one or two RPGs, 'for the paperwork.' So be ready for that one in your 'interview.' At least that's what they called it.

My advice is to ask upfront for the size XL canvas hood, as the L actually runs a bit on the small side. They said it was due to sourcing in China, and apologized. Also, speaking of the 'interview', if I had this to do over again I would always have a small snorkel taped to my leg. Live and learn.

DC47 wrote: One question though -- what is up with that framed and signed Obama poster?

young white girls are easily impressed.

Name the mugshots:

Sinatra, Presley Cash, Hendrix, ???, Bowie, Jagger, Joplin, Cobain?

I should know the one in the middle. Strange eyes.

HDO45331 wrote:Sinatra, Presley Cash, Hendrix, ???, Bowie, Jagger, Joplin, Cobain?

I should know the one in the middle. Strange eyes.

Looks like Jim Morrison to me.

Those are all easy.

When I get home, I'm going to post a pic of my vintage Harmon-Kardon turntable.

I didn't get Joplin -- despite being a devotee -- and wasn't sure about Jaggar. I wouldn't have gotten Cobain except that I can read.

I don't know what got Frank to where they took that shot. But despite the tuxedoed image he had by the 50s, he was a bit of a drunken brawler as a young man.

Elvis is a surprise. I thought that at that age he was a good 'ol boy who loved his mother.

DC47 wrote:I didn't get Joplin -- despite being a devotee --

Me neither. Only one I missed cause I thought it was a dude. (assuming the middle one is Morrison.)

That is Morrison in the middle. Near the end. He's in Dade County, so this could be related to his famed arrest for public lewdness during a concert in Miami. As I recall, they had a show trial with bogus witnesses and convicted him. He died in Paris before serving time.

I like the blues. I've got my favorites, but they cover pretty much every style and every time. From Robert Johnson to the Gary Clark.

One of my favorites, Chicago guitar player Freddie King, seems to be pretty much forgotten today. Perhaps that's due to dying young, before the blues experienced some minor waves of popularity on and off starting in the late 70s. Too, although he was a fine blues singer, much of what he did was instrumental. Finally, King got off to a late start in terms of recording. Chess Records rejected him repeatedly. So he had to work his way up on record labels that had weaker distribution.

This week I've been listening to a 7 disc set of Freddy King recordings. It's great stuff. Here's one of my favorites:

Nice stuff.

Guys I get mixed up, even though I know who each of them are - Freddie King, Albert King, Albert Lee, Alvin Lee...

How did Eric Clapton become Eric Clapton? Part of it was listening to Freddie King. You can hear a lot of King in Clapton's guitar style. And Clapton was certainly locked in on the songs that Freddie King was playing when he was just starting out.

Freddie King recorded this one in 1961. Note the tremendous piano work by the unheralded David Maxwell.

sancarlos wrote:Nice stuff.

Guys I get mixed up, even though I know who each of them are - Freddie King, Albert King, Albert Lee, Alvin Lee...

I think the three 'King Brothers' messed a lot of people up, back in the day. They've got distinctive styles if you listen enough. But they're all playing the blues, which obviously have a family resemblance, and sometimes even the same songs. And of course, they all look the same. That is, none was particularly skinny.

Ironically, way back in the day, the confusion over the Kings was actually trivial in comparison to what was going on elsewhere. Outright name theft was not uncommon. If a blues musician had a hit, other guys would tour under that name in places other than the original artist's home region. If Big Ed wasn't making it, perhaps he would as 'Little Walter' after 'Juke' started selling. It was a way to get a gig. And due to limitations of communication and transportation, the odds of being busted were low.

The most amusing case was Sonny Boy Williamson's #I and II. II turned out to eventually have the bigger career. But his name was a direct rip-off of I, who had made a name for himself when II was starting out. II actually claimed to be much older than he was, to back up his claim of having the name before Sonny Boy I. II lived long enough to record with the Yardbirds and make a legendary tour of Britain when blues bands like the Rolling Stones were starting up. So he's the one that people tend to know as "Sonny Boy Williamson." Blues afficianados know the back story, so to them he'll always be "Sonny Boy II.

This trend never really went away. But it did move from individuals to groups. Pop and rock bands that broke up in the '50s and later were often found on the road, with someone else using the name. Sometimes it was because one or two guys -- not necessarily the ones who wrote the songs, sang lead or played the solos -- ended up with the rights to the name. That has been the case with The Guess Who for a long time. It's as if Ringo somehow ended up with the rights to tour as The Beatles and did so with hired sidemen, with the angry Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison out of the picture. Other times, people without the rights to a band name simply took it. Sometimes on the thin thread that one or two guys had at some time played with the band.

Nice turntable SC. Is that a ticket to see One Direction on the lid?

I've got a circa 1975 Thorens TD 160. The only one I've owned. This one is not mine:

I had one of those H-K tables, I don't remember the model number but a similar vintage. Gave it away because I had gone digital, sometime in the late 90s. heh.

Those old Thorens are great. I'd love to have one of those.

Why did we ever get rid of anything having to do with music that was made before 1980?

I've got a nice NAD integrated amp. But whenever I turn it on I flash back to the Tandberg receiver I had in 1975. When the tech at the stereo store said it had too many problems to economically repair in 1987, I gave it to my electronics technician brother. He played around with it for awhile, then scrapped it. I imagine that today someone would put quite a bit of work into that Tandberg and be thrilled to have it.

I still have my speakers from college. The first stereo I owned, my 21st birthday present from my dad. In my bedroom, I listen to them nearly every day. They are not the best speakers I own, but I am so familiar and comfortable with the tone. Philips AH-475 (image from the interwebs, not my actual set.)

I think I've seen those Phillips' speakers, around living rooms long ago.

Still have my Bozaks from 1975 in my office. I should put new capacitors in them, but they still sound great to me. Perhaps 50 pounds each, which used to impress my peers. Today it just means you are clueless. Like driving a Cadillac with tail-fins when there's a Tesla to be had.

Mine are more beat-up than these below, from dragging them around the country for 40 years. Perhaps 15 moves, mostly in the first 10 years, including several places with no electricity.

Occasionally I wondered if perhaps I should have bought some nice Acoustic Research bookshelf speakers instead? Answer: nah. Loved the sound.

Ive got Bozaks in my office. They are the ones that pair nicely with the little Dynaco tube amp. A friend gave them to me, along with his vinyl, his wife made him. Sometimes he stops by and listens to his former possessions. I tell him if he gets divorced, he can have em back. That is where half my vinyl has come - wives putting their foot down.

ETA: LS 250s

Funny story. And it makes sense. You are cheaper than a storage unit, plus he can come by to visit his old gear.

I certainly recognize the Bozak 250s as the smaller cousin of the 401.

I have a friend who is a great collector and sometimes dealer of various types of old stuff. His wife didn't want to live in a warehouse, so some of it ended up at our very under-furnished place back in the 80s. They split up and most of it was recalled. But we still have an old Pioneer receiver and bookshelf speakers upstairs. The Bozaks are in the office because they are too large to have full WAF. The room is a bit too small for them, but this is where I listen to music the most so it works for all.

I love 80s gear. Currently cranking Lee Morgan's Sneaky Pete through a late 80s Dennon amp into Pioneer CS-a9000 speakers.

Had these speakers forever, and haven't had anything they haven't been able to handle, from Handel to a eardrum busting Phil Bomb. Love 'em...and they aren't even that great a speaker!

As I recall, Pioneer made a zillion models of speakers. Some sounded good, though I believe most just artificially emphasized bass so they'd be impressive in showroom demos. Perhaps you got a good one.