Zebra Music

The other day I was in a music store and they had a video playing with Pete Townsend. He was talking about his stage presents and was giving some details on how he came up with the windmill guitar strum which he is famous for. Apparently he first seen Keith Richards do this move and he thought he would copy it cause it looked cool. For about a year Pete was thinking he was just imitating one of his idols Keith Richards with this move.

Pete met up with Keith and they were talking and Pete told Keith about the cool windmill guitar strum that he was using and was thanking Keith for it. Pete then said that Keith looked at him “like he was a germ” as Pete put it. Basically Keith did not recall ever doing this cool guitar move! So Pete kept it in his bag of tricks and as you probably well know is one of his signature moves on guitar.

Check out the video below to see this cool guitar move.

If you play live do you have any cool things you do on stage? If not, it’s something to think about. Pete has the windmill the old classic metal band Cinderella had the guitar/bass spin (see the video below toward the end). Hendrix played behind his back! Think about what you can do to entertain your audience when you are on stage. These little things make a huge impact and people love them!

I just got the sad news that Gary Moore has just passed away at only 58 years old. Gary Moore was a fantastic blues/rock guitar player that played with Thin Lizzy.

Manager Adam Parsons told the BBC that Moore was found dead Sunday at a hotel on Spain’s Costa del Sol, where he was on holiday. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Gary was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1952. He was a member of Dublin band Skid Row before joining Thin Lizzy in 1973, playing on tracks for the “Nightlife” album. After four months he left the band, but rejoined four years later and played on the band’s “Black Rose” album before going solo once again.

It’s a sad day and if you have never heard Gary’s playing, I encourage you to download the Still Got the Blues album!

Have you heard the new Slash CD? It’s actually pretty cool. Lots of great guitar riffs and many guest singers.

I though it was pretty cool that Slash actually had a different singer on each of the tracks of this CD. Ozzy, Lemmy, Chris Cornell, Kid Rock, and believe it or not Iggy Pop sings on a track. Pretty cool stuff, if you want to download it click on the Amazon link below.

Just got done listening to the The Best Of Ho! Ho! Hoey! which is Gary Hoey’s recording of various Christmas tunes. I had forgotten how cool this CD was. Gary does an awesome job on this CD with his versions of songs like: Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,The Twelve Days Of Christmas, Away In A Manger, and my personal favorite You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch! There are 17 tracks on this CD so it is well worth the money. His version of You’re A Mean One is totally cool, I love it!

What I really like about this CD is it’s not a wimpy version of these songs, it totally rocking! There is some very good licks thrown in by Gary throughout this CD and he does a great job of mixing in the actually tunes with a bit more for some really slick added favor. His arrangements of these Christmas tunes is really something you should listen to. If you are into rock guitar you should pick up this CD or download it to your MP3 player. I have started my own little tradition to listen to this CD around Christmas each year. It actually really got me in the Christmas spirit!

You can buy now by clicking on the Amazon link below. Do it, you will Love It!

Did you hear the latest about Kenny Wayne Shepherd? On Nov 10th he played the very same white Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix used at Woodstock during a taping of a special Hendrix-themed Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Show in New York City. Now I don’t know what your thoughts are on this guy but I can tell you that we went and saw him here in Phoenix about six months ago and he totally acted like an ass on stage.

His ego was so big I was surprised that there was room for the other musicians on the stage! It basically totally ruined the concert for us. He just had this air of arrogance like he is the greatest guitar player that ever lived. Now he has the honor of playing Jimi’s guitar? Are you kidding me, I can think of hundreds of other guitar players that deserve this before King Kenny!

Besides being totally full of himself at the last concert that we saw him,  the thing that totally blew me away was he was actually touring with Chris Layton. If you don’t know who this is, he was the drummer that played with Stevie Ray Vaughan band  Double Trouble!  Tommy played with Stevie  right up until his tragic death in 1990.  King Kenny barely introduced him, what an ass!!!

Another real bad thing about this show was you could just tell the other musicians that were playing with Kenny were just going through the motions. They clear we not having a good time and didn’t play off each other at all. It was an odd concert with the supposedly soulful blues style of music that Kenny plays. BTW for the record, Noah Hunt (King Kennie’s singer) was awesome! Totally down to earth and very profession and sound great. BTW the dude with the acoustic guitar in the header of my web site is Noah!

In my book Kenny Wayne Shepherd = Ass.

One of my favorite bands from the 80′s (The Cars) are currently in the studio and recording a new album!

Back in July, the Cars posted a picture of themselves in the studio on their Facebook page and most recently teased a sample of a new song titled Blue Tip, both of which started many rumors the band were getting back together. Now, it official, Ric Ocasek and crew are currently working on their first album in 23 years and are poised to hit the road for a reunion tour.

Paul Orofino, The Cars’ engineer confirmed that the band — Ocasek, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and drummer David Robinson — has been recording in a studio in Millbrook, New York.One sad note that I did not realize was the founding bassist Benjamin Orr died of cancer in 2000. Billboard also reports the band is “strongly considering” touring, but they have not yet committed any dates.

I have always loved Elliot Easton melodic lead guitar style and it should be pretty cool to see what he comes up with on this new album.

One of my favorite albums from the Cars is Candy-O. Very cool guitar work!

Taylor Swift was named country songwriter of the year at the latest BMI Awards. This makes her the youngest person to win the award at age 20. this is an amazing feat for anyone especially she is so young!

She also won country song of the year with co-writer Liz Rose for You Belong With Me. Taylor is the first songwriter to win that award three years in a row.

Her new album, Speak Now, had the biggest opening of any record since 2005. It has been said that her latest album will set the course for the record industry who have been strugging badly with poor sales in the last few years.

Bill Anderson was the youngest winner of songwriter of the year before Taylor, taking the honor in 1960 at 23. Johnny Cash was next with a win in 1956 at 24. Earlier this year, Taylor Swift became the youngest winner of the performing rights organization’s pop song of the year award.

Swift won the songwriter award based on a few of her songs including Fifteen, White Horse, and You Belong With Me.

BMI honored dozens of songwriters at its latest awards cerimony, including Miranda Lambert, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown (one of my personal favorites), Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Kristian Bush of Sugarland (boo!), Toby Keith (yes!) and Keith Urban (boo!).

If you haven’t hear (like if you have been living under a rock or something) the new Keith Richards book called Life has been released. If you love to read about rock n roll (like I do) then this is something that you should pick up. Supposedly Keith holds nothing back, the reviews say it’s funny, gossipy, profane and moving and after you have finished the book you will feel like you’re friends with Keith Richards! Wow thats quite a statement!

Another review states: Life covers all the bases: sex, drugs, guitar riffs…

I know this book is on my to purchase and read list!

Here is what others are saying:
Jesse
Keith serves up the life stories in his book like his guitar riffs — in your face, nasty, confrontational, rich, smart, and, in the end, unforgettable.

Stuart
This memoir, written with the help of writer James Fox, is an intricately detailed account of Keith Richards life, both in and out of music-but mostly in. All the stories are here-the funny, the touching, the horrendous, and the amazing. Some are well known, some weren’t even known to Richards-he only hears later, from others who were with him, what went on. And he’s put it all in this book.

L. S.
Wonderful story — you can’t put the book (or in my case, the Kindle) down.
You have to wonder at the survival and endurance of not just the band, but Keith and Mick. Fabulous.