csm

Let's see ... Hair metal ... Tom Cruise ... Think I'll go see Batman, Spider-Man or Prometheus instead.

Will you bring charlie and hookers? What, me and some of John Lee's relatives?

Would YOU trust a mod who hasn't been banned at least once?

If I played for a living, I'd've starved to death decades ago. I play guitar because it's fun, because it's a vital form of non-verbal expression for someone who makes his living with words and because it's a serious buzz to be in a good band with nice people (as I'm currently fortunate enough to be) and combine the noise I make with the noises other people make to create music which, most of the time, other people seem to enjoy almost as much as we do. After having been in bands more or less continually between 1977 and 1995, I took a dozen-year break and didn't realise, until i was back in a band again, how much I'd missed it. Towards the end of that break, i started playing solo, then met up with a kindred soul in the form of harpmeister Buffalo Bill Smith ... and then we expanded what we did as a duo by adding a rhythm section and morphing into the first line-up of Crosstown Lightnin', a four-piece blues band ... plus jamming with other bands on harmonica or guitar and doing (very occasional) sessions. 'Stardom' isn't the issue. Neither is money, beyond a desire to at least break even. It's about playing because I love it, and because it adds something to my life which I can't get from anything else.

Why?

Guitarists admired by other guitarists for their technical skills =/= guitarists whose music pleases listeners who may not be musicians. Deal with it.

I know it's blasphemy to say anything remotely bad about Hendrix, but I would disagree. Clapton is a singer/songwriter as well, he's from the same era, and he hasn't written anything of substance in years. He has continued to recycle his past hits with whatever flavor of the month phenom is hot at the moment. The only singer/songwriter/guitarist I can think of from that era that has even remotely remained relevant (writing new material that people want to hear) has been Neil Young, and that may be a stretch. It's hard for any performer to continue to be relevant for very long. I don't think a living breathing Hendrix in 2012 would be any different. Hear those goalposts move ... I was responding to a comparison of Hendrix with Jeff Beck and Carlos Santana ... not with Clapton ... who, incidentally, has written fewer songs in his entire long life than Jimi did in four years.

^^^ Unlike JB or Carlos ... he was also a singer and songwriter. Even in the mere four years he was around, he amassed a serious catalogue of wonderful songs ... and songwriters always last.

Very witty, Carruthers ...

I used to call my 1963 black Strat 'The Old Bastard' because it was so mean and cranky ... But it's now 'The Old Soldier' because (a) 'bastard' implies that it was put together post-facto from bits, which it wasn't, and (b) because when my modern Custom Shop Strat started to misbehave, the ancient heirloom which I considered pretty much retired stepped up to the plate and sounded fantastic, felt great and proved ultra-reliable. [video=youtube;7naGiKyO1o4]

There was ... but it was stolen by junkies and traded for a wrap of skag.

'Did you approve of my book? If you did, would you like me to sign your copy?'

Bet it plays like butter.

there's a kernel of a good guitar in there. That's a major factor.

You're too frakkin SOFT! This is a hard, cruel world.