The Practice Room

DIY

John Fisher a/k/a Jon Tirone is a do-it-yourself type guy who’s nice enough to share his projects and results with the rest of us. His is the first site I’ve come across (thanks for the tip, Mark!) that shows how to make a homemade pickups. He has also built guitars, amps, a mixer, a mandolin, stomp boxes and who knows what else. Each project has plenty of photos, diagrams and schematics. There are sound files, too. And when he has built a jig or some kind of special tool (like a pickup winder or a digital counter), he shows you how that’s done. Most of these are way beyond my skill level, but then I have trouble sharpening a pencil.

One of John’s projects was building a humbucker from scratch. Along the way he explains some of the mechanics behind pickups as well, which I found interesting. My eyes started to glaze over when I got to the wiring diagrams, but that’s just me.

Most of the electronic gear he has made uses spare parts and junk, and yet he seems to get pretty good results. He’s also not discouraged by not having the exact tool he needs; there always seems to be a workaround. In fact, he’s not discouraged by much of anything. (Got a gig in a week, but no amp? That’s all right, I’ll just build one.)

John’s main job seems to be as a recording engineer; he also plays in a band. Seems like a very handy guy to have around.

Put another nickel in

The Chicago Sun-Times has a nice piece by Andrew Ryan on what has happened to the jukebox.

The 1934 Rockola Model A Multi-Selector offered 12 songs on 78 rpm records. In the 1950s, with the invention of 45 rpm singles, jukebox capacity increased to 100 songs. CDs in the ‘80s pushed it over 1,000. Now, with a combination of hard disks and an internet connection, a modern jukebox can offer literally hundreds of thousands of songs.

So – is this better? Does it matter any more, now that so many people have iPods, whether the jukebox in a place is any good? Jukeboxes used to be important sources of music for consumers, but not so much anymore; now they’re mostly sonic décor. They used to be pretty to look at, too.

A friend of mine used to rave about a jukebox somewhere in Greenwich Village that had a song from the first Van Dyke Parks album on it. I remember a diner in the town next to mine that was loaded with Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington songs. I know this made almost no difference to most of the patrons, but those jukeboxes and their odd selection of music were part of the character of these places, and character is hard to find these days.

It’s probably good for business that these new devices can offer all things to all people. And I don’t spend much time in places with jukeboxes anymore, so I shouldn’t really get a vote. But I still don’t like it.

New Orleans Guitars

Last year I came across the web site of New Orleans Guitars. I’d never actually seen one, but they looked beautiful in the site’s photos. I tried to contact the company, but this was shortly after Katrina so I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t get a response. 

Now Musicians Hotline has an interview with owner Vince Geirdroz. He evacuated to Houston before the storm hit. When he finally got back to his shop he found the place had taken in three feet of water; everything in the place was covered with mold and slime. After some soul searching he decided to rebuild in New Orleans rather than start up again somewhere else or go to work for someone else.

It has taken some time, but as of the date of the interview he had 3 employees at work and 35 guitars in progress. Welcome back, Vince!

Things I have got to get to of these days:

1. Try a Chapman Stick
2. Turn my favorite yard-sale special into a fretless guitar
3a. Sit in at my local blues jam playing mandolin. (We have enough Stevie Ray wannabees; where are the Yank Rachell wannabees?)
3b. Get a mandolin and learn to play blues on it
4. Build a guitar and amp (from kits)
5. Record that CD of Christmas music on acoustic guitar that I promised my wife
6. Get control of the flatpick and play some bluegrass
7. Pay my taxes

Quick, Sherman! To the Wayback Machine!

According to Billboard, Sting plans to release a new album of 16^th century lute music in October:

‘"It's a strange record, a delightful record and I think people will be intrigued by it," Sting says in a video interview on his site. "The album is voice and lute, there are a few four part harmonies that I sing and it's all music from the 16th century."

‘Sting was given a lute as a gift by guitarist Dominic Miller approximately two years ago. The gift reminded Sting of his long-time fascination with 16th century composer John Dowland who wrote songs especially for the lute.

‘Dowland, who died in 1626, is perhaps best known for his song "Flow My Tears." "He was really the first singer/songwriter that we know of and so a lot of us owe our living to this man," Sting says of the composer.’

Clapton comes to North America

Recently announced dates for Eric Clapton’s North American tour (yes, Derek Trucks is in the band):

Sep 16 ..... St. Paul, MN ..... Xcel Energy Center
Sep 18 ..... St. Louis, MO ..... Savvis Center
Sep 20 ..... Chicago, IL ..... Unitd Center
Sep 21 ..... Grand Rapids, MI ..... Van Andel Arena
Sep 23 ..... Auburn Hills, MI ..... Palace of Auburn Hills
Sep 24 ..... Toronto, ON Canada ..... Air Canada Centre
Sep 26 ..... Ottowa, ON Canada ..... Scotiabank Place
Sep 28 ..... New York, NY ..... Madison Square Garden
Sep 29 ..... New York, NY ..... Madison Square Garden
Oct 03 ..... Boston, MA ..... TD Banknorth Garden
Oct 06 ..... Uncasville, CT ..... Mohegan Sun Casino
Oct 07 ..... Uncasville, CT ..... Mohegan Sun Casino
Oct 09 ..... Philadelphia, PA ..... Wachovia Center
Oct 10 ..... Washington, DC ..... Verizon Center
Oct 12 ..... Charlottesville, VA ..... John Paul Jones Arena
Oct 14 ..... Duluth, GA ..... Arena at Gwinnett Center
Oct 15 ..... Raleigh, NC ..... RBC Center
Oct 17 ..... Charlotte, NC ..... Charlotte Bobcats Arena
Oct 18 ..... Birmingham, AL ..... Birmingham Jefferson Arena
Oct 20 ..... Orlando, FL ..... TD Waterhouse Centre
Oct 21 ..... Jacksonville, FL ..... Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
Oct 23 ..... Miami, FL ..... American Airlines Arena

Talk to Stanley

 

Our old friend Stanley Clark is holding a web chat Sunday night – here’s a note from his web guy:

"Join a chat with Stanley on Sunday, May 28th at 5PM EST (U.S). The URL for the chat is http://www.stanleyclarke.com/si_chat.htm.

"The past few chats with Stanley have become a little chaotic at times. So we ask that you send your question for Stanley in advance, that way things can run a bit smoother for everyone involved. Send your question to [email protected] . We'll get to as many as we can.

"With the Clarke/Duke tour about to kick into gear, this may be the last chat that Stanley can participate in for a good while. So we'll see you Sunday!"

 

We Shall Overcome ... A story about New Orleans

A great story has been published on Jambase.com as a retrospect on New Orleans music and the most recent New Orleans Jazz Fest. Having been in New Orleans for about nine of those festival days, I realized I didn't miss much. I also realize how much more there was going on that I didn't even know about.

Jazz Fest is the real slice of New Orleans and it felt good to be home among fellow musicians and local residents. This Jambase viewpoint complements the wealth of music activity among all the local clubs. This year was different though with all the national press presence and the observation that perhaps Jazz Fest could jumpstart the resurrection of the city. I believe it has.

How much music is there? Never enough. From the sweet tones of Herbie Hancock on the keys to a tent full of older ladies dancing to Pete Fountain to Henry Griffin doin' his devil dance on stage with the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars. It's overwhelming to think back and ponder how rich a culture New Orleans must be to share all this with the rest of the world. New Orleans is the soul of America. New York City may be the greatest city in the world, but New Orleans is the greatest city in the United States.

If you don't believe how amazing this experience could be or how amazing it simply is every year. Buy some Jazz Fest downloads yourself and support the artists immediately!

Still not convinced? Watch any # of Jazz Fest performances on MSN Video! Come on, still don't believe me? If The Edge was there to represent the Music Rising Foundation, something good must be happening!

Just check out Jazz Fest attendees' videos on YouTube.com. Be sure to catch Bruce Springsteen's performance of "City of Ruins" with the Peete Seeger Sessions Band. It was a moment. I look forward to many more.

The Envelope, Please

Here’s an interesting item that I found a mention of on the ArtsJournal blog. It comes from an article in the New Statesman:

“Last year, the music magazine fRoots polled what it considered to be the 200 most influential movers and shakers in the music industry (promoters, record companies and journalists) on the best global and folk records of 2005. Four out of the top five records came from West Africa.”

West Africa? Four out of five top records? Hmmm. So I went to the Froots site, and here they are:

1: AMADOU & MARIAM Dimanche à Bamako (Because) – from Mali
2: ALI FARKA TOURE & TOUMANI DIABATE In The Heart Of The Moon (World Circuit) – from Mali and Guinea
3: SALIF KEITA M'Bemba (Universal Jazz France) – from Mali
4: THIONE SECK Orientation (Stern's) – from Senegal

5. CONGOTRONICS  Konono No 1 (Crammed Discs) – from Congo

Farther down are some more familiar names - Ry Cooder, the Kronos Quartet, Martin Simpson, Richard Thompson. 

Conservatives Who Rock

The National Review has published a list of the top 50 rock songs with conservative political messages. I’m not sure this fills any particular void in my life, but that’s just me. If the Village Voice comes out with a rebuttal list of top 50 rock songs with liberal political messages, I don’t want to know about it.

That being said, here are the top 10 from the NR’s list, so that half of us can say “You see? I told you!” and the other half can say, “Whaddya, crazy?”

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” – The Who (You see? I told you!)
“Taxman” – The Beatles
“Sympathy for the Devil” – The Rolling Stones
“Sweet Home Alabama” – Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” – The Beach Boys (Whaddya, crazy?)
“Gloria” – U2
“Revolution” – The Beatles
“Bodies” – The Sex Pistols
“Don’t Tread On Me” – Metallica
“20^th Century Man” – The Kinks

Father down the list we find “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band (#37), “Wake Up, Little Suzie” by The Everly Brothers (#40), and of course, though it’s a real stretch to call it a rock song, “Stand By Your Man” by Tammy Wynette (#50). If their tongues are a not little bit in their cheeks, they may have something else someplace else - but, again, that's just me.