I've always had a perspective on music and guitar playing, but never really had an outlet to express it, until now. In addition to focusing heavily on the progress of my new band with the boys at 1474 Tremont St., you'll read plenty from me about the guitar, the most interesting, popular and diverse musical instrument this country has ever had.
I got out of class today at the perfect time to catch the World Championship parade for the Red Sox; I brought my camera along to capture whatever I could. I started at Fenway Park, where the parade began, but I had a pretty bad view of all the duck boats rolling along. Whoever decided to stay there was a sucker. I started running after the parade, literally. Whenever I found an opening to run, I exploded like Forrest Gump trying to catch back up to the front. I got plenty of great snaps of almost all the Red Sox, most notably Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Mike Timlin, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. That's a really nice picture I got of Hideki Okajima (left) waving right at the camera. It was a nice surprise to see the Dropkick Murphys getting their own float on which to rock out with Red Sox Nation. Papelbon, Timlin and Okajima were on the float with them, and Papelbon seemed to have more fun than anyone. No Irish jig from Paps, but I certainly wasn't disappointed with how the parade turned out. No problems whatsoever, except dragging my tail all the way from Fenway Park to the Charles/MGH T-stop. I must've lost about 20 pounds doing that alone.
I'm so glad I got at least a snippet of the Dropkick Murphys playing during the parade. That float was certainly my favorite; it didn't hurt having my favorite Red Sox player (Papelbon) rocking along with them. I have three more of those videos on my username iMaiden929 at Youtube.
The photo to the left is courtesy of the Boston Globe's Barry Chin, and it is of game 4 Red Sox starter Jon Lester, who beat lymphoma just nine months ago, then beat the Rockies to deliver Boston its second World Championship in 4 seasons. My beloved Red Sox finally ended the extraordinarily painful 86-year period of suffering at the hands of the Curse of the Bambino in 2004, and this year they are beginning to look like not just the best team in baseball right now, but the best team for years to come. The long-term plans of Theo Epstein and the trio of owners finally came to fruition this year with the emergence of young stars and the perfect mix of youth and experience, and the Sox look like postseason giants for years to come. Never has the pumping of hundreds of millions of dollars into a farm system looked to pay off like it has and will for the Red Sox. I can't give Theo more credit for making all the right moves, holding onto the right prospects and letting go of stars at the right time (Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon, and Nomar Garciaparra are clearly on the downside of their careers, and the Sox have replaced them with Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury and Kevin Youkilis). This post is meant as a tribute to their remarkable season, in which they held the best record in baseball for almost the entire year. And to tie music into it, I've selected a few songs and posted Youtube clips of them, as well as a brief explanation of their significance to the Red Sox' season.
Queen - "We are the Champions"
I've paid my dues Time after time I've done my sentence But committed no crime And bad mistakes I've made a few I've had my share of sand kicked in my face But I've come through
This is the most obvious choice on the list. To this day, there remains no song more emotional and heartfelt for a championship winner than this song. Freddy Mercury is arguably the greatest rock singer that has ever lived, and his life was tragically taken from us by a disease about which we still do not know nearly enough. I've included a live Youtube clip of this song performed at Wembley Stadium in England, so you can see why he was not only a great singer but a great showman as well. The Sox have had a ton more than just their "share" of sand kicked in their face over the last 100 years... It was more like an avalanche. But they came through in 2004, and 2007 now looks like only the beginning of a great run. Simply put, the Red Sox are the Champions!
Pantera - "Domination"
Agony is the price That you'll pay in the end Domination consumes you Then calls you a friend
You can see where my taste in music is taking me in this post! Unfortunately I've spotlighted a band featuring another great musician who got taken from us way too soon. Darrell Abbott, the guitar player for Pantera in this video, was shot to death in stage in October 2004, just before the Red Sox staged their magical comeback and World Series victory that same month. He was an immense talent who, tragically, wasn't noticed by many guitar fans until after its death. It's true that we don't really know what we have until it's gone. The reason I picked this song is because the Red Sox thoroughly dominated the Rockies in the World Series, and this one never looked like a real matchup. Even when the Rockies cut the Red Sox leads close in games 3 and 4, the games never seemed that close. The Rockies were a severely overmatched team this year, but they have a great young team and could be back in the World Series very soon. But for this year, they got consumed by the dominant team. The lyric I block-quoted above is very fitting, because even after destroying their competition, the Sox still gave the Rockies all the credit in the world for playing them tough. They consumed the Rockies and called them friends soon after. I guess we were all watching a different series...
The Who - "The Kids Are Alright"
Sometimes, I know I gotta get away Bells chime, I know I gotta get away And I know if I don't, I'll go out of my mind Better leave her behind where the kids are alright... The kids are alright....
This is more of a tribute to the old guns of the Red Sox, like Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield and Mike Timlin than the kids. But those three do look poised to either leave this team or leave baseball altogether after this season; it would be fitting for their careers for them to go out on top. They could all end up staying, of course, but what's best for "her" (the team and the city of Boston) is to leave it up to the kids. And the kids are alright, for sure. Ace starting pitcher and postseason monster Josh Beckett is only 27, Daisuke Matsuzaka is 26, superstar closer and destroyer of souls Jonathan Papelbon is 27, and emerging starters Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester are only 23. Let's not forget 24-year olds Jacoby Ellsbury and potential rookie of the year Dustin Pedroia, and 26-year old Kevin Youkilis, who are looking like offensive catalysts and franchise mainstays already. The Sox have plenty of great veterans with a wealth of big-game experience, but what made them a champion is the mix of that with the youthful flair these young stars have injected into this franchise. Many people have said this is the beginning of a dynasty. I would certainly hope so.
This week's guitar spotlight will be on Stevie Ray Vaughan, and hopefully I'll have some jam news for you later today, if not tomorrow!
With Halloween falling in the middle of the week this year, this weekend is the time for all the Halloween parties. I plan on going to one tonight in Boston, and I'll be going as the godfather of heavy metal himself, Ozzy Osbourne! I was disappointed that every single store I went to was out of decorative rubber vampire bats, because I wanted to use one as a prop to simulate Ozzy's past behavior involving biting the heads off bats (he only did a real one once before, and it was an accident). It's a good thing he didn't do it for real, or he might not be immortal like he is today.
Before the Halloween party, I'm going to a concert at the Worcester Palladium. I'll be seeing the band Down, half of which is comprised of former members of the heavy metal group Pantera. They are more southern rock, but Down is definitely heavy stuff. They'll be playing on their own tonight, which means I'll be getting about a 2 hour set. Should be a very enjoyable evening!
I've stated many times before that Jimi Hendrix is my all-time favorite guitar player. Well, because of the man in the picture to the left, I might not have been telling the whole truth. Eddie Van Halen would have to be number 1b at this point, with Jimi at 1A. Like Hendrix, Van Halen is a true god on the axe. He took over as the undisputed greatest guitar player alive as soon as Van Halen burst onto the hard rock scene with their self-titled album in 1978. With classics like "Eruption", "Running with the Devil" and "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love", he made people worldwide aware of his virtuosic talents. He is one of the last true innovators of the instrument, with his rapid finger-tapping style becoming an art form as he refined the technique throughout his early career. He's doing what I'm talking about in the picture, it's the technique that uses no pick, it is merely a tapping of the frets with the finger to create a unique sound that can be moved all over the neck. Eddie didn't invent the finger tap, but he brought it to an unheard-of level. "Eruption" is still the most classic example of finger-tapping at its finest.
Another musical technique that EVH was known for is his use of the Major Third note in chords. All major chords have a three-note structure, with the root, the third, and the fifth in the major scale of that note. For example, in G major, the root is of course G, the third is B, and the fifth is D. Play all three of those notes at once on any instrument, and you have a G major chord. The B note is what's usually left out of chords in the genre of his time, which was a mixture of hard rock and heavy metal. Pretty much every heavy metal or hard rock group simply played the "powerchord" which is only the root and the fifth played together, making for a much heavier sound. EVH played the whole major chord as he was playing, which gave a much more upbeat tone to his riffs, and he often played them on the bottom three strings, for a higher sound. It's very difficult to imagine EVH playing without throwing in those third notes.
Van Halen is known for his famous "Frankenstrat" guitar that was constructed by EVH himself, by hand. He wanted to combine pickups and other parts from different companies, something unheard of in the 1970s for custom-made guitars. He wanted a Gibson sound with a Fender feel. The Frankenstrat ended up looking like it does in the picture to the right. That, however, is a mdoern-day replica of the same guitar, which was made with the very same types of parts and methods by which EVH constructed his. Fender made about 300 of those replicas, gave them the astronomical price tag of $25,000, and still sold every single one of them within minutes. It remains one of the most expensive guitar replicas ever assembled. The complexity of its structure was enough to bump the price of this instrument way through the roof.
To get a real glimpse of the man's immense talents, check out this video from 1989 at the Tokyo dome. Van Halen had already replaced singer David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar, but that didn't affect EVH's guitar prowess at all. He showcases all of his incredible skills in that one 6-minute video, but I'd encourage you all to check out whatever videos you can find from Youtube on this guitar legend. I'd recommend watching this whole video, but especially check out the technique he employs at 3:26. The piece he plays there is an original work, called "Cathedral" which can be found on Van Halen's 1982 album Diver Down. He puts heavy delay on his guitar and begins tapping with his left hand as he rapidly and rhythmically adjusts the volume knob on his guitar, creating a violin-like sound. He doesn't make a single mistake while playing this way; he hits all the right notes. A sound like that is still very tough to duplicate, mostly thanks to the unique build of the Frankenstrat.
EVH is truly one of the best to ever pick up the instrument, and I'm glad for every new fan I could possibly create with this posting.
I got out of class today at the perfect time to catch the World Championship parade for the Red Sox; I brought my camera along to capture whatever I could. I started at Fenway Park, where the parade began, but I had a pretty bad view of all the duck boats rolling along. Whoever decided to stay there was a sucker. I started running after the parade, literally. Whenever I found an opening to run, I exploded like Forrest Gump trying to catch back up to the front. I got plenty of great snaps of almost all the Red Sox, most notably Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Mike Timlin, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. That's a really nice picture I got of Hideki Okajima (left) waving right at the camera. It was a nice surprise to see the Dropkick Murphys getting their own float on which to rock out with Red Sox Nation. Papelbon, Timlin and Okajima were on the float with them, and Papelbon seemed to have more fun than anyone. No Irish jig from Paps, but I certainly wasn't disappointed with how the parade turned out. No problems whatsoever, except dragging my tail all the way from Fenway Park to the Charles/MGH T-stop. I must've lost about 20 pounds doing that alone.
