Backstage Banter

So recently real life circumstances required me to travel to my hometown of Grand Junction Colorado for a week. About a year ago my good friend, Phil Street, who is also from Grand Junction and was the drummer for my band Crunch here in California moved back to Western Colorado to be closer to his folks. 
He’s drumming in a band there called Missy’s End, 

R to L Joe, Todd and Phil of Missy's End.

 led by a talented singer/songwriter named Joe Davis, and they just happened to have a gig scheduled while I was there and asked me to sit in for a couple of songs. This was the perfect opportunity to give our new Reunion Blues RB Continental case the ultimate road test, by checking it in as baggage with the airlines and letting the handlers do their worst. So I caught the bus from Petaluma

Me and the RBC at the Petaluma Airporter

to the Oakland Airport on a sunny Saturday morning, arrived at the US Airways baggage check in, handed over the company’s Epiphone Dot Studio in the RB Continental case, checked it in and told them to do their worst!

RBC at Oakland Baggage Check-In

(note I didn’t use my own guitar, I may be crazy but not stupid!) I had to make a connection in Phoenix to Grand Junction. The flight to Phoenix was quite turbulent as their were storms lined up the whole way. Then if that wasn’t enough fun, I got to hop on a 2 propeller prop job for the final leg to GJ.
It had been a number of years since I’d had the pleasure to fly on one of those and I’d forgotten just how much “fun” they can be.

Keeping cool on the bouncy prop job

Luckily our pro flight attendant Sandra kept everything calm, cool and under control. Upon landing in Grand Junction all 9 of us intrepid travellers  got off the plane and I headed to baggage claim with more than a bit of apprehension. Within a few minutes I saw the RB Continental Case come down the baggage carousel.

RBC arrives GJ baggage carousel

With nervous anticipation I slowly opened the case and voila! There was the Dot in perfect condition. Not a scratch, dent, ding or blemish of any kind. 100% Success!

An Epi Dot without a spot!

 Now all I had to do was learn Suffragette City by Friday, play the gig and then see how the axe survived the return trip back to the Bay Area.  The gig was at Quincy’s Bar, the only alternative lifestyle bar in Grand Junction, the crowd was probably around 200+ with one of the most interesting mixes of humanity I’ve ever seen.

The one and only Quincy's Bar in GJ.

The people watching was almost as entertaining as the band. We even had a party bus pull up and out came 25 bouncing bachelorettes ready to rock.

Missy's End and yours truly rocking Suffragette City!

So we obliged them and then headed to Todd the bass players house for an after gig party until about 3:45 AM. That’s the latest this old man has been out in quite a few years but we had a blast. The next day I had my good friend and martial arts expert  Kerry Wong give the case a good hard karate chop with the guitar in it and yes it survived the Kung Fu test beautifully as well.

RBC passes Kerry's Kung Fu Karate Chop test!

After taking care of all my family business it was time to head home. The return trip was smooth even if I did have to find a way to kill 3.5 hours in the Phoenix Airport (UGH!) . I arrived back in Oakland to find my wife and kids waiting for me (a sight for sore eyes for sure!) and waited for the RB Continental to come downt the carousel. When we got home my kids helped me check the guitar and as expected it was in perfect condition. I even stuffed some extra clothes, toiletries, etc… in the accessory pockets of the RBC to save space in my carry on. You can literally pack everything you need for a 1 or 2 night gig in this case and not even need any other luggage. And if your guitar happens to fall off a 3 story building or has to be subjected to the whim and whimsy of airline baggage handlers you can at least have some peace of mind knowing that it’s ensconced safely in a Reunion Blues RB Continental Guitar case. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it! Rock on everyone!

So as you probably know there is an awful lot of hullabaloo on the webbernet and elsewhere these days about the long-awaited, much-anticipated,  ridiculously-delayed release of Chinese Democracy, the not-so-new Album from Guns & Roses or NU GNR or The Axl Rose Solo Band or whatever you prefer to call them.  Most of the reviews that I’ve read have been positive and I like what little I’ve heard so far.  Axl’s voice sounds good (well sounds like Axl anyway), the riffs groove and the songs rock. There’s a touch of an industrial sound here and there and the lead guitars, while stinging and soaring in their own right, are much different from Slash’s bluesy burning which I miss.  Other than that some of the material could almost be Use Your Illusion era Guns with Axl attempting his best Freddie Mercury ala November Rain.  I’m sure it will sell by the boatload and I’ll probably find it in my Christmas stocking! One certainty is that the live show, with Reunion Blues endorser Richard Fortus (also of Psychedelic Furs fame) laying it down on rhythm guitar amid the musical maelstrom of Axl, Dizzy, Richie, Bumblefoot, Frank, Chris, Tommy and possibly even Buckethead???, will be a spectacle worth beholding.  www.myspace.com/gunsnroses

Richie Rockin

On a less grand scale but no less important, I’d also like to briefly mention another new release by yet another Reunion Blues endorser, a local boy and personal friend Josh Ramos.  The CD is called The Dream and it’s a collaboration between Josh and Hugo Valenti. Some of you may remember Josh from his time in The Storm which featured former members of Journey and Santana including Gregg Rolie, Steve Smith and Ross Valory and also the SoCal based hard rock outfit Hardline.  Hugo started out fronting Valentine which later became Open Skyz but might be best known for fronting Evolution, the pre-eminent East Coast Journey tribute act.  So as you might have guessed buy now, The Dream bears a strong resemblance to Journey in many aspects, but all in a positive way.  It’s the best collection of Journey songs from a band not named Journey that you’ll ever hear. The songwriting and arrangements on this album are rock solid and memorable and Hugo is a terrific singer with great range and passion. But the highlight of this cd is Josh’s playing. He really rips it up all over the disc with ferocity, feeling and an innate sense of melody not many possess.  The Dream is being released primarily in Europe so it might be a bit hard to find but for fans of outstanding melodic rock guitar playing it’s well worth seeking out. www.myspace.com/ramoshugo

Josh Jammin

Brett’s Music Bag: You’ve also got to check out The Answer www.myspace.com/theanswerrock. These bad boys from Northern Ireland are really bringing it hard the wayyy old school way. I’ve had their initial release Rise for close to a couple of years now after hearing about them in Classic Rock Magazine.  Anyone who caught them on The Late Show with David Letterman recently knows exactly what I’m talking about. The singer Cormac Neeson reminds me of a heavier, more aggressive Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes and the guitarist Paul Mahon is pure Gibson/Marshall hard rock glory.  Catch The Answer  live in concert opening for AC/DC on their Black Ice world tour. Never toolate indeed…    

The Answer Rocks

 Speaking of AC/DC, kudos to the Brothers Young & Co.  whose Black Ice recently went #1 in 29 countries, shifting 1.5 million units in the first two weeks of release in the US alone and over 5 million copies sold worldwide so far. Brings a tear to a crusty old rocker’s eye. Good on ya mates! www.myspace.com/acdc

Guitarface by Brett

As a long time proponent/proprietor of old-school 70’s & 80’s style hard rock, it always does my heart good to see and hear my favorite bands and songs resurface in contemporary popular culture– even if it is in a Cadillac commercial! When the Guitar Hero inferno began to rage, I was very excited about two particular aspects of the phenomenon:

• the possibility of exposing kids to great classic rock tunes
• inspiring a new generation to pick up the instrument and hopefully assisting them in developing the technical skills required to really RAWK!

Based on first-hand observations of my own progeny, I can say that I’m encouraged in-regards to the former and a bit discouraged in regards to the latter.

I can think of very few things that tickle me more than hearing my 6 year old son doing his best Dee Snider, walking around the house singing, We’re Not Gonna Take It or my 11 year old daughter humming China Grove while doing her homework. The flipside to their new interest in dad’s music is that my daughter’s actual guitar hasn’t left its case since she got the game. She asked Santa for a guitar two Christmases ago and while she was never the most dedicated student, she at least practiced regularly and was making some progress. Then she got Guitar Hero about six months ago and it would seem that the allure of the more immediate gratification afforded by the game has supplanted the thrill gained by learning to play music on a stringed guitar.

I do have hopes that once she’s mastered the expert level of the game (and she’s very close) she may want to explore her actual instrument. As for the question of whether the mechanics of playing Guitar Hero assists in developing the physical dexterity necessary to play guitar, it remains to be seen but I do believe that after she beats the top level, the Nirvana of video-game rock, she will be curious to unzip her real guitar again!

Hmm, all this is making me wonder, Reunion Blues bags for game controllers? Might not be a totally ridiculous idea….

BRETT’S MUSIC BAG:
For new bands that are rockin’ the streets the old school way check out End Ever After and Black Tide.