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!

I was talking to a friend at NAMM last year about how his heavy Les Paul was hurting his neck and shoulder during his performances; playing 3 hours a night for 4 nights a week. He described it as bearable but the thing that really annoyed him was the fact that his vinyl strap was seriously uncomfortable. This wasn’t the first time we’ve heard a complaint or two about comfort during a 20 minute rendition of Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick so we decided to create a superior and ultra comfortable guitar strap.

Introducing the Merino Wool Guitar Strap from Reunion Blues. This delightful companion is made of Merino Wool, one of the softest materials we could find just short of having your roadie (Francis) encapsulate you in pillows while you play! It’s also natural fiber, biodegradable and is trimmed with full grain leather. The straps are selling very well (will we sell out of inventory? who knows!) Anyway, we saved a special reserve for you, talented reader, just by leaving a comment below of why you might want one of these straps for yourself. So go for it! Free straps to the first 40 commenters!

Best,

John Maher

If Rock n’ Roll is dead, then Metallica brought it very much back to life this past week. With the release of their ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, Metallica has topped the Billboard 200 for the fifth consecutive time. If that doesn’t impress you, maybe this will; They released the album on a Friday, a whole three days after most albums are released, and still managed to pull in sales of more than 490,000. Another thing to point out about last weeks’ Billboard is that three of the top five albums were of the rock genre, Metallica at #1, Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Jesus at #3 and Slipknot’s All Hope Is Gone at #5.

As someone who plays guitar, I am breathing a sigh of relief that there are finally BANDS at the top of the charts… bands that still know how to play their instruments and write their own songs. I have nothing against Kanye West, I admit I bought his last album the first day it came out, or the Jonas Brothers… then again… . These guys may have writing credits but how far does that really extend? Brett was telling me earlier that now-a-days all you need to do to get writing credits is to have been in the room when the song was written. As far as I’m concerned Kanye West and Jonas Brothers don’t have the technical musicianship that people need to maintain their stature at the top of the music industry.

All we need to do to show people that music is a lot more than a drum machine and good looks is to give them a little history lesson. With the release of Death Magnetic, Metallica has set a new record with five debut #1 albums, beating out the the Beatles, U2 and Dave Matthews Band with their four debut #1’s. It comforts me to see that these bands, which some consider to be the greatest in the world, have either written or are still writing their own songs and can also play their own instruments.

In a world where way too many kids are introduced to the guitar through a video game, I am glad that Metallica has stepped up to regain control for the real musicians. Hopefully, kids will now look up to them as the true Guitar Heroes like I did when I was twelve. (Attached photo is of yours truly my senior year.)

Anyway, lets take a second to thank Metallica for reminding us that real musicians still reign supreme.

TIM’S DIGITAL JUKEBOX:
“All Nightmare Long” Metallica, Death Magnetic

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.