Ibanez JS100 – Joe Satriani signature series. Awesome guitar!

I’m a big Joe Satriani fan. In fact, most of the guitar players I know share some sort of appreciation for what he has done. Personally, “Satch” was one of the biggest influence on my playing while growing up. I spent countless hours, sitting in my bedroom, playing an old B.C. Rich over “Surfing With the Alien” and trying to make it sound like the recording. Needless to say, I’ve been playing for twenty years and still can’t do most of what he can. Joe is the man!

Anyways, being the fan that I am, I decided to pick up one of his signature-series Ibanez electric guitars a few years back. I love his tone and thought that playing that guitar would be one step closer to achieving that sound. I was not let down. The second I plugged it in, I could tell that this guitar was definitely something special.

I’ve owned many guitars. From a 70′s Gibson Flying V, to a 50′s Sears Silvertone, I’ve spent a decent amount of time paying a wide variety of instruments. The Ibanez JS100 has one of the warmest tones, and silky smooth fretboards of any guitar I have ever played. I mean it, this thing is awesome.

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Camping this weekend? Take a day off? Awe yeah!

Missed band practice last night. At like five o’clock I got dumped on with work that needed to be done. I couldn’t really bail on work, so I bailed on practice at the last moment. Yeah, I’m dick… I get it. Oh well, I was pretty much cranky anyways and didn’t feel like driving 50 minutes to practice for an hour, then drive 50 minutes home. No thanks…

I put in for a day off today! This may not sound like a very big deal, but I’ve used almost no time off this year. I’ve been saving my hours for when the baby comes. But, seeing I have a ton of time saved up, and could really use a day off before the baby comes (and takes up all my time), I’ve decided to take Friday off and go camping for a couple nights. I’m pumped.

I’ll probably go by myself for the first night (Friday), and Dan and JG will said they may come down on Sat. for a bit to have some beers and play some guitar. Danielle would come, but she’s like mega-ultra pregnant right now and would probably rather chill on the couch. I can’t blame her.

I love to camp. I do it as often as I can. I also don’t think you need to drive way the hell up north to get a decent camp site. I usually go to Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham NH. There are decent spots, great hiking, and if you get a lakeside spot – very nice kayaking right from the campsite. I suspect I’ll get there at about 3pm, set up, and be settled in with a fire and a pint in hand by 4. Pawtuckaway is like 30 mins. from me, so it’s really a piece of cake.

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“Hopelessly Lost” added to Radio Paradise listener review channel

Radio Paradise (internet radio station I really like) allows people to upload songs for consideration. If they get approved, they get added to the rotation. There are three steps in this process:

1 – The DJs give each submission a quick listen and decide if it’s even a possible match for their station. Most (they get hundreds a month) get a “sorry” at this step – meaning they declined the song.

2 – If the DJ approves the song, it gets added to list and played on a “listener review channel (LRC)” radio stream. Users rate the songs on this channel as either good or bad.

3 – Over a bit of time, if there are enough “good” ratings, the song gets added to rotation on the main Radio Paradise stream. Radio Paradise has a massive audience around the world.

The other day, after receiving a few compliments regarding some of my recordings, I said screw it and uploaded “Hopelessly Lost” for consideration.

Well…

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The Band Ra releases their long-awaited (studio) follow up to Duality – Black Sun.

I have been a big fan of the band Ra since I first heard of them in the fall of 2000. Their first major release “From One” was a constant in my car stereo for at least a year. The guitar work is tight and heavy, and the riffs have those “hooks” that seem to get stuck in your head for a week. Some highlights off From One are “Do you call my name”, “Rectifier”, “Parole” and “Sky”. I highly recommend this record.

After From One came “Duality”. While not as fundamentally heavy as From One, Duality offered a more refined, produced sound that seemed to blend more into mainstream rock. Personally, I think Duality is outstanding and every song on that record is a hit. The guitars are not as “hooky” as From One, but the vocals make up for it. I find my self singing songs off Dually all the time. Tracks like “Take me away”, “I lost everything”, “Got me going”, “Undertaken” and “Tell me” have lyrics that I can relate to. It confuses me as to why this record was not an enormous hit, it’s clearly better than 80% of the crap out there. Needless to say, once again I highly recommend this record.

Now.. enter the latest “Black Sun”

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PHISH – A Live One – One of the Best live records ever!

Any band can spend a week in the studio, recording take after take until they capture that perfect track. With today’s software, you can just about make anyone sound like a rock star – but give them a stage, a huge audience and a set of complex songs and you see just what sort of musicians they are – or more importantly, are not!

Anyone will tell you that some bands just need to be seen live to really get an honest impression of how good they really are. Personally I’ve seen a lot of bands live, and a few come to mind as being incredible on stage. Bands/performers like Billy Joel, Ra and Dave Matthews just need to be experienced in concert.

Of all the live concerts I’ve seen, Phish is clearly the best live band. It’s funny actually. You mention the name Phish to anyone that is not a fan and all they conjure up are images of Dead-heads and Phish-heads smoking grass and dancing around in a field. Granted that is clearly the case at most concerts, but you can’t judge the band by their fans. Phish is one of the most talented bands I have even known.

I’m a musician, and I became a Phish fan after another guitar player I know dragged me to a concert at “Great Woods” (now the Tweeter Center) in Mansfield Massachusetts. It was a free ticket, so I went because I had nothing else to do that night. I literally sat there, glossy eyed as Trey Anastasio tore the roof off that place for like three hours. I was in instant fan, for all the right reasons. Trey, Mike, Page and John are all masters of their own instruments.

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Kickass Hard-Rock Songs (that everyone should own)

So I was listening to music at the office today, as I always do, when it occurred to me that my musical preference seems to be changing again. I like all styles of music, so it’s not like it’s a big deal. I mean on any given day I could listen to John Denver, and then pop on Metallica or Static-X, before ending the day on Tori Amos. Put it this way; there is probably material in my ITunes that you really like AND really hate. I dig it all.

Anyways, for like the past five months or so I seem to have been in a “mellow acoustic rock” phase. For example Jack Johnson, Howie Day, and Dave Matthews have been high on my play count. Now it looks like I’m leaning towards a little bit of a heavier style again. I’m not talking death metal or anything, just heavier rock like Seether, Ra, and Godsmack.

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