Monday, May 9, 2011
Jeff Monday May 09/11
Monday, January 31, 2011
Jeff Monday Jan.31/11
Hey out there...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Jeff Friday Jan.28/11
The Centre Of The Universe... where do you think that lies? Some say trillions of light years away while others seem to think in much smaller terms. They actually believe that every tiny thing they do or say is so important that everything that exists has to stop everything it is doing and pay reverent regard to their pontifications. Well, I think that's a load of crap and apparently, so did Einstein although, he would have put it much more eloquently than yours truly! Not that I would ever compare myself to one of civilization's greatest citizens for a nanosecond but, he did have one hell of a brain and one or two good ideas that had some merit (I'm being cheeky here BTW). Anyways, I just wanted to share with you a clever link that a good friend of mine sent to me this morning about the size of things. It is worth going through for your own entertainment but, you also get a small grasp of where we fit into the universe. The link should open up on the scale at about where we exist (in relative size) within the universe. Scroll from left to right (if you can't figure that out then maybe this is too much for you... lol) and just take in the info and how it all progresses. Kinda fun and puts some things into perspective and, as it says at the end, we are probably not the centre of the universe, which could be the biggest understatement ever! Hope you enjoy it a little. http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Jeff Sunday Jan.23/11
Today in Jeff’s Guitar Player’s Corner we are looking at the Deep Purple classic , “Hush”. A great track from 1968 featuring that memorable naananaana hook. Ok, here’s a link to that track to start with…
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=eLzqQupzzmA&feature=related.
A very cool song right? Great organ track by Jon Lord who was, in my opinion, one of the best rock Hammond players ever. Super percussive parts and always that tone! Beautifully matched Richie Blackmore’s guitar (Richie is one of my all time favs). Also featured Rod Evans on vocals who went on to Captain Beyond and the incredible Ian Paice on drums. Ok, ok.. AND Nicky Simper on bass. Deep Purple became more popular later on in their career and are more likely remembered for “Smoke On The Water”, but I really loved their early stuff and every time I hear one of DP’s early tracks, it reminds me of hanging around the local pool hall dreaming of being in a rock and roll band while the old Wurlitzer jukebox blasted out great tracks like this… (picture a 12 year old kid going on 18, smoking cigarettes and playing 8 ball). Not exactly a role model by today’s standards, LMAO, but I am trying to give you an idea of where I was at!
So, we’ve established that this was/is a great song (unless you hate this song then WTF are you doing still reading this lol).
However, yesterday I discovered/found on YouTube, Richie Blackmore’s isolated guitar track from Hush which is way too cool. It’s a guitar player’s thing I know but, it’s really great hearing just how he structured his guitar parts. You can hear the punches when he changes tones for the different parts of the song and his execution is excellent overall. You can even hear the bleed/overlap of the punch-ins and partial doubling that adds that bit of funky X factor missing from a lot of today’s sometimes too pristine recordings. The ending is oddly cut off. Don’t know what that is. On the original it sounds like he hits the downbeat on the end but it’s not on this track. Anyways, Here’s that link… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPYzEBQKMWc&feature=related Cool huh? For me, it is amazing just hearing something like this and I hope some of you dig it. If you don’t, at least you get an insight into how I spend my Sunday mornings. (I’m not 100% sure whether that’s a good thing or not!).Alright, one more connector here. Back in the early 90’s, PM Dawn used a sample from Hush for their single "Downtown Venus". They slowed it down a whole tone which also brought the BPM’s back. I liked this track, mostly for the loop, but it was a cool song and a great example of recycling the past. Bought the CD as well called “Jesus Wept”. Very underrated band PM Dawn. Here’s a link to that for you… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S9obcQ6b00.
Ok, that’s it for now and I hope some of you enjoyed this. Remember to love rock and roll and don’t let your kids smoke or hang around in pool halls…
Rock on,
J.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Jeff Friday Jan.21/11
Friday, January 14, 2011
Jeff Friday Jan.14/11
Last night I attended the memorial of a friend and associate that some of you may know. Doug Grover was one of the cornerstones of the rock and roll business here in Vancouver and recently passed away from injuries suffered from an accidental fall at home. He worked for Bruce Allen for many years and as his road manager, helped guide the careers of most of Vancouver's great bands including Trooper, Prism, BTO, Loverboy and Bryan Adams. During the collage that they showed last night there was even a shot of a young Doug and Kenny Shields together from the early Streetheart days so, there was that connection there as well. I knew Doug as a friend for years but we worked together only on occasion. Streetheart's management at the time was very successful at keeping us isolated from anyone that could actually do anything for us (hoping you sense the sarcasm here, which is fully intended).