Dessert & The Desert

14 06 2010

Well alright!  We made our way out last weekend to Joshua Tree for a couple days of debaucherous hilarity.  Losing our car in the dark parking lot of Pappy & Harriet’s…lost purses, lost cameras,  rides in cars with strangers, more rides in more cars with different strangers, climbing through windows, and seeing one of the most amazing bands on the planet!  The Sadies.  Dallas Good, Travis Good, Mike Belitsky, and Sean Dean. A better than perfect mix of Psychedelic Country, Garage, and Canadian Surf Tunes (Imagine that!).  These guys are so bizarre and cool.  They’re like a Charm Of Hummingbirds attacking Tippi Hedron in a phone booth!  This is my third time hearing them live, up close and personal (Check the photos).  The desert can be incredible all on it’s own but when the Sadies are added to the mix of rocky desert scenery, there is some well placed rock…and no telling what’s gonna happen.  We managed to find a tiny bungalow for the weekend in the middle of nowhere with a kitchen and a view.  The Rimrock Ranch. DO NOT GO THERE!!!  I just might  need the room for myself!  Great folks, nice surroundings, Petticoat Junction style aluminum pool, and a nice doggy that hangs around in the dirt then invites himself in for the night if you give him a leftover Rigatoni Noodle.  Then next, you’ve got your Pappy & Harriet’s.  This is where you can go and listen to raunchy bands while having  the most impossibly delicious Blackened Catfish Sandwich and sweet Homemade Strawberry Shortcake, then ask for a lid for your Iced Tea and have the wonderful waitress Madeleine tell you with a smile  ” You’re shit-out-of-luck Bitches!”  “No lids for the plastic cups.”   The whole weekend was one crazy, dusty Dune Buggy Hayride to Heaven!

It was great to meet and talk to The Late, Great Jimmy Bryant’s son John who just happened to be our neighbor for the weekend.   He’s busy making a documentary about his father entitled “Stratosphere Boogie”.  Keep an eye out for it!   Everyone was so entertaining!  I’m sure I was too.  Knocking on everyone’s door to no avail at 1:00 am after realizing that the key to our rented Love-Nest was still in the invisible car at Pappy & Harriet’s black-hole parking lot after the show.  Using my brain, I decided to Reverse-Defenestrate myself through the Bedroom window, nearly breaking my neck before the bed below me broke my fall.  Hooray!  This is probably way too much information for all of the casual readers of this sporadic blog….all two and a half of you!   Oh, by the way, I still have a Guitar Shop and you need to go there very soon and throw money at me, then go to the Desert.  It’ll do you some Good!  The Brothers Good that is!  Go see the Sadies when they come around…just be sure to mind your P’s & Q’s!!!

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Mike Watt’s Les Paul Signature Bass

26 04 2010

Les Is More. The Mike Watt Les Paul Signature Bass.

Every now and again, when he’s not on tour, my old friend Mike Watt either goes flying down the steep hill in front of my pad ringing his bicycle bell while simultaneously shouting my name to see if I’m home, creating a wild swirling Doppler Effect….or sometimes he’ll just foist and come up to the door and we’ll drink coffee and I’ll be served a history lesson of all things from Pelicans to the Indigenous Indians who inhabited San Pedro before the Spaniards killed them off.  History Lesson Pt 3?  To the point.  He’s been busy touring with Iggy & The Stooges in France and soon the rest of Europe.  In the mean time I’ve been entrusted to bring his Mid 70’s Les Paul Signature Bass up to running order.  This thing has been bouncing around his practice pad for at least nineteen years without a case and has a multitude of rattles, bowed neck and a tailpiece that’s just about as tight as a prick in a shirtsleeve.  No problem, I’ll fix her right up!  We’ve decided to go with a Hipshot 5G400C replacement bridge that requires no modification and has better features all around including individual saddle height adjustment!  How novel is that?   Normally I’m not one for aftermarket parts but the original OEM Bridge leaves a lot to be desired.   After figuring out where some of the rattles were coming from, ie:  loose truss rod, the low impedance electronics hanging loose beneath the selector knob and worn out bridge saddles with lateral (sideways) movement.  ( I forgot to mention this rare guitar has two outputs.  One for Low Impedance for recording and a High Impedance for live applications.)   The rattle continued and after much head scratching I found that all of the washers under the tuner ferrules were loose from the ferrules not being flush with the face of the headstock. It was maddening because the rattle caused by these washers seemed to transfer down the neck to the body.  You could put your ear to the body and it sounded like the rattle was coming from within.  Anyway, I think I’ve got it licked.  Two more things of mention…the pickup bezel is not original to this guitar.  When Mike bought it, the original was cracked and he asked me to fabricate something…I chose a piece of Mahogany and it’s been installed there ever since.   The autograph at the tail end is none other than the man himself, LES PAUL, who duly imparts the message…”To Mike,  Keep Pickin’,  Les Paul”.   Lester Polfus, Rhubarb Red, Les Paul… Rest In Peace and Keep Pickin”!

(Click on the photo for super fun detailed action…)





Talk To Me.

11 04 2010

If only I could come up with some kind of innovative genius notion like this for guitar players. Hmmmmmmmm….?

Excuse me while I puke. …Whoah Nellie! I guess I just figured out what this glob of shit is…It’s The Colonel’s version of Chicken Cordon Bleu…at least they could hire a photographer that doesn’t make it look so disgusting….or is that even possible?
I’m sorry but this looks like Sarah Palin to me…the most horrid, caustic, ignorant and poisonous kind of thing one might ingest.





With Saccharine and Trust

13 03 2010

One more post regarding the Reactionaries show. It’s always been an amazing experience when seeing Saccharine Trust. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen them dozens of times. They opened the show at Harold’s for the Reactionaries Record Release Party a few weeks back.  Just a handful of records were released, melding jazz, punk, funk, spoken word…you name it, but all worth a listen. I must say these guys are on par but perhaps a different par with the Minutemen or any other L.A. band that truly had, and still has great vision. Their music and live performances are second to none. Joe Baiza and Jack Brewer should be forever sewn at the hip to prevent the disintegration of this band ever again.  They took about ten years off and are back stronger than ever for the last couple of years. Here are a couple shots granted for use here by photographer Matthew Widmark who documented the live performance of PAGANICONS at Harold’s.  San Pedro is finally coming of age! Again!

There’s plenty of stuff on the Internet if you’re not familiar with this band.  Too much for me to post here.  Here’s a link to Matthew’s pictures of the entire event.  Thanks Matt!  Great Shots of a night to remember.  Check out the Unknown Instructors CD if you get a chance. It features an array of  “Wannabees” including Joe Baiza, Dan McGuire, George Hurley, Raymond Pettibon, David Thomas and Mike Watt….who are these dudes anyway?





Football Results!!!! Darlington Nil?

22 02 2010

The inimitable and charming Mark E. Smith!!!  You may ask, what does this have to do with anything?  The answer is EVERYTHING!!!!  Long Live The Fall!





Knee Jerks

17 02 2010

Hey Folks!  Well it’s finally here… physically, the biggest, most gigantic cover band in all the land.  ALL REACTIONARIES ARE PAPER TIGERS (there’s like 40 people in this band?) will be performing at the legendary HAROLD’S PLACE right here in St. Pete, Ca.  on February 20th, 2010.  Whippin’ it out in honor of Martin Tambourovich and D. Boon.  Trying to relive the 1979 vibe that was the precursor to The Minutemen.  THE REACTIONARIES. Who would believe it would take ten bands to recreate just one?  I would, and I’m part of it.  Also on the bill, the total mind-blow of Saccharine Trust playing the entire Pagan Icons LP LIVE!!!!  This is gonna be something!  Bring your Mom on down and let’s make a mess of things.  Click the poster image for details!!  http://waterunderthebridgerecords.blogspot.com/ Thanks to Craig Ibarra, Kevin Carle, Mike Watt and all the knuckleheads at the big blue house that is Cali Mucho Studios!  The Reactionaries LP is on sale at my shop for a very limited time…and it’s pressed on GREEN VINYL!  Artwork by the incredible Joe Baiza!  Have a bit of a romp and do something healthy for your head…reminisce about before you were born!  Oh yes, and if you’ve got the time, check out this Mike Watt Internet Radio Show that will tell you almost everything you might want to know about everything.
It’s 1979!  Look Ahead……………





Bowie Knife. Too Big To Flail?

11 02 2010

I’ve been doing a shitload of repairs lately and listening to all kinds of great early 70’s Glam Rock…can I still call it that?  This stuff regularly gets me through the day of fixing people’s greasy broken guitars!  New York Dolls, Iggy, Roxy Music, Slade, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren!!! 

Am I nuts or is this the best shit ever recorded? Conceptual, rocking and very loud.  I’ve decided to crunch this photo and top-notch video for y’all.

Juxtapose for the good of all Humanity!





こんにちは太平洋から!!!

2 02 2010

Many thanks to Kazu and Lightning Magazine. Fresh out of Japan!  This issue landed on my doorstep yesterday and includes a great expose’ about my humble shop.  これは方法涼しいたわごとである!  Check out my T-Shirt style “fist bump” to my pals in Black Sparrow Press.  The photo at the bottom right is another mainstay, Geoff,  The Sea Shanty Mafioso who plays right out in front of Guitar Safari every Friday during the Farmer’s Market.  Hey Man!  We’re all in Japan!  Let’s go eat!  There’s every manner of cool stuff in the pages.  The Magazine seems mostly geared toward the male gender but I think you ladies will enjoy thumbing backwards through the articles as well.  Click on the page and then enlarge it again so you can read all of the great text!  When you figure out what they wrote about my shop please be so kind as to let me know what they had to say!!!  Hey!  Tadashi “Paul” Ishibashi, are you checkin’ me out or what?  Tsubasa?  Where are you?  Vintage clothes, cars and guitars!!!  Find out what’s happening outside your zone!  Get some gift ideas!  Spoil yourself!  Get a copy of LIGHTNING MAGAZINE today! Only 680 Yen!





I’m Very Sad…….and……………

26 01 2010

Okay look, there are only so many people I can stand….Lhasa de Sela is someone that I just got to know…not personally, but I love her voice and I just found out that she sadly passed away on the first day of this year 2010…from  breast cancer …age 37…please check out this video and tell me if she isn’t one of the sweetest things to have ever graced this planet. Stuart Staples is one of my heroes as well…..I’m very sad.

Kiss your dog goodbye…..I’m wearing my Pink Ribbon today…and from now on.





PROBABLY HOW THESE GUYS GOT STARTED…

21 01 2010

Howdy! I’ve been asked many times to have a Bulletin Board in the shop so people can advertise for musicians wanted, gigs, art shows…etc…
Okay, here it is, only it’s not in the shop, it’s right here under your nose. Just click the Bulletin Board Tab and get your band on…I’ll help you!
Now for your enjoyment. An early shot of one of the best bands to ever walk the Earth. The Birthday Party. Rowland S. Howard and Tracy Pew R.I.P.