BFrank

Would like to improve my comping and rhythm playing - I prefer that to lead playing, anway.

I was thinking of picking up an instructional DVD and this one seemed to get a lot of positive feedback on Amazon. Has anyone watched it or anything else that they would recommend?

I was just about to post the same thing (but wasn't sure where to do it).

Check that out. I'm not real familiar with JA either. In their heyday, JA was one of the best. "Bless It's Pointed Little Head" is a must-have live album if you want a place to start. Studio-wise it would have to be "Surrealistic Pillow", "Crown of Creation" and "After Bathing at Baxter's" (for the complete psychedelic experience).

CBS marketing ploy on all of their recent Woodstock albums - they included 1969 studio album by the same group (Airplane, Janis, Sly, Johnny Winter, Santana). In all the other cases, that pushed it from a 1-CD set to a 2-CD set, and they left off any bonus cuts which had come with other latter-day CD versions of the studio albums, but the Airplane set would have been 2-CD anyways, and only a $19.98 list, so while including 'Volunteers' is goofy, it's no real loss. ... and the major labels wonder why their business is going down the tubes.

Sounds good. I have just about everything else. I'll have to pick this one up! Just looked it up on Amazon. What's the deal with including "Volunteers"? I'm sure it's great anyway, but ...

You GO, Hank!

Someone should JUMP on this. Great set! One of my favorite Mosaics, actually.

Saw Chris Smither in my friend's back yard last night. He hosted an "intimate concert" for about 100 people. It was very entertaining.

Interesting Steely Dan dates coming up. Entire shows of Aja, Gaucho and also Royal Scam including appearances by Larry Carlton on the Royal Scam shows. Steely Dan's Rent Party '09 Check it out if you're in the NY, Chicago or LA area (they just played in Boston).

One of the early things I downloaded from eMusic. Haven't listened to it in a while, though.

Sounds cool. I'll have to look into those.

FWIW, I saw "J." wandering around the SXSW guitar show in March. But I digress ...

Jazzmasters seem to be making a comeback lately.

Clapton & Winwood did a GREAT version of Voodoo Chile on their recent tour. Seeing them do this on PBS convinced me to spend the BIG bucks to see them live in Oakland. Eric "channelling" Jimi was worth the price of admission alone. It didn't hurt that Steve played on the original, too.

I've gone the past 2 years and had a great time, too. What I meant to say was that if it was in MY town, I would probably stay away, too. There's something about being out of your daily element that adds to the fun. We have the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass mega-fest every year in GG Park (for FREE) and I've only been a couple of times.

Actually, I don't think the guitar show is techically part of SXSW. They just moved the date to coincide. Anyway, I can understand your aversion to all things SXSW. If it was in my town, I would avoid it like the plague.

Lon, did you go to the Guitar show at SXSW? There were a LOT of vendors selling collectable stuff. Someone might have had some info on getting one. B, I avoid all SXSW events like the plague. It's just me but I don't enjoy any of them I've attended in the past and don't feel the need. I don't blame you. If I lived there, I would do the same thing. The guitar show was still on Sunday and it was very quiet around the convention center. You might want to check it out next year.

Lon, did you go to the Guitar show at SXSW? There were a LOT of vendors selling collectable stuff. Someone might have had some info on getting one.

"Just Like Me" and "Kicks" were a couple of the first songs that got me into listening to music.

You don't want to play MP3s on a good stereo. Strictly for iPods or computer speakers. I have a wireless transmitter by Creative that sends MP3s from my computer to my stereo and boosts the fidelity a bit. Still not CD quality, but listenable, anyway.

Sorry I'm late. HAPPY B-DAY, Barak!

I can't say I'm happy about the new pricing structure. On the other hand I'm not surprised. Just like when they got rid of the "unlimited" DL policy, the way the pricing has been here, it just didn't seem sustainable. If for no other reason than the labels were going to want more money per album (as opposed to "per track"). As someone mentioned, labels like Black Saint/Soul Note could not possibly be making any money from this business model. They would have left eMusic sooner or later, anyway. Like many others, my sub is still good until January, so I've got some time to contemplate continuing. I'm inclined to go with Bev's reasoning: "... it will be a case of seeing what is cost effective. If it's cheaper off e-music, I'll go there. If it can be had cheaper elsewhere (as the 'Classics' albums can be had from Amazon_mp3), then I'll go there."

Well, my g/f bought tickets for the show for us, and I've got my plane tickets already, so this is a go! Looking forward to the show! And looking forward to King's X, actually. Never seen them live.

Good obit and pix in today's NY Times