Category: Music

Alex Lifeson to Auction His Guitar Collection

Oh to be fabulously wealthy. I missed out on Clapton’s ES-335 and Gilmour’s gold top Les Paul, and now I am going to miss out on Alex Lifeson’s custom made 1976 ES-355TD. Sweet Christmas, he’s going to auction off his guitar collection to raise money for charity. Read this article.

As with all guitar god auctions, the first thing I look for is random 1959 Les Pauls. The article only mentions one Les Paul, and it’s the 1970 he bought on the 1974 tour and used on 2112. I would imagine Al has collected a few more Les Pauls than that, especially since he played a bunch of them over the last few Rush tours and he actually has a signature model. The question though… are there bursts?

More important than that, He’s Selling The 355!

It’s not actually this ES-355…

#rush #r40bos #r40live #r40

It’s the one that guitar was copied from. It’s this one…

He’s also selling the Hentor. The guitar he used the shit out of in the early 80’s. It started out as a Fender Strat but he modded the holy hell out of it and turned it into something else.

He’s also selling the Howard Roberts Fusion. Off the top of my head, I don’t know anyone else who played one of those, but he used it all over Moving Pictures and it’s a hollow body legend.

If I were disgustingly wealthy I would buy them all. Seriously. I would have bought all of Clapton and Gilmour’s guitars too, but this is Lerxst’s collection! Epic!

Lerxst Amps Interview

I was feeling curious about the amplifier line Alex Lifeson released 2-3 years ago. They are way too powerful for my use (though I now know they can step down from 50 to 25 watts which makes them more interesting) so I didn’t look very close when they were first released.

Today I decided to poke around and I found this interview. Speaking as both a Rush fanatic and a gear nerd, this video is literally Gold.

He talks about stage volume and monitor mix preferences! Oh my god the gear dirt he shares! Can you believe it? Wow!

The Goings On

I am procrastinating. The Apple Activity App has a challenge for National Women’s Day to do a 20 minute work out. I want to do it but I don’t want to do it. So I’m sitting here procrastinating.

We still don’t know what we’re doing with the kitchen. We have an estimate for like four different upgrading scenarios. All or grossly expensive, but only a couple are beyond us. We have more people coming in for estimates, which is terrifying on the Covid front. We have someone coming tomorrow to look into pulling down the panelling and the wallpaper border and repainting. No promises, but when we moved in 11 years ago it was the #1 change we wanted to make. Still waiting. We’ll see how that goes.

I have my next appointment at the weight loss clinic on Thursday. It’s the psyche check in. My first. I am not sure where it’s going to go but I expect a nervous breakdown, or at the very least tears. We’ll see how that goes.

I haven’t done any music today. If I end up doing an album in a day thing then it will probably start around dinner time. There’s just too much else going on.

Okay. Enough procrastinating. Let’s do that 20 minute workout. Wish me luck.

Kitchens

We had a meeting with a kitchen guy at Home Depot tonight. 20 minutes into the meeting we all realized he wasn’t the guy we needed to be talking to.

Jen has been itching for a new kitchen for over a year now. We really can’t afford it, and every time we looking into doing one thing it pulls in five other things and the cost estimate balloons and we back off. We’re going to try again though. This time we’re thinking more of an upgrade or a face lift and less of a remodel. The guy we thought we were talking to tonight is going to come over for a look see tomorrow. Another guy will come on Wednesday for a look see to see about getting rid of the awful paneling and wall paper border in the kitchen and the dining room.

We’re not agreeing to anything yet but hopefully we’ll be able to make it work. I want this to happen because I want my love to be pleased. We’ll see.

The main issue in all of this is that Covid is hardly over. I am not nervous the way I was a year ago, but I am still less than comfortable with it all. I can’t complain though, as I am going to the office regularly and I am going to the weight loss clinic and I am even thinking about getting the band together. I fear I am being selfish by being concerned. I’m not though. I am concerned about everything, I just can’t do much about any of it anymore.

In other news, the album in a day idea might be back on, but it won’t start until morning. I haven’t decided yet. We’ll see. Also, I have an afternoon appointment at the weight loss clinic on Thursday. The weight loss clinic is on the way to Guitar Center in Nashua. I wonder if I might go early and bring my Strat. Also maybe bring my Bassbreaker 18/30. Also, I think we have a Guitar Center credit card. Maybe I’ll bring that too. No promises. I would say I am about on third in favor of going and two thirds against. We’ll see how I feel on Thursday.

Okay, going to watch the Bruins. They are tied with the LA Kings, one a piece after one period.

Uncover the Secrets of the Scoop

Yesterday I wrote about the existential crisis I faced when trying to mix up my first protein shake. I had been lead to believe, by my own eyes, that the huge bucket of protein shake powder did not come with a scoop. Today, day two of the new shake world order, I took a tablespoon and tried to dig out about 32 grams of powder. While digging in the huge bucket I found the scoop buried inside.

Now, knowing what the shake tastes like with the exact correct milk to powder ration, how’d it taste? Okay. I promise I won’t be drinking it for fun, but I also won’t be turning my nose up at it. I’ll put it into the weight loss surgery win column.

What else is going on today, no the first business day of vacation? I tried to watch The Walking Dead on my iPad while sitting in the living room with Jen and Harry last night, but they were watching Rick and Morty and I had to join them. I mean… Mr Nimbus, right? I am watching the new episode on AMC’s website and the stream during the commercial breaks is screwing up left and right. I’m not very optimistic that it’s going to let me get through the whole episode, but amazingly I just heard one of the new bad guys use the phrase, “mother puss bucket” in what can only be thought of as a verbal tip of the hat to Ghostbusters but given that I use that phrase as a verbal tip of the hat to Ghostbusters I am feeling seen and acknowledged right now.

So what’s the music plan for my vacation week? I mentioned doing an album in a day, but I am not going to go through with it. Instead I will just try to come up with a couple of song ideas for Record Every Month. I was also thinking of hitting up Guitar Center and trying to trade in my Strat. Instead I might get back into the idea of finding someone to overhaul my Les Paul Custom. Like everything else, it all depends on money.

What about non-musical plans for the vacation week? Well, I’m glad you asked. We are thinking about getting back to figuring out the ways and means of upgrading out kitchen. We’re going to do some research tonight. You know, do some interviews. Ask some questions. Rattle some trees and see what shakes out. We’ll let you know.

Okay, this morning’s zombie watch is now past the point where I stopped last night. I’m going to pay more attention now. Talk to ya’ll later.

Mutha Puss Bucket.

Music Idea for My Vacation Week

Harry’s home and it’s awesome. He’s in the living room kicking Orc ass in some Playstation Game that I don’t know the name of. He’ll be here today and tomorrow. On Monday and Tuesday he’ll be at his dad’s.

I was thinking about a music project that I could mess with while he’s at the other house. I assume the RPM Challenge site’s Record Every Month thing is on going. At first I thought maybe to try and record two songs each month and call it a single or something. I might do that. That sounds interesting. Then I thought… what about an album in a day thing?

I did it once before, following the rules on this page. I’m thinking maybe start around 8-9pm, write the music using my iPad, write the lyrics and melodies as soon as I start coming up with riffs, then go to sleep for a while. The next morning do a car music and then come home and add the guitars. The trick would be getting all of that done and still having time to mix the whole thing before the 24 hours are up.

I’m still undecided, but I’m thinking about it. It might happen.

Now What

RPM is over. Now for the annual “now what?” Post.

I assume the folks at RPMHQ will kick off another Record Every Month challenge. I’ll do that. I’m thinking two songs each month, sort of like a single. Then at the end of the year re-record the best songs?

In the real world I have to buckle down on the weight loss surgery prep. I have a bunch of directives from the dietician and so far have only integrated two. I think there are three more and one of them is a little Earth shattering.

Outside of that? There’s the band. I think I may have reached the point in the pandemic where I’m willing to try a band practice. I think. We will have to see. Fingers crossed I don’t panic and chicken out.

I’ll see if I can dream up anything else. I’ll let you know.

I’m Finished! – #RPM2022

2022 marks the 11th consecutive year with a completed RPM Challenge project.

I’m all done!

Here’s a link to the final playlist on alonetone.com if that embedded playlist doesn’t work.

Also, for shits and giggles, here’s the outtake playlist as well. These were the songs that didn’t make the cut.

And again here is a link to the outtakes playlist on alonetone.com, if you’d prefer to listen to my unlistenable crap there.

In summary…

WOOHOO!