The CD player on Dad’s stereo thing that I’ve been using to listen to all of my Rush records on vinyl works.
I started listening to everything in order yesterday. Presto, from 1989, is the first Rush studio album that I don’t have on vinyl (did it ever come out on vinyl? I don’t think so) and when I got to that point in the catalog… I just had to listen to it. I don’t have another album on vinyl until Vapor Trails, from 2002. So I guess it’s CDs for the next four releases.
I used to read constantly. I’ve worn reading glasses since I was a kid. A few years ago my eye glass prescription needs changed and I had to switch to progressives. That made sitting down and reading a book more difficult. It’s more stressful on my eyes and they get tired very fast.
At the time I was commuting to work over and hour each way four days a week. I had a very active Audible account and I was listening to piles upon piles of audio books. When the pandemic hit I inactivated the account. I don’t do well with audio books when I am not a captive, driving audience. That means there have been very few books read (in any manner) since early 2020.
I am going to need to have a new eye test one of these days. There’s a part of me that wants to get a set of reading glasses again to go along with the mid-distance computer glasses I have and the progressives I wear when I am not sitting at my computer. That’s a lot of money for specs though so probably not.
There is one book that I started reading a little after xmas though. I’m only on chapter three and have only been reading a few pages at a time. It’s a memoir. It’s Geddy Lee’s My Effin’ Life. I am very driven to get through it but it’s hard to find the time or the energy. I will read it. I have to. It’s a moral imperative.
My wife and I both got our latest Covid-19 vaccination shots yesterday evening, and we are both feeling the effects today. The last time we did this I felt legitimately sick the next day. Today I am just tired and sore and flakey-brained. I’ve managed to check a couple of things off of my to do list, but I feel like I have punted a lot of things off until tomorrow.
I finished the laundry and made the bed and bought a gift for my work’s yankee swap on Tuesday. I ran an errand for Jen and I helped her with a home office project she’s working on. I wrapped some xmas gifts, but only about 25% of the pile. Hopefully I can pick off some more tonight. I had told Jen that I was thinking about hanging xmas lights outside but that I wasn’t promising anything. I just didn’t have it in me today. The weather is supposed to be bad tomorrow, but it could be okay early in the morning. We’ll see if I feel better then.
My stomach has been a jerk today. Lots of “hey, I’m empty so I am going to hurt you a lot” stomach aches. I wonder if that can be related to the vaccine shot. Probably not, but who knows? I’ll be fine tomorrow, I am sure.
On unrelated nerd notes, I have not watched the third and final Dr Who 60th anniversary episode yet. I got a text from my step son, Harry, asking me if I have seen it yet. I told him no but asked him if it was good. He said very, without any spoilers. I’ll get to it before I sleep tonight. I did manage to watch the 4th and final episode of Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too with Krist Novoselic from Nirvana. What a fascinating guy. I also finished season three of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The 3rd season finale is one of my favorite episodes ever. The 4th season premier is another one of my favorite episodes. I’m in a good Star Trek binge watching place right now.
Okay, time for dinner. Time to try to talk my stomach into calming the hell down. No problem!
I have two things I want to comment on that refer to members of Rush.
First, I watched the second episode of Are Bass Players Human Too this morning before work. It focused on Robert Trujillo of Metallica. I knew nothing about this guy as I’m not much of a metal fan, never mind a Metallica fan. I saw them in 1989 when Jason Newsted was their bass player. I guess Robert Trujillo played for Ozzy Osbourne back in the 90’s. I saw Ozzy in the 90’s but Geezer Butler was playing bass at that time. I guess I sort of missed him twice then? Not really.
Anyway, Robert Trujillo is the current owner of Jaco Pastorius’ Fender Jazz bass. The one he ripped the frets out of to turn it into a fretless bass (but what did he put into the gaps? How did that work?). Watching Geddy Lee play Jaco’s bass, even if just for a few seconds, was something that I did not realize I needed in my life. It was a quietly magical moment.
On a side note, Metallica’s bass player owns Jaco Pastorius’ bass, which to many is the holy grail of electric bass guitars, and Metallica’s guitar player, Kirk Hammett, owns Peter Green/Gary Moore’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, which to many (including me*) is the holy grail of electric guitars. How did that happen? Does Metallica’s drummer own Keith Moon’s kit or anything? That would be too weird for my tiny brain to process.
Anyway, on to Alex Lifeson. I mentioned yesterday that Lerxst has released an overdrive pedal. It’s called By Tor. The first write up I read said that it had two channels that shared drive and tone controls. I don’t think that’s the case. I think one channel is just a volume boost and only has a level control. The other channel is an overdrive which has level, gain, and tone controls. That makes more sense.
Check out this demo from (the youtube legend) Andy from Reverb. I started watching this last night but had to shut it off before I finished. I’m posting it here so that I won’t forget to watch the rest of it later tonight.
*Peter Green’s Les Paul is probably my definition of The Guitar Holy Grail. The only guitar that might challenge for that tile would be Eric Clapton’s 1960 Les Paul Standard that is generally known as The Beano Burst. It was stolen in 1966 and has never resurfaced. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, but unless some collector gives it back to Clapton we will probably never see it again. The reason it might not supersede Greeny is simply that I prefer the spec of a 1959 Les Paul Standard to the spec of a 1960. The neck is supposed to be thicker on 1959’s. By that logic I would probably prefer 1958’s to 1959’s as the neck is supposed to be even thicker on 1958’s. How’s that for cork sniffing? A little too much, maybe? Nope. It’s never too much.
I just watched the first episode of Geddy Lee’s TV show, called Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?
I freakin’ loved it!
It was about 20 minutes of Geddy and Les Claypool of Primus just hanging out. The two of them are just plain goofy and it was kinda delightful.
I’ll admit that when Geddy was reading from a script he didn’t sound particularly… professional. It’s clear that reading copy is not something that he generally does. When he and Claypool were just talking to each other it felt natural and… I’ll say it again, delightfully goofy.
There are three episodes left. One is the new guy in Metallica, one is (I think) a former member of Hole, and the third is some guy who used to be in some band called Nirvana or something.
I’m looking forward to all of them. I now need to know, are bass players human too?
We’ve known about these two songs for a few weeks now as he’s been playing the recordings on his book tour, but Geddy Lee released two new/old songs today under the title “The Lost Demos”. They were recorded during the writing of his one solo record, “My Favorite Headache” back in 1999 or 2000 or so. He dropped them from consideration as they were a little two personal to share. One is apparently about an argument he had with his wife and the other is about the death of Neil Peart’s daughter.
After one listen, I like them both. Good stuff. Enjoy some new/old/previously unreleased Geddy Lee!
After two books and one TV show (which is out soon… possibly today, I think. Not sure) it’s time for Geddy to start writing some new music. Preferably with Alex Lifeson, but another solo record would be welcome too. We’re ready, Geddy. Bring it on.
As I was sitting in the living room feeling terribly nauseous and sick I put on Youtube and poked around. I found a rig rundown video with Alex Lifeson’s guitar tech from the Time Machine Tour in 2010. They checked out his guitars. Most of them were his signature Les Paul model, the Les Paul Access. There were a couple of older Les Pauls too and his gorgeous ES-355, and that one Telecaster he plays now and then. There were also a couple of 90’s Paul Reed Smiths.
Lifeson started playing those in the late 80’s or early 90’s (I think) after he stopped playing those Signature strat copy things that I think he was a part owner of the company. I was so happy when he stopped playing those things and I really liked how he sounded playing those PRS guitars but I was sort of hoping he’d start playing Les Pauls again, which eventually he did. I mean, Geddy Lee once said something along the lines of Alex doesn’t sound like Alex unless he’s playing a Les Paul. I don’t remember the exact quote but it was something like that, and once Mike my lifelong bass player said the same thing about me and that was pretty much the best compliment I’ve ever heard.
Anyway…
After I watched that rig rundown video I found today’s new episode of That Pedal Show and who should they have as a guest? Paul Reed Smith himself.
Maybe someday after I win the lottery and buy a bunch of Les Paul Standards from 1957-1960 I might treat myself to a two humbucker Paul Reed Smith model. They are great guitars. Even that weird strat copy they make for John Mayer is a great guitar, even if it’s basically a stratocaster with a funny looking headstock.
Inside the Red Head's Head 