If you ever wanted to see someone distracting himself from a painful situation and thus being a textbook case of avoidance, this post is it.
As someone who owns two Les Pauls and an SG, this is the single greatest video ever made.
I watched it yesterday before things went south and I was going to post this then, but instead I am doing it now as a form of deflection. If you don’t like it, you can suck it.
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.
I did something yesterday that I haven’t done since early 2003. I followed a UMass Lowell Riverhawks men’s ice hockey game. I say men’s ice hockey but I don’t know if Lowell has a women’s ice hockey team or not. They didn’t when I was there, but I am hopeful that they do now.
It was after the 2003 season that the athletics department tried to sell the school radio station out from under us and I swore they wouldn’t get a second thought from me until the athletic director was gone. Well, I found out not long ago that he is finally gone, and has been for a few years. He wasn’t fired though, he retired. He should have been fired. Hell, he should have been thrown in jain for trying to fuck us. Whatever, water under the bridge. I can follow my old school’s hockey team again.
Yesterday was opening day. They beat St Lawrence 4-0. I listened to most of the first period. I missed the first minute or two because Bellana and her roommates were visiting. It was 3-0 Lowell when the first period ended and Jen asked me if I wanted to watch a movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). Of course I wanted to watch a movie with my love. Of course. Duh.
The Bruins season opener is in a couple of weeks. October 12th, I think. UMass Lowell doesn’t play again until next weekend. I guess I am now in a hockey black hole, though the Bruins probably have pre-season games this week. I checked, they play New Jersey on Monday and Saturday, and the Rangers on Wednesday. Good.
On an unrelated scheduling note, tonight is the start of the final segment of The Walking Dead. The first of the last eight episodes. I would like to watch it “live” but if I can’t I’ll catch up on the AMC site tomorrow before work. I’m sad that the show is ending, but also ready. It’s time. It was perfect for five-six years, then it slipped for a few years, then it came roaring back. Now let’s let it end before it slips back again. There are at least three spin offs coming, so it isn’t really ending ending, you know? It’s just changing. Still, the main show is a gem and the spin offs will never quite be the same.
I still haven’t watched this week’s Rings of Power so I need to get on that. I also haven’t watched That Pedal Show and that’s unforgivable. There’s just so much good stuff to watch. Really, anything I watch during the week right now is just me biding my time for the next episode of Andor. Did you catch that the woman who played Harry Potter’s aunt in the movies played Andor’s mother? Harry Potter and Star Wars are in the same universe: Confirmed.
Okay, I need to go make Jen some dinner. Wish me luck, folks!
PatchRabbit is riveted.
Hello and welcome to day nine post-op. What’s on the agenda for today?
Yesterday I had three one-teaspoon sized “meals” of pureed food. The goal is to get up to five quarter-cup sized “meals”. Based on yesterday’s success, I think that will be doable eventually, but not right away. Today, I’m thinking of bumping up from a teaspoon to a tablespoon. I think that’s a good enough push for myself for one Friday.
I also need to keep up with the liquids. Dehydration is the one troublesome thing over the last week. If I stay on top of it I’m okay. If I don’t I get a little light headed. It doesn’t sound like hard work, but damn, it seriously is. I’m doing okay, it’s just tough and I struggle with it here and there. I also need to continue to get off my ass for a few minutes each hour and move around and keep the circulation moving. That has not been a problem at all, I just need to stay vigilant. The Apple Watch Activity app’s stand hours goal is a help there. I think I’ve missed one stand hour in the last week. No troubles there.
I am turning into a television binge watching couch potato though. I mean, enjoy it while it lasts, right? I mentioned all the Star Trek yesterday, but I also got it into my pea brain to get back into Breaking Bad (I’m about to finish season two), and there’s a new horror show on Prime Video called From that looks okay. I watched the first episode yesterday. Today is also supposed to be the debut of the new season of The Kids in the Hall, the first in 30 or so years, also on Prime Video. I can’t miss that. Over on Netflix, I plowed through the second season of Russian Doll in world record time. It wasn’t as good as the first season, but it was still excellent. I’m also trying to stay connected to the guitar universe. I’m a little nervous about playing, what with the incisions in my gut to worry about, but there’s still That Pedal Show and Five Watt World and half a dozen other must-see YouTube channels.
Yeah… couch potato.
Before we get to any of that though… time to make myself a protein shake, then a tablespoon of pureed sweet potato. Later today, around lunch time, I’m thinking of maybe cracking open a little package of applesauce. Mmm, delicacy.
14 Marvel movies down, 13 to go! We have crossed the halfway point and we have closed out Phrase Two-ish!
Here is The Great 2022 Marvel Cinematic Universe Chronological Rewatch of 2022 Update:
I just finished Ant-Man. I started it this morning and finished it tonight. So ends Phase Two, or what passes for Phase Two when you’re going chronologically instead of in release order. Ant-Man is a classic, so Phase whatever-it-was ends with a bang.
Phase Three-ish opens with an even bigger bang. Captain America: Civil War is Thor and The Hulk away from being a full blown Avengers movie and it squashes most of the rest of the MCU flicks like the proverbial grape. It’s awesome. I’m not going to start it tonight though. There’s a new episode of That Pedal Show that I haven’t watched yet, and they are going to talk about wet/dry rigs using stereo speaker cabinets and that is going to sound mega.
In closing though, why weren’t The Hulk and Thor in Civil War? Simple. Whichever side had them was guaranteed to win. I mean, they could have split them up, but saving them for the buddy cop vibe in Ragnarok was a stroke of pop-culture genius.
Just closing the loop on the post I made yesterday where I shared the video from That Pedal Show of an acoustic guitar being built by hand.
He shaped the neck with A CHISEL!
It sounds amazing. Just amazing.
I post about the Youtube show That Pedal Show a lot. I’ve learned a lot from watching those two guys goof off, but their latest posts are something that is practically unbelievable.
A couple of years ago the two hosts took their #1 guitars to a Luthier who did various maintenance on them (mostly dealing with frets). One of the hosts mentioned that this particular Luthier makes his favorite acoustic guitar and he was going to bite the bullet and order one. The build takes a couple of months and the wait list is a couple of years. Yikes!
Over the last four days the show has posted one video per day (there will be a fifth tomorrow) that is just watching this Luthier build the host’s guitar from scratch. He starts with a couple of thin planks of wood and goes from there.
It is freakin’ FASCINATING. I mean, I knew it was an art, but the guy is shaping the guitar’s neck with a friggin’ chisel! A CHISEL! It’s just amazing to watch.
I’ll post the first video (number one of five) and links to the next three. When I get a chance to watch the fifth video (hopefully tomorrow) I’ll post that one too. The whole thing is going to be about five hours long, but it is just ridiculously satisfying to watch. Give it a try, a bit at a time. It’s so worth it.
Last night, before I went to bed, I promised myself that I was going to spend a lot of time today working on music.
Guess how much work I did.
Go on, guess… I’ll wait…
That’s right. I did exactly zero seconds of work. None. Zilch.
I therefore am going to make the same promise for tomorrow, and hopefully I will actually keep this one.
Car music in the morning. Lots of guitars throughout the day. Maybe add at least one new song. Mix as many songs as I can get finished.
We also will have a visit from the kids so that we can decorate our new christmas tree together. Outside of that… music. You promise breaking twit.
For tonight though, it’s That Pedal Show and Supergirl.
This week’s episode of That Pedal Show is once again forcing* me to change things in the bedroom recording nook. They keep doing this to me!
The topic is using overdrive pedals in a band setting and it didn’t really teach me anything I didn’t already know. The what not to do examples were things that I used to do all the time, and the what you should do examples were things that I have decided were good ideas over the last 6-7 years or so. I guess I’m like Fredo Corleone. I’m smart.
Nope, what got into my head was just one of the pedals they used for the demonstration. They were using a Rat. Last year I bought a decent Rat clone. It’s on the table next to my desk but tomorrow it’s totally going on the board and getting used on some November Music stuff.
Inspiration, babie!
*Ain’t nobody forcing me to do jack. It’s just inspiration. Oodles of inspiration.
Inside the Red Head's Head 