a visual collective outlet of inspirationjust to be clear, this is no music blog… it’s all lee’s fault for getting us started! basta! by dd
music
1967 monterey festival: the original blue print for the woodstock festival
the 1967 monterey festival, a three-day concert in california, was the first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival, attracting an estimated 200,000 total attendees. two years later, it became the blue print for the more generally known woodstock festival on the east coast which obviously had better PR and marketing behind it. eric burdon of the animals wrote this song as a tribute to those three days. i was never a fan of this song, listening to it made me chuckle at the time. it seemed pretentious to me, i don’t know why… a young brit impressed by the SF hippie scene and bragging about it while using much “groovy” words. that said the video is rather cool and i can forgive eric. maybe i was being too-cool-for-school myself! by dd
M. Ward: photographed with two of his favorite things
m. ward photographed with zooey dechanel
I’ll be damned if that is not a gretsch above and look… another one below.
so jealous!
well, after the m. ward post the other day i began to listen to ‘right in the head’ over and over again, and i just had to check, and indeed, the melody/solo on that track is a on a gretsch. in the pix above you can spot that cadillac V and the iconic gretsch bigsby tremolo bar. finally here’s a (horrible looking, but never the less) video as one more proof. P.S. does anyone know if ward plays exclusively on gretsch? by dd
M.Ward: roller coaster
for our friend butch. by dd
Marian version: sisters of mercy
over clocked and over dubbed “nosferatu vs. sisters of mercy”
so the gretsch leads us to the animals and the animals to this… before nouvelle vague, there was “doktor avalanche” (the drum machine that followed eldrich from set-up to set-up). sisters of mercy’s singer and songwriter andrew eldritch is yet another of those english midgets who managed to pull off a hell-of-a-sound out of that tiny frame. i was an avid fan of these boys at the time… i know that paul will be proud. by dd
eric burdon – animals : house of the rising sun
all that gretsch talk got me thinking… it was brilliant when a midget like eric burdon of the animals, could belt out such deep vocals… pardon the horrible video setting but i hear those were the days, as eric was not exactly as sedated as he appears here. by dd
rickenbacker: let’s not forget this baby (legend)
the uber cool and under-rated george harrison with his rickenbacker guitar… lennon was great but after him, it’s george… then ringo… and maybe then the other one.
while on the topic lets not forget the Rickenbacker, ugly yes, but amazing too. if it was not for the love of vintage gretsch, the rickenbacker would surely be a second for me. by dd
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gretsch: collect them all
george harrison’s gretsch
2 semi hollow’s with f-holes – above the gretsch white falcon
three versions of the gretsch guitar including the über fancy white falcon. by dd
Gretsch vs. gibson les paul
velvet underground: a ‘stretched’ lou reed with his gretsch guitar made proudly in brooklyn
john frusciante of red hot chili peppers with his gretsch white falcon guitar
now as much as i love les paul himself, to set the record straight, are you a U2 fan really? or are you a velvet underground fan?
others who played gretsch (most of them focusing on the legendary white falcon) – a few picked it up just for the image but others for the distinctive sound: chet atkins, eddie cochran, george harrison (the beatles), hilton valentine (the animals), brian jones (the rolling stnones), lou reed, sterling morrison (the velvet underground), brian setzer (the stray cats), billy duffy (the cult), mick jones (the clash), john squire (stone roses), stephen stills, neil young, even martin gore (depeche mode-did they play guitar?), pete townshend (the who), chris cheney, malcolm young (AC/DC), john frusciante (red hot chili peppers), dave grohl (foo fighters), jack white to name a few. by dd
Rip les paul
“as a child, I was introduced to the sound of Les Paul through my parent’s record collection. it was a spellbinding moment when I first heard how high the moon featuring mary ford. his innovation and recording techniques contributed greatly to the creation of rock music.” mick jones – the clash, guitarist
just some of the avid fans of the gibson les paul are: jimmy page, eric clapton, keith richards, peter green, jeff beck, mick taylor, slash, the edge, joan jett, mick jones, pat metheny, ace frehley, and so on… by pp’
ASK: LEE RANALDO – SONIC YOUTH ARTIST/MUSICIAN
lee disputing his shadow in david shrigley’s skate-park pool, malmö, sweden, may 2009. photo by carlos van hijfte.
my favorite _____ is:
-book: “what we talk about when we talk about love“, by raymond carver, one of my
favorite authors, one whose stories changed my view of the world we live in— what more can one ask of a work of art?
-album: blue, by joni mitchell, has been sustaining me these last few weeks as our
tour has grown long, playing over and over on repeat in my iTunes. what an
amazing achievement this record is.
-cities: right now i’m infatuated with all things portland (OR) — hands down the hippest city in USA right now. close seconds: paris, tokyo, marrakech, melbourne.
-place: place de vosges, paris.
-films: pierrot le fou, godard; late autumn, yasujiro ozu; ali: fear eats the soul,
rainier werner fassbinder; don’t look back, D.A. pennebaker; the gleaners,
agnes varda. this list, as with many of these, could go on and on…
-restaurant: chez panisse in berkeley — good vibes and good food.
-hotel: of late, from our recent summer tour, W hotel, dallas. not a city one needs to visit, really, but a killer hotel.
-hobby: bicycling. I’ve spent the summer bicycling my way across the country as sonic youth has toured. fantastic rides everywhere: montana rocky mtns, okla
cornfields, portland streets & bridges, st. louis mississippi river basin,
milwaukee, boise, san fransisco to the foot of the golden gate—you name
it, every city in the US is improving their cycling system.
-band: pavement, the most rocking and literate band of the 90s.
-prized possession: my just-released fender signature model jazzmaster guitar (the lee renaldo fender jazzmaster was released on july 1st).
-drink: single malt scotch on ice
-way to go: parched in the high desert.
I can’t believe I’m posting this!
i never liked this woman’s music or her desperate behaviors, but this image is rather cool. by dd
