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
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
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
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
“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’
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 never liked this woman’s music or her desperate behaviors, but this image is rather cool. by dd
ziggy quit smoking right after this album
and michael schenker went to jail right after this album!!! **
sonic youth, david bowie, glenn gould, scorpions. enter “cocktail”: thanks to apple, here is a new digital music format that the creators of itunes are developing with record labels. the new format will go beyond a simple PDF file of liner notes, and instead bundle photos, videos, lyrics and other assets with an album’s music. details remain slim, but label sources confirming the effort’s existence point to it as the digital version of the record sleeves of the old days. by dd
** scorpions shocking cover was released in 1976 stirring controversy in the UK, US, and elsewhere resulting in an alternative cover of the band in some countries and making this a collectors item. in 2008, the image again gave rise to controversy, when the british internet watch foundation placed pages from wikipedia containing the cover on its blacklist, causing significant public debate. the decision was reversed by the IWF after four days of blocking.
faust’s first album 1971, surely a collectors item now, was originally printed on clear vinyl in a clear sleeve with a silk screen of an x-ray of a human fist on the sleeve. very cool to have clear vinyl especially for the time. by dd
the german krautrock band faust with werner “zappi” diermaier, hans joachim irmler, arnulf meifer, jean-hervé péron, rudolf sosna and gunter wüsthoff. suddenly the can seems melodic!
with fond memories of sheen. by dd
with thanx to our guest visitors. by dd
irrelevant topics is a new section of beck’s website featuring conversations between beck himself and musicians, artists, writers, etc. on various subjects, without promotional pretext or editorial direction. for the first in this series of conversations, the legendary musician and performer, tom waits agreed to lend an hour of his time to talk about anything and nothing in particular. great!!! on beck’s website (here) photos:hedi slimane / russ flat by pp’
a visual collective outlet of inspiration
 — see more of this on tomorrow started blog){kind=link}
