Captain Beefheart, Harp Video
Here is a youtube.com video of Captain Beefheart playing a few songs off their first album. I can't believe how good it is to hear them. The last time was in a small dark apartment full of blue smoke about 35 years ago. Beefheart could play some good blues harp, but you have to wait for the second song.

Show this tou your guitar players. There are great closeups of the slide guitar showing every detail of the Muddy Waters style licks. 
¶ Thursday, May 25, 2006 4 Comments Links to this post

  6L6 Forever - Vaccum Tube Valley
I saw this old article over on Vacuum Tube Valley and thought it was a good read. The 6L6 is now nearly 70 years old and still selling strong.

"If you ever find yourself being harassed by a techie who insists upon criticizing you for your interest in vacuum tubes, there is an easy answer. He can be silenced with a simple question. Ask him if any early type transistors will still be manufactured and used in new products in, say, the year 2030. If he's honest, the answer will be 'no'. Then tell him that the first-ever beam power tube is still selling in the millions today, and shows no sign of becoming obsolete ... after 60 years. That should get rid of him."

Read the complete Article: 6L6 Forever 
¶ Friday, May 05, 2006 0 Comments Links to this post

  When Musicians Could Play
This is Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer playing Frankenstein. I had always heard that this song was created from scraps on the mixing room floor, but this video belies this. Rick and Edgar are little kids in this video. They're about the age of the Back Street Boys are younger. Can you imagine a modern pop group performing like this in one take on analog tube equipment without "sweetening" or computer synthesis?
Pop Quiz: How many of the old amps, synths and effects can you identify?
 
¶ Wednesday, May 03, 2006 2 Comments Links to this post