The Rover
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THIS !!
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My wife had a radio app stuck open on her cell phone the other day, and asked me to close the app. So, as I was making several attempts to completely close the app, I heard snippets from the song that was playing, and now that Quarterflash hit, "Harden My Heart" has been stuck on some jukebox in my mind, and I can't find the switch to turn it off !
I was sure it was a Pat Benatar song, until I saw this:
http://cosmicamericanblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/quarterflashs-harden-my-heart-best-song.html
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The Prairie Home Companion Tribute to Prince / Purple Rain
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Defying description': ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on Prince the ‘sensational’ guitarist
Prince’s guitar-slinging skills were no secret. Whether at the Super Bowl, stealing a Rock Hall all-star jam or on his records, he could play it all. But to hear ZZ Top’s legendary frontman Billy Gibbons tell it, Prince wasn’t just a great guitar player. He was downright otherworldly. Gibbons spoke to The Post Friday about the guitar player who could stump even him.
So much has been said about Prince but I do think it’s important to remember that his guitar playing was, I don’t know, just sensational. Tell me how you’d describe it.
Well, to borrow your word, sensational is about as close a description of Prince’s guitar playing as words might allow. I believe that the feeling one was left with, if afforded the luxury of actually seeing Prince perform … we’d be looking for other superlatives. Because it’s almost got to the point of defying description.
You had an interesting encounter with Prince.
It was following the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary celebration [in 2009]. They had a two night grand hurrah at Madison Square Garden and I was invited to perform with Jeff Beck. And following that appearance, I found myself back at the hotel and I wandered off in search of some late-night grub and my favorite 24-hour joint was shut down for unknown reasons. I tiptoed across the street to the Tiger Bar. I was just standing at the front and I was approached by a rather large gentleman and he said, ‘You’re wanted at the corner table.’ And there was Prince sitting all by his lonesome. And I gave him a brief tip of the hat and sat down and said, ‘Hey man, it’s so good to see you.’ He said, ‘It’s so good to see you. Let’s talk about guitar playing.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ And in the next two hours we really dove into the depth of his intent, interest and focus toward technique and tone. I left that evening even more mesmerized than I’d previously been, just knowing the sincerity that Prince kept toward his playing, his performing and his all-around showmanship.
You’re a little bit older, you come from Texas and I’d imagine you first learned about Prince in the early ’80s, when you were both MTV stars.
As you may remember, he began bubbling up without a lot of advance fanfare. There was just this vague knowledge of this new guy on the scene called Prince. And then, of course, we all got our world rocked when “Purple Rain” showed up at the theaters. Even today, I’m struggling to try and emulate that guitar introduction to “When Doves Cry.” It’s just a testament to his extraordinary technique.
Wait. When you say emulate — you mean you try to play it and you can’t?
I continually come back to attempting to piece together each and every one of those segments. And it’s very short. It’s not an extended solo by any means. But the way it is delivered. There’s certainly no way to write it. You’ve just got to dive in and feel it to see if you could come close. This might be a little off the subject, but just this morning, Andy Langer sent me a link to Prince on YouTube performing “Honky Tonk Woman.” I had never seen it. I don’t know if there’s a fixed date that could be attached to it. I would encourage you to check it out. Here, within the four minute time span, you really get a sense of urgency that was behind his dedication to playing.
Technique. You’ve said that a few times.
Three times.
Yes, three. That’s a very particular word. Prince is somebody we always thought of as flash, beautiful, almost touched by something otherworldly. But when I hear the word technique, I think of practice, intellect, study.
Yes, and we can only surmise that there were a great number of hours in private where he was developing ways to approach the guitar that ultimately led to his prowess over the instrument. I bring this up over the years. My friendship with Prince was made known. There was hardly a day that went by if Prince’s name came up in the conversation, little did they give credit to his guitar playing. It was more about the flash. The showiness. There are a few repeatable examples that were fortunately caught on film or record that will settle the score once and for all. When I sat down with Prince that fateful evening in Manhattan, he was really touched by the fact that I knew quite a bit of his guitar playing … It was so funny because there was a legion of Brazilian carnival dancers that had invaded the club and they had taken over the bar. They were dancing on the bar … this was all going on in the background. Prince was unfettered. He just wanted to talk about playing.
I wonder if because he had so much style, whether he ever felt that his playing was overshadowed.
Oh yeah. In fact, that entered the conversation. He asked me, ‘Does your beard get in the way like some of my costumes?’ And I was stunned momentarily and I thought about it and said, ‘You know, perhaps so.’ But then he grabbed my arm and said, ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with it.’
Last thing. That night, two hours of guitar talk. Is there anything specifically you remember telling him or him telling you about basically how to play?
I don’t know about anything that specific. I was quite flattered that he knew specific song titles that had a specific guitar sound. He said, I’ve really enjoyed some of the work that showed up on that monster hit of yours, “Eliminator,” the sound of “Gimme All Your Lovin’” He went on to cite a number of titles. I said, ‘Okay, I could give you some amplifier settings, I could give you some guitar strings.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you tell me about ‘When Doves Cry’? He just smiled. ‘That one gets me too.’
I didn’t know how to take that. Was he was suggesting he stumbled upon it by accident or he didn’t have words to describe it? I’m just happy to know that he took it as a compliment.
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I have seen Prince 3 times. The first time was in the summer of 1984. He was sitting in the sound booth at the Jacksons show at Texas Stadium. I think it was the 2nd night.
Then, on Dec. 30th and Dec. 31st of 1984 I saw Prince perform at Reunion Arena in Dallas.
I remember the cannon that shot water into the audience. I managed to drink some of the water as it came falling down.
Seeing Purple Rain at the Inwood Theater in 1984 was something special. It had a very good sound system for 1984.
Prince's performances on the Music Awards shows for Purple Rain were amazing.
And Prince, imo, has performed the best Super Bowl Halftime show bar none.
I used to listen to the Purple Rain soundtrack on my fancy Sony Walkman Cassette player.
Who do you compare Prince to ???
He's in a category by himself. -
Goosebumps. .
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The YT videos show great sound mixing from the shows so far.
There's no denying that this could be THE concert of the event of the Summer!
Maybe I can score some tickets from a radio promotion.
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This morning, at 4am, looking South, I spotted Mars with Saturn to the left. And looking the other way South, to the West was Jupiter.
My 7X binocs could see a couple of Jupiter's moons, but, sadly, it couldn't see any of Saturn's rings.
I used the AstroViewer website to see my current night sky.
http://www.astroviewer.com/index.php
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10 minutes ago, kipper said:
I actually got a seat on the train today and nobody smelly sat next me to make it even better.
The smelliest people I was ever around were a group of two females and two males nearby in the stands of the Cotton Bowl for the Rollins Stones Steel Wheels Tour. They just smelled awful, like they had been shacking up for days without bathing odor...
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R.I.P. Keith --- You left us too soon . . .
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Oh, no wonder I couldn't find it in my title search in the "Other Bands/Music" Forum, as I thought his passing would be worth a dedicated thread here...
Anyway, I saw ELP perform on their glorious Brain Salad Surgery Tour in Feb. of 1974. Quad speakers, and plenty loud, even in the cheap seats inthe upper balcony ! !
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The last Great concert that I attended was on April 22, 1977 in Ft. Worth, Texas at the Convention Center Arena. It was Led Zeppelin. And I have not seen a greater concert since.
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Sad - Keith, you left us too soon . . .
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The Passing of the 5th Beatle, Sir George Martin R.I.P.
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DO YOU THINK THERE WILL EVER BE ANOTHER BAND TO COME OUT THAT'S AS GOOD AS ZEPPELIN?
For Blues-based hark rock, No, I do not think there will ever be another band to come out that is, as good as, LZ.
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The Winds of Thor are Blowin' Cold--Cold---Cold--Cold ! !
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On 2/12/2016 at 9:59 AM, Bong-Man said:
I wasn't sure if I was going to turn in to a bat or a seagull.
Or, a lizard ? ? ?
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Stephen Baldwin dragging out the old "Gateway to Hell" argument against pot use:
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NOAA shows amount of precipitation that is predicted from winter storm
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On 6/20/2008 at 3:17 PM, Roxie said:
Love the way he said EHHHH!
That Vancouver '75 show was great for Plantations.
Here it is:
Sky Watch
in Ramble On
Posted · Edited by The Rover
Scientific Evaluation of Light Pollution Around the globe, and why most cannot see The Milky Way in the US and the EU.
Scientists believe one-third of humanity cannot view the Milky Way — this includes 80% of Americans and 60% of Europeans because city lights are creating fogs of light pollution, according to a new study that published Friday in the journal of Science Advances.
Although there are a few patches of pristine dark sky still left in the world, 83% of the world’s population and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations live under the bright glow of light pollution.
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/6/e1600377.full
But, if you can get surrounded by mountains of enough height to block out the big city lights, then you can see The Milky Way, overhead, at night.
Case in point, The Arbuckle Mountains in Oklahoma.