sparquelito

I would also like to wish our Canadian friends a Happy Anisette Day. Cheers, especially to those in New Brunswick and Quebec, where the practice of drinking Anisette is most common. 🙂

Not my thing, that guitar. So much bling per square inch. And the gold-plated bits are a non-starter for me. Yikes. 😬

Here are some factual, objective truths. These are facts. * John Sparkman of Harvest, Alabama loves the guitar playing of Jackie Venson. She's sharp, inventive, and interesting. I like her, a lot. * Many people, of all political persuasions, feel that it's inappropriate for musical artists to interject political diatribes into their performances. * It's a tragedy when anybody, of any skin color, dies during the commission of a crime, or while interacting with policemen. And it's a tragedy whenever police officers end up killing somebody, for whatever reasons or circumstances. * The reasons and circumstances of those killings are all, individually unique, complicated, and very much sad. And it's never as simple as black and white. * There are people and entities who are all too willing to lie, exaggerate, and take advantage of these tragic killings for a political purpose and a selfish, political end. And the narrative matters more than the facts and details of the individual deaths, perpetrators, and police officers. Thank you for your time and attention to these simple, inarguable facts. 🙂

Whitefang, You sort of exploded there, old buddy. In so many directions unrelated to Jackie Venson's inappropriate mid-set soliloquy (and the song I wrote spawned by her words) that I have to wonder whether you have been keeping some contentious issues bottled up inside you. That's not healthy, friend. You need to let those emotions out more often. That's my advice. John Sparkman Political Independent, Free Thinker Harvest, Alabama

Speaking of the 1st Amendment, I exercised it this morning, and wrote you that song I promised earlier. GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE, RIGHTY Get off your high horse, righty You aren’t allowed to disagree with the words she spoke You ain’t with it, whitey And you’ll never, ever be woke There’s a word on the street It’s murder, it’s blue on black genocide Ask any suburban liberal you meet A black kid walking up to a cop is tantamount to suicide They are killing them by the score and stacking them up like cord wood Every year it’s not less, it’s more And if you don’t believe me, I hope the Lord would Get off your high horse, righty You aren’t allowed to disagree with the words we spoke You ain’t with it, whitey And you’ll never, ever be woke The reality is this and there’s no denying Straight facts they’ll dismiss Because there’s profit in lying Nearly two white kids are killed by cops for every single black one But the false media narrative never stops They’ll never support a cop, they’d rather attack one The politicians repeat the BLM lie Because it’s profitable to pander People of ALL colors die ALL lives matter, forgive me my candor But there’s no use speaking the truth When the narrative is all that matters “Whatever gets them into the voting booth,” The TV news anchor natters Get off your high horse, righty You aren’t allowed to disagree with the words she spoke You ain’t with it, whitey And you’ll never, ever be woke 🙂

"Get off your high horse, righty". I feel a song-writing binge coming on now. Such a sublimely-appropriate song title, given the absurd, intellectually-dishonest, and vapid set of media-politically-stoked circumstances surrounding Ms. Venson's little rant. And especially considering my own chosen political independence from such nonsense. It's like you want me to channel Warren Zevon and Randy Newman in my next creative endeavor. 😘

Correct, good sir. 10-46. https://www.gibson.com/Guitar/USAQ17249/Les-Paul-Modern/Faded-Pelham-Blue-Top

Congrats, FightingAgeMale. That's the best-looking Flying V I have ever seen! Really bad-***!! 🙂

Oh, never mind. I see that Austin City Limits is aired via the overtly-political public television network PBS. Carry on then, Jackie Venson, by all means. You brought your message to the right promoter and via the appropriate conduit, most definitely. And anyone who dials into PBS knows exactly what they are signing on for. So it's all good. 🙂

Man, she's really good. A tight and instinctive performer! The politics had no business being in that broadcast though, in my opinion. 😐

Saw them in 1975 right after the Alive album broke, and witnessing them live back then was a formative, foundational moment for myself and my teenaged garage-band mates. A lot of KISStory with that band over the years. Enjoyed them again in 1997, and my band does at least one KISS song per gig. It's an odd tradition of ours, I reckon. I don't watch TV, so I hope to catch the A&E documentary some day on the computer here. I'm not a fan-boy by any stretch, but I do admire what they accomplished over the years. Wishing they had stopped touring with the face-paint and costumes about ten years ago, quite honestly. My idea has always been, and I thought it was a good one; Tour without the makeup, with Gene, Paul, Eric, and Tommy as the core band. Bring onboard all the various ex-KISS members still alive, and have them on as guest performers in whatever cities that works out. Bring on special guests as well, as in the certified KISS fans such as Garth Brooks, Dave Grohl, Tom Morello, John 5, etc. Anyway, I'm gonna shut up now. 😐

I look forward to the opportunity to serve, but used to find myself dismissed all the time (when I was Active Duty military anyway). I did get selected one time about 14 years ago, and it was interesting. I ended up being jury foreman. A frivolous lawsuit it was, and one that ended up being dismissed after we found ourselves a hung jury, four days in a row. 11 of us obeyed the Rule Of Law and the court instructions, and one lady insisted on voting with her heart. A regular stalemate it was! Most vexing. 😐

What's the big deal? It was just relic'ed is all. Some people pay extra for that feature. 😉

Okay, now that is great! 🙂

My taste for sodas has evolved over the years; 9-15 years old - Coke 16-35 years old - Dr Pepper 36-56 years old - Diet Coke 57-Present - Diet Dr Pepper I try to limit my consumption of sodas to two a day. Coffee in the morning, and a couple of sodas during the day, interspersed with bottled water. It the evening, it's beer, thank you very much. 😐

That looks great, realmongo. If you don't have a rig to elevate and rest the neck of the guitar, I tend to use either of these right there, and I like them a lot. They are made for working on rifles, but they do well for guitars as well.

I honestly can't remember. And it has absolutely nothing to do with covid. And more to do with my lack of desire to be entertained, I guess. I have gotten to the point where I like to make my own music and write my own chapters. Elton John played here a few years ago, at the Von Braun Center. The wife and I went. That was probably my last concert as an attendee. I'll go out on a limb, and say that was it. It was good. It might've been early March of 2015, I reckon. Davey Johnstone was on guitar and Nigel Olsson was on drums. And the keyboard player was killer-good. The percussionist sang all the high bits that Elton couldn't hit anymore. The acoustics in the concert hall were atrocious, at least from where we sat. There was a non-stop cannon shot of back-slap echo off the back wall of the joint. We left early, in order to escape an ice storm on the roads going home. 😐

To the OP's title. Just sayin'.... 😐

I can still remember the SSN of my stick-buddy from flight school. We were required to memorize the full social of our classmates, so that we could fill out the logbook at the end of the day. Particularly if we were the last student to fly that day. This was in 1978. But I can't remember why I walked into the kitchen just now. 😐

I would count myself lucky if somebody said I was the Gregory Hines of dance or guitar. That guy was so good, and such a great fellow. 😞

I picked up this four-pack of storage straps at Tractor Supply yesterday. I'll use them for guitar cables and mic cords, I reckon. $6.99 for the four of them. I have a couple of the larger ones for securing my heavy-duty extension cords, so I know the quality is good. So now I'm jonesing to go back and buy a bunch more. Why do I feel this compulsion to purchase more of them? All my gear cables and cords are neatly rolled up, secured with various coloured Velcro straps, and secured in tote bags. These will be surplus, and may or may not go into service. Is it that they are so affordable.? Vexing it is. 😐 PS You can never have too many drumsticks. I keep several pairs handy in my music room. There's always at least one missing. It's like socks in the dryer or something. 🤔

Rick Savage sometimes plays a Union Jack bass guitar. Very often in full colour, but mostly in shades of black and grey. 😐

I call it the park. It's my parcel of land on the other side of my creek. I keep it nice for the visiting birds and squirrels and raccoons. (And the occasional walking ladies who want a rest.) 😀

Here's more than you could ever want to know about that guitar: http://www.craveguitars.co.uk/home/features/guitars/feature-1984-gibson-explorer-designer-series-union-jack/ 😐