[Nicknames]

8 hours ago, Retired said:

I was forced to go by my real name in school. Dad and had the exact same names. Floyd Delton Hanslip. He was sr and I was jr. Then later in life I found out he was married to another woman before my mother. He named his first son after him also so there were 3 Floyd's and One Sr and two Jr's. So I hated my name and always went by the nick name my mother gave me from birth.  BUTCH. 

WOW.

That is incredible hubris, naming both of you after himself.

Just curious, and you don't have to answer of course, but how did you get along with your dad over the years?

🤨

[Nicknames]

24 minutes ago, Retired said:

Re; Floyd being Dad's name

Our father was Floyd Sparkman Jr, and his father was Floyd the senior.
Pop, in his family, grew up 'Buddy', to keep this straight around the house.

My younger brother and lifelong musical partner was christened,  in February of 1961, Floyd Stacey Sparkman.
To keep things less confusing, he was always known as Stacey, and never Floyd.
So he grew up Stacey.

Funny though, over the decades, even though he's Stacey, his closest buddies and band-mates invariably end up referring to him as Floyd.  Just to get a rise out of him at first, and then as an affectionate matter of habit.

Anytime I would go looking for him at some bar gig or at work at the hangar, it went like this.

Me: Hi guys.

Them: Hey, Spark.  You looking for Floyd?  He's out dicking-off somewhere.

😜

 

[Guitar God Passed Away]

4 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Now with both Rev David Lee and Guitar God gone I’m not sure we have any straight up guitar collecting maniacs left here

Yes, I thought I was a guitar buying fanatic, but I was nowhere near their level of greatness.

🥲

[Here is an interesting vintage Les Paul for sale in my area. 1979 25/50 Anniversary]

Okay, I found the answer.

From one of many Reverb ads for that model (3,400 were produced between 1978 and 1979),
"The 25/50 model was issued to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Les Paul model and the 50th anniversary of Les Paul's career. "

Only  a year off from the first sales of the Les Paul,  and spot-on for the launch of the performer's musical career.
From Wiki:
"By age thirteen, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country music singer, guitarist, and harmonica player."
He was born in 1915 and began making money performing his music in 1928, so that checks out.

Close enough for government work.

🙂

[Here is an interesting vintage Les Paul for sale in my area. 1979 25/50 Anniversary]

That's a lot of bling!

Say, I am struggling with the 25/50 Anniversary designation.
It appears that the model was made between 1978 and 1979 only.

But those years don't seem to align with either the anniversaries of the Les Paul or Gibson as a company.
1952 for the sale of the very first Gibson Les Paul guitars, and 1902 for the start of Orville Gibson's company.

Scratching my head.
🥲
 

[Albums You Should Own]

5 hours ago, Sheepdog1969 said:

Heck yeah brother! You beat me to it. I have a 1st pressing (vinyl) of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Greatest Hits/ A&M Recordings. It sounds sooooo good through my system (1,500+ watt, dual sub 7.2 system with high end speakers and a Gemini PDT-6000 turntable)  I grew up listening to this album on my Dad's Panasonic 2 channel stereo tiny speaker home system and loved it then. My mind was blown when I played it through my system after restoring the turntable. I was a Fifth Bone/Bass Trombone player in a HS funk/jazz band in my teens that was rated No. 1 in the USA by Down Beat Magazine. We recorded albums each year, and toured Europe the summer after my sophomore year. (Jim Culbertson was our director. He is the father of recording artist Brian Culbertson, btw.. Check him out on Youtube. Jim plays lead trumpet on his sons albums.) So, obviously, I really appreciate horns.

I always get a kick out of playing "Spanish Flea" for my older friends who all say, "It's a great little car.", when I play it. (per the Mazda GLC ads). Yes, the "Dating Game" references are called out as well, LOL.

Yes sir.

I inherited all of my parents record albums, and going thru them (and dropping the turntable needle on most of them over the past few years) has been a trip down 1960's memory lane.

You have a very rich and interesting musical history, good sir.
I would love to hear more stories about your European tour back in the day.
That had to have been an epic adventure.
Must have been quite a job for Mr. Culbertson, keeping all you young musicians reeled in safely.

🙂

[Albums You Should Own]

[Cabin fever leads to unconventional invention]

4 hours ago, jifov38653 said:

Sounds like you found a clever solution to tackle the icy conditions! Improvising ice cleat shoes from your running shoes was a stroke of genius. It's important to stay safe, especially when the weather throws a curveball like this. Walking the dogs in the woods must have been a relief for both you and them after being cooped up indoors. Stay warm and keep those improvised cleats handy for your next adventure!

Thanks, jifov38653,

The snow, icy woods walking was a lot of fun (and cardio) for all of us.

I returned the running shoes back to normal configuration, and have since acquired proper slip-on ice cleats.
For myself and the wife.
And as Sarge indicated earlier, I'll probably never need them.
But it's good to have them in my closet, ready to go!!

🙂

 

[Guitar God Passed Away]

Trey was a real sport, and a bona fide guitar collecting maniac.

I always looked forward to his postings, and reading about his latest acquisitions.

badbluesplayer,
I plan to get up to Johnson City later on this year for a visit.
I did some work up that way with Bell Helicopters for a coupla seasons, and I always wanted to go back and hang out for a weekend.
There is extra incentive now, and I want to go by Roselawn Memory Gardens there by I-26 and South Roan Road, to see Trey's final resting place.

I'll let you know when that visit finally comes together, sir.

🥲

[Billy Strings and Chris Thile]

1 hour ago, merciful-evans said:

I did consider calling it a sweater, but didn't. 

Ah, thank you.

Jumper = sweater

Biscuits = cookies

Chuffed = very pleased

I'm so chuffed about the on-site education, I'm tempted to bake you some biscuits, whilst wearing my festive jumper.

🙂

[Billy Strings and Chris Thile]

What's a jumper?

🫠

[Has Your Case Candy Ever Been A Watch?]

Twenty six thousand bones?

My daily driver cost less than that, brand new.
Admittedly, it did not come with a watch.

Speaking of "buy one and you also get" marketing, does anyone else remember this Volkswagen wonderfulness from 16 years ago?

https://www.cars.com/articles/buy-a-vw-get-a-guitar-1420663330505/

I owned one of those guitars.

Bought it used from a local pawn shop a couple seasons ago.
It had somebody's VIN for a serial number.
😒

Oh yeah.
They also paid John Mayer a bit of coin to help advertise it.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=john+mayer+plays+guitar+thru+a+volkswagen#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:79e97303,vid:OrKKwjAGTA0,st:0

[Guess What I Did?]

Man, seventy five hundred bones.

That is so far outside my reasonable price range, we may as well be talking about diamond tiaras or gold-plated Harley Davidson soft-tails.

😒

[ES335 - Real or Fake?]

Here we have more guitars in Canada with the maple leaf sticker on the back of the headstock.

SG's.

One on 12fret dot com
https://www.12fret.com/no-longer-available/gibson-custom-shop-1961-les-paul-limited-edition/

And one on a Canadian guitar forum.

 

[HNP/AD]

A very nice acquisition!

I love Electro-Harmonix.

😀

[Guitar God Passed Away]

Oh my God, I am so sorry to hear this!!

Thank you for letting us know, badbluesplayer.

My prayers are up for Trey and his family.

🥲

[Something a teacher has said that you remember to this day.]

2 minutes ago, Larsongs said:

Back in the days of Corporal Punishment.

In 6th Grade, my Teacher, Mr. Stammerjohn told me to stay after Class while all the kids were at recess.. He was a terrible Teacher & Human Being.. He got mad at me for being a little bit of a smart *** & said, I’m gonna kick your little ***.. He chased me around the classroom & caught up to me & kicked me in my lower back & laid me out on the floor.. Then he said, if you tell anyone I’ll give you worse..  Shortly thereafter we moved.. I never told, until now..

I'm so sorry that happened to you Lars.

We used to get whipped by the nuns at Catholic School, and by the southern gym coaches later on, but nothing vicious like that!!

😒

[Something a teacher has said that you remember to this day.]

21 minutes ago, DanvillRob said:

We were going to Santa Cruz on our "Senior Cut Day" too. 

But I found my brakes went out that morning....so I spent the day fixing my brakes and putting on new pads, (1960 Oldsmobile).

The school called my house....my mom answered and asked if I was home.  She said "Yes", they said "Are you SURE?"   She said, "Do you want to talk to him?"   They said, "No, thanks.).

The seniors all had to do 5 days of detention, or not get their diploma.... 'cept me, and a few nerds!

Wow.

I had a similar experience in high school, only with a darker, more horrible ending.

I was invited to cut-school and drive down to the beach at Panama City, FL with a good friend from JR ROTC.
He was supposed to ride down with some older boys, and spend a day down there having fun.
This was when I was in the 10th grade.

Sure enough, I had to work on the day in question, and I backed out at the last minute.
My spidey sense was telling me not to cut school and go to the beach that day.
I needed the hours at work that afternoon/evening anyway.
We were pretty poor, and all of us Sparkman kids had jobs to help mom pay the bills.

Found out the next day that the car full of teenagers had crashed into a turning semi on their way to the beach.
They were estimated to be doing 100 mph at the time of the collision.
Two boys and one girl killed, and the driver and his brother were badly injured.

I spent years wondering if I was meant to die in that car crash.
Or would I have been the kid who spoke up and asked the driver to slow down a bit, and maybe saved all those lives?

We'll never know.
😔

[Something a teacher has said that you remember to this day.]

Same Junior High, early 1970's.

The Principal used to covet a certain parking spot that was convenient to the side entrance to his office.
He would get onto us hooligan boys for parking our motorcycles in that particular spot.
(In Alabama you could get your motorcycle riding License at age 14.)

Finally, he got the school board to approve a designated parking spot post and sign right on that spot.
School Principal Parking Only it read.

So, the first day he proudly parked his VW Beetle in his spot and strolled into his office, we hatched a plot to pull a prank on him.

The homeroom teacher allowed the entire class to leave class that morning, the very instant that the Principal went down to the conference room for a budget meeting.

We scampered out to the Principal's VW, picked it up, and walked it around to the tree covered field behind the school.
We neatly placed it between two tall pine trees, with the chrome bumpers positioned exactly one inch away from the bark. He couldn't drive away from that trap if he tried. 

It was a funny prank, in our opinion. We snickered about it all morning.

The best part was when the man strolled out to the parking lot later on and found his vehicle missing.
He quietly and calmly strolled around the parking lot and circumnavigated the grounds until he finally spotted his car back there, snugged up between the two tall pine trees.

A few minutes later, we were all working diligently on our classroom assignments, when the PA speakers across the school grounds and in each classroom gave with a click and a small introductory clearing of the throat, followed by,
"Okay. Move it back. Right now, please."

Grinning ear to ear, all of us hooligans left our classes, trooped on back to the pines, picked up his car, and happily carried it back to the proper parking spot.

Good memories, good times.

😄

 

[Gibson humbucker?]

guidru73,

 

Can you describe the time frame of the acquisition of the Ibanez Les Paul copy?
And whereabouts the general location of the acquiring?

That'll certainly help to narrow down the search parameters.

🫠

[Melanie]

Man, that's too young!

Rest in peace, and prayers to her family.

😔

[Something a teacher has said that you remember to this day.]

Miss Susan Ray.
East Gate Junior High.
Ozark, Alabama.  Early 1970's.

Young, slender, funny, and a really good (albeit brand new) teacher.
She was fresh out of Montevallo University.

She was fond of saying, whenever the girls in her class or homeroom were talking loudly over each other,
"Ladies, ladies, please calm down now.  And by ladies, please know that I mean to imply the loosest possible definition of that word!"

Always cracked me up.

🤔

[I could never afford it but......]

Ted does indeed own a PRS or two.

The beat-up camo pattern one there, and a beat-up tiger striped one from his Damned Yankees days.

He's also got 17 Gibson Byrdlands, in a variety of finishes and trims.
Most of them really, really, old.

Ted proudly plays a number of Gibson Les Paul models.
Some from 1958 and 1959.
An American Flag one.

And he has a Gibson Custom Super 400 12-string, of all things.
 

🫠

[What’s your temperature right now?]

Looking forward to warmer (albeit rainier) days ahead.

🫠

[Cabin fever leads to unconventional invention]

4 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

And now you will never need them ever again. 

Probably.
But it's like my 17,500 W generator.
I feel better knowing I have it if I need it.

😀