last word

[TWANG]

Today, feeling a little better, I got out my scrapbooks.

 

I got a big kick out of them. Looking through the band pics and reviewing guitars and basses and gear I'd almost

forgotten about over the years.

 

And, not being so sick today, I realized, I have nothing to prove to nelson.

He lied. He doesn't know my gear, or my history.

I don't have any need to scan these scrapbook pictures and go through loading them up to photobucket in order

to disprove his absurd distortions.

 

I may.. a couple of them, because I think people in here will get a kick out of some of the pics, and certainly will dig the guitars and basses.

But it wont have anything to do with Nelson at all.

 

For sure, my old band pics.. onstage ones... and a couple of the pics of my various collections over the years.

My two guild acoustics, and a bunch of gibson and hofners and fender basses.

Some of these a pretty cool because they were mofidified at the time, and others just aren't being made anymore.

 

The band pics are always a hoot. Man, lots of hair!

And that rick 4001 still made me look much cooler than I ever was. Probably still would.

 

And maybe the home studio pics.. my first real set up was a teac 4 channel reel deck with a carvin mixer.

I drank a lot of beer sitting in front of that set up.

And I have the tapes to prove it!

 

My mishappen rockabilly band.. near geezers retro acting up. funny stuff.

 

I really wish I'd started taking pics earlier.. I have none of my teenage years. and nothing really until I was in my 30s.

I guess we were just too busy doing it. I know some exist, but they belong to bandmembers long lost track of.

 

After persusing the scrapbooks from my sickbed, I dug out some old demo tapes and such.

At one point I'd gone so broke my recording setup was a cassette deck with a mic plugged into a delay pedal on one side, and a mic for my acoustic on the other.

The tunes were fun to hear again, anyway. and didn't really sound that bad at all.

 

Too bad you can't just post clips to the forum itself, but I guess that would be an expensive undertaking on epiphones part.

 

Anyway, the more I went over this stuff, the more absurd nelsons silly comments became to me. And the more silly any reaction I might have had became as well.

The cruelty and smugness of attempting to kick someone for not being rich at all points in their life

reveals itself to me as a sadness he'll have to deal with himself.

 

I see the original posts of that argument are gone, so the appearance of these pictures when I get a chance to scan them should only elicit guitar chatter, nothing more.

 

Yesterday I found out an old band mate had been taken to the cleaners by his wife who gambled away all their money.

And I found out another old band mate is facing time up the river.

I guess the low points in my life don't really compare to thier troubles.

I'm trying to get in touch with both of them, though we parted on less than friendly terms, they deserve better and should know that.

 

It was a day for sad news. Another old friend who had lost his only grandaughter, only one year old and he'd never even had the chance to see her. It was a hard hard conversation.

 

 

I also found out today that my suitcase full of songs. Work I'd done from the age of 16 to 40, wont ever be recovered.

Lost them when I was homeless for about six months many many years ago.

And while I can dredge up a heck of a lot of sadness, anger and disappointment over that, and even know there is not only blame to be put, but righteous blame at that, I guess I'm doing pretty good despite it.

 

So all in all, nelsons comments shrank away to nothing, and died the death they deserved.

And my failures and errors, too. So hey Nelson, maybe someday you'll figure it out, too. I hope so.

 

Still. you all gotta see some of these pics!

I'd just about kill for a pic of my first band.. beatle jacket and boots.. greasy fifties rock hairdo..

harmony bass.. standing in front of the old juke box.. *LL*

 

But what I've got is pretty ok. I bet you'll get a laugh.

 

TWANG

[JefferySmith]

Things have been less crazy, Twang. So much so that I even went back to my non-crazy avatar (which typically disappears when we "go to the mattresses" every few weeks or so). Marx and Nelson seem to be cutting us some slack for the past day or so, maybe in deference to JC. Whatever the case, it's nice not having a fight breaking out every other minute. Don't worry about defending yourself against the muck. I doubt that Nelson has much credibility these days, at least under that name. I wish he would adopt a new name, let his past nicknames pass into history, and be helpful and civil instead of what he has been lately.

[Growler]

[Nic]

Twang:

 

Sorry but I don't read enough of the forum stuff to know what's going on with all these characters you mentioned. But I did want to ask what the name of your band was? Anyone we would recognize?

[TWANG]

gonna be all fun from now on Jeff. *s*

 

Growler, I gotta get me some pink dice.

 

nic.. nobody ever heard of any of my bands. *g* even me! lots of names, too.. blackjack, outriders, stormdogs, flatlanders, rogues,

my fave.. The Barflies! *we were just teenagers and played in a bar so.. made sense. still think that's a great name though*

 

and of course people always make fun of your names.. blackjack became BJ which is short for a certain sexual act.

outriders became outhouses....stormdogs.. pooper scoopers. flatlanders..flatearthers..barflies... barf lies. *G* etc.

 

 

honky tonks dives legion halls bars fanfairs fairs partys we had some good gigs, but really it was mostly just

bars of one sort or another.

 

TWANG

[28v6r]

Hey TWANG,

 

Did you feel yer ears burn, I was wondering how you wuz doin'

 

Yer gettin' there man, soon you'll be back on the tools for your next project......

[MarxBros]

Last "word" looks like diarrhea of the mouth to me. Here, take this...

 

 

[davidg3333]

Are you sulky? Are you sarcastic? Do you feel that urge to get the last word in no matter what? For the children on the forum, I recommend:

 

http://www.supernanny.com/

[JefferySmith]

Last "word" looks like diarrhea of the mouth to me. Here' date=' take this...

 

 

[img']http://www.imodium.com/images/imodium/prd_2_3_x_imoms.jpg[/img]

Oh, you're back.

[TWANG]

the only comment I have to make is.. last word meant nothing like some thought.

I will repeat, I'm not going there. You'll have to suffer alone.

 

----------------

 

I started work this morning.. feeling pretty good again. Still lousy, but comparitively good.

And I may even have an interest in a build.. the blue angel tele. I hope so. that's a solid ash body tele, routed for a bridge humbuck,

transparent blue finish with an angel playing a harp among these big flowers and vines on the top.

It's really a beauty and primo quality, and I hate to see these things belonging to just me.. I can't play them enough to justify that.

If the guy commissions the build I'll post some in progress pics.

 

TWANG

[28v6r]

Do You have your own workshop TWANG or are you like the rest of us and do it on the kitchen table (So to speak) If so can we see yer workshop?

 

Secondly, whats yer day job?

[TWANG]

I have a shop. not many pics though. I think I have a couple of my amp bench.. and some tools.

I don't have a day job, I'm a geezer.

I do use my kitchen table now and then, too.

Had amps and guitars on it many times, and will again, depends on what I'm doing.

May as well have a snack and tunes, you know.

 

I use my home as my store. That is, customers come to the sun porch and I demo there. Appointment only. No walk ins.

 

The two car garage has a workshop attached, heated.. got an air conditioner but I need to knock a hole in the wall this summer for it.

 

half the garage is for a car. The other half and the workshop are for my tools and benches.

Then I have a music room which I also use to store parts in that I like to keep inside, and of course, hang guitars, along with room for cased and bagged guitars.

The idea was to have as little overhead as possible.

You want guitar center.. they got 'em everywhere. *S*

 

TWANG

[lpdeluxe]

I bailed on the other thread when it descended into personalities. I mean, if we had personalities, we'd be weathermen on TV, right?

 

I guess there's no hurry for ac in Minnesota...down here, there's less need for heat (just got my heating bill for November, which was colder than usual: $79.40).

 

Sounds like you're about my age. I have a friend who was the bass player in lots of my projects, back before the Civil War, and he has appointed himself official archivist. Every now and then he'll email me with a pic of a band that I had totally forgotten about and I'll think: damn, I wish I'd been better! Unfortunately, I recorded lots of stuff that wouldn't stand the light of day by my current standards, but we sure did have fun.

 

I actually make more money from music now that I'm retired than I did back in the day. Spent a couple of years playing bass in a honky tonk band, good for 3-4 hundred a month, just finished a stint in the orchestra (!) for the musical Big River -- no, I didn't play the trombone, I played harmonica -- for several hundred more bucks, and it seems like it's so much easier to collect these days.

[TWANG]

I just open the garage door and turn on the floor fan. but I think the ac will be nice when I get around to it.

Hey, it snowed in Las Vegas so .. don't count yer chickens!

 

Yah I'm ancient. 59.. ooof!

Don't even remind me of crap recordings. *L* I've got some doozys.

 

They sure pay better nowadays. Man, we worked for 200.00 a night for ages.

Last band I was with paid a hundred a night minimum.

I played bass there, too. That's mostly what I was to start with though. Would be songwriter by day,

and the one that was hung by night.

*gotta get that bassplayer joke in*

 

I don't miss the jack daniels, for sure. But I have to admit it would be good to gig again.

 

TWANG