Guitars and Life

This book is a billed as " The Untold Story or Rock N Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe ". Some of you may recall my waxing lyrically about Sister Rosetta when celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chorltonville blues gigs that ITV recorded in April 1964.  By then Sister Rosetta had over 20 years been at the head of her game.  Over the years principally known as a gospel artist she crossed into Swing in the early 40s to much controversy and then was accepted particularly on the European side of the Atlantic into the secular blues boom of the late 50s and 60s. This book charts her entire life and career and is a fascinating read.  It is more a scholarly biographic work than a story and reads as such so whilst extremely well researched and very thorough it sadly isn't a whirlwind story.  Which is a shame since her life was like that, even to signing a deal to hold a wedding in 7 months as part of a huge gospel service/gig without a husband available!...

So my birthday is fast approaching... 52 before you ask... Mrs F graciously offered to buy me a guitar kit again!  So following on from my Tele Build a while back I've ordered a Strat shaped 12 string ... yes you did just read that right.  I don't have an electric 12 string and this is a cheap and fun way to get one into the collection. So the kit has everything you need - including a set of strings and a cable, both of iffy quality frankly!  I've ordered some finishing kits from Wudtone who's product I used on the Tele.  I've decided to used their neck finishing kit too this time since because the Danish Oil on the Tele neck was ok but I was so impressed with the body finish from Wudtone I thought I'd go for the neck kit too. What I plan to do is not as complicated as the Tele build which is you remember I updated the pickups and ultimately the bridge as well, with this one I was going to build it as is... However I've spent an hour or so exploring s...

Mrs F, Daughter-of-Furtheron and I went to the theatre last night to see a touring production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Really enjoyed it.  I was half wondering how they'd stage it, the book is long with a complex set of intertwining plots written from a young girls point of view.  Through her innocence and naivety she exposes the prejudice and bigotry she sees in adults around her.  That is one of the things that makes Harper Lee's astonishing novel one of the most studied texts in the world of the English Language.  Also there is a lot of different settings, the Finch family yard, the Radley House, the street they live in and the courthouse where the trial of the negro Tom Robinson is the climax of the whole story. The actors play characters but also take it in turns to be narrators reading as though Scout directly from the book.  This was clever, reminding you it was Scout's point of view throughout.  At the beginning of the play the stage which had ...

I made what now seems to be becoming an annual pilgrimage to the Olympia Conference Centre last weekend to the LAGS. The show was similar to last year with many of the main players even on exactly the same stands.  Taylor, Yamaha, Martin, Lowden all there along with big distributors like JHS showing off the latest and greatest models. Highlights - Yamaha, the new LL/LS range is stunning.  I played a couple but the LS16 I tried was totally gorgeous, a good show offer on price made me struggle to hand it back and walk away frankly but I can't justify another guitar expense like that really.  Faith impressed me again this year if not more so than last, work with Patrick Eggle as designer they have a great range.  I tried several models and all impressed, from the naked parlour, mahogany topped auditorium sized cutaway model, all sounded and felt good.  I was most impressed with their High Gloss Parlour model though that was really nice. Auden were another co...

We interrupt the normal programming on this blog for a party political statement from our sponsor.... I've been watching with interest the Scottish Independence debate as the date for the poll gets closer.  The YES campaign slowly catching up the NO vote to the point where now in some polls the YES vote is predicted to win (btw how can a poll of approx 1,000 reflect the outcome from an electorate about 4 million?). OK - cards on the table here, whilst not a Scot and living about as far away from Scotland as it is possible to in the UK I want them to stay in the Union.  Why?  Well I just feel we are better together (as the slogan goes).  I feel that it is better to work together on the issues of inequity in society etc.  I also like that the Scots are very pro the EU and I'd like to stay in that, losing them before that referendum may be a blow to the rest of the UK. However I do feel now strongly that the Scots are getting their vote next week that the res...

First of all on Sunday there is the next Rochester Music Cafe night... this one is "rock night".  This'll make you laugh... see for me you say rock and I'm in the late 60s and 70s, Hendrix, Cream, Purple et al.  But that's cos I'm an old fogey I suppose.  I forget many of those involved in the Cafe project are younger than my Strat and therefore to them rock means the 80s, big hair, tight trousers and boys with eye liner.  Anyway a set comprising of Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi and Heart is on order and I've been busy learning them.  Incidentally (just realised that is the word to use rather than the increasingly seen btw) I took the plunge and accepted an offer to sign up to Tab Pro via Ultimate Guitar Tabs .  Whenever I look for tabs seems that Tab Pro gets good ratings anyway I was offered some one off life time (we'll see about that!!) membership for about $45 or £32 (ish) which seemed better than the monthly subscription it has offered me before.  Often...