The left hand guitarist is a peculiar animal. Before he finds his way, he has to bugger about with the instrument he has fallen in love with, and decide how exactly he wants to go about it... Is he going to just play the damn thing upside down or will he change the strings? (requiring some adaptation of parts...) Alternatively he may buy a ready made lefty guitar, although he won't have as much choice or if he can afford it he'll get one custom made.
Some great left handed guitarists:
Jimi Hendrix (Need we say more?)
Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath
Albert King
Kurt Cobain
Paul Mc Cartney
Dick Dale
Of the above, Dick Dale may have been the weirdest. He played a lefty guitar with strings upside down!
I have a very good friend who is a very good left handed guitarist. We used to play together as well and he put me on to a number of very good bands and musicians I wasn't familiar with. Of these the one I must thnak him the most about was Freddie King. He may not have been a lefty guitarist but he wrote some of the best blues songs and left us way too early!
Here he is on Can't trust your neighbour with your baby... My absolute favorite line is where it says "my baby used to go over for salt, but I found out he was giving her sugar..."
On that note I bid you all good night...
see you soon!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
You're in the army now... wohoowohh, you're in the army, now...
There was this dream I saw repeatedly at the time. In the dream I woke up and walked out of the barracks to the drill/parade grounds. Looking east, I could see the Aegean Sea. In the dream instead of open sea, there was Corfu Town, with the Old Fort resplendent in the hazy morning sun. It was quiet, there was no sound of cars driving along the Mourayia, or ferries announcing their leaving port... The island just sat there, waiting. It seemed so near, but in reality was so far away...
It is August 1987 and I have just arrived at the 26th EMA in Litochoro where I am to be stationed for the next few months. The unit is one of the better ones in the Greek Tank corps. A choice of two different meals on the menu everyday, Litochoro and it's tourist attractions just outside the gates, plenty of soldiers to share the "ÿpiresies" (duties). Add to that a commander who sees himself as one of the boys, and it couldn't get any better...
Unfortunately this was all to change. A recent series of situations involving a gang of drunk and disorderly soldiers stealing a car and crashing into a number of other cars while trying to find their way to the beach, brought the units relaxed atmosphere under serious scrutiny by the general command. A change of commander was deemed necessary. He arrived and wasted no time telling us that he was going to set us straight. A firm believer in the traditonal greek values of 'patris-thriskia-oikogeneia' (country-religion-family) he fully intended to put both of our feet in one shoe... After my first few days there I found that the only guys i had anything in common with, where the aforementioned drunk and disorderly ones... Most of them where from Piraeus, my home town in a way. One of them , Michalis, had studied in England, so we had even more to talk about.
Up until then I had been a bit backward in my musical tastes, owing to the fact most of my musical education had come in assorted unusual ways. My german teacher for a year , was a sort of remnant of the flower power era guy, and let me in on prog rock, rock and soul, Pink Floyd and such heady stuff. My parents record collection ranged from Kyra giorgaina to Ray Conniff and the Carpenters or the sound of music.
Michalis let me in on this group called "the ramones"... This was stunning stuff!
I haven't spoken to him in years, but I dedicate this song to him:
Michalis also let me in on a bunch of other great bands, like the Dream Syndicate:
And the awesome sisters of mercy!
That summer actually saw me going to my first international level concert. A few days before I left for Litochoro from Avlona, where the training camp was, Joe Cocker played in the Alexandras Ave. Stadium. I couldn't miss it! I got there just in time. In a desperate bid to get as close as possible, I tried to climb one of the spiked fences, and ended up almost impaled on it. The spike ripped my jeans and i ended up hanging without being able to lift myself off. One of the bouncers/security guys took pity on me and lifted me off (by my ankles!!!) He also let me stay inside as I was so keen...
So there I was listening to Joe, singing "With a little help from my friends" and thinking that i am listening to the same voice that almost a million people heard sing the same song in Woodstock. A really unforgettable moment. I later found out there were a bunch of Corfiots at the concert, but of course in that age of no mobile phones, how could I know... Still it was a great concert and the start of my love for live music...
A truly great voice and great singer...
Love to all, and good night...
It is August 1987 and I have just arrived at the 26th EMA in Litochoro where I am to be stationed for the next few months. The unit is one of the better ones in the Greek Tank corps. A choice of two different meals on the menu everyday, Litochoro and it's tourist attractions just outside the gates, plenty of soldiers to share the "ÿpiresies" (duties). Add to that a commander who sees himself as one of the boys, and it couldn't get any better...
Unfortunately this was all to change. A recent series of situations involving a gang of drunk and disorderly soldiers stealing a car and crashing into a number of other cars while trying to find their way to the beach, brought the units relaxed atmosphere under serious scrutiny by the general command. A change of commander was deemed necessary. He arrived and wasted no time telling us that he was going to set us straight. A firm believer in the traditonal greek values of 'patris-thriskia-oikogeneia' (country-religion-family) he fully intended to put both of our feet in one shoe... After my first few days there I found that the only guys i had anything in common with, where the aforementioned drunk and disorderly ones... Most of them where from Piraeus, my home town in a way. One of them , Michalis, had studied in England, so we had even more to talk about.
Up until then I had been a bit backward in my musical tastes, owing to the fact most of my musical education had come in assorted unusual ways. My german teacher for a year , was a sort of remnant of the flower power era guy, and let me in on prog rock, rock and soul, Pink Floyd and such heady stuff. My parents record collection ranged from Kyra giorgaina to Ray Conniff and the Carpenters or the sound of music.
Michalis let me in on this group called "the ramones"... This was stunning stuff!
I haven't spoken to him in years, but I dedicate this song to him:
Michalis also let me in on a bunch of other great bands, like the Dream Syndicate:
And the awesome sisters of mercy!
That summer actually saw me going to my first international level concert. A few days before I left for Litochoro from Avlona, where the training camp was, Joe Cocker played in the Alexandras Ave. Stadium. I couldn't miss it! I got there just in time. In a desperate bid to get as close as possible, I tried to climb one of the spiked fences, and ended up almost impaled on it. The spike ripped my jeans and i ended up hanging without being able to lift myself off. One of the bouncers/security guys took pity on me and lifted me off (by my ankles!!!) He also let me stay inside as I was so keen...
So there I was listening to Joe, singing "With a little help from my friends" and thinking that i am listening to the same voice that almost a million people heard sing the same song in Woodstock. A really unforgettable moment. I later found out there were a bunch of Corfiots at the concert, but of course in that age of no mobile phones, how could I know... Still it was a great concert and the start of my love for live music...
A truly great voice and great singer...
Love to all, and good night...
Saturday, 9 January 2010
(To be sung strictly with cute french accent...) I'll Kill her...
A while ago someone gave us a USBsticksworth of songs and they have been playing for a month or so in the car. There is a lot of unknown stuff in there and a few without tags, so we don't even know who the artists are. As usual ,there are some gems in there... one of them is a song sung by a French, girl, with one of those killer-cute french accents... Both me and Alex, my partner, love the song, and as the lyrics are of the story-telling variety, a little story was created in our heads to go with the voice and the words... Unfortunately, my curiosity to find out who she is etc. has resulted in ruining the "romantic" mystery for Alex, for it is now known that the singer is a girl known as Soko and the song is called I'll kill her...
I will let you find out more about her on your own, if you wish. Meanwhile here is the song:
So simple, funny, sad in a way, it made me think about girls who can be cute, beautiful, dangerous, sexy and a disaster... think Betty Blue maybe...
The same magic stick of music contains this little gem too:
This song reminded me of a band I first heard about 4 or 5 years ago, when I was in a band, and our bass player proposed we do one of their songs, a cover of the Carpenters "Top of the World" They are Shonen knife and here they are:
And in a tribute to one of their obvious influences...
Well, that's it for your musical education and entertainment tonight folks...
luv
Papapete
I will let you find out more about her on your own, if you wish. Meanwhile here is the song:
So simple, funny, sad in a way, it made me think about girls who can be cute, beautiful, dangerous, sexy and a disaster... think Betty Blue maybe...
The same magic stick of music contains this little gem too:
This song reminded me of a band I first heard about 4 or 5 years ago, when I was in a band, and our bass player proposed we do one of their songs, a cover of the Carpenters "Top of the World" They are Shonen knife and here they are:
And in a tribute to one of their obvious influences...
Well, that's it for your musical education and entertainment tonight folks...
luv
Papapete
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