The part-time guitarist of the day is John Mayer

Part-time blues guitarist, full-time, self-confessed, wanna-be pornographer John Mayer is at again. In his latest Rolling Stone and  Playboy interviews, multi-million dollar watch collector Mayer, obsessed with his cock, and unable to distinguish between the reality and illusion of his stellar career, shows us the dangerous path that a young person with his degree of talent and dumb luck can take.

I've always thought that if Mayer had more time to pay his dues, then he might also develop a less derivative approach to his playing, and music, and living in general. The tradition of the blues, like jazz, is not just a form or sound or sentiment, it is also a tradition of innovation; of standing on the shoulders of masters, yet finding a personal musical voice with which to express your perspective from the stream.  Mayer kind-of sings like Stevie Ray Vaughn, and sort-of plays as if the blues were invented in 1960s England (see/hear, but don't buy the DVD Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles). He hasn't found his own musical voice yet, but having one or searching for one is a basic requirement of being an artist.  Mayer's talent is formidable, but musical talent and musical accomplishment are not necessarily coextensive, and anyone's artistic growth is endangered when the prerogatives of the market are their sole guiding principle. Any fool with industry backing can win a Grammy - even multiples. It's not necessarily a measure of musical accomplishment as much as a measure of commercial accomplishment.  I imagine lover-of-starlets Mayer confuses his bio with himself- something equally dangerous for those at the top, middle, or bottom.

In guitaring/living, the bar is set high, but John ("blowing me off is the new sucking me off") Mayer is looking down at his Rolex. Mayer is a student lost in tangents, not a master practitioner. The sword (yes, even Mayer's "sword") has to have an ethical imperative if it is to mean something other than senseless ego gratification. He may yet dedicate himself to becoming an artist rather than an two-degrees removed impersonator of dead black guitar players. I think we could all benefit from that. Hopefully, he'll stop being such a jerk.

For all those watches, John doesn't know what time it is. Sell the watches. Give ALL the proceeds to the Haitian relief effort. Champion other artists. Respect women. You can do it John. I have faith in you.  I know you can be fully human.

Sentient beings are numberless. I vow to save them.

C

Your thoughts?

The non-guitarist of the day is Guitar Center girl

So I walk into my local Queens Guitar Center because I'm looking for a new bridge for my telecaster. I ask the Latina (proud of my peeps) guitar girl in the accessories department, and she brings out an aluminum slide. Since I sometimes mumble, I assume my words are unintelligible, and I again ask for a bridge for my telecaster, at which point she brings me a nut for an acoustic steel string guitar. Now I understand, so I take one of those heavy metal death-inspired guitars and show her what part of a guitar is the bridge. I don't see a light turn on, but I'm just looking for my bridge, and figure now I'll find one.  Has anybody seen a bridge? All of a sudden she is not talking to me and walking around behind the counter aimlessly, and I wonder what is going on. I say, "what about the bridge for my telecaster?." She says "telecaster?", and I say "Fender" telecaster. But this is already too much information and her vacant eyes drift off into the clouds. I imagine that her piercings can actually be melted into a bridge for my "Fender" telecaster. I show her a "Fender telecaster" so she can learn, but she is not in a learning mood. Guitar girl says, "I don't think we have that." Twenty seconds of silence. I say, "sister, I'm trying to buy something from you, throw me a bone here!" She doesn't know how to look it up and finally another "sales representative" is called and she looks it up--wouldn't you know it - no telecaster bridges - guitar girl was right: mea culpa. It serves me right for playing such an esoteric instrument - the longest-running electric guitar model in production, in history.  Oh, well.  I decide to pick up a Tube Screamer I spy behind the counter. Things are going smoothly. Guitar girl rings it up without any problemas. She asks if I want to buy Guitar Center insurance for it. I say no. Guitar girl says stone-faced, "it (the Tube Screamer) sounds better if you buy the insurance." I guess I must look like a total idiot.  I say no, but thank her for looking out for my sonic health. I've been dazed and confused for so long it's true. I wanted a woman--never bargained for you.

Sentient beings are numberless. I vow to save them.

Cristian

The guitarist of the day is Roger Kleier

The guitarist of the day is Roger Kleier. An NYC experimental guitarist with a West Coast sensibility about space, content, and time. Kleir is patient with his tones, and he colors like a sound painter.... He rocks too.  His long standing association with his partner/collaborator Annie Gosfield have yielded innovative and influential recordings on various labels. His latest 2009 solo CD The Night Has Many Hours is on the Innova Recordings Label of the American Composers Forum. Bend an ear, yo.

Track: Hyperplane
more tracks and info: Roger's homepage

Guitar Gak: AMIGOBOMB No. 1 "Bustelo" Guitar Amp

AMIGOBOMB No. 1 "Bustelo" Guitar Amp (Head only). .5 - .7W. 9 Volt battery powered. gain/boost switch. volume control. ultra-touch sensitive studio lo-watt, lo-noise solid state amp based on "Little Gem" design and 386 op-amp. Voiced by Amigo for single-coil heaven and humbucking overdrive tones. Gain/boost switch gives you "2-channel" operation. Speaker loads tested from 4-16 Ohms. Plenty loud and plenty soft. hand-crafted (obviously). can voice to specs. Plenty of sonic and design oomph. $150 (you supply the can). Taking orders now. 4 week delivery or 2 days depending. Serious tone inquiries only. camigo@mac.com.

brain-droppings: The Grammys

Ok, so the Grammys have come and gone. I have to remind myself that they don't represent the state of music, rather the state of the music entertainment business--that way, I can fool myself to sleep at night. When the person who wins album of the year can't be bothered to sing in tune during her performance, and even interesting artists are reduced to objects in a Big Brother freak show, you've gotta scratch your head and ask yourself, "Oh, my god. What have you done?" Letting the days go by.

The guitarist of the day is Ali Farka Toure

The guitarist of the day is Ali Farka Toure. Ali Farke Toure was a virtuoso of the highest order in Africa, and the pivotal figure in modern Malian music. The son of an upper class Muslim family, this non-griot (not of a music family or caste) came to music through an abundance of talent and skill. Musicians do not rank highly in most Muslim societies, so a music career was actually a downwardly mobile move for him (and by extension his family) to make. Eventually, Toure came to symbolize and sound Malian music to the world, and nothing raises local status like success.  His international popularity was sealed by his association with American guitarist/producer Ry Cooder, and by the obvious affinities between Toure's music and American deep blues (particularly John Lee Hooker) that made Toure's sound immediately recognizable and available, with a difference, to European and American ears. He played up this blues/Malian connection to the maximum, both inventing and discovering linkages. White people ate that shit up. Sophisticated radio hosts (especially in LA) thought they had discovered the unspoiled direct river route to the mother land. What they got was a direct shot of Ali Farka Toure, the maestro. Allāhu Akbar (الله أكبر). God is Great!
 ---
 Ali Farke Toure discussing American "black" music and it's relation to him and Malian/African music. American blues guitarist Corey Harris is the interlocuter and second guitarist.

The guitarist of the day is Atahualpa Yupanqui

The guitarist of the day is Atahualpa Yupanqui. One of the founders of the South American "new song" movement of the 1950s and 60s. Atahualpa transformed Argentinian folklore with his inimitable guitar style and lyrics that empathized with the common man-the peasant-the mestizo (Indian/European) that he himself was. His style has been copied by all Spanish-speaking South American guitarists to the point that it is a part of the basic stylistic vocabulary of traditional or roots music.

The video, taken when he was older, still shows the maestro in good, if not top, form. Refer to sound recordings for definitive performances.

The classic Luna Tucumana: