Maureen Cleave’s John Lennon quote from the London Evening Standard; March 1966;
“Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhpyxoOeYGY
What does the internet think?
Allans Music has been a part of my life since I bought my first harmonica some thirty years ago. It is part of the fabric of my home town and every musician that I know.
Uniquely Australian the business was started in Melbourne in the 1850’s by Joseph Wilkie and George Allan. With some 25 stores the annual turnover was around 110 million per annum so it was somewhat of a shock to hear that they had gone into liquidation. The contributing factors cited for the companies difficulties were Australians love of buying online together with a climate of cautious discretionary spending.
My heart goes out to the 500 odd employees of the company, all of whom were there because they were passionate about music.
My own remorse and shock however has not deterred me from picking over the dying carcass of such a great establishment. In my vulturistic endeavors I am not alone. There was only one Gibson Les Paul left when I swooped last week and it was somewhat disturbing to see the pearls had already been plucked by the time I got there. I did however score myself quite a few gems including an electronic drum kit (my work mate thinks I’m going through a mid life crisis).
Over the years I have bought many things there including an early computer interface that I demanded they refund my money when I couldn’t integrate it with my PC. A classic case of PICNIC (problem in chair not in computer). Allans duly refunded my money without complaint. I did note however on later shopping sprees that whenever they punched my name into the system an eye brow was raised in an unnapproving manner.
With not a great deal of choice in my town I will truly miss Allans Music and I now realise that you cannot take these things for granted. I can only hope that they can trade themselves out of these trying times.
Recently Gibson Guitars agreed to pay a $300,000 fine for its role in importing illegal timber from Madagascar and India. Now I don’t want to dwell on specifics here or debate the moral aspects of the situation (which dates back to raids back in 2009 and 11). What I would say however is that; if you have been drooling over that Les Paul or Hummingbird hanging up at your local dealer then now might be the time to make a plunge on that purchase. These classic guitars will only become rarer and more valuable as time marches on and global awareness of these dwindling resources becomes more regulated. The future of guitars will eventually shift to modern materials and these beautiful wooden instruments will eventually become museum pieces or the possessions of the wealthy. It won’t be in my lifetime but the direction is becoming apparent.
Touring internationally since 2008, “Play Me, I’m Yours” is an artwork by British artist Luke Jerram.
My workload has shifted into overdrive and so for the foreseeable future I won’t have the time to spend on my blog. I have enjoyed my initiation into all things blogging and I have also enjoyed a great number of other peoples blogs, probably yours. So if I have regularly defaced your blog page then don’t feel as if I am ignoring you its just that I must make hay while the sun shines.
I saw this on this site;
but I was too derr brained to work out how to reblog it.
My little music room is only 8ft x 9ft. With space at a premium I had to be careful because over the years I had collected a ridiculous amount of music paraphernalia. The idea of this little project was to store my music collection but also give me room underneath so that I could store and access my amps and speakers etc. The bench was supposed to provide an area where I could work on my guitars but in reality it is always covered in crud and I do that work on the dining room table. I have some large music books that have never fit into standard bookshelves and so the lowest shelf is built to accommodate those. Then there are 6 shelves for my CD’s which are also slightly higher than standard to accommodate special editions and so forth. I left the centre shelving out to provide for my little Jimi shrine (the walrus was Paul) and the top shelf is for music DVD’s. The roof of the shelving is wider than the rest and I use it for box sets and smaller books. All up that is a bucket load of weight supported by two metal frames I welded up underneath and some 3 1/2″ x 2″ stud work. I really enjoyed this project and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I incorporated two minor details that improved the design. The rounded corner on the bench I reciprocated on the upper and lower shelves which gave a slight art deco feel to the piece. Secondly I airbrushed the edges of the bench slightly darker to reflect my sunburst guitars which hang next to it – it doesn’t look much in the photo but in real life it turned out very effective.
My favourite find on Soundcloud at the moment is Superfly Party. Based in Barcelona they have free downloads of their Thursday night jams and if you like soul then they’re serving it hot.
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Here’s a little song that I wrote for my wife. Excuse the quality; it’s strictly low-fi – I recorded this with two push button cassette players to bounce down tracks.
[https://soundcloud.com/baghead-kelly/song-for-cassandra-demo]
Verse 1
More than a thousand miles away,
I send my love to my baby today.
I guess I’m just a sentimental fool,
A lovelorn poet in a world so cruel.
Verse 2
I want to run my fingers gently through your hair,
But every time Cass baby your not there.
I’m waiting for the day when you walk through my door,
And two becomes one just like it was before.
Verse 3
Eloquence escapes me at about verse three,
Rhyming couplets and poetry.
One baby two baby three wait and see,
All your babies sitting on this daddies knee.
Verse 4
I guess I’m tired of waiting this waiting game,
Whats a candle without its girlie flame.
Wait for me Cass because I’m true blue,
I’m coming back baby just to marry you.
Outro
I love you,
I need you, need you, need you,
And it won’t be long before we’re back together.
Its not guitar, but here are some of the most rock n’roll violins that I’ve ever seen.
Jeff Stratton’s website;
Click on guitar for article
Baghead Kelly's Blog 