TomFest

Have not done that. I guess it would be more pull on the neck with the heavy strings replacing the light ones. Might even need a truss rod adjustment. Probably sound really thick with doubling the mids and lows. Louder maybe. Interesting idea, let us know if you try it.

My band is playing on Saturday. That is unless my grandson decides to make his arrival into this world. He's very early, not due until early December, but we're going to have to go get the little critter because he's not doing great. We could use a prayer or 2 if you have any laying around. Everyone is staying positive, which is good.

What about "Wings Over America"? I love those 3 record sets. I still have the poster from that record on the wall in the cave. Sorry, what were we talking about?

I drink 1 or sometimes 2 cups in the morning. Nothing fancy, just black coffee. I do let it cool a bit. I have blistered the roof of my mouth before with hot coffee and that is not happening again. I don't do the expensive coffee and definitely not Starbucks after their evil owner sold my basketball team to Oklahoma City. Nothing against them, but that was my team. But, I digress...

Interesting, but I didn't really see anything there that I would use with my band. The fuzz and distortion were too heavy for our stuff, although it could likely be dialed back some. The rest of it sounded a bit like a chorus, which I don't use. I tend to go more organic. I put some reverb on it and enough tubescreamer to add a bit of hair to it, and walla. It's a tone a lot like Mike Campbell and Tom Petty use. Not surprisingly. :-)

Wings are for flying. :-)

Thanks for what you do here, Ryan. I don't have any earthshaking suggestions, but I'll say this is one of a small number of websites that I visit on a daily basis and I appreciate that it's here. Facebook is not a major thing for me at all, and the Tom Petty forum is "pay to play". Although I typically have joined in the past, I'm not sure I'll do it again - which means this is the only game in town for discussing and obsessing over our favorite band. So - what is this place? It's the corner pub where I can pull up a stool, open an adult beverage, and have a look around. Maybe even chime in once in a while.

I have some friends in Orlando that I spoke to earlier today. They're going to ride it out at home. And I've heard this is expected to be more damaging than Andrew. Fingers crossed and prayers for all of you in the path.

Yes. And I do every day. :-)

Here's something I hadn't seen before. Mike talking about and demonstrating his vibrato technique on guitar.

I get it. It's a Tommy gun.

Not sure which part you thought was embarassing, Mary Jane. The author was I guess trying to make a bunch of baseball analogies because that's what happens at Safeco Field 99% of the time. He's a pretty accomplished writer normally, but this was maybe a little clumsy. Losing the sound for an entire song should be embarassing for the band. Usually they are spot on with the sound, but not this time. Then Tom could have made it up to us, but chose not to. This concert (and entire tour, really) rates at the bottom slot of all-time Tom Petty concerts/tours for me. Even the Red Rocks show where they did the impromptu boogie thing during yet another problem on stage. That was not as cool as everyone seems to have made it out to be. It was a desperate attempt by Ben to just do something instead of dead silence. Problem was Mike had a mandolin in his hands and how do you boogie with a mandolin? And Tom was busy trying to sort out whatever was broken at that moment. 2 shows in a row for me on this tour where they had to stop the show and leave the stage. Must be some kind of record. I'm not saying the show sucked, because it's not possible for the Heartbreakers to suck. When they're going good, nobody can touch them. I just didn't feel the magic this time around.

Saw that. They're only making 1,000 and they're only $2,500. Those should go immediately. Wasn't there a custom shop version some years ago that was like $6,000 or some big number? I wonder what this does to the value of those earlier ones?

^ Aren't we all? I don't know how many times I've purchased the same Beatles release on vinyl or CD as they repackage/remaster again and again. But the latest Sgt. Pepper is frickin' great. I'd do the same for Tom Petty if we could get "all the rest" and outtakes, and so on.

I also love a good musician biography or auto-biography and I've got a bunch. If I had to pick my favorite, it would be "This Wheel's On Fire" Levon Helm and the story of The Band'. Couldn't put that one down. I should read it again myself. It's been a while.

Digital downloads by far. I have all of the CD's, but the bootlegs way outnumber the official releases, and those were mostly downloads.

Came with a hard shell case. I've been playing the guitar for a few days now and really enjoying it.

I'm in standard tuning with my 12-string, but it sounds like something fun to try. It's not a big deal to use a capo on a 12-string. Tom uses them on his 12-string. He uses a Kyser capo, I believe. I have a couple of those, although I prefer the Shubb.

New guitar day, today! This is a Gibson Custom Shop ES-335 - something I've been lusting after for many years but somehow, have never owned. Until now. Typically, you see these in red, but this sunburst one came along for a great price and I couldn't resist. Many call the ES-335 the most versatile electric guitar out there. I should have it in a week or so. Can't wait!

Like and Like. Here's Tom's double-neck Ric.

I haven't heard anything, but they are playing some live cuts on Tom Petty radio.

Oh my God, that was terrible. LOL

Nice tune. I'd never heard of this guy and had to look him up. Great voice.

^ I love this version as much as the other version. Just a great song and a great vocal by John either way.

Have they said if HC members are going to get a download of live material from this tour? I don't recall reading that.