TomFest

Tom Leadon looks scary thin to me. Hope he's OK.

I'm working until 5 pm, then a BBQ after.

The name of the band is just "Shelters", right? No "The". But the name of the record was "The Shelters".

Not sure why the prices came down so much - other than all the bad press that Gibson got for the new "features" on the 2015 models I think probably had a negative effect on sales. Nobody liked the "auto tuners", or some of the other features like the wider neck, and brass nut. I think their sales were crap for 2015, and they started removing some of those features like the "auto tuners". I had been looking at the Firebirds for a couple of years and couldn't pull it off, and then Gibson put the price way up around $2,199 or so. No way I could do that, but suddenly for 2016 they dropped it down to around $1,100 and some retailers went lower than that. I ended up paying $899 without a case. They came without cases - which is strange for a guitar in that price range. So I did buy a hardshell case which cost me another $75 or $100. As far as the construction of the guitar, I can't find anywhere that they scrimped. It's a fantastic guitar, and I haven't changed out anything on it. The mini-humbucker pickups are a nice midway point between full humbuckers and single coil pickups. The tuning machines have the highest gear ratio I've ever seen. One complaint - the tuning machines are positioned such that when I hang the guitar on a wall hanger, it rests on the bottom tuning machine. I had to modify the wall hanger so that the weight of the guitar wasn't resting on that tuner sticking out the back of the neck.

Left-handed Strat, played lefty, but strung right-handed. Not too many do it like that.

Yeah, good song. Nice acoustic guitar work, and the vocal reminds me of Steve Miller.

Yeah, I got their CD and I really like it. I'm looping it in the car. I haven't heard the bootleg yet, but I'd like to see this band.

Same for me - 17 vouchers for $2.25 each.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm seventy-four? Yes, Paul. We will.

Mikey - you went right past me in Seattle! We could have played some guitars! Anyway, enjoy the show!

Last summer I was unemployed and enjoyed every minute of it. Now I'm working again and no vacation built up, so I'll be working all summer. Maybe a long weekend or 2. We are going down the coast of Oregon for a few days over a weekend in July. That'll be about it.

Nice collection, Ben. I see you have a bunch of FM and SBD of Lucinda. Which are your favorites?

Not 100% sure on some of these lyrics. Feel free to correct me..... Beautiful Blue Tom Petty Dm – Am Dm Am The shadows from the footlights…….made you fifty foot tall Dm Am I watched you as the music………bounced around the hall Dm Am You called me in the morning………and sent your car for me Dm Am I stumbled as I kissed you……..dropping ashes in your tea C Bb F I want to wrap you up in a beautiful blue (3x) G C Bb I do………….I do Dm – Am (2x) Dm Am Around you there’s a color……….a shade unlike the rest Dm Am You’re laughing and you’re easy……………the way I know you best Chorus Solo (verse & chorus) Dm Am Gonna move outside the city………….I know some friends out there Dm Am In a tree with painted bottles………..watch the sun dance on your hair Chorus

That looks right on. There is video of Badfinger playing this song live and you get a good look at Joey Molland's hands. This guy is nailing it. But as he mentions - it's "a barre chord nightmare". Some time back I charted this up with capo on 2 - which let's you play in the same key, but allows the fingering and chording of playing it in "A". Lots of open chords instead of barre chords, and the riffs are easier to play this way also. I find it much cleaner for me to play it that way. Any way you slice it, it's a great classic song.

In the 60's I was quite young, but it was equal parts Beatles and Monkees. But the guy that inspired me to get a guitar and start playing was Jim Croce.

Well, I started my new job 3 weeks ago after 9 months of unemployment - so it's the alarm set on my smartphone that gets me going every day. That and a couple of cups of coffee.

Mike does a great vocal on "Victim of Circumstance". Maybe his best ever.

I really liked the reworked version of "Something Big" that's on the 1989 Chapel Hill show.

Awesome! Sounds like the 60's came for a visit.

I put it in the car CD player and let it loop at least 3 or 4 times. Sometimes it ends up being many more loops before it comes out. Sometimes not.

Wow, great to see Stan on the drums again. And that kit looks just like Ringo's. Just missing the logo on the front!

I'm pretty happy with 'Makin' Some Noise" for "heavy riffage" too.

This is a song I didn't really appreciate until I saw them play it. Just fantastic.

I didn't look for bootlegs of other artists, but the one Tom Petty vinyl boot I saw was the "My Father's Place" show - and it was a very nicely packaged 2 record set with gatefold color cover, etc. $40. Then I checked the CD's and they had 2 bootleg CD's of the 1987 Jacksonville show - also very nicely packaged. Strangely though, one had the full 14 songs, and one had only 13. It was missing "The Ballad of Easy Rider" which I thought was odd. Maybe because it's a Roger McGuinn composition, and not a Tom Petty original? But both CD's had the Dave Clark 5's "Any Way You Want It", so who knows? Bootleggers have never been accused of being consistent. The other thing was - this store was a chain store and not a one off independent record shop. I would think they would be more careful about what they sell. I remember back in the late 70's when my record shops in the U District got raided by the feds for selling bootlegs. I guess maybe they have bigger fish to fry these days.