Don't bass on my shoe and tell me it's raining.

New Bass Day x 2!

Höfner H5001-CT

Hagstrom HB-8

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You Can Be In My Dream

Rock & Roll Will Never Die

Click here for my new recording project website.

Do you like American music?

Today I took my Gretsch 6120DSW Nashville to Gretsch Day at Cream City Music. My guitar had the honor of being signed by company president Fred Gretsch III, my ears had the honor of hearing some great Gretsch sounds played on a 1959 Country Gent by the ironically named Bobby Gibson, and I had the honor of having my meeting-a-pinup-girl cherry popped by Gretsch Girl Kim Falcon. Mr. Gretsch was an interesting chap. His silver ponytail took me by complete surprise. Ms. Falcon was very kind and gracious. She seemed like one of those girls who's completely at ease with freaks and geeks. Her boyfriend was on the scene, shooting photos of all the goings on. I invited them both to give me a call if they wanted to see downtown Milwaukee.

Actually, the coolest part of the event took place after almost everyone else had gone home. Local guitar hero Greg Koch dropped in. Evidently, he was supposed to have been Bobby Gibson's opening act of sorts, but circumstances prevented him from making a punctual arrival, so when he did eventually show up it seemed much more spontaneous. All the better for me and anyone else still hanging around by that time, because he grabbed a Reverend Horton Heat signature model 6120 and spent an hour or so jamming along with Mr. Gibson. But the jam session quickly morphed into a guitar lesson, and Bobby took Greg to school, showing him all kinds of interesting chord shapes with pleasantly dissonant overtones and three-finger rolls on two strings, all of which resolved neatly into the melodies of each song they played. They ran through "Mr. Sandman," "New York New York," "Caravan," and other classic instrumentals that I recognized at the time but can't remember now. And I watched it all while sitting right next to Fred Gretsch. To put it into perspective, it was rather like watching Jimi Hendrix get a guitar lesson while sitting next to Leo Fender. There were a few people snapping photos, and I know if I dig enough they'll probably turn up on the Internet somewhere, but it really seemed like the kind of memory that lingers more sweetly on the mind of the beholder without being spoiled by a recording. Of course, in a way I'm recording it right now...

Speaking of recordings, here's Bobby Gibson playing at the 2008 NAMM Festival dinner for Gretsch's 125th birthday:

And here's Kim Falcon doing her first photo shoot for Gretsch:

Yes I Am Blind

God Loves a Drunk

Goo goo ga joob. I am the lolrus.

What Beatle are you?

John Lennon

You enjoy poetry, painting & a fine wine. A lover not a fighter.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Bollocks, if you ask me. I even told the quiz I preferred beer over wine. Besides, John was a fighter. Just ask Cynthia Powell.

I'm never going back to my old school.

Fun Fact: the band Steely Dan was named after a steam-powered dildo. And speaking of dildos, I'm done being financially ass-raped from the future by ITT. ¡No más!

If you ever feel the urge to enroll at ITT Technical Institute, fight it. Not nearly enough of the vast amounts of money they leech out of students seems to make it into financing the long overdue upgrades of their equipment, and the credits aren't transferrable to anywhere except another ITT. Some of the instructors at the Greenfield, Wisconsin, campus are alright, though. Speaking of school, last night I ran into a familiar face from long ago. It was a weird night overall. Niether of us were supposed to be there. And then there were these two other people trying to get me to dance. One of them said to me, "Are you the one?" Seriously. I was like, "Yeah, this is the Matrix, I'm Neo, and there is no spoon. Now take me to Monica Bellucci." I guess sometimes Friday the 13th really can be a bizarre ride to the far side.

Dear John

A man who inspires the world will never truly die so long as his Idea still shines on.

love, Tom

Happy 65th Birthday, John Lennon.

New music on the horizon.

Now that I've investigated the world of prog rock more than I ever thought I would, I think it's time to resume a project that Ben and I started earlier this summer. It's time to finish the concept album. It will be about farmers, potatoes, and vampires. I'm currently composing some of the most amusingly creepy lyrics I can think of, to be set to a particularly funky bass/ambient groove. PS: Vampires suck. lol

Miracles really do happen!

The impossible has transpired: I like a Genesis album. And not just any Genesis album ...an old Genesis album, as old as I am. I do not like prog rock. I do not like '80s Howard Jones-style synth pop. Yet this album has both in hefty helpings and I love it. I've killed people for lesser offenses (okay, not really, I just made that up to sound like a badass). This is strange. I live in the same place, I inhabit the same body, but I am not the same person I was. Perhaps I'm morphing into Brundlefly after all. PS: Happy birthday, Bilbo.