Frank Zappa Chart

This is super cool. My lovely wife (Adventures In…) shared this with me. I’m going through a new Zappa phase, partially inspired by the Zappa Plays Zappa, partially that Zappadan was just this past December, and partially because Classic Albums Frank Zappa: Apostrophe /Over-Nite Sensation is streaming on Netflix.  So enjoy, take your time and pop over to http://www.wardshelley.com/ to check out all the other cool stuff he has done.

Neat little history of Rolling Stones guitarists.

This is on the Gibson site. I wish they had put a little more in about Brian Jones. For example, he was THE trend setter. He was the shit, the man, all that and a bag of chips.
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/rolling-stones-history-0202/

Buddy Holly records call with Decca

This is pretty cool. Found it via BoingBoing.
“He decided to call Decca, to try reason with them, and he secretly taped his conversation. They refused to give him the rights to his own song, but he went ahead and violated his contract”

Want!

The price on the full mini stack is pretty darn good. Here’s the link to the original article: http://www.gear-vault.com/peavey-vypyr-30-head-mini-stack-guitar-amp/

Peavey Vypyr 30 Head & Mini Stack guitar amp

January 21, 2010 by G-v Rover

NAMM–Peavey proudly announces the new Vypyr 30 Head and Mini Stack, giving guitar players two new ways to get the award-winning tones and advanced technology of the Peavey Vypyr Series.

The Vypyr 30 Head features 24 amp channel models—two channels of 12 popular amps for the first time anywhere—plus 11 editable preamp “stomp box” effects and 11 editable post-amp “rack” effects with dual-parameter control. The Vypyr 30 Mini Stack includes the full-featured Vypyr 30 Head plus two specially voiced enclosures loaded with one 12” Blue Marvel loudspeaker each.

With twice the processing power, models and effects of competitive modeling amplifiers, the Vypyr Series dramatically redefines the power and scope of modern guitar amplification. Vypyr amplifiers are built on powerful 32-bit, floating-point SHARC processors that enable vastly enhanced flexibility and features than ever before available in guitar amplification. Peavey’s patented, analog TransTube circuitry creates the amp models’ overdrive tones, so all 32 bits of processing power are devoted to creating highly detailed, accurate models of the amps and effects.

Amplifier models included in the Vypyr Tube 120 Head include Peavey 6505 (see Peavey 6534+), JSX, Triple XXX and Classic Series models, as well as B-Kat, Brit, Plxi, Dlx, Twn, Dzl, K-Stein and Rec models. Preamp stomp-box models include TubeScrm, XR Wild, X Boost, Fuzz, BC Chorus, Analog Phase, Analog Phase, Auto Wah, Squeeze, MOG and Ring Modulator, while rack effect models include Tremolo, Chorus, Envelope Filter, Slap Back, Flanger, Octaver, Phaser, Rotary Speaker, Reverse, Pitch Shifter and Looper.

Vypyr 30 Head

• 30 watts into 8 ohms

• 24 amp models

• Three-band EQ, master volume and pre- and post-gain controls

• 11 editable rack effects

• 11 editable stomp-box effects

• Up to 5 effects simultaneously with optional Sanpera II footswitch

• Onboard chromatic tuner

• Onboard looper with optional Sanpera I or II footswitch

• 12 programmable presets, plus up to 400 presets with optional Sanpera II footswitch

• Tap tempo

• Studio-quality headphone output

• Patented TransTube technology in preamp and power amp

• WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface

• U.S. MSRP $249.99

Vypyr 30 112 Enclosure

• Vypyr 30 Head

• Two 1×12” open-back loudspeaker enclosures

• Two speaker outputs with impedance selector

• U.S. MSRP $199.99

• Vypyr Mini Stack (Vypyr 30 Head and two cabs): U.S. MSRP $649.97

Count Basie and the Blues

Caught this via BoingBoing.

Obligatory Listage

Alrighty, as I sit here watching the Flaming Lips: Christmas on Mars I am struck by how the audio is better than million dollar movies. There is no huge discrepancy in volume between the music and the dialogue. The dialogue is clear. But I digressed before I even gressed, so now I shall regress. Here are 5 of my favorite Christmas songs. They are neither my TOP 5 nor THE top 5, just 5 really good Christmas songs. Enjoy and share your favorites with me. Merry Christmas. And remember Jesus was actually born in March. Viva la Pisces!

Billy Squire-Christmas Is The Time to Say I Love You

Run DMC-Christmas In Hollis

Greg Lake-I Believe In Father Christmas

The Kinks-Father Christmas

Squirrel Nut Zippers-Carolina Christmas

Update

Haven’t been doing a lot here lately and what I have been doing is lifting stories from other people. Give me a couple weeks to get back on track.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | British rapper Derek B dies at 44

British rapper Derek B, one of the first UK hip-hop stars to enjoy chart success and an influence on future urban artists, has died aged 44.

Derek Boland had UK top 20 hits with Good Groove and Bad Young Brother in 1988 and co-wrote the Anfield Rap for Liverpool Football Club.

His hits saw him become one of the first British hip-hop stars to appear on programmes like Top of the Pops.

“He definitely broke the door down,” London rapper Ty told BBC News.

“He was one of the first artists that I saw get to such a level through rap, and be on Top of the Pops, be on children’s programmes, be on the world stage.

“He was one of the ones to do it first, when it was thoroughly unacceptable from the mainstream perspective. At the time, he was absolutely groundbreaking. He definitely broke the door down.”

Boland suffered a heart attack, according to reports.

BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe paid tribute on Twitter, saying Boland’s 1988 debut Bullet From A Gun “was a massive album for me”, while singer Estelle described him as a “UK originator”.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Experibass

Thanks again to my lovely bride for finding something super cool.

more about “Experibass“, posted with vodpod

Jim Carroll

Jim Carroll died this past Sept 11th. It was a shock to me and was another in the never ending stream of celebrity death. I only had a passing interest in his music and I never read Basketball Diaries, but I was lucky enough to see him do a spoken word in 1994 when I lived in San Francisco (the Tenderloin btw). He was well spoken, entertaining, and just plain awesome. What pops into my head most when i think about that night is the story about him violating a piece of veal that his family winds up having for dinner, that he performed a slowed down acoustic version of “Those are People Who Died” that went on forever, and a story about a cockroach and a paper bag.
I feel very lucky to have seen him. The world needs more Jim Carrolls. Not impressionists. You know what I mean.

more about "Jim Carroll", posted with vodpod