Because my dad was in show business (in addition to being an orchestra violinist) I got to meet and talk with countless celebrities when I was young. They were mostly people like Imogene Coca, Andy Devine, Jack Benny, Walter Pidgeon and Pernell Roberts. I remember them all being friendly and gracious, but perhaps they were just being professional and, to an extent, in character. But when I asked Pernell Roberts if he was sorry that he quit Bonanza, he honestly said he really was and things hadn't worked out like he'd hoped. He could have chased me away but he didn't, and we kept talking. He didn't have to, but he did. I'm also sure that the fact that they knew my dad had something to do with how I was treated. But then there's ...

I spent more time talking to David Bowie than any of them. He had come to Pittsburgh during his Ziggy Stardust tour and one of my friends found out where he was staying and I rented a room at that hotel. We found his room about 1:30 A.M. and when we knocked on the door, Bowie himself answered. We talked to him until we ran out of questions and then he actually started asking us about ourselves. He had to do none of this and could probably have had us thrown out of the hotel, but he didn't. He seemed genuinely surprised and a bit amused that we would go to so much trouble just to see him. Bowie was a perfect gentleman and exhibited none of the public persona he was famous for. It seemed odd at the time to me that he had more in common in person with Walter Pidgeon than the eccentric rock star he portrays, but looking back on it now, not so much.

I try now to just sort of take people as they are when I'm with them and try not to have them meet any preconceived expectations. But one last comment. Al Jarreau looked through me like I wasn't even there, like I was a ghost he saw only peripherally; that was the creepiest thing.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Apr 23, 2013 09:22:47

And Noel, that is an AWESOME story about Bowie; you've lived a charmed life!

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

Noel, such cool stories! Thanks very much for sharing! You've definitely had an interesting childhood!

Noel wrote:

I spent more time talking to David Bowie than any of them. He had come to Pittsburgh during his Ziggy Stardust tour and one of my friends found out where he was staying and I rented a room at that hotel. We found his room about 1:30 A.M. and when we knocked on the door, Bowie himself answered. We talked to him until we ran out of questions and then he actually started asking us about ourselves. He had to do none of this and could probably have had us thrown out of the hotel, but he didn't. He seemed genuinely surprised and a bit amused that we would go to so much trouble just to see him. Bowie was a perfect gentleman and exhibited none of the public persona he was famous for.

That is a great story! It's particularly interesting to me since in the past year through Spotify I've kinda discovered the Ziggy Stardust album, and just recently got really into Alladin Sane, as well. In fact, I've been on a fairly big Bowie kick for the past several weeks, with my favorite album by him, Scary Monsters, being stuck in my CD player and joined often with Heroes. I just picked up The Next Day on CD, too. I will be buying the Ziggy and Alladin CDs soon, too. I never appreciated the level of the guy's genius, and i'm glad I'm finally discovering it. I've read a bit that he abandoned the Ziggy character since he felt it was taking over him and he was going mad. It's nice to hear that the person underneath the persona was a really good guy. Thanks for that.

Ivan
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Last edited: Apr 23, 2013 10:41:18

IvanP wrote:

That is a great story! It's particularly interesting to me since in the past year through Spotify I've kinda discovered the Ziggy Stardust album, and just recently got really into Alladin Sane, as well. In fact, I've been on a fairly big Bowie kick for the past several weeks, with my favorite album by him, Scary Monsters, being stuck in my CD player and joined often with Heroes. I just picked up The Next Day on CD, too. I will be buying the Ziggy and Alladin CDs soon, too. I never appreciated the level of the guy's genius, and i'm glad I'm finally discovering it. I've read a bit that he abandoned the Ziggy character since he felt it was taking over him and he was going mad. It's nice to hear that the person underneath the persona was a really good guy. Thanks for that.

Bowie is a genius, and still is very relevant with his new release. If you weren't keen on them in the late 80's-early 90's, I might add his work with Tin Machine to you collection, especially their second and final album, simply titled "Tin Machine II". Reeves Gabrels' playing was just amazing on it.

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

He had a knack for hooking up with inspired guitarists. Fripp's work on Heroes and Scary Monsters. Mick Ronson of course with the Spiders From Mars. I really love that album.

Low and Lodger are also excellent collaborations with Eno & Fripp, and Station to Station is great.

PolloGuitar wrote:

Nice to see the thread turn in the Bowie direction. So many gems in his catalog. Love the second Tin Man record, so different from the first. Also, he did a album later in his career called Black Tie, White Noise which I'm crazy about. Apparently the record company went out of business soon after its release so it disappeared. My favorites are the Berlin trilogy- pure art.

+1 for Black Tie, White Noise. A fantastic album from start to finish made even better with Lester Bowie on several tracks. Then I also just realized that I've had that disc for 20 years. Yikes.

The Boss Jaguars!
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Big time foe. I just saw a couple of his videos & they are an unlistenable mess. I don't hear any music, just a preoccupation with ripping off as many notes as he can.

I'll take Dave Wronski, Ivan, Matt Q, etc any day over this guy because
SG101 guitar players rule !!!

Amazing that there seems to be 2 distinct groups for Yngwie and no in between.
Me, I see an a amazing player with a fast right/left hand , using combinations of major and minors, regular and exotic scales under the auspices of a sweep picking technique. This coupled with the interplay off the keyboard, driving bass/drums and vocals you can actually understand is a refreshing change from the monotony of the blargh that is generally out there.
Is it fair to rate/judge a player on anything other than their playing? Now thats an interesting question.
Everyone listens to what they like to their individual taste and thats great!

I am not obsolete, I am RETRO....

I'd say you can judge them on their writing, separately from their playing.

Yngwie's is without doubt a fine player, but he's not really matured or expanded as a writer. Somgs from Rising Force, Odyssey and Fire & Ice are largely interchangeable.
The lack of decent writing was an albatross for a lot of the Mike Varney shred types. Super fast guitar playing and crazy virtuoso techniques, but over a super-generic drum machine and metal guitar backing track. Even as a long haired, denim clad, widdly widdly pointy guitared teenager I could only listen to so much of that stuff.

Compared to other "super rock guitarists" like Dweezil Zappa or Joe Satriani, their early albums are as different to their mid-career albums as they are to their recent albums.
Dweezil's first album is pretty horrible, but he was only 15 or something so he can be forgiven some degree of youthful excessiveness and tasteless exuberance.

Last edited: Apr 24, 2013 19:04:37