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I know he ain't surf, but my goofy brother in Colorado got in contact
with one of Eric Johnson's management guys. He wants Johnson to get
demos of some of my stuff, which I think is ridiculous. My ability on
guitar is probably where Eric was 20 minutes after he started
playing...Anyway, he's arranging for me to meet him at the Summer
Freedom Fest in Sun Valley on July 2nd. Buddy Guy is also playing the
same night. Hopefully I won't run into a snag in getting to it.
Shawn Martin
Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
Eric is a really, really nice guy. Extremely zen-oriented. I had the
opportunity to hang out with him and his band pre-show, as
host/gopher. He's a vegetarian, doesn't drink, smoke, or swear, so
try to respect that if you do meet him. Soft spoken, tall, lanky, and
will actually listen if you have something interesting to say. Heck,
there was more than enough food backstage, and he asked me, the lowly
gopher, if I was hungry, because there was plenty to go around. He
works on his own effects (he was busy repairing his echoplex unit when
a soldering iron when I arrived). We did talk, I gushed about how
much I loved his playing... and he made sure that I had a nice spot
off in the wings right by his rig. Pure... tone... heaven. His solo
thing before "Cliffs Of Dover" was mind-blowingly beautiful: huge,
vaulting arpeggios, perfectly executed. But based on my experience I
don't think that he's of the type who's out actively listening for new
talent to promote, he's just so completely into his own thing, I can't
imagine him having time for it at all. You'd be better off trying to
get Steve Vai or Mike Varney to hear your stuff, they're the ones
looking to populate their labels with new talent.
--- In , "Shawn Martin" <drumuitar@y...>
wrote:
> I know he ain't surf, but my goofy brother in Colorado got in
contact
> with one of Eric Johnson's management guys. He wants Johnson to get
> demos of some of my stuff, which I think is ridiculous. My ability
on
> guitar is probably where Eric was 20 minutes after he started
> playing...Anyway, he's arranging for me to meet him at the Summer
> Freedom Fest in Sun Valley on July 2nd. Buddy Guy is also playing
the
> same night. Hopefully I won't run into a snag in getting to it.
>
>
>
> Shawn Martin
>
>
> Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
That must have been a great thrill, Red, to hang with the great Eric Johnson.
And I'm pleased to hear that I am not the only teetaling noise-maker around. I
was just listening to the new EJ album "Bloom" this morning. I can't say I like
it as much as the others. Some tracks are more groove oriented which is a good
thing but there's nothing new going on in his basic sound and solos. It may be
one of those that needs to grow on me.
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: red_thundr
To:
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 5:44 PM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Going to meet Eric Johnson
Eric is a really, really nice guy. Extremely zen-oriented. I had the
opportunity to hang out with him and his band pre-show, as
host/gopher. He's a vegetarian, doesn't drink, smoke, or swear, so
try to respect that if you do meet him. Soft spoken, tall, lanky, and
will actually listen if you have something interesting to say. Heck,
there was more than enough food backstage, and he asked me, the lowly
gopher, if I was hungry, because there was plenty to go around. He
works on his own effects (he was busy repairing his echoplex unit when
a soldering iron when I arrived). We did talk, I gushed about how
much I loved his playing... and he made sure that I had a nice spot
off in the wings right by his rig. Pure... tone... heaven. His solo
thing before "Cliffs Of Dover" was mind-blowingly beautiful: huge,
vaulting arpeggios, perfectly executed. But based on my experience I
don't think that he's of the type who's out actively listening for new
talent to promote, he's just so completely into his own thing, I can't
imagine him having time for it at all. You'd be better off trying to
get Steve Vai or Mike Varney to hear your stuff, they're the ones
looking to populate their labels with new talent.
--- In , "Shawn Martin" <drumuitar@y...>
wrote:
> I know he ain't surf, but my goofy brother in Colorado got in
contact
> with one of Eric Johnson's management guys. He wants Johnson to get
> demos of some of my stuff, which I think is ridiculous. My ability
on
> guitar is probably where Eric was 20 minutes after he started
> playing...Anyway, he's arranging for me to meet him at the Summer
> Freedom Fest in Sun Valley on July 2nd. Buddy Guy is also playing
the
> same night. Hopefully I won't run into a snag in getting to it.
>
>
>
> Shawn Martin
>
>
> Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
.
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Mark and I heard heard Eric Johnson least summer, as well as Buddy
Guy, at that Clapton Crossroads show in Dallas. You're in for a real
treat. Enjoy it all, Shawn! And Hey - we all should have brothers
that "goofy"
Dave
--- In , "Shawn Martin" <drumuitar@y...>
wrote:
> I know he ain't surf, but my goofy brother in Colorado got in contact
> with one of Eric Johnson's management guys. He wants Johnson to get
> demos of some of my stuff> Shawn Martin
>
Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
--- In , "stratrhythm"
<lawyerschroeder@s...> wrote:
> Mark and I heard heard Eric Johnson least summer, as well as Buddy
> Guy, at that Clapton Crossroads show in Dallas. You're in for a real
> treat. Enjoy it all, Shawn! And Hey - we all should have brothers
> that "goofy"
I saw Eric back in the early 90s when he opened for Rush in the Roll
the Bones tour. I would've preferred that he played the whole night
(never been a huge Rush fan). I still can't believe my bro went and
did all of this :-)
Yes, he's genuinely sincere and gentle. The biggest lesson was not
so much music, but more about what complete, utter dedication looks
like. That's why I don't think he would be interested in listening
to someone's offhand demo tape.
Soundcheck was incredibly intricate, and time consuming. He has the
entire 30-band equalizer memorized. He'd tell the sound guy "give me
1 click at 3.15k... down one click at 640... up one half click at
13k..." Yes, he can actually hear the teeniest differences at the
exact frequencies.
His acoustic "Tribute to Jerry Reed/The Claw" blew my mind, and his
attention to detail was unbelievable. He actually tossed out a few
chord fingerings he used, experimenting and substituting others,
because "it makes the hall resonate weirdly". After that, he went
back to his dressing room, and practiced the reworked fingerings
relentlessly for 45 minutes straight, without interruption, until it
was perfect. For just two chords in one song. Honestly, I couldn't
tell a difference, but apparently the teeny things make a difference
to him.
He worked on his Echoplex in candlelight, sitting cross-legged on the
stage floor, with the precision of a surgeon. The background music
was a mix of Jerry Reed, Michael Hedges, impressionist classical
piano, and a few other country-ish things I couldn't pick out. Even
the tuning of his guitars is a ritual. His tech would painstakingly
get everything perfectly in tune with a strobe tuner, then he would
do the final by-ear tuning in conjunction with teeny adjustments to
the truss rod.
Based on all that, I just can't imagine how Eric Johnson would have
time or inclination to listen to anybody's demo. He's just so deep
into his own thing, he'd just push it off to the side. That's just
his personality.
But the funniest, sweetest moments of the evening was when a person
in the audienced yelled out that one of their friends was having a
birthday. And he played an incredible souped-up version of "Happy
Birthday", in all his glorious violin tone, just for her.
--- In , "Marty Tippens"
<mctippens@e...> wrote:
> That must have been a great thrill, Red, to hang with the great
Eric Johnson. And I'm pleased to hear that I am not the only
teetaling noise-maker around. I was just listening to the new EJ
album "Bloom" this morning. I can't say I like it as much as the
others. Some tracks are more groove oriented which is a good thing
but there's nothing new going on in his basic sound and solos. It may
be one of those that needs to grow on me.
> -Marty
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: red_thundr
> To:
> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 5:44 PM
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Going to meet Eric Johnson
>
>
> Eric is a really, really nice guy. Extremely zen-oriented. I
had the
> opportunity to hang out with him and his band pre-show, as
> host/gopher. He's a vegetarian, doesn't drink, smoke, or swear,
so
> try to respect that if you do meet him. Soft spoken, tall,
lanky, and
> will actually listen if you have something interesting to say.
Heck,
> there was more than enough food backstage, and he asked me, the
lowly
> gopher, if I was hungry, because there was plenty to go around.
He
> works on his own effects (he was busy repairing his echoplex unit
when
> a soldering iron when I arrived). We did talk, I gushed about how
> much I loved his playing... and he made sure that I had a nice
spot
> off in the wings right by his rig. Pure... tone... heaven. His
solo
> thing before "Cliffs Of Dover" was mind-blowingly beautiful: huge,
> vaulting arpeggios, perfectly executed. But based on my
experience I
> don't think that he's of the type who's out actively listening
for new
> talent to promote, he's just so completely into his own thing, I
can't
> imagine him having time for it at all. You'd be better off
trying to
> get Steve Vai or Mike Varney to hear your stuff, they're the ones
> looking to populate their labels with new talent.
>
>
> --- In , "Shawn Martin"
<drumuitar@y...>
> wrote:
> > I know he ain't surf, but my goofy brother in Colorado got in
> contact
> > with one of Eric Johnson's management guys. He wants Johnson
to get
> > demos of some of my stuff, which I think is ridiculous. My
ability
> on
> > guitar is probably where Eric was 20 minutes after he started
> > playing...Anyway, he's arranging for me to meet him at the
Summer
> > Freedom Fest in Sun Valley on July 2nd. Buddy Guy is also
playing
> the
> > same night. Hopefully I won't run into a snag in getting to it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Shawn Martin
> >
> >
> > Life is short. Play for the music. Wear your heart on your
sleeve.
>
>
>
>
> .
> Visit for archived
messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>
>
>
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> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
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>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
- His acoustic "Tribute to Jerry Reed/The Claw" blew my mind,..........
i saw him in salt lake city last winter and must agree on the tribute
to jerry reed. i'd seen him with alien love child a few years before
and liked the material he played better at that concert. a lot of last
winters concert was too 'note festie', but what great tone........can
you imagine what he'd do with a few surf covers???
That's a common response to Eric Johnson's Jerry Reed tribute. A lot of folks
are unaware of Jerry Reed's guitar wizardry and if they know him at all it's for
his pop vocals or his appearence in "Smokey and the Bandit". "Jerry's
Breakdown" on the Jerry and Chet album is some head spinning guitar. Also check
out Jerry's backround playing on the Elvis recordings of "US. Male" and "Guitar
Man".
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: mom_surfing
To:
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 2:57 PM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Going to meet Eric Johnson
- His acoustic "Tribute to Jerry Reed/The Claw" blew my mind,..........
i saw him in salt lake city last winter and must agree on the tribute
to jerry reed. i'd seen him with alien love child a few years before
and liked the material he played better at that concert. a lot of last
winters concert was too 'note festie', but what great tone........can
you imagine what he'd do with a few surf covers???
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
__________ NOD32 1.1143 (20050616) Information __________
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
