The Fender Telecaster has to be one of the most moded guitars in the history of the instrument. The bolt-on design and front loaded electronics make the Tele an easy target for guitar tweakers. Countless guitar stores have tons of options for hardware, plates, and knobs. With all of these choices available one of the most difficult options to change on the Telecaster are the pickups. Read the rest of this entry »

DeAndre Brackensick was eliminated tonight on AMERICAN IDOL after he received the fewest votes among the finalists. On tonight’s results show, The Wanted sang their latest hit “Glad You Came,” and Kellie Pickler returned to the IDOL stage to perform her newest single, “Where’s Tammy Wynette.” In addition, superstar and AMERICAN IDOL judge Jennifer Lopez premiered her new music video for “Dance Again.”

Next week, on Wednesday, April 11 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed), the Top Seven – Hollie Cavanagh, Colton Dixon, Skylar Laine, Joshua Ledet, Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez and Elise Testone – return to the IDOL stage to perform for America’s votes. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night on American Idol, the Top eight remaining finalists performed songs from the 80’s. Yeah, it was a time that brought us shoulder boards and polyester track suits, things we could have easily done without. But it also brought us some pretty decent music.

Some of the contestants even managed to tap into that musical gold mine and performed some of them, and some didn’t.

Working with mentor Jimmy Iovine this week, but barely contributing anything of significant note, was singer Gwen Stefani and her No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal. Also, I will mention that like last week, this week’s show was two hours long when it could have easily been 90 minutes. This week, they used the extra time to intersperse the contestants in various duets. It was far better than the God-awful group numbers (some of them were much better), but I’m still not going to discuss them any further in this column. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Brossard form Brossard Picks from just emailed me this great news: Abalone Series and Custom Ebony Racer big come back…back onto the Abalone quest, just got more incredible shells and after cutting and shaping all week I couldn’t resist to let the word out and have them back and available. What a “Sweet treat for Easter” Read the rest of this entry »

Heejun Han was eliminated tonight on AMERICAN IDOL after he received the fewest votes among the finalists. On tonight’s results show, Nicki Minaj took the stage and performed her megahit “Starships” and Season 10 IDOL winner and platinum-selling country artist Scotty McCreery returned to perform his newest single, “Water Tower Town.” After McCreery’s performance, Jimmy Iovine presented him with a platinum record signifying sales of more than one million units for his debut album “Clear As Day.” Read the rest of this entry »

“Drugs keep pounding a rhythm to the brain” takes Sonny Bono’s “The Beat Goes On” to a different dimension on the disc’s 9th track, “Heroine Belles.” It leans more towards an uptempo nod to Lou Reed’s singular title ode to the drug than the anthem to chick bikers on downers, an image the title might conjure. Chief singer/songwriter of Billy Shake, George Simpson is accompanied by drummer Joe Caruso; bassist Bruce Mahar along with guitarists Ken Sparrow and Dan DelSignore. Recording at producer/songwriter Steven Mesropian’s studio they have come up with an authentic and driving collection of eleven titles on an evenly tempered disc that can grow on you with repeated spins. Read the rest of this entry »

I am personally saddened by the news, bluegrass god Earl Scruggs has passed away. Earl was half of the legendary duo Flatt & Scruggs with longtime partner Lester Flatt. Flatt & Scruggs were thrust into the mainstream after “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” was used as the theme for the Beverly Hillbillies television series. Flatt & Scruggs were also frequent guests on CBS hit television show that ran 9 seasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night on American Idol, the Top Nine sang songs from their own personal idols.  Once again, they were helped by Tommy Hilfinger and mentored by Jimmy Iovine.  This week he was assisted by rock legend Stevie Nicks.

Overall, it was probably the best night of the season.  All nine of the contestants brought their “A” Game and it was tough to pick a Bottom Three.  On the bad side, the producers are steadfast in sticking to a 2-hour format where it’s not needed.  So they have to find filler.  A lot of filler.  So last night they went with three group numbers: One Fleetwood Mac Compilation, Michael Jackson Compilation, and one Madonna Compilation.  For the sake of this article, and because I despise American Idol group numbers, I have chosen to ignore them.  In fact, I didn’t even watch them. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night on American Idol, the Top Ten remaining contestants regaled us with songs from the Billy Joel songbook.

At the start of the show, judge Steven Tyler informed us that in his opinion, if you can’t sing Billy Joel, than you can’t sing at all.

DeAndre Brackenridge: DeAndre was the first contestant to give Billy Joel a shot, singing the classic, Only the Good Die Young. Mentor Jimmy Iovine reminded him that he has to smile. He also instructed him to be thinking about teenagers singing to good Catholic girls doing things that their parents don’t want them to do. Hmm. Actually, that was pretty good advice even though I’m not sure young DeAndre really got it. The front part of the song was pretty flat and weak. In fact, the whole song lacked the strength and verve that DeAndre usually gives to his songs. I don’t think he was totally invested in this one and it showed. Read the rest of this entry »

Ed Bowen has one of the best radio shows around, 95.9 FM WATD’s “Yesterday’s Memories” show hosted by Ed and Bill at 6 PM – to midnight every Saturday night in Marshfield.

It was very special on St. Patty’s Day, March 17, 2012, when Moulty of the Barbarians and Ken Evans of the met for the very first time. Evans is the drummer on the classic 1967 remake from the 1939 Wizard of Oz film, “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead” (Jubilee Records, #5573). Their rendition was #11 in June of 67, topping the #16 showing of The Demensions in 1960 when they covered “Over the Rainbow” on Mohawk Records #116. The Fifth Estate reportedly have the highest charting single ever of a song from The Wizard of Oz. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night on American Idol, the remaining twelve contestants (minus Jermaine Jones) sang songs from the years they were born. Although I’m thinking it could have just as easily have been called American Idol Sings Remakes. Also, Ryan informed us “that with the help of law enforcement, we discovered information that left us no choice but to eliminate one of our own”.

My first question with this is, isn’t it part of producers’ job to check this stuff out before they get this far in the competition to save everyone all of this embarrassment? They had several months to figure this out. Someone on that staff dropped the ball on this one.

Anyway, helping mentor Jimmy Iovine this week was none other than legendary producer and Black Eyed Peas singer, will.i.am. Read the rest of this entry »

On June 22 and June 23, 1968, Big Brother & The Holding Company played the Carousel Ballroom in downtown San Francisco. Owsley “Bear” Stanley, according to the press information, began mixing live wound with the Grateful Dead in 1966 “and ran the sound system for the Carousel until Bill Graham took over and rechristened it the Fillmore West in the autumn of 1968.” Just as Fleetwood Mac / Lou Reed /Steely Dan soundman Stuart “Dinky” Dawson recorded all his shows to see about making improvements, Bear had the same wonderful habit, it seems. Thus there’s a treasure trove of recordings supervised by the guys who were there. Osley passed away in Australia on March 12, 2011, but had already supervised the mastering of this tape for release. Read the rest of this entry »

Many devices have tried to capture the magic of the Leslie cabinet. These devices have run the gamut from the simple to the sublime. While some have come close to emulating the vibrato aspect of the Leslie, none have faithfully reproduced the “whooshing” effect of the air moving away from the cabinet. Most guitar effects with the claim of simulating a Lesilie 122 typically are beefed up vibrato or chorus pedals…until now. Read the rest of this entry »

St Patrick’s Day this year bring you 25% off on the “Workshop” where you can design your own picks with simple steps. Just chose the type of pick shape to start with then select the front and back designs to be inlayed.

The Horn Groovy series have been such a success in the past that Brossard Picks produced way too many last year and ended up with a huge stock. 25% off. The Triskel Horns series are usually favorite to all Bassists but Brossard Picks wanted to reintroduce these since as a guitarist they really like their firm grip for heavy strumming. 25% off Read the rest of this entry »

Mr. Skin takes a look at John Carter star Lynn Collins in this most recent Mr. Skin minute. While Collins does not get nude in John Carter she did drop the laundry for a naked sex scene on HBO’s Tru Blood. Mr. Skin is quick to point out there is no Tru Fur seen in the shot but all else is visible including Lynn Collins full moon.

Mr. Skin also looks at the HBO series Game of Thrones, a gold mine of boobs, butts and nipples. At some point it seems every female character has a sex scene. The tits are swinging more than the swords in the period fantasy epic…and that is a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night on American Idol, the Top 13 performed for us, LIVE, LIVE, LIVE. The guys sang songs from the Stevie Wonder catalogue while the girls honored the late Whitney Houston (that didn’t take long, did it?).

This was especially interesting because for years, Randy Jackson has warned girls to be very careful not to take on big singers like Mariah or Whitney, unless they were ready for it. And now they were all being forced to go after it, ready or not, full steam ahead.

Also Ryan explained that on Thursday night, for the first time on Results Night, it would be Men against Women. Once America votes and ultimately picks the bottom male and female, the judge’s take over and will send someone home. When the contestants heard this, seemingly for the first time, they were pretty surprised.

Here’s how I thought they looked last night: Read the rest of this entry »