Music Blogs (1,258)

I was listening to a YouTube documentary about Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant yesterday. In the video, they mentioned him having surgery to remove vocal cord nodules and that the news wasn't widely publicized.

Common to many singers who have had this type of surgery, it often changes your voice. Some singers recovered and some have had to change their style as their singing voice was totally affected by the surgery.

It was noted by true fans somewhere around 1972-1973 Plant cut back on his high-octave wailing and screams in live concerts, possibly as a result of the surgery.

I Googled and found a long list of professional singers who had vocal cord issues including cancer, polyps and burst blood vessels. For example, Rod Stewart's throat cancer surgery set his recovery back more than nine months.

I'm unable to find any stories on Sting having vocal cord surgery. A decade ago he was doing acoustic versions of Roxanne and 'eased up' on the high notes but in this 2017 performance he's done a great job of holding it together.

50 years ago today... at the age of 27, Jimi Hendrix died.
Some say he was the greatest rock guitarist of all time.

If you click in here
ignore this blog.

Just testing and messing around, trying to figure out why I can no longer upload

How frustrating it is to know or think, something you could once do ....
no longer can do

Eh" still talking about uploading here lol

testing 1-2-3 ....

Just a playlist of some real good blues for all to enjoy

STYX released a new video this month in response to the Frontline Workers.

These Are the Times.

I first heard about the heavy-metal band QUIET RIOT in the 1980's from lots of MTV play with their version of the SLADE hit Cûm On Feel the Noize. They were one of the first bands to put metal on the map and like most, breaking up and reforming was in their DNA as members came and went like a revolving door.

Through the famed years singer Kevin DuBrow and drummer Frankie Banali were the common elements to hold the band together. Sadly, DuBrow passed away from a cocaine overdose in 2007.
If I recall, DuBrow owned the rights to the name Quiet Riot and it wasn't until years later his family allowed Banali to use the name and reform the group.

I've seen a few live performances and they always gave a good show, including acknowledgement for guitarist Randy Rhoads who founded the band with DuBrow and later joining with Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath fame to find his own stardom until his untimely death in 1982.

In 2019, Banali, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and not expected to live out the year. He went through chemotherapy, dropping some 60 pounds and appeared to recover enough to return to drumming for a few gigs including one in Japan with the legendary Led Zeppelin tribute guitarist Mr. Jimmy. Success rate of recovery from this form of cancer is very rare. Three weeks ago, I heard that Quiet Riot was booked to play at the Sturgis Rally and thought Frankie (after more than 20 treatments) must have beat the disease. Could this be possible?

Friday afternoon, I received a call from a drummer friend. Frankie passed away Thursday evening, August 20, 2020.

I've heard there's a musicians gig in the sky where they all go to perform. Frankie, Kevin and Randy must be rehearsing right now!


Frankie in Japan with Mr. Jimmy and his tribute band:

I was in 7th grade when my father bought a Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorder. It used 1/4" tape and normally played mono recordings. A mechanical control on the head allowed the user to convert it to stereo by connecting an add-on speaker box. Wattage was low and everything had tube circuitry.
These machines were built solid, probably 40 pounds, so much the school board used them in Audio Visual presentations.
Me, my dad and my brother all took turns using this tape recorder. My brother used to record single songs from 45's and make a 'party mix' for his friends. I recorded my rock band rehearsals for evaluation and my dad often recorded audio tracks from TV shows.

The way 1/4" recording tape is designed, you had 4 spaces for record/playback. 2 channel stereo used tracks 1 and 3. When the tape ended, you could flip the reels and play back the other side that was adjusted for tracks 2 and 4. There was enough separation that the head would only play the intended tracks. Since there was a stereo/mono switch, if you played a stereo recording in mono, there was a really good chance the 'cross talk' of the other tracks would come through the playback... in reverse.
Eventually something that sounded like: Moisuah, ska chipp chip dursennn ya bolumaga snit bosha, would come from the speakers.

In the world of Beatlemania, it was said The Beatles had recorded cryptic clues about the untimely death of Paul McCartney and his identical look-alike replacement, Billy Shears. In order to hear the messages, you needed to hear the record played backwards!
Piece of cake... right? Just break out the Wollensak and record the song, flip the tape, move the playback head to stereo and adjust the alignment to catch the opposite track running backwards.

"Turn me on dead man... Turn me on dead man.."



That Wollensak was in my shed for more than 20 years. When I tried to use it, all the belts and rubber wheels had gummed out and rotted. Unless, you needed a really cool door stop, It was useless to keep it around.

I read the other day that many years later, McCartney publicity acknowledged the stunt about his passing was totally frabricated.

No specific order, but I started playing guitar in the 1960's with memories of Chet Atkins playing a Gretch. He had several different models. Big, clunky usually orange with gold plated hardware. Some had a single cutaway and some double. Very iconic!



Expensive and only one guitarist in the neighborhood had one!