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Through these trying times.

Euge Groove is a saxophonist. He reminds me a little of the Brazilian saxophonist
Gato Barbieri. You may know Gato, as he has played with Santana.
Indeed, Santana covered one of Gato's songs (Europa) and then they later played it together.
However, Euge is much better than Gato.

His real name is Steve Eugene Grove. Shhh. It's our secret.
His mom actually gave him his stage name, Euge Groove.

He got his start in music playing studio tracks on records with the girl band Expose'.
He then went on to play in a soul pop band, Tower of Power.
In ironic fashion, he replaced another saxophonist, who left to go on to play jazz, Richard Elliot,
another excellent saxophonist.
Euge later did the same.

I first heard him on the radio with a hit of his, 'Sneak a Peek'.
I later saw him live play along with acoustic guitarist, Peter White,
who had a similar history, playing pop early on for 20 years with Al Stewart.
Both guys progressed greatly in playing more complex pieces and became bored with pop
to move on with jazz. I remember Peter talking about how his guitar complexities were actually
stifled in favor of more blase' playing.

Well, enough background (I used to love reading histories of musicians within the sleeves on records.
You don't get that anymore, not since CDs replaced the much larger long playing LPs.

So, first here's how I first discovered Euge Groove;

Need a break from COVID-19 and intubation ventilators? You've come to the right place!
To do this correctly, I need to give you some background first.

Some time ago, I did a blog about the Hammond organ. Inside the heart of this amazing instrument is a motorized tone wheel generator. The user has drawbars that can be adjusted in or out to blend octaves and harmonics. In the beginning, Hammond used speaker cabinets similar to guitar/musical instruments. Not long after, Mr. Leslie came along with wooden louvered boxes that had revolving speakers and horns that made a wavering (coral) effect and offered it to Hammond who rejected the idea.
Leslie continued making his cabinets that caught on with Hammond owners and soon Hammond lost the sales of his speakers as everyone was buying Leslie Tone Cabinets!

A Hammond organ is literally a piece of furniture and the Leslie cabinet matches in appearance.



The connection from the organ was special round multi-prong plug for power, audio and switching for the speed control as the Leslie had 2 speeds of rotation. The video below is a Leslie with the back panels removed so you can see the inner workings and watch how the horns speed up and slow down creating the unique sound. Notice it takes a few seconds for the rotating effect to speed up and slow down. It's one of the unique effects of the Leslie.



A generation later guitarists like Eric Clapton and David Gilmour had custom adapters so they can plug their guitars into Leslie cabinets. This led to a smaller version of the rotating speaker built into a conventional guitar amplifier appearance.



As micro-circuits developed, companies started making add-on sound effects that simulated the revolving speaker effect so musicians didn't need to carry more amplifiers, they could simply plug their guitars into the device and get the Leslie Tone Cabinet sound.

The problem is they all sounded like simulations and didn't capture the true Leslie sound...

From an underrated artist/singer/songwriter

Amazing, but you can make very melodic music by playing only the black keys on a piano.

There's F sharp, G sharp, B flat, C sharp, E flat

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.

I must have been eleven when my dad took me to a music store/pawn shop to buy my first guitar. It was $17 and we didn't have the cash to pay for it at one time. They trusted my dad to return later to pay the balance.

It was a no-name steel string Spanish guitar with a wound G-string.
The metal used in guitar strings before the 1970's wasn't very high tech. The first 2 strings (E and B) were solid and the other 4 (G, D, A, E) were solid with a bronze winding. The reason for this is a solid string of a thick diameter is nearly impossible to bend.

Electric guitars were increasingly popular and string manufacturers were experimenting with different metals to create strings of different factors giving guitarists choices they never had before. Thickness (string gauge) tone, style of play were some of the factors guitarists were seeking in a set of strings.

I remember strings would rust if you kept your guitar in a humid environment.
I tried stainless steel strings once (that didn't rust) but they were so hard to play they burned at my callouses.

The main guitar manufacturers (Fender and Gibson) had their own brand, but in the late 60's another string company Ernie Ball emerged. Ernie's product was superior in metal and string gauge. Slinky became a house name for strings that were easy to bend and play the popular styles. One factor in Slinky strings was the thinner unwound G-string.

I read somewhere that Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were dissatisfied with the guitar strings available and used thin gauge banjo strings. That helped them achieve a 'twangy' sound the heavier strings couldn't create.

Being left-handed it's unusual to walk into a guitar store and find left handed guitars on the rack. 20+ years ago I found a cheap Indonesian made Fender Stratocaster style guitar, left-handed so I bought it. For the most part, it's an ornament in my collection and today I noticed the strings were really high. Inspection showed the wood cracked there the bolts hold the bridge assembly. Okay, I removed the strings and bridge and did some surgery with toothpicks and super glue. Amazed at the amount of dust and corrosion, this guitar didn't get much care from me. I bought strings earlier this year... it's time.

I wiped a few years of dust off the guitar and with the bridge back to it's normal position it's playable with extra light gauge slinky strings. Unwound G and all...

Did Kurt Cobain and Nirvana really change the landscape of music?? It's been 30 years since his death. Bassist Krist Novoselic's career faded and drummer Dave Grohl's career soared.
They still play Nirvana songs on classic radio.



Drugs, sex and grunge music...

So it's a lazy rainy day here in central NJ.
I wake up early (I guess my mind is in get up to get to the flea market mode),
and I turn on the TV to see some morning show on CBS.
I don't know which, as I hardly ever watch a morning show on CBS.

The odd part, is the 3 hosts (2 women and 1 man) are sampling rye (whiskey) live at 7:30 am. I guess different people define breakfast differently.

Next up a musical performance (2 songs separated by a commercial).
I'm thinking, "oh geez, what commercial crap will this be ?".
And for the most part, I was correct.
Except for the keyboardist (a little talent), not much talent at all, basicly background music.

But, then the vocalist, who looks more like a gay chef, or accountant, or bank teller,
sings. I tell you what, although it looks out of place, the man has soul and a good voice.
You may hear more from him, especially if he goes solo, or gets a better band.
It's as if Elton John got possessed by Aretha Franklin.

I found them on youtube. The name of the band is St. Paul and the Broken Bones.
Here's one of the "tiny desk concerts" (bad acoustics) from NPR