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Topic: 2015 Dallas Experiences? |
Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2015 9:53 pm |
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Man, what an extended weekend! Really great to see old friends and meet new ones... my fourth year to attend, so not an old timer by any means. Some of my highlights:
Sets by Bert Rivera, Doug Jernigan, Buck Reid, and my buddy Roger Edgington. You want some inspiration to work hard, listen to these folks. Apologies to those I didn't get to hear, it was a busy weekend for me! Surprise standout, my Austin bud Dennis Bailey's band played some real tasty originals... thanks for helping out with the Big Room stage Dennis, you were busy every time I saw you.
The Rick Alexander Non-Pedal Room... I ran video (and lots of other things!) Friday-Saturday so I didn't see all the Big Room sets, but RANP more than made up for it. Too many to list here, but sets from Margie Mays, Ivan Reddington, Billy Robinson, Carco Clave, Bob Blair, Rose Sinclair, Austin Stewart, and another great one from Roger Edgington really help keep Rick's efforts alive. Thanks to Albert and Debbie Talley and Jack Kindle for helping out in Jeff Strouse's absence, big shoes to fill indeed.
Side-room action... always a blast, I heard about a lot more than I heard. Always a first-class effort in the Telonics room... all the majors had rooms, so there was never a lack of a place to go and jam. Big Joe was missed in the Benoit room... this may be Mr. Carol's last year at the show, only time will tell. Amps by Telonics, Classic Tube, Quilter, and Lucker were all available for tryout... thanks for loaning the RANP a Lucker Chameleon, Gary Thorsen, you're a bud! Funny story... I'm in the Quilter room playing through the tiny 200w Mini and some crazy guy comes in and grabs a D10 sitting in the corner with broken strings on both necks and wants to play through it... so I say, 'sure', not wanting to anger him (he did look crazy)... he then proceeds to tear it up like nobody's business... broke strings and all... I think I saw Svendall on his tag. You never know when a monster is going to walk up behind you at this show!
The Jackson booth... Zane and Donna brought their crew up to the RANP and treated us to a set of gospel-inspired tunes. They demo'd the new palm-pedal lapsteels (OK, since strictly, it's not a pedal) and the engineering on them is first-rate... but when I went back to the booth (hidden behind the restaurant) I found the true gem, the palm-pedal dobro. I'd expressed skepticism about what kind of pitch drop to expect with a spider suspended on an aluminum cone when you raise three strings a total of five frets... turns out that the high E drops 6 cents... barely enough to hear if you're listening closely. A lot of fun to play (tuned to open E, pedal down for A) and a real solid machine, no flimsiness or wobble about it. You were right Zane... the engineering is first rate. And if you were lucky enough to get a personal demonstration of Zane Pastorius as we did, well, you put it in your memory file as one of the high points! If you haven't seen the video of Zane on the pedal bass yet you haven't been paying attention, it's insane... and the thing is way fun to play even if you can't rock it like Zane.
The Beard Room... if they weren't in the Benoit room, they were in the Beard room. Howard Parker always has a brace of really fine guitars. He had the 8 string strings in stock so I was able to get two sets... that PBS GT 8 string is the best deal going if you want to show up at an acoustic jam and play 6th-style swing tunes, never fails to wow them at Luckenbach. Someday I'll own a real Beard, but having one designed and set up by the Man is enough for me for now. And it turns out that Howard and I are both Hams! (radio, I mean...).
There's probably a lot more I'm forgetting right now, I need to go back and watch the videos I took in the RANP, I'll be posting the best of the best to YT soon. Check the Electronics section for my Benado experience. Again, a really great show, looking forward to 2016 already.
_________________
New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329
Last edited by Stephen Cowell on 15 Mar 2015 11:20 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2015 11:10 pm
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Herb talking to some guy...
... hopefully you realize who this is.
_________________
New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329
Last edited by Stephen Cowell on 22 Mar 2015 9:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 16 Mar 2015 8:25 am
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| Quote: |
| turns out that the high E drops 6 cents... barely enough to hear if you're listening closely. |
I think I could hear a 6 cent drop even without my hearing aid.. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2015 6:10 pm
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| Barry Blackwood wrote: |
| Quote: |
| turns out that the high E drops 6 cents... barely enough to hear if you're listening closely. |
I think I could hear a 6 cent drop even without my hearing aid.. |
Barry, I'm glad for you! With the palm down the guitar is in tune... the stops are set to keep the chord in tune with the lever down... and with the other lap steels (no cone) there is no drop. I'm impressed.
_________________
New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329 |
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Mark Greenway
From:
Lake Kiowa, Texas
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Posted 18 Mar 2015 6:32 pm
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It got good in the Mullen room about 1:00 a.m. Saturday night. Austin Stewart was knocking it out of the park.
It also got really good around 1:00 in the morning on Friday night in the GFI room. Sigler was awesome. There wasn't anything anyone threw at him that he couldn't play.
I enjoy what goes on in the side rooms as much, if not more, as what goes on in the Main Ballroom. |
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Albert Svenddal
From:
Minneapolis, MN
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Posted 19 Mar 2015 11:17 am
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Stephen, thanks for the comment. I am for sure
a crazy wild Norweigen. I really dig the Micro Mach
2 amp. Great to meet you.
_________________
Williams D-12 9x7, Emmons PP D-10, 8X5, Quilter SteeAire amp. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2015 4:01 pm
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| Albert Svenddal wrote: |
Stephen, thanks for the comment. I am for sure
a crazy wild Norweigen. I really dig the Micro Mach
2 amp. Great to meet you. |
Albert, the pleasure was all mine... you took that beat-up broke-down guitar and blew my doors off! And I really did enjoy the little Quilter... 200w in that little box? I might just have to replace my Cube 40XL with one! Looks like it'd fit real good on the back of the Harley, where the Cube fits now.
Next time I'll make time to see your Big Room show! So much to see, so much to do...
_________________
New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329 |
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Roger Crawford
From:
Griffin, GA USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2015 4:46 pm
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| Hey Albert, did you play with the egg? |
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Albert Svenddal
From:
Minneapolis, MN
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Posted 19 Mar 2015 7:52 pm
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Roger. I'm not sure eggactly what you mean??
_________________
Williams D-12 9x7, Emmons PP D-10, 8X5, Quilter SteeAire amp. |
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Paul King
From:
Gainesville, Texas, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2015 2:36 am
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| First time in years the wife and I spent 3 days at the show. What a blast, listening to players make music, visiting and just walking around doing nothing. We had a great time everywhere we went while there. |
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Jana Lockaby
From:
Kaufman, TX
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Posted 20 Mar 2015 5:57 am
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| I have always thought that no one could possibly have more fun at the show than I do. It is one of the highlights of my year. I call it 4 days with little, or no, sleep, and who has time to eat, because doing either, well, you'll have to miss out on something. Stephen, judging by your post, I think you have just as much fun, if not more, than I do. lol |
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