My Guitar

               My guitar is older than two of the members of my band. Let me repeat that so it can sink in. My guitar is older than two of the members of my band. It's  a Les Paul Deluxe, manufactured in 1974. It was a re-issue of the 1954 model and made to the exact same spec, or so I've been told.

           I bought this guitar when I was sophomore at Cal (UC Berkeley) with my student loan money. At the time I was a huge Allman Brothers fan . This was back when Duanne Allman was still alive and Greg Allman wasn't a heroin addict, before Cher. I fell in love with the way they jammed so I bought the guitar, quit college and the rest is history. That guitar and I have been together ever since.

                  Now I'm not one of those guys who names his guitar. That seems creepy to me, but I do have a long standing relationship with this piece of wood and metal. We've been through a lot together. Snow storms in Washington, never ending road trips and dinky bars in the middle of nowhere. We been up on the space needle and out on the ocean together. We've been to keggers, weddings and even a funeral. 

                   It's a beautiful sunburst red guitar and has a few scrapes and scratches. One of the tuning pegs is a little messed up from an altercation with a toddler at a a wedding reception back in 1981. I'm on my third guitar case and the toggle switch is missing it's plastic cover. The neck is good and it still stays in tune and sounds great. It's in pretty god shape for it's years and luckily so am I. It's been played by me nearly every day for the last 34 odd years and it's older than two of the members of my band.

            I'm getting used to the fact that I am often one of the oldest people in the room when I play clubs. This is not to say I feel old. To the contrary, I still feel like that 21 year old kid who found that guitar on the top hook in the back of Skatzenbag's Music in Oakland California all those years ago, before videos, Cd's, MP3's, microwave ovens, computers ...  I think you get the picture. 

             Nearly everyone I used to play with  back when I bought this guitar has quit playing music. Like that TV battery bunny I just keep going and going with my guitar by my side instead of a drum. But I'm not complaining. Actually, I'm glad I'm getting older. It beats the alternative. I just find it interesting that I have gotten better on this guitar than I ever could have imagined and yet I am still playing the same clubs (for the same pay) as I was back when I started with this little friend of mine. In music you either improve or quit.

          Anyways, the other night I was supposed to host a songwriter night at a local club and no one showed up. I mean no one. Well, my guitarist and a harmonica playing friend showed up, but we're in a band together and that hardly counts. The bartender and the owner showed up too , but having to count them makes it even sound worse.

            I played a few songs as did the other guys but we weren't feeling it and decided to just sit and talk. We got bored with that so we went back up on stage and started to jam. My guitar just sat in it's guitar stand, an innocent bystander. In this club there is a grand piano situated in such a way that and when I play it my back is to the audience and the entrance. I wasn't aware that while we were playing a small crowd of about 15 people came in an sat down to listen to us.

            Jared tapped me on the shoulder, mid-song and said " Jim. you better turn around. You won't believe this"

              Our new audience consisted of two older grand-parent-type couples (most likely the same age as me) two younger mom-type people and nine little kids. The kids were all sitting quietly side by side in chairs on the dance floor, watching and listening. They clapped politely when I stopped to talk to them . Very sweet and a little strange. Here it was 9:00 at night in a blues club and I was suddenly performing for a little second grade girl's birthday party and they wanted to hear the blues.

              Alex , the little girl in the middle with a rocker headband had wanted to hear live music for her birthday . Her mom asked around and was told that my band and this club was the place to go when you're eight years old and want to hear some hot blues after pizza. The club we play in is all ages by the way in case you're ready to call child protective services.

          I usually make up my own new blues lyrics on the spot so I carefully went to work, slightly hampered by the fact that I had to keep my lyrics kid- appropriate. Until that night I hadn't really thought about how much I relied on sexualy oriented lyrics to get laughs. 

             We played the " I lost My Homework" Blues, a rousing song that included references to one  dog's appetite for paper and the Hoover Dam. Then we did a short version of " I'm Afraid Of Bug" blues and I don't mean Bugs Henderson for you die-hard blue fans. The moms could even relate to that one. One of the kids  sat in and led us through Sweet Home Alabama - sort of. And course we finished with an up-tempo shuffle rockin version of Happy Birthday with a killer hrmonica solo that brought down the house.

              This went on for about 45 minutes and the bar sold a lot of soft drinks. The owner was thrilled to have anyone show up and now he wants to market toward the school aged kids more often, as if I din't feel like the oldest working musician already. 

         So now even my fans are  getting younger as my guitar keeps getting older and older and yet I don't feel like I'm changing at all. I just keep gigging. In fact. I'm booking a tour of hospital maternity wards in the near future to play for new borns. If I can convert them to fans, they'll mine for life! In music they say nothing changes but the changes but I don't think they mean diapers.

           The all ages club in question is the SLO Down Pub in Arroyo Grande, my new stomping ground and our band will be playing there this Thursday night (11/13) in all our glory. Come in and you'll hear some talented young musicians, one old guitar and me the "ever-ready musician" that keeps on going and going.

            The SLO Down Pub is located in Arroyo Grande on the corner of Grand and Brisco. Go to www.slodownpub.com/ for more information. If it's the blues you crave, cradle to grave... we got it good and that's not bad. Come see me at www.screamingjimmy.com

      

- Screaming Jimmy

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