Guitar Pickup Tattoos

I got three new tattoos today—or one in three parts depending on how you look at it. The tattoos are of three electric guitar pickups. One for each of my children. Each child has a distinct personality, set of characteristics, and unique approach to life and love and music and art. Guitar pickups are a good metaphor for my beautiful children and the tats also reflect my love for music.

Karysa, my firstborn, is a classic beauty—much like the “lipstick” pickup on my Fender Telecaster. The Tele is one of my favorite guitars because nothing says “Americana” like a Tele. Classic rockers like Tom Petty, Keith Richards and Bruce Springsteen play Telecasters with lipstick pickups. My man George Harrison played a Tele during The Beatles famous 'Get Back Sessions' as well as on the Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be and 1969's Abbey Road. He also played his Tele for the Beatles' last public performance in 1969 known as the “rooftop concert.”

Lipstick pickups used to be made with actual surplus lipstick tubes when they were put in Danelectro guitars and Sears Silvertone guitars. My first guitar amp and the first guitar I ever played were made by Silvertone and had one of these pickups. I still have a Silvertone amp and play through it regularly.

The lipstick pickup is vintage. Classic. It is great for music that mixes rock with a folk overtone like the jangle rock bands of the 60’s like The Byrds or more recent bands like R.E.M. Karysa is vintage and classic. She is Breakfast at Tiffany’s and a hot cup of organic fair-trade coffee.

Lipstick pickups, like Karysa, are traditional—but not in that boring kind of a way. Far from it. They are artistic, sought after, and very unique. Look for them at pawn shops and antique stores of the coolest variety.

Karysa doesn’t need a lot of gimmicks to make her cool. She doesn’t need to be “effected.” Her tone is clear, precise, and fashionable.

Joe Strummer of The Clash played a famously beat up and stickered Tele with one of these pickups until his death. The Clash are punk rock. Karysa is a bit punk rock as well. Her tats tell the story. No one can put her in a box. She reinvents herself and stands against the system and "the man." I love this about her.

Connor is my single coil pickup—Strat style. I have three pickups just like these on my American Standard Stratocaster.

The Strat is my utility guitar. The pickups, depending on which one I select, can give the guitar a loud, but mellow and warm tone or a brighter and sharper tone. This is the guitar and pickups I choose when I need to cover a bunch of different styles of songs. It is well rounded. It says Blues, Surf, Country, and Rock with equal conviction.

Connor plays by the rules. He is kind and gentle and respected (not that my other kids aren’t but he has a large dose of these traits). The single coils on my Strat are much the same way. Everyone wants a Strat.

Then there is Kasidy . . . my humbucker.

The open coil humbucker got it’s name because of the way it “bucks the hum” of a single coil pickup. They cancel out the hum generated by alternating current. In layman’s terms, a single coil pickup usually hears all the noise created by the electronics surrounding the instrument that use AC. Amps, mixers, motors, power lines, effects processors, studio gadgets and other electronics generate sound that is picked up by a single coil. BUT, the humbucker changes that.

Kasidy is my humbucker for other reasons. First, humbuckers are loud.

Second, they are playful and give guitars a rounder tone when arranged with other pickups.

Third, they create a great natural “distortion” when cranked to the volume of 10.

Kasidy is my live wire. All my kids are creative but she must be creative every second of every day. She leaves messes wherever she goes—her distortion. She doesn’t have a slow button—until she wears herself out from moving. Then she crashes. She bucks the system and makes her presence known.

She “rounds out” the other pickups in the family. She is unique but she also has many of the qualities and characteristics of her other pickups ah-hem, sibings.

As she grows, I pray she learns more and more to submit to Jesus as He harnesses her raw energy to rock the kingdom in whatever way she carves out.

Love all my babies.

Radiohead in Chi Town

It has been a dream of ours (mine and my son, Connor) to see Radiohead for a long time. It’s not like they come around everyday.

Quite frankly, if you want to see some of your favorite alt rock bands in the Midwest, Lolla is THE place to be. For 60 days before and 30 days after their Lollapalooza appearance, Lolla bands are prohibited from booking a show within 250 miles of Chicago (which includes Madison, Milwaukee, Champaign, Indianapolis, Ann Arbor and Iowa City).

So, save your money for Lolla if you live in the Midwest and want to see some of the best bands in rock and roll.

The first time I ever heard “Creep” I fell in love—back in 1993. Connor was a baby then but I got him indoctrinated as soon as he could say “Beatles.”

Yesterday, we left Jackson at 5:30am and traveled by auto then train to Chicago for Lollapalooza—the concert festival event to end all events. Radiohead was the “big draw” for day one of Lolla. At 8:00pm, the boys from England took the stage.

For two hours, Radiohead wowed the crowd of 75,000. It was quite overwhelming to be shoulder to shoulder in the hot, musty air. But, though we second-hand smoked at least three packs and Connor got puked on by some kid who couldn’t hold his booze, the show was intense.

Playing most of their hits (though conspicuously leaving out “Creep”) to one of the most technologically advanced stage sets/lighting/and jumbo screens, Radiohead did not disappoint.

There is nothing quite like being in the middle of a crowd of people who know all the words to songs and scream things out at all the right times.

More than once I wished people had that much enthusiasm for corporate worship gatherings. Not concerts per se—that kind of participation is a given. But, normal, every week church gatherings.

If you would like to live vicariously through me, here is the setlist and the iTunes links for your downloading pleasure.

Setlist

15 Step

Airbag

There There

All I Need

Nude

Arpeggi

The Gloaming
(Link Not Available)

The National Anthem

Faust Arp

No Surprises

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Reckoner

Lucky

The Bends

Everything In Its Right Place

Fake Plastic Trees

Bodysnatchers


Encore

Videotape

Paranoid Android

Dollar and Cents
(Link Not Available)

House of Cards

Optimistic


Encore Numero Dos

2+2=5

Idioteque

Era

Today I am in my 30’s (for 20 more minutes, but technically, since I was born in California, I have 3:20 to go). Tomorrow I am not in my 30’s.

So, to celebrate this milestone, I painted this evening. I poured a scotch, I lit some candles, I fired up the iPod, I opened the windows, and I painted.

Today’s painting is about youth. And the circle of life. And shared soundtracks. And fathers and sons. And passing the baton. And friendship. And celebrating the moment.

A handful of people joined me during this painting process as I broadcast the event live on Mogulus this evening. It was great to have cyber friends in the room.

Here are a few pic’s. That is all. Peace.

To see more art . . . enter.

Sweet 16

Today my son is 16. We are driving to the Secretary of State after school to officially get his driver’s license. Then, we will drive to pick up our Honda at the repair shop and I will pay them 600 dollars for the work they just did since my alternator froze solid in the Tundra (also known as my driveway) and snapped all the belts connected to it.

I am remembering what life was like at 16. I wonder how Connor will remember 2008. These are the things that shaped my world.

Tahni and I just started dating.

George Orwell’s famous novel—the title of which was the year I turned 16—didn’t actually seem too far from real. In school, we are taught about nuclear fallout and how to survive in case Russia invades. We would see the wall fall and Germany reunited five years later.

The Supreme Court broke up the Bell System because of Sherman Antitrust Act and the game Monopoly made a little more sense to me.

Reagan was re-elected. Bush as VP.

The median household income was just over 22k.

The Supreme Court ruled it was okay to tape shows at home on your VCR without breaking the law. This was good since The Cosby Show debuted when I was 16. This also gave me the freedom to collect boxes upon boxes of VHS tapes full of crap. Some are still in my basement. But, if you love TiVo, thank the Supreme Court for this decision.

Amadeus was the big movie.

Apple introduced the first Mac personal computer. IBM introduces PC DOS 3.0. The big releases of this year in personal computers kinda set the stage for the rest of the story.

Tahni and I went to quite a few concerts that summer including Steve Taylor (the Meltdown tour), Mark Heard, The 77's, Vector, Lifesavers, Undercover, Altar Boys, Phil Keaggy, and Leslie Phillips.

Stryper's "Yellow and Black Attack" was released and changed my life.

"The Unforgettable Fire" was released by U2 and changed my life again.

I started my first band . . . "Monopoly." (ha ha. Funny now that I look back at the first part of this blog). Our first concert was in a garage. We played two songs: an original of mine that sucked and "I'm Not" from Mike Knott and the LSU boys (then called Lifesavors).

"Thriller" won the Grammy. So did "Beat it." Oh, Michael Jackson caught on fire during a Pepsi commercial shoot too.

I subscribed to The Wittenburg Door.

I got my Baja Bug running. I built that VW from the ground up. Gas was about $1.20/gallon.

I heard the word "Aids" for the first time. So did most people.

I saw Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Why is Eddie Van Halen playing synth on "Jump?"

I bought an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9. If it is good enough for The Edge . . .

Paul McCartney and Wings broke up.

The day after my birthday, "Footloose" takes the number one spot on the charts. Uhhh! I could not stand that soundtrack. What is music coming to?

Wait! Prince replaces Footloose with "Let's Go Crazy." All is well.

Reagan says they will put a teacher in space. My woodshop teacher is one of the finalists. He didn't make it and the whole school was sad for him. Good thing he didn't get to go up.

They put a baboon heart in "Baby Fae."

Marvin Gaye's dad shot and killed him. My dad was devastated.

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his arm.

The Cars' "Drive" is getting a lot of airplay and I am really disappointed. I love The Cars but this song sucks.


Happy birthday, son. Make good memories and stay away from the things you know in your heart might haunt you later on. A lot changes over time but God is always faithful and consistent. Love God.

I am proud of you. You make me a happy father. You are my best buddy. I love all the time we spend together.

Don't crash the car.