My Les Paul in Action

WOW! I would have never thought that I would be playing this guitar much less own it! I have been playing guitar since a teenager and have always played modest guitars in low price ranges. I have always owned Fender somethings and love playing them. Growing up listening to and watching bands like the Allman Brothers Band, I fostered a love for a Gibson Les Paul.
I currently own a Fender Fat Strat that I absolutely love playing. I also have a Fender Tele that was my first guitar back in the 80's when I got serious and started bands and playing gigs. It did me well for a start up! I also still own my acoustic guitar i purchased in high school and it is still playing great!
It's a funny story but in the last few years and old friend from high school and I connected up via Facebook. Little did I know that he and his brother bought and sold guitars and amps. Several times in posting on FB he would randomly show me pics of guitars he wanted to sell me. My wife caught wind of it and asked if i was going to buy one. NO way honey! They are too much money. Time went on and then right before my last gig in Mansfield, he approached me, I mean tempted me, with a few Les Paul models he had to sell. I ended up borrowing one for the gig that weekend to try out and, well, never gave it back. SOLD!
I absolutely love this guitar and NEEDED this guitar! It's a Gibson Les Paul Classic 05 model gold top. It is in mint condition and plays great! I think that made my night for the performance then knowing I was playing the best there is in my opinion. I asked my wife that if I danced on stage during a song ( I do not dance) would she let me buy this guitar! Of course she said yes; and yes I did a dance.
Check it out in the picture. That is me at Farr Best Theater with my Les Paul in action!

Comments? Discussion?

Back In Time Booked for Port A Event

On Saturday October 12, 2013 I will be scratching through one of my bucket list items: my band is booked for my 40 Year High School Reunion in Port Aransas, Texas. The event will held at the Sandcastle Beach Condos Conference Center on Saturday night.
This has been my dream for many years and finally it will be happening. After a few phone calls and contacts from previous band members I was able to recruit a band. You know the story; we then got booked a few times to perform and have had some great fun with this.
Back In Time Band is a cover band playing mostly classic rock hits from the 70's. We play the songs that you still hear on the radio all the time. We chose the big hits that anyone would know and love to hear over and over. Songs like Born to be Wild, Take It Easy, Wonderful Tonight, and Old Time Rock and Roll. You can't ever get tired of hearing those classic hits.
Our last two gigs at Farr Best Theater were almost sell outs and each time the crowd went crazy and loved the event. Farr Best Theater is a small 150 seat entertainment venue that is fun for the whole family. We rocked the house and gave tickets holders their moneys worth for sure.
I am not sure what our future holds after this culminating event in Oct so keep watching here for updates.

What do you do for fun? Comments? Discussion?

MXR Does it Again

This is the second MXR pedal I have added to my board and it certainly meets all my expectations. Its the MXR 78 Distortion Custom Badass. They could have left that last word off and still would have got the message across. lol! I replaced a Boss DS-1 and made an excellent choice. The Boss did alright but I could not get the 70's sound that I wanted. Plus the DS-1 had little choice and little variance in sound.

After a four hour band rehearsal today using the new MXR it was by far a huge improvement and really gave me that 70's distortion I needed for songs by Santana, Steppenwolf, Doobie Brothers, and ZZTop. I found it very easy to dial in the right sound for each song. I like to get as close to the original sound as much as possible and this pedal helped me greatly.

Output - very nice and really makes a difference in the fatness of what is put out. I never went past 12 noon and had plenty of power.

Tone - big difference here from the DS-1 because the MXR goes from low heavy tone to high thin sound plus there is a wide range in that knob to choose from.

Distortion - the usual here but again much more variance in that knob from 8 o'clock to 5 o'clock position.

Foot Stomp Switch - I like that better than the Boss version

Crunch switch - just a sweet bonus if you don't need a ton of distortion use the crunch switch to just add some fat to the sound with a little more bass to it. I found that great for blues.

The MXR has that smooth distortion with better sustain that what I am used to . It really carried me through the classic rock songs using distortion. I would highly recommend this pedal to anyone looking for that 70's classic sound. Kudo's to Bob at Back Stage Pass Music Center in Waco for recommending it and letting me demo it in the store this week. It sells for $80 which is the middle of the price ranges I have seen for similar pedals. It's my new favorite pedal for now.

Comments? Discussion?

New Booking for Back In Time Band

Well, we just booked another performance at Farr best Theater in Mansfield, Texas for Saturday night June 15th, 2013. As a new start up band we are pumped to get asked back for a second concert. If you missed the Sept 29, 2012 concert is was a packed house full of family, friends, and their friends, and locals. We opened with an instrumental of Can't Find My Way Home by Steve Winwood. We went a little easy on the first set just wetting the audiences appetite for some classic rock. After a short intermission we rocked the house with our second set with heavy hitters like Stormy Monday and Gimmie Three Steps. We ended the night with our own version of Johnny Be Good and rocked it hard.
We built this band just for one event: to play my 40th high school reunion. I graduated in 73 right in the middle of an amazing music era of 70's rock. So much music came out then that is played today on any classic rock radio. You here them all the time! The reunion gig is Saturday night, Oct 12th, 2013 in Port Aransas, Texas on the beaches of south Texas. Our venue is the Sandcastle Conference Center in Port A. Guaranteed to be a rockin time bringing back those favorites we grew up with in high school.
So if  you like Clapton, Eagles, CCR, Allman Brothers, and Steve Miller you need to come see us!

Comments? What are your favorite classic rock songs?

Back In Time Band

I never dreamed I would be performing concerts and getting paid to play! I had been thinking about and talking to some previous band friends about getting a band together to play my 40 year high school reunion. That is one of my bucket list items to play my high school reunion. Our 40th is coming up in 2013 and if  I don't play this one, it won't happen.

In Feb of 2012 I started making phone calls to guys I had played with in other bands and before I knew it I had a commitment from two guys; the drummer and a guitar / vocals guy. I then looked up a guy that played bass for me more than 10 years ago and is the BEST bass player I know.  I searched the internet and found him in Mansfield, Texas right where he was 10 years ago. I made the call and he overwhelmingly said yes to playing again. The guitar guy I already recruited recalled another name I had not heard for over 10 years that plays keyboard and piano. I searched the internet and found him also and made the call. He's in for sure!

Our first rehearsal was in March 2012 in the living room of the bass player, Darryl. We banged our way through a dozen classic rock songs and I was amazed it sounded so well for the first rehearsal. We rehearsed another time and decided we needed a second strong vocal. Our drummer, Steve (drummy) plays in another band and called his lead vocal guy. He said he would do our gig as well so now we have, Stan on guitar and vocals, Steve (drummy), Darryl on bass, Jet on keyboard, Dave on guitar and vocals, and me on lead and rhythm guitar.

Over the next several months we rehearsed once a month. All the band members are in the same are except I was 100 miles away so I drove the practice each time and home. It was well worth the drive to jam with these guys. The next thing I know we are booked to play a paying gig.

We played a classic rock concert on September 29, for 150 people with a 2 hour set list of classic hits from the 70's. We rocked the house and they loved us. In fact Farr best has since called and booked us again. We never planned it this way!

Just a note: Darryl our bassman played with Stevie Ray Vaughn in the early days and is incredible! Steve (drummy) is a sound tech for several churches and know his stuff man. Jet on keyboard was a concert pianist at age 21 and rocks. Dave plays acoustic guitar like no one else. Stan can sing country and knocks out some classic rock leads like no body's business. Me, I have been playing guitar since i was a kid and this is my fourth band to start and have fun with. By the way between all these guys we have enough sound equipment to play anywhere. Go figure!