Hey Lars, there is an uploading picture that is stuck and won’t finish on this post. LOL
This is a repost because a picture upload was stuck on the original.
Where to start…
4 years Navy as a Gunner’s Mate Missles. Did my 2 years reserve time with the Army 100th Training as a Cav Scout (19D). That was during the Cold War and I was active when my Commander in Chief (Ronny Ray Gun) bluffed the Russians with the Star Wars Initiative and the iron curtain had its last call. Charlie Wilson had his war and my ship was one of several that delivered Stinger Missiles to the Taliban when we thought it was a good idea to be in bed with them.(thought wrong).
Worked in industrial Hydraulics doing repair and machining running lathes, knee mills and grinders. Went full time machining for 15 years. Obtained an FAA A&P certification and worked General Aviation for several years. Had an interview with UPS to work on the heavies in Louisville, got called back and decided it wasn’t for me. (Everybody starts in wheels and brakes. No fun working on a 747 tire that is taller than some houses.) No regrets. I Started obtaining Microsoft certs starting with Windows Server 2000. Am current to Windows Server 2012 R2, Data Center, and Enterprise. I currently, and for the past 10 years have worked in an ophthalmic optical lab doing quality control. I also am that companies’ IT guy as a paid Technology Consultant.
Pretty busy for my 50 years. I’m ready to slow down and do IT full time.
For fun, as of late I mix e-liquid, play one of my electric basses (a 5 string that I crafted myself in my garage, and an old Carvin 6 string bass) Played through a TC Electronic Staccato '51 head with a TC 2x10 and a SWR 6x10 Goliath Senior. I’ve played only bass since I was 13.
So woodworking is also a hobby when I feel like getting dusty. For all of my MS certs, I love Linux the most…hint it’s in my email addy. All of this while my long suffering wife of 22 years and I do our best to keep up with this renovated old farm house that sits on 20 beautiful acres of land. Kids are grown, and have 3 wonderful grand children that I love to spoil rotten when I get to see them.
I am also involved with a Christian ministry that takes me overseas once or twice a year doing optical/dental/medical care to …well…lately it has been Laos and Thailand. They are the kind of trips where you are glad to go back home and to work so you can get some rest.
There ya have it folks, everything you wanted, or didn’t want to know about moi.
Oh, that piece of music by Andy McKee is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing that.
Cool, it worked that time.
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Then you must be familiar with the late great Michael Hedges?
If he’s not I am. Saw him 6 times while he was alive.
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I saw him 3x, including one time 8 months before he died… I also had the honor have meeting mr. Hedges and I also saw him perform the Jabberwocky… I am a huge fan of Michael Hedges!
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6x? Wow, that’s really impressive!
Regretfully I never saw Michael. I didn’t even know about him until I discovered YouTube a few moons ago…let’s say about 10 years back. He was quite a wizard with a guitar. I even like the ethereal style which, although his mechanics and skillful execution were light years beyond my own, is a lot my style. Like most people who learn guitar I started off learning other’s music. Mine though was steeped in Bluegrass having grown up in the Appalachian Mountains of S. Western VA. We would get together and “make music” from the time I was old enough to hold a guitar. I learned to play Wildwood Flower on a Conn classical with nylon strings. Funny to look back on that, my little boy fingers struggling to span that overly wide fretboard. But I’m sure it helped develop skills. Then as I got older I spent less and less time copying other people’s music and more time getting high and, ahem, writing my own. My style would be a cross between campfire plucking and the ramblings of a drunken old fool. Sometimes with a point, but often taking weird angles on the way to making that point.
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Hedges was an incredible talent and really cool guy. Mostly saw him at a small place in Ann Arbor, MI called the Ark. Seats around 150 so he always milled around and talked with he crowd. Got to see him once with the Harp guitar and another time he brought in a bassist for a two man show and they played four handed solos on a single bass in Michaels percussive hammer on finger style for some solos during the show. Talk about some mind blowing stuff to see live. First time I listened to one of the albums I liked it. When my friend told me all that sound was coming from one guy, I was like this I gotta see live.
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All that sound from one guy at the same time, even…no multiple track whatever…I don’t know the proper terms…
The bassists name was Michael Manring…he plays the fretless bass and a master at it…I saw him do that performance, it was spectacular! Manring also did a gig, he brought to stage a person from the audience to hold a bass for him and he had 2 strapped to himself and he then proceeded to play all 3! Manring plays bass in all of his albums.
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Yup that’s the one! Think we saw the same tour. He did the guy from the crowd trick too. I had forgot about that. If you like them both you might like Leo Kottke too. Similar style but on a 12 string acoustic. Less experimental stuff more upbeat and fun. I just appreciate the talent that stuff takes.
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By inputting Michael Hedges into Pandora, I have been made aware of dozens upon dozens of other guitarists…of all genres…definitely my favorite instrument and I just love all the different styles! (Of music)
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A very good friend of mine is a bass player. He has played with some of the best bands in the area, and can walk on any set and start playing along. He does a similar thing. His idol is Les Clapool from Primus. And he can play just like him. He does this slap thing on the bass to the Charlie Brown theme song. His left hand is doing the bass line with hammer-ons while his right hand plays the melody using 4 fingers on different strings. It’s the coolest thing I have ever seen on a bass. But he won’t ever play it on stage. I don’t know why. He saves that one for his close friends I guess, so I respect him for it. But if I ever get a chance to record him it’s going on Youtube.
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Your friends name wouldn’t be Stuart Hamm would it? Just had to ask that.
Michael Hedges and Michael Manring… I bet that was one unforgettable show to behold.
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Six hour round trip to Kalamazoo and worth every minute of it.
Now thats bad ass. How do you do it ?
It’s an old Jedi Mind trick.
I will the wires to wrap themselves. Lol.
May the force be with you Pad Wan
CMJ
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I’ve been playing guitar off & on for most my life. Getting back to it a little after 10 years. In the late 70’s early 80’s played in a band, bar gigs. Dead head. We played mainly covers - Dead, Neil Young, The Band, Santana, Steve Miller, Dylan, Airplane and a lot of space jam. Those were the days. Still have two of my guitars, 1978 Ibanez Bob Weir Professional 2680 & 1978 Ibanez Artist EQ. Looking to sell the Professional.
I had many professions - Cost Accountant, Inventory control, District Sales Manager (Import auto parts), Adjunct Professor at a Massage College, Continuing Education Director. I’ve been licensed in Massage Therapy for 23 years. Currently I work at my local hospital on the Medical/Surgical floor as a Medical Unit Secretary. The money sucks but the benefits are good and I’m just biding my time right now for the next 3 years until I can retire. It can’t come fast enough.
I’ve had a life long battle with cigarette’s and discovered vaping 7 months ago, and I dove head first into it. Going from a pen style vape to TC mods. Got into building my own coils and now getting into DIY. Still looking for a nice authentic affordable mech mod to round out my vaping equipment.
I appreciate this forum and the knowledge imparted in it. Hoping to get halfway decent at DIY, not only to save money but to be able to create something that taste great and share with others.
Joanne
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Up on Cripple Creek was one of my favorite songs back in the day. And I am listening to the Dead right now. My art teacher turned me onto them. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but he was an old hippy turned professional looking art teacher. (Slowly getting off on a tangent here because of the Dead reference) Amazing guy. He had a cartoon strip in the Wall Street Journal. And he was one of the teachers training to be on the Space Shuttle Columbia. We watched the launch and I saw his face melt when it blew up.
Anyway, his son was a big Dead Head. So for his birthday one year, Mr. Tucker stretched a piece of very nice black velvet over a frame and began painting a skull. It was like the skull was in a pitch black room with a very focused spotlight shining on it. Next to the skull lay a rose. It was in reference to the Grateful Dead. It looked like an album cover, but it wasn’t. It freakin’ should have been though!
He painted it all free hand right out of his head. It was the most beautiful black velvet artwork I have ever seen to this day. It looked like you could reach in and wrap your hand around the skull. The rose looked soft and delicate. I must have stared at that painting for days as he worked on it bit by bit over the course of a few weeks between classes. He kept the easel right in front of the class to inspire us I guess. Such an amazing teacher. He won teacher of the year that year too.
So thanks Joanne for reviving some fond memories. I’m gonna go holler at him on Facebook now!
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The world can never have too many. But, I gotta ask, Bob or Jerry?
Oh definitely Bob! His playing to this day still intrigues me. 
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