Most of you know my husband Steve is a musician. Not just a musician, but a guitarist and what I’d call a Gear Head. There is an art to musical equipment, one I will never quite understand. The search for the elusive perfect tone has been going on for years, mostly just out of my earshot, but I’ve picked up some of the terminology in spite of myself. Marshall JCM 800s, Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifiers, pre-amps, distortion pedals, Rocktron electronic signal processing equipment, Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars and Fender Telecasters with maple necks are now an indelible part of my vocabulary. I have no idea what most of this stuff means. I do know that Gibson made a Les Paul for a few years that won’t stay in tune to save its life, as Steve owns one. And Marshall made a certain model of the JCM-800 that was awesome unless you got the ones with model numbers 2205-2211 or something, and those were all crap. Steve and his friend Phil both owned those.

 The guy sitting in front of us turned to his friends and said, “Fasten your seatbelts”. He was right.

So how do I glean these things? Many of our musical outings are to venues to see bands or artists who have amazing guitar skills. Sometimes Phil is with us, and while I drive he and Steve discuss equipment. I don’t mind, as they are not together very often and it’s obviously pleasurable to both of them, and usually pretty amusing to me. At these events when we all go together seating is always as close to the stage as possible or affordable, and I’ve seen the guys both studying the guitarists’ hands, trying to pick up technique. It’s a hoot. Sometimes I abstain from these outings, especially when the artists is as obscure as Yngwie Malmsteen and is playing arpeggios from hell. No, thanks, I’m good.

Last night’s outing was no different than our usual trips; though our drive to Boston began with all of us discussing how disgusted we are by “Deflategate”, and disheartened that a team as good as the Patriots would need to do such a thing. Then they started up on the gear, and I happily listened as I knew not only was a Martini and great dinner in my immediate future but at 8PM we had tickets to see, in my humble opinion, a Guitar God; Joe Bonamassa.

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If you are not aware of Joe Bonamassa them come out into the light! He is considered one of the greatest guitar players of his generation, opened for B.B. King when he was 12 years old, and has been a professional musician for 26 years. He’s played great venues like Royal Albert Hall, and this weekend for the first time he’s playing Radio City Music Hall. He’s an upstate N.Y. guy, and Radio City has been a long awaited dream.

He’ a blues guy with rock influences, and whether I know his songs or not I am always held in thrall. He’s got a great voice to go with his guitar skills. For a sample, and one of my favorites, click here: Joe Bonamassa: Blue and Evil Live

Steve’s only issue with Joe Bonamassa is that he hoards equipment. He owns 36 Marshall Silver Jubilee amps, and has probably cornered the market. But Steve’s gear envy issues aside, Bonamassa is awesome and did not disappoint last night, although my electric guitar playing companions might have been none too happy to see the lights come up to Bonamassa and his band sitting across the stage in what was obviously an acoustic set. He was surrounded by 8, count ‘em, 8 acoustic guitars. The man likes his equipment. But it was all good.

I love a punctual musician. The show started at 8, and we got there at five minutes to, took off our coats, sat down and the lights dimmed. After the acoustic set they took a 15-minute break, and right on time the lights dimmed again. The guy sitting in front of us turned to his friends and said, “Fasten your seatbelts”. He was right. Not only was it electric guitar heaven, but Bonamassa also had a horn section, two percussionists (one who was beating the crap out of everything on stage), the coolest bass player on the planet and Stevie Ray Vaughn’s piano player. And then there was Joe Bonamassa. And he played the house down.

I looked around at the audience, always interested in who is in attendance. It was mostly people our own age! Is Joe Bonamassa’s demographic the 41-60 age group? Or is it just that we’re the only ones who can afford the tickets at a buck and a half a piece? Hell, I’d drive to NYC and see him again tomorrow, probably at a lot more than that. Was it worth it? You bet. And besides, how else can Joe afford all those Marshall Silver Jubilees?

 

Rock on, Joe!

 

Deborah