The Blues Music Review

I've heard some of this stuff. It is pretty much plain shit in a cardboard wrapper. I like watching him kick the shit out of 4 guys who really need it, but he should put the guitar down, he stinks.

Here is an amusing article:

 

Action film star Steven Seagal has swapped screen violence for a guitar and a microphone. As he brings his band Thunderbox to Croydon and Gravesend, he talks to PAUL FLECKNEY.

IT IS hard to tell whether Steven Seagal is bored, genuinely talks like a trachemotomy recipient or has just found out his cat has died. Either way, the least he could do is speak up.

Never mind. Let's just revel in the fact that one of Hollywood's biggest names is coming to town as as part of a world tour (OK, Canada, the UK and Denmark) to promote his new album, Mojo Priest.

"I've been playing music since the 50s," growls the thrice-married star. "It's my biggest love, so I'm just showing people who I really am.

"I don't know what people said about Keanu Reeves, Kevin Bacon or that Die Hard guy (he means vest botherer Bruce Willis) and their music. But people can say whatever they want about me."

I ask if it's galling for such a successful chap to be playing smaller venues scattered around the country - rather than, say, Wembley Arena.

He disagrees: "If you understand how powerful the blues is and really love it, that's what blues is about.
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"I'm used to the crap juke joints in Mississippi and Texas, it's how I grew up and that's where I'm coming from now so I don't mind doing this."

Steven is most perky speaking about his blues heroes.

"I met Howlin' Wolf. I spotted him one day and I had to meet him as I was a big fan," he says. "I walked up to him and said howl for me man,' and he did his little thing, Aaaooooooooo'!

"There isn't really anyone I want to meet or play with now, they're all dead."

Steven found fame in his 40s after playing a vigilante chef on a navy battleship in 1992's Under Siege.

Up to this point, his life was devoted to buddhism and the martial art of aikido.

He was the first foreigner to open an aikido school in Japan, plus he apparently broke Sean Connery's wrist while working as a martial arts instructor on Never Say Never Again.

His films have grossed $600m worldwide, but getting him to talk movies is an uphill struggle.

"I'd rather not talk about my films," he mutters. "But, you know, if I have to."

Steven, I'm with you on this. I too have seen On Deady Ground.

Small talk is sparse. He can't remember when he was last in London as he is "kinda autistic with time and numbers, I can't answer questions like that".

He is actually friendly, just hard work.

Steven meditates every day, and he does lapse into pensive excursions.

"We live in very politically charged times," he says.

"I didn't agree with the war in Iraq and, the way the West is, we've made it into a religious war.

"But I think all religions are great. They are a vehicle for people to lead their life in a better way."

I let him get back to his rehearsals, where he promises to "make the band hit a bit harder".

Good idea Steven, so long as you get heard above it.

 

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PRESS RELEASE:

The Stratocaster® of the future is here. After a 10-year research and design partnership with music technology pioneer Roland Corporation, Fender is proud to unveil the first modeling instrument worthy of being called a Strat®. The revolutionary new Fender VG Stratocaster offers guitarists instant alternate tunings, a selection of dead-on electric guitar models, acoustic and 12-string guitar sounds, and more—all with the turn of a knob. No special outboard gear, cables, or accessories required.

This breakthrough instrument means that guitarists no longer have to drag multiple guitars to a gig to get the right sound for each song, or make audiences suffer through mid-set delays while they re-tune instruments or adjust amp settings. In the studio, the VG Stratocaster is equally advantageous, letting guitarists whip through a collection of breathtaking guitar tones without breaking a sweat.

But just as importantly, the Fender VG Stratocaster is at its heart a rock-solid U.S.-made American Series Strat, with all the innate signature tone and feel for which the instrument is so revered. So guitarists can simply pick it up, plug it in, and play.

The Idea Behind the Innovation

Wouldn't it be nice to flip a switch on a Stratocaster and, all of a sudden, be in an alternate tuning? Wouldn't it be nice to turn a knob on its pickguard and suddenly have a clear acoustic guitar sound, the roar of a humbucking pickup, the signature snap of a Telecaster® guitar and the lush fullness of a 12-string?

That was the idea behind the VG Strat: a single, incredibly versatile instrument that delivers 37 serious Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, humbucking, 12-string and acoustic sounds, plus five alternate tunings, all at the simple flip of a switch or the twist of a knob—and all in the gracefully familiar form of the Stratocaster.

"We felt strongly that keeping the instrument simple was the way to go," said Justin Norvell, Senior Marketing Manager for Fender. "Usually, the more functionality you add, the more complicated an instrument becomes. So we kept the VG Stratocaster pared down to the essentials, making it easy to pick up and play. After all, playing a Fender Strat shouldn't require the study of a phone-book-sized owner's manual"

The VG Stratocaster features that classic sleek, contoured body shape, three American Series single-coil pickups with five-position switching, a maple neck with a maple or rosewood fingerboard, a synchronized tremolo bridge, a three-ply parchment pickguard and chrome hardware. In other words it's a Strat in every sense of the word, with all the magic intact.

But two additional knobs on the VG Strat's pickguard—plus a small LED and an inconspicuous Roland® GK bridge pickup—bring with them some new magic. These two knobs, a Mode Control knob and a Tuning Function knob, serve up incredible and seemingly limitless new sonic possibilities.

The Mode Control knob governs five distinct modeling modes: Normal, Modeled Stratocaster, Telecaster, Humbucking Pickups and Acoustic. In the "Normal" mode, the guitar's three single-coil pickups bypass the VG circuit, for a straight Stratocaster guitar sound.

The Tuning Function knob lets guitarists choose among five alternate tunings (Normal, Drop D, Open G, D Modal, Baritone) and a 12-string sound. And since guitarists don't have to turn a single tuning key, a major benefit of all these instant tuning changes is that the string tension remains the same and the guitar itself feels the same.

Even better, the VG Stratocaster delivers level, balanced tone and volume across all these remarkable functions, so that guitarists needn't continually readjust amp settings with each change in guitar sound.

For more information, visit their web site at www.fender.com.

 

Hard to believe, only 40 years old. Get well Jeff.

 The Toronto-based blues-rock musician Jeff Healey is recovering from surgery to remove cancerous tissue from both lungs.

Healey's publicist said the celebrated blind guitarist underwent a major operation Thursday and is recuperating in a Toronto hospital with family at his side.

Richard Flohil said Healey was diagnosed with lung cancer in December but chose to keep the news private until now.

He said doctors report a successful operation, and noted they caught the disease early due to regular testing.

Flohil said Healey is in good spirits and eager to return to the stage soon.

Healey, an occasional smoker, lost his eye sight to retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer that left him blind in both eyes by age one. In the past 18 months, he's also undergone two operations to remove two sarcomas in his left leg.

"He varies like anybody in this situation between grumpy and depressed about it to being very positive," Flohil said of Healey's mood. "Most of the time he's pretty positive."

"As Jeff says, 'I've had 40 good years, you get a bump every now and then.'"

The operation comes just days after Healey celebrated the opening of a new blues club in the heart of Toronto's Entertainment District. He performed at a gala opening of Jeff Healey's Roadhouse on Jan. 9, an opening that was originally scheduled for Jan. 10 but moved up to allow time to prepare for surgery on Jan. 11.

Flohil said Healey was eager to play guitar again with his blues-rock outfit The Jeff Healey Band and his classic jazz group, Jeff Healey and the Jazz Wizards, with whom he plays trumpet and guitar.

It wasn't clear how the most recent operation would affect Healey's ability to play trumpet.