Some of the Greatest Moments at Norman’s Rare Guitars – IOTW Report

Some of the Greatest Moments at Norman’s Rare Guitars

Saturday, 13 February 2021, 22:22 BFH Uncategorized 68

Okay, Imma gonna brag.

Back in the day I had access to the place Gibson kept in Manhattan as a repository for celebrities to try out their latest guitars.

I went on a day where Elliot Easton, Ricky Byrd, Ace Frehley and Adrian Belew showed up, and they all jammed.

It was fun to watch.

This is a bit like that –

I’ve always been lucky when it comes to strange things like that.

I once went to a NAMM show (NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants ) and walked into a room and there was a guy playing a keyboard all alone.

It was Stevie Wonder.

Later that same day I spotted Eddie Jobson walking down the hall and followed him into a room and watched him try out (I think a Trident) keyboard.

I am a huge fan of Eddie Jobson’s

And then there was the day Irony and I were asked to sit in a radio station studio to be the “audience” for a Pete Yorn session. We were almost too close.

Anyone have any brushes with musical greatness?

Tell us about it in the comments.

68 Comments on Some of the Greatest Moments at Norman’s Rare Guitars

  1. AS A BANJO PLAYER, I HUNG OUT AT MCCABE’S IN SANTA MONICA A LOT…SAW BOB DYLAN, EMMY LOU HARRIS, GRAM PARSONS, GLEN FREY, ETC..A GREAT, SMALL, INTIMATE PLACE, AND THEIR POLICY WAS THAT YOU COULD RETURN AN INSTRUMENT FOR FULL CREDIT TO THE NEXT PURCHASE..I DID THIS MANY TIMES AS I MOVED UP THE BANJO LINE..

    THIS WAS LONG AGO, BUT FEELS LIKE YESTERDAY!!

    9

  5. Like so many people, I pictured myself being a helluva musician. I just didn’t have any talent. In fact our music teacher recognized that fact and had me learning to run the lights for the school programs. From then on I was the lights guy. Oh well, at least I was something.

    5

  6. Sure, but I’d be braggin’.

    But there was this one fine spring evening long ago…

    Ran a jazz club. Tuesdays was a hip hop/jazz night. House band with rotating musicians. Two M.C.s. Mellow as hell. People ate dinner, then listened to great improvisational jazz.

    One night the two M.C.s asked if they could have a guest rapper. Sure, why not? They’d done it before with tremendous success.

    Tuesday rolls around, I’d almost forgotten the guest kid. Busy night. Around 10;30 I notice this homeless looking white kid with dreads. Get closer, dude stinks like a bum.

    My two MC’s assure me he’s cool even though it turns out they’ve never actually heard the kids bars. Sooooooo…. mellow Cuban Spiro Gyra style tune takes up. Audience is relaxed.

    White homeless kid takes mic…. “FUCK THE SYSTEM AND YOUR CRAPPY DEMOCRACY! I GOT A DOPE STREET SESSION FOR YA’ CORPORATE OPPRESSION!!!!!!”

    Damn near blew out the sound system. Peoples heads were exploding.

    Then everyone, including my buddy buddy house MC’s, turns to look at me like it’s my fault because I was the only other white looking guy there.

    About a year later Rage Against the Machine broke.

    Zack De La Rocha, as it turns out, is actually blackish. But I’m tellin’ ya, he looked hella pale that night.

    4

  14. Nice to see Tim Pierce in there. He’s a session guitarist in LA and has a very popular channel on YT…discovered him from the channel. He’s played on dozens of hit albums from the 80’s to Adele, but his biggest claim to fame is the slide solo and mandolin parts on “Iris”, from the Goo Goo Dolls. His and Rick Beato’s channels are very informative.

    3

  16. Won a guitar from Robert Cray. He handed it to me backstage, still have the photo somewhere. Got a free front row seat. When they asked me if I wanted to stay backstage, I said hell no. I wanted to hear Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters, the warm-up band. Later I met Ronnie at another bar and got a pickguard signed by him. Also have Debbie Davies, I think.

    Good times.

    7

  17. I’ve never had the honor of really rubbing elbows with musicians of renown, but I have met a few at hoity-toity cocktail parties / receptions. Andrés Segovia, Pablo Casals, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Nigel Kennedy, Mstislav Rostropovich the most world-famous.

    But I find myself thinking back fondly from time to time of the last really wonderful live music event I went to. It was about 25 years ago in Snow Hill MD at a small “intimate” hall. The double bill was Leo Kottke and Taj Mahal. What a night!

    5

  18. I coulda been a contender!

    Problem was when I finished 6 tunes I didn’t pick up a guitar for 3 years. I had lost all my love of even the way a Stratocaster looks. I hated reverb. I hated microphones. I hated intonation. I hated pedal boards. I hated 106 takes of one fucking track.

    Strangely enough I still like the music I did. I didn’t listen to it for years, but when I went back to listen to it it was decent shit.

    6

  19. Robert Cray is from Tacoma he used to play at The Back Forty Tavern in Lakewood WA . A lot of times he was there on Sunday for a buck cover charge. I can’t tell you how many times I saw him play there.

    6

  22. @ joe6pak FEBRUARY 13, 2021 AT 11:24 PM

    That kid’s hot! My son might have some musical talent, he picks up a harmonica and unlike most five year olds he actually does make music with it. I just leave them laying around for the kids to play around with and he is the only one in my family that has shown any talent or interest

    3

  24. My good friend Arthur Smith, God rest his soul, owned Avalanche Concert Lighting, they leased lighting and PA and did a lot with all of the big names when they were in Seattle. I could get all access passes to almost any concert from Arthur, but I don’t like crowds. Usually when I would get the tickets it was because some girl had bugged me about it. The absolute biggest fucking asshole I have had the displeasure of being around is Billy Idol . What a piece of shit that guy is.

    4

  26. I gots me a 4 string acoustic mini bass. Made by KALA. The ukulele makers. So it looks like a big uke.

    Friends, fellow musicians, bass players and guitar string monkeys alike. I’m here to tell you that this lil’ baby will change your life. For the better. It’s a damn crack bass is what it is. 2 feet long with thick nylon strings. Resonates like a fat cat purring on a window sill. Can plug it into an amp. Has a tuner built on the side.

    You can play it in bed. Play it in a car, it’s just too easy and addictive to play. Crack bass. New! By KALA.

    How many times have you wanted to pick something up and play but it’s a pain in the ass, or it’s too loud or simply awkward.

    This sounds great, is strung like a regular bass (no useless uke stringing here) is lightweight, and as mentioned before, can be played in a bed or bathtub.

    The actual name is U-BASS…I just think they missed out marketing wise by not naming it CRACK-BASS. It’s that addictive.

    4

  27. Here is a link to KNKX
    https://tunein.com/radio/KNKX-885-s44526/

    All Blues from 6-midnight every Saturday and Sunday night. It started in Parkland at Pacific Lutheran University a long time ago as a student project. It is online now and known all over the world. That is why I have an FM antenna on my roof.

    Sometimes i don’t like the selection that night, but about half the time it’s real good.

    I have a couple Hafler Pro 500s, another Hafler that is only about a hundred wats per side in my bedroom and a Marantz 2600 receiver next to my desk.

    2

  30. Crack-Bass. Be careful. You may keep it for yourself.

    Got it as a present. Never would have occurred to me to pick it up otherwise. Because…uke. They teach it in school now. Crappy chinese made ukes. Went out and bought my kid a real one so at least making it sound good is possible.

    But….there it was…. birfday present. Me in bed. Watched the end of the Sopranos. Tony picks “Don’t stop believing” on the juke box.

    BOM.. buh duh duh…bom de de bom de bomm…

    I idly aped it by ear…. BY THE BUSHY BLOND BEARD OF ODIN!!!!!

    It was dead on. Tone. PERFECT.

    Instant addiction. Ran through every bass line I could ape by listening on you tube.

    Best jam evah?

    2 way tie. Jazzy slow version of Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Excellent. Needs sparse piano and brushes on the drums.Instant jazz standard.

    Second?…..um…… it’s the…. ahem… It’s the Inspector Gadget theme. Go head’. It has ALL THE NOTES in it. Try it. And you will…until 2 am or later…

    Because…

    CRACK BASS.

    2

  36. Listen, Ghost is shy. We were in Joe’s Pub and Nikko Case was standing right next to me!! Ghost was on the other side. I started to talk to her and tell her it was a great surprise to listen to her tonight. She as so gracious and I said I’m here with my husband. I introduce them and Ghost was totally humina, humnia, humina. It was hysterical!! Cat got your tongue! Too funny. Ghost but a cabash on the whole moment. We could have chatted much longer, I’m sure. But C’est la vie.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK9odsWwfIo

    4

  39. “violins”. Lol. I have less than zero musical ability. When I was young my parents figured I should learn to play the violins. Out of the 50 or so lessons I had, I left with the young lady instructor in tears most of the time. True story.

    5

  42. Hung out with Greg Allman and his band after a show, friend of mine had a cousin who was with the band. He was a real asshole but I did get a autographed photo the whole band signed. 😁

    Partied with Los Lobos after the concert, a guy I was dating knew the band.

    The drummer of Boston signed me and my friends jeans after a show, we didn’t have any paper lol. 😂 Ticket’s back in the day only cost 5.00.

    The last concert I went to was about 5 years ago, but I got to shake Pat Benatars hand. That was way cool and she put on a kick-ass show. 😉

    5

  44. My violin teacher said I was left handed. Which is true with my writing.

    But I’m a right handed guitarist. And some other shit.

    I throw either way and catch either way… and don’t start on the queer shit.

    I play guitars and shit right handed.

    2

  50. A couple of my friends from high school were in very popular bands that played bars around the northwest in the 1980’s and I ran with them. I met other musicians through them and it is only by the grace of God that any of us survived some of the shit we pulled. Damn near a full decade of out and out debauchery is probably the fairest way to describe my 20s.

    3

  51. Anyone familiar with downtown Nashville might remember Gruhn Guitars when it was on Broadway.

    About 14 years ago, I was the responding copier technician to a service call for an old Ricoh 4418 copier just outside George Gruhn’s office. Getting to his office involved having a member of the store’s management key in a secret code in the elevator. Once I reached the correct floor, I had to walk past huge selves full of old, OLD stringed instruments. (One that really sticks out in my mind was a guitar made from the shell of a giant tortoise, from a much less PC era.)

    While I was working on the copier, my Nextel Push-to-Talk phone (remember those?) chirped with a message. A few seconds later, it chirped again. And again. But quieter. And slightly distorted. And from inside George’s office.

    Curious, I looked into his office. George wasn’t there. No Nextel phone was on his desk. But in the far corner of the office, in a cage, was an African Grey parrot, who looked me dead in the eye, opened its beak, and vocalized as nearly perfect a Nextel chirp as could be expected from a bird.

    2

  52. I used to drink with Snookie and Tish, the back up singers for Blondie. I made out with one of them one night but I can’t remember which one. Christine Lavin wanted to set me up with Suzanne Vega but I was too shy.

    3

  53. I met Neil Young after a solo performance in Akron. He was passing out dated b&w glossies to folks. When I got to him I pulled out a color glossy of myself and gave it to him. The crowd lost it. He chuckled, shook his head, and said “You’re crazy, man.”

    “Yes. Yes I am.”

    4

  54. Went to a college concert featuring Little Feat. There was a bad snow storm that night and the feature band was delayed by hours. Every single ticket holder walked out except the five of us. The lead in band was there so we figured, what the hell lets stay. They played for almost two hours, then in walks Little Feat. The roadies had everything set up hours ago. We partied till 4AM with both bands up on stage. A roadie brought in a quarter barrel of beer, bottles of wine, whiskey and tequila.

    5

  55. I once won a locker at auction that belonged to the defunct band “The Fuz.” All kinds of T-shirts, CDs, drums, random crap.

    Someone from the band contact me wanted me to give some of it back for “memory purposes.” I said, sure, you can buy whatever you want back from me.

    He didn’t have any money, he just wanted things back. I told him to go pound sand.

    lol. I ended up throwing most of it away, it wasn’t sellable, no one wanted their crap.

    1

  56. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Beatle, same as all the kids. I drove dad crazy begging him for a guitar or a drum set. Dad, being first generation in the USA from Norway, was a big Lawrence Welk fan, as were all the Scandinavians. Grandma never missed a show. So, instead of a guitar, I came home from school one day to find a brand new accordion awaiting my masterful musical prowess. After several lessons, I could play a couple oom-pa-pa songs, so dad would trot me out in front of the company they hosted on bridge night and I would be made to serenade all the guests. My older brother told me later that he felt so embarrassed for me.

    3

  57. Truckbuddy – Holy shit! I used to see the Debbie Davies Blues Band at the Turning Point in Nyack, NY whenever she played there. I have never heard her name mentioned by anyone else ever. Had some drinks with her at the bar there. Also drank with Commander Cody there.

    Our house in Montclair NJ was a party house because my parents played bridge every night ’til past midnight. There was a kid named Joe Walsh who played with a band at all the church dances. He used to come and jam at our house sometimes. I remember he was the first long-haired hippie I ever saw. He would play with his face right down on the guitar and his hair tangled in the strings.

    4

  59. The Allman Brothers played at my second wife’s HS graduation dance, 1970.
    About 30 years later, my BIL called and asked if I wanted to meet Greg Allman, well yeah.
    Allman retired, sorta, to a home in Richmond Hill, house was on what was the Ford Plantation.
    We had breakfast at the Waffle House, talked hand guns, Greg was in the market, BIL was a dealer.
    I had the nerve to ask about he and Cher.
    “Man, cocaine is a powerful drug, makes you do crazy things.”
    That handgun was later stolen in a burglary at Greg’s house.
    Happened to be working at the gun shop when the ATF came in for the 4473 form.

    2

  60. Johnny Mercer lived down the street from me.
    He and his wife Ginger lived part time in a huge house on Moon River, it was Back River before his hit song.
    My best friend, since the first grade, and I had a little business.
    For $5 we would go down the persons dock and get rid of the wasp nests under the board walk.
    The wasps would fly out whenever somebody walked down the dock, it was a very lucrative business in the spring.
    Masks and snorkels, along with gallon of gas was all you needed, and a high tide.
    Way better than mowing lawns.
    The gas was 19 cents a gallon.
    Pretty sure the EPA would disapprove today.
    Miz Ginger always gave us cokes and cookies after, along with $10 bucks, good tipper.
    $10 in the early 60s was like $100 today.
    If your dad made $10K a year, you were well off.

    2

  61. Before working as a copier technician, I worked the night shift at the Kinko’s in Donelson (a suburb of Nashville). On November 6, 2001, a representative from the CMA brought a large stack of papers with several blue and green pages interleaved throughout. My task for the shift was to scan the stack of papers, program where the blue and green pages should be placed in the stack, and print 60 copies.

    This stack of papers was the script for the 2001 CMA Music Awards, to be given to the show’s stage production crew.

    While scanning the stack in sections, I happened to notice a page where Alan Jackson was to be introduced by Vince Gill. On this page, as well as the three pages after it, were the full lyrics of “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”. I had the opportunity to read the words of that iconic song a day before the rest of the world heard it on television.

    1

  65. About 20 years ago I was at Al’s Guitarville in north Seattle and this black guy was trying out a Strat. As I walked by him I said “Robert Cray licks, huh?” Turned out it WAS Robert Cray.

    2

  68. Circa 1994 a regional band out of Cincinnati called Ass Ponys landed a deal with A&M Records. They toured nationally a couple times and had two videos in regular rotation on MTV. Released two albums with A&M. They scored well on college radio and got rave reviews from some big name music critics. I was a fan from 1995.

    I finally me them in 2000 and soon I hosted a fan web site for them. I amassed as much AP paraphernalia as I could find and began collecting every live recording I could muster.

    Got very friendly with the band, had discussions with each member at every show, sometimes having dinner/lunch/whatever before gigs. About 2002, Sunday morning after a show, phone rang where we were staying before we headed back home from Cincy. It was Chuck Cleaver, lead singer/songwriter/guitarist for the band. “If you can, come on down to my house.” We got directions and drove over.

    Chuck had an advance copy of their then-newest album “Lohio.” We had heard several of the tunes live before, but this was the mastered in-studio project. He accompanied the music with ongoing commentary of what was happening in the studio when it was recorded, some background on how the songs were written, all kinds of cool info. He gave me a copy of the album, sans artwork, as it hadn’t been created yet. That was six months before the official release.

    Good times.

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