New Obsession: Fender J. Mascis Jazzmaster

Well I blew it again and missed out on winning the auction of my old '87 Fender Strat Plus. I guess the original owner will never reunite again. So I've sold off a few Stewmade guitars to finally obsess over this gem, the Fender J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr. fame) purple sparkle Jazzmaster. It's like the Jaguar except it's got bigger single coil pickups and is 25" scale. I've heard that the pickups are garbage on this model but that can be fixed easily with some Lollar Jazzmaster pickups. Prince would be envyous.

Visited My College Roommate/Bandmember, John, and Walked Away With Some Insight.

John's studio at Magic Box Music, north view

So I drove down to L.A. to visit my college roommate John Sponsler. We have not seen or talked to each other in 21 years. I found John by doing a Google search as well as searching on MySpace. Luckily his sons set up a MySpace for John as a gag.


Same studio, south view

John looks the same as he did back in '87. A little older, a little wiser. We talked about recording, film scores, movie trailer tracks, old bands, family and so on. It was like those 21 years had never passed. We got along just as well as we did back as roommates and band members.

John is the co-owner of a company called Magic Box Music which does movie trailer music, commercials, and movie scores. John has worked with John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Trevor Rabin in addition to many others.

His studio is very streamlined and comfortable while a set of french doors opens up into a spacious area as a getaway from all things brain clouding. He was currently working on tracks that were recorded last week. The recordings were made via cable hookup between his studio and a recording studio in Prague, Czech Republic. Between a live video feed, orchestra translator and mp4 transfer, and some software that syncs the signal to recording real time, it was as if the orchestra and choir were performing in the next room. John never had to leave his studio or even make a flight out of the country. This event took a few weeks to coordinate and although John had to record this event between the hours of 12:00 AM to 8:00 AM (in Prague it was 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM) John seems to be pretty happy with the results.

After catching up, John and I headed off to lunch where we discussed our new common interest, Jesus Christ. When I say new, it's because we were not believers the last time we were together. John's been a believer since the early 90's, I became a believer in 2003.


(My first Cops in Concert gig. L-R; Ricky, John, Diane, Larry, Tim, and me....with a mustache, click on image.)

After talking for a good 45 minutes, I could clearly see how much John has grown in his faith. Out of nowhere in the early 90's while John was a parking lot security guard for the set of "Tales From The Crypt", John took it upon himself to read the Bible from front to back. From start to finish, John read about 6 hours a day without worry of critisism from passing celebrities.

All of John's connection with Christ came while there was no encouragement of other believers. In fact, John was alone in his beginning journey with Christ, no fellowship, nobody to ask questions to difficult passages. I was at the edge of my seat listening to how God started working on John. It would take literally paragraphs to explain what John went through to get where he is today. His story is incredible yet inspiring.

John in addition to recording amazing trailer music and movie scoring, (National Treasure, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matrix, Memoirs of a Geisha, commercials for Scion, etc) he also is a worship leader in his outreach Saturday services. He had some great insight regarding worship music and those who come to critique rather than worship and celebrate God's love (I'll have to share some great advice for Epic Beat.)

This meeting with John was much needed right now in my life. I have been feeling like such a fraud in my own faith. I've been pushing God away from my life out of frustration and for selfish reasons. I have not been understanding God's plan or timing with the events that have occurred in my life this year.

During the whole ride home from John's studio, my mind kept recalling John's enthusiasm for God's love, God's plan for us, and how I need to allow His love to work into my life. John totally gets it. John was more than happy to express in detail God's patience, awesomeness, and His truth to me. It's a level that I have been scared to reach.

So John and I were about to leave the restaurant when he says, "I had this feeling you were a believer". I don't in any way think that this reunion was about a get together among friends. This was meant to be God's drop-kick to the butt for me. "Wake Up, I Love You, allow me to work in your life again. -perceived lesson quote from The JC."


Stew, October 1987, right after disbanding with John and Voyager.

My Youngest Wants To Play Sax!

My youngest daughter comes home from school today and she said the school's music teacher made a presentation to their class regarding band. He was listing all the different instruments that they offer for starting players. They talked about where to rent or buy, what was the best price, what's the easiest to start on.

So she wants to either try the clarinet or saxophone. The clarinet would be cheaper and easier to learn on, but the sax might have more uses but costs more. Hmmm. Pretty cool. I'll keep you posted.

More Pics from Ricky.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.


Ricky and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons.
Dirty Shame Solo Tk. 2

Next Friday, March 14th......

It's official, De-Tension is on the display of events for next Friday. Let's hope everything works out ok.

Stratocaster Icons: Richie Blackmore.

Hide your Strats when Richie comes to town. Richie Blackmore, famous for Deep Purple's guitarist (Smoke On The Water). Richie was also in "Rainbow".

Count how many Strats he destroys in this concert footage. I don't think I'd ever loan my equipment to him. Very funny.

Flight of the Conchords: Business Time.

In the spirit of our recent "Sex" talk at my church this last weekend, I stumbled across this clip from Flight of The Conchords. These guys are from New Zeland and call themselves "parody folk music". They also do a very funny parody of your typical children's song called, "Albi, The Racist Dragon".

Take note you newlyweds out there. I suspect most of the over 30 crowd will really laugh at this. PG-13.

Found This Funny Ok Go Table Tennis Clip A Few Months Ago.

Ok Go is that band that is famous for their treadmill video "Do What You Want". I guess before they were famous, they made this short film. I'm still sick and have nothing new to blog about.

Through the magic of YouTube, here's their complete guide to playing successful table tennis. Enjoy.

George talks about "Rocky"

The Story Behind the Hendrix/Zappa Strat.

Videos from Dec. 17th Quick Before Sinking Gig.

Courteousy of The Epic Beat.

A Muted Soul.


All Along The Watchtower (Can you pinpoint when the arthritis kicked in?).


Warning: High Gear Content! Equipment: StewMade Hendrix/Zappa Tribute, Barber LTD Overdrive, (Watchtower solo: Seymour Duncan Classic Twin tube overdrive/distortion pedal), Boss Digital Delay, Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb RI with 12" blue alnico Jensen speaker with NOS Bremar 6V6GT power tubes.

I Miss The Tories.

The Tories did the theme song to the short lived show "Jesse". The show starred Christina Applegate. I can't find the theme song but if you look up The Tories in iTunes, it's under "Time for You". I highly recommend it. Very "The Replacements" sounding group (Friends theme music).

I don't care for the video much but I love this songs' feel. Funny that they sort of sound like Jellyfish. You be the judge.
The Tories.

Jellyfish.

Had A Great Time With De-Tension.

Well we haven't played since June '07. Conflicting schedules and everything. It was fun playing again. We have been offered some gigs (finally). I guess a local Plaza is interested in paying us to play about 12 times from February-March '08. I'll have to really coordinate schedules with family, 3 bands and work. I think we should pass on Friday nights. Wrong age group on Fridays ;)

Hide the Kids for This Video...But Very Funny To Musicians Over 30.

There was a band a few years back called "The Darkness". Serious rock band from England (note the teeth) but pulled out all the stops with every Rock n' Roll/Glam Rock/Hair Metal Rock band cliche. The band pokes fun at their own expense. All of their videos are over the top, tongue and cheek Metal fantasies....that involve space. Kind of like their own Spinal Tap. Lead Singer Justin Hawkins emulates Peter Frampton meets Freddie Mercury (Queen), meets Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), meets David Coverdale (Whitesnake), meets Robert Plant (Led Zepplin). Note the slow-mo, wind in hair guitar solo. Epic Beat, make sure you're not drinking water when you watch this. Warning: there is some sexually suggestive "Austin Powers" style humor in this video.

Here is, "I Believe In A Thing Called Love".

Rehearsal Shots.

Took some pics while at rehearsal at The Grove.

Quick Before Sinking...Tonight at 7:00 PM

We'll be playing at Java Bliss tonight. Just some casual coffee music just to hang out with. Who knows, I might be in the mood to start playing some interpretive jazz on some songs. Bring your camera and blog about it.(LOL)

Favorite Artistic Videos (and one questionable one)

These are currently my favorite music videos. As always O.K. Go's "Do What You Want". is my number one favorite, as well as White Stripes "The Hardest Button to Button. But the one I can't figure out is The Foo Fighter's "The Pretender". I just don't get the point? See what I mean. Um, the White Stripes song is not the best in the world but I really like what they did for the video. Just think how many Fender Twin amps they needed just to shoot this.
O.K Go's "Do What You Want".

White Stripes "Hardest Button To Button"
Foo Fighters, "The Pretender" I love this song, but I don't get the video.

The Emotions of a '57 Goldtop.

Ever since Brian recently told me about his Les Paul Goldtop purchase, it's got me thinking more and more about my Goldtop and how I came to buy one.

About 1995, I saw Larry Carlton play at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. First off, I was sort of disappointed to see Larry play a Les Paul. I was really turned onto his Strat playing in '92. He still played the Strat that night. But what got my attention was Larry got out his original 1957 Goldtop and played this song. This song totally reached into my heart and hit every emotion with each note. I was speechless. So a few months later I was looking into buying a Les Paul. I also later bought a 1994 Fender Blues Deluxe in tweed. I got the tweed amp because Larry was playing straight into a '57 Tweed Twin. I remember how fuzzy and freyed the tweed covering was. It looked like Larry let 10 cats use it as a scratching post.

So this song is called "Emotions Wound Us So" (iTunes Jazz/Emotions Wound Us So/Last Nite live/Larry Carlton). He utilizes all 3 positions of the pickup selector switch. He starts out using neck only, then around 56 seconds into the song, switches to the middle position, switches to the bridge to "bring it home". He commands so much sustain and controls his harmonic feedback perfectly.

Larry plays this song differently every night. Each time topping the previous nights efforts. So Brian, this is for you, the new proud owner of a Les Paul Goldtop.

This is one of the main reasons why Larry is such a huge influence on me as a guitarist. Enjoy. And guitarists, get a box of Kleenex.
Larry in '95 playing his '57 Goldtop. (Sniff).