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Nachricht Nr. 0084 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 16 Okt 95 10:57:47
Von : Bill Riley
An : All
Betr.: Fido-Jam International NW!
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     Another Fido Jam is now history, the largest one to date, I might add.
Those attending included:

     Sven Petersen...............Munich, Germany
     Tim Winters.................Tulsa, Oklahoma
     Rich Lockyer................Chino, Calafornia
     Camille Lockyer............. " "
     Steve Mason.................Alberta, Canada
     Doug McHarg.................Victoria, Canada
     Dave Casey..................Las Vegas, Nevada
     John Haden..................Aloha, Oregon
     Steve Jones.................Portland, Oregon
     Bill Riley..................Beaverton, Oregon

     I'm going to skip the earlier parts where Sven got carded, Doug insulted
the waitress, I muffed every joke I tried to tell, Tim tried to figure out
where the hell he was at any given moment, and Dave Casey appeared out of
nowhere while Doug and I were out buying a tire.
     On to Saturday morning and the real start of Fido-Jam! After getting
everyone herded into two cars stuffed to the rafters with people we started
off for Downtown Portland to invade Apple Music. I was somewhat apprehensive
about having a car with California tags on it follow me close on the freeway
(not all of our residents can shoot good enough to garuntee missing my car!)
we arrived downtown about 11am. Mount Hood was shining brightly 12,000 feet
tall in front of us, and luckily St. Helens didn't even puff any smoke. But
the riverboat whistles kept making Camille jump 10 feet straight up in the air
when they signalled for a drawbridge to open for them.
     The whole group of us marching through the doors at once, cameras slung
     low for a fast draw prompted an an employee of Apple to shout "Jesus
Christ, what is this, a convention or something?" We answered ofthandly, yes
and continued our assalt. A beachead was established at 11:15am and the group
split into smaller squads to see what booty we could capture. The drools from
seeing a small portion of vintage guitars hanging on the walls from the owners
6 million dollar collection, had water running 10 inches deep down the isles.
Oregonians ignored this, thinking it was just the morning runnoff from the
dew.
     Cameras blazed taking photo's of vintage Gibson's, Fender's, Gretch's,
Guild's, Richenbaker's, National's, and dozens of other brands. Once that was
taken care of it was time to start looking at things we might someday be able
to afford!

Gathering everybody up from buying books, straps, strings and such, we
     tried to get to the door. The owner of the store, who couldn't help but
noticed this depraved hungry-eyed bunch of guitar freaks, approched and asked
who the hell we were, and why the hell we were sliming his floors with the
froth from our mouths. Once we explained who we were and that we had all met
via the Guitar Echo and had travelled a great distance to meet each other and
play rock 'n roll, he calmed down a little and took his shotgun off Mason.
(Actually he was perfect gentleman and a very nice guy) After, getting
     introductions out of the way, he told us about his collection, including
his plans to donate the entire thing to the Portland Art Museum. He said he
was tired of all the great guitars ending up in Japan and he intended for this
group to stay here in this country. He went into the backroom and came out
with a huge stack of postcards of his vintage instruments and let us take as
many as we wanted. (A very few were left on the counter when we were done, all
duplicates of what we had. Naturally, somehow McHarg managed to get his hands
on the few that were one of a kind only!) He gave us the homepage address of
Apple Music Internet page and invited us to keep in touch and let him know of
anything he could do for us. Then it was back to my house for lunch, with a
   quick stop off at the store to pickup beer, cigarettes, film, and other
necessities. After lunch it was time to pack everything up to take over to
John's! It was a good thing Casey showed up with his pickup, because I don't
know how we would have got all that equipment over to Johns's house without
it! The first order of business was to set up all the guitars in Johns yard
for a group photo. I doubt there has ever been that many Les Pauls, Strats,
and accoustics all gathered together in one yard. Rich brought five with him
alone! ( Well, unless maybe Engle took his oustide for a walk )

We had to leave all the guitar cases outside in order to get all the
equipment in people inside, but somehow we managed. The entire living room
was circled by amps, and guitars were piled on stands in every availible free
spot, and there weren't many of those!
     I can't even begin to recall all of the songs that were done, or
attempted. Some we got through pretty well, and some were complete train
wrecks, but fun was had no matter what was done. Most of the jam was captured
on video tape and camera flashed throughout it. So everything was well
documented. There is enough blackmail material to last well into the next
century.
     I think everyone would agree that the stars of the Jam were Doug McHarg
and John Haden, but everyone got their licks in. Seeing Sven jam on the blues
is something none of us ever expected to see! I doubt many will forget Steve
Mason electrified accoustic twelve-string grunge pedal solo.
And the vocal masterpiece of of Doug, John, and Tim singing Beatles songs will
probably set back Anglo-North American relations back a century! Tim's
endless blues jam are probably going to leave numb fingers and hands into next
month.
     Somewhere in the night a break was made to consume vast quantities of
     pizza and beer, and then it was back to playing. I can't remember
individual songs, but we did Clapton, and Zep, and Hendrix, and Allman Bros.,
and Buddy Holly, and Beatles, and Stones, and Steely Dan. Dave Casey and Rich
Lockyer swapped solo's on Wonderful tonight, and I seem to remember Steve
Mason in there too. My mind is swamped by memories of the night and it blurs
     together. Without watching the tape, I don't really know who was doing
what. But it was one hell of a blast, whoever was doing it! If I've left
anything out, I hope other people can fill in the details. All I can say is
those that missed the jam real *missed* out on a time that can't be described.
I enjoyed myself tremendously and got the biggest kick out of meeting and
spending time with people I've talked to for so long! This really ment a lot
to me, and I want to thank everybody that showed up. To those that didn't
come, eat your hearts out!

Bill

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Nachricht Nr. 0094 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 19 Okt 95 10:57:51
Von : Steve Mason
An : All
Betr.: N.W. Fidojam
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Well I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts about the recent Fidojam sponsored
by Bill Riley (the closet Fender lover) in Oregon.

This was one GREAT time! Even though I was suffering (still am) from the
worst headache I've had in 20 years, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Bill was a great host, and he and his family went way above and beyond the
call to make us all feel welcome! Great job!

It was great meeting everyone, trying different guitars, and hearing how good
(or bad in my case) everyone's playing was.

Guitars-
 Wow, I've never seen so many great guitars in one place. I think I
tried all of 'em, and they were all great players. At one point I plugged
Rich's Les Paul into his Carvin, and noodles a few bars of Still Got The
Blues, and my God, it sounded sweet! Maybe I was hallucinating, but there
might actually be some hope of me playing that tune well.
 We did some rude things with acoustic guitars plugged into Rich's grunge
pedal, and at one point it actually sounded good.

Players-
All of the participants played well, and for a while I felt quite
out-classed and very self-conscious, but then I figured "what the hell, we're
all friends here" and just played, screw the embarrassment.
Every time I tried to move out of the first position pentatonic, I had a train
wreck, so most of my blues soloing was repetitive. Performance anxiety I guess.
I was very impressed with Sven's playing. A true Jazzmeister, and nice tone
out of his Ibanez George Benson, even thru the Squier 15. He even played some
blues, and joined in on Stairway To Heaven.
John (Bill's jamming buddy who we're trying to get on-line) was also very
impressive, you can tell he spends a lot of time playing.
You can tell Doug is in a band, he knows about 2000 songs, and not just the
intros either. He was sparking a few memories, and I almost remembered a few
tunes myself.

Blackmail Material-
Sven got carded.
Bill played several Fender guitars, and there is NO lampshade on his Strat.
Sven and Camille had a snoring contest (I don't know who won).
Dave Casey fell asleep in his chair several times.
Sven fell asleep sitting on the couch, but his snoring woke him up.
Bill and John used Finger Ease (though they didn't inhale).
Steve M. has Super Slinkys (.009s) on his 335 (wimp!)
Steve M. didn't drink (except for a few beers on Friday) and was seen popping
 pills throughout the weekend.
Tim claimed to be reading the articles in a Playboy mag, but they were in
 German.
I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can remember right now.

Later,
Steve

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Nachricht Nr. 0095 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 17 Okt 95 11:02:44
Von : Doug Mcharg
An : All
Betr.: FJNWI-Highlights
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Howdy guitar buddies...

Well, we had an incredibly great time at Bills' place and the Riley family
out-did themselves for the hospitality they bestowed upon us. As many of you
know, Sven Petersen started things off by travelling from Germany to Victoria,
B.C. I took holidays to tour him around, and we saw many of the sights here as
well as playing a little guitar and drinking a lot of beer. On Thursday, we
travelled down to Portland, and met up with Bill and Tim.

The overall itenery went this way:

Thursday:
Sven and I arrived and unpacked. Met Bill and his family, and Tim. Went out
to some blues clubs, chatted, drank beer, listened to live blues, then stayed
up late with more chatting.

Friday:
After breakfast, Bill and I cruised out for some supplies (had to get a new
tire for the car), and when we returned, Dave Casey was sitting there. A
surpise to all of us! Bill, Tim, Sven, Dave and myself jumped into Bills' car
and drove out to the airport to pick up Steve Mason. We didn't know what Steve
looked like, so we took some inflatable guitars that Tim had brought, and
managed to get some very strange looks. We found Steve, then went out for a
pub lunch. Great food and beer. We returned from that, and Rich and Camille
arrived shortly after that. We unpacked the guitars, then stayed real late
chatting about all kinds of stuff. Great joke trading and some guitar
plunking.

Saturday:
After a quick breakfast, we all headed down to Apple music and saw a collection
of 700+ antique guitars. Incredible. The owner of the store chatted us up,
gave us postcards he had made of his rarest guitars, and showed us around. We
were all very impressed. We arrived back to Bills in the early afternoon, had
a great steak lunch prepared by Bill's sister, then packed up Dave Caseys'
truck with all the gear. Stephen Jones had also arrived so the group of us
headed over to the house of a friend of Bill. We unpacked the gear,
photographed it and ourselves, set it all up, and proceeded to jam on every
song we could think of. Pizza was delivered for supper, and we went through a
few six packs of beer. Long after dark, we packed up and returned to Bills'.
Managed to stay up chatting with Rich, Camille, and Bill.

Sunday:
Had a quick breakfast, packed the car, and drove home to B.C. (6 hours
driving).

That was about it. It was a great pleasure to meet everyone, and to me, that
was more of a highlite than any of the guitar playing we did.

Some of the individual highlites would include:

Bill Riley playing slide guitar on a Fender.
Sven Petersen playing "blues" leads.
Tim Winters singing and playing blues.
Dave Casey playing some lead chops during the blues jam.
Rich Lockyer cranking up his grunge pedal using an acoustic guitar.
Meeting Stephen Jones.
Acoustic playing and singing.
Hearing John rip through some nice leads (and letting us use his house).
Hearing Steve Mason crank out some great riffs (no Tom Dooley though...)
Bass playing between Rich and myself.
Camilles great sense of humor (we could have told jokes all night).
Incredible decible rating of the snorers in the group (more to follow!)
Trying all of the available guitars, and effects.
Seeing the 700+ antique guitar collection (hope the photos' are good!).
Talking to Tom Engle on the phone.

There's more stuff that we did, but these were some of the personal highlites
for me. I'm sure the other guys will relate some stories as well. It was a
bit strange to put faces to the people and personalities that I have been
chatting to for about 4 years now, but it was major fun for all of us.

It's too bad that more people from the echo couldn't make it. We hoisted a
brew in your general direction anyway as we plunked away. It was great meeting
the people, of course, and it reminds me that this echo is a great place to be.
I've participated in the first echo-tape, the frame-of-fame, and now the echo
jam. This can't be said for any other echo I've seen. We've become a fairly
close group, and it really bugs me when buddies here drop off the echo (like
Charles Glasgow, Jeff Johnson, Roger Gullick, etc.). They are missed, but
thanks to those that remain. Together we make this echo what it is, and the
"Ryan Up-yours" guys can come and go, and even bug the hell out of us, but that
doesn't matter. There is still a nucleus of great people, and I'll be here as
long as it is that way. Thanks for listening. DMcH.

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Nachricht Nr. 0105 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 28 Okt 95 17:44:51
Von : Sven Petersen
An : All
Betr.: The Kraut Tour
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Hi out there!

Well, I feel the need to tell ya, what I thought about my trip to North America
and the Echo Jam. Maybe, some of you are interested...

First, I have to say, that I had a really great time and I think, I have got
something, money can't pay and an ordinary tourist will never experience. It
was the best holidays in my life and rather interesting.

There were a lot of things, I really liked, some things that I was wondering
about and some I disliked.

Let me start with the negative things, because that wasn't too much.

I really hated the toilets, too much water in them (good for the dogs, they are
never tursty, I guss :) Especially those in public places like air ports, pubs.
The cabines are disgusting. A gap of at least 1 ft on the bottom and 1/2" on
the doors. I mean there are some important minutes a day, I want to be alone.

Another thing that kinda scared me, were the guns, especially the
sub-machineguns (the Uzis) in the pawn shops in Tampa. I also have some guns at
home - it required 3 years of periodical shooting with good results, a course
(at least 3 or 4 weekends) with an exam, a blameless police clearance and when
they catch me drinking and driving, I'd be a non-reliable person and they'd
take my guns. I mean, it's a scary thought, that my sister will live in a
place, where every freak can buy an Uzi or an AK-47.

Well, enough of that. Now my 'Top Ten' of the things I loved:
1. The people I met and the opportunity to live with them for a while.
2. The Echo Jam. That was a blast! I mean, meeting many of those people, I use
to exchange messages with in this echo.
3. Carol's pear crust (or however it is called) and Tammy's apple pie.
4. The garages and basements. (No, Doug, that's not pulling your legs!)
5. The countryside.
6. The huge guitar stores in Portland and Tampa.
7. The concerts I've been to in Tampa and Portland.
8. The pubs (especially the Ma Miller's in Victoria).
9. The way, the kids were exited about Haloween.
10.The prices.

It was great meeting Doug, after I landed in Victoria. We have never seen
before (except) on photos, but it was just like meeting an old friend. I felt
like a member of his family and enjoyed to talk and listen to them and his
friends. The 'garage thing' was just fine, I mean, meeting at some friends
houses and partying with homebrew for nearly no money. That's more comfortable
and cheaper than what I use to do - going out, even when the fridge is full of
beer, spending a lot of money for beer, that I like less than that in my fridge
and being bothered by unfriendly waiters. The countryside in Victoria has
impressed me a lot. I was touched, when I saw the ocean. I was born at the sea,
so view and the smell of the sea has a special meaning to me. I think, the
Victoria area is one of the most beatiful places in the world. I guess, Doug
was a little disappointed that he couldn't show me everything on his list, but
that was ok... one week is too short to see really everything. Also impressing
was the ferry trip to Vancouver, when we went down to Portland. The islands are
really beautiful.

When we arrived in Portland, it was just the same... Meeting Bill and Tim was
like meeting old friends... it is kinda astonishing, how much you can get
familiar with other people just by exchanging some ascii :) The mobile home was
interesting. I have never thought that they were so comfortable. I mean, I have
heard from them in my English classes at school, but I didn't realize that it
was one before somebody told me.

I was kinda surprised, when Dave Casey knocked on Bill's door (I think most
were). He was the one who wrote the first reply to my first message in this
echo - I still remember how excited I was, when I got a message from America.

That huge guitar store in Portland was a great place... it was like being dead
and in heaven... BTW: I think, all guitar stores smell the same - those in
Germany and those in America :)))

I think, I'm a lucky man... I can go in every kinda guitar store or see other
peoples guitars, without having the strong need to buy another one or being
jeallous. I am more a player than a collector.... although... a LP would be
kinda nice:)

The Jam at John's was great. I think all of us could play guitar and everyone
could show something that was impressing.

Tim has become much better than on the first recordings, I heard. He reminds me
a lot to the guy, who showed me the first chords on the guitar - not only his
playing, but also his singing and his personality.

John Haden knows a lot of pieces and he can play them. IMHO, he was a little
bit too loud and dominated over the session in the beginning. No problem for
Doug! He knew most (or all) pieces and he mastered to play them quite well.
He complained that he hasn't increased his skills a lot, after starting to play
with bands. But great skills don't help, when you don't know some pieces :)
He is a good player, definitely.

It was interesting to listen and watch Bill playing slide guitar. I had never
_seen_ that before.

Rich also showed us some of his skill. I couldn't play a 12-string. They just
feel strange and my alterated chords just don't sound good on them. Steve did a
good job. I like his guitar and his tone. Dave didn't play much, but he also
has a really nice tone.

I don't feel like comparing the guitarist and considering one is better than
another. All were experienced, all were different, so it wouldn't make a sense.

It was a great time at John's, I have tipped many of his (well chilled) beers
and ... well.... Thanks John, for hosting the Echo Jam.

It was really early in the moring, when Tim and I left Portland. I was rather
nervous in the car, when Bill drove us to the air port - I like to be at a
place, but I hate traveling. American Airlines was rather good. They have
allowed me to take my guitar into the plane, so I didn't have to worry about
it. The service was good and it was rather impressing to look out of the window
and to see the Rockies, Salt Lake City and the other places from above. America
is a huge and interesting country, definitely.

Tim and I had to leave the Dallas Airport so he could smoke a cigarette and when we got
inside again, we had to pass the security again. That guy was a jerk. He stired
in the box were I had to put in my keys, my wallet, my small change and my
camera. Coins fell on the floor, rolling all over the place, the camara broke
(I could repair it in Tampa). I just hated him.

To meet Paul Lawson at the Tampa Air Port was funny. I didn't know, how he
looks like. There were a couple of people standing at the gate, I picked one
and thought 'That must be Paul!' and he was. He looks very British :)

I mean, I can imagine him sitting in an old leather arm-chair in one of those
clubs, where women are not allowed, drinking Scotch without ice and smoking a
pipe :) He is about my size, has dark, short hair and a mustache and has a
certain sense of humor that reminds me a little bit to my own - he can express
his in English, I can't :))))

This guy can play!!! He has an awesome hearing and feeling for the music and a
great intonation. I guess, it's the way he holds his pick. He playes a fat
Ibanez hollowbody with a Peavy amp with biult in chorus and digital
delay/reverb. Nevertheless he isn't very satisfied with it. He wants a LP and a
Fender Twin Reverb. That could make sense, especially the LP.

Astonishing is, that he plays all that stuff without a knowledge of any music
theory. I think, he could be really great when playing in a band. His playing
is too good for just a living room. Indeed, I was impressed.

Poor Paul had an exercise from Monday to Friday and had to work from 7am to
7pm. Nevertheless, we stayed up til late night and talked a lot. We didn't play
together a lot.

The time in Tampa was quite relaxing the first days, but that was required
after 10 days party time. I stayed inside, most of the time. It was hot an
humid, so the Lawson's livingroom was one of the best places, I guess. I
haven't seen any palmtrees before, except in green houses, there they grow like
weed. On the 2nd half of my time in Tampa, we went out to see some guitar
stores and pawn shops (where I saw the Uzis and the AK-47s). There were some
nice guitars, but you can't compare that to the store in Portland. I started to
want a chorus (I already have one, but that's an old one). Finally I didn't buy
any, because the prices for effects aren't much lower than in Germany.

On Saturday and Sunday, we went out to see some concerts. The first place, we
have been to wasn't too good. It was very dark, kinda chilly and the music was
not, what I'd call jazz. So we left after 30mins and went to a place in Ybor
City - a quarter of Tampa, which reminds me to some French quarters. The band,
that played in the Jazz Cellar was nearly like a big band with a good brass
section, the guitarist was rather good and they plaed some decent jazz.

On Sunday, we have been to the Clearwater Jazz Holiday. It was an open air and
for free. The highlight of the bands was Spyro Gyra and there were a lot of
babes! The music was good, but the babes were even better... you bet, there
were a couple of things on my mind, I could do with them. Maybe it's just the
farer and longer you are away from home, the more beautiful the girls get...

I left Tampa on Monday, the 23rd. I could have used the ticket, Tim sent me,
that was for free, but the disadvantage was, that it was a special ticket for
non-relatives of American Airways employees and the could have bumped me off
the flight, in case it was full. They thought of loosing my guitar tis way was
so painful that I prefered to buy a regular ticket to Detroit. AA wanted $877
for it. That was kinda expensive... so we called North-West and I got a flight
on Monday morning for $102, which was a big lightening. I mean, I don't mind to
spend some money when I'm on holidays, but to pay $877 after the $700 for the
flight to Tampa would have hurt me. The NW stewardesses were babes, the service
was good.

When I arrived in Detroit, it was kinda coming home. My sister was there and
also my mother - I knew that she would be in America this month, but I didn't
know wether I would meet her or not. She was cooking something on those
American stoves (your stoves look like Russian space ships!). I always like to
watch her while she's working :)

I left Detroit Oct. 25th. The flight with British Airways was long and not very
pleant. The stewardesses are kinda pert and had a strange attitude. I think,
it's a bad mistake to order a beer instead of wine...

After the landing in Munich, I found the flight case of my guitar destroyed
with a 'security scanned' sticker on it. All locks instead of one were open,
one lock and one hinge were brooken and there was a bad scratch on top of the
case. Thanks God, there was no scratch on the guitar! I would have killed the
next BA stewardess or at least forced her to eat her stupid hat.

Well, speaking English all the time was an interesting experience... it worked
ok on the first evening, but after I started thinking in English on the 2nd
day, I had a big vacuum in my brain for at least two days. Then it got better
again. I mean, I know how it should sound, but my mouth just don't work that
way. To talk about certain subjects is no problem, but there were other
subjects, I don't know many words. I think, my English got much more fluent in
Tampa. I think, I could comprehend at least 99%, but there's still a big
difference between the words I can understand and the words I can use.
I didn't talk too much in Portland, but that's not a matter of the language,
it's just the way I am - noisey while sleeping and sometimes rather quiet when
awake :))) I just think, I'm not that important that I have to talk all the
time.

I had a great time on that trip and there are some persons I owe a lot. It's
kinda sad that you are so far away and it's kinda hard to join Doug's and his
friends' weekly garage parties or just invite you to a patry at my place.

Anyway, if one of you guys come to Munich, you are welcome here.

-cu
  SVEN, the snoring humpback.

Last modified on Monday, 25. September 2017