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Nachricht Nr. 0143 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 27 Aug 96 15:33:08
Von : Bill Riley
An : All
Betr.: NWIFJ-2 Part one of five
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Hello All!

               *Northwest International Fido-Jam 2*

Another Fido Jam has melted into the history books, and I do mean melted.
Temperatures were in the high 90's and once over a 100 during the course of the
jam. Very unusual weather for the Northwest. Of course, the day after the jam
it coold off to 72 degrees and started raining, oh well.

Thursday afternoon Doug McHarg and Sven Peterson made their way down from
Victoria, B.C. where Sven had been recovering from his flight in from Germany.
By the time he got here the jet lag as over and he was ready to do some beer
drinking. Within a half hour of getting here we headed up to Macminniman's to
get Sven his beer and for Doug and I to eat, (okay, so Sven managed to eat some
food between beers). We then headed over to John Haden's place, after first
stopping so Sven could buy some more beer. We sat arounds John's place till
about midnight swatting flies and swapping lies. John had to work the next day
so we hit bed early and prepaired to start picking people up the next day.

Friday morning we did a little sight seeing around Portland...wasn't much to
see, the heat low that had seeped up from California produced too much haze and
with no wind the smog was getting kind off bad. We couldn't see a single
mountain. And there are seven of them over 10,000 feet that are usually
visible.

Giving up on that we headed to the airport to pick up Steve Mason and Lee
Macmillian. We were there early so naturally we had to get Sven a beer. We
sat around the Red Lion for about an hour telling more lie and waiting for Sven
to get carded again. Lee's flight was late so he and Steve ended up arriving
within one minute of each other. Sven and I headed to the opposite end of the
airport to get Steve, while Doug waited for Lee. Naturally, Steve gave us the
wrong airline *again*! He wasn't on Alaska like he told us, but on Horizon
Airlines. Next year he will probably tell us it's United and Arrive on KLM! :)
Lee was lost from us for a while and we couldn't find him. Finally between
multiple pages we found he was on one side of the security barrier and we were
on the other. Doug crashed the barrier and found him and we stated out for
home. The airport was so crowded we couldn't park anywhere near it so we had
to ride the shuttle bus about three miles to the economy lot (where I might add
we had a hell of a time finding a parking space when we arrived.)

After getting to Beaverton with Lee, Steve, Doug, Sven, and myself in the car
we stopped at MacMinnimans again see Sven could adjust his beer intake and the
rest of us could have lunch. I checked in at home to see if any of the
Californians had made it there yet...(all of them said they would be there
around noon) at three none of them had made it yet. Tom Engle had called on
his cellular and said he was 100 miles out and would be there in an hour and a
half.

After eating and stopping at the grocery store for Sven to buy more beer we
went to my place to wait for Tom. Sure enough he got there within about 10
minutes of his estimate. Still no Rich an Camille. By that time John was
getting off work and we all piled in cars and went to his place. With another
stop so Sven could buy more beer. Arriving at John's we found Rich and Camille
had got there short time earlier so almost the whole crew was there. After Tom
yelled where the hell is Jones, tell him get his ragged *behind* (or words
simular to that) over here, he was called and after a while made it over with
his wife, Chris.

Friday evening was a jumble of unloading equipment...Engle brought 10 guitars
and a couple of amps, Rich had 6 guitars and several amps, Doug brought three
guitars and 2 amps, I had 5 guitars and 2 amps, and John had 3 guitars and 2
amps...well you get the idea, there was enough equipment for everybody and then
some!

We got Lee, Steve, and Tom checked into their motel...and that's a story you
can only be told in person! I would get severely moderated for even attempting
to relate the check in procedure. Needless to say there is one very old motel
clerk who will probably never be the same. Come to the next Fido-Jam and you
can hear all about it!

The rest of the night was spent listening to music, eating a great steak dinner
John grilled for us, and seeing if anybody could get a word in between Doug and
Tom! Doug has never met a stranger in his life, and I don't think Tom even
knows what a stranger is, so between them everybody was acting like they'd
known each other all their lives, even the ones they'd never met!

Sometime around midnight or 1am we decided some sleep was in order for the big
day tomorrow!

We got a fairly early start Saturday morning and made the annual pilgrimage to
Apple Music where people drooled over all the guitars and amp that they'll
never be able to afford in this lifetime. A few last minute purchases of
cables and strings and picks and such were made. Some of us went down the
block to look over Apple's accoustic store. When we got back we found somehow
McHarg had conned the owner into giving us all free Apple Music T-shirts. How
he does it, I don't know....but if you have any gold fillings talk to Doug with
your hand over your mouth. He'll have you prying them out and giving them to
him, all the while thinking hes doing you a favor by taking them! :)

Free goodies in hand we made our way over to Guitar Crazy, a small store
stuffed to the gills with vintage guitars stuff. Vineburg would have went nuts
at all the tweed Camps, and they had the cleanest '61 Vibro amp I've seen since
'61! We saw one girl screw herself royally by trading a Les Paul straight
across for an SG. Granted it was a Moonburst LP, but still she took herself.
No free T-shirts here...

We hit a couple of more guitar shops and then it was time to get down to
business. John left to go pick up the drummer, a 17 year-old kid. Who I might
add did damn well not knowing any of the songs we did.

By about four that afternoon we were ready to go...Doug allowed his IQ to drop
by a large percentage and agreed to play bass. So with drums and bass,
this year we had a pretty full sound. Stuffed in the house the way we we're
with all those tube amps cooking (there were a couple tranny amps there, but we
tried to ignore them) and the temperature hovering near 100 with god awfull
humidity, we were ready to start.

There was a pretty darn good array of talent at the Fido Jam, including some
people (Lee Macmillian) who keep trying to tell us how bad they are. So okay,
Lee isn't Bugs Henderson, but he has to drop this worst guitarist on Fidonet
crap right now! The man can hold his own with most of us.

We went through most of the songlist that we had worked up. Not everybody
learned all the songs, and not everybody learned the same songs from the list.
But that worked out pretty well anyway. Everybody got a chance to do their
parts and the sound wasn't bad at all.

Eventually the heat and continually playing forced the drummer to quit early,
around nine or so. John drove him back home while we ordered some pizza. The
pizza delivery guy about had a heart attack when he came in and saw all the
gear we had. He said he felt like a kid at a candy store. He was a guitar
player and we invited him to jam for a while. He was pretty good and hate to
leave and go back to work.

After stuffing ourselves with pizza we continued to play and talk and swap
guitars. I trade my Sheraton to Tom for a beautiful blonde G&L Legacy, and we
both felt pleased with the deal. Tom had to tear his Les Paul out of Steve
Mason's hands with snarl, saying this one isn't for sale. I think he left for
Canada with a serious Jones for an LP. It didn't bother him too much, he just
grabbed the nearest free Les Paul and jacked it into my halfstack. He seemed
pleased with it too, and may soon be thinking of spending a lot of money to
upgrade his equipment! :)


Sven suprised us all, I think, by kicking in a solo on a blues jam. We're
going to ween him away from jazz and turn him into bluesman yet! And you
haven't lived until you've heard his version of the Star Spangled Banner played
through a grunge box!

Lee will probably be an Engle customer very soon. He was seldon seen withough
my ASAT Classic in his hands...I do believe he liked it. :)

Tom wins the Webfoot Loudness Award hands down this year, nobody even got close
to the decibel level he acheived with that Traynor 100watt. Ears are still
bleeding in Eugene over it! It was so loud it made the video camera shut down!

All too soon it was sunday morning and we were all meeting for breakfast,
except for Doug who had to make a ferry connection for Victoria.

Tom hit the road soon after that and John had to take Sven to the airport for a
12:55pm flight. The rest of us went back to some casual playing, trying out
various effects boxs and guitars we hadn't got around to the night before. The
time went quick and we had to get Lee and Steve to the airport, and Rich and
Camille had to start their drive. Fido Jam was now history with only next year
to look forward to. I had a great time and it was fun renewing friendships in
person and finally getting to meet Lee.

That's all I have, till next year! Thanks to everybody who came!!!


                                END


Bill

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Nachricht Nr. 0148 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 27 Aug 96 17:06:09
Von : Lee Macmillan
An : All
Betr.: NW FidoJam II Awards
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My connection in Denver was 3 hrs late so I didn't get home until 5:30
a.m. local time (3:30 PDT.) I'm kinda zonked.

In the grand tradition of Gary Smith, I hereby make the following awards
to all the participants.

Most gracious host: John Haden let us turn his house into a music store
and cooked us dinner to boot. Thanks John.

Best player (tie): John and Doug McHarg. These guys cook. If I could
play 1/10 as good and knew 1/4 as many songs, I'd be a happy man.

Best tone chain: Bill Riley. The VanZandt equipped Paul through the
Marshall JCM900 was sweeeeet.

Best jazz player: Sven Petersen (who else.) If I could play like that,
my wife might not complain so much.

Best idea: Bill and John who (I think) came up with the set list idea
and distributed the tab and tape. In any case, this was a great time
saver. Next year, we'll rotate the singing chores;-)

Most technical: Rich Lockyer. As his wife said "Ask him the time and
he'll tell you how to build a clock." Rich is really a fountain of
knowledge.

Most gear: Tom Engle. Tom was the present or former owner of about 75%
of the equipment there :-)

Most gray hair: Yours truly.

Best Angus Young impersonation: Steve Mason (the intro to
Thunderstruck.) Steve's a lot better player than he admits.

Best bass player: Doug. Doug gave up most of his jamming time to
provide the bottom end. He's got a career as a bass player if he wants
it. He rocked on that G&L.

Funniest moment: When the pizza delivery guy came in, saw all the gear,
drooled, and then played a little while we ate.

Most understanding partner: Camille Lockyer, who listened to the
endless gear conversations, when guitar store hopping, and sat through
the whole jam.

I think it's safe to say that a great time was had by all.

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Nachricht Nr. 0149 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 01 Sep 96 22:47:00
Von : Jim Miller
An : All
Betr.: SEFJ
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Last Tuesday, the First Annual Southeast FidoJam was held at my house. So how
come you guys didn't know about it? Well, because it was a surprise to me as
well! A good surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.

Monday afternoon I got a call from Sven Peterson, who was visiting Paul Lawson
at MacDill AFB in Tampa. They wanted to come visit me, so I told them how to
get here and made plans for them to come at around 11 am. 11 came, then 11:30,
but no Sven and Paul. Around 10 minutes to 12, I ducked out to go buy some
smokes. When I came back, there they were, knocking on the door and looking
worried. I rushed up to the door and let them in.

We had a great visit together and played a few blues tunes, but I must
apologize to them for not doing one thing---getting beer. I don't drink and I
had no idea what kind of beer to get for Sven, a German who's used to really
strong beer, so I decided to wait till they got there. But by that time, they
didn't seem all that interested in beer, so we just drank sodas.

Paul brought his Ibanez hollowbody and we had quite a good time hooking it up
to my Big Muff. Paul hit a chord with Muffy on, and my dog just ran screaming
out of the living room. I thought he would have a heart attack! He's a tiny
little shih tzu, or as I call him, a cat with a good attitude, so I imagine he
thought Paul was trying to kill him ;)

I was quite amazed at what good guitarists Paul and Sven are. They both play a
lot of jazz, Sven being a little more rooted in traditional jazz and bebop and
Paul more fusion-oriented. Paul claims to have no formal training, but he has
such a good ear for picking out lead lines that he could have fooled me into
thinking he knew theory.

Sven made me sick, though. He picks up my bass and starts playing these really
cool walking basslines like he's been playing bass all his life! He was very
smooth and made some really sophisticated note choices. He really drove home
the point that the more you think you know, the less you really do know. I
learned a lot about walking jazz basslines just by watching him.

After a while, I played them my country tape and got the reaction I figured I'd
get. Paul said he thought his wife would like it. They complimented me

on the recording quality and said it sounded as good as the country they hear
on the radio, so from a couple jazz guys I'll take that as a compliment ;)

We talked a little about their jobs, politics, and FIDOnet. Paul remarked how
it seems that any time there's a controversy in the echo, I'm always singled
out for attacks whether or not I did anything that would warrant such an
attack. I told him how I love fueling the fires and possibly deserve many of
the attacks, but now that he mentions it, it does seem like I'm taking the
brunt for a lot of things I don't do. So knock it off, you bastards!

I felt kind of bad because Nancy and I had to take our oldest to a meeting to
see whether or not he'd like the Cub Scouts, so I had to give Paul and Sven the
bum's rush at 6:30. Believe me, after attending the meeting, I would have
much rather hung out with Paul and Sven a little while longer. But duty
calls...

Anyhow, I'd like to publicly thank Paul and Sven for visiting and sharing some
of the good times they're having with me and invite them to visit again
anytime. And same goes for anyone else who finds themselves near Orlando.

Jim

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Nachricht Nr. 0150 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 02 Sep 96 12:33:04
Von : Doug Mcharg
An : All
Betr.: Nwifj-2
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Hello,

I've made it home, and am now back to my regular chaos. The jam was
great, and I really enjoyed checking out all the guitar stores. It
was really great to finally meet Tom and Lee. I've got photos of those
guys, chatted on the phone, but have never met them until now.

Some of the other fun activities:
I enjoyed touring Sven around Victoria and driving down to Portland
(no border hassles), chats with Bill's Mom and Sister (love them both,
it's like a family reunion over the kitchen table, swillin' coffee),
Bill took us on a tour of Portland (on the way to the airport), and
generally chatting with everyone there. I liked it when I walked into
Apple Music and one of the employees asked how my band is doing. Free
T-shirts! It was also nice to get in a visit with Stephen and Chris,
and hear about the move (to a new house).

Musical Highlites would include:
Tom's version of "Rockin in the Free World"....yeah
Sven playing a blues solo with distortion!
Sitting between Lee and Steve as they swapped solos.
Lee playing the Epiphone hollowbody, nice tone, good riffs.
Steve showing up with yet another great song opening.
John hitting great solos on the "Claptin and Hendrix" stuff.
Rich (and his grunge pedal) soloing, cool wah-wah.
Bill (and his stack) playing solid rhythym (great tone).

I was sitting by the drums (loud) and couldn't hear Bill and Tom very
well, but the sound was full. I'm surpised my Stage Lead amp handled
the bass through it . The photo's came out very well of both
Apple Music and the jam session. Anyone wanna do a swap? ;-)

For those of you that missed this event, it was a lot of fun in both the
jamming, and meeting people from this echo. For those of you that
were there, thanks I had fun, hopefully see you again. Oh, and the jig
is up, both Lee and Tom played well and sounded proficient on the songs
they knew, so this years worst guitarist is still up for grabs. Sorry
guys...

So what did you really think of the Svineocaster?

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Nachricht Nr. 0151 aus Area GUITAR Exportiert mit Yuppie! v2.12
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Datum: 07 Sep 96 17:05:29
Von : Sven Petersen
An : All
Betr.: Fido Jam(s!) etc. - Sven speaks...
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Hi guys!

Well, I'd love to go to bed, now, but this way, I'd never recover from that
damn jet lag. It's cold (46F) and rainy here in Munich.

Thanks to all people, who hosted me. I had a very good time and could get rid
of all that stress I had at work.

Canada was great, just like last year. I enjoyed meeting all those folks again.
Camping was good to get rid of the jet lag, which lasted for two days, this
time. Ok, but I have slept less the week before I left than other people do in
one night, so I didn't wonder. I also got so used to ales, that I could hardly
imagin any other beer :)

We didn't play much guitar in Victoria, but that old Gibson accoustic, Doug
borrowed from a friend was kinda nice instrument. One of the few accoustics,
that plays nearly like an electric and sounds nice, too.

I should definately buy an accoustic one day.

Driving to Portland was not too bad in Doug's huge truck. Cool car, in case we
get a speed limit here in Germany, I'll look for that kinda vehicle.

It was nice, meeting Mom Riley and Barb again. Cool folks.

My special thanks to John Haden for hosting the Echo Jam and me for another
night. This guy has definately deserved a place in the GUITAR hall of fame. He
isn't just a good played, he can even cook. The steaks he grilled were
delicious.

A sad fact is, that I only got carded once - I think, the Amercan girls weren't
as interested in my address as last year, ok but therefore, I can join the OFC
in a couple of years :)

The Echo Jam was great. Rather great to meet you guys again. I was just like I
never have been away. The music, we played, was better than last year. That
drummer kid did a good job and Doug playing bass also supported the music. It
seems, that nobody has learned any of the pieces on the set-list, but we played
mighty loud.

I don't want to do that number-one-number-two-thing, nobody was as bad as they
pretended to. Some told me, that I have played kinda good solo on that blues,
but to be honest, I couldn't hear myself, since I was sitting on the amp,
anyway, I felt the vibrations in my bum, maybe that's the way, it has to be.
Ey, we could build some bass amps with a saddle and sell them to the girls ;)

John gave my a fun ride to the air port. The flight to Tampa was just a normal
flight, stressing until you are in the plane and boring for the rest of the
time.

My stay at Paul's (Lawson) was really relaxing. I could chill out for one day,
before we drove to Deltona to meet Jim Miller.

In case, you haven't met him: He is no Asian computer nerd with a fake name and
he can play bass. I envy him for his perfect pitch. We played some music,
chatted, drank some pop, chatted, tried some of his effects, played again. I
like that whammy-bar bass. It was fun playing such an instrument, also that
long neck is kinda strange to me, I'm no bass player. Anyway, I have bought
some new strings for my fretless - the old strings are on that bass for 12
years now.

Paul and I were really fond of Jim's playing and it's a shame that we live that
far away from each other, because I think we could form a band. Paul wants to
jam with Jim again.

For those, who don't know, one of the reasons for my trip was my sister's
wedding in St. Petersburg. That was kinda hot and I wasn't very impressed.
Nobody cried, except me, because I couldn't convince my brother-in-law, that it
is a good old habit to give a Les Paul to the oldest borther of the bride.

Sad was also, that nobody was throwing rice, I'd have love to do that - without
taking it out of the package. If the wedding would have been one week later,
prime time would have been over and my flights would have been at least 20%
less.

Anyway, the fun thing was that I could convince one of the guys to jump into
the pool in his suit. I have told him, that I have seen it on tv, every time
they show an American party, all people go into the pool in their clothes. Only
a few minutes later, most of the folks were in the pool, dresses and jackets
were floating around and I had a blast. Somebody asked me to get into the
water, but I only said, that I don't drink and dive :)

After the wedding, I stayed with my brother in a motel in Tampa. We were
invited to Paul's twice and had a great bar-b-q.

My brother is such a porn king - we had to see those no-no-places in Tampa. I
didn't like that kinda entertainment, since the girls came over, sit on my lap,
or touched me, one even chewed my ear (I thought, I should go there another day
and put some shit behind my ears, so she'd get was she has deserved). Anyway, I
got used to it after a while, since I found out, that they go away, after I put
a dollar bill in their slips, garters or bras. My brother even spent 20 bucks
for that lap-dance thing. I really dunno what that is good for. He kinda liked
it. I didn't meet Al Bundy :(

I had a great time in Canada and the USA and I enjoyed the hospitality of the
people I stayed with, meeting some old friends, the beer, the burgers and the
steaks. The Amercan beer is not too bad, I reccon, you don't drink it to forget
or something, it's just another kind of pop and feels better in the guts than
coke all of the time. The service in the restaurants and shops is way more
friendly, than in Germany and you have way more staff, than here.

The first thing, that I had to hear after my return from the land of the free
refill and all-you-can-eats was "Man, you got fat". I didn't dare to step on
the scale yet, but my clothes are all skin-tight and on that wedding, I looked
like Batman in my suit.

-cu
    SVEN

Last modified on Monday, 25. September 2017