Christmas Santa, Tradition and the Welland House 1975
So this is another one of those When Paul Wanted to be a Rock Star diptychs.
Back in the ‘early years’, when my glassy eyes held nothing but stardust (ok, maybe the odd bit of angel dust… geesh!), we (Irony note: the band was called The Punks… we all wore formal suits and ties) got a chance to play three nights in our ‘local’ hotel. At that time, the world wasn’t much bigger than Thorold, the small town that I grew up in (on a map: closely situated in the near vicinity of Niagara Falls, Ontario). The Thursday night was a disaster… overly nervous, equipment faux pas aplenty and a newly-bought double-neck guitar (ala Mahavishnu John McLaughlin) that went totally out of tune thirty seconds into an Aerosmith song… ugh!
On the Friday, we decided, as only a group of aspiring rock stars would do, to say f*** it! This is our hometown and we are gonna rock! We upped our resolve, swore to turn these last two nights around and blew the band kitty on Christmas decorations for the stage. Now, I don’t know that it was the festive atmosphere created, or the bottle of Johnnie Walker Red up in the room but, for those two nights, we blew the joint apart! Well, in our memories anyway… ha! Time has a way of putting a gleam on things sometimes.
Anyway, the plastic Santa you see on Terry’s Ampeg amplifier in the left photo, has been dutifully placed on my wall unit for many years since (photo on the right, this year, if it weren’t obvious). 43 years… wtf! Where in the hell does the time go?
Happy Christmas all!
*If you’ve read this far, thank you :-)
Paul
**This song: 'One Way Street' - Aerosmith... at the 5:09 minute mark, it was my duty to play this guitar reframe and there wasn't a single string on that set of six (let alone the twelve above 'em!) that could remotely relate to each other, tunage-wise!
Christmas Santa, Tradition and the Welland House 1975
So this is another one of those When Paul Wanted to be a Rock Star diptychs.
Back in the ‘early years’, when my glassy eyes held nothing but stardust (ok, maybe the odd bit of angel dust… geesh!), we (Irony note: the band was called The Punks… we all wore formal suits and ties) got a chance to play three nights in our ‘local’ hotel. At that time, the world wasn’t much bigger than Thorold, the small town that I grew up in (on a map: closely situated in the near vicinity of Niagara Falls, Ontario). The Thursday night was a disaster… overly nervous, equipment faux pas aplenty and a newly-bought double-neck guitar (ala Mahavishnu John McLaughlin) that went totally out of tune thirty seconds into an Aerosmith song… ugh!
On the Friday, we decided, as only a group of aspiring rock stars would do, to say f*** it! This is our hometown and we are gonna rock! We upped our resolve, swore to turn these last two nights around and blew the band kitty on Christmas decorations for the stage. Now, I don’t know that it was the festive atmosphere created, or the bottle of Johnnie Walker Red up in the room but, for those two nights, we blew the joint apart! Well, in our memories anyway… ha! Time has a way of putting a gleam on things sometimes.
Anyway, the plastic Santa you see on Terry’s Ampeg amplifier in the left photo, has been dutifully placed on my wall unit for many years since (photo on the right, this year, if it weren’t obvious). 43 years… wtf! Where in the hell does the time go?
Happy Christmas all!
*If you’ve read this far, thank you :-)
Paul
**This song: 'One Way Street' - Aerosmith... at the 5:09 minute mark, it was my duty to play this guitar reframe and there wasn't a single string on that set of six (let alone the twelve above 'em!) that could remotely relate to each other, tunage-wise!