Robben Ford Discussion

[BlueRunner]

Whew. Where to start with my next two cents.

I bought Mayer's "Heavier Things" CD for my 22-year-old daughter. She loves him. Lotsa' women that age love him. More power to him. I enjoy his popsy-catchy tunes. But I didn't buy a copy of the CD for myself, nor did I ask my daughter to loan me the one I gave her so that I could bandit-burn my own. If I'm riding with her in her pickup truck and she puts it in the CD player, OK. The CD player in my car belongs to others, e.g., Robben, Howlin' Wolf, Derek Trucks, etc. I'm reminded that "if you can't say anything nice about someone ...," but I do have one serious beef with John Mayer: He's set up one of these phony "fan clubs" where you pay a yearly fee for the "privilege" of getting first crack at all of the decent seats for his megatorium tour appearances (at outrageous prices, to boot). There's plenty of fantastic live music here in Southern California, where you can pay a $10 cover charge, sit right next to the stage, have fun with friends, and listen to a lot of great musicians who play their hearts out. 'Nuf said about Mayer.

Now about "phoning in" solos: Thanks to Aeolian I pulled out and re-listened to "Slow Ride" on my copy of "Luck of the Draw." Made me think of those symphonic pieces where, thanks to the composer's self-assumed brilliance, the orchestra has to rent a 12'-diameter gong and hire a union percussionist who hits that sucker ... all of two times in a 90-minute piece. (It was just such a commissioned work that drove the late lamented Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra into Chapter 7.) But a good workingman musician knows that even if that gong's only going to bet hit twice, each time had better be perfect. It had better be the best mallet-strike that musician has ever put out. Some of Robben's work for other musicians is a bit like that. He's humble enough to know that he's not the star, and he loves the music enough to know that when he adds his solo it should fit perfectly, like a finely-machined part in an expensive engine. Robben Ford's personal philosophy reminds me of a friend who joined a Buddhist monastery. His specialty was building, i.e., he was in charge of major facilities building for the monastery. But he also took his regular turn cleaning the bathrooms. He spoke to me about his joy of living in the moment, and that when it was his turn to be on the cleaning crew, he made sure that the monastery had the cleanest damn toilets of any place in the world! Play guitar like that, even if your part of the score has only one note.
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- BlueRunner

[telefunk1]

One last Mayer observation - I was in the local Half Price Books over the weekend and they have a stack of about 25 Mayer CDs for sale. Not a good sign, career wise, if people are buying the CD, but not keeping it. On the other hand I NEVER find any Robben Ford in the used sections. He may not sell as much product, but people hang on to it once they get it!

[Bill Morgan]