Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2003 7:30 pm Post subject: new here too!
Hi folks! My first Robben experience was the old "Golden Bear" in Huntington Beach in, I think, 1978. After that we saw nearly every Robben show there as well as some in LA.
At 12 years-old, like lots of kids, I had to have a guitar. So, for my birthday my folks gave me a funky acoustic with action as high as Mt. McKinley but I was hooked. My first electric was a 1962 Fender Stratocaster and I had to mow a lot of neighbor's lawns for that one. Unfortunately it got away as did my 1961 Les Paul SG and my 1966 Fender Twin Reverb. I was in bands and playing out regularly all through high school and my first two years of college. Then it was decision time: get with the academic program or get booted out of school. I quit the band and put down the guitar, salvaged my grades, and UC let me stay.
Up until about 18 months ago I had been languishing as a mere guitar owner! For whatever reason I felt the need to rekindle an old obsession so I went on eBay, bought a cheap but fine 1992 USA Strat and started re-learning guitar. It took me 20 years to sort of learn to play the thing in the first place and another 20 years to forget most of what I knew. I feel fortunate having the opportunity to re-learn the instrument in a more deliberate and focused way than when I was a teenager and young adult.
Robben has been an inspiration from the moment I first saw him perform. He also once gave me the best advice I ever got about the music biz. I asked him, "What would you say to someone interested in getting involved in the music business?" and his answer was, "Don't."
So, with some help from people like Robben, I'm re-learning guitar. I've been to a couple of Robben's clinics and they're time very well spent. I've also decided to build all my own instruments and now have two very different Strats (one '50s style and the other early '60s style) and a P90 based Tele: "Naomi," the '50s style Strat, and the sibs, "Mean Mr. Mustard" (Tele) and "Polythene Pam" (Strat). More are in the works. _________________ iamthewalrus
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Knock knock.
Who's there?
Control freak. Now you say "control freak who."
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:15 pm Post subject: Robben clinics . . .
I believe I attended a clinic in the Fall of 2002 then another in May 2003. But, there were always lots of us with similar stories, picking up that guitar that had been collecting dust and or rusting. Glad you're here. Best wishes for 2004!
Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 18 Location: Hanson, MA
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 9:26 am Post subject: Golden Bear
Hi ya, and welcome to the group. Your post had me reflecting on the great club the Golden Bear was. I mean it wasn't pretty, but the people who came through those doors. Wow! Though I am a New Englander these days, my high school and college time was in SoCal and the Bear was a regular meeting spot. I traveled with the Dixie Dregs a bit in their early days and they played there whenever they could due to the vibe. It was great to travel up and down the coast with them only to watch everyone relax a bit and get "show excited" when they played there. Great stuff. Finally, one of my favorite Bear stories was on Peter Gabriel's first solo tour. He did clubs (could you imagine?) on that tour and had two shows at the Bear. At the end of the set, he would bolt from the stage, run through the crowd, out the front door, run across the street (Rt 1 - very busy!), and dive right into the Pacific. Stunning!
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 11:17 am Post subject: Clinic . . .
Well, was that the first? Here's what I remember: it was chilly, there was one woman in the group (with a Tele, glasses, blondish curly hair?), a guy who played pedal steel in Linda Rondstat's road band attended, and Robben was in great form. There were people from all over the US; Robben had both a Dumble combo and his BFDR. Is this the one you attended? _________________ iamthewalrus
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Knock knock.
Who's there?
Control freak. Now you say "control freak who."
Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 534 Location: SF Bay area
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 12:56 pm Post subject: Must have been another one...
Hi walrus (I was SURE the walrus was Paul! Hmmmmmm.)
I was one of two women who attended...the only non-guitar player (but I sang!) and Mr. Dumble came in the afternoon to bring Robben an amplifier on which he had been working. (If you go to my web site, click on "gagepage," and scroll down a bit, you will see my "Woman fondling amplifier" photo and description.)
Mr. Dumble actually took the photograph, after I asked if I could take a picture of it for my "setting-addicted" friends. His initial response was negative, but he actually came out to tell me he had reconsidered. I was incredibly impressed, particularly since he had been so remarkably patient with the idiotic questions I had already asked. (I don't know ANYTHING about amps...could you tell that??? Duuuuuuuuuuuh...but hey, you wanna talk misplaced modifiers or pronoun-antecedent relationship? How about World history from the Fall of the Roman Empire through the Renaissance and Reformation? I get so defensive about these things. Over achiever that I am!)
It was indeed cold, especially in the morning; but the afternoon was sunny and warm and as always, Robben was in great form. He had his Tele with him, which I think he had forgotten to bring, but was brought to him after he made a phone call. I will never forget calling my son on my cell phone, (I had to check in, since I had driven down from Pleasanton!) saying, "Andrew, I'm calling to tell you I got here safely, and Robben Ford is standing in front of my car, talking on his cell phone...yes, a few feet from me...yes, I am SURE it is Robben...Andrew, it REALLY is Robben...no, I am not going to tell you what he is saying..."
Someone else had a red Baker with him, which Robben played and commented that he was still waiting for HIS. I distinctly remember him saying, "You got yours already...hey, what's up with that?"
It was Robben's very first clinic, so perhaps you attended a later one. I could go on, and on, (and on, and on, and on,) about other things that took place, but I gotta go get my classroom ready for tomorrow. If you want other miniscule details let me know!
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 4:23 pm Post subject: Hmmmm
Well, it had to have been the one right after that; I'll have to look through my checkbook. I certiainly would have remembered meeting the enigmatic Mr. Dumble. Also, Robben was well equipped with Bakers. Some folks arrived without guitars and Anne went back to their place and brought in a couple - an Epiphone Casio and a classical guitar (?!?). It was a great clinic but I was such a poor student I had to repeat and attend the next one as well.
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