Monday, May 16, 2005
Riding around in my automobile
My first weekend in California went by pretty smoothly. I had a bit of navigation issues, but managed to get myself acquainted with the highways and freeways running through Los Angeles and its neighbouring cities. Drove up to downtown LA, down Sunset Boulevard and checked out a couple of guitar shops. Here are some of the more memorable ones:
1) Guitar Center
Probably the biggest guitar store chain in US. When I first stepped in, I was assaulted with a barrage of power chords, followed by a long line of notes going at approx. 10000 notes / sec. The place was filled with lots of guitaristos and their accompanying girlfriends. Quite a few pieces of eye-candy, albeit mostly looking a bit bored. It sure makes a wonderful place even better though.
The shop itself was basically filled wall-to-wall with guitars, 5 high. The whole place could probably fit in all of the guitar shops of Singapore, with space for toilets. Most of the stuff hanging on the walls was fluff and the noise was deafening, so I made a quick detour into the acoustic room. I didn’t waste much time in there either, and went into the vintage room, eager with anticipation.
A mouthwatering selection of old guitars and amps filled the 2 storey room. Alas, all of them were priced way beyond my reach. Most of them were beyond my physical reach too. Don’t laugh.
Anyway, I played a few of them and I had immediate relief for my withdrawal symptoms. After 1 whole week of cold turkey, it felt great to hold a guitar in my hands once again. The sounds of steel resonating on wood were a balm for my guitar-deprived soul, and my fingers danced in joy, celebrating their return to the creation of music, one of their most treasured jobs.
2) Valdez Guitar Shop
Small, homely place. Focuses mainly on flamenco and classical guitars as well as lessons, and is home to Art Valdez. He’s a luthier by trade and has made guitars for a whole list of celebrities. Some of his work hung on the walls and were absolutely breathtaking. I probably wouldn’t have much use for them, since they were exotic-looking double-necked guitars, but they were beautiful and fantastically made. He’s real friendly too, and one of his colleagues Fred happens to have been to Singapore 4 times already. The 2 of them make this place a real friendly one, and I’m sure I’ll be back, even though they don’t really have many guitars that I’d play.
3) Don’t know the name of this shop
Another small one, just opposite Valdez. Apparently there are lots of guitar stores along this stretch of Sunset Boulevard. This one was pretty funky, decorated in 70-80’s kitsch and a whole lot of cool, old guitars that vintage purists would scoff at, but they’re right in my ball park. These guitars tend to be fantastic for blues and hopefully aren’t as expensive as their vintage counterparts. The guy working there today didn’t seem too interested, but that’s not gonna put me off from checking out some other cool old guitars in the near future.
Another place I went to was Amoeba Records, also along Sunset Blvd. Huge record store with a cool blues mural on one of the walls, but a relatively small selection of blues CDs. For the first time ever, I actually saw some hot chicks in the blues section, something I'll never see back home. I picked up a few good ones, and I’ll be back for more.
(CDs I mean).
The tedious drive was made much more enjoyable by KJazz 88.1 FM. They're mostly jazz, but have a few hours dedicated to hardcore blues right up my alley. Amazingly, they manage it without any advertisements. They broadcast online too, so check them out.
It was yet another night of Chinese food, this time tasteless fried rice, and here’s the Fortune Cookie Caper for today:
“You have a deep appreciation of the arts and music.”
Well well.
1) Guitar Center
Probably the biggest guitar store chain in US. When I first stepped in, I was assaulted with a barrage of power chords, followed by a long line of notes going at approx. 10000 notes / sec. The place was filled with lots of guitaristos and their accompanying girlfriends. Quite a few pieces of eye-candy, albeit mostly looking a bit bored. It sure makes a wonderful place even better though.
The shop itself was basically filled wall-to-wall with guitars, 5 high. The whole place could probably fit in all of the guitar shops of Singapore, with space for toilets. Most of the stuff hanging on the walls was fluff and the noise was deafening, so I made a quick detour into the acoustic room. I didn’t waste much time in there either, and went into the vintage room, eager with anticipation.
A mouthwatering selection of old guitars and amps filled the 2 storey room. Alas, all of them were priced way beyond my reach. Most of them were beyond my physical reach too. Don’t laugh.
Anyway, I played a few of them and I had immediate relief for my withdrawal symptoms. After 1 whole week of cold turkey, it felt great to hold a guitar in my hands once again. The sounds of steel resonating on wood were a balm for my guitar-deprived soul, and my fingers danced in joy, celebrating their return to the creation of music, one of their most treasured jobs.
2) Valdez Guitar Shop
Small, homely place. Focuses mainly on flamenco and classical guitars as well as lessons, and is home to Art Valdez. He’s a luthier by trade and has made guitars for a whole list of celebrities. Some of his work hung on the walls and were absolutely breathtaking. I probably wouldn’t have much use for them, since they were exotic-looking double-necked guitars, but they were beautiful and fantastically made. He’s real friendly too, and one of his colleagues Fred happens to have been to Singapore 4 times already. The 2 of them make this place a real friendly one, and I’m sure I’ll be back, even though they don’t really have many guitars that I’d play.
3) Don’t know the name of this shop
Another small one, just opposite Valdez. Apparently there are lots of guitar stores along this stretch of Sunset Boulevard. This one was pretty funky, decorated in 70-80’s kitsch and a whole lot of cool, old guitars that vintage purists would scoff at, but they’re right in my ball park. These guitars tend to be fantastic for blues and hopefully aren’t as expensive as their vintage counterparts. The guy working there today didn’t seem too interested, but that’s not gonna put me off from checking out some other cool old guitars in the near future.
Another place I went to was Amoeba Records, also along Sunset Blvd. Huge record store with a cool blues mural on one of the walls, but a relatively small selection of blues CDs. For the first time ever, I actually saw some hot chicks in the blues section, something I'll never see back home. I picked up a few good ones, and I’ll be back for more.
(CDs I mean).
The tedious drive was made much more enjoyable by KJazz 88.1 FM. They're mostly jazz, but have a few hours dedicated to hardcore blues right up my alley. Amazingly, they manage it without any advertisements. They broadcast online too, so check them out.
It was yet another night of Chinese food, this time tasteless fried rice, and here’s the Fortune Cookie Caper for today:
“You have a deep appreciation of the arts and music.”
Well well.
# posted by BloozeGit @ 1:22 pm 
