Elantric's Bio

Started by Elantric, January 24, 2008, 01:53:00 PM

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whippinpost91850

Looks like a fun gig !

whippinpost91850

Just admit it Bill, you were immediatly drawn to the LEGS and then the reverb ;D

DreamTheory

This was so interesting and personal I redid my own introduction (maybe I will add pictures). Though I have zilch claims to fame, I think it is cool to share who you are (at least musically). Well done.
electric: Epiphone Dot semihollow body, acoustic: mahogany jumbo, recording: Cubase Artist 11 or Tascam DP008

big_jan

Well done Steve - still in awe! Great stuff. Inspired by you after all these many moons playing guitar. More power and good health  :)

Vaughn

Great to read about your storied past, Steve...sounds like a heck of a ride so far.  ;) My musical career has taken several similar turns, but none to the breadth and depth of yours. (I did play a number of week-long gigs Shaky Drake's in Flagstaff a few years after you did - 1981/82 era, as I recall. Wouldn't surprise me if we've got some other venues in common. We were based out of Albuquerque and played around the southwest and Rocky Mountains.) Looking forward to learning a lot from you and the rest of the gang here as I embark on my first journey into the GR-55.

Elantric

#55
Back in 1977-79 we were an LA based band, yet our booking agent was based in Tuscon, AZ -  Each month  was two weeks on the road, and 2 weeks home, and we were popular in AZ, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, even El Paso. Many stories, as we were a dirt poor rock band "on tour" in college towns across the southwest back when such a lifestyle was feasible. 

Here's a site with  MP3 recordings  of that band at a live gig at Shaky Drakes  in Flagstaff , AZ from 1979:

http://www.lovedrums.com/audio/Rocket88/

amplayer

Quote from: Elantric on June 27, 2014, 08:03:46 AM
Back in 1977-79 we were an LA based band, yet our booking agent was based in Tuscon, AZ -  Each month  was two weeks on the road, and 2 weeks home, and we were popular in AZ, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, even El Paso. Many stories, as we were a dirt poor rock band "on tour" in college towns across the southwest back when such a lifestyle was feasible.

Sounds like it was fun.
Question: Why would you say such a lifestyle not feasible anymore?  Is it due to the changes in the entertainment industry, or changes in yourself, or both?
I'd guess both, but I'm just curious.

There are many clubs that still feature acts that aren't big names.  I guess the difference is that they don't pay enough to actually live on, even for artists that live the stereotypical life of neglecting everything but food and recreational mind enhancers.

Elantric

#57
Its economy and wages.

Back in 1978 I was renting a 4 bedroom Victorian house in downtown LA for $250 / month, with  two room mates  - my rent was $83, and Tom Waits was my next door neighbor
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=6125.msg83168#msg83168


One morning I was late to work because  a film crew and cast of midgets doing take after take of filming the video below

To me this is like old home movies from 1981 Union Ave near Beverly Blvd, downtown Los Angeles  and a glimpse of my back porch, and the old AT&T  / Pacific Bell parking lot full of old cars 




Our 4 man band On the road we would typically earn $1000 to $1200 per week playing 5 nights at a local bar  / club in a college town, two weeks on / 2 weeks off  - so the math works out to around $500 per month was my income, and I occasionally would save up for a new flanger or delay box. Most of the time the money went back into keeping my 1966 Chevy Van on the road.

Our booking agent could "sell" our band to Arizona club / bar owners as ""Rocket 88 - the hot Rock band from Los Angeles", and back in the pre -internet "word of mouth" days, based upon that criteria alone, we found lots of work playing nearly every bar in the southwest  - everywhere but in LA, where the "pay to play" Hollywood club scene was just beginning.

Today - its possible to see the world in a rock band, using social media - but its very tough going. The fact that 90% of the clubs I used to perform playing rock & roll 4 hours every night  back in the 1970s today are either closed, or no longer offering live music - preferring a Dance DJ, is the main significant problem / hurdle

So it probably makes more sense to study composition, compose tunes and make your best possible youtube videos to get noticed (and get work) if pursuing a full time music career today. And relocate to Nashville, New Orleans, Austin, LA or New York, immerse yourself in as many  different musical settings as you can to gain experience, and remember to look after what works best for your own career, and not place all your hopes simply as the lead guitarist to someone else's dream. 

   
   

Kevin M

Quote from: Elantric on June 27, 2014, 09:07:26 AM
Its economy and wages.

Back in 1978 I was renting a 4 bedroom Victorian house in downtown LA for $250 / month, with  two room mates  - my rent was $83, and Tom Waits was my next door neighbor
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=6125.msg83168#msg83168

Our 4 man band On the road we would typically earn $1000 to $1200 per week playing 5 nights at a local bar  / club in a college town, two weeks on / 2 weeks off  - so the math works out to around $500 per month was my income, and I occasionally would save up for a new flanger or delay box. Most of the time the money went back into keeping my 1966 Chevy Van on the road.

Our booking agent could "sell" our band to Arizona club / bar owners as ""Rocket 88 - the hot Rock band from Los Angeles", and back in the pre -internet "word of mouth" days, based upon that criteria alone, we found lots of work playing nearly every bar in the southwest  - everywhere but in LA, where the "pay to play" Hollywood club scene was just beginning.

Today - its possible to see the world in a rock band, using social media - but its very tough going. The fact that 90% of the clubs I used to perform playing rock & roll 4 hours every night  back in the 1970s today are either closed, or no longer offering live music - preferring a Dance DJ, is the main significant problem / hurdle

So it probably makes more sense to study composition, compose tunes and make your best possible youtube videos to get noticed (and get work) if pursuing a full time music career today. And relocate to Nashville, New Orleans, Austin, LA or New York, immerse yourself in as many  different musical settings as you can to gain experience, and remember to look after what works best for your own career, and not place all your hopes simply as the lead guitarist to someone else's dream. 

   


A non-music backup plan doesn't hurt, either!  :-)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Elantric

#59
QuoteA non-music backup plan doesn't hurt, either!  :-)

True! - Luckily My parents drilled into my head the importance of having an alternate career objective !


But its true that most of the folks I knew back in 1978 who remained with music 100% are today either composing music for Major Films  / TV Commercials - or party too hard and died young.


gregjon

Thanks Elantric. That was an awe inspiring bio.

I figured you new so much about so much.

You have been a lot of help for me and I really appreciate it.

My little 3 man band plays Pipeline here in Guam and people still love it.

Thanks a million for everything !

Gregjon
Fender 50th Anniversary Strat with GK3 pickup.
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GR-20
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whippinpost91850

Elantric, now that looks like a fun gig 8)

Headless68

Jaw dropping, Forrest Gump moment filled, brilliance !
Thanks for giving back in this forum, I don't know how much time that takes (quite a lot over time I know that) but THANKS

Phil (Headless)

Elantric

Recent gig -  I'm playing my red Epiphone Wilshire Re-issue performing 1st with Steve Key (totally unrehearsed - just sitting in)  - then (at 1:27:00 ) with Kristen Black Band, then (at 2:17:00) some Surf tunes  -Friday Sept 11, D'Anbino Cellars Paso Robles, California


Video Link
http://youtu.be/Y5jeiKSrXbU?list=PLqqClAG89WTiQosAaBeWyT_tGASZGyaRb

ainsoph

Quote from: Elantric on September 22, 2015, 06:43:21 PM
Recent gig -  I'm playing my red Epiphone Wilshire Re-issue performing 1st with Steve Key (totally unrehearsed - just sitting in)  - then (at 1:27:00 ) with Kristen Black Band, then (at 2:17:00) some Surf tunes  -Friday Sept 11, D'Anbino Cellars Paso Robles, California

Coolness  8) , with fine crunch-y sound :)

Elantric



Recently located a pic from the 1988 NAMM Show were I was demonstrating the RackMaster MIDI Reactor and MIDI Relayer

Basically these were a few months ahead of their time -   

whippinpost91850

I probably saw you there. I use to go every year and actively sought out anything MIDI that was guitar related :)

Elantric

#67



Autana

Wow, simply amazing! besides admiration, I am so proud to have the opportunity to share with Steve in this incredible forum.
My respect sir.
GR-55, GP-10, GI-20, Godin xtSA, GodinNylon MultiAc, Giannini classical, 3 GK-3'd gtrs, Cube 80XL, Primova GKFX-21 (x2)

Fear just pulls you out of being true to music, which is coming from a place of love. Love is the opposite of fear. I stay away from anything fear-related.
- Tal Wilkenfeld -

thunderfingers

Awesome bio. Did not know about Valley Arts- very cool. Thanks for the info, congrats on great stories, looking forward to reading your posts.

Elantric

QuoteAwesome bio. Did not know about Valley Arts- very cool. Thanks for the info, congrats on great stories, looking forward to reading your posts.

Thanks!  - My musical journey is still in progress, and in 2016 I plan on documenting things in more details and behind the scenes stories  in more detail here on the forums and on  other media outlets.

Elantric

#71
I worked at Valley Arts Guitar 1980-1986


and installed the 1st Floyd Rose on Steve Lukather's Strat.




Here is a video with some of that history, and some unique behind the scenes of high quality guitar production 




Old Lukather video from 1986 worth watching for some perspective on FX and routing.



http://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-28/local/me-7325_1_valley-arts-guitar-center
QuoteNoted Musicians Join Sad Refrain Over Store : Fire: None of the businesses damaged in the Studio City blaze have elicited as much sympathy as the Valley Arts Guitar Center.
December 28, 1990|LESLIE BERGER and GREG BRAXTON | TIMES STAFF WRITERS
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In the good times, musicians famous and not so famous come to the Valley Arts Guitar Center to get their instruments repaired, catch up with old friends and occasionally break into jam sessions.

Thursday was definitely not a good time for the Ventura Boulevard music store, but its patrons still faithfully stopped by--this time to offer condolences to owners Al Carness and Mike McGuire as they surveyed the wreckage of a $2.5-million fire that gutted two businesses on the block and heavily damaged theirs.

"I spend so much time here, it's like a home away from home," said guitarist Laurence Juber, who used to play with Paul McCartney and Wings. "It's more than a store--it's like a social club."

Juber left his Studio City residence for Valley Arts on Thursday after reading the morning newspapers. Guitarist Randy Meisner, formerly of the Eagles; Lee Sklar, a bass player for Phil Collins and James Taylor; and Stewart Levin, a composer-arranger for television's "thirtysomething" were among the other artists who either dropped by or called.



Guitarist Larry Carlton said he hopes to organize a benefit concert.

"It's in everybody's hearts and I've started a list of contacts," said Carlton, formerly one of the city's top studio players and today a well-known solo artist.

"I'm sure I won't have trouble finding support for them. There's a lot of love for that store. I can't think of any other store that has such a relationship with the customers and artists."

Of the businesses hurt by Wednesday's suspected arson-caused fires, none seem to have elicited such sympathy as Valley Arts, whose owners estimate they lost at least $600,000 in guitars, drums and keyboards, not to mention their boyhood dream.

Pier 1 Imports and Strouds Linen Warehouse, the stores gutted by the fire in the 12100 block of Ventura Boulevard, are national chains. But the Valley Arts Guitar Center is a family owned operation that McGuire and Carness bought with money they saved playing gigs and selling guitar strings.

The second floor of the music shop, which is just west of Pier 1, burned and the ground floor was ruined mainly by smoke and water from the firefighters' hoses.

"I was on the phone all night," McGuire, who also makes guitars, said. "Duane Eddy called from Nashville and Larry Carlton called me from a session."

McGuire and Carness took guitar lessons at Valley Arts' original location on Laurel Canyon Boulevard when they were 10 years old. They became friends, and as young men decided to buy the store. They relocated to 12162 Ventura Blvd. 17 years ago, quickly becoming a fixture in the music industry.

Autographed album covers, greasy with smoke, still covered the store's walls Thursday. Upstairs in the percussion room, warped cymbals and charred conga drums lay under dangling pieces of water-swollen ceiling. Downstairs, guitars of all shapes and sizes appeared intact but some of their faces were blackened by smoke and McGuire said their sound still has to be tested.

"The sad part is, a lot of those guitars were custom-made to the musicians' own order," Carness' wife, Fern, said. "They may not be burned, but they won't have the same tonality and feel.



"It's like a woman--you just can't replace them exactly."

McGuire and Carness said they have insurance, although they are not certain it will cover all their losses. They plan to reopen as soon as possible. On Thursday, with employees' help, they began taking inventory.

"This is our life, and not just ours, but our employees," Fern Carness said.

They have yet to determine which instruments, if any, were damaged beyond repair.

Juber said he had some amplification equipment in the store "but nothing irreplaceable." Professional rocker Jon Walmsley believes he lost a rare and valuable Gretsch country guitar, but said, "No one was hurt and that's all that really matters."

Fern Carness, who watched her husband stay up all night making lists of fire cleanup tasks, said she took down the Christmas tree at their Chatsworth residence first thing Thursday morning. She worries too much now about fire, she said.




Valley Arts Fire Fire was an Arson


His name is John Orr, and he was an arson investigator for Glendale FD. Charges against him for the Valley Arts Guitar Ventura Blvd. fire were dropped, but he was convicted of serial arson and mass murder for a fire that killed 4.  He got life plus 20 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leonard_Orr


aliensporebomb

I watched the Forensic Files episode linked here.  Unbelievable.  I knew it was Arson but not that it was one of the departments own.  Unreal!
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Elantric

I only recently " connected the dots" myself.

Only thing to walk away from this is a lesson that each individual in this world carries  responsibility for their actions and choices in life, and those actions (positive or negative) often impact the course of history and impact many lives.

Elantric

#74
Recently stumbled upon a demo of my 1975 Swedish Dyn-Electron Longhorn



Had not seen another one like it  - a friend was working at SAAB aerospace in Linköping Sweden in 1976 and purchased it for me.

My band PR photo from 1978

photo courtesy: Harold Naidaeu
http://naideauphoto.com/