Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Who is...

... that favorite musician that you feel a special connection to and why?

Rick. Your SRV post inspired me.

For me its Neil Young. My aunt gave me the CSNY Deja Vu album as a 14th birthday present. The first time I listened to the song Helpless on my crappy portable record player, I was hooked. It inspired me to pick up the guitar and eventually even to write some (really bad) songs.

What really got me was the lyrics. I think Neil has a real gift with words. The dark lyrics probably appealed to my teen angst as well.

For me, it would be SRV.

As much as I always enjoyed photography, my dream would have been to be a guitarist. I used to just put headphones on while listening to Hendrix and feel every note...every bend of every note. Totally immersed in the music for hours on end.

The first time I heard SRV was when I was in photography school, and a little, local college station played Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). I heard that guitar and thought "Who the hell does Hendrix have singing for him on this version?". I never could have imagined it was anyone other than Hendrix on guitar. I don't know how Stevie's first CD, Texas Flood, got past me except I guess I was pretty involved in school at that time.

I bought Couldn't Stand the Weather that day, and Texas Flood the next. And he took over that headphone nirvana for years. (unfortunately, I can't seem to do that anymore, as my head fills with things I need to do, etc.... I can't just listen to a whole CD anymore. Doc? Adult ADD?)

I saw SRV 5 times. The first was at the Newport Jazz Festival. He closed the two-day festival, and I was 10 feet from the stage...center...but I left before the end of his set. My girlfriend at the time wanted to beat the traffic. (Man, we do stupid things for women, don't we?).

The last time was in a little city park in downtown Manchester, NH....again, I was up front. As loud as it was in front of that little stage, the reverb off the buildings in the downtown was incredible. I wouldn't have lost my seat for anything, but I wondered how that guitar sounded three blocks away from the park.

I've searched for the next SRV, but haven't found one. I don't know if no one truly matches him in my opinion, or that A.D.D. just means I don't care as much anymore. I really, really liked KWS and Jonny Lang (before he went gospel) but I really haven't found another SRV.

Good Awesome thread, Fred.

You know my answer. Good ol' Regina. At first I didn't know what to think, but I just kept listening. If I could express myself musically, I would hope to come across something like her. Some real goofball lyrics at times, but a real depth of emotion behind them. I still get goosebumps listening to a lot of her songs.

Dude, that's an erection.

I can't really say I have a connection with any one artist, although similar to Fred's story, after seeing Neil Young at the old Maple Leaf Gardens when I was a teenager I was inspired enough to go out and spend my savings on a nice Sigma acoustic guitar shortly after. There's just too many good artists out there to choose one in particular for me...sometimes I do get inspiration from musicians who overcome great tragedy in their lives yet persevere such as Loreena McKennitt and Neil Peart to name a couple.

Well, he has a place to hang his headphones then.

Fred, Neil Young grew up in Bethany, which is a 20 minute drive from me. Just prior to my accident, our friends Keith and Charlotte (I had my accident on Char's farm) divorced and Keith moved just down the road from Neil's dad, Scott.

Also, in Omemee, where I went to public school, they built a school for grade 5-8 students and named it Scott Young Public School.

Here's the schools biography on Scott Young.

As somewhat of an even closer "connection", Scott also donated money to me after my accident.

Cheer's,
Cam

Thanks for the link Cam. Thats cool!

This immediately made me picture you as Peter Griffin singing "Rock Lobster."

and since I don't know what you really look like, I guess you will look like Peter in my mind from now on. Excellent!

On the more serious side. I feel a deep close connection to....
Ahh, who am I kidding, Rock Lobsta!!!!!

OK, ok, I got that out of my system Fred.

I'm with Adrian, I've been a serious music listener since I was able to accurately pick out any Beetles' 45 from my Mom's pile two years before I could actually read. They all had yellow center stickers, but so did some others and I'd always get them right, right down to the A vs. B side.

I did think about this and there are way too many artists that I have come to respect over the years to pick one. At best, I'm a bandwagon jumper and my answer might change from week to week.

I guess for me, it was Rush - the total teenage misfit thing, heady lyrics, awesome musicianship. I'd watch the concert videos (VHS) at a friend's house, and we saw them on the Power Windows tour at the Omni (RIP) the spring of my senior year of high school. I've seen them on almost every tour since.

Lately, the band that strikes the perfect chord is Green Day. I could listen to their last two CDs over and over again. Heck, I often do that on my commute. They have achieved sonic perfection - I wouldn't change a note. I'm flirting with the idea of picking up the drums, after being an air drummer for twenty-plus years. I used to think I'd want to play like Neil Peart, but now I think I'll set my sights on playing like the far more attainable, but still quite awesome, Tre' Cool.

Sounds very therapeutic.

I wanted to be a drummer when I was a kid, and then a guitarist.

I'm your Yin, Yang Man!

I wanted to be a bassist when I was in college, but I'm far too lazy.

Can't argue with you there. I also have similar drum aspirations. Before I took up the drums, Neil Peart was definitely my favorite drummer. Now that I strive to someday just break out of the beginner category, his amazing talent and the complex rhythms just make me angry.

If you plan attaining on being the next Tre' Cool, you might have a better shot on the drumming side but you will never be able to match his real life name. "Frank Edwin Wright the Third"