Jonathan Brown » music

Google’s Tribute to Freddie Mercury

Jonathan Brown — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 04:58:26 +0000

I love when Google does these tributes.

Freddie Mercury Google Doodle – YouTube.

No related posts.

Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear | Postmodern Times – WSJ.com

Jonathan Brown — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:12:37 +0000

This is crazy. So one of the few storied manufacturers left in the US has to deal with this kind of crap every few years? We have no shot at rebuilding our manufacturing base with the overreaching environmental community, I’m afraid.

On border patrol and customs:

It’s not enough to know that the body of your old guitar is made of spruce and maple: What’s the bridge made of? If it’s ebony, do you have the paperwork to show when and where that wood was harvested and when and where it was made into a bridge? Is the nut holding the strings at the guitar’s headstock bone, or could it be ivory? “Even if you have no knowledge—despite Herculean efforts to obtain it—that some piece of your guitar, no matter how small, was obtained illegally, you lose your guitar forever,” Prof. Thomas has written. “Oh, and you’ll be fined $250 for that false (or missing) information in your Lacey Act Import Declaration.”

Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear | Postmodern Times – WSJ.com.

Hat tip to @stringsn88keys

My New Guitar

Ladies and Gentleman… The Bartles!

Jonathan Brown — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:35:12 +0000

Each year on Christmas day my family gathers in the recording studio to record a Beatles song with intentions to reproduce the instrumentation, sounds and performances as closely as our talents allow. This year, we’re releasing our first album recorded between December 1998 and December 2008. We called it Crappy Road. Check out The Bartles!

My New Guitar

Jonathan Brown — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:22:14 +0000

My First Guitar - Chiquita Travel

Believe it or not, I’ve been trying to play the guitar since I was six years old. After a few years of playing old school rock band—a baseball bat for a guitar and lunch boxes and dinner trays for drums (pots and pans are so cliché)—my older brother and I had perhaps the most awesome (early) Christmas ever. I received a Chiquita travel guitar, red, very much like the picture to the right—and equally as awesome as the one Michael J. Fox used to blow up Doc’s massive speaker in Back to the Future—and my brother got a practice pad drum kit. And we started our second band, or the first with real instruments, which ever way you want to look at it.

Fast forward twenty-six years…now I run an I.T. department and my brother still beats on pots and pans (literally) and anything else that makes a sound when you hit it, including real drums. And he gets paid! That’s crazy, right? I mean, people actually fly him around so he can play drums for an hour or so. Get a job, man!

Over the last twenty-six years I’ve owned quite a few crappy guitars. I’ve had a Silvertone acoustic (my Dad’s old guitar), Fender Squire II, Yamaha acoustic, Yamaha nylon string classical and an electric Epiphone Special. All of them equally tawdry, inferior touch and sound, but good enough for me to barrel my way through fake books and what not to amuse myself.

My Gibson ES-137c

I’ve always wanted that one good guitar. A guitar that excites me, that stares me down and messes with my head. A guitar that I can’t put down. A guitar technically well-built with good intonation, electronics that don’t flake out, nice action and a unique warm sound. A guitar that will make me want to practice scales!

After a little inspiration (a viewing of It Might Get Loud), I decided now was the time to go get myself a real guitar. My dream guitar is a Gibson ES-335, but even used they are still very expensive and more than I’m willing to pay for a hobby. I searched local guitar stores for other semi-hollow bodies that fit my budget.

My older brother found my next guitar at a local shop. I’m not going to mention the name, because quite frankly, I think they really suck. He SMS’d me a picture and price, so I researched the model and put it in the back of my head. I continued to research other guitars.

Then last Friday evening, after dinner, I visited the guitar shop to see if the guitar my brother found was still there. It was, so I asked to take a closer look. I plugged into a Fender Blues DeVille and began noodling. I was sold. The guitar felt really good in my hands. It had great action and a big silky warm blues sound. After thirty minutes of the worst guitar-store riffing you’ll ever hear, I bought it.

It’s a 2003 Gibson ES-137 Classic. Lisa asked me if I was going to name it. The first name that came to my mind was Maud because it has a big fat butt just like the elephant Alex and I saw at the zoo earlier in the day. But really, who names their guitar these days? That’s cheeky.

The Beatles Let It Be Album

Jonathan Brown — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:33:17 +0000

I picked up the latest addition to my Beatles record collection this morning.

Posted from my Flickr account.

Social Ghost, 1/30/09, The Social

Jonathan Brown — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:06:17 +0000

Photographs from the Social Ghost show on January 30, 2009. Most of these were taken by Lisa.

Beatles Collection on Wall

Jonathan Brown — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:32:32 +0000

Lisa and I got around to hanging a few of my Beatles records on the wall today. We got Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper up. I need another frame for A Hard Day’s Night and a smaller frame for my Yesterday 45 single.

Posted from my Flickr account.

Social Ghost – Something More (Live)

Jonathan Brown — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:31:02 +0000

Social Ghost performs “Something More” at The Social in Orlando, Florida on January 30, 2009.

Posted from my YouTube account.

Social Ghost – War Without a Gun (Live)

Jonathan Brown — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:49:31 +0000

Social Ghost rips through the title track from their upcoming album, “War Without a Gun,” at The Social in Orlando, Florida on January 30, 2009.

Posted from my YouTube account.

The Beatles Sgt. Pepper Album

Jonathan Brown — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:51:49 +0000

The latest addition to my Beatles album collection.

Posted from my Flickr account.