Shamanzarek

I've been learning Monkees songs for an upcoming show. In "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" there is a sustained low note in the intro that I've always presumed was brass. Scrutinizing it closer I thought it sounded like a Clavinet. Checking Wikipedia it is Clavinet played by Stan Free. This was from 1967 before the Clav became known as a funk machine but it is effective here for that one bit part.

I play with a band that is celebrating it's 40th anniversary this summer. The band leader's philosophy is not to have any dead air during the set as younger people tend to have short attention spans and if you stop playing for even 15 seconds you will lose them. The band has been doing pretty much the same three sets for about 23 years. Each set is a medley of songs from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. The music is non-stop danceable rock and pop in each set. Some songs we seriously play all the way through but many are kind of a novelty where we do a verse and then into the next song. One example is we play "Livin' on a Prayer all the way through and then break into a bit of "'My Sharona", a couple of verses of "Mony Mony", and then "Doo Wah Diddy". Even though the band ages range from about 50-70 we still play to packed houses of mostly 20-somethings and a few older people including the NJ Governor at the Jersey Shore. We also had a monthly NYC gig that lasted over 20 years until covid that drew a full house of 20-somethings every time we played there. The band also has a long history of playing Comic-Con, Monkees-Con, and Beatles-Con where we've backed up many 60s artists. For those events we do sets appropriate for the gig. April 8 we are doing an all-Monkees party in Philadelphia where we will play the obvious hits along with a lot of lesser-known songs from their catalog.

Ritchie Blackmore has been living on Long Island for close to 20 years. Other members of DP including Jon Lord were living in CT probably so he could be close to Goff.

I have a student that plays in his high school jazz band. We primarily focus on jazz but occasionally do a fun piece that incorporates an unusual playing technique. This is one that might appeal to younger player. The performance in the video likely makes it look more difficult than it really is. Obviously a less-experienced player won't be playing it this fast but with a little practice can maintain a good tempo.

I think "I Put a Spell on You" and "It's a Man's World" are all or mostly minor chords.

I would second the Casio XW-P1 as an inexpensive top Keyboard that can cover a lot of ground. The tone wheel organ section is more adjustable than ROMpler organs and can do a couple things the much more expensive tone wheel simulators can't. It has a very full-featured programmable hex layer synth section. There is an assortment of other sounds like pianos, strings, brass, etc. The XW-P1 was discontinued but a used one might turn up with some searching.

Might have been a Kurzweil PC88MX. I used it for practicing at home and for gigs with Boss PK-5 pedals. Took it on a European tour and the sound crew was raving about how great it sounded. Didn't hold up but it was great while it lasted. Replaced it with a PC2X/O which didn't work out nearly as well despite having tone wheel section and more sounds.

Try some Loctite Rust Dissolver in a non-critical area and see if it cleans up the corrosion. There are other brands like Rust-Oleum and Evapo Rust. The main ingredient in these is phosphoric acid also an ingredient in Coca-Cola known to weaken bones with regular use.

In 1990 I had the opportunity to buy a Roland D70 before there were any in the stores to try out. I figured how could it miss with the D50 being so ubiquitous. It had 76 keys and should have been everything the D50 was and more. I was expecting an enhanced D50 but it turned out to be more of a U20 type ROMpler. I put it up for sale immediately and got all my money back. The D70 was barely in production for a year so I think I made the right move.

I thought it was cool when Mark Andes joined the band. The first Spirit album is one of my all-time favorites and his bass playing is great on that record. After Spirit Andes formed Jo Jo Gunne who had one big hit "Run, Run, Run" but had a song or two, in particular "Take Me Down Easy" that was big with cover bands on the SoCal club scene. He was also in Firefall who had many hits in the country rock style that was so prevalent in the 70s. My favorite 80s Heart song is "How Can I Refuse". I saw the Royal Albert Hall concert on AXS a few days ago and was impressed that they did "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin.

The Soundseat is considered to be one of the best but not inexpensive.

I used to listen to the Closer to It album a lot in the 70s. Loved his Rhodes playing on that and tried to emulate it. In '93 I saw him with Eric Burdon at a small club in Westwood, NJ. I seem to remember him playing a Korg keyboard mostly doing organ sounds. Of course they were doing Animals songs and it seemed like he took a smokin' solo on nearly every song.

When buying a used PX-5S check the velocity response on the A# notes. There was a design flaw that caused many to have erratic behavior on A# notes usually on a lower A#. The PX-5S has been in production since at least 2013 and the price for a new one just went up by $100.

I just sold a K12 I've had for about eight years. There was a huge response for my ad and I got $650 which I was asking for it. I never used the K12 except for rehearsals and didn't really like the sound of it. I hooked it up to my Casio PX-5S to demo for sale and it sounded fantastic. I may have made a mistake letting it go.

I was reading about them on Music Radar yesterday. There are a few articles and interview here: https://www.musicradar.com/search?searchTerm=tears+for+fears

I held off on buying a Nord for years because the bottom key was an F. I really need a low E when playing left-hand bass. I got the Stage 3 Compact and while I would prefer a few more keys on top 73 is usually adequate.

I find it hard to believe many of the items on Reverb and eBay are actually selling at those inflated listed prices. I often list equivalent items at half the price on CL and FB Marketplace and it still takes forever to sell. Only on a really choice item can I hold firm on my already low asking price.

I'm a 12-string fan. I was in a band with two Rickenbacker employees in the early 80s. One day the guitar player brought in this Fire-Glo 1966 360-12 that had the fingerboard splitting off. As his Christmas bonus Rickenbacker repaired and refinished the guitar. He had a fairly big guitar collection and never used the 12-string much having strung it as a 6-string. So I bought it from him and still have it. Our guitar player went on to be Neil Diamond's guitar tech for many years until Neil's retirement.

I saw the K250 being demo-ed a few times at NAMM shows in the 80s. Kurzweil had a very nice soundproof booth with a small stage on the NAMM floor. Befitting the high cost of the K250 the two product demonstrators were dressed in tuxedos like serious classical musicians. As well as demonstrating specific sound capabilities they performed an impressive orchestral medley of John Williams movie themes using two K250s. At the time the K250 base price was just under $10,000. Fully-loaded with all sound blocks and sampling option it was about $16,000 plus the price of a Macintosh. One year at NAMM Patrick Moraz did the demo saying that he owned a K250 which he made a point of mentioning he purchased himself and was not given to him by Kurzweil. The only time I ever touched a K250 was at Hanich Music in West Covina, CA which was the only dealer I know of to have one in stock. I never saw any band use a K250 either live or on video. I did know of Marc Hugenberger a prominent jazz musician in the Los Angeles area who played one. He also used a Memorymoog which he brought into the shop where I worked for frequent calibration. It was only recently that I came across this video performance. This band was known to use only a Vox Continental on stage and here they are using a K250 for solely replicating a Vox. At the time they probably could have bought at least fifty real Continentals for the price of the Kurzweil.

Jimmy Greenspoon of Three Dog Night used a Leslie on his RMI and probably on his Wurlitzer at times. It sounds like John Lennon may have run his Hohner Pianet through a slow Leslie on "I Am the Walrus".

On local FB Marketplace: At least 18 Allen organs ranging in price from free to a few hundred to $40,000. Five Rodgers. One Wicks. Free Möller pipe organ in NYC. Lots of Electone spinets but only a couple of full size models. A small number of large Conns for a few hundred. Lots of Lowreys for cheap.

In this visual mix you can see the organ comes in when the solo starts and then disappears. I do hear some low grinding chords under the short guitar solo and vocal chorus until about 2:25 and then seems to be keyboard-free for the rest of the song. In this live version Tom Scholz plays an acoustic guitar on a stand until the organ solo and then switches to electric guitar. The second Keyboardist plays very little and mostly does harmony vocals.

My preferred keyboard bass is a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass which I've been using with Doors tribute bands since 1992. I have also played in a few Led Zeppelin tributes where I play bass guitar most of the time and use bass pedals or left hand bass on the keyboard songs. I have a set of Roland PK-5 MIDI pedals which make a great Taurus substitute used with the Behringer Model D. I like to use analog bass sounds when possible but in the late 80s I started out doing bass using samples. I had a Roland S-770 sampler back then which sounded great and had a wide variety of sampled bass guitars and synth basses. In the 2000s I was in a cover band playing bass guitar and keyboard/pedals. This band really pushed me to the limit having to cover many songs that had difficult keyboard parts and then having to do the bass too. For that band I used a Roland S-760 which was much smaller than the S-770 with twice the memory.

A few years ago a couple of places were selling B-Stock Stage 3 Compacts for as low as $2404. I got mine for $2407. Its possible, but unlikely, that this is a B-Stock purchase but even so I would expect it to be listed at a higher price. I know if I were to sell my B-Stock Stage 3 I could probably make a few hundred on it.

TUBI TV is running a Ventures history featuring interviews with band members and well-known musicians like Skunk Baxter., Mark Farner, and Bruce Springsteen who were big fans.