Roadie #3

I believe Paul just got the Melody Maker reissue about a week before the Boxer reunion show. It does look a lot like the one Eric used. However, Joan Jett who has EC's MM did not use the extra pick up that was placed near the neck. Hence the reissue model does not have the pick up as EC's did. The guitar sounded really good.

Happy B-Day to one special person. WOW a birthday and date night all wrapped up in one day. Enjoy and see you soon. Ernie

Uncle Al, Happy birthday buddy. Hope to see ya soon. Enjoy the day!!! Ernie

OK, I'm ready. However, I believe that the draft order for this year should be what it was suppose to be last year before the computer glitch. Do I think I am selfish, yes, but with my showing last year I think I need some sort of advantage. After all, I haven't been busy tuning any guitars so I need something to keep me busy.

Will it happen???? Ernie

In addition Wally was there and played along with newest Overdub, Paul Christanson.

You think the collection of keys was cool, you should have seen the collection of towels that the road crew had from all those hotels. We never seemed to have time to do laundry and always needed towels for the shows. There are some other funny stories tied in with the towels but that would be for another time.

Happy B-Day Danny. Hope to see ya soon!

For all rock fans pick up "Joe Vitale Backstage Pass". A great book!! I am loving reading this book. From his web page; the summary: Get a Backstage Pass for all the craziness of rock ‘n roll! After years of hearing the comment, “You should write a book!†world renowned drummer Joe Vitale finally takes you backstage for a rare and intimate look behind the scenes, as told to his wife of thirty-five years, Susie Vitale. This book includes Joe’s all-time favorite stories and over a hundred pages of his personal photographs! Backstage Pass is a very personal, humorous, and nostalgic history-in-stories of on the road and in the studio spanning over forty years of his rock ‘n roll drumming career. His stories, dating right up to 2008, include experiences with legendary performers such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Eagles, Dan Fogelberg, Peter Frampton, Ted Nugent, Joe Walsh, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Ronnie Wood, Carl Wilson, Rick Derringer, Van Morrison and many more. Vitale's many songwriting credentials include the classic, "Rocky Mountain Way" from "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" album by Joe Walsh and, "Pretty Maids All In A Row" from The Eagles album, "Hotel California." Vitale has two solo albums and is releasing his third, "Speaking In Drums," the summer of 2008. His son, Joe Vitale Jr.'s, album, which Joe Sr. produced called, "Dancing With Shadows" will also be simultaneously released. Joe continues to tour, record, write and produce, and has no plans for slowing down. The foreward for "Backstage Pass" is written by David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Stephen Stills. Read more about Joe at: www.joevitaleondrums.com

Here the set list guys and gals and I am going to bed. TONIGHT PLAY ON I'M A ROCKER COLD OUTSIDE I WANNA BE WITH YOU LET'S PRETEND OVERNIGHT SENSATION PARTY'S OVER ALL BY MYSELF SUBSTITUTE ECSTASY I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT GO ALL THE WAY ENCORE TICKET TO RIDE BABY'S IN BLACK NO REPLY I CAN'T EXPLAIN

Set list changed since the picture was taken. I am waiting for the band to run through the set and say it is a go before I crank up the old portable printer and then print set lists for the show. I think in the past I have cut down 2 or 3 trees by printing the set lists before they were set in stone. No time on Friday to do it at the show.

I remember tuning that guitar. I believe Wally had the same guitar.

Happy belated Birthday. Hope the fingers are getting stronger playing that bass. Ernie

Although I had left the Road Crew before the Starting Over Tour to move on to what I perceived as bigger and better things. The one thing I can say about booking schedules in the old days is they made no sense for the crew. In the old days if you were part of the crew you did everything. My job initially was to be Jim's drum tech and then Wally's guitar tech. So we would get to a show and we would all unload the truck, I would set the drums and then we would all set the PA system (yes we carried our own) and then set the stage. After that tune everything and get ready for the show. After the show tear it all down and then pack the truck. Oh yea, we were also the truck drivers. I can remember (sounds like a song title) the booking agency out of Detroit would have us in Boston on Thursday, Birmingham on Friday and Dallas on Saturday and then back to Cleveland or Chicago on Sunday. Our hotel room was the sleeper in the truck. But I would not trade the memories for the world.

Being on the road for more than 35 years I have food from everywhere. In the US some traveling hints: Best Corned Beef in the US Hands Down No comparison = Slyman's in Cleveland @ 31st & St.Clair. Nothing can touch it Steaks = Frankie & Johnnie's in NYC, tested by the compleate road crew and certified. Best Ribs = Gotta be Montgomery Inn in Cincinnati Best Fajitas = Alamo Cafe in San Antonio "unbelievable" Best Chicken Fried Steak (also known as Heart Attack on a plate) = Jailhouse Cafe in San Antonio

According to "Dugie" the band has put together a CD and the release and tour should be coming soon. Dugie is very excited about the music and said 10x better than Van Halen. I know they have a web-site already with some samples. Check it out.

And a note about the tuning...sometimes it seems that I just can't get it right.. Please understand that I have been Wally's tech way back from the late 60's (Target) and never learned how to play guitar. I don't know a single chord..scary right..

On a good day with minimal finger cramping about 1 1/2 hours to restring and tune with finger cramping up to 4 hours. This includes maintenance like deep cleaning, lubrication etc. If I do it during a rehearsal it takes all night because of all the interruptions. I normally do a complete restring and cleaning the day before the last rehearsal (show run through) to a show run. This allows Wally to really stretch out the strings before a show, but yet they are still pretty fresh for the show. Depending on how much he uses it in a show determines if I do a complete restring or just a partial (high E & B strings) for the second night. However, 2 show maximum before a restring. The guitar gets pretty sweaty during the shows and really needs the neck, frets and body cleaned.

The doubleneck is his pride and joy and it is sooooo heavy. Although there have many other doublenecks made by Gibson and other manufacturers however, this one was designed to Wally's spec's that include the necks being about 1" closer together than any others and location of the toggle switches. This gives Wally some advantages when he plays switching from neck to neck. Unfortunately, it makes it a bear to restring taking sometimes up to 3+ hours if my fingers start cramping up. The only thing Gibson did not do is make the necks a little longer as we had asked. If I remember correctly it took Gibson almost a year to deliver after it was ordered. It has always been one of my favorites.

Yes it is a 360-12. Lots of history with this guitar, all original except for the neck (broken 3x - none thankfully my fault).

NO, names .. other than; Did you really tune this???

And before anyone asks, YES everything is original except for the Grover tuning pegs. I replaced the original tuning pegs in 71 or 72. Other than that nothing has changed including the guitar strap which does not come off and has not since 1969 when I bought it. NO, the strings are not original, I have changed those thousands of times. Ernie

Happy Birthday to the best of the best. Hope to see you soon. Ernie

I believe Jim Bonfanti will be there. I was suppose to be there to help out but it is my granddaughters first birthday.

The drummers name is Al Wilson. According to Paul, Al is the original drummer of Taylor's back up band from day one. I met him about a year ago and he is a rock steady drummer who love to play on Ludwig's just like Mr. Bonfanti. The whole back up band known as "The Agency" are really nice people and on the ride of their life. As far as that green sparkle Gretsch guitar, Paul brought that one along with about 20 other mostly new guitars to a Tequila Sunrise show in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago which I worked for him. We had guitar changes on virtually every song in the 2 hour plus performance. Talk about being exhausted after a show. I don't make that many changes for Wally in a berries show. Since joining Taylor's band Paul has certainly increased his vault with some very nice guitars from Gibson, Gretsch, PRS, Taylor and Fender.