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Thursday, December 29, 2005
Detroit Guitar Players



Who is the best Detroit guitarist? I think most of us agree its Ted Nugent.
But there are so many top guitar players, I’ve decided to make this New Year’s Day edition of the Chop Shop all-Detroit.

Just think about some of the names,




Paul Kramer (Pleazer, Coda)
Wayne Kramer (MC5)
Sean Baker
John5 (Rob Zombie, David Lee Roth, Manson)
David Black (Seduce)
Bobby East (Killing Floor, several others)
C-Mak (Mindcandy)
Jimmy McCarty (Detroit Wheels, Rockets, Mystery Train)
Kenny Olson (Kid Rock, The Flask)
Gary Spaniola (Bitter Sweet Ally)
Joe Anthony
Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper, The Frost)
Jake Smith (Park The Karma, Brothers From Another Planet)
Gordie O’Shea (Spider in a Jar)
Michael Romeo (Adrenalin, DC Drive)
Brian Schram
Mick Neil
Jason Krause (Kid Rock)

That’s an impressive list, and I didn’t even do any research?

My Guests this Sunday are: Sean Baker, Kenny Olson, Paul Kramer, John5 and Jake Smith and we will celebrate and salute as many Detroit guitarist as I can shove into one hour!

Black out.
9:18 AM

Wednesday, December 28, 2005
It was a happy Christmas



Christmas was very nice this year. No trips to the Hospital, who could ask for more than that? Sabrina has spent 2 of the last 5 Christmases in the Hospital, but not this year!

We spent the morning with our neighbors the Boltons for brunch, then went over to Sabrina’s brothers house to spend time with her family. I managed to call most of my family later that night. My parents live in Kingman, Arizona and my brother and sister live in Tempe, Arizona. I also have a nephew who is in the navy, but I did not connect with him over the holidays so far.

(That's our cat Judas, with the santa hat)

I hope you can join us for New Year’s Eve? Grab some tickets and head out to the Palace. We will be ringing in the New Year with WRIF and Motley Crue. I’m sure it will be a wild night but come track us down, we’d love to see you.

Black out.
9:09 AM

Monday, December 19, 2005
Sabrina Update.


At each and every WRIF event or concert I attened, someone always asks for an update on my wife Sabrina's health.
Here is her latest.


Aloha! It's been about 3 months, so I guess it's time for an Aloha Update! I feel like I say this every time, but it seems to me I've had mostly bad news to report. But then, hey, here I still am! THAT'S definitely good. Lovin' life is what it's all about.
We went through 3 different types of IV chemotherapy drugs over the spring and summer, and none of them were working to shrink or reduce my existing tumours or keep new ones from forming. At the moment, I'm doing an oral chemo agent, Cytoxan, which was VERY toxic to me when I was using it before my 2nd Bone Marrow Transplant, but that was about 30 times the dose I'm getting now...We've just started it the week of Thanksgiving, so I don't know yet if it's doing the job or not. One of the chemos this summer did the job of taking my hair, so I don't have to worry about how much doing my hair slows me down in the morning during my very busy schedule. (HA!)
I don't really have much of a sked...I was in the hospital for about 2 weeks in October...I was having trouble breathing, and Dr. Zonder discovered that I had a big pocked of fluid on the outside of the lining of my lung. That led to them putting in a drainage tube, which was in until yesterday. The good news is that it's out...The bad news, that they'll probably have to put another one in...It's impossible to really take a shower with it, but it's camouflageable (Is that a word?) most of the time...I'm obviously really hoping that whatever is causing this excess fluid is done with and we won't have to put another in.
Mostly I'm feeling very tired, quite sick a lot of the time, and hating the fact that it's winter. That certainly doesn't help. Especially with 8 feet of snow on the ground.
One thing to be very happy about: My brother Tony the Marine made it home from Fallujah safe and sound, and we got to see him a few weeks back.
I would NEVER have made it this far without the love of my life, Black. If everybody was as lucky to have a caregiver like him, the world would be a better place. I hope you have a wonderful family to surround you with love this holiday season.
Happy Holidays!
peace & love,
Sabrina


1:24 PM

Sunday, December 18, 2005
Aerosmith & Slivertide




Aerosmith & Lenny Kravitz put on a hell of a show on Thursday night. What a great stage set up! There must have been 200 front row seats in that configuration!

The next afternoon Silvertide and Shinedown were at Rock-A-Billy's in Utica to sign autographs for WRIF Listeners. My friend, and Chop Shop artist John Rios painted a Silvertide poster that the band loved!

I managed to grab a few minutes of interview footage with both bands, so look for that in the audio section of WRIF.com in the coming days.

What's up with the beards? Nick Perri of Silvertide and Jasin Todd of Shinedown have both moved into the guitarist with beards catagory, joining Kenny Olson and the guitar beard masters, Zakk Wylde and Billy Gibbons!

Black out.


7:13 AM

Saturday, December 10, 2005
12/10 Trans-Siberian Orchestra



What a fun night. Sabrina and I got to the Palace and picked up our tickets & Passes around 6pm. We went down to catering (the 1 place you can always find a musician) and saw some of our friends.

First I ran into Kenny Kaplin, one of the bands managers. I’ve know Kenny for about 8 years now, and we’ve only see each other about 4 times, so it was nice to catch-up in person.

Next I made my way over to Alex Skolnick, one of T.S.O.’s guitarists. As we were talking I noticed what a strange feeling it was to be back stage as a guest, without working. I didn’t have to keep track of the time, track someone down to make certain that the interview took place, find out where to be to bring the band on….It was just Sabrina & I hanging out with the band.

Next Alex introduced me to Greg Hildebrandt, Greg is the band’s artist who has painted too many treasures to name, including the original Star Wars movie poster and comic book work for Superman, the X-Men, and Spiderman. (check out his work at www.spiderwebart.com
After some wonderful conversation with Greg and several others, I made my way over to see Dave Wittman. Dave is the main sound engineer for the band both on the road and in the Studio. I consider his mixing to be some of the best in all of recording history, and he is a great guy. I’ve know Dave for about 8 years now as well, and it’s always fun to sit down and talk music with a guy who help record records like Led Zeppelin "Houses of the Holy", Kiss "Alive" and countless others.

After that we worked our way up to the WRIF Both to say hello to Anne and the crew who were working the show, and then met our guests Steve & Beth Mosshart at our seats.
Since I first played Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the air back in 1995 (as Savatage, from the Dead Winter Dead CD) we have been close to the band. And for the last 6 tours we have taken a different couple to see the band every Christmas, as our own tradition.

The show was one of their best ever, and the Mossharts enjoyed it a great deal.

To wrap up the night we went backstage to thank everyone, and wish them all well. I gave Alex Skolnick & Chris Caffery each a Chop Shop T-shirt for being my guests on the Chop Shop Christmas Special again this year (on WRIF Christmas morning at 9am), and had a quick but fun radio discussion about the failure of satellite radio with Mark Wood (lead violin) that we did not get to finish….something to look forward to next year!

Black out.
11:30 AM

Thursday, December 01, 2005

David Gilmour is the newest member of the Chop Shop Hall of Fame. Thanks to your votes, David is the 5th guitarist to be elected into the hallowed halls. Here are some qoutes from his peers:

"David Gilmour is one of the greatest players of all-time. Defiantly one of my favorites" - Tom Morello of Audioslave

"Quite an esoteric way of expressing himself through the guitar. He's mesmerizing, quite hypnotic." - Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top

"You don't hear David Gilmour play, you feel him play" - Zakk Wylde

You can see the exclusive art work, bio and all-star salute at http://www.chopshopradio.com/hall_of_fame.html

Black out.
2:55 PM



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