Melody of the stardom
Bleeding out rock and roller ear's
The year of 79, Frampton,Kiss
Metal
Steers

Slashers Defined

In response to my piece, Slashers, it was requested that maybe I could
reveal at least which band or other info these great guitar players performed for to gain their claim to fame. I don't want to spend too much
time on this defintion, but will give what info I think is pertinent. If you do not know some of the names I have presented to you, and you are a blues,
rock, jazz, fusion guitar fan, I suggest you take the time to listen to some of their work. I have included some of my favorite incredible fusion players that do not have a super star following, but are renowned in their group of fans, probably mostly musicians to some degree.
If you are a frustrated guitar player like I am, do not listen to the likes of  Holdsworth, Johnson, Gambale, or Morse unless you love being tortured.
Anyway on with the show.
        
Eric Clapton – Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos.

Jimmy Page – Yardbirds, Led Zeppe, The Honeydrippers, The Firm

Jimi Hendrix – not only what is, but,  what could have been

Alan Holdsworth – Solo jazz fusion player – hot

Steve Howe –  Yes, Asia - Progressive rock, jazz –

Bill Nelson – BeBop Deluxe, Solo

Terry Kath – Chicago (25 or 6 to 4) – another sad early departure

Ted Nugent – Amboy Dukes, **** Yankees – The madman

Jim Krueger – Dave Mason Band – solo progressive rock

Eddy Van Halen – Van Halen

Ritchie Blackmore – Deep Purple, Rainbow

Jerry Doucette – Doucette (Mama let him play)

Eric Johnson – Solo – New Age, jazz

Frank Gambale – Australian- Jazz, fusion, rock

Goerge Benson – Jazz

Larry Carlton – Jazz, new age rock

Marc Farner -  Grand Funk Railroad

Peter Frampton – Humble Pie, solo

Joe Satriani - New age – solo

Johnny A. - jazz, new age – solo

Danny Gatton – jazz, rockabilly – solo

Chet Atkins – jazz, country

John Mayer – Pop, blues – solo

Neal Schon – Journey

Steve Lukather – Toto

Masyoshi Takanaka – New age, jazz – Japanese solo

Lee Ritnour – Jazz, new age – solo

Leslie West -  Mountain, West  Bruce & Laing

Monty Montgomery – jazz, blues (accoustic you have never heard)

Wes Montgomery – jazz 40's – 50's

Phil Keaggy – New age Christian

Robin Trower – Procul Harem

Brian May – Queen

Rick Derringer – Montrose, Edgar Winter Group, Steely Dan

Robin Ford – John Mayall, Chick Corea, solo jazz, fusion, blues

Carlos Santana – Santana

Ronnie Montrose – Montrose

Steve Morse – Dixie Dregs, Kansas, solo jazz, fusion

Trevor Rabin – Yes, solo new age

Gomer LePoet...

Slashers

I grew up when rock bands were first here
from out of nowhere they would apprear
long haired, bearded hippies makin noise

some were quite good once you figured them out
others were bad, couldnt sing a lick, only shout
wondered where they got the money to buy the toys

one thing they featured, were loud out of tune guitars
made more weird sounds, then the race track cars
but some of them knew or actually learned how to play

these were the slashers who knew more than 3 chords
spine tingling sounds, from electric wires on boards
the sounds were so new I would listen all day

now I'm gonna name a few who made an impression on me
I'm sure your opinions will differ and you won't agree
but mostly I'm talking bout the early days of underground rock

there are new ones I know who are slicker than snot
but these are the ones that I never forgot
I can still listen to them now around the clock

ok here we go, hold on to your hat, you can reply to me
if I left off  your favorite, and I'm sure I did;
  
clapton, page, Hendrix, Holdsworth and howe
Bill Nelson, Kath, nugent, krueger, Van Halen
blackmore, knopfler, doucette and Eric johnson
gambale, benson, carlton, farner, frampton
satriani, Johnny A., Gatton, atkins, mayer
schon, lukather, takanaka, ritnour and west
monty montgomery, wes montgomery, keaggy
trower, may, derringer and ford
santana, montrose, morse and Trevor rabin

Gomer LePoet...

[Therefore when you meet the unbelievers,
smite them at their necks.
Thus does Allah test you,
and, according to Qu’uran,
those that are slain in Allah’s way,
will never have their deeds forgotten.]

They called him Jihadi John.
It was not his name.
Mohammed Emwazi was how he was really known.
Born in Kuwait;
brought up in Britain.
How are such monsters made?
They have special classes
associated with the mosque.
How to slay
in the name of Allah.
The mosque does not encourage them,
but the mosque is a useful hub
for recruitment
and good camouflage
for activities denounced by
the majority of the congregation.

We really cannot blame
the parents,
we, who have spawned our own share
of mad dogs.
“He was always such a good boy”,
we hear them cry.
“Charlie’s such a good boy, a good boy”
runs the Dia Frampton lyrics
“so compliant, quiet as a stepping stone”.
“You’re such an easy target,”Dia says,
“without a rebel bone”.

[Do you hear what I’m saying?]

But this is in the West,
where tolerance is synonymous with weakness.
Pinpointed as terrorists
by the enforcers of public order,
(perhaps better defined as errorists)
so hesitant to deny these miscreants
their legal rights,
these sickening abominations
(undeserving of the name of Man)
are able to perpetrate their outrages
and continue to abuse the State
that has nourished them.
All in the name of
political correctness.

An equal tolerance
has never yet been granted
to one suspected of a similar
disregard for the traditions
and beliefs and loyalties
prized within their own
Islamic State.

We also have to ask ourselves:
would Russia tolerate this situation?
And furthermore
why is that immense country
so free, apparently, from Jihadism
when it has been responsible
for far more Muslim slaying
than any other Western nation?
Is it perhaps that very fact:
that absence of such toleration
has rendered it immune
from such attacks?

[Do you hear what I’m saying?]


So if you really want to take a hostage
and satisfy your primitive desire
to lop off a head,
the road to take is spread out there
before you.
You need to move to
freedom-loving nations of the West.
Pronounce your aims
in non-equivocating terms
and tie them very closely
to doctrinal belief.
No matter how outrageous
they may seem.

Indeed, the more absurdly
barbarous and primitive
the ideology that you spout,
the more your hosts
will backward bend
and shower upon you all the
benefits of a beloved friend.
Indeed, in bending backward
they are making a symbolic
gesture:
baring and presenting you
a throat.

[Now do you hear what I’m saying?]

...and off I went...

on the way to nowhere.
Fogerty asked me a bit about the rain,
Floyd told me about money,
Henley was worried about some boys
       because it was summer,
Frampton kept asking someone
       to show him the way.
I hoped it wasn't me, I had no idea
       where I was headed.
Until I stopped to write this.
And when I got here
the Animals told me about a house
       in New Orleans.
On the way, between songs
I figured out the meaning of life
but I didn't think anyone would believe it
       or me,
so I didn't bother to write it down.
Now,
I can't remember what it was.
It will come back to me again,
someday,
maybe.
My eyes are on fire as the sweat
       rolls down into them.
I'm watching the boats cruise by freely
from the confines of my car.
I think of how my mind is like the water:
always changing
and it never stops moving.
As goes life:
the only constant is that everything changes.
...and it hit me again, just now,
the meaning of life,
and it makes sense to me, but you
       still wouldn't believe me if I told you.
I have to get going anyway.
It's a long ride back,
but not long enough.

This morning
outside my window

a hummingbird

****** nectar into its beak
as if through a straw
from the feeder hanging from
the edge of my house

Peter Frampton
sings "I'm in You"
coming from the tinny speaker
of an old phonograph on an oak desk in my den

these are not my clothes
hanging in my closet
that smells of cedar bark
they are not my size and they are not

my style

whit howland © 2021