| Gibson rocking as pricey American icon in guitar-loving Japan
A visitor to the Tokyo Guitar Show tries out a classic Gibson as staff help tune an amplifier at a local Gibson shop's booth in Tokyo on Saturday, June 24, 2006. Gibson makes a range of guitars solely for the Japanese market, including rocker Tak Matsumoto's signature Les Paul in special guitar shades like canary yellow and sunburst. Although Gibson is making marketing pushes elsewhere where demand is expected to grow, such as China, Japan is still Gibson's biggest market outside the United States and twice as large as its biggest European market, Great Britain. (AP) .
Kustom Celebrates 40th Anniversary With Introduction Of Limited Edition Amplifiers
Kustom Amplification proudly celebrates its 40th Anniversary with the introduction of two series of Limited Edition guitar amplifiers. Sporting cool racing-style stripes, the 40th Anniversary Coupe® Series consists of three models while the new '66 DART™ takes Kustom's popular 10-watt guitar amp platform and gives it a full-on "Tuck n' Roll" visual treatment. The 40th Anniversary Coupe Series amplifiers will be available in 1x12 (36-watt) and 2x12 (72-watt) combo amp formats as well as a 2x10, 36-watt version - a new configuration for the Coupe Series. In keeping with the Anniversary theme, only 40 of each model will be manufactured. The padded Tuck n' Roll panels of each Anniversary Coupe are crafted using the original Uniroyal® Naugahide material but with a bold racing stripe added and a special "1966 - 2006" embroidered logo stitched directly onto the colored panel.
Larry Martus | Transcendence
Solo recordings have to overcome extra hurdles in order to maintain listener interest. Single-line instruments like the saxophone tend to have the most difficulty because of their limited timbral range and inability to maintain an independent accompanying line. The piano is naturally the most flexible, allowing independent hands to work, but it also has timbral limitations. The guitar is in betweenit can fake true contrapuntal lines, but it also can change its sound through electronics. With Transcendence, Larry Martus has assembled a beautiful collection of original compositions for solo guitar. For the gearheads out there (meaning most electric guitar players of any stripe), a lot of different equipment was used in this recording. Martus lists a 1967 Gibson ES-335, a 1968 Fender Pro Reverb, and an old Fender Stratocaster (with modified electronics, of course) coupled with a 1956 (!) Fender Tremolux and a Roland JC-120 amplifier.
Kava: San Jose festival showcases top-notch local talent for free
It's getting harder and harder for great musicians to break away from their day jobs and get on the road. Which for fans means that some of the best local talent still plays area festivals, often for the right price -- free! This weekend offers a classic example with downtown San Jose's Tapestry Arts Festival, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. Great, diverse music will be played on a handful of stages. Steve Czarnecki's Soul Jazz Quintet is built around the Hammond B-3, that full-blustered organ that gave the old soul classics, like Booker T's ``Green Onions,'' their flavor. Czarnecki's band includes singer Nate Pruitt, who has taught a lot of San Jose's finest singers the art of vocals. They play at 11:45 a.m. Saturday on the 98.5 KFOX/95.3 KRTY stage.
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