Must it be said again ? The 60's
were the best years. But I get mad when people say it was the time for
J. Halliday, Sheila, C. Francois and Sylvie ...( in France) They weren't
the only ones ! People always forget to talk about Becaud, Brel, Brassens
and so many others who brought such novelty and richness to music. Still
; what a fabulous period ! Everything was possible and progressing : music,
society, science ... whereas, now things seem to be more difficult, and
the society seems to be regressing.
I wanted to talk about music, and here I am philosophising !! If you
haven't changed channel yet, I'll start again.
So, at this time, as later for boats, I used to make my own guitars.
Not because I thought they would be better (!) but out of necessity, because
I couldn't afford the guitars of my idols !
It worked, and as I had nothing else to compare with, and despite my
blistered fingers, I was pleased.
Let's skip a few years -when I was in the Army, in Germany. Briefly,
to avoid another digression, I was an interpreter( tri-lingual) detached
to the US Army. We used to do all sorts of manipulations with nuclear
head missiles. But right in the middle, our national Charles (De Gaulle)
decided to quit NATO. The americains took their ironmongery back,
and there I was : jobless !
Back in the ordinary soldier's life, I quickly formed
a Band so as to entertain the officers and contribute to the "Entente Cordiale"
between French and German ( a necessity ...).By the way, I escaped from
all other duties !!
After this period and with this rich experience ( not in dollars ),
I founded a (civil) Band with some friends and we animated hundreds of
dances in the region, up till the beginning of the 70's
Since then, I have never stopped playing the guitar, but not enough
to keep up a good level. Music is a difficult hobby ; you have to practise
for several hours every day ( in other words : if you don't use it, you
lose it!).
Througout the years, I have had so many guitars, but now I've got the
instruments I always dreamed of : a FENDER STRATOCASTER,
a GIBSON jazz guitar, an electro-accoustic
TAKAMINE, not to mention a few others. My Gibson is an EPIPHONE by GIBSON EMPEROR
II model, signed by JOE PASS. It's a real jewel,
of exceptional quality and the sound is wonderful. I also use Fender and
Marshall amplifiers ; together with multiple BOSS effect pedals.
The FENDER amp is a ROC PRO ( 100 watts), and the pedals
are BOSS : delay, Chorus, Reverbération, Blues Driver, Tremolo.
I also use, as an accompaniment, an electronic drum machine : the
Alesis SR 16 .
All these instruments, including the SHURE SM58 mike, are sent
to a SAMSON mixing
console. A POWER (300 watts ) amplifier with several speaker units,
complete the installation.
Must it be said again ? The 60's
were the best years. But I get mad when people say it was the time for
J. Halliday, Sheila, C. Francois and Sylvie ...( in France) They weren't
the only ones ! People always forget to talk about Becaud, Brel, Brassens
and so many others who brought such novelty and richness to music. Still
; what a fabulous period ! Everything was possible and progressing : music,
society, science ... whereas, now things seem to be more difficult, and
the society seems to be regressing.
