{"id":11494,"date":"2015-09-30T03:40:13","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T03:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/merlin-be-bop-deluxe-maid-in-heaven-live-2\/"},"modified":"2018-12-05T16:58:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T23:58:15","slug":"merlin-be-bop-deluxe-maid-in-heaven-live-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/merlin-be-bop-deluxe-maid-in-heaven-live-2\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"250\" height=\"187\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8TZOMrH_qaQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=opaque\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kungfugrippe.com\/post\/130177263179\/maid-in-heaven\" class=\"tumblr_blog\">merlin<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8TZOMrH_qaQ\"><strong>Be Bop Deluxe &#8211; \u201cMaid In Heaven\u201d<\/strong><\/a> (Live; <em>Old Grey Whistle Test<\/em>; 1975)<\/p>\n<p>[This is the resuscitated and link-repaired re-re-repost of something from (<em>yikes<\/em>) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kungfugrippe.com\/post\/980425324\/white-blazer-red-pants\">five years ago<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<p>Okay. So, I still haven\u2019t stopped listening to this goddamned song (via the original <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Futurama_(album)\"><em>Futurama<\/em><\/a> version) as well as watching this video. Again, repeatedly. <\/p>\n<p>And, it was only last night that I noticed something weird. And, now I can\u2019t stop thinking about it. Let alone un-notice it. And it makes me like this performance even better.<\/p>\n<p>USE CAUTION: GUITAR NERDERY, NEXT 15 PARAGRAPHS. EXPECT DELAYS.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re vaguely interested (which you almost certainly aren\u2019t), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8TZOMrH_qaQ\">watch the video<\/a> again, at least from the beginning through the first verse. <\/p>\n<p>Got it? Okay, then.<\/p>\n<p>Didja notice 4 things?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Bill\u2019s aggressive use of whammy bar during the intro;<\/li>\n<li>Bill\u2019s subsequent tuning problem with (what sounds like) his \u201cG\u201d;<a href=\"5008\" id=\"fnref:5008\" title=\"see footnote\" class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Bill\u2019s low-key ability to minimize the clams generated by such a tuning problem;<\/li>\n<li>While still shredding like a goddamned tweaked-out weedwhacker.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>On TV. With the near-nudity of a small band. While singing. <em>In a white blazer and red pants<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>Okay, got your interest? Go back and listen again with headphones, because it\u2019s actually <em>really<\/em> fucking out of tune. A little rancid. Maybe a quarter-step or more? Wow.<\/p>\n<p>So, first, off, I have no idea what the man was thinking by dive-bombing with a (\u201c<em>boingy-boingy-boing-TANG!-<strong>PROOOHNNNG!<\/strong><\/em>\u201d) Bigsby vibrato on an ES\u2013345; mind you, this is during the <em>opening bars<\/em> of a song being performed <em>for national TV<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>Boys: that Bigsby ain\u2019t no Floyd Rose-havin\u2019 Edward Van Halen-type situation\u2013no, sir, that there is an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.billnelson.com\/usarchives\/other\/faq.htm\">early 60s guitar<\/a>. And the vibrato is about as forgiving as a fat kid with an expired taco coupon.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway. Wow. Out of tune.<\/p>\n<p>But. Through some insane, in-the-moment combination of adjustments<a href=\"21815\" id=\"fnref:21815\" title=\"see footnote\" class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/a>, these acrobatics escaped me until I\u2019d watched it at least 20 times. <\/p>\n<p>Yes, <em>stipulated<\/em>: I\u2019m the king of sharp singing as well as the pitiful, Quasimodo-like victim of 5 years in the blast zone of a <em>ferocious<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/merlin\/5156731\/\">Orange amp<\/a>. So, maybe I\u2019m not a good bar for whether it\u2019s empirically noticeable. <\/p>\n<p>Still. You gotta hand it to the man. Because, that\u2019s some ninja shit to pull off under pressure.<\/p>\n<p>Also, not to talk about work, but, this? This business here? <em>This<\/em> is expertise. <\/p>\n<p>This is about knowing your shit so deeply, and so inside and out, that you can not only route around a potential catastrophe, but you can do it while looking like you\u2019re getting a surprisingly B-plus handie from your pal\u2019s stepmother. And, <em>in a white blazer and red pants<\/em>, no less.<\/p>\n<p>Awesome.<\/p>\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr>\n<ol>\n<li id=\"fn:5008\">\n<p>And, isn\u2019t it <em>always<\/em> the \u201cB\u201d or the \u201cG?\u201d Skinny little cocksuckers. <a href=\"5008\" title=\"return to article\" class=\"reversefootnote\">\u00a0&#x21a9;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li id=\"fn:21815\">\n<p>Guessing\u2026alternate fingerings for the parts and chords, wide finger vibrato, extensive palm muting, and quickie volume adjustments? <a href=\"21815\" title=\"return to article\" class=\"reversefootnote\">\u00a0&#x21a9;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"attribution\">(<span>Source:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>merlin: Be Bop Deluxe &#8211; \u201cMaid In Heaven\u201d (Live; Old Grey Whistle Test; 1975) [This is the resuscitated and link-repaired re-re-repost of something from (yikes) five years ago.] Okay. So, I still haven\u2019t stopped listening to this goddamned song (via the original Futurama version) as well as watching this video. Again, repeatedly. And, it was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[423,422,421,424],"class_list":["post-11494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","hentry","category-words","tag-artistry","tag-competence","tag-expertise","tag-grace-under-pressure","post_format-post-format-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-2Zo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11498,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11494\/revisions\/11498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}