Spent a big part of the day choosing which guitars will work best with which tracks within the 'Plectronica' live set. I think I'm almost there with these choices now, though I still have a couple of numbers to finally decide on.
I thought that a certain selection of guitars would work fine, then changed my mind and substituted different instruments. I guess the problem is that I'm faced with so many possibilities in this area. But, in the end, I had to take a gamble with a few untried choices. Just wanted to show off some newer instruments, I guess, regardless of their ultimate qualities. I can work with almost any guitar within reason. At least, that's what I hope...
One late addition, but one which is very poignant and appropriate to what might possibly be my final live performance, is the inclusion of my iconic Gibson 345 Stereo guitar, which my father bought for me way back in, (I think,) 1963 when I was a teenager, (both in years and in 'The Teenagers' band I joined at that time.)
That, (now vintage) Gibson guitar, with all its subtle alterations and incarnations, has shadowed my life and career for so many, many years... its story is my story, its soul is my soul, it embodies my memories and life experiences. It ties me irrevocably to the gift that my father made me of the guitar so many years ago.
I still remember vividly going to Kitchen's Music Shop in Leeds on a Wednesday afternoon to test the guitars out and compare it with a Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman guitar. To be honest, I'd gone there with the intention of choosing the Gretsch, but the Gibson, when I picked it up, felt so right for me.
And that, on that Wednesday afternoon, so many, many years ago, was what my father ended up buying for me. And thank goodness I still have that instrument in my possession today. Not just a great guitar, but a concrete link to my late father and the belief he had in me as a guitarist to take the risk of buying me such a wonderful instrument, and at great expense to himself.
I don't know where you are in the cosmic ether, Dad, (if there is such a thing.) Or if there's a heavenly netherworld, or if you've reincarnated, or just vaporised and returned to atoms and electrons, (which you always said you would do in the end). Well, you made this boy a man with a mission. And this man, in turn. with a deep gratitude that you could, sadly, never ultimately know. But perhaps you do know...I hope so. Thanks, Dad, from my heart.
