From early on, Hendrix just changed the string order to run low E on top (without rekitting the hardware, except for moving the strap button to the lower strat body horn). The problem with that is, it’s still not a proper “left hander”, as it reverses the tonal qualities on the Strat bridge pickup (so the bass strings were read as bright, and the high strings as mellow, making his sound even more unique).

Here’s a picture that clearly shows his Fender Stratocaster, rigged upside down (notice the whammy bar is loose, and hanging over the bridge. On a standard body, the whammy bar goes on the bottom, toward the pic guard. Given the pickup kit is a fixed molding, there is really no way to retrofit a righthand body with a lefthand pickup kit, as it would not align over the body cutouts properly, as a Strat body is asymetric). We can tell from this pic, as he is playing thumb-over style (to cover bass), that he strung low E on top.

ref: http://www.last.fm/music/Jimi+Hendrix/+images/194001

From the UTube you posted with Albert and SRV, it’s clear Albert is playing “backwards”. And I would never argue or doubt for a second the ability of Albert King. I completely understand, as playing the string order upside down, completely changes the chord shapes/positions that most players can form in their sleep, especially running 4 finger chords with augmented 7ths or 9ths, typically covered with the little finger. That requires a massive and powerful hand to pull that off backwards.

(speaking of “playing in one’s sleep, ever seen this little gem?

Freaking tasty, no? That’s the Vaughn brothers doing a duet on the same guitar, LOL)

I wonder how Dr. Johnny Fever feels about a Disco singer getting into the Rock ‘n Roll HOF?

Many Randy Newman tunes are like a worm the mojo woman puts in your ear. Once they get in there, you just cannot seem to get them out.

Take for instance, “It’s A Jungle Out There”. The theme song played during the opening credits of the old TV series, Monk. The song droned on as Mr. Monk went through a long series of his many OCD routines, before the week’s episode finally took over in earnest.

Bet you can hear it now, huh? bruhahaha. Worm…ear…mojo woman. Can you hear me now? lol.

If folks want a baseball analogy for Albert King, there is one, and only one, candidate that best represents Albert; Satchel Paige. By the time Satchel got to play in the bigs, he was in his 40s, and most of baseball never got to see the man in his prime. Even into his 40s, Satchel was still a stud frontline pitcher.

Same with Albert. The 60s generation brought Albert back into the forefront, but most, never got to hear the man in his prime, where it was rumored on some nights, in those old dives and dumps, he either touched the hand of god or the devil. Nobody was sure which, but they all let the good times roll, driven by the incredible sounds and soul of the velvet bulldozer.

(note: Albert was lefthanded and played a right handed guitar, upside down (one of the first to play a Gibson Flying V, btw). The next man up doing that on the big stage? Jimi Hendrix, a student of Albert’s music, one of many in a long line of Albert proteges)

Albert King was the real thing, a living connection to one of the 3 great primal american music forms; jazz, country, and the blues. Albert didn’t hear the blues on vinyl records, mimic the sound, dress up like a pretty schoolboy (no offence intended), and re-import the blues back to America like the Brits did back in the 60s; he created them himself. Original.

Albert walked the long road up from the Mississippi Delta during the Great Migration, playing for his room and board, and into the begining of the great shape of things to come in Chicago (Jimmy Reed was one of Albert’s first hookups in Chicago. Jimmy Reed played with and was a peer of Elmore James. So there ya go for Blues bona fides). Authentic.

His hands were made strong, and blessed with precision and endurance from being born, and working, picking cotton all day from a very early age, on a cotton plantation. And what made him strong, also set him free, walking that long road to Chicago, refining his craft in every little bar, roadhouse, dump, and dive in the many points in between. On a guitar he made himself. Eternal.

The Blues are a living artform, and no vinyl, CD, or DVD can hold them. One must experience them “live”. Here’s Albert live at the Fillmore East in 1970 (he already had 30+ years of experience at this point):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw-kPkdrajU (look at almost every bill/poster from the old Fillmore days. One of the names you will almost always see….Albert King)

(hear the horns? That influence is from Albert’s days with Stax Records in Memphis (early Stax), working with Booker T and the MGs (before Green Onions), i.e., Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn (post 1964), et al. So there is Albert’s connection to the soul side; playing with Otis Redding, Wilson Picket, Sam and Dave, et al, while at Stax).

Frankly, screw the R&R HoF. We don’t need their seal of approval to appreciate Albert King and the many others. Besides, they were much too late in askin.

(note: a Chess Records legend, Howlin Wolf, paid homage to the Migration in a great blues offering called Highway 49. The most infamous crossroads of old America, where Highway 61 crosses Highway 49 in Clarksdale, Miss. Where Robert Johnson made his deal with the devil…

Here’s the wolf, howling in 1971 (with eric clapton, the rhythm section from the Stones, and others): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMjFFSqGa5s )

I would suggest that Geddy’s bass playing, and RUSH’s music in general, is about as far removed from punk rock as you can get, but I suppose this is what happens when baseball writers try their hand at writing about music.

In 1984, at about the time when Grace Under Pressure was released, Geddy was interviewed about the new album. At one point he said he thought Detroit looked strong that year, said he was going out on a limb in predicting a WS win for them. . . . Sure enough, the Tigers won it all that year.

The RUSH baseball connections alone ought to ensure them some love on this forum.

If you have “like a virgin” or any other Madonna in your MP3 player as opposed to say Albert King “Stormy Monday” or Blues at sunrise like I posted above, you just have a hole in your soul. Albert always said “If you don’t dig the blues you got a hole in your soul.” I think he may be right. ;>P

Me? I like both White Castle AND Rush!

Ack! Ack! Pffft! Gah!