WHAT A WEEK?!

This has been some week. My socials look more like obituary columns. I won’t make this blog morbid, nor reminisce about the past. It has to be mentioned though that losing Ozzy Osbourne was the blow that nobody needed or asked for. Two weeks after the final concert with Black Sabbath in England, we lost the man who, along with Tony, Geezer, and Bill invented heavy metal.

Let that sink in. It’s the truth.

My students have been asking me about Ozzy, and I’m all too happy to talk about things. Yes, they want to learn “Iron Man”, “Paranoid”, and “Crazy Train” for sure. I told them all the same thing: it’s easy to mourn but better to celebrate his life and career. What a ride he had!

Onto happier thoughts…

I had to re-order the shirt that you see in this pic. Why? I apparently misplaced it at the Jersey City, that’s my thought. When I was getting changed, I totally sweat through that shirt, and must have left it hanging somewhere in the men’s room. So, I got a new one…life is good again!

But you see me holding a new pedal from Caline! Do I really need another pedal? No but I could not pass this deal up on Amazon. For one week, this Tiger Eye distortion pedal was $21! Normally $43, so I snagged it.

Glad I did, as it’s a cool pedal. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, just does its job really well. Reminds me of the Boss DS-1 for sure, has that chunky AC/DC-ish tone when used alone in front of a clean amp. It really comes alive when you use it as a boost for amp distortion…wow! The mids jump out a little hotter, and when I nudge the Gain knob a bit to the point of saturation, yeah it’s great!! I learned that trick years ago from thrash metal bands who pushed their amps hotter with a Boss SD-1 or Ibanez TS-9. Thank you, Gary Holt!

I made a demo video the day I received the pedal. Most guitarists will be fancy and hi-tech but my videos are the exact opposite. It’s like Tom Carvel once said, “My voice isn’t pretty but it gets your attention.” (I could go for mint chip right now.) The video features me unwrapping the package and trying the pedal for the very first time. What you hear is what I hear. I didn’t sit with the pedal beforehand. Just plugged in, turned on the camera, and that’s it. A genuine “reaction” video. That’s how you do it!

This pedal won’t be a staple on my live rigs but will be a spare in case something happens. I have used it at home, and it inspired another song! I plugged this pedal into the Micro Dark and HOLY CRAP, total heaviness!! Ah, the soothing sounds of my 7-string…sigh…

What’s my age again?