Seriously… This guy makes all the rest of us look like children… He must all the rest of us look like we are just smacking our Carpal tunnel ridden hands against a badly tuned guitar. How does he do that. The jerk is ambidextrous. Oh, and he IS the fastest guitarist in the world… As of November 2011… So maybe I should have put him on my list of ridiculous A-Holes a long time ago…
But, sadly… Batio is not an A-hole… He is a very nice guy. So I say, go Mikey, go.
Check out some cool interviewers with Michael Angelo at http://www.fret12.com . This guy is Seriously! Ridiculous!
HEY everybody! So I wiped my operating system on my computer… Turns out I deleted my list of Ridiculous bands… So no That is Ridiculous this week.
ALSO! My band, Valor, just finished recording our first studio albumFear No Evil. So, this week has been kind of crazy. It looks like our release date will be August 7th. And we will be Throwing a single out within the next week.
This album, for myself and my guitar player, has been 10 years in the making. Now That is somewhat Ridiculous!
Oh goodness. I am going to step on some toes today… I’ll be honest, I am almost afraid to do this one, but I must. Too many people think this person is talented and fantastic and awesome and beautiful. I disagree with all points. What use is what I think? Why should my opinion matter? Like my bio says: I attended Musician’s Institute. I spent almost two years surrounded by amazing musicians. I got to sit in practice rooms with some of the best singers I have ever heard. I sat in on vocal classes during my free time to get a sense of what was and is a good singer. I have played with men and women that could sing the pants off of any, ANY!, pop/rock/rap singer on the radio. I live and breathe music. I KNOW MUSIC! It might be all I know, but I know it…
So… Now that that is out-of-the-way…
That is Ridiculously Bad!
Lady Gaga
If I wanted to watch a cheap, trashy, far less talented version of Madonna… wait, who am I kidding, I wouldn’t even listen to Madonna, so why would I subject myself to something worse?
If I pumped myself full of that much auto-tune, I too could sound half decent. But I can’t sing, and neither can Gaga. You know what Lady Gaga is in the music world? A rogue back-up singer. She can carry a tune, but can’t SING.
We’re talking about a girl who quit music school because she thought she was better than the other people there.. A girl who says things like, “I just wanted to do it alone, so it was me and my piano.” SOURCE! [1] Is this sound reason for dropping out of music school? no. That just sounds like a whiny little girl who didn’t get along with her music instructors.
Now my opinion of her beauty is, let’s face it, my opinion. so let’s just leave it at I don’t find her pretty.
NOW! The one thing I will give this tiny little freak, is her music videos are astounding. Visually. They are very VERY well done. So kudos on the visuals Lady Gaga. But lay off the “singing”.
Okay! That is all I will say about that.
-Ace (soon to be murdered by a raging Gaga fan) Lancin- RIP
I might be a little biased in the type of musician’s I choose to write about, but I don’t care. Which means, today, another bass player. Sorta. This guy was more than a bass player. One of the best players to have ever lived, A fantastic big band leader, an amazing composer, a noteworthy producer, and A psycho.
Jaco
Jaco Pastorius
This edition of That is Ridiculous has been somewhat difficult for me to get out. I started writing this on Tuesday June 19th and it is now Thursday June 21st and I still don’t have it done. The reason this is so hard, Jaco! Jaco was an inspiration to just about every bass player out there. “I think I succeeded in finding my own sound, but I think it’s obvious that Jaco is a big influence when you hear me play (at least sometimes).” -Marcus Miller-
Jaco’s playing style grabbed everyone’s attention right out of the gate. His first Album, Jaco Pastorius (1976) got him two Grammy Award Nominations. (When the Grammy’s still meant something.) And Jaco was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1988. He was one of only four bassists get the honor, and the ONLY electric bassist to get the award.
Jaco has played with Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, Trio of Doom, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Word of Mouth, Al Di Meola, Ian Hunter, Biréli Lagrène, Mike Stern, Flora Purim, and Airto Moreira.
Sadly, in 1982 Jaco was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. His behavior and antics kept getting stranger and more erratic. There are rumors of him stripping naked on stage and coloring his face with magic marker…
September 11th, 1987 Jaco sneaked on stageat a Santana Concert,he was thrown out of the concert. He then went to the Midnight Bottle Club, where he and the bouncer Luc Havan got into a fight. Jaco was put into the hospital where he slipped into a coma. And on September 21st, 1987 Jaco Pastorius died of a brain hemorrhage. Luc Havan plead guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 22 months in jail, he served four of those months and was released on good behavior.
I know these articles are usually short. But I had to say more! IT’S JACO! All I can say, go listen to all the Jaco you can. Read what he had to say. Learn from him. He was such a great bass player it would be a shame to not learn from him.
Jerry Jemmott: “Any advice for musicians, young and old?”
Jaco: “Just to keep your minds open, keep an open head about music…
I grew up in Florida where there is no real musical prejudice,
there was all sorts of music, everyone was playing everything
from Cuban music to symphonic music…keep listening…
keep your ears open…”
Every time most men hear the sound of a banjo they think about Deliverance. And then they cringe.
When I think of banjo I think about the Prelude to Bach’s Violin Partitia #3. I think about Crazy fusion jazz/bluegrass. In short I think about Bela Fleck.
This dude really is ridiculous!
Notice how he plays that whole thing without reading the music. He’s got that mess in his HEAD!
I have been listening to Bela for years. Named a cat after him. His band Bela Fleck and The Flecktones is one of the best. Victor Wooten Trumps the low end for little ol’ Bela.
I recommend anyone interested in music should go out and check out anything they can by Bela Fleck, his music will open your mind to new musical possibilities.
Ace Lancin
p.s. You all wanna know something else ridiculous!? Prometheus! Go see it. It was extremely ridiculous. I need to see it again…
WOOOPS! Sorry ya’ll! I spent all day yesterday in the studio, so I forgot about That Is Ridiculous!
BUT I GOT ONE FOR YA!
Who gives the carnal, fear inspiring, slightly demonic beats to one of my favorite bands? Who has a daemon trapped in a drum?!
WELL!
Danny Carey of course!
This guy has got some wicked chops. His drumming is so unique it is used as a tonal instrument in Tool, and not just a rhythm instrument.
Danny has also played with, or contributed to bands like ZAUM, Green Jelly, Adrian Belew of King Crimson, Carole King, The Melvins, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, The Wild Blue Yonder, and Lusk. He is also a promintent Member of Volto and Pigmy Love Circus.
There’s all kinds of voodoo magic going on in Danny’s playing.
But I am going to stop talking now. and let you hear it for yourself!
Today! Something a bit different. I have decided, from now on The last Tuesday of the month I will not talk about something ridiculously good, I will tell you about something Ridiculously BAD! I do foresee these Articles being he ones which step on toes and piss people off. All I can say is remember, we are all entitled to our own opinion; it just so happens that my opinion stems from years of playing music, studying music, being taught music by some of the best contemporary music teachers in the business, and listening to truly spectacular music; so when I decide I don’t like something, it is not an arbitrary dislike, there is always a reason, a real reason, and a good reason. With all that said, it is time for…
That isRidiculous-ly Bad!
Kim Kardashian
When Someone becomes famous for no apparent reason, it makes me wonder what is wrong with our society. When that same someone is allowed to record a single and that single gets massive radio and television play, it makes me wonder why I haven’t gone on a shooting rampage yet…
Kim got famous for a sex tape… Then her family for some unknown, unGodly reason was given a tv show… What ever happened to actors reading from scripts on tv?
Anyways! In December of 2010 Kim recorded a music video for a song she “sang”.
I almost don’t want to do this to all of you, but here is the video…
Jim Farber, writing for the Daily News, called the song a “dead-brained piece of generic dance music, without a single distinguishing feature,” and suggested that the single made Kardashian the “worst singer in the reality TV universe.”[49]
Thank you Jim Farber, now I don’t get to say it.
There is so much autotune in this song her voice sounds like it’s coming out of a dead cat. What emotion? Songs don’t need emotion!
The only good to come from this was that the proceeds from the song went to charity to support cancer research.
When I was attending Musician’s Institute I took a class that dumbfounded me. Who would make an entire class devoted to one man? What man, bass player at that, would be worthy of his own ninety minute class? Well! Les Claypool of course!
When people are asked to name some great bass players usually only a handful pop into peoples minds; Flea, Patitucci, Collins, and (of course) Claypool. But out of all of these bass players Claypool stands in a class all by himself. He redefined solo bass playing. He made bass cool and made Primus suck. (For those of you that don’t know, “Primus Sucks” was what the band Primus would get their crowds to chant at shows.)
Anyways. You aren’t here to read my rant on how awesome Les Claypool is. So let’s get to some music!
Look at that man play that wicked six string bass… Freak! Oh yeah… And Buckethead often comes out and plays with Mr. Claypool… What a small world…
This next video I am going to share is Les playing an instrument called a Whamola. One string, a pick-up, a pulley system, and a drum stick! It’s a dirty, gritty, gravely sound. Lovely. Oh, yes, Les is the monkey playing the stick…
AAAAAAnd there he goes off stage…
Hope you enjoyed this madness…. I think it is safe to say that Les Claypool is Ridiculous!
What is ridiculous about Vital Tech Tones? All three members! VTT is aFusion Jazz “supergroup”. Steve Smith drummer for Vital Information, Tribal Tech guitarist Scott Henderson, and Bela Fleck and the FleckTones bass ex-freakin-traordinare Victor Wooten comprise the line-up for this freakishly ridiculous band.
Let’s hear a track from their second album VTT2.
Now that is just Wooten introducing the band. THAT’S JUST ONE GUY!
I’ll be honest. Their second album is my favorite, but they are both amazing albums.
But honestly these articles aren’t here to give you a bio on the band. They are here to let you hear a sample of the RIDICULOUS musicianship and hopefully get you to go out and buy their album.
Ok, The meat of the burger fusion fest!
That is Catch Me If You Can off of their first album VTT.
I’ll be honest, VTT is an acquired taste. This whole fusion jazz genre is an acquired taste. BUT I LOVE THESE GUYS!
Okay.. Well it has been a while. I apologize. Honestly, I haven’t been inspired by anything new in a while. But! Something has inspired me! And I have an idea! I think I shall start a new series… One day a week I will Publish, what I am going to call, “That is Ridiculous!” I am going to pick an artist or band that I deem RIDICULOUS! for whatever reason. And not usually ridiculous bad…. That kind of ridiculous that makes you want to quit being a musician, crawl into the dark corner of your closet, and beg the world to stop being so cruel! But there will also be some bad ridiculous. I will not aim to offend anyones likes or dislikes in music, but if it happens… Maybe you should rethink your tastes! These will be short and sweet Articles right to the point.
SO! LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!
THAT IS RIDICULOUS!
BUCKETHEAD
Brian Carrol, otherwise known as Buckethead is, well, how do I put this?… A freak. Buckethead is a guitarist. He mostly does solo work but he has worked in many bands and most of them, we all know and love.
I am most familiar with Buckethead through his work with Les Claypool. But i went and bought a recent album of his called Electric Sea. Total shock, it shocked me. It was beautiful, and smooth and i added to my sleepytime music list. I am a fan of the ridiculous.
Some people might look at this big tall man wearing the KFC bucket on his head and a blank mask and this he is all show… Those people are so wrong they should be hung by their toenails.
