Sunday, May 25, 2008

A New-Found Favorite

It's amazing the wonderful 'accidental' discoveries you sometimes stumble upon, and when it's truly new-to-you, it makes it even more of a pleasant surprise.

Let me explain.

Late on Thursday night, I came shuffling home from the casino, exhausted as I have been these last several days. Falcon Rob was chillin' in the living room watching a live David Gilmour concert DVD. Now, I'm not much of a Pink Floyd fan, but I do appreciate good music, so I sat down to join him. He had watched most of the DVD, so we basically hit the highlights for an hour or so. But when we got to the song 'Fat Old Sun', I was awestruck.

That song was written almost 40 years ago, and I'd never heard it until two nights ago. It was amazing. I don't know why, but all I could say was "Wow--that is GOOD music!" I think it's another example of exactly what defines 'art' for me. If I see or hear something that just stops me in my tracks and makes me wish that I was able to do the same thing--be it good music, painting, drawing, sculpture, writing, etc.--that's what I consider to be Fine Art. If it doesn't 'speak' to me, than it's just a pleasant diversion. But for some reason, this song just blew me away, and with my background as a guitarist, I can appreciate watching a virtuoso in action--somebody doing something that I know to be so incredibly hard to do, yet making it look so simple. And the fact that he get a sound like that out of an old Telecaster is pretty cool too. In some musician circles, it has a reputation for only being a 'country' guitar.

As good as the song is in it's entirety, it's that finishing guitar solo that got me, and it is right up there in the Pantheon of great guitar solos. It's the kind of music that will inspire somebody to be a musician if they find it when they're young enough.

Without further adieu, here is 'Fat Old Sun' by David Gilmour:



Amazing.

Mikey

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