“We” (I?) are at the half way point of 2010 and I must admit that it has been a stellar year so far! I’ve been focused on playing good, hard rock ‘n roll by joining up with Carl, Terry & Shawn to form “Villains Of Yesterday”. We’ve had a lot of great shows, and even better response from everyone that has seen us play, which is always encouraging to hear! We have several shows under our belts at this date, and it really is a pleasure playing with these guys, especially given our knack for being able to improv some tasty music. We’ve also managed to release what used to be called an “extended play” or “EP”, which we made available on CD and via digital distribution on those “interwebs”. Another footnote in history, much like “Creature Of Habit” and “Nickle Bag”.

It seems like time is moving faster than ever, as each waking day seems to be over, and the next one well on it’s way. The son is almost as tall as his mother, and continues to surprise me almost everyday. The career is humming along quite fine, and I’ve spent the better part of this spring focusing on creating an ASP.NET MVC rendering framework that will soon power the MSDN & TechNet Websites. No small feat, especially for a team of our size! This is my 10th year with Microsoft as a “FTE”, and I’m still finding new challenges every year, albeit those challenges are leaning more towards business issues, instead of technical issues.

I feel good, the sun is out, at least for the time being, and I’m able to breath in everything that surrounds me, which makes it easy to stop and smell the roses…

Grand amour - SG

Man oh man, what a year. everything is back to “normal” and I’m looking forward to 2010. The album is still underway, but I’m having a hard time finding the time to put the finishing touches on every.I’ve been playing bass with some cool friends, in a project called “Villains of Yesterday” and I’m pretty excited about it. There is a lot of talent and chemistry in the room when we play, and I think some great music is going to happen! It feels good to be playing again, sort of like putting on that old pair shoes.

Hello All,
I just wanted to share with every one the story of one lucky '98 Fender Hard tail stratocaster of mine. I'm a long time strat player (semi-retired right now, which is even a longer story for another time) and have been on a hard tail quest for the last couple of years. I don't really enjoy the CBS '70s hard tail strats too much, but I do enjoy the late '90s MIA models (go figure!). Anyway, I finally found a very nice white blonde, two piece ash "Big Apple"/"Double Fat" model online right before Christmas '08.

Well, it played so well that it inspired me to do some modifications to make it "one of kind", something that would stay in my collection for a long time. I've always loved the "Mary Kay" color scheme, and since this guitar was just missing the gold hardware, I spent the next couple of weeks scouring online dealers for gold Fender replacement parts. It took a while find them all (bridge, tuners, screws, jack plate, neck plate and strap locks) but about the first week of March, I had swapped out all the chrome hardware for gold, and took it to my favorite local guitar tech for a setup/intonation and some wiring TLC.  Getting it back was wonderful, it played like a dream and sounded hotter than dice, with the hum buckers, which was also a new sound for me, at least with a strat.

Anyways, a couple of weeks go by, and I'm just returning to work after my lunch break, when I receive a phone call. It is our local Fire Department.

"Sir, this is Capt. Scott* with the fire department. I have your wife with me and I hate to inform you that you have had a pretty major house fire. Can you please come home as soon as possible?"

Yes. Yes, I can.

By the time I get to my house from work, the fire is out. The wife is slightly hysterical. Luckily, the kids were at school, so everyone was safe. Almost everything in the house is destroyed, including the aforementioned guitar, as it was in the living room, with some other recording gear, and a couple of small combo amps. After a house fire, it takes a few days or so of investigation by the powers to be, to determine the cause. In this case, it was old electrical wiring that started in the master bedroom. During the clean up & inventory process, I pulled the guitar out from a pile of debris in the corner and did a quick assessment. The neck - toasted, frets & fret markers had popped out, the low tone side of the neck burn so badly wood was actually missing. The pick guard & pups had melted into a horrid bulb of plastic and metal. The beautiful white blonde "Mary Kay" finish was bubbled and melted as well.

Was it salvageable, could it be rebuilt? Heck Yes!

So I want to introduce everyone to "Smokie", a truly "one of kind" guitar. Several hours are spent sanding and chipping off pieces of the finish. Surprisingly, I was able to save almost all of the gold hardware. And back to EBay I went for replacement neck - had to be the right year, I'm a stickler for details like that, and then down street to Bellevue American Music for new Seymour Duncans, pots & posts, etc.

I'm happy that I was able to recover this guitar, because playing is one of the things that I truly live for, and once again, just a few months after the fact, the guitar is tuned up and ready to go.

Thanks for reading.

Hello All,
So as many of you have probably already heard, we had a major house fire in March, that resulted in the destruction of the studio space, recording & musical equipment, and 80% of the overall structure. Friends and family have been more than supported, and have helped us in many ways. Luckily, our insurance will cover replacing the contents of the building, as well as, the building itself.

But this has also created some “down time” in the schedule for the new album, as I don’t have the resources to finish the recording, mixing and mastering at other studios. The fire has been the inspiration for some invigorated new material, and that new material will get recorded after the "Loads Sessions" album is completely finished.

In the meantime, I'm still working on a design for this website, including a embeddable Silverlight media player. I really enjoy talking directly to people via the Windows Live IM chat, so please feel free to continue to communicate directly with me using that. I'm also hoping to blog a bit more, as I stumble through the rebuilding process, and also as I get closer to finishing the album.

10-4 Good buddies – SG!

P.O.S.: "Why Go" (Pearl Jam Cover) (Video)

Newsweek digs up the classic grunge performances from YouTube-
Pop Vox: Newsweek's Daily Arts and Culture Blog : Grunge Bands: Where Are They Now?
and 'The Reluctant Rock Star', a current piece on Eddie Vedder.

New music coming soon!

'The "Loads" Sessions'

Thanks to everyone for the interest in the new demo tracks. The feedback was great, and I will provide the finished tracks exclusively here in the near future, please keep your eyes and ears open across the web (ITunes, MySpace, etc) for the full release.

Complete Release track list:

1. Into
2. 9:43
3. Caster
4. Cingio
5. Cookies
6. Day 23
7. Eye, Ear Nose
8. Fragged
9. Grapes and Grains
10. Metropology
11. My Monster
12. Stan
13. Tempest
14. Zippinois
15. Outro

Much thanks,
Sean...

Featuring exclusive unreleased tracks from Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails & Street Sweeper.

NIN|JA 2009

Yowzaa, I just got wind of there new Fender 2009 models-
'The Road Worn instruments are given a reverse makeover at the Fender factory in Ensenada, Mexico. The worn finish, dings, pockmarks, yellowed plastic parts—even rust stains on the bridge saddles and springs—all simulate proud battle scars that show this axe has proven itself in countless gigs, it’s as if you were playing Keef or Bruce’s favorite Tele, the Strat slung by Slowhand or Rory, the Jazz Bass that catapulted Jaco to legend, or the P Bass Sting used to pump up The Police. These Road Worn axes are not just pre-aged; you could say they are “pre-disastered.” You won’t throw a conniption fit when you bang it up as you would when the first ding appears on a freshly minted, shiny new guitar.'

Hands-On Review: Road Worn Series Electric Guitars and Basses - Musician's Friend and the Fender “Road Worn” Flash site.

Well, more sad news at the beginning of a very hopeful year, long time Fender Musical Instrument Company's original marketing guru, Don Randall, has passed on. I've been a Fender fan boy for decades now (long before "fan boy" became a real term!), and while I've never met Don personally, he helped create a house hold brand name with Fender, that proves there are actually very few men of genius.

From Fender's web site - "Other than Leo Fender himself, Randall was undoubtedly the most important person in the original era of Fender history, 1946 to 1965. He was Leo Fender’s partner and the sales, distribution, marketing and advertising genius behind the company’s rise from small California guitar maker to worldwide musical industry leader."

One of Fender's founding fathers.