Gamerphile
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This is a non-fiction story I wrote about Johnny's life and hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this to some music. Why don't you make a brew and put some on your self - preferable LP's or stuff in the spectrum of Santana, Pink Floyd or Disney After Dark. Let it simmer together and enjoy.
Okay.. I have to admit first of... I never met the guy. And yet I know more about him than most people. I've been talking a lot with people who where very close with him and I'm currently roaming through his LP collection via his Dual 731Q - mellowing on the sounds and smells of his items he wasn't forced to sell.
Also there is another thing you better know up front: its very unlikely you ever heard him play unless you been visiting pubs in south-eastern parts of Sjælland - Denmark. But people liked him. A lot. I mean he played guitar and lived on that most of his life when not smoking weed too much or doing petty thefts to make the day. And still people liked him a lot as the music soul burned so much.
As a side story I actually met DAD once at Roskilde when I was walking around doing stuff before the main event days. I fond memories of that years festival including being busy as security guard with my misses and some other young female relatives frisking ever boy and girl dancing thought the main gates at Green Day's concert. One has to experience how much people can complain about being frisked doing a watch for beer and weapons to understand what a phenominon it is for music to simply make everybody smile and dance their way through security gates. Such positive energies - I suggest live bands at airports!
Hmmm got a bit off topic, so now - to the point: Who was he and why should you care? Well let me tell you - you should care because he is just my tangleable example of a generation starting to go now who grew up listing to the Beatles, Gasolin', Disneyland After Dark, Santana, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Guns'n'Roses etc. on LP's and never left them for CD's and other digital media that younger people like me swear to for perfect replay every time as they, as artists, wouldn't let go. It was a matter of life style. Just like his gear was the last thing he sold and even his inheritance left quite a stash of analog real music. No weed thought but plenty of audio gear with soul and emotion.... and a slight sweet smell of smoking and weed.
Now I've been thought a few LP's; Gasolin' live, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy and Eurythmics - Avage coming up next.
Where was I? Oh yes you may wonder where I got the interest for doing this and how I even got hold of this stuff. Well its actually a lovely but slightly sad story. Emotions are so thick they can be sliced with a cake fork about this in my head but it goes as follows. The last few years my better half had been using a lot of time with her sister. She had been struggling with cancer in the brain the reappeared several times as it was exotic aggressive. My better half only had her mother, uncle Johnny and grandfather left on that side of the family. Her grandfather died of old age 2 years ago and given her sister was sick so much and it only got worse in the long term they didn't see Johnny. Johnny had also been spiraling down and was put in a home a few years ago as a result of long life of being to hard on his own body. In fact its very likely I would have met him had he been nicer to his own body. My better half use to visit him a lot when she was younger and he was home so they would sit at his place and he would play song on his guitar or they would have fun to the music of his stereo. Something she spoke of with much enjoyment several times. Time moves forward a little and last late summer my sister-in-law died as peacefully as you can from cancer. She left behind a ton of hobby knitting and greeting-cards gear. As a kind of meditation and creative hobby my better half have been following up on these with great success for cherities that get the profits instead of the money the late sister usually would have given out of her paycheck. Now that brings us almost full circle to where we are now. The hole premise is that Johnny is dead and thats about where we are now in the story. While still not over her sister who became only 22 her uncle died.
A hare just stood down on the parking lot and the jumped its way as I put on Fleetwood Mac Tango In the Night.
Now that my better half and her mom had looked thought Johnny stuff they found his guitar. They where both well aware of the bond she had with her uncles and his guitar so she of course would get to keep it... When I heard she would get to keep it I instantly thought that would be a nice thing to learn to play the guitar. And so apparently thought my better half. Over the last week shes been engaging friends and family about their guitar skills and experiences. Its be a blast hearing my brother for the first time in years play on one of his guitars as we visited them and ran on subject when I spotted a worn guitar in his shed - he use to be a big Jazz fan and general guitar player and music'n'movie lover like me. Or more likely I got that stuff from him and ran with it. Just like our biggest brother had this game called Command & Conquer on his PC that just wouldn't pop out of my head like song lyrics stuck and melted to my day dreams. Thats where gamerphile was born.
We are now full circle. As one musician died new are born and others reinvigorated.
Okay.. I have to admit first of... I never met the guy. And yet I know more about him than most people. I've been talking a lot with people who where very close with him and I'm currently roaming through his LP collection via his Dual 731Q - mellowing on the sounds and smells of his items he wasn't forced to sell.
Also there is another thing you better know up front: its very unlikely you ever heard him play unless you been visiting pubs in south-eastern parts of Sjælland - Denmark. But people liked him. A lot. I mean he played guitar and lived on that most of his life when not smoking weed too much or doing petty thefts to make the day. And still people liked him a lot as the music soul burned so much.
The money was already spent
Despite his low means he must have used a lot of money as he originally had loads of Guitars, gear for recording and stage and tons of LP's and stereo systems with turn tables. And he was simply known to anyone even in his family as Johnny Guitar - his stage name. He was really named Johnny as it was pretty common here back 50 or so years ago and well the guitar.... He was a pub/family party style old school guitar player. Through and through. Cheeky rough cowboys in the danish way that has some resemblance to US country style if you add the Christiania free spite to it. After all Johnny was very into as a person of the founding generation and a avid weed smoker and of course the original Christiania LP is in his stacks right here next to me.... Sorry have to stop; Dark side of the Moon ended on the b side so the original Disneyland LP is coming on... its the one back when first icon track Sleeping my day away could be heard without Disney censoring their name out of band's covers. You know - today we call them DAD but if your under 30 like me you where to young to experience this if you know who DAD is at all As a side story I actually met DAD once at Roskilde when I was walking around doing stuff before the main event days. I fond memories of that years festival including being busy as security guard with my misses and some other young female relatives frisking ever boy and girl dancing thought the main gates at Green Day's concert. One has to experience how much people can complain about being frisked doing a watch for beer and weapons to understand what a phenominon it is for music to simply make everybody smile and dance their way through security gates. Such positive energies - I suggest live bands at airports!Hmmm got a bit off topic, so now - to the point: Who was he and why should you care? Well let me tell you - you should care because he is just my tangleable example of a generation starting to go now who grew up listing to the Beatles, Gasolin', Disneyland After Dark, Santana, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Guns'n'Roses etc. on LP's and never left them for CD's and other digital media that younger people like me swear to for perfect replay every time as they, as artists, wouldn't let go. It was a matter of life style. Just like his gear was the last thing he sold and even his inheritance left quite a stash of analog real music. No weed thought but plenty of audio gear with soul and emotion.... and a slight sweet smell of smoking and weed.
What we know he loved in specifics
His favorite guitar was a George Washburn electric from 1973 according to its numberings. Metal strings. He left it with a Dual 731Q turn table, a Sony surround Amp, a ton of LP's, guitar and other stuff like high-end Denon cassette player. Then there was the ton of stage and recording gear like 3 pedals and some other effect and mixing gear, have a ton of associated cables including some nifty prof Neutrik terminated stuff and 2 Shure Mic's: one very used and one prof' and pretty new he might have bought thinking the other one was on its way to dieing. He left a ton of LP's and 4 big catalogs of the most important stage music and songs he used to preform or play in private. Beetles, Kim Larsen and other danish or English popular artists that works good for bars and pubs or family parties on his guitar was what he cherished the most.Now I've been thought a few LP's; Gasolin' live, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy and Eurythmics - Avage coming up next.
Where was I? Oh yes you may wonder where I got the interest for doing this and how I even got hold of this stuff. Well its actually a lovely but slightly sad story. Emotions are so thick they can be sliced with a cake fork about this in my head but it goes as follows. The last few years my better half had been using a lot of time with her sister. She had been struggling with cancer in the brain the reappeared several times as it was exotic aggressive. My better half only had her mother, uncle Johnny and grandfather left on that side of the family. Her grandfather died of old age 2 years ago and given her sister was sick so much and it only got worse in the long term they didn't see Johnny. Johnny had also been spiraling down and was put in a home a few years ago as a result of long life of being to hard on his own body. In fact its very likely I would have met him had he been nicer to his own body. My better half use to visit him a lot when she was younger and he was home so they would sit at his place and he would play song on his guitar or they would have fun to the music of his stereo. Something she spoke of with much enjoyment several times. Time moves forward a little and last late summer my sister-in-law died as peacefully as you can from cancer. She left behind a ton of hobby knitting and greeting-cards gear. As a kind of meditation and creative hobby my better half have been following up on these with great success for cherities that get the profits instead of the money the late sister usually would have given out of her paycheck. Now that brings us almost full circle to where we are now. The hole premise is that Johnny is dead and thats about where we are now in the story. While still not over her sister who became only 22 her uncle died.
A hare just stood down on the parking lot and the jumped its way as I put on Fleetwood Mac Tango In the Night.
Now that my better half and her mom had looked thought Johnny stuff they found his guitar. They where both well aware of the bond she had with her uncles and his guitar so she of course would get to keep it... When I heard she would get to keep it I instantly thought that would be a nice thing to learn to play the guitar. And so apparently thought my better half. Over the last week shes been engaging friends and family about their guitar skills and experiences. Its be a blast hearing my brother for the first time in years play on one of his guitars as we visited them and ran on subject when I spotted a worn guitar in his shed - he use to be a big Jazz fan and general guitar player and music'n'movie lover like me. Or more likely I got that stuff from him and ran with it. Just like our biggest brother had this game called Command & Conquer on his PC that just wouldn't pop out of my head like song lyrics stuck and melted to my day dreams. Thats where gamerphile was born.
We are now full circle. As one musician died new are born and others reinvigorated.
