Bid on a Baby Taylor signed by … WOW!
Michael Eck just sent this along – I would have posted it earlier but I just spent the past 1/2 hour listening to different versions of A Million Miles Away, one of the greatest songs of all time, on Youtube.
On January 15 of this year, the great American songwriter Peter Case underwent emergency open-heart surgery. The operation was successful and Case is well on the mend, but the medical bills – as they are for so many uninsured musicians – are staggering.
In support, a group of Case’s friends joined together to create the Hidden Love Medical Relief Fund, and they have been employing various methods to raise funds for Case’s cause. Among these was a three-night May concert series at McCabe’s in Los Angeles featuring a truly mind-boggling array of talent including Loudon Wainwright III, T Bone Burnett, Van Dyke Parks, Dave Alvin, Stan Ridgway, Bob Neuwirth, Joe Henry, Katie Melua, Geoff Muldaur, Sam Phillips, Carla Olsen, Syd Straw, Leland Sklar, Grant Geissman, Eddie Munoz, Ron Franklin, The Dark Bob, Phranc, George Gerdes and Inara George.
That evening a Taylor Big Baby guitar was brought out of its case and signed by all of the performers. That instrument is now being auctioned on eBay as an additional fundraiser for Peter. It’s a chance to own a piece of history while also honoring the man behind such closet classics as “A Walk in The Woods,” “Old Part of Town,” “Cold Trail Blues” and The Plimsouls’ “A Million Miles Away.”
Case’s songs have also been covered by a litany of performers like Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry, Chris Smither, John Prine, Joe Ely, Richard Buckner and Chuck Prophet, all – tellingly – know for being pretty serious songwriters themselves.
Click here to bid (or maybe just gaze in wonderment). Bidding ends Nov. 12 at 5:30 p.m. PST. Donations can also be made through www.hiddenlovemedicalrelief.com.
Yeah, Plimsouls – great song but wow that vidoe is a little dated now.
The guitar break on that song is like the entire Byrds catalog distilled down to 8 bars. It’s like sonic crack to me.
But more than that, it’s an ecstatic, jangly, punky anthem about memory, emptiness and dislocation.
And apparently that’s our theme for the week! John Foxx @ BCB Art.
I’m just gonna ogle all those names for a bit. Wow!
Earworm Warning: Hmmm. A half hour of Plimsouls could be much better than same amount of time with Horse With No Name 😉
I think the entire Byrds catalog requires a 16 bar guitar break, especially if you include Clarence White.
I realized in retrospect that the Byrds remark is kind of a snotty thing to say. Perhaps we should just start a Jangle Hall of Fame.
On another note, do you think that guitar is ever going to get played again? Personally, I’d be afraid of accidentally rubbing someone’s name out.
That wasn’t snotty, but I get the sonic crack; the Byrds (the first band that blew me away – at an early double-digit age) beget all jangle, imho. All guitars need to be played. But that one would go into a climate controlled glass box.
So would you have to wear those little white art conservation gloves to play it?
Absolutely, white gloves and H1N1 mask too! 🙂