| Jazz guitarist Andre Bush to pay tribute to rock's Jeff Beck
HERE'S a show that guitar nuts won't want to miss: Local jazz guitarist Andre Bush will perform a tribute concert for one of his heroes, rock legend Jeff Beck, tonight at Yoshi's at Jack London Square. Bush, a Grammy-nominated musician and composer, is a 15-year veteran of the Bay Area jazz scene. Still, the guitarist has always found time to return to his rock 'n' roll roots. Over the years, he has balanced performing with such jazz cats as Dave Liebman, Steve Smith, Nnenna Freelon and Jenna Mammina with playing with various rock bands. His sizable chops mix the best of both worlds they possess the fire and intensity of heavy metal as well as the sophistication of jazz. Bush is definitely the right guy to perform a tribute to Beck. In particular, he should do a good job re-imagining the material from Beck's classic 1970s fusion albums, "Blow by Blow" and "Wired." Bush apparently feels the same way he's recording the Yoshi's gig for later release on CD and DVD.
Dirty Dan revs his rock engine
The Boyzz From Illinoizz ruled the late 1970s Chicagoland rock clubs with an outrageous live performance that included twin lead guitar assaults, a rolling (literally!) upright piano and lead singer who pole vaulted across stage using his microphone stand.A biker band, The Boyzz were certainly one of the more outrageous rock 'n' boogie bands ever to hail from the Midwest and remain firmly engraved in the minds of anyone fortunate enough to have seen them perform. Fronting The Boyzz was the charismatic Dirty Dan Buck, whose razor blades and whiskey voice was the perfect vehicle for the bluesy hard rock songs like "Back to Kansas," "Hoochie Coochie," "Destined to Die" and "Good Life Shuffle" that filled up their 1979 debut album for Epic Records, "Too Wild To Tame."Most of those first album songs are part of the live set performed by the still vibrant and energetic Buck and the members of his new self-named group."We always do the first two Boyzz singles 'Shake It Up, Wake It Up' and 'Shady Lady' and of course we couldn't leave without doing 'Too Wild to Tame,'" said Buck.Tonight's Hobart Jayceefest performance will be Buck's first headline concert performance in Northwest Indiana in two decades."We opened for Cheap Trick at the Star Plaza a couple of years ago and we were part of the Katrina Hurricane Benefit at the Star Plaza last year, but I really haven't rocked Indiana in a long, long time, so I'm really pumped up about this concert.
Paul McCartney's first guitar on sale
For 100,000 The guitar that Paul McCartney learnt how to play his first chords on is being auctioned and is expected to fetch 100,000. The seller of the Rex acoustic guitar is McCartney's friend Ian James from his schooldays at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys. In a signed letter accompanying the item, the former Beatle writes: "The above guitar belonging to my old school pal Ian James was the first guitar I ever held. It was also the guitar on which I learnt my first chords." Ian James taught the 15-year-old McCartney the chords that would later impress John Lennon enough to let him join his band The Quarrymen. "Paul and I hung around together after school," James said. "We both had an interest in rock 'n' roll and I would show him a few chords. I remember one day he told me he'd written a song and I thought 'Blimey, that's hard'." Ian James and McCartney lost touch for 28 years, but were then reunited in 1991 at a Wings concert.
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