And on this day...

thank ya
thank ya very much
 

Happy Bday Krist, ol pal.  Please don't follow in ol E's swollen, gout ridden footsteps.  And seeing that clipping about his death always reminds me of the extremely surreal day I spent the day he died.  To start, I was on the set of the Grizzly Adams show in the wilds of Utah...and it goes downhill from there.

I still remember when I went to Graceland to see Elvis, but they wouldn't let me in with my shovel... 

jamesg1213

yorolpal
Happy Bday Krist, ol pal.  Please don't follow in ol E's swollen, gout ridden footsteps.  And seeing that clipping about his death always reminds me of the extremely surreal day I spent the day he died.  To start, I was on the set of the Grizzly Adams show in the wilds of Utah...and it goes downhill from there.

I think we need to read the whole of this story 'Olpal..

Absolutely! :)
 
Thanks guys.
 
And now, wish me luck - I've just received the pick guard for my SGJ. After a good polishing this weekend, she was ready for the upgrade. First step was getting the pickguard to fit, because the space between the pickups on the SGJ is narrower than standard.
 
 
 

 
Turns out I worried for no reason as w/ a simple piece of sanding paper, I'd removed as much as needed in less than 2 minutes. 
 
But now comes the scary part - drilling holes in it. :/
 
Next - hopefully a pair of (chrome maybe) 57 Classic. :P
 

yorolpal
it involves a Playboy Bunny, an irritable bear and dimwitted female country star.

Oh I can't wait to see how this one plays out!!

The pickguard looks great, Rain!

At 42, I could still leap small buildings with a running start.
Now, I'm perfectly content to just walk around them.
Happy Birthday, my displaced Canadian friend.

Thanks again guys!
 
Bob - We're still working hard on making this displaced Canadian a permanent proud US citizen. ;)
 
As for the rest, other than the notoriously bad joints which obviously haven't started improving with age, I can't complain because I'm in the best shape of my life, having traded my rock and roll habits for more healthy ones.  

I guess not until I turn 80 will I feel as old as I did in my late 20s. :P

A bit late, but Happy Birthday Krist!

A little late I think but Krist I hope you enjoy(ed) your day and may you receive(d) just what you need.

Happy birthday Krist!
 
I remember when I was 42!  oh wait...do I????? 

Happy Birthday, I know a little about what you mean .... my Birthday hasn't been the same since 1980 ... John was a hero to many...
Imagine ... Nothing to live or die for

OK...as promised...the day that Elvis (but not the music)died.
 
At the time we (my old rock band now turned country pickers) were doing a summer tour backing up Tanya Tucker's older sister LaCosta who the powers that be in Nashburg were trying to make over from a shy, naïve backup singer into a star like her younger sister.  While she was a very good singer she knew nothing...and I mean nothing...about being on stage or how to handle an audience.  We did our best to teach her but she was a pretty slow learner.  On this tour we were opening all over gawd's creation for Charlie Rich (who had a killer band).  That also meant that instead of traveling by road we got to fly everywhere which was a big plus.  We had flown in that day to Salt Lake for a show the next night.  As we deplaned we noticed that one of our fellow passengers was Denver Pyle...who was then playing Mad Jack(?) on the Grizzly Adams show but who we remembered as “Mr. Darlin” from The Andy Griffith Show.  We struck up a conversation with him and he said he was there to film another episode of the Grizzly Adams thingy and would we like to be his guests that afternoon on the shoot.  LaCosta...who was keen to get into TV thought that would be swell even though it meant renting a car and driving way out in the boonies near Park City.  Which we did.
 
As I was familiar with movie and TV shoots and knew they were about as interesting as watching paint dry I had no interest in going but it was all or none so...we got there just in time for a very nice catered lunch.  And it was then that we met the other cast members and “Bozo” the bear that played Ben.  That's when things got a bit more interesting for myself and our bass player, Jimmy.  Turns out that the co-star of that episode was a former Playboy Centerfold named Tiffany something or other and she was a looker.  Unctious poon hounds that we were Jimmy and I both decided to see if we could “get to know her a little better”.  While the crew was setting up the next scene we both tried to engage her in conversation and truth be told I was getting the better of it.  I was standing with her at the entrance of her trailer and we were talking about where the crew hung out in Park City and maybe we could hook up later that night when the director called for quiet on the set.  Seems ol Dan Haggerty and Bozo were about to shoot a scene.  Everybody got quiet and turned there attention to the filming.  And then ol Bozo did something he had never done before (we were told later).  He attacked Dan Haggerty. To say pandemonium broke loose would be to put it mildy.  The crew scattered, gear got turned over and pants were soiled.  The trainer told everbody to stfu and quickly got ol Bozo settled.  But as I turned around to speak to Tiffany again I saw that she had stepped back into her trailer and shut and locked the door.  In fact I never saw her come back out while we were there.  Ol Bozo had apparently scared the bejesus out of her.  Welp, I quickly surmised that what ol Bozo had done to me metaphorically was to prevent me from doing the same to ol Tiffany literally.  Tough luck.
 
Then, just as things were settling down, someone heard on the radio that The King had died.  I honestly think there was more caterwaulin and consternation over that than ol Bozo goin nuts.  There was wailin and moanin and gnashing of teeth.  And LaCosta came over and told us we had to leave and get back immediately to Salt Lake.  She had to make arrangements to go to the funeral.  Now here I must tell you that she wasn't a friend, kin or a business associate in any way shape or form of ol Elvis.  She was just a dimwitted country girl who was a super fan.  You honestly would have thought her daddy just died. 
 
So we piled into the rental car and headed back to Salt Lake.  She cancelled the show and flew off to Memphis to attend Elvis' funeral.  And left us with no transportation for two days in the dullest damn town in the good ol USofA.  I never got to Park City or saw or heard of ol Tiffany again. For all of us in the band it was just another surreal experience of life on the road. 
 
One thing I will say though...ol Dan Haggerty went right back as soon as ol Bozo settled and did the scene with him again.  And it turned out fine.  Doff of the hat for that.

That's a cool story OlPal!
 
As for the birthday... 
 
I got to play with the cats,
Read a bit,
Train a bit,
Cook and eat my favorite meal - the same I eat at least 4 nights a week, always with as much pleasure,
Watch an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine,
Spend the evening in the home studio working out arrangements for a new song for my wife
Play the new Riviera (early birthday present) and my trusty SGJ
 
Which is the best day ever, as it happens day after day, 5 days a week, week after week. :)