1968 Ampeg 'Reverbojet' J-12R. Got this one a couple of weeks ago from my buddy and excellent guitarist, Ron Corral, Jr. (Twang Ten, formerly with the Rhythm Drivers).

Man, this baby is smooth. 18 watts, tube amp.

I still have to put it through a few more paces but so far, I can't complain.

Here's my 1959  Kay "Style Leader" guitar. It's pretty much all original parts except the tuning pegs. Oh, and the strap buttons that I just put on. I'm also not too sure if it originally had a sun burst finish or not. The only pictures that I've seen of this guitar has it with a sun burst finish. 

None-the-less, it's a pretty rare bird and plays surprising well though it has a bit of 'fret buzz' around the 12th fret.

I just can't say enough good stuff about Derf and his excellent graphic novel, Punk Rock and Trailer Parks.
It all takes place in 1980 in Akron, Ohio during the hey day of the punk scene as some of the most influential bands of the day come through Akron as the hero of the book, The Baron encounters all of the shit most people put up with while being a teenager along with discovering punk rock, love found and lost, bullying, bizarre characters in the trailer park, losing a best friend while a lot of the seminal forces of punk rock drift through from the Clash, the Ramones, the Plasmatics and even the Godfather of rock critics, Lester Bangs can be found within these pages.
I’ll shut up now because I don’t want to give too much but this baby is quite the page-turner and Derf’s goofy cartooning style is really fun. It can remind one of Peter Bagge’s Buddy Bradley in a way but Derf definitely has his own style and voice.
Man, I wish we had a place like the Bank (punk club) like they had in Akron, Ohio out here in my home town in California.... but then again, an hour and a half ride down the freeway and I was in San Francisco seeing it all anyway. Great book. Check it out!

Las Chicas Mexicanas de East L.A.


This is a picture of my mom (on the right) with her best friend from James Garfield high school in East L.A. The photo was taken around her Sophomore year circa 1942. That very summer before my mom was to attend Garfield for her Junior year that coming fall her house burned down and she relocated to the town of San Gabriel and finished her last two years of high school at Alhambra High school.
I found this photo again after she died back in 1998 in her home in Sacramento, California.

Here's my resonator slide guitar. I've had it about 5+ years now. Not too sure about the year it is. My buddy John Pedersen (Amazing Grace Music, San Anselmo, CA), who I bought it from claims that it's from the late 1920's. I'm thinking that's it's from the mid-1930's. I also think that the body is different from the neck....
Okay, here's the deal... I'm thinking that it's probably a late 1920's National body, which someone welded the seams back together on it (why it's probably painted this monkey shit, Krylon brown) and that the neck is probably a mid to late 1930's Dobro. I don't know about ANY of this but I do know that it plays and sounds fantastic!
When I get my video camera back I'll try to learn how to download these guitars in action. Until then, just dig the picture.

Another art show... Yep, it's the Box Show in Pt. Reyes Station. Note that my box for this years show is part of the header this year. Come check out the show, it's a lot of fun!

Here’s a picture of my crappy, circa 1960 Japanese guitar I bought at a pawnshop last year for the HUGE sum of $40. It was pretty much unplayable and I had to work on it a bit to get it running and boy, does it run! YOW!
I like to call it my Hound Dog Taylor model, though it's somewhat like, yet not exactly like the late and great Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor's axe.

I like to use it for open tuning slide guitar stuff. Great and nasty tones emanate from this slab of cheap wood with a couple of tin pick-ups screwed into it and strings stretched across it's heavily scared carcass. I really like it.

Hopefully, I’ll figure out how to post videos on here soon and I’ll put this guitar through its paces and you’ll be able to better hear and see it (while simultaneously being able to mock my playing and my taste in guitars as well).

My dear friend and drummer for my band Los Bottle Rockets, Mr. Curtis 'BPM' Cirillo loves to tease me about never really buying a guitar over $125. I don't think that I do that purposely. I just like the sound and feel of something more than it's label, I suppose.