 |
 |
|
mystery and beautiful women. Well, okay, not too many of those things, but maybe basses, phone calls, vodka-based drinks and an internet forum. |
|
 |
 |
|
business. The other guy has a lightning fast internet connection. |
away from me and keep my mouth shut and fondle the basses. |
|
The story of the Logan Green Flame Custom Bongo is a bit hard to fathom. Basically, EBMM showed the first Bongos at NAMM in early 2003 and I had some sort of inexplicable reaction. Let's just say I liked them. Well, the Bongo is not a run-of-the-mill xerox copy of a Fender. Soon, bassists all over the world started having seizures and wondering just what the hell Ernie Ball was trying to do to their clearly defined concept of electric bass design. It wasn't a Precision! It wasn't a Jazz! It wasn't what old codgers wanted! But I liked it - I liked it a lot. Certain bassists on certain bass-related internet forums (you know who you are) had a field day, slogging and insulting a bass none of them had played. I became, without realizing it, a Bongo Fanatic and took great pleasure in defending the bass. Along the way, Bongos started shipping and I ended up with a Bongo Swarm. Then I knew that the old codgers were wrong. And the Great Bongo Wars continued, and slowly but surely, the tide began to turn. As more and more people had a chance to play the bass, the number of dedicated Bongo Haters began to drop. The number of Bongo players began to grow. Somehow, I had become a moderator over at the official EBMM Forum. I thought, at the time, that it was a fine reward for being such an evangelist. Then Sterling Ball, with whom I am seen in the above photos, began to frequent the forum, scaring children and typing much too fast for punctuation to have a fighting chance. Eventually, I found myself answering phone calls from Sterling, calling him back and generally getting to know the man. We got along fabulously. He called me, planned the now famous Ernie Ball Music Man Open House weekend and asked me advice. He gave me advice, too - about which vodka I really should be drinking and how I wear my basses too high and why did I have a Fender poster in my studio? When we, the faithful, finally made our way to San Luis Obispo for the EBMM Open House, the first official event was at the swanky SLO country club, which initially refused to modify their swanky dress code. Sterling completely subverted them by claiming we were having a costume party, sort of a combination of western outfits and The Big Chill. We had a cocktail hour (both words should really be plural) and then Sterling took the stage to greet everyone and present the Forum Awards. To bring this already too long story to a close, Sterling and the good people of EBMM built and gave me a one-of-a-kind custom built Bongo, complete with Logan Green finish and handpainted flames. Herewith may you view the fabulous beast: |
|
 |
| Oh yeah - why Logan Green? EBMM built a couple of Logan Green Bongos for NAMM, and they were beautiful. Dealers made fawning noises over them but claimed that "no one" really wanted green basses. Uh-huh. But facts is facts and if the dealers don't order them, the factory doesn't build them. One Logan Green Bongo (no flames, by the way) went to a Famous Guy and the last remaining non-flame LG went to a very close relative of Sterling Ball...let's call him Scott Ball. But I didn't know Scotty had the last one, and I sent frenzied emails to Derek and whoever else would listen to me - I wanted that bass! I would pay whatever was necessary! But it was not to be. Scotty had fallen in love, and who could blame him? And lo, for the longest time, he did lord it over me (albeit in a friendly way, of course) and that was, I thought, pretty much the end of the story. "No more Logan Green paint", they said. And there was wailing, and gnashing of teeth. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
for wearing my basses "too high". I must be taller than he figured, though, because the bass hung just below my chin and I nearly knocked my front teeth out trying to get it on. That's Dudley Gimpel standing behind the drums. Could it get any better? Well..... |
 |
|
getting to jam with Dudley Gimpel, Jon Smith and John Ferraro? Yeah, that's good stuff. and me, Jack Williams. (I assume John will add my name to his list of gigs.) |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |