(fyi: i'm about a third of the way through the book. i really like the way he's integrated all the available stuff into the narrative.) Having poured over the Duane Allman cover issue of Guitar Player magazine when it came out and pulling off the cover to adorn my wall, i can't help but wish they'd used this picture right here. Oooh wow!

See why guitar "feti-shits" would spooge over his git-fiddle? that's the '58 and they used it for the "Duane Allman" model over to Gibson. People pay 20,000 bucks for a guitar that listed new for around 250.00 with case back in the day.

While economic theory might explain scarcity as a reason these vintage guitars are so expensive, the reality is people are idiots and the japanese drove the american guitar market to these heights of folly through their thorough collecting.

Somewhere in a vault in japan lies my old Les Paul TV model with the jr. finish, a rare bird indeed. #510545, come home, baby. daddy's off drugs and misses you.

what that has to do with Duane is tenuous at best, but i did learn all my duane licks on that tv model through an ampeg vt-22 combo. God, i remember the ancient stereo that i could slow the licks down on. didn't use my toe, though. :)

re the book: for all my apostasy to intimate in these pages that duane wasn't gifted but worked at it until he became world class: vindication! LOL

and with that: Wail on, Skydog! Wail on, Donnah!

mmm- the flame on that les paul gave me a woody

I walked into Carlton's Music Center in Winter Haven , Florida one Saturday morning with my friend Tim. Mr. Carlton was a rare bird also, Richard.. He used to travel once'd a year to Kalamazoo and hand pick his stock, no run for him.

Tim and I had become stifled by the sound of my Tele and his LP Recording, and it was time for me to go Gibby...so I traded my 65 Fender in on a brand new Goldtop, a 73. Mr Carlton tried to make a suggestion to me. He offered me an old as hell Standard instead of that brand new sparkly GT. He was willing to finance either.

So my choices were 1) A new Les Paul GT, $868.00 no miles, factory card 2) An old beat up (cracks in the paint) sunburst, older than me..for $800.00

Mr. Carlton, pointed me to the old one and said it was a real nice guitar, but I just couldn't see paying every week for the next 30 years for an old
piece of crap, when my friends couldn't wait to ooh and ahh over the new one...and my oh my how the sparks did fly when that thing hit the ground.

A few weeks later, I remember hearing that burst on a practice amp, the lead picker for Paradise Lost was in looking at it...I recall thinking, 'Damn that sounds familiar'

Thanks Donnah...

I keep noticing the cross necklace in some of Donnah's pics. Anyone know the story on this?

What a fantastic pic ...another one that I have never seen anywhere before ....amazing ...thanks so much for sharing Donna ...

Actually, at this point '58-'60 Les Paul Standards in good condition are commanding $100K-$200K. Yes, it's ridiculous. The models they've been making for the last 20 years have been pretty darn good, and as most musicians will tell you, a great musician can make an average instrument sound great, while a beginner can't make an expensive instrument sound very good at all. I had to 'pawn' my '74 LP standard to a friend awhile back, but plan on getting it back. In the meantime, I've got a surprisingly decent newer SG. It's nice, but it doesn't quite have the tone of the LP. And, yes, I wish I could get back my '60 red LP Junior that was in immaculate condition.

cheers

Since he is looking to his left, he must have been instructing baby Bro where to go next. We all know who was the talented one in the family. I bet he got a little tired of helping old Lanoir out! Just kidding! Good picture of DA using a pick. Thank you Ms. Donnah, keeper of the Skydog flame. And to all the guys, my husband has a 1960 tobacco sunburst LP that I got furious at him for buying in 1975 for what I thought was an outragous amount of money. It was $350.00. His buddy needed rent money. I guess he knew alot more than I did huh? It was our first "major" purchase as man and wife and I wanted furniture (in harvest gold if memory serves me correctly). Silly woman! Wail on Skydog!

Willie, if you know of a 58-60 Standard that hasn't been raped for 100k, drop me a line...

Carl, I share your interest in the crucifix around Duane's neck. I'm with you in wondering what the backstory is.

As always, thanks Donnah!

One day I will get to heaven and there Jesus will teach me to play guitar like Duane Allman.
Thanks Donnah, beautiful.

maybe even Duane will be there to teach you, Peter..

with coltrane and jimi! :) and b.o. too!

with coltrane and jimi! :) and b.o. too!

I've always wondered how 'The Weight' would have sounded with Janis on vocals instead of 'Retha.

better yet...I'll bet Duane could have dressed up
'Piece of my Heart' nicely.

CSason: though we may not have the dream of 'Retha on vocals singin' "The Weight", we do have a close approximation. In the Martin Scorcese film "The Last Waltz" -- The Band's last concert in 1978 at Winterland, Scorcese adds a few studio tracks to enhance what has been called the greatest concert movie ever. On one of those filmed studio tracks, The Staple Singers and Emmylou Harris are aboard with Robbie and the boys to cover "The Weight". All the right people on stage take a verse. Mavis Staples' verse is as close to your beautiful dream as we may ever get. FYI.

My bad -- for a corrected response fleshed out to a full post covering csason's "Janis" query and some other matters, just click on my pen name below.

I want someone to compare the flame on the Les Paul on this pic and the flame of the Les Paul on last weeks Duane Pic and tell me ....look close ...that is two different Les Pauls ..whatever happened to that Les Paul from Last week ...amazing ah to be 1971 again ....by the way it still amazes me that Duane was only 24 when he died ...an amazing life ...and PS is Donnah the Dr. Donna in Full Throttle Magazine?? They seem very simillar to me ...not to be confused with Similac ....lol ...just kidding ...

Paco, another interesting scene is the one with
Neil's coke booger..that got *edited*.

No really..even though the song is staged (pre-recorded)to appear live, the scene I like is the last one of the instrumental, with Robbie playing that old fifth century looking deal, and the acoustic bass, etc... that is the footage of the Last Waltz that comes to mind. The Emmy Lou/Staples/Dylan footage is remarkable in that film. I have been a Band fan since their Dylan days, and Music from the Big Pink, my brother turned me on to.

They had to invent a process for editing it out, and while it's dubbed the "traveling booger matte," it wasn't a booger that was traveling out of Neil's nose.

Whatever Mr. Young had up his nose, that Last Waltz version of "Helpless" with Joni behind the curtain is way beyond beautiful.

Come on, this is Neil Young we're talking about. Whatever his stellar songwriting talents, a song that includes him on vocals has a fundamental problem.

You mean.... you weren't talking about Neil Diamond ?

I never liked that sterile studio version of The Weight in The Last Waltz. I mean, what was the idea behind a filler in a sublime concert movie ? My guess is the record company insisted on it.

From what Levon's said, Robbie Robertson's singing in that movie was pure studio version as well. I've never watched it. Several viewings of "Gimme Shelter" over the years satisfied my interest in the genre.

Damn..I always thought NY was pissed off at Joni for
ad libbing in that song..

it did sound ok I guess.. I watched it and listened for the Dylan and Levon stuff..oh yeah and the Ronnie 'The Hawk' Hawkins bit.

I screw up the guitar references all the time, sry.
This guitar is Hot Lanta, a 59 Les Paul tobacco-burst, the other one he owned was a cherry burst, a 58 he didn't get till later.. unless I have screwed it up again.

This is the one that was re-fretted after DA's demise by his guitar tech (who had assumed possession of it) and took the old frets and hammered them into the back of the guitar in the shape of the name HOT LANTA. This guitar had a neck break and headstock repair, but who really gives a shit, it sounds like pearly and every other one of the 1731 or so lesters that made it out of Kalamazoo alive that year.

Peter, your guess is wrong. The extra studio material in the film "The Last Waltz" was director Martin Scorsese's idea.

Donnah, give Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" CD a spin sometime, and pay special attention to his vocal on the song "Unknown Legend". When Neil's singin' sounds bad to you, that's because he's doing it intentionally.

I don't know about "Harvest Moon," but we had "Harvest" that got played constantly (as did CSNY "Four Way Street"); I even got my own copy as an adult. Then one day when I was around 25 or so, I was fixing my hair in my bathroom and I heard the familiar warbling "There is a town in North Ontario..." and I thought to myself "You know, that guy's voice really sucks for shit." Thus ended my association with the music of Neil Young.
He's just another one of the old stand-bys that didn't make the cut on my way into adulthood. Neither did the Eagles.

A lot of people picked the needle up off the turntable on Dylan to -- their loss.

That's what's great about this music we share: we can all find what we love, disagree sometimes, and yet still share a common bond. Peace, love, and understanding to you all.

There has always been something about Neil Young. His singing is so painfully bad yet it is in key, his guitar playing simplistic at times yet can burn with the power. The Harvest Album is one of his few that I can listen to all the songs. Though known more for 'Heart of Gold',and 'Needle and the Damage Done' & 'Old Man '(all good songs) I preferred 'A Man Needs a Maid' & 'Words' (Between the Lines of Age) I wonder how 'Alabama' has affected his following in The South. All albums after this, I could only stomach a song or 2 from. Thank God for greatest hits albums.
The Eagles only held my interest to the Desperado Album and I still bristle when I hear 'Seven Bridges Road' by them instead of Ian Matthews. The song that redeems them is the laid back, 'Train Leaves Here This Morning' and the harmony on entire 'Desperado' record.
What led me to this rambling commentary however was this exquisite photo of Duane. I agree this would have been a better photo for the "Skydog" book cover. I continue to search for material on Duane to help me know this artist as clearly as this photo shows him. 'Wail on'

Funny that there should be so much discussion about Neil Young stemming from a Duane Allman photo- don't know if any of you recall, but while Duane was a very gracious person regarding the talents of every other known guitar player in the world, he did state that he did NOT appreciate Neils playing - for whatever reason Duane did not "like that cats playing at all".
For what it's worth.