There was just a 5.8 earthquake in Chino Hills (near Pomona, about halfway between LA to the west and San Bernardino to the east) a few minutes ago.

I felt it here in Long Beach...things were shaking quite a bit, but nothing fell from the walls.

FYI, the Northridge 1994 quake was 6.7.

well...downloading the older flash version here at work dint work, chat still won't open.

Sigh. Not the world's biggest problem, to be sure.

Hi Joe . I live in England and have been playing Guitar over thirty years. I have a techical question, can you help?

When you sweet pick do you use part of your right hand to to stop notes from sounding out when you lift your fingers of them?

A quick update...

It seems like the quake was in a fairly deserted area, so I don't expect there to be any serious damage or major injuries.

I'm about 40 miles southwest of the epicenter...I doubt there's any damage at all here in Long Beach. I live in an old building though, so it did shake quite a bit.

I'll post more when I get into work in a few hours, but I think everything is generally OK.

Cool Keniko, that sounds awesome. Great descriptions on the amp actually.

I sure like the new tones he's getting with it, i'm sure it is amazing.

I really like the raw rock tones, sounds kinda like ACDC meets ZZ Top on several rhythm tones.

.............AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good afternoon Mr Joe,

George Carlin gets in one last laugh on death July 28, 2008, 7:15 PM EST LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Just months before he died, George Carlin was looking into the face of death — and making it the butt of his jokes.

"You know what I've been doing? Going through my address book and crossing out the dead people. It gives you a feeling of power, of superiority, to have outlasted another old friend," Carlin says on what turned out to be his final comedy album. The recording, "It's Bad For Ya," comes out Tuesday on Eardrum Records.

Carlin died June 22 of a heart attack at 71.

In an interview four months before his death, he told The Associated Press he was particularly pleased with the material he was working up for the album and an HBO show that aired last March.

"Definitely some people who are close to me who have seen this show, and have seen a lot of the others, feel this is my best stuff yet," he said.

Among them was his daughter, Kelly Carlin McCall, who said she was delighted to see the album mark a return to what she called her father's "playful goofiness." In recent years, she noted, his routines had seemed to get darker and angrier.

Not so this time, with Carlin waxing on — with four-letter words in abundance — about the advantages of getting older.

"It's a great time of life, you get to take advantage of people and you're not responsible for anything," he says on the album. He adds that he discovered a popular pastime could be had gathering family members around and pretending to have Alzheimer's.

"You say, 'Who are you people and where's my horse?"

Although there will be no more new routines, Carlin is still around, thanks to his daughter and brother, Patrick, who spent a weekend earlier this month scattering his ashes at his favorite haunts around the country. They stopped in front of the nightclubs he played in New York City's Greenwich Village and at a summer camp in New Hampshire where, as a child, he received a necklace for winning the drama competition. He was wearing it the day he died.

Accompanied by old friends from the neighborhood, they also stopped at a park on the edge of Harlem where Carlin grew up.

"The wind blew him around a little bit when Kelly threw his ashes," Patrick Carlin recalled.

Stevie & Jimmy

That's the shit right there!

TSB Stadium in New Plymouth, New Zealand

Do the stu : i will check your links later.

Castle : glad you enjoy SRV & Buchanan... they were both out there.

Ibanezguitar : a Beck's herald.. never thought about that.

______________________

I will post two tributes for SRV as soon as i'll get time for.

_________________

You want to talk about Blues...

This is a bit long.

Iggy, Nick and elpp I love your enthusiasm! It wouldn't be impossible and I will put some serious thought to it, whether if it happens is another thing but I am not writing it off just yet.

It would probably make sense to see if there was enough interest for a local Melbourne one, bearing in mind, though, that anybody who wanted to join in from anywhere could synchronise their watches and video themselves or their group playing at the same time.

Loosely (it IS a crazy idea remember) in principle all we need is to organise a time and place, let's say, (just for example), whoever can be at Federation Square in Melbourne on a certain Saturday afternoon (roo? Jamie???) which, by the way is probably the right venue for a Joe jam if you think of the architecture, it is very ITLIS or CP-like. This is easier than trying to obtain a building or hall.

For those who can actually play guitar, unlike me, who can only do air guitar, all you have to do is bring your guitar (what could drummers bring??) and be ready at the appointed time. No need for any amps etc as there won't be any power anyway, and I would imagine the concoction of differently tuned guitars and different levels of skill might be tough. Kids, teenagers and adults - doesn't matter as long as they want to play.

We decide on which song or songs, let them rip from some sort of portable MP3 or CD player (big enough for everyone to hear) and everyone plays along - EASY PEASY, there is your chance to play Satriani in public!. And record it all for your family and friends and put it on YouTube if you want - you Brits and any others can do the same.

How funny if everyone wore a bald wig and sunnies?

Everyone is only 6 deg of separation at most from someone who could help. It could be something random for fun. For example, I know a certain keen, 16 yo budding journalist who might like to document or cover it, if we even bother with some sort of public record.

Copyright, liability, logistics, motivation, they are just minor details :0). I guess Joe wouldn't mind if his material was played in public, much like me leaving my car window open as I drive down Flinders St with sWTA blasting out the windows (not that I do that).

Again, not getting too far ahead of myself, but key items I might look into might be: - what are the forums that Melbourne guitarists frequent so as to communicate with them and gauge interest? - what are the top 5 Joe songs that are most commonly learnt by people who can play guitar? - who wants in? - who has talents for organising stuff?

Listening.......Just Look Up (magic) Drinking........lovely Yarra Valley pinot noir