Thanks for the autographed CD and concert t-shirt, Joe! Just got it this morning. This was the first thing of any significance that I won in my life. I'm thinking it would look pretty cool in a shadowbox frame in my guitar studio.

Thanks again, and thanks to Jon and crew for managing the contest!

Segway banned in San Fransisco!

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/01/20/segway.ban.ap/index.html

Wonder if Joe is disappointed? :)

Dave Gruska

anibur - I remember that post! I was having wiered deja vu while reading your message thinking I've heard something similar to that before! That would be very cool if Joe did anything like that. BTW, Dan McAvinchey from Guitar9 records did something like that awhile back. Before he released his "Guitar Haus" record, I think he asked people what they thought of the sample tracks. People who responded were awarded with a mention in the "special thanks" section of the CD liner notes (my name is there!). Anyway, I know Dan McAvinchey isn't the biggest name in instrumental guitar (though Guitar Haus is actually a pretty decent album), but I thought that was a very cool way to involve his fans.

http://www.guitar9.com/guitarhaus.html

Glad to see a T2Jer won the guitar - congrats Jstrat57! I forgot about the chat! Doh! Oh well, I'm out of questions for now for Joe anyway.

The transcript doesn't appear to be up yet - did Joe talk about a new album at all? I've heard/read that he's been writing a lot lately...

Here's an interesting poll - Satriani vs. Malmsteen on a number of different rating criteria:

http://www.misterpoll.com/1133713835.html

Joe, free wireless in San Fransisco:

Nice redesign, Jon. The tabs especially look good, and the whole front page looks a bit more professional. As with the last site redesign, I'm going to again have to suggest that the "Interact" options be moved to the front page in a dropdown menu. It would fit nicely right under "Next Show".

I just bought the new album over at the Sony music web site (w/ a free autograph!), and am listeninng to the sound clips now. It's hard to tell with only 30 seconds, but here's my initial thoughts:

Gnaahh - seems like it could fit well on SBM. I definitely see where the title came from - the guitar "says" it.

Up In Flames - almost sounds CP-ish. Sounds like a 7-string doing the chunking? Actually on second listen, it sounds more like it could be an extra from The Extremist.

Hands in the Air - seems a bit like it could be a song from EOC, but much less tecnho. Sounds like another 7 string song?

Lifestyle - I'm not a big fan of vocals on an instrumental album, but this sounds really cool. Joe's voice is in the lower register (this definitely seems to work best for him), and seems like it's tracked (correct term?) a fifth higher. Standard blues progression, though, at least on the 30 sec. clip.

ITLIS - Say it ain't so! A "Until We Say Goodbye" ripoff? (partially at least). I hope this isn't a representative clip.

If I Could Fly - sounds like a nice upbeat song. Nice harmonic at the end of the clip.

Souls of Distortion - I'm not a big fan of using the wah for the whole melody (Joe seems to be really fond of doing this - i.e. "Love Thing"), but seems like it could be a decent song. Cool song name. BTW, Joe, have you considered naming a song /future album after any of the suggestions for the album that became SBM?)

Just Look Up - another upbeat song. I think Joe sometimes resolves phrases in too much the same way (i.e. a few notes, with an end note, followed by a few notes, then a fifth lower). Sorry I can't explain that better - I don't know much music theory. Devil's Slide is a good example of this, though - note followed by note up, note followed by note a fifth down. Cool #9 also seems to follow this formula. It's all good, though.

I Like The Rain - another vocal song that seems promising.

Searching - sweet! now THIS is how to use a Digitech Whammy! (this is a Digitech Whammy, right?) Nice brooding bass tone, too.

Bamboo - this sounds a lot like a song that could easily fit on Ronnie Montrose's "Music From Here" (judging from the 30 sec clip). Very moody.

Do The Stu - "Ugh...I don't like the sound of Joe's vocals on this album. When he sings, I want to hear him SING...like on I Believe."

"I Believe" is definitely Joe's best song with vocals - great guitar, great lyrics, solid singing. But this is a rea vocal gem for Joe. Joe's guitar is so powerful (not just in volume) that he really can't match it with his singing. For example, "Ride" might be a lot better song if James Hetfield was singing it. At least on these new songs, Joe is doing what he can (singing lower, adding a lot of production) to match the mood of the guitar.

"I don't hear ITLIS?'s similarities to UWSG."

Matt Martinez - I remember the old EOC site - this was a big step forward from the "Cyber Surfing with the Alien" site!

Archive.org has many of the iterations of Joe's site (some of the graphics are broken on some versions, but you can usually see them by clicking on a nearby date):

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.satriani.com

Michelle: "I must have joined in '97? That site is the first site I remember. A few familiar names there too. Some are still here :)"

I kind of feel bad about my attendance on T2J. I usually post a lot before and after a new album comes out, but otherwise only check the site once in a while.

Do The Stu: "I think I remember other people saying that Talk To Joe used to have a Time Machine background, though... I'm not sure if it was the whole site or just that page."

I think you're right, now that I think of it. It probably was just on the T2J page.

The Prez - yes, it's an authentic autograph. Joe said he signed about 1,000-2,000 CDs on one of his latest posts. I also bought the G3 DVD from Sony's site with Joe, Steve, and Yngwie's autographs - it's definitely real ink.

JS_JS - http://www.dreamtheater.net/ and http://www.johnpetrucci.com

Great band / guitarist.

The clip for "The Souls of Distortion" is really growing on me - I like how it sounds kind of disjointed with the wah, with the melody tucked behind it.

Do The Stu - I read somewhere that Sony really likes having artists like Joe on their roster, as they don't need to promote him but he still always sells well because he's got one heck of a hardcore following, so they make out with a higher profit margin.

Just imagine what a little promotion could do...

trutina - d'oh! For a second I thought your whole paragraph link was a post from Joe! :)

Trutina - I just listened to a few clips for the Talk2Joe CD - they sound great! I'll have to check out the rest later on today.

I just recently bought the Tracktion multitrack software (anyone else use this?), and threw together a small, easy track just to learn the ropes.

http://www.davegruska.com/redline_mix_test.mp3

I'd love to hear what you think of the mixing job - I've never really mixed anything before.

Thanks in advance.

Dave

Mikey Vai - thanks for letting me know. Not sure why it stopped working. I've moved it to another site of mine (and fixed the original post):

http://www.davegruska.com/redline_mix_test.mp3

TASTEY - I just use Windows Media Player or Winamp (iTunes if you're on a Mac). You do need a sound card, speakers or headphones... :)

TASTEY - maybe the mp3 is corrupted? Or maybe the mp3 is variable bit rate, and your player is older and doesn't support it? Are you downloading the file from the Web? If so, you may want to right-click on the file, and choose "Save Target As...", save the file to your desktop, right click on it, and choose "Open With..." and try each option out.

Shutup N Vai - thanks, man. I think I hear a little bit of distortion near the middle, but I can't really tell, and nothing is redlining, so maybe I'm just hearing things?