Ron Asheton tribute reviews

What a gig. The Stooges were great.
Detroit Metro Times blog
http://blogs.metrotimes.com/index.php/2011/04/live-review-iggy-the-stooges/

http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/stooges-mainbar/

Amazing - the orchestral 'Dirt' was MIND-BLOWING!!!! - and the whole thing sounded incredible - even on the radio. Rollins did a great job too.

Congraulations to Kathy Asheton and everyone involved. Ron would surely be very proud.

woody wrote:

Amazing - the orchestral 'Dirt' was MIND-BLOWING!!!! - and the whole thing sounded incredible - even on the radio. Rollins did a great job too.

Congraulations to Kathy Asheton and everyone involved. Ron would surely be very proud.

I think they filmed it, can't wait for the DVD!!

Maybe there'll be a DVD, or maybe it was exclusive footage for the Jarmusch documentary. Either way, I'd love to see the 'Ron's Tune' duet with the slide guitar.

I'm pretty sure it was the Jarmusch guys doing the filming. I saw Jarmusch after the show and there was a sign up warning everybody that they were agreeing to be filmed by entering the theater!

Rolling Stone review:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/iggy-and-the-stooges-honor-their-late-guitarist-ron-asheton-20110420

Nice photos at Sony's site:

http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/us/news

woody wrote:

I'd love to see the 'Ron's Tune' duet with the slide guitar.

Kids, Elmore James plays slide guitar, what James Williamson played on his lap that night is an acoustic Hawaiian STEEL guitar, and I thot it was in great taste, and totally unexpected even tho I've been wondering if he'd eventually work some steel into a Stooges moment, cool.

Well I don't know about the specifics of the terminology, but can't an acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar played with a slide be described as a form of 'slide guitar'?

Anyway it was very fine.

Yeah, youre right Woody, a little nit picky. But steelin is correct. Slide guitar is usually played with a glass or steel tube over a finger. But people have used knifes, bottlenecks. sockets. Ron is playing a Weissenborn guitar which has a hollow neck and an incredible sound. There, now you know more then you ever wanted to know.

No that's cool, knowing stuff is very good. I'm always curious. A hollow neck?!? It did really sound lovely, and 'steelin' sounds very cool.

btw there's a little typo in your post there, dude.

What was really impressive to me was the power of the radio broadcast to stimulate the imagination, with no visual, to conjure up an imaginative image during the proceedings. I dreamed it afterwards which I know I wouldn't have done if it'd been a video feed. Not having the whole picture is powerful because the imagination fills in all the rest. Live performance transmission... ! Again, thanks to whoever put that together.

Thanx for being gentle, guys
Now that James has fully let the genie out of the bottle about being into steel guitar he'll probably get increasing notice concerning the 'odd' guitar he's rarely seen with and I know he wants people to notice, be curious, learn the basic terminology, and maybe even get into playing it. He's very into steel guitar and is suddenly becoming our new 'point man' in spreading the steel guitar gospel to the uninnitiated masses, especially Stooges fans! He's been a vocal member of our steel community at http://bb.steelguitarforum.com for a year plus now, and you can too (for the $5 join fee) or just cruise the forum and dig checking out the quiver of sweet steels he's been acquiring, including the new Francis acoustic he played the other night. Here's his latest post, concerning Ron's Tune http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=1772650#1772650

Per Woody's Q, since there are kinda no rules in music, you can do whatever you want on any instrument, like playing slide on a steel, plenty of people are doing it now, both because it's potentially a great sound and because it's much easier than learning the correct basics of playing classic steel guitar (which ain't that hard, sadly few teach it correctly). But at least using the proper terms shows you know some of what's going on about steel ...and keeps us nit pickers happy.

Alright! Now I see why the word 'slide' doesn't say nearly enough about what was going on there.

I found this page helpful to understand the differences - http://www.well.com/user/wellvis/steel.html

You da man, Woody!

Poor James, he's been outed on his secret hideout!!

I've been following his learning curve there for a few years now. It's got me interested in the electric lap steel.

I outted him on the steel forum so it's only proper that I outted him here, eventually, but in life timing and courtesy is everything and I happily waited til he seemed quite comfortable with the world knowing his new passion. Now it's up to Stooge fans to use that info respectfully and wisely like you have sg, and discover an old trick for new dogs. There's way more to steel guitar than just sliding around the strings, it's one of the most creative instruments available and only limited by the guy holding the bar. With this new precident I'm hoping we see James putting it into more Stooge context in time ...and not always in a sweet way as he did for Ron, the steel can rock!

The first thing I did after I read the Fret Board Journal article was search for a steel forum, and there he was! After most people thinking he was the reclusive "Darth Vader" of the Stooges it turns out he's really friendly. It's a strange and wonderful world when you can give and receive shit from ones guitar hero on FB about our mutual guitar and amp buying addictions!

He probably was that way back then, driven hard to accomplish things in a rough world, but time and the changes he's gone thru since those crazy days, like being clean, a corporate exec, and a family guy, have brought out other sides to possibly a complex personality and we're lucky to be the benefactors. I find James' once quietly evolving story to be fascinating and that he is so open, pretty intriguing. The next few years should be extra fun to watch via this new perspective. And kudos to FBJ for the JW article, very cool, I dig that 'zine.

i'm awaiting the frypan's debut in Iggy and The Stooges...