The Dallas international guitar festival, perhaps more commonly knob as the Dallas guitar show, is an interesting  phenomenon. It's unlike other trade shows such as NAMM or Musikmesse. It is at once more low budget and more heartwarming. The lack of glitz and glam is conspicuous, even as the cold lights shine down on Holy Grail level vintage pieces. It's a small show, but nuanced and layered. It's easy to think that you can take the entire show in in an hour, and, from strictly a square-footage standpoint, that's true. But to truly soak up everything that the Dallas show has to offer took me the entire three days. Here's how it shook out.

 

The Vibe The vibe and attitude at the show is casual, relaxed, and—in true Texas fashion—just a little dangerous. ZZ Top beards are all the rage, as are 11am beers that somehow keep refilling all the livelong day. With that edge, however, comes a cool, jovial attitude. People are nice, and they seem genuinely happy to be there. They come...

So many great CDs, so little time and space. Here are one-sentence reviews of ten discs that I’ve been digging, along with links to facilitate further investigation:

Read the rest of this blog and check out more of Michael's musings here: www.guitarmoderne.com/hidden/derek-bailey-tribute-at-the-stone.

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Steven Wilson presented a multimedia immersion experience at San Francisco’s famed Fillmore on Friday evening, the second date on his current Grace for Drowning tour, which continues through mid May.

When I heard the sad news today that Jim Marshall had passed away, I immediately thought about the last time I’d spoken with him, which was several years ago in Milton Keynes, England. I was there with GP editor-in-chief Michael Molenda on a visit to the Marshall factory. After touring the facilities and getting our ears royally pummeled by live demos of some new amplifiers, we were invited to lunch with Jim and his wife, along with Marshall product manager Nick Bowcott and Zakk Wylde and his wife.Holding court at the table in his favorite restaurant, Marshall entertained us with stories—and he had lots of them to tell. Some I’d heard before, like how he came up with the first 4x12 speaker cabinet for Pete Townsend, but other I hadn’t, such as the one about meeting Jimi Hendrix in 1966. Jim didn’t sing that day—he usually reserved that treat for the late-night crowd at his famous dinner parties—but as the wine and scotch flowed that afternoon, we all peppered Jim with questions about Marshall history, which he...