More Than Posts, There’s SJ’s Guitar Dave

It “occurred” to me when it was rubbed in my face that the posts here are only one piece of the SJ puzzle. There are a bunch of people who keep this hotel open, from the friends who fix the program when it goes awry to those of you who help pay the freight of keeping a website on the ‘net.

There’s my editor, Beth, without whom I would look far stupider than I do otherwise, and the bouncers in the hotel bar, Skink and Sgt. Schultz. And there are the voices of reason who talk me off the edge (thanks, Judge Kopf) and the voices of unreason who drive me toward it (I’m looking at you, Barleycorn). And then there are the SJ cultural muses, Howl and Guitar Dave, whose music video selections have become as integral to my doing this gig as the catharsis of writing posts in the wee hours of the morning.

But Dave isn’t SJ’s. He comes rolling in here just like anyone else, because he chooses to spend some of his valuable time making SJ a little better, a little more fun and interesting. As much as his musical selections, like Howl’s, have become an piece of SJ that I, like so many of you, have come to rely upon, he’s got a real life too. That life involves making a living and strumming a guitar. He didn’t come up with the name out of nothing, you know.

Sometimes I take people who contribute to SJ for granted. Remember Fubar and his brilliant poems? He’s not around here anymore, and I miss him very much. Whether Dave chooses to stick around here is up to Dave. I don’t own him. I don’t pay him. He comes here out of the goodness of his heart, and I appreciate it.

Dave’s got other things to do with his time, like earn a living, write and perform great music, make some pretty cool furniture and enjoy life. There may well come a day that he no longer finds showing up at the hotel bar a good use of his time and attention. Should that day comes, we will all be poorer for it. I know I will. I just thought you should know. I want Dave to know too how much I appreciate his stopping by SJ when he has more important things to do. Thanks, Guitar Dave, for gracing SJ with your music, thoughts and friendship.

 

Discover more from Simple Justice

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

45 thoughts on “More Than Posts, There’s SJ’s Guitar Dave”

    1. Guitardave

      Thanks, Bear….you can return the favor…I been kinda crooked myself lately. Put me on the rack, or something 🙂

  4. Skink

    By the numbers:

    1. What is it about Saturday that makes you all mushy?

    2. If Dave disappears, I’ll go huntin’. Because, Randy Newman:
    You’ve got a friend in me
    You’ve got a friend in me
    When the road looks rough ahead
    And you’re miles and miles
    From your nice warm bed
    You just remember what your old pal said
    Boy, you’ve got a friend in me
    Yeah, you’ve got a friend in me.

    3. Goddamnit, Fubar!

    4. This here is a great old Hotel, even when the folks from the cuckoo house down the road camp in the lobby.

    1. SHG Post author

      They say “the truth is plain to see”, they say “the truth will set you free”,
      But ask the ones who speak it, and you will see it’s not the case.

      It’s the same old story, you see the lies, so you speak the truth, well don’t be surprised,
      If you get wise, they’re gonna cut you down to size.

      1. Jorge

        Woof!

        that’s gay-speak for “Guitar Dave is a handsome mofo”. My husband and you look alike but he is hawter. Sorry!
        ?

  6. PseudonymousKid

    Sorry for being an ass to you yesterday, GD. I don’t understand music. Most of it sounds good enough to me. I hate not understanding things. I also have deep psychological issues that stem from my childhood. I hope you understand.

    I appreciate you too. Best explanation I can give is that you were caught in some crossfire. It was blue on blue, and I regret my error. Back to my room now. I’m grounded.

    1. Guitardave

      No worries, PK.
      It seems the whole damn world is in some kind of stressed out funk for quite some time now…it’s no wonder, of course. There truly is an unprecedented amount of free floating anger out there right now, and when it can’t be directed at the fools who deserve it, we end up throwing it at each other.
      I try to not do that, but it ain’t easy…So, fugetabouit. We’re good.

  7. Guitardave

    Thanks, Scott.
    A few things in that nicely done bio need a little updating.
    (If any of you are in a happy mood, stop reading right now)

    17 years of doing pearl inlay and making cool shit on the side is pretty much over. Only had two main builders I supplied. Got fed up with one and told him to find another vendor, and the other, a really great guy, passed away suddenly. (RIP Robin Smith) My old outdated CNC needs a retrofit ($$$) and a lightning strike took out my auto-cad computer a couple of months ago, so the whole operation is kaput.

    I haven’t preformed for at least 5 yrs due to f’ed-up hands. I still play a little, but most days two or three songs and my fingers won’t do what my brain commands. Getting old sucks.

    So I started hauling my Amish neighbors around for cash. It was keeping me afloat till a couple a weeks ago. Had two main customers, a daily guy to an organic farm butcher shop and a solar installer.
    Last month the USDA shut down the butcher ( Miller Organic foods…I think they need a better lawyer…) and the solar guy quit the church and started driving himself around.

    But, no worries. When I review my work history, this latest pile of shit is pretty much par for the course. I been in much worse predicaments and made it thru in one piece.

    But ya know, some days here lately, I look to the sky and say, “YO!… I thought I took this test and passed it a few times already. WTF?” …and all I hear in reply is a subdued cosmic giggle.

    1. abwman

      GD, I suspect there are a lot of mostly silent folks out there like me that look forward to the posts, the comments (lucid and not so much so), and especially being turned on by you and Howl to new (to us) or forgotten old music, like this one you just posted. More than ever, it seems, it’s the magic of music that transcends whatever bad things happen to be going on at the time. Thanks, and I hope the best for you.

      1. Guitardave

        Thank you, abwman.
        Although I’ve read many other blogs without ever commenting, I often forget to tell myself how many ‘invisible friends’ may be watching…thanks for the reminder, and the love.

  9. David Matthews

    It’s an organic whole that you have cultivated. Those of us who lurk and enjoy the reality show vibe of your “comments” section would even miss Jake or PK, not that their comments add substance, but they do add flavor.

    Whatever you and your “regulars” are doing, it works, at least for this fanboi.

    Which reminds me to hit the tip jar again.

  10. David Matthews

    Also, every late-night comic has his band, from Doc Severinsen to Reggie Watts. You have yours: Guitar Dave, feat. Howl, or Howl, feat. Guitar Dave (they can fight it out over the billing order.) So you are keeping a long and storied tradition.

  11. Sgt. Schultz

    You bring me joy, GD. Thank you (and thank you Howl, too). And Fubar, if you’re lurking, you are missed too.

  12. Howl

    Being late to the party, I can’t really add anything to what has been already said. I sometimes wonder what it might be like to be half the songwriter and musician you are, GD. And thanks for turning me on to a lot of good stuff I hadn’t heard before.

  13. Miles

    Without Dave singing and strumming in the lounge, I wouldn’t even know if it was this here hotel’s bar from the HoJo down the block. Thanks for all, GD.

  14. Ed Nickinson

    I’m just an occasional commenter here, a retired trial court judge but someone who prefers to be remembered as a guitar player and troubador for the past 50+ years. I stand in awe of GuitarDave’s knowledge of music and the musicians who offer their own version of the truth, day in and day out. Thanks for giving those musicians a voice and a platform, Dave.

    1. Guitardave

      Thank you very much, Ed. Got any vids of you playing you can post…wait a minute….
      There you are…nice work, Judge!

      1. Ed Nickinson

        Thanks, Dave, I do play with a band called Reunion, but that isn’t us. Here’s a link to my Reunion with a song I wrote called “Never Too Old to Rock and Roll.” I’m the short guy with the guitar stage left/

        1. Guitardave

          Dang it. I found that one in my search…i figured when i did the search and found your band name there would be more than one band named ‘Reunion’…but i didn’t find a good pic of you so I was flippin a coin on which one was your band, oh well.

          Anyway, your a way better player than that other guy, (and better looking, too) and your song sounds like an old standard chart topper. Very cool. Thanks, Ed. ROCK ON!

  16. Tim

    I comment here once in a blue moon’s worth of blue moons, but I read every day and I’d like to join the backing singers singing GuitarDave’s praises. The breadth and depth of music and musical connections he brings to the table adds an extra layer to the thinking and learning being here requires. Thanks from one more of the invisible bystanders.

    Tim

      1. Guitardave

        Thank you very, very much, Tim.
        COME INTO THE LIGHT!…thanks, John.

        I’m having this weird, realization/stage-frighty thing happening today….
        It’s like I’m playing in a small club where I know half of the audience and someone walks over and opens a curtain behind me, and….sshhhit!…I’m looking down into a stadium and 50,000 people are listening, and watching on a big screen. Where’s the emoji for the shivers?

    1. Guitardave

      Thanks, Dave.
      I’ve enjoyed your contributions to SJ also…too bad they seem to be discontinued.
      But, I know…life gets in the way, and ya gotta prioritize, make choices.

Comments are closed.