My gear:
1983 Fender Stratocaster (the rare '2-Knob Strat' made only one year and one the last Fullerton-made Strats), black
1998 Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, sunburst
1965 Hagstrom with 68 Gibson humbuckers, natural
2001 DeArmond M-77T w/ bigsby, black
2001 DeArmond M-72, transparent black
2001 DeArmond S-65, red
Essex Flying V, mahogany
My only vintage amp, my mint '65 Fender Vibro-Champ; I'm the original owner.
Major musical influences -
Jimi
Jeff Beck
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Buddy Guy
Slowhand
Actually got to see SRV AND Beck (no, not the that 'new' Beck guy, the 'real' Beck) play together on the same bill at the Garden in '89, less than a year before Stevie's copter crashed. SRV came onstage and played with Jeff - major guitar woodie. How do you decide which of these guys was the 'top bill'?
My musical background
Played in a number of bands over the years, notably The Tremors and the Pharoah King Band. And, yeah, I actually practice every day, and the band practices together three hours a week. Chops.
Wasn't doing much else musically except playing open mics once in a while and jamming occassionally until I met Dan on the playground, and the Crash Daddies juggernaut began.
Other stuff
I'm a graphic designer/copywriter by trade. I worked for almost 10 years at Bell Labs, then went to an ad agency as Creative Director. After awhile, I left the agency, and in 1982 opened Woods Creative Services, co-starring my multi-talented wife Kathy. This is our 25th year in business. We work mostly for tech companies, providing business-to-business marketing and communications in a variety of media, including web, print and publication ads. See our work at www.woodscreative.com.
Besides buiyng new gear, one of my other favorite things is saltwater fishing.
I feel its important to volunteer for stuff and be active in the community...
I coached my son Chris' traveling soccer team in Pompton Lakes for 6 years, from 3rd grade thru eighth grade. Now I'm officially retired. My daughter Jessie carries on the Woods soccer tradition, and plays on Pompton's traveling team. I hold an E-level coaching license from the US Youth Soccer Federation. I played soccer in junior high and at Morristown high school, until I got slide tackled and blew out a knee.
I am a Fourth Degree Member of the Knights of Columbus, and am Past Grand Knight of Marian Council 3801 at St. Mary's in Pompton Lakes. We do good work. Here's our website - www.kofc3801.org (designed by yours truly).
I served on the Board of the North Jersey Council of the Navy League of the United States (NLUS). This is civilian lobbying organization founded in 1902 by Teddy Roosevelt in order to "enlighten the people on naval matters and tell them what a navy means to the country and what it ought to mean to them". I received three national awards for my monthly newsletter, The Highline, that I produced for five years. We took many trips on Navy and Coast Guard vessels when I was active including various cruisers, frigates, carriers, ammunition ships, Coast Guard cutters & icebreakers, etc.
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My dog, Punker - aka Rasta Dingo |
My favorite music is THE BLUES. Here are THE BASIC RULES FOR PLAYING OR SINGING THE BLUES...
1. Most Blues begin with: "Woke up this mornin'..."
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes - sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch...ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevy's, Fords, Cadillac's and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a boxcar on a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or anywhere in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, and Nawlins are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the Blues in any place that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not the Blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10. Good places for the Blues
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass
11. Bad places for the Blues
a. Nordstrom
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses
12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old guy, and you slept in it for 2 weeks straight.
13. Do you have the right to play or sing the Blues?
YES, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied
NO, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund
14. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the Blues. Sonny Liston could have. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.
15. If you ask for water and your darlin' gives you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. black coffee
The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast
e. any drink with a little umbrella
f. YooHoo
g. Jello shots
Favorite Blues foods include:
Spam
chitlins
fatback
anything you harvested from a dumpster
NON Blues foods include:
escargot, unless you pried them off yourself from underneath a bridge
spiral-sliced ham
Boar's Head cold cuts (unless they're slimy, which is OK.
16. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die.So are the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.
17. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
18. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
e. Lightlin'
19. Persons with names like Trevor, Packingham, Amber, Jennifer, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
20. Blues Name Starter Kit
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)
For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Pegleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
21. I don't care how tragic your life is: if you own a computer, you cannot play the blues, period. You best destroy it- with fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. Maybe your big woman just done sat on it. I don't care.
22. Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans and Quakers cannot have the blues. Baptists, Methodists, lapsed Catholics, and any member of any Holiness sect can. Jews cannot, although they can be in a New York state of mind that is a distant cousin to the blues. Muslims can have the blues but generally don't.
23. Cotton and burlap make good blues clothing. Spandex and top-grain leather does not.
24. Shoes with tassels are not blues shoes. Other dress shoes can be, as long as they got holes in 'em from walkin' so far to try to find that no-good, sorry-ass woman what left you.
25. Bluesmen and women play guitar, bass, drums, acoustic pianos and Hammond B-3 organs. They do not play synthesizers, cellos, flutes or trombones (ceptin' in Nawlins). Sound men and club bartenders can have the blues. Booking agents cannot.
26. Football, basketball and minor-league baseball players can have the blues. Major-league baseball players cannot, nor can hockey, golf or soccer players at any level.
• Do not trust the levee to function as intended.
• Always keep your phonograph needle in proper condition.
• Trusting people that you meet at the Crossroads is unwise.
• While sex with Stagger Lee's woman is great, the consequences are also dire.
• Knocking on doors rarely works.
• While you may share your troubles, no one will give a shit.
• The preacherman is frequently of no comfort.
• Moderate consumption of liquor is uncommon.
• Lemon juice on your leg is a satisfying sensation.
• Your baby will always break your heart.
• Your only possible choice of pet is a dog, and the dog must be old.
• Death rarely happens by accident. It always requires some fair amount of fixin'.
• No one is happily married.
• The policeman is not your friend.
• A moderate case of the blues has never been recorded.
