I love shooting

Take aim

Breathe in and relax

Squeeze the trigger slowly..

BANG!!!

Suddenly you feel a rush of adrenaline

The sound rings out loud then the echo trails off

You feel the concussion of the shot throughout your whole body recognizing the power the gun holds

You see the smoke dissipate

You smell the sweet smell of burnt gunpowder

instantly you are elated with the natural rush of shooting a gun

WOW

Then you squeeze the trigger again “BAM” and start the whole process over.

This is what I love about shooting

Out with old 2002 Ford F150 and into a new 2008 Ford F150

BAM!!!

THUD THUD THUD……………..

“Shit pull over”

“What the fuck!?”

“Actually turn around!”

“Where?”

“Up there”

“You smell that?”

“Yup, gas”

“just keep going”

This is how it went down when the spark plug blew out of my truck.  Unfortunately it is a common problem with Ford truck’s and SUV’s that have the Triton engine.  Susan’s Expedition blew it’s spark plug out last year and they had to replace the whole head.  But since this has been an on going problem Ford has figured out a quicker, less expensive fix by basically re-tapping the head.  They call it a heiliarc.  Anyways we made it safely off the Grade and I got it fixed but figured it was time for a new truck.

My old truck

My new truck

Great Poem

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

My first Blog

This is my first unedited attempt at a Blog back when I was 37.  2 years ago.  Back when I had to ask  “what’s a Blog?”

The wonders of the internet, anything you would ever want to know about and then something’s you don’t is out there, somewhere, and just a Google away. Today in this day and age that odd sentence makes sense, we Google things. Even my computer caught that I didn’t capitalize Google. Anyways I have found a wonder in all this especially Youtube, Myspace, EBay, etc. Now I even visit Blog sites to read peoples daily life’s being lead. Sooo I figured I would give it a shot myself. Unfortunately at my age, 37, unless you were really willing to sit down and learn the computer, things where not so easy. At this time I would like to thank all who have brought us this far with the computer and the internet. I sometimes call it “point and click” or “drag and drop” definitely no programming required. The creation of this system makes cruzin’ the internet a breeze and allow me to enjoy my web surfing in a timely matter. Also I can’t forget DSL and Cable access; it is way faster than the old dial up connection. Anyways I am here now and enjoying it immensely. I started out emailing and light surfing as everyone else did in the mid 90’s. Then it was EBay. I started selling items for the music store I use to manage, Grand Performance. Then after buying the store I continued to EBay. Now with over 250 transactions and about 200 feedbacks all positive, I feel I have a good understanding of that community and how to do business successfully in this medium. I look forward to learning and growing my EBay business. In the last couple of years the net has changed starting with Myspace. For me this was a way cool way to check out bands and new music. In fact I really haven’t searched for any long lost friends, just music, but the idea of a web page for yourself or business with a user friendly template is way cool. My band The JD Project started a Myspace page and it has been really cool. www.myspace.com/thejdproject We have gotten gigs from it, people can hear our songs on it and my family and friend and myself use it to keep track of up coming gigs. Myspace is way cool. Lately I have immersed my self into Youtube. What a great format and venue for more music. I can see bands, musicians, performances of American idol; it is getting to be just about anything. It is way cool. All of these internet sites have really been a great experience for me. Thus the creation of www.grandcentralmusicstore.com. Through the struggles of my attempts to create a website with absolutely no success, my man Forrestt Williams made it all happen.

A Sunday Conversation

“Slow day?”

“Yup, well kinda”

“How is business?”  A question I’m asked many times a day lately

“Pretty good” and then for some reason I always feel I have to clarify that answer.

“Our local in-store traffic is down but we are doing pretty good on the internet”

“On your website?”

“On EBay”

“Really? Used gear?”

“Used and new.”

“Really?!”

“Yes, we have almost all of our whole store on EBay, around 400 items”

“WOW, that was smart”  A necessity to the change in our local economy.

“We ship items all over the world”

“Really, where?”

“Canada, France, Australia, Germany just about anywhere.”

“Wow, did you ever think you would be doing this?”

“Nope, but if you can’t beat em join em.”

“Interesting, that’s really cool, have a nice day”

“Thanks enjoy your Sunday”

Central Coast Motorcycle Association Gig

We played in the white tent

Sand, Sand and more sand.

The gig was originally turned down by the JD Project ( Jon went to John Olmstead’s wedding ) and at the last minute the other band that was hired backed out so we put together a band of Doug, Brad Daane, JJ, and myself. It payed $1000 for an hour and a half plus free beer and dinner.

So I pulled up to the kiosk at the beach entrance in Oceano, paid my 5 bucks and started my first Pismo dunes experience after living on the Central Coast for 21 years. I really enjoyed the drive on the beach to the tent that was about a mile and half away.  Lot’s of 4×4’s, trailers, buggies and motorcycles.  The ocean waves breaking on the beach right next to me while I was driving.  Occasionally I would get sideways in the truck when I would drive over a soft area in the sand.  Most of the “road” out to the tent was compacted sand that was ok for my non 4 wheel drive truck.  When I got up to the tent I turned off the compacted sand road and pulled into the parking area by the tent.  As I was driving around to the back I start to feel my tires slipping and next thing you know I was stuck.  I was like ” Fuck, I better stop and not bury myself anymore” Fortunately  the place I got stuck was a OK place to park and I could deal with getting pulled out after the gig.

The gig itself was pretty fun.  Playing with Doug is like old hat except we tried a couple of songs we don’t really play and they were rough to say the least.  One highlight was we played a new Doug song ” Wagon wheel “  { turns out not to be a new Doug song but a Dylan song }  We had messed around with it at practice before but with JJ and Brad we went for it and it had a really good feel.  I look forward to playing that tune with Jon and Dave.  The rest of the gig was cool also.  Playing with Brad ( Killer Bass player ) was fun and refreshing.  JJ was his same self.  Not really looking like he was having any fun.  He is so steady with his beat which is great but when you play with someone you want them to have fun.

After the gig it was time to eat.  I fixed myself up a plate of chicken, bread and salad.  First bite of chicken , crunch, crunch – sand. Next bite I tried the salad, same thing -  sand.  Everything was covered with sand so I ended up throwing away the plate and started to pack my gear.

Realizing that I still needed to get my truck pulled out I found the guy in charge and asked him for help.  Next thing I know one of his guys puts a hitch on my truck, chains it to his behemoth 4×4 and say ” I’ll go slow”  I put the truck in reverse, look in both of my mirrors and he starts to pull me out backwards.  Suddenly I am being pulled backwards very fast with no control.  I put on the brakes which does nothing but causes my front end to drag deeper in the sand.  I have no control and he is pulling me faster than I was comfortable.  He pulls me out to the compacted sand, jumps out, unhitched me and is gone.  I was literally pulled in 3 minutes from start to end. There was nothing slow about him dragging me out. I found out later JJ got stuck also and they helped him get out.

All in all it was an interesting gig and  fun.  I have to say I like the fact that I am $250 richer but I could definitley do without all the sand.

Whiskey Chimps

I saw these guys this summer at Montelones in Templeton.  These guys ripped it up.  Bluegrass versions of rock songs. The lead singer used to work for Omar.  I had a run in with him about business and ESP guitars.  Stanley Gonzalez is a better singer than sales rep.

Incubus Dig

Cool tune

Vox amps RULE!

Summer of 2008

I

Turned 39 years old ( one step close to over the hill ) We went to Chumash Casino and gambled for a few hours. I would like to go back there again.

I took guitar lessons from Jeff Bedrosian and didn’t have the practice time to take advantage of it but I did learn a lot.

Bought a Wii and love it. I feel like a kid again playing video games but it sure is fun and something new to do at night.

I saw John Mayer ( awesome guitarist and good show ) STP ( kicked ass ) and Matchbox twenty ( was weak ) at the Mid state fair.

I built an Orange squeeze compressor pedal like a geek.

I purchase:

a 1956 National lapsteel

GCMC

August was our 3^rd year in business and totally the worst month ever.

We totally grew our EBay business new gear and used

Our in store business went to shit due to the crashing economy. We not only have been feeling the housing collapse but also the stock market dip has tightened many people’s wallets.

Lessons are still holding on but should be revamped for growth.

Still dealing with the ten’s of thousands of stolen good items from Alex of Chili Pepper’s niece

I installed a new barn call system and serviced the Paso Robles event center sound system.

I Did Nativity’s Jubilee and Cal Poly’s Wow again.

JD Project

The JD project with new drummer Dave LaCaro Played:

Avila Beach concert series

Concerts at the lake in A town

Farmer’s market twice

CIP for Slo Our 5^th year

Poker run for the Vet’s in Atascadero

Pictures from the summer

From Mike The Marketing guy

Sept 26 2008

This email I received from a regular at the shop.  It’s interesting how he hit alot of ideas that we have been kicking around lately.

Hey Dan.
Thanks for the behind-the-scenes tour today.  I think you’re really on to something and I had an idea for you.  Just to remind you that I do marketing for the corporate headquarters of Lindamood-Bell here in town.  I can’t shut the marketing brain off sometimes, and I started thinking about markets that are under-represented in local music shops and online sales:  Fine vintage gear.  I like the new guitars alright, but I love great used gear.  Fine, quality gear from the days when guitars and amps were made by people, not machines.

So here’s my pitch…

You clearly have a passion for vintage amps.  I’ve been checking out some your vintage amps in the guitar room and you’ve got some quality stuff.  But the kicker is that you know your way around a vintage amp.  You know what makes them a classic, what makes them historically significant, why they’re so rare, and you know the difference is between a quality vintage treasure and a piece of 80’s Japanese trash.

I’m willing to bet you’ve got a room full of classic guitars at home as well.  Based on what I’ve seen you play, I know you’ve got or had an old brown SG, and I think I saw you play a black beauty Les Paul.  Anyhow, you probably have the same appreciation for classic guitars that you do for classic amps.

So you open a division of Grand Central as “Grand Central Vintage: Specializing in Fine, Vintage Guitars & Amps.”

You could start small, like one of the sound booths.  That way you could put a lock on the door, and make it so people have to ask someone for permission to go in the room, which will keep the kids from fucking around, and also give it a sense that there is something SPECIAL in there.  You could rig up a couple of par 38s or 64s with some colored gels and set up a nicely lit display.  Put up a fancy sign over the door that says Grand Central Vintage.  Do something nice like hand-carved wood to give it a nice luthiers touch.

Put the word out that you buy and sell vintage gear, specifically the things you like and know well.  Electrics and amps, and maybe some old Gibson or Martin acoustics.

Then, on your eBay site, you can start up Grand Central Vintage as a division of Grand Central Music.  You can have a nice big banner ad on your home page that will link to a separate page that is similar to your main store page, but has some slightly different colors and maybe even a graphic of the hand-carved sign.  It shows that it’s the same, but better.  Musician’s Friend did something like that with their premier or custom collection.  They sold new stuff, though.  You’re specializing in vintage gear.

You can post your vintage gear and use your perfect feedback rating from the store to give you credibility.  You’ve been playing and performing all your life, and have been in the music retail business for 14 years.  You’ve got a solid reputation, which will help people get over the fear of paying top dollar for rare, vintage gear online.  The nice thing is you can invite people to come in and try it out.  I would even say something on there like “If you have a friend on or near the Central Coast they can feel free come on in and try it out for you.”  You can’t really offer that if you’re some starving musician having to sell your Marshall to pay the rent.  Could be a great rig, but it could also be a piece of shit.  And once you fork over $100+ to ship it across the country, you’re not usually going to pay $100+ more to ship it back if it sucks.

You’re not marketing to beginners or college kids.  Your market is a group of guys like you and me.  We’re older, more responsible, come to the realization that we probably aren’t going to tour the world and make millions, but we still like to rock.  For some guys it might be a chance to buy back the old Fender amp they had when they were in college that used to sound so amazing and you kick yourself every day that you traded it for a Peavy or had to sell it to pay rent.  But now that you’re in your 40s or 50s you can afford to find damn near the exact same year, make and model.  You’re willing to kick up $1000 or even $3000 for the exact same piece in perfect working condition.

For me, it’s a 74 blonde Tele with maple fret board and a lipstick neck pick up.  That thing was just fun to play.  I played it through an old Vox amp with some chorus and it damn near sparkled.  I traded it in for an Ibanez RoadStar II because Steve Stevens from Billy Idol’s band played one.  I got $150 for the Tele on the trade-in down in LA.  That was dumb. Stupid dumb. To buy that Tele back is going to be $4000 – $6000.  That’s alot of money, and I’m hesitant to pay that to AssMonkey74222 on ebay.  Even though he may have a decent rating, it will never compare to that of an actual music store with 14 years of experience.  You’ll back your stuff up, because you know your stuff and you know guys who know their stuff.  That’s what I would look for.

So there you go.

Sorry if I rambled on, but I thought it might be worth sharing.  If you decide to do it and you become rich and famous off of it, remember me.  Always looking for a 74 blonde Tele!

Good luck, regardless.  I like your store and I envy what you do.  Hang in there.

Mike