And I feel this coming over like a storm again... [027]
... considerately.
Stuck in my head: "H."
Tool
Ænima
And as the walls come down
and as I look in your eyes
my fear begins to fade,
recalling all of the times
I have died
and will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind.
I don't mind.
I don't mind...
August 6, 1998.
Sunken Garden Theater
San Antonio, Texas.
My first time seeing Tool was pretty unforgettable. I had purchased two tickets but my buddy was nowhere to be found on show day. I ended up taking Kat, but I don't think she was familiar enough with the band to get as much out of it as I did. It was an absolute blast, though, at a smaller, more intimate venue.
In the brief research I conducted for this blog entry, I've discovered that Sunken Garden is undergoing a renovation! It will end up looking like this:
I'd end up at Nix's place back in Austin that evening; we sat around and talked about what a wonderful gig it was; Nix and... and... gosh, that curly-haired blonde kid with the platform boots... anyway, that kid was his roommate, and we all hung out until late into the night just listening to music and laughing about Maynard Keenan's choice of wardrobe:
Yep - ol' Maynard is sporting double-Ds and mime face paint. If you were there, you know. #IYKYK
That show was twenty-five years ago. Time flies.
November 8, 2001.
Tacoma Dome
Tacoma, Washington.
"Maynard sure got old, didn't he?"
He exclaimed Maynard's apparent slowdown as he walked past my egress from the restroom at the cavernous Tacoma Tit. It's not a great venue - or perhaps, it's not a great venue unless your stage show is built for a cavernous lair. Between Radiohead at the Gorge that June - and I will fight all of you on what a shitty venue that is - and Tool at the Tit, I swore off large venues for a long, long time. I missed the Police's reunion, a couple of Smashing Pumpkins joints, and Bruce Springsteen because I just couldn't see myself sitting in a massive arena/stadium and not closer to my favorite acts.
Tool's performance that night wasn't as good as that Sunken Garden show; maybe it was because the stage show was more elaborate and distanced, maybe because it was fucking cold, maybe it was because I didn't have any friends in Washington until 2003... but even today, that August '98 job stands out in my memory as being one of the best shows I'd ever seen.
Of course, Mr. Roger Waters puts on quite the affair, and Rabbit and his parents treated me to Waters at the Tacoma Tit in 2017.
I can even prove I was there! See all that confetti falling in the last moments of that video? Well, I saved some...
Of course, I haven't been to a big show since then, either. I still do prefer smaller events - I like being able to see the musicians and feel a more intimate environment where it isn't about getting wasted or getting bloody as it might be in "the pit" at hardcore shows. Such is the case when I saw Tears of Silver, a group comprised of Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper from Mercury Rev, Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, and Jesse Chandler from Midlake. I shot the following video at a church in North Seattle.
September 28, 2017
St. John United Lutheran Church
Seattle, Washington.
It was a gorgeous evening, and I owe B-Man for getting me in that night.
I find myself scouring gear listings in Austin, just seeing what's around as I prepare for my trip home in a couple of weeks. On Friday morning, I saw that someone had posted this:
Now here's where we get geeky: while this looks like a Norlin-era Gibson Les Paul Silverburst, it is in fact what is colloquially referred to as a "Chibson", or "Chinese-made Gibson copy".
I don't personally like calling these guitars "Chibsons", and prefer the moniker "Fibson". We cannot honestly verify where they're made, with Chinese-made goods and other Chinese-related issues being seen with some disdain in recent years, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. I feel like "Chibson" carries a certain racial undertone, but "Fibson" states exactly what the item is: a fake Gibson, or a guitar that looks like a Gibson but is fibbing, and carries none of the dog whistle rhetoric.
So I get in contact with the seller, and ask if he'd be willing to hold onto the guitar for a couple of weeks. He writes back and says that he'd be happy to do so, and we set up a video call to talk a little shop before I make any decisions.
Now, I know what you're thinking - this has got red flags written all over it. Fear not, dear reader, because I ended up reaching out to Mysterion, who was willing to pick up the guitar for me in the flesh. I'm seeing Mysterion when I'm down in Austin, anyway, and I'd rather have it in his hands than that of the seller, even though I think the seller is likely a nice enough dude who just wants to move a piece of gear. What's a little helping hand between friends? Besides, I clearly know what the guitar is - the seller advertised it as a "Chibson" (that was the title of the listing), so it's not like he's trying to pass it off as a real Gibson Les Paul.
Here's what prompted this whole blog entry: these silverburst guitars were made between 1978 and 1982 and may serve as a commemmorative piece for the twenty-fifth (silver) anniversary of the Les Paul. Adam Jones from Tool is a famous player of these old Gibsons, and updated versions of these guitars were reintroduced in 2020 at an exorbitant price tag of if-you-have-to-ask-you-can't-afford-it (they are selling for $20,000.00 USD on the used market). The seller was born and raised in Austin, and it turns out he was also at the Sunken Garden show in 1998.
I've... come... 'round... full circle.
Jones has claimed a lot of weird stuff about the guitar over the years, and according to various sources, does so in order to avoid talking to fans about gear. What does seem to be true, however, is that Gibson used a shoddy clear coat over the silver finish, and that clear coat has yellowed over time, giving the guitar its sickly appearance.
Here's a side-by-side comparison of what it should look like against what it looks like now:
Here is a photo of an actual Gibson from that era, on sale for $11,500.00 USD, in case you're interested:
Though, Z might be looking forward to her guitar.... more to come on that.
-CST.
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