I've been having a little posting problem; hope this
doesn't come through twice.

Road Angel wrote:

> If you could identify a player who 
> was technically brilliant, Malmsteen 
> quick, incredibly influential, wildly 
> popular, a great songwriter (which may 
> or may not be a valid criterion), and 
> so on, then you've probably got your 
> best guitarist ever.

If you amend the phrase "incredibly influential" to
"incredibly influential to many other great
guitarists" and take out the phrase "wildly popular"
altogether, you'd be left with Mike Keneally.

Then, out of the blue, Tim Cain wrote:

> And all I've got to say about guitar 
> players is if you ever saw Mike Keneally 
> in person, you might wonder who's ever 
> done more amazing things with the 
> instrument, except maybe that cat 
> named Hendrix. 

Can I get an amen, brother! Mike Keneally can do more
with one broken string than a garage full of Jack
Whites (no slight to White, but, I mean, come on, he's
obviously still finding his voice as a player, for
goodness sake; in today's pop world, he's an above
average guitarist, but I don't think he's reached
anywhere near his  full potential -- yet). I saw
Keneally and his band this past Saturday here in Los
Angeles, and the man was nothing short of astonishing.
Complete guitarmageddon, totally guitarded,
shock-n-awe on six sick strings. He was on FIRE with
his trademark style of playing lead guitar and
keyboards simultaneously, harmonizing with himself, so
to speak. Too cool for words; he has to be seen and
heard to be believed. 

The thing that really captures my salamanders about
Keneally is that he really *isn't* all about the
guitar soloing -- he's more about the songcraft and
delivery. Sure, guitar histrionics are one part of
what he does so well, but he's a completely
well-rounded (literally) musician and -- more
importantly -- songwriter. I put his songwriting --
with his dissonant melodies and intriguingly clever
lyrical word-play -- right up there with Andy
Partridge. So good to find another fan in this forum. 

I've gotta mention something that happened recently
that was a personal milestone, if you all don't mind.
Keneally co-hosts an eclectic internet radio show
called www.NoneRadio.com; they often have musical
guest hosts as well. Recently, they sponsored a
competition whereby applicants submitted
guitar-centric songs, with the winner receiving an
endorsement deal with Emerald Guitars (a small, custom
guitar manufacturer based in Ireland). I submitted a
few original tracks and was thrilled to have received
moderate airplay on NoneRadio over a span of several
weeks. I've met and hung out with Keneally a few times
-- he's nothing less than a sweet, humble gentleman --
and to have him (not to mention guest hosts Reeves
Gabrels and Steve Lukather) play and hear my tunes
(and comment favorably) was gratifying, to put it
mildly. I didn't win the competition (that honor
befittingly went to Carina Alfie
http://www.carinaalfie.cjb.net/, a Steve Vai protégé),
but I was one of the runner-up's. More important than
winning was knowing that Keneally had heard (and
apparently appreciated) my songwriting and guitar
playing abilities. Considering the unprecedented
influence he's had on me as a player over the last two
years, I can't tell you how much that means to me.

Jaimie Vernon wrote:

> "My Love" has one of the most 
> underrated guitar solos of all time.

I wholeheartedly agree. This may sound weird, but I
hear a *heavy* "My Love" guitar solo influence on
Slash's excellent solo on the Guns-n-Roses song
"November Rain". Who played the solo on the Red Rose
Speedway album version? Denny Laine? Henry McCullough?
Hugh McCracken? Hugh's brother Phil? Linda?

Love is a three-day weekend.

kErrY kOMpOsT

www.mp3.com/kompost
www.m-blog.com/kompost
www.mp3.com/tribeca

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