Writing for a music magazine! That's what I need to be doing! Two magazines I like are Classic Rock and Guitar World. I had an idea for a story for Guitar World, in particular, and wanted to contact them about it.

Now, I had an idea for an article for Guitar World several years ago, too. There was/is a band called Ekoostik Hookah who's guitarist, Stephen Sweeney, really impressed me. Ekoostik Hookah didn't have a major label contract but they did produce their own festival every year in Ohio that sold thousands of tickets, and they were playing good-sized venues all through the Northeast and Indiania/Michigan/Ohio area, all on their own. So surely room could be found for 500 words on Stephen Sweeney in the pages of Guitar World, right?

Guess not. I can't remember if I received stone silence to my query, or if they said they only used staff writers; seems like it might have been the latter. Anyhow, they blew me off.

But here in 2009 my determination is born anew! I checked out the site of Classic Rock and Guitar World's parent publisher to find out who I needed to contact with my samples and ideas. Hmm...no info online. "Check the flannel panel of the publication you're interested in," their site said. Okay. So I take a look at the issues on the stands at Barnes n' Noble, the only place I could find either of them: Guitar World is $7.99, and Classic Rock is $9.99! I also checked another one I thumb through from time-to-time, Mojo -- also $9.99. To hell with that! I said they were magazines I liked, I didn't say I actually bought them, and certainly not at $10 apiece.

If I'm not willing to pay $9.99 for a magazine, what are the chances anyone else is? I could just open up another Blogspot page and write about whatever I like and not worry about if Guitar World was impressed after I paid $10 for their magazine.

In 2009, my enthusiasm for paying $10 for a magazine dies anew.

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Mitt Changed His Mind

In other news, I bought a DigiTech Synth Wah pedal. "You told us that last week," you say. No, no, I mean I bought another one. I like to have two of everything, in case a piece I'm attached to dies. See, as you know, I have a very successful touring band, and our sound is built around the DigiTech Synth Wah, just like the early U2 records were built on The Edge's echo pedal, so I can't let an arena full of fans down by not having my pedal.

There was another used one in the display case at Guitar Center, but it was tagged at $60 whereas the one I previously got was tagged at $40. I asked the guy behind the counter if he could sell it for $40 since I had just bought the identical model for that price there the week before. He zapped it with the price gun and said, "Will that be all for you?"

You may recall a little while ago I had gone there and attempted to do similar haggling over some pedals and was told that since Mitt Romney's Bain Capital Partners had taken over, haggling was verboten. Apparently Mitt has sinced learned that haggling is the rule in the retail musical instrument world, and so I now have two DigiTech Synth Wah pedals in great shape that were gotten for ridiculously low prices (they sell new for $90) thanks to it.