Joe Bonamassa on a game show recently

[crazy climber dude]

Watching this show with my wife last night from a DVR recording. They showed the "contestants".....and as they got to #2, I said to her "is that Joe Bonamassa?".....but I just couldn't envision him being on the show. But as they all introduced themselves as blues musicians....I knew it was him.

https://youtu.be/Nm34GL-8Hlo

[Stadler]

I love that show.  We watch it all the time (that's the second time I've known who the person was before the questions start).

I was watching Guy's Grocery Games last night and the youngest daughter of my dad's old business partner was one of the chefs (we were family friends; I also went to college with his middle daughter).   I haven't seen her in probably 30 years, and she looks just like her mom now, it's crazy.

[pg1067]

Watching this show with my wife last night from a DVR recording. They showed the "contestants".....and as they got to #2, I said to her "is that Joe Bonamassa?".....but I just couldn't envision him being on the show. But as they all introduced themselves as blues musicians....I knew it was him.

Who is he (beyond "a blues musician")?  I stopped the video when the guy asked if anyone in the first guy's trio was black and then gave the stink eye when he said only the "drum player" was black.

[hefdaddy42]

Watching this show with my wife last night from a DVR recording. They showed the "contestants".....and as they got to #2, I said to her "is that Joe Bonamassa?".....but I just couldn't envision him being on the show. But as they all introduced themselves as blues musicians....I knew it was him.

Who is he (beyond "a blues musician")?  I stopped the video when the guy asked if anyone in the first guy's trio was black and then gave the stink eye when he said only the "drum player" was black.

He's a very well-known blues musician, and a hell of a guitarist and showman.

He's also a little eccentric, but I figure any successful artist is a little (or a LOT) eccentric.

[crazy climber dude]

Watching this show with my wife last night from a DVR recording. They showed the "contestants".....and as they got to #2, I said to her "is that Joe Bonamassa?".....but I just couldn't envision him being on the show. But as they all introduced themselves as blues musicians....I knew it was him.

Who is he (beyond "a blues musician")?  I stopped the video when the guy asked if anyone in the first guy's trio was black and then gave the stink eye when he said only the "drum player" was black.

He's a very well-known blues musician, and a hell of a guitarist and showman.

He's also a little eccentric, but I figure any successful artist is a little (or a LOT) eccentric.

Evidently not THAT well known! He seems like a household name to a lot of music lovers. Dude has been nominated for Grammy's (dubious as that might be to some of us), played at Red Rocks (an unofficial rite of passage for successful musicians), and has had several PBS type concert shows on television. And yes, incredible player and showman. Can sing too!

It also makes me think about just how many extremely talented musicians most of us would know....that those panelists would never have a clue about. My first thought would be Yngwie. He's a bit nutty/eccentric (as per your observation).....but still an amazing guitarist. And then if he played at the end....imagine the looks on their faces when he started noodling something? Also, it would be a good initial title at the beginning.....more interesting that "blues musician", which is not in and of itself very obscure. Something like "I am a neoclassical shredder". Then the panel would have to question them on what the hell THAT is!

Basically, it would work for a lot of more relatively obscure instrumentalists/vocalists. Imagine Tatiana Shmailyuk! Or Daniel Heiman! Though they might actually scare the shit out of them! Maybe Virgil Donati doing one of his stick twirling solos for about 2 minutes....that would blow their minds. Who else would be IDEAL for this from the music world?

[El Barto]

Shouldn't sell the guy short as a rock guitarist. I have little interest in his blues stuff, but his early solo stuff and the handful of BCC albums have some great stuff on them. Perhaps he's only playing blues now at this point, but that would be a shame.

Evidently not THAT well known! He seems like a household name to a lot of music lovers. Dude has been nominated for Grammy's (dubious as that might be to some of us), played at Red Rocks (an unofficial rite of passage for successful musicians), and has had several PBS type concert shows on television. And yes, incredible player and showman. Can sing too!

Lots of people can't or won't notice talent if it's not in an area they appreciate. I remember watching some video from NAMM a few years back of a guy going absolutely slap wild on a Chapman stick, and what jumped out at me was the number of people just walking by and not even taking a look at what was going on 20 feet from them. Completely oblivious. Who are these people that can't recognize when something truly bad ass is going on in their presence? I'm the exact opposite. If somebody is doing something impressive I'll sit and watch no matter how little interest I might have in the exercise. I'm intensely curious, and I really appreciate people who are exceptional at what they do.

[pg1067]

Who else would be IDEAL for this from the music world?

This guy

[King Postwhore]

He looks like a rock star though. Too easy to pick out.

[jammindude]

This is the first time I’ve ever heard this name.

[Stadler]

I think we overrate the people we like in this way.   Outside of the obvious suspects - the Kiss's, the Phil Collins', etc. - you put most of the musicians we like here up there and it's the same thing. 

Funny thing was, I recorded "Get The Led Out" from Red Rocks on PBS (you know, they play the video and have ads in between for PBS donations) and after the show ended, the next one was "Joe Bonamassa Live From The Ryman".  My wife - who's pretty musically aware - watched a couple minutes of that not two or three nights ago, then when Bonamassa showed up on TTTT (we watched it last night) she had no idea.

Some you'd get just from the "aura"; you put Geddy Lee up there and people will know it's a rock star even if they don't know "Geddy Lee from Rush".   You put Neal Morse or Tony Banks or any other musician that doesn't have an obvious identifier to them (long hair, tats, dress like Stephen Tyler) up there and no one is going to know who it is.

[pg1067]

He looks like a rock star though. Too easy to pick out.

Sure...if you stick him up there with two guys who look like me, but I would imagine they could a couple other guys with long hair.

You could take JP from the SDOIT days or MP from the FII days.

[crazy climber dude]

Some you'd get just from the "aura"; you put Geddy Lee up there and people will know it's a rock star even if they don't know "Geddy Lee from Rush".   You put Neal Morse or Tony Banks or any other musician that doesn't have an obvious identifier to them (long hair, tats, dress like Stephen Tyler) up there and no one is going to know who it is.

I think Geddy has that aura because we know who he is and what he can do. If I didn't know him and he was on TTTT, I would not guess him as being (the prototypical) rock star. Just the opposite (esp. when he started talking). I would probably think of him as being a computer geek....like Richard Langly from X Files.

[crazy climber dude]

He looks like a rock star though. Too easy to pick out.

Sure...if you stick him up there with two guys who look like me, but I would imagine they could a couple other guys with long hair.

They might do that....or, they might predict the panelists would think having one guy that looked like a rock star would be too obvious, and that they would pick one of the other guys.

[romdrums]

He looks like a rock star though. Too easy to pick out.

Sure...if you stick him up there with two guys who look like me, but I would imagine they could a couple other guys with long hair.

They might do that....or, they might predict the panelists would think having one guy that looked like a rock star would be too obvious, and that they would pick one of the other guys.

Alex Lifeson would be my pick as he looks more like an average Joe than Geddy.

Joe absolutely throws down in that clip once he plays.  I'm not a huge fan of his, but man can that dude play.  The look on Deon's face when he starts singing is priceless. 

[Stadler]

Agreed!

[Kotowboy]

Joe is an outstanding guitarist and he literally has two houses crammed full of vintage gear coz he's a collector. That's all he spends his money on.

And i'd put him way above people like SRV. Joe is a blues guitarist but doesn't just do albums of 60 BPM 6/8 Twelve Bar Blues shuffles. Some of his stuff is pretty heavy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRxawmG5MfM

The Ballad Of John Henry is in Drop B and in the video I'm fairly sure he's using a JP Music man.

+ ALSO I love that he's a 'blues' guitarist but doesn't JUST use a strat. He's actually famous for being a Gibson / Les Paul guy.

[hefdaddy42]

Joe is an outstanding guitarist and he literally has two houses crammed full of vintage gear coz he's a collector. That's all he spends his money on.

And i'd put him way above people like SRV. Joe is a blues guitarist but doesn't just do albums of 60 BPM 6/8 Twelve Bar Blues shuffles. Some of his stuff is pretty heavy.

That explains a lot.

[ReaperKK]

Joe actually gave a good interview in Guitar player a few issues back about getting rid of some of his gear. He has so much that he said it would take 5 years to unload it all if he wanted because he could flood the market with tweed amps

[Kotowboy]

Joe is an outstanding guitarist and he literally has two houses crammed full of vintage gear coz he's a collector. That's all he spends his money on.

And i'd put him way above people like SRV. Joe is a blues guitarist but doesn't just do albums of 60 BPM 6/8 Twelve Bar Blues shuffles. Some of his stuff is pretty heavy.

That explains a lot.

I once saw a vid of SRV playing a song and the bassist and drummer looked bored out of their minds whilst he was just widdling away. 

Joe actually gave a good interview in Guitar player a few issues back about getting rid of some of his gear. He has so much that he said it would take 5 years to unload it all if he wanted because he could flood the market with tweed amps

If Joe auctioned his collection he'd probably make a billion.

[ReaperKK]

Yea, it could be his retirement plan

[ZirconBlue]

Huh.  I only know the name from his DT connection (being in Black Country Communion with Derek), but I thought he was more well-known.