Tone

Crappy Otis Rush recordings from eMusic reveal nice tunes excellent guitar playing; and amazing tone. That guitar just sings. Some stringiness, some bight, plenty of body and some grunge in the lower register. Wow just learning to recognize the ES-335/176 thing; its sweet. Blues somehow always meant a Strat to me, without even thinking. Now I'm glad I've got the LP setup. A little more flexible I think. If you have a Strat, well then you damn well know what its supposed to sound like. With dual humbuckers you can go biting (not as sharp as a Fender) like a semi-hollow, warmer like Les' Paul, through stinging like Albert King and into grunge or roar from Ribot to Page to Satriani. Hooray.

Cheap Wine

$5(!) Peter Mertes Riesling Kabinett; drinkable! Yay!

Urban Oak Tempranillo: from a region new to me. Everything you'd want in an under $10 Tempranillo; perhaps a little forward compared to a Rioja or Toro, but the saddle leather is there; some structure and a noticeable finish. *. I did not like the Urban Oak (Argentine) Malbec.

Long Flat Eden Valley Riesling; refreshing, very dry. Just a bit of the slate that counters the sweetness in other Rieslings. <$10 = *.

Gallo Merlot Sonoma Reserve; characterful; smooth but not velvety. Plummy, some black cherry. Fun and stands up to food. Not as balanced, say, as the tempranillo above, but fun. $10-ish. *.