Alice, Cooper, mirror, suit, school's, out, duolian, guitar, harmonica, collage, Leroy, Falcon, Steinway, model z, piano, John Lennon, Imagine, Johnny, Cash, Man, in, Black, Grammy, Maroon 5, Ibanez, JEM, StingRay 5, base, guitar, Mickey, Madden, Taylor, Swift, RED, wireless, microphone, banjo |
Hello Friends and Family, |
Link to this year's index by clicking here. |
Musical Instrument Museum, Part 9 |
The next section of the museum is one of my favorites — displays of artifacts from famous performers such as Alice Cooper. On this visit, it appeared that the display area was much larger than my previous visit and contained many more items from many more artists. First known as the Earwigs, then the Spiders, and later the Nazz, the band Alice Cooper became an international sensation. Formed in Phoenix in 1964, the group soon showed an affinity for the theatrical and the bizarre. Sporting black makeup and featuring outrageous costumes and stage acts — including gallows, a guillotine, an electric chair, and live snakes — Alice Cooper was one of the most influential and commercially successful "shock rock" acts. The band topped the charts in the 1970s with albums such as School's Out (1972), Billion Dollar Babies (1973), and Muscle of Love (1973). Lead singer Vincent Furnier launched a solo career as Alice Cooper after the band separated in the mid-1970s; the original members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. The photo shows the "mirror suit" worn on three world tours (2009 to 2012). It is displayed with a severed head used in the guillotine act and cane used during encores of "School's Out". |
Many early blues musicians played homemade acoustical instruments, including diddley bows, cigar-box guitars, jugs, and washboards. As African-Americans moved from rural areas to cities, the blues sound became more urban, incorporating electric and amplified instruments. Still a treasured part of American musical heritage, blues has inspired genres as diverse as gospel, jazz, rock, soul, and rap. The photo shows a "Duolian", a resonator guitar made of metal and wood. It was restrung for a left-handed player and displayed with a slide. |
From the Smithsonian, "In the early 20th-century, southern black musicians found the devil in the harmonica. The cheap and portable instrument was made by Germans for use in traditional European waltzes and marches, but when it made its way to America's Southern neighborhoods, black musicians began to develop a totally new way of playing, which bent the harmonica’s sound (quite literally) to fit the style of the country’s increasingly popular 'devil’s music', or rather, the blues." Traveling blues musician Leroy "Bluesdog" Falcon, Jr. began collecting autographed harmonicas in the 1980s. Twenty years later he completed this art collage dedicated to blues legends. |
[Photographer's note - the light and dark area on the front of the piano appear to be stains but, in fact, are reflections — again this instrument was encased in Plexiglas, which reflected the legs of the many people paying homage to both Lennon and this historical piano.] |
"Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
|
|
This photo shows Adam Levine's Ibanez JEM 20th Anniversary electric guitar, featuring LED lights inside its clear acrylic body. It was damaged severely after Levine tossed it in the air during a performance, never to be played again. |
The photo forming the backdrop shows Adam Levine, lead vocalist and coach on TV's singing competition, The Voice, since its inception. |
[Photographer's note: I thought it was a strange to use a bright red backdrop for a bright red guitar. Maybe it's just me but I think more contrast was in order here.] |
|
|
Last for today is more from Taylor Swift, specifically the outfit she wore as she sang "Mean", the hit single from her Speak Now album. The banjo is a Boston 6-String made by Deering Banjo Company and played by Swift to accompany that same song. |
To be continued... |
Life is good. |
Aloha, B. David |
P. S., All photos and text © B. David Cathell Photography, Inc. — www.bdavidcathell.com |