Joe Satriani
5/18/2004 @ Showcase Music in Portland, OR
By Bob Cooper
Now here is something that doesn't come around too often....
Prompted by a tiny ad in the back of the Mercury that announced a guitar clinic at my favorite guitar store, Showcase Music, I headed off to East Hawthorne where the event was supposed to take place. Now, I say supposed because I was apprehensive that one of the best guitarists on the planet would take the time to give a free performance when he can easily fill the PoserLA...I mean Roseland Theatre with $25.00-per-ducat fans.
The moment I approached the 3700 block of Hawthorne I realized that this was an actual for-sure type of gig. Kids were lined up for about six blocks and I wondered how I would ever get in to see the Satch himself. I parked and made the trek to the front of the line (best place for a press-guy like me to start) and announced my presence as a reporter covering the event. It worked. I found myself ushered into a room with a tiny stage and about 100 extremely lucky people.
The "host- a spokesman for Peavey took the stage and explained that this was a promotion for the new Peavey JSX, built and designed by Peavey to Joes demanding specs. (This was a time-killer, as the owners of the building had to remove the doors due to the large crowd and wanted to prevent another Great White thing...) The case and board design is patterned from the Triple X, but Joe thought it would be nice for one amp to take those characteristics and combine them with the tones of the Vintage British and the Classic 50.
Sez Joe, "Guitar players are always chasing between tones
and now, finally, they have it all in this amp".
Soon there he was, Joe Satriani himself, and from there we were treated to an incredible dosage of Satch, complete with the classics like Surfing With An Alien as well as some new stuff from his new CD called Is There Love In Space? (Epic Records). Yep, the Satch pushed that JSX to it's full limits through about 3/4 of the show when the amp suddenly died! Joe killed his own amp!!
Embarrassed, he stammered a bit and attempted an unplugged song, which didn't quite work out until an aide brought in a Triple X to finish off the show. Nobody seemed to mind at all. In fact, discussion amongst the crowd, which was largely made up of guitar players, indicated that this amp was indeed a damned good one until it died, and that it is likely that many of them will return to purchase this heralded unit while it is the lowest price in town (at Showcase of course) of around 1200.00.
The best thing about this show was that we got a glimpse into a very different side of this renowned axe man. A very happy, jovial, and friendly Joe that was beyond cool. He felt badly that about 200 kids couldn't make it in, so he excused himself and signed items the kids had brought- every one of them! Then he returned and signed two items each for all of us. I have never in my entire photojournalism career seen such an ambitious effort to please the fans. He didn't have to do that, as he is already Joe Satriani and everyone knows it.
