BLUTO

Greetings at the end of November. The Holiday season is upon us and I hope you are all in good health. This time of year can stress out a lot of people with all the added things to do .Please enjoy your time with family and friends because it is what ;memories are made of. They won't all be around forever .Make everyone put their PHONES in a basket for a while !!! Staring at them kills a family gathering easily. :-)
As a teenager in Dallas TX I went to the movie Monterrey Pop about the first true Pop Festival held in California. Great movie for anybody that hasn't seen it. The Who , Jimi Hendrix , Otis Redding, etc etc. The biggest thing thing for me was RAVI SHANKAR's set of SITAR music. My first introduction to the music of link mind was blown big time with the sound of the micro-tonal notes and rhythms of the whole thing. Standard guitars are built and fretted to play what we are used to hearing and not all the notes in between them. Stretching the strings is the easiest approach or fretless necks. I made a fretless out of a classic nylon string one to play with. By tuning the strings to all A's & D's as a drone instrument I'm able to do a really poor job of imitation of a SITAR , but it's all I have to work with. Back when link was new I posted my tribute to Ravi on my page with blues & folk stuff. After a few months I got an email from a Dr. Shandricat a prodigy student of RAVI's in India !!! He had listened to my song and played it for RAVI off the internet. OMG
I never expected him to ever hear my pathetic attempt at Indian Music. It is very complicated and intricate with the tabla rhythms. Ravi's comment was "Very Interesting". He let me off the hook easy with that. I followed it up with the song to his student. All parts are me on an old 4 track with congas & guitar. I used a electric string driver (E-Bow) for the droning note. Later I got an invitation to RAVI's 80th Birthday party in Australia bu couldn't attend $$$
Go to YOUTUBE if you can and watch Ravi's Monterrey Pop performance if possible. PEACE & LOVE for the whole world would save a lot of people.

Raag Bhimpalasi - Listen on N1M

Hurray , we made it another month ! My wife and I have gone to as much music and concerts as we have time and money to while the artists are STILL ALIVE. Most of our heros are getting OLD and some don't make it to things you have tickets to. So get out there and catch them when you can.
Last Saturday we saw the EXPERIENCE HENDRIX TOUR. ( OUR 3RD YEAR) So many artists were influenced by him to do a big tour of them.. List of this years players Chris Layton (Double Trouble w Stevie Ray Vaughn) Eric Johnson , Dweezle Zappa , Zakk Wylde, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram , Mato Nanji ( Indigenous) and Kenny Wayne Shepard !!! Great lineup played a lot of JIMI's better known hits for 2 1/2 hours. We were thrilled with the whole show and respect shown for his music.
My new pedalboard is working out well and making me want to record so new tunes.. Going to see Jeff Lynn and ELO and the Music Instrument Museum in Phoenix next week. THANK YOU for listening to BLUTO and sharing our tunes with your friends. We've had a batch of new subscribers from countries I didn't know got N1M. Get ready cause Winter is coming.

Freddie KING and Johnny Rivers connection to me weird true story. Waay back in Dallas Tx I was a young blues player jamming where ever I got the chance. One night a friend and I were first in line at the END OF COLE AVE club waiting. Door swings open and the owner says hey come in here. The light show booth was manned by volunteers apparently and WE were it for tonight. He ran to 7-11 for food color mineral spirits etc while I reset the slide projectors and cleaned the big liquid deals on the overheads. yadda yadda We had fun , donn't remember the local band Thursday night BUT he sold me to come back tomorrow for $. YES , next night I open the door & recruit a kid to work with. FREDDIE KING is playing and I'm in Heaven. At midnight we kick out the audience and Freddie is just getting started !! I ran down the ladder & plopped down on the pillows on the floor by myself. He ended a quick tune and I said " I've got my guitar out there". SCARED ! He said to the other 3 guys " White boy's got his guitar !" GO GET IT. I ran out to my trunk and got whatever guitar I had with me and ran back in where he plugged me in to little Tweed amp. THEN --- Blues , No WTF I love to play old blues. This week the new Johnny Rivers album Realization is out and the song SUMMER RAIN is all over the stations REALLY. Freddie wants to learn it and we learned it together. He showed me the rhythm part ( lots like Stairway to Heaven in parts) till I was competent and started noodling the way around the vocal melody on the guitar. Probably 10 minutes ( felt like 20) and he had it down. Band starts getting restless to go play poker so I thanked him & he me and split while they closed up. YEARS LATER Galaxies away We get to meet JOHNNY RIVERS. I tell him the 30 second version with Freddie and he got a big grin knowing he influenced Freddie back then. Lots of new artists have been hooked up to my group in the last month probably by N1M. Welcome BLUTO is all about Old School tunes and Blues traditional /JAMS . There are liner notes in the lyrics page of most songs for more info etc.. Have a great FALL SEASON ....

Welcome new "fans" etc of BLUTO. I think we're being forced to Network more than we wanted. I had a 2nd #1 Global Blues tune early July and #1 tune in Okla. all Genres. BUT THEN started getting 5-10 new signups a day not subscribers. This sudden batch of new Networking all of a sudden I think is N1M playing with me. If you didn't join recently and received this extra send me a tiny note.
Now back to Music. I rekindled my enthusiasm for playing accidentally by building Guitar Kits from parts. I put together a "Strat" and a "Les Paul Junior" (1 pickup) so far after buying the neck setup tools & lots of fine sandpapers etc. Lots of fun so far and I have an "SG" waiting to build soon. There's a lot more to getting the neck lined up right with the bridge height and all the frets leveled ,polished etc.
I'll post another 2 tunes fom Brother Roy's day in the studio this week and try a dual lead with myself from the page ....Suggestions ???
THANK YOU for all the song shares that you do for BLUTO. My pay is getting to see us on your playlists . FUN TIMES

I was THE Head Usher .

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4/20/69 Memorial Auditorium Dallas Tx. I was THE Head Usher in charge of 20 ROTC cadets from Crozier Tech High school in downtown Dallas. I assigned them to do crowd control and went to stage center with the Dallas Police about 9 or so big unhappy link were against stage center lined up as the crowd barrier .There was a lot of racial tension that year and the cops got unhappier quick about Jimi's pelvic thrust guitar moves and long tongue with a large crowd of young White girls attending. Big cops like a pro - football front line were both sides of me taunting him with lots of cussing and the N word etc. Jimi was apparently tripping big time and having a great time. THEN Jimi started The Star Spangled Banner and they flipped out. They were listing the charges they could use to stop the show and book him on 1 inciting a riot 2 defamation bs. yadda yadda. After looking around at the crowd I told the Sgt in charge that THEY might not make it out alive if his men kept it up and stopped the show. He agreed quickly and told the other guys to quit it all and guard the stage. Slumped shoulders and sad faces and they chilled a bit. MEANWHILE Jimi has been watching and hearing the drama unfold 4 ft away. He did the machine gun guitar and mowed down the whole row of cops and me then grinned looking straight at me in front of him. I about got rubber legs from that eye lock. Rest of the show was calmer . My friend Steve shot great pics from the 2nd row (attached). Also a French videographer filmed the show and I got a CD copy of the sound track. That one concert changed me as a guitar player for life. ** As you can see on our page we attempt a few of Jimi's songs (not very well) but we had a good time doing it.
**** I just put together my first guitar from parts and did a silver shiny finish on a Strat style body. It plays great and holds in tune with the whammy.
:::: I got a notice that Tired Possum Blues a solo 4 track of mine went to #1 in Oklahoma for ALL GENRES this week . it's in 8,572 playlists out there too.. Surprise and shock and a smile was my feelings in order. Thanks for listening and supporting BLUTO keeping it FREE... Love hearing from you too.

JOHN from BLUTO here on 5/22/24 looking back at my main influences on the Guitar 1 concert comes to mind. In High School I was in ROTC in Dallas and became the head of the ushers at the Memorial Auditorium. We did a few shows before Jimi came to town Vanilla Fudge , The Chambers Bros. But Jimi was a once in a lifetime event from 4 link looking each other in the face . Next mailing I'll post the full unedited story about our day. I have a copy of the sound system recording from that show too.. I'm posting BLUTO at the Beta Theta Pi's big spring party WOODSTOCK in a big field , bussed in so NO DRUNK DRIVERS after the night is done. Free Beer etc. Long set as the opening act while they arrived from OU & OSU in tye dyes ...

Welcome new BLUTO fans. We get a daily new group of subscribers and FOLLOWERS that help out with sharing our crazy Blues with their friends. Your words of encouragement are Wonderful and thankfully received .To the dude bopping down the block jammimg to BLUTO on your Boombox swingning your "flat ass" to the music !!! THANk you for your letter. It made my month..
Trip to Utah with 30 musicians for 6 nights was a total blast. MUSIC in 4 places 24/7. some really scary players from Nashville that are on lots of Alblums & CDs could play anything. About 2,500+ songs were covered in the electric , acoustic , or baby grand rooms by somebody. I realized quickly to enjoy listening vs playing with that many pickers around. 2 drummers , full horn section ,Vibraphone , etc. fill the place with music. The food was insanely good with multiple Chefs working.
New song posted from my old MP3 days called FUNKY JUMP BLUES that's almost a Reggae beat. A 4 track solo of mine that is pretty funky. Hope you like it. I'm finally jamming with JEFF the other guitarist again after 2 + years off. Will try to record some new stuff for your listening pleasure (wink) .
Drop me a note about any likes & suggestions . That's all my payment for posting this music ARCHIVE of our old music while Don and George were still around. RIP 3,050 subscribers today

Greatings from Salt Lake City Utah. I'm in town for 6 days & nights of playing music with the group of 30 collectively known as JAMSKI that morphed from the original GUITARSKI link think there's an old YouTube page of theguitarski to peak at. Some major good players from all over the States arrive tomorrow. 4 serious harp players will be trading off riffs with every imaginable instrument available. The Nashville and NYC session players are scary good and I know when to listen & enjoy them and keep quiet. (that's hard for pickers to do). I hope the 3 horn players come again this year. It sure fills out a dramatic Blues tune to have some real horns back there.
I hope I get home with a renewed energy to record some new tunes for all of you to to enjoy. THANK YOU for staying with BLUTO and listening to our brand of The Blues. We're quirky & silly most of the time. Maybe it's the Tequila ??? Really enjoy the notes from the group that shares our tunes. It blows me away to look on your pages sometimes and see us playing tunes all over the World with you doing the songs lists. Send me a note & let me know what you think about anything. I'll try to get out a new newsletter more often for sure.

12/23/23 Newsletter : BLUTO wishes everybody a Merry Christmas or Winter Festival of your choice. This has been a "YEAR" to remember or forget depending on your situation. We all have different perspectives on this years end. All in all I feel Blessed with all I have. Like YOU I'm literate , safe , warm , not starving , have a roof , heat , food , friends & family that care for me. That is not the typical life in the world . We are the with internet , music etc etc. , the privileges most of the worlds longs for. So lets give thanks for what we have this year end because we're not guaranteed any future. I love you for listening to our old band's music because you enjoy it. Some of your notes about helping you through rough times or Dancing to Bluto in headphones like nobody else exhists , BLOW me away and I get a tear reading some of your stuff. THANK YOU FOR THE NOTES !!! I pay to be on N1m and don't want any $ for out stuff since you are letting me know how much our stuff helps in any way to keep you entertained etc. MERRY CHRISTMAS 2023

Happy Holidays to ALL. I hope the coming end of the year will be good for all. Most of you have noticed the new batch of songs performed by my big brother ROY (RIP) in a studio with his harmony pedal. In the 7th grade he taught me 3 songs on the guitar. I moved to DFW (Texas) with my parents while he stayed in Oklahoma in college. Then I started getting a chance to play with a LOT of better pickers in Dallas. That's when you learn fast or stay home. Freddie King , Johnny Winters & Bugs Henderson scared me but made me what I became (not much). Roy was my first real teacher starting with Jimmy Reed's blues and The Ventures /Chuck Berry's Rock n Roll .I'm posting a CD of his studio a bit at a time. AND The HOWARD BROTHERS was Don , George and I doing a 3 piece thing before I met JEFF and became 20 MINUTE NAP for a few years then BLUTO. Some fans have shared our latest stuff to friends and I APPRECIATE IT A LOT. === Keep up the notes ,That's what I get paid for a FREE PAGE.

Thank YOU for LISTENING :-) to our Old School songs and BLUES (jams included). SRV was quoted saying Hell We Never Play Things The Same Way ONCE ! I get that feeling listening to us back after so long. Before BLUTO I was playing with just a bass & drums the hard way. Glad we hooked up with JEFF on guitar , that was fun for me to have a picking buddy. But I lost the last member of that first group last month and I'm the only one left. I found a disc of tunes that I'm posting as The Howard Brothers Mo Larry & Curly to the page in a group so it's easy to find. I'm also posting songs from my Brother Roy's day alone in a studio with his harmony pedal. He ended his years as a solo troubadore playing for a lot of parties & local venues and had a big following. I'll try to do his memory proud too.
The Holidays are starting so everybody try to help out somebody less fortunate a few times this season. My subscribers are WAY ABOVE the world's population on intelligence and creature comforts. So spread the happiness around this season . I LOVE HAVING YOU OUT THERE. Drop a note and tell me what you do and don't like on the page. JOHN

I'm slow to get out newsletters. SORRY. Life is busy if you're involved in it. THANK YOU for being interested in our OLD tunes and Blues standards. The band started jamming on a Friday night with refreshments for us to have something to do and quickly turned into Party waiting to happen. Our 3rd gig after being "a band" was a brunch Christmas party for a school of the OU faculty. Strange playing House of the Rising Sun & other tunes at 11am in a brightly lighted bldg ! Drummer was set up in 1/3 of the revolving door too. History.....
I went to an outdoor stadium tour of Alice Cooper (Nita Strouse on guitar, Motley Crue , & Def Leppard in Tulsa OK. Great show with some HUGE PA speakers aimed at me. Lots of fun and gets me inspired to work on some new music.
With the band out of commission I am left with a big archived library of videos to pull audios out of to post for your listening . It's hard to find time to watch ourselves back looking for Gems to post, but there are some great tunes I haven't found yet !!! Yell at me if you want anything and I'll start on getting out something new or a Sitar style piece. THANKS FOR LISTENING John