Staycation Activities
Every Guitarist's Favorite Guitarist
Mark Rushton’s Curator Mindset is a place where I talk in 2026 about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist, tech things, and provide music recommendations. This is being released on Saturday, March 7, 2026.
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Staycation Activities
Jeff Beck - “Stratus”
Staycation Activities
Staycation this week from the day job. No, I don’t like to travel. But I do it all the time via YouTube.
The Timepieces listening party on Bandcamp was Monday, March 2nd. It was fun. Some fans showed up. I got to type about all the tracks as they played. It was very “old school internet”, just what I like.
On Tuesday, Ann and I went to Ruth’s Chris in West Des Moines for lunch. The only people there! Our first time. Excellent food and service. I rarely go out to eat. If I go out, I want it to be a memorable meal.
The rest of the week was spent cleaning up my DISCO site, adding a new album of 10 tracks, sending off submissions, linking everything at DISCO to my web site, and creating a “How to License My Music” page.
There were a lot of “little” things, too, like dealing with lousy chatbots:
Jeff Beck - “Spectrum”
I watched most of the Morrissey concert at London’s O2 arena a few hours after it happened. He’s still in fine form. And some of the recent Pendulum show in Brisbane.
Various Jeff Beck recordings from his 1970s solo albums have been drifting into my feed in the past few months. He’s every guitarist’s favorite guitarist. He is excellent. They say that about a lot of guitarists, and that’s OK. And, recently, I caught his show at The Woodlands in Texas on September 25, 2022, just a few months before he died of bacterial meningitis at age 78.
The big draw for many, today, is Anika Nilles on drums. The commenters are always thrilled that he played with younger people, especially women, and he gave them the spotlight.
“Spectrum” was written by drummer Billy Cobham in 1973. The original recording is something else. Leland Sklar on bass. Jan Hammer on keyboards. And Iowa’s own Tommy Bolin (Sioux City native) on guitar. If you haven’t heard it, go find it.
Beck’s guitar playing here is different from Bolin’s original guitar solo, but thrilling and original all the way through. He looks great. He doesn’t look like he’ll be dead in a few months.
Great video, and yeah doesn’t look like he’d be dying a couple months later. I’m always in awe at these guitar masters who finger pick. I just can’t get comfortable with it. I don’t like how it feels on my fingers. But there’s no denying the tone difference.