Sunday, November 02, 2008
Perry's latest project: McCain for President
When I started playing guitar at age 13, my next-door neighbor at the time gave me a big box of cassette tapes he didn't want anymore. Almost overnight he'd ditched Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan in favor of whatever crappy rap music was popular at the time.
One of the tapes in that box would become one of my favorite LPs of all time: Let the Music Do the Talking by the Joe Perry Project. Bluesy, boozy and ballsy, I was so influenced by Let the Music Do the Talking - particularly Joe Perry's solos - that it didn't take long before I could play each and every song note-for-note. I was never a big Aerosmith fan, but, by God, I was never shy about telling folks that Joe Perry was one of my favorite guitar players, based on his Project's debut album alone.
I started playing acoustic music almost exclusively a few years back, so I'm sure my electric chops ain't what they used to be. After reading the following story, I might just have to dig out Let the Music Do the Talking and do a play-along. Indeed, I have a lot of new respect for Joe Perry, I tell you what. To wit:
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has come out in support of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. It marks the first time the guitarist has publicly endorsed a presidential candidate.
"We pretty much stay out of it," Perry tells the Boston Herald. "But seeing so many people come out for Obama, I just felt like 'What the hell. I might as well raise my hand for this side.'"
Perry cites national security and economic concerns as his reason to throw his support toward the Arizona Senator.
"I've been a hard-core Republican my whole life," Perry says. "My mother and father drilled into me from the very start that if you work hard and be positive, you'll get what you're working for."
And although McCain is trailing in the polls, the guitarist says, "I think that he's got a chance."
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Sunday, November 02, 2008 
