Guthrie Govan Discussion

[Jon]

All of this assumes that Guthrie is somehow trying to 'make it' and that his current level of success is not enough for him. For all we know, he may be perfectly contented with his current achievements and not want to be selling loads more CDs/playing much bigger gigs/becoming more famous - all of these things have a downside in terms of pressure, responsibility and loss of control of your career/art.

[Ktula]

All comments about the content of Guthries website aside, I think its still sensible to maintain ownership of the domain name, even if its just a place holder (like it has been for the past x years!). It's just a good idea that if people type in GuthrieGovan.com they get a link to buy the CD's/to the forum, and not random porn! (and all abandoned websites tend to that or ad-farms over time, its the LAW)

K

[liquidtension]

"Make it" is kinda of a hard concept to define. Some have breakthrough albums that put them on the charts. Others kinda slide in more gradually and can't identify a definite turning point. Either way, it's kind of a superficial concept for most real musicians.

But I think most of us would agree that Guthrie has a desire first and foremost play good music that is authentically Guthrie, that he will likely look to record more CDs, and that he wouldn't mind playing just about any size gig as long as it paid and he didn't have to sacrifice the quality of the music.

But I think the point that several of us were trying to make is for him to just get a webpage as a central hub of information for all things Guthrie. Even in a worst case scenario where no new info is posted for, say, 6 months (which we know would not be the case due to the continual updates on this forum), Guthrie would have a central location to host exclusively his footage for people who are just now being exposed to his music. And I don't think this would lead to pressure, responsibility, and/or especially loss of control of his career/art. My band has a fairly attractive (in terms of appearance) website. We've been together for 6 months and have only played one gig. We anticipate playing more next year and recording a CD. We don't have much new info posted, but a website has not really put any pressure on us.

Ya know, I bet there are at least a couple of guys on this forum who are well versed in HTML/CSS and/or are fluent in Dreamweaver who would be tickled pink just to be able do something like this for Guthrie, getting that occasional email or phone call, and may even do a site for a fraction of the cost just for the experience and connection. Heck, I know I would. In some ways, getting someone on this forum to do it may be the best route because the person developing the site would already have a good idea of who Guthrie is, and therefore portray him more accurately.

Anyway, sorry to kick the dead horse again...

[Ant711UK]

I don't really care about Guthrie having a site so that he can 'make it' as it were. It's more to do with hungry guitar players looking for idea's etc and being able to see what's out there. The reason I'd tell another guitar playing friend to check someone out is because I hope they'll feel the same way as I do when they hear it. Maybe that's down to me wanting someone to agree with me to validate the route I'm taking with my new listening/learning experience and maybe I'm hoping they'll tell me to look in other places too. I'm constantly shifting in what I think I like musically but when something hits the mark it stays there with me for a long time and I would hope the same thing would happen with a lot of the people I would point to a GG site.

If it's a deliberate wish of Guthrie's not to have a website then I think it's a mistake because as we know there are plenty of people out there who will create and maintain it and probably do it for free. You have one go at this life and he could truly make his mark without 'making it' if he allowed just a little more exposure. You never know what is around the corner, Jason Becker would love to be in GG's position now. Guys like Mr C, Ed Yoon etc working with him must be banging their heads against the wall. I have no doubt they love him dearly and have massive respect for his wishes that he would rather stay underground, but he's using their gear and guitar players are picking up Suhrs and Cornfords because of him, I bet a lot more would if they get to hear him. The pressure doesn't apply as far as I'm concerned it's down to the individual. He doesn't have to do any more than he wants to. In my opinion he's done enough aready. All that's missing is that he has to let people know he's there and I still believe that the best way is a website.

I'll shut up now

Tony

[Jon]

My point is that most of the arguments for Guthrie needing to develop a site are based on what the people making those arguments will get out of it rather than what Guthrie will get out of it. We might assume that he wants to be seen by a wider audience but the guy's not stupid so if he hasn't sorted a website yet there must be a reason (even if it's laziness - he's entitled to be lazy if he wants!)

Then again, maybe he's entrusted it's creation to Paul Cornford - given the speed of updates on their website it can only be a couple of years before it goes live!!!!!

[poulter5150]

has anyone noticed the new video on youtube of guthrie and there very quickly taken down i email 2 of the people one said he needs to ask guthrie about if its ok to put it up fair anuf but the other said he had been email by GG him self sounding very angry and telling him to take the video down as we been saying GG don't seem to worry about the net to much and when i was at BIMM and was talking to him he didn't seem to worry its all promotion in my eyes were his words so i don't know if some one is pretending to be GG and getting people to take them down some of the video looked really good him talking about shur guitars and playing waves can anyone shed some light on this sorry about the poor spelling and grammar

[frankus]

I think Guthrie is particular about the quality control. He has asked for stuff to be taken down before and Waves isn't anything that appears on live sets, I seem to recall. Maybe that's why.

I've not heard of him being angry before. It's hard to tell what someone's tone is in emails but I think others have felt a bit deflated when asked to take stuff down.

I've now got an image of one of those Russian experiments (filmed in black and white) like the centrifuge ones... but instead of being spun around in a chair this is people doing iritating things... I can't imagine Guthrie's face getting past the Zappa look, like you get on the Baby Snakes album... and there have been some very drunk stupid people to humour ..
_________________
Fabulous powers were revealed to me the day I held my magic Suhr(d) aloft and said "by the power of great scale!"

I have the power!

[gtr]

Just for another view. I kept telling ppl about Guthrie - then they would google him and find tons of stuff but no "official" site. Lots of people don't want to have to search through "fan" sites to find something out. Fortunately Guthrie's talent and Youtube videos have made people who are really into music dig deeper. But a website sure seems like a no brainer in this day and age. But maybe that is the point - make it hard to find, real artistic, underground and "rare". But then again - if that was the case - why play with Asia??

Mark Varney once told me that Mike had constantly tried to get Shawn Lane to do a solo album way back in the day - but Shawn liked to sleep til mid afternoon and was pretty happy at the time playing with his cover band - didn't really want to deal with all the biz side of things. And while we all still marvel at Shawn's talent - he died broke living with his relatives. So there ya go - Edgar Allan Poe died without a penny - etc etc etc

Maybe that's just the way it has to be.......

gtr

[Hegel]

First off, sorry about the downtime on the .co.uk - I had an enormous crash and lost over half a million files. My host wasn't taking full back-ups as stated in their SLA and I was left with a differential restore option of only the previous 2 days work instead of 7 years. I cried. I'm now undertaking the laborious process of shifting to Hostgator to mirror all my run-of-the-mill sites and dedicated co-location for more important stuff.

Anyway, Guthrie was way down the list and I had paying punters and public sector clients that needed to be reinstated first. I then realised that you guys might've been relying on the link for traffic so I've restored it now to its former, er...minimalist glory.

To address the issue of squatters - the domain name won't be squatted as I have automatic rebilling set up on it.

Also, if Guthrie really wanted a site, doncha think he, the band or Paul would've had one commissioned by now? By landing at the .co.uk (Google #1 for 'guthrie govan', Google top 10 for simply 'guthrie'), folks are now given four straight options:

Cornford Records - to buy
MySpace - to listen
YouTube - to watch
This site - to discuss

So unless I set up a really poncey Web 2.0 website where you can order 'scratch and sniff' photos of Guthrie's fingerboard and Chaucer-esque lock-o-hair relics that people can touch, I reckon we've covered the most sensual, intellectual and spiritual aspects of the Guthrie fan experience. Live music aside of course. And without lifting a finger. Or forcing any opinions, stance or role on the whole affair.

It also means that it's down to the surfer to do the digging and uncovering of the wealth of MetaGovan out there - which is half the fun isn't it? Perhaps that's the real message behind Web 2.0: Why make the effort collating content when the biggies and the masses do it all for you?

Of course - and contrary to my own logic - I would no doubt enjoy getting lost in development with other designers/producers/programmers and building a kick-ass Guthrie site (with mail order relics), but hey-ho.

And is using the word 'official' officious in itself? I do hope so

Cheers.

[Jon]

[frankus]