To all the rockers...

Going to Guitar Center tomorrow to check some out. Looked at a couple Jackson Randy Rhoads models at a small local shop - they had the $400+ version and the $700+ version, both of which are $100 cheaper at Guitar Center. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two without looking at the price tag, and wasn't impressed with the neck on either one - actually prefer the neck on my kids cheap Squier Strat over the way those two felt. Going to look at the Dean Dave Mustaine V at Guitar Center.
Caught Metallica here before, but not in '92. Their first concert here I think was when they opened for Ozzy, and they generated a lot of buzz about being the better act (and I think Ozzy is god-like).
Saw Down here last year in a local club. I think their original bassist was the big fat guy from Crowbar, but Rex Brown from Pantera was on bass when I saw them last year. Not sure if he's in the lineup for good now.

Ended up getting this:



Pro series RR3 for about $650, in crimson swirl color.
Wasn't looking to spend any more than that since I have the old Les Paul, but I wanted something I could hang on the wall in the gameroom and play around with while the Les Paul sits safely in its case. They didn't have any of the Mustaine V's, played the Dean Dimebag guitar and the Dean Razorback, and actually liked the neck on the Dean just a tad more than the Jackson, but I always wanted a Rhandy Rhoads style V so I couldn't pass it up. Both of the ones they had in the store had small dings on the point of the V, and I almost took home the one with the smaller nick in it, but the guy talked me into just having they ship me a new one in the box, so it'll get here in a few days.

Not a bad life for an aging dude, and he rocked it out pretty good. While he had a half dozen or so hits, obviously "Jessie's Girl" is what allows him to still make a living at it 25 years later. The Hard Rock holds about 1,000 people and they sell tickets as front floor or back floor (all standing, no seats) with a barricade set up as a divide. At one point in the set, he kicked into The Who's 'My Generation' and - much to the display of his stage crew and the security guys - he climbed down into the crowd and worked his way to the barricade in the middle of the place. The crowd lifted him up and he stood on the barricade jamming and singing while people helped hold him up, he laid back into the crowd and they held him up while he played, etc. The women were going wild for the dude and were fighting their way to him to cop a feel - girls grabbing his ass and anything else they could get a grip on. I'd sure as hell trade my dentistry gig for his job.