Did you know?

I once dated a girl in high school who was obsessed with Aerosmith's Joe Perry. I had never really given him much thought, though I found it strangely endearing that this blonde high-school chick was so into a middle aged man. In retrospect, I'm not sure that it said anything good about her, but at the time I thought it made her exotic. Reality taught me that her J. Perry crush was actually a manifestation of the way she lived her life: constantly questing after some romantic ideal that was completely unpractical. But that was then, and now I haven't spoken to her in 6 years, save a few facebook correspondences.

Anyway, I got thinking about her, so I wikipedia'd (another bizarre 21st century verb) Joe Perry. Some may think that a bizarre move, but it made total sense to me. I'm actually really glad I did, because I found out a totally out-there fact about the man who Rolling Stone magazine claims is in the top 60 guitarists of all time. He routinely records songs playing a six-string bass like a guitar - chords and all. So think about that the next time you're pumping your fist to "Train Kept-a-Rolling."

p.s. - Keith Richards used to remove the low E string from his guitar, so as not to disrupt from his velveteen leads. That, and he was probably trashed all the time, and knew that he might tap a booming E in the middle of a slop-fest solo. Good times.