The ferry ride was very nice — comfy boat with lots of good views of islands and bridges and whatnot.\u00a0 Also windy.<\/p>\n
The Vallejo ferry building is also very nice — we met Billy there and he proved very long-winded so we ended up settling into a waterfront cafe that also seemed very nice.\u00a0 At one point I asked him if he could suggest a nice walk in Vallejo and he made a lot of very uncomfortable faces and at last delicately described his hometown as “The anus of California” and left me with the impression that if we were to walk in any direction from the ferry terminal we would be immediately sapped and robbed.\u00a0 So instead we just sat in the cafe and enjoyed the view which, I admit, consisted strictly of industrial ruins.<\/p>\n Billy turns out to be Billy Ray Martin, formerly of country act ‘Red River’, and even more formerly Bill Martin of punk band (Impatient) youth<\/a> whose music I’ve been listening to a bit since our meeting.<\/p>\n The guitar is a ‘Johnson,’ a Chinese reproduction of a National tricone from the 30’s.\u00a0 Billy transplanted some actual National resonators into it and generally tricked it out so that it sounds extra good.\u00a0 It is also extremely shiny!<\/p>\n It turns out that I have not spontaneously learned to play slide guitar in the intervening decade since I last played one of these… but even if it winds up a wall-hanger it can’t be beat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve sort of always wanted a brass-body guitar, and I will take any opportunity to ride on a ferry boat.\u00a0 So when I found a nickel-plated guitar for sale on Craigslist that required a ferry ride to purchase I couldn’t … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/johnson1.jpg\" "\\"johnson1\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/johnson2.jpg\" "\\"johnson2\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n