The originals are quickly leaving us

As I come to consciousness this morning I am listening to Joe Belock's excellent THREE CHORD MONTE radio show on WFMU via the world-wide-web. The music he's playing is the inspiration for this post. He's doing a well-deserved tribute to the father of the power-chord, and perhaps the father of all raw, aggressive electric guitar-playing as well...LINK WRAY. He was buried on November 18th in Copenhagen, Denmark to little fanfare per his request, and most likely due at least in part to the obliviousness of most critics and fans of popular music. Hell, CNN didn't pick up on it until he had been in the ground for 4 days!!!...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/21/obit.wray.ap/index.html

I won't go into detail about this great loss( even if he was only 76 years old for pete's sake!). I will say that Link was influencing my life path before I was even aware of him though. It's common knowledge that Link was the inspiration for Pete Townshend to pick up a guitar, and The Who were in competition only with Van Halen for the title of my favorite band as a kid. Neil Young was also quoted as saying that if he could go back in time to see any band it would be Link Wray and his Raymen. It was inevitable that I was later drawn to the punk rock that Link hinted at with his deceptively simple, beautifully distorted guitar work, and attitude. It's hard to imagine a world in which Mr. Wray never existed, and I don't even want to try. I regret that I just missed getting to see him at last year. I guess I thought he'd be around forever. With that in mind here's the part where I put the link to the second petition to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that I've posted( The first being Doug Sahm/Sir Douglass Quintet)...

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?linkwray&851

If you have ever enjoyed a "dirty" guitar tone or believe in any kind of justice take a minute to sign the petition. And then proceed to poke pencil holes through the speaker-cones of every guitar amp that you are in proximity to...