Grown man or teeny bopper, you be the judge

Submitted by MeshuggaMel January 19th, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner

Not kitsch in a tangible way, but experiential – this Saturday I got to meet one of my guitar idols, Mr. Duane Eddy, at the Deke Dickerson Guitar Geek Festival. That’s Duane on the right. On the left is me, giggling like a teeny bopper. I’m holding the copy of “Have ‘Twangy’ Guitar, Will Travel” which I bought in 1992, prompting me to install a Bigsby vibrato arm on my ES-335 , stop singing and start twanging! Duane autographed the record just after this picture was taken.

For those of you who are fans of Duane, he’s still got it. His set was amazing, and spot on with the records. He played Movin’ and Groovin’, Detour, The Lonely One, 3:30 Blues, Stalkin’, Cannonball, The Peter Gunn Theme, and Rebel Rouser. I was hoping to hear “Because They’re Young”, my favorite song of his, but as they say in show business, leave them wanting more.

6 Responses to “Grown man or teeny bopper, you be the judge”

  1. Allee Willis

    Duane is still looking good! He was beyond the heartthrob in his “Rebel Rouser” days and it appears that he hasn’t lost any of his twang. You are also looking excellent btw.

    I owned ” Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel” when I was a youth and just looking at that red cover brings back the twangy feelings I had for Duane when I was swooning for “Because They’re Young”. My guess as to why he didn’t play that tune is because it’s so string dependent but I say turn the synths on as it’s way too great of a song not to be included.

    Excellent photo! Not to mention experience!

  3. windupkitty

    oh man, this is way too cool!!!!!!!! who needs namm when there’s guitar geek!?! i’m kicking myself for missing this! that is an EXCELLENT photo too!!!!!! it truly makes me happy!!!!

  4. John Maddox Roberts

    I had the 45 rpm record of “Because They’re Young” back in ’60 and played it incessantly, which may be why my room was in the basement. But there is further geekiness: it was the theme song of the movie of the same name. It starred Dick Clark! It had Michael Callan and Doug McClure and Tuesday Weld and, yes, it had Roberta Shore! And it was based on the novel “Harrison High,” by John Farris! Surely, if there is a Holy Grail for geeks, it is this.