MAILBAG ARCHIVES:

- September 20, 2000

- July 04, 2000

- June 09, 2000

- May 18, 2000

- March 05, 2000

- January 11, 2000

- December 27, 1999

- November 02, 1999

- September 18, 1999

- August 27, 1999

- March 16, 1999

- January 30, 1999

- October 22, 1998

- April 26, 1998

- March 30, 1998

- March 17, 1998

September 20, 2000:



Ciruelo Cabral created this petropicto (painted stone). The beauty of Vai's face,
the stone nature and Ciruelo's hands all in one. In the private collection of a GKS Member.

Your friend Jon Diaz in Barcelona

(vai.com note: Ciruelo later went on to create the cover images for both The 7th Song, and The Elusive Light and Sound.)

Steve, I have just been looking at the site as an enourmous fan of your guitar playing and just realized that I have been engrossed for three hours! What a fantastic web site with so much information!

I've laughed out loud reading the journal for 1960-1980 (reminds me of David Lee Roth's book, you should write it ALL in a book), played around with the panaoramic studio Quicktime thing, been inspired by the 'Little Black Dots' and 'Martian Love Secrets' and had fun watching the video clips. One thing that has really come across from this, is the lack of ego you display in the creation of this site. It seems that you still clearly remember what it is like to be a music fan and put all the stuff that us as fans want to read, see etc. Even down to actually personally replying to messages!

I've seen you a few times live here in the UK but the best show was this year at the London Astoria, I really felt you were playing for US, the fans and you seemed really confident as a showman, putting on a great show and taking the piss out of yourself! You played 'Salamanders in the Sun' which I never understood before, but after seeing it played, I was nearly reduced to tears by it, such an awesome piece of music.

Thank you for years of inspiration.

Ollie

vai:

Cool is too much overused
as opposed to simply overused
So I'm wondering what to use
to tell you that I perused
your site that seems all right
it's quite
all right
with me
so I've got to find a word
that would say something much less bored
than simple cool with all of her
much too too old absurd
that seem so nerd-
y.
can't you see
it's time to find a way to be
something more than simply cool
or even cold
it sounds so old
let's all lite up loco
it's chocolaty and cocoa
not a weed
just the first time uses, like a seed
of some new word
let's light up 'loco!'


[anonymous]

Hi Steve!

...do you remember the night after the show in Milano (29 march 2000)?...you was "simply" GREAT!!!

I send you the pic when meet you with my friend Gianclaudio (JOHN!)... I play gtr (but not like you...sigh!) with a group called LEGATURA... we're looking for a label.... Now we are on www.vitaminic.it with 2 songs in mp3!

hope to see you soon (magari in Italia...vieni presto!)... saluti in famiglia e ai ragazzi della band... mimmozak@libero.it .......from ZAK! legatura@libero.it

Hi, my name is Emi and I'm from Romania. Romania is a very poor country (our profit = $50 per month). I'm a bass player but this doesn't really matter 'cause the music means all the instruments of the world played with something that I call spirit. Maybe you don't believe me, but I do know how your way of thinking is. I mean the spiritualy way of life and a great sense of good. I don't think you're a musician; I think you're a man who found the good way of living. Music is the comunication with the other and guitars (all kinds) are the words. Now, get me straight: I really don't have any possibilities to buy a bass guitar. I'm not asking you to send me one, I'm asking you to remember this kind of people who has none of the possibilities to study music because they don't have the instrument, to study their way to comunicate with the other people. Wish me luck in my searching for LIFE.

With respect, Emi

Hey there, Steve...

I'm from Long Island also (Seaford) and couldn't stop laughing when, as I was looking through your online "vault" of guitars, I saw that you purchased your sticker Strat at Matthew's Music in Roosevelt Field! I LOVED that store and bought a ton of gear there (along with Sam Ash on Front St. in Hempstead and Focus II in Bellmore). Just seeing that remark brought back a flood of memories and how sad I was when the place went under (the old 20% to 40% to 50% discounts didn't clue me in until it was too late) and stuff that I've gotten rid of from there (except my Boss pedals - they stay FOREVER!). Too bad the field has become an "upscale" mall, with the giant food court and getting rid of the "unapproved of" establishments like the arcade and the News Rack. Ah well...just for that, the Boss pedals are coming with me when I go to the studio tonight...

later bro...
Anthony Lucisano

Dear Steve,

My Name is Joe and I'm writing this letter today to express the happiness I feel when I listen to your music.

Back when I was 15, when "Passion and Warfare" came onto the market, instrumental music was something new to me. The video for "The Audience is Listening" inspired me to run out and buy the tape. Since then I have been a Huge fan. Your music inspired me to start playing the guitar. Unfortunately I never really got to be any kind of a virtuoso like yourself. I played for about 4 years, and ended up pushing the guitar off into the wayside. I'm 25 now and am serving in the USAF, but yet the same fire I had 10 years ago to be able to play like yourself still exists deep down inside. Two questions are always embedded in my mind. Where do I begin the learning process and am I to old to be able to get to the level that you are presently playing at?

The first electric guitar I ever had was a B.C. Rich Warlock, then I moved to a Fender Strat. It wasn't long till I realized what a good guitar was. So I went and traded them in for a Washburn KC-40V, and I eventually traded that later for a Washburn N-2.

Sincerely,
Joe Howle

P.S. To me you will always be the String King

Hi,
I attended a great concert on 10th March when Steve Vai and Band came to Manchester... although I am disabled and in an electric wheelchair, nothing was going to deter me and my little lad Aaron from making it to the show.

It was great, the only problem is that there is only one photo posted yet that I recognize from that night.... My son Aaron is on it with his new Steve Vai plectrum given to him by Philip Bynoe, front row, little lad with white t-shirt holding his pic on the "throwing the guitar" photo) so I would like to offer 2 photos from the night which we hope that you will use on the website....

The [second] photo is Steve meeting and signing an autograph for my son (albeit that someone stood behind my son blocking him from shot...good closeup of Steve though.. and the [1st] photo was taken when Steve was right above us on stage, and my son Aaron is the one with the Vai Ultra Zone Cap.....

So if you are feeling in a generous spirit and would like to make Aaron's and my day then please feel free to post the photos on your great website....

Thanks a lot and all the best...

Mike & Aaron Hodkinson
email michael.hodkinson@virgin.net

Dear Steve,

Hello. I am writing this letter to you to to tell you of the length I went to, to perform "For the Love of God" at one of my larger gigs.

I play lead guitar with a Christian band known as Faith Out Loud (I'm only 16). Our main audience is a Youth Group consisting of 13-18 year olds. A couple of months ago in early April, I knew that we had a fairly large (large for us, anyway) gig coming up. It was at a church fiesta, and we were going to be playing in front of about 500 people. So far, my largest audience had been 250 people, so I was very excited. About a month before the gig, I was listening to the G3 record, and I thought that it would be great if I could arrange "For the Love of God" for the whole band so that we could play it at the fiesta.

Personally, I thought it was a great idea. It would add an instrumental number to the band's repertoire, it would be a nice break from all the faster vocal songs, it would give the singers a break, and it would give me the opportunity to perform one my favorite songs of all time on stage! The title also worked for the band. I talked to the bandleader about it, and he said that we should let all the band members listen to it, so as to get their take on the song. So later, after all the band members had listened to it, I asked for each of their opinions. The Bandleader, who is also rhythm guitar, liked it and seemed very positive about it. The keyboardist loved it. The bass player liked the bass line, but was a bit spooked by the "psychedelic guitar lead" as he put it. The drummer, for whatever reason I STILL can't figure out, hated it. All he did was whine about how it was "too slow" and "It'll put people to sleep." Even as I pointed out all of the positive aspects to try to get him to see some light to it, he still hated the song. I knew that he didn't like your music at the time but I had no idea that he'd be that opposed to it. He has no tolerance for anything other than what he likes, which is punk/alternative. Anyway, he did not give me a yes or a no about whether he would play it or not, but I could tell he didn't like the song at all. Personally, I am baffled at how some people simply do not like your music. What's not to like? I think it is the best music ever recorded!

Anyway, back to the subject, I got the go-ahead to arrange the song for the whole band. I made copies and simplified notation/tab of all the song's instruments, tape copies of the studio AND live versions, gave them to the band, and learned the guitar riffs and leads note for note. I thanked them for their cooperation, and the bandleader told them to practice it. It was a month before the gig.

Five days before the gig. The bandleader is reluctant to play the song, nervous about the audience's reaction. The bass player had lost interest in the song and managed to lose his sheet music TWICE!!! The drummer was refusing to practice it, except for a few 30-second bursts. The keyboardist, bless her soul, had dutifully learned her parts. It was not practiced.

Three days before the gig. I have ran through four minutes of it with the rhythm guitarist only. The drummer and bass player show up to practice, and the drummer manages to get through four minutes of it before quitting. I was seriously beginning to doubt that the song would be performed, and maybe I should quit. I pressed on, confident that I could persuade the band members to pull this off. Why was I doing the persuading? Because the 34 year-old bandleader was not willing to persuade the rhythm section, a 14 and 18 year old, to do it.

T minus two days and counting. While installing an Evolution bridge pickup in my Ibanez RG450DX, the electronics are fried in a freak technical mishap. The guitar is only repairable through a complete electronic overhaul. I do not have a guitar. Since it is an emergency, my parents agree to loan me the money to buy any guitar I choose, as long as it is under $1000. And I would have to pay back every penny of it, which was fine with me. I decided I needed a new guitar that would need no modifications and that would last me for years to come. I chose a JEM 555. It arrived the next day in the mail as I exhaled in relief.

The day of the gig. I have the band run over the song...halfway. The keyboardist has come down with a 105 fever and has to miss the gig. Just after the intermission, the bandleader instructs the rhythm section to start playing on my cue. I cue them, and play the first notes of FTLOG. To my dismay, the bass, drums, and rhythm guitar come in about 3 bars late. Oh well, at least they actually started. Suddenly, the drummer accelerated to about 70 bpm, a far cry from the 50 bpm. Nevertheless, I kept playing the song perfectly. About two minutes into it, all other the other instruments, bass, drums, and rhythm guitar stop playing. I am shocked, but I hang on the note I left off of and end with some feedback and a dive bomb. I was very disappointed that they ended the song like that, but the show went on.

Later, at home, I got so frustrated with the bad attitude and poor performance of the band on that song that I almost cried. I mean, I've played some special request songs of theirs, even if I didn't like them. I didn't matter if I didn't like their songs, because my job, as a musician in that band, is to learn the songs I'm assigned and play the parts to the absolute best of my ability. My job is not to complain. I still can't express how disappointed I am with the whole thing.

But I suppose I should look on the bright side. It did get played a little bit, and something is better than nothing. And the head of music for the whole parish LOVED it, and now he wants to put it on the band's upcoming CD. My efforts were not totally in vain.

I just wanted to tell you this story to express to you how far I will go for and to play your awe-invoking sonic explorations of the guitar. It may not be much compared to some, but it's the best I could do.

I remember the first time I heard your playing on the first Merry Axemas album. There was something about your rendition of "Christams Time is Here" that touched something deep in my soul. I bought "Passion and Warfare" and when I heard the music on that record, I knew what I was shooting for, musically.

In a nutshell, I wanted to share my little tale with you just because I thought you might find it interesting. That is really all that I have to say. Gee, how do I close up a letter to the greatest guitarist on the planet? Uhhh.. I'M NOT WORTHY!!!! hehe. I guess I'll just say this; Thank you for reading my letter, thank you for being my greatest musical influence, and keep up the good work. Peace.

Warm regards,

Brendan Dora
Lead guitar, Faith Out Loud

P.S. Oh yeah, I LOVE my Jem, and I plan to move up to a 7V eventually. I'll send you a picture of me playing it live. Could you please post this on Vai.com? I know you must get thousands of letters a day from wackmobiles like me, but it would mean a lot to be if you could post this on the site. Thank you so much!

Hello Everyone at Vai.com,

The attached graphic is the result of listening to a recently acquired "Flex-Able" CD. I hadn't heard the songs, other than in my head, for over 9 years. While listening to "Call It Sleep" I cranked up my graphics suite and just let my imagination go wild, following themes and trying new stuff. My initial offering was quite simple and it quickly grew into what you see as I went from "Flex-Able" to several of Steve's bluesy songs from later albums. If anyone on your end thinks my graphic is worth the bandwidth I would be honored to see my creation on Vai.com. Steve's music is an enhancement to my life and I thank him for that.

Regards,
Jonathan Shroyer

Hey Steve,

I've got to admit that I didn't know who you were prior to 2 months ago. I had not heard any of your material (at least that I knew was yours). I play Christian contemporary music in the band I'm in and had shut out all secular music for the longest time. I own a large Carvin sound system that we use regularly and enjoy much, it seems like I had spent an eternity looking for an amplifier that would emit the sound and feel that I was seeking. CARVIN had already proven itself so I figured I would try your VL-100 half stack.

Steve, hats off to you bro, your Carvin Legacy amp surpasses my expectations in both sound and craftsmanship. I like it so much that I bought one of the VL212 combo series amps for smaller gigs.

I was in a local music store here in Austin, Texas, when I noticed this guitarist in a white suit in a video that was playing with the volume off. I was struck by the intensity and effortless negotiation of the fretboard. I asked a sales guy who that was and he said "Oh, that's Vai". I asked him to turn it up, he did and I havent been the same since.

I know that I will never be able to play like you (and maybe thats a good thing), but I have finally found the sound that I myself as a guitarist have been looking for. Thanks Bro.

Dave Swisher

Just thought I'd write a complaint with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. As I was cruising the streets of Toronto today with my wife, I broke out Steve Vai's 'Sex and Religion' cassette. Just before pulling into the driveway after listening to the album TWICE, my left speaker cakked out making lots of squeaks with every beautiful guitar note. I happily went downstairs and replaced the worn out speakers with an old set of Bose I had stored in the basement. Now it sounds even better, thanks STEVE.

'Sex and Religion' seems an even more relevent album for these last 12 years of earth as we know it!

Sincerely,

David Elton