Hey ya'll, i just picked up a copy of this months Guitar World magazine that has a long artical about Skynyrd, plus a great CD-ROM disc with a couple lessons on Still Unbroken and Free Bird, it's 40 minutes long with Gary, Rickey, and Sparky all talkin about the songs and how they came about, very cool stuff!! I haven't read the whole artical yet but one thing i found a little disturbing is that in the artical they miss-spell Mark Matejka's name through out the whole piece they did about him, i think they could have double checked that. But the artical is well worth checkin out, heck the CD-ROM is worth the price of the mag!

Hey ya'll, just checkin in to say hello to some fellow Lynyrd Skynyrd fans!! I am a die-hard Skynyrd follower, but rather than just state the usaul "i'm the biggest fan in the world" kinda post, i decided to write a little bit on why i'm Skynyrd fan, and always will be. First of all, i'm only 29, so no i was not around for the begining, RVZ days of Skynyrd, tho i wish i had been as i would have fit in much better growin up in the 70's, i'm a little out of touch with my own generation. Anyways, to me just lovin' the music is only part of why i'm a Skynyrd fan. Everybody knows Skynyrd as thee "blue collar" band, and i myself am a hard workin' blue collar guy, i work 3rd shift (aka graveyard) bustin' ass as a CNC machinist in a local factory, Skynyrd seems to have a real connection too and stands for the working class America!! Hey, "Red, White, and Blue" sums it up best, you can tell the boy's of Skynyrd really care about the fans and are real down to earth guy's, not fake possers like most of todays modern rock (ok pop) stars. My other passion in life is guitar, both playin myself and watchin/listening to great guitarist. Well that's what got me into Skynyd at first, back in highschool (ok it wasn't that long ago lol) a friend turned me on to Skynyrd becuase of the phenominal guitar playin Skynyrd is known for, i've been hooked ever since. The 3 guitar attack is mind blowing, and as a guitarist it's very inspirational to me. Not only that, but i love music that tell stories and have lyrics the average Joe can relate too, something i think is lost in most of todays music. I play lead/rhythm guitar in classic rock cover bar band and we play a few Skynyrd tunes in our set which i enjoy very much, of course we play 3 Steps which is a requirement for bar bands lol, and also Don't Ask No Questions, and one of my personal favorites Simple Man. No, we don't play Free Bird, but someone in the audience always seems to "request" it lol. Anyways, i've been fortunate to have seen Lynyrd Skynyrd live 6 times now, the last show (Foghat opened, very cool) i went with a buddy of mine who had never seen them before, and we brought along his 10 year old boy who is a big Skynyrd fan thanks to me, lol, and he had a blast!! I feel very lucky i got to see Leon once before he passed on, that means alot to me, and it's gonna be tough seeing them with out Mr. BP, but i'm glad they are still truckin' on!! Ok, well that's a little about me and why i love Skynyrd, i'm no angel (yeah a Greg Allman ref.), thats for sure but i work hard, do the right things, and just try to be a Simple Man!