The Velvet Forum

Eddie Sedgewick wrote:. . was this maybe the 'booster' refered to in the lyrics of Sister Ray?? . . .

booster = slang for shoplifter, I don't think Miss Rayon had much use for effects pedals...

simonm wrote:

Eddie Sedgewick wrote:. . was this maybe the 'booster' refered to in the lyrics of Sister Ray?? . . .

booster = slang for shoplifter, I don't think Miss Rayon had much use for effects pedals...

A booster (in the US, anyway) can also refer to a supporter.

...[/quote]You would need a strat pickup and the Vox repeat percussion built in, and a distortion booster too i think. Nobody has done this to my knowledge, mainly because there are no clear photos of that guitar to see how they are arranged. But to be picky, this wouldn't be the Ostrich gtr, which was probably the Kent Copa that Lou has in the pics above, with all the strings tuned to A....[/quote]

. . I thought the original ostrich guitar was an old green Gretsch that lou had ripped all the frets out of, it got stolen in the 'great sneaker robbery' along with all his 45s . . it's mentioned in the interveiw with Mo in the Velvet Underground Companion . . I've tried tuning all the strings on my guitar to B and it makes some very strange sounds but hard to play any actual song . . .

[/quote]booster = slang for shoplifter, I don't think Miss Rayon had much use for effects pedals...[/quote]

. . thanks for that furthar addition to my acane knowledge of Velvets' trivia . .

Ostrich gtr refers to the tuning of the gtr on The Ostrich 45 - all tuned to one note. On VU&N I've always assumed the Ostrich gtr is this one (getting us back on topic) that you can hear on All Tomorrow's Parties, but any gtr tuned that way is an Ostrich I think.



Lou talks about the 1964 Gretsch here http://www.guitarworld.com/lou-reed-tal ... w?page=0,2

There was a guy named Dan Armstrong, and he wired that thing up nice. And then I went to San Francisco and met an electronics guy there, and had a repeater [i.e., echo] built into it, among other things. So I could seem to play faster than I really could. I made the guitar stereo, and then of course the gain went down and I had to put batteries in. I didn?t know what I was doing. I knew what I wanted to hear, but didn?t always understand the repercussions of what I was doing. Eventually it just ruined the guitar. I remember Dan took one look at it and wouldn?t speak to me for about a month. He was really upset.

He also mentions that the fretless gtr was another Gretsch.Maybe that was one was lost in the burglary - I thought I remembered reading the 4-pickup Gretsch was stolen later at the Boston Tea Party, after WL/WH anyway.

In Uptight Jonathan Richman says
The Gretsch Country Gentleman had four pickups (they usual had two), built in pre-amp, built in tremolo unit, added Gretsch pickup, added Stratocaster pickup for more treble.

there was a whole thread about it http://www.velvetforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... it=gretsch

And there is a photo of a 1958 Gretsch in THIS THREAD.

In drug terminology a booster is a secondary intake (usually of a lesser amount) given to restore a fading high.

I couldn't help you, though, if you were to ask what a down-five is.

Fantasic Sterling Morrison,John Cale and David Faison shot at session ? Steve Schapiro.

More cool stuff,that's beautiful Beverly Grant AKA The Cobra Woman still from Ron Rice's film Chumlumn 64..!!

Donald Lyons, Pristine Condition and Lou Reed enjoying a drink and a smoke together at Max.Leee Black Childers.