PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic My friend of 55 years, Nokie Edwards of The Ventures is ailing .

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213385935295129&set=a.1159316015361.2025702.1001596414&type=3

Prayers or encouragement would be welcome. I'll gladly forward them to Nokie.

He's in our prayers.

It was because of the Ventures I got into the guitar. Oh yea that plus guitarist attracted girls back then

IIRC, Nokie is 84 years old.

Mario,

I was discharged from the Army in '69 and living in Seattle. My wife's cousin, Gary Paulson, had a 3-piece band and we went out to some Seattle lounge to hear Gary's band. Nokie was already famous for his work with The Ventures but I nearly fell over to see him playing for Gary. During a break, Gary and Nokie sat with us and we became good friends through all these years.

Here's a track from his last ( and probably final album: "Nokie Picks On Buddy Holly".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHg5qijLFK8

https://youtu.be/egsStxsbzk4

Store near me has an autographed guitar from him.

Eddie,

Probably a Mosrite. They've done a few Nokie models.

It's actually a black Strat.

Okay.

Nokie designed the guitar he's playing as well as the Mosrite "Hitchhiker". I believe Nokie has a piece of Mosrite.

Prayers offered for Nokie and his family and friends, especially you Donny.

Thanx so much for these. I didn't know that he kept on making albums. Now my bank account is going down as I must have them.

My dear friend Mario,

The great guitarist that you are, you likely noticed the machine head on Thom Bresh's guitar. The shape was drawn on a restaurant place-mat by Thom's dad, Merle Travis, decades before Leo Fender copied it. That is actually a Martin guitar made especially for Merle. The limited edition model is a D-28M ( for Merle ) and they only made one!

I didn't know that! I thought it was a Fender Acoustic!

Mario,

I'm not that bright but Thom explained it on this site. It's an hour interview/session and well worth your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6l3GKN6AEE

Thom uses BIAB and I may get him to post to the User Showcase. He certainly is a master thumb picker like his dad.

Don

Tell him he has my thoughts and prayers (I don't don't do fakebook)

Like Mario their playing is probably a reason I wanted to play "electric guitar," (but real driving force was girls and pheromones- LOL).

Larry

Stay strong, Nokie.

You sure brought us a lot of great listening entertainment.

Thom Bresh reminded me that Nokie loves clean, non-offensive jokes. Post your favorites here and I will forward to Judy, Nokie's dear wife.

BTW, Nokie is full-blooded Cherokee so carries his age very well.

Is it his heart again? I believe he had a major heart issue about 5 years back.

Eddie,

Thom Bresh says he's been in the hospital several times of late. I'm sorry to not have the details. Several surgeries as I understand.

His Wikipedia write-up is phenomenal.

I know that he was recording the Buddy Holly album in Japan ( he says that the Japanese fans have been the most loyal on the planet ) but I don't think it has ever been completed. Now, I hesitate to ask.

Nokie, Thom, Richard Smith ( qv ), and John Knowles ( Chet Atkins' go-to-guy ) all use BIAB. I'm hoping to get them to post their work on Users' Showcase . Stay tuned.

Him & his are in our prayers for sure.

I played Mosrite guitars very little over the years, but I always liked the look! And as a drummer, if you did not know Walk Don't Run & their version of Cherokee you were NOT a drummer! LOL!

I was in Misawa Japan in the Air Force between 65 and 67. I joined a GI band called the Yellowjackets (yeah, I know). Several players changed because of guys shipping in/out. A replacement guitarist played the crap out of the Ventures and other surf stuff like Dick Dale. It went over huge over there then we found out the Ventures lived in Japan. We learned a few more of their tunes. They did a show not far from the base so of course we went. They did this killer drum solo where the drummer first did a standard solo then got off his stool and walked around the drum set keeping the beat the whole time on the cymbals, the stands and the body of the drums then he took his sticks to the bass guitar and they both played a bass solo. And it wasn't just that, the drummer was leading the crowd too. Very effective and showy. Our drummer was good enough to copy it and it really went over well for us too.

As a keys player there wasn't a whole lot for me to do but our drummer and guitarist were very solid and I can't exaggerate just how much the crowd ate it up. They simply loved the Ventures in Japan and I'm all about the fun factor. If the crowd is having fun so am I.

Our band was stable for about 18 months and we scored two big bookings through the USO for some Japanese charities. We could have had more but as active duty GI's in different units we could not get it coordinated. That Ventures drum skit helped turn us into a rock and roll show group which also scored us a couple of big paying gigs in addition to the USO ones.

It basically was the Ventures that helped turn a freezing cold crappy assignment in nowheresville Japan into a tolerable stay for me. When someone would ask me how I liked Japan I would say if you were from another country and spent two years in Minot N. Dakota and then someone asked you how you liked the US, how would you answer? Nothing against Minot but I'm from LA ya know?

I saw them some years ago at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, CA. They did the exact same drum/bass solo bit I saw in Japan. I had a chance to talk to them and we shared several Japanese gig stories. I told them we copied their drum bit and they got a laugh out of that.

Bob

I remember the Live in Japan album. When they introduced everybody, adding the Japanese "sahn" at the end, it Was Nokie Edwardssahn, Bob Boglesahn, and then I wondered but yes it was Don Wilsonsahn, which I found to be like John Smith Smith, yet when they got to drums, it was just Mel Taylor.

Why didn't Mel get a sahn?