The Clyde Auditorium viewed from across the Clyde.

The Clyde Auditorium

The facade of the Clyde Auditorium.

The Clyde Auditorium, familiarly known as "The Armadillo", is a concert venue in Glasgow, Scotland. The building sits on the site of the now infilled Queen's Dock on the River Clyde, adjacent to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Plans for a new building to increase the capacity of the SECC complex were initiated in 1995. Designed by award-winning architects Foster and Partners, the 3,000 seat venue was completed in 1997, by which time it had earned its affectionate nickname due to the similarity of its shape to that of the animal of the same name. Many comparisons have been made with the Sydney Opera House, although this was not the architects' inspiration for the design, which was in fact an interlocking series of ship's hulls, in reference to the Clyde's shipbuilding heritage.

The building has quickly become one of the most recognisable on Clydeside and one of the images most associated with modern Glasgow.^{[citation needed]} Its success has led to planning for a third venue on the complex - the Scottish Hydro Arena, due for completion in 2013.

It is connected to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and the Crowne Plaza for easy access and exit for high profile performers.^{[clarification needed]}

The facade of the Clyde Auditorium was a venue featured in a promotional video for the animated sitcom The Simpsons, which parodies the famous Susan Boyle audition for Britain's Got Talent in January 2009.^[1]

The building held the Scottish auditions of Britain's Got Talent series 2 - 4 and the auditions for series 1 - 4 of The X Factor. It is the place where Susan Boyle was discovered.

Ian Reilly, the site's engineer, named the Auditorium the Armidillo during the construction phase}}

References[link]

See also[link]

• Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
• Armadillo (disambiguation)

External links[link]

• SECC web site
• Photographs of the (Armadillo) Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow
• Queen's Dock regeneration project
• SECC Armadillo features in Delhi - Clyde Waterfront regeneration

Coordinates: 55°51′34″N 4°17′17″W / 55.859496°N 4.287962°W / 55.859496; -4.287962

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Jimmy Carr
Birth name	James Anthony Patrick Carr
Born	(1972-09-15) 15 September 1972 (age 39) Limerick, Ireland[1]
Medium	Stand-up, Television
Nationality	British Irish
Years active	2000–present
Influences	George Carlin, Michael Redmond, Denis Leary, Paul Merton, Peter Kay, Will Self, Billy Connolly, Demetri Martin.[2]
Domestic partner(s)	Karoline Copping (2001-present)
Notable works and roles	8 Out of 10 Cats Distraction The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 10 O'Clock Live
Website	jimmycarr.com
British Comedy Awards
Best Live Stand Up 2006– Gag Reflex

James Anthony Patrick "Jimmy" Carr (born 15 September 1972) is an Irish-born British comedian and humourist. He is known for his deadpan delivery, dark humour and his use of edgy one-liners. He is also a writer, actor and presenter of radio and television.

Carr moved to a career in comedy in 2000.^[3] After becoming established as a stand-up comedian, Carr began to appear in a number of Channel 4 television shows, most notably as the host of the panel show 8 out of 10 Cats. In Ireland he is known for appearances on The Panel and The Late Late Show.

Personal life[link]

Carr was born in Limerick, Ireland to parents Patrick James (born March 1945), a Roman Catholic and self-made millionaire who became treasurer for computer company Unisys,^[4] and Nora Mary (née Lawlor,^[5] 19 September 1943^[6] – 7 September 2001), who died of pancreatitis in St Thomas' Hospital, London, aged 57.^[4] His parents married in 1970, separated in 1994, but never divorced.^[7] His father married Natasha in 2003.^[4] Carr has an older brother, Colin, and a younger brother, Patrick.^[4] Carr was educated at Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. he also attended St Bernards's Catholic Grammar School also in Slough. Carr's father was not happy with the school so moved him to Burnham Grammar School

After schooling in Slough he gained a place at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a 2:1 degree in Political Sciences.^[3][8] Carr was a marketing executive for Shell^{[9][dead link]} in the late 1990s.^[4] During an appearance on BBC's Would I Lie to You? (Series 1, Episode 3), Carr revealed that he had been a Christian until his mid-twenties, and remained a virgin until the age of 26^[10] due to his faith. Carr became aware of the writings of Richard Dawkins and renounced his religion, becoming an atheist. He stated that he felt religion limited people's desires to live their own lives.^[11] He also stated that at this time, to help him cope with his loss of faith he did a lot of psychotherapy, and ended up qualifying as a therapist.^[12]

Carr lives in North London with his girlfriend, Karoline Copping, a commissioning editor for Five,^[3] whom he has been with since 2001.^[10]

In March 2004, Carr's father^[13] was arrested by the Metropolitan Police after Carr and his brother Colin accused their father of harassment.^{[clarification needed]} The senior Carr was later acquitted of all charges and awarded costs by the Court. His acquittal was followed by a written apology from the CPS. Later the Metropolitan Police apologised and paid him substantial damages in an out of court settlement for the arrest and prosecution.^[14][15] Carr holds dual British-Irish citizenship.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Television[link]

Whilst working at JC Productions with his father, Carr made his first television pilot / short film at Pinewood starring Craig Charles, Roy Dotrice and himself. The mockumentary, The Colour of Funny was essentially a vanity project for Carr.^{[citation needed]}

Hosting[link]

Carr has hosted Channel 4 game shows Distraction and Your Face or Mine?. He has also presented the 100s series of programmes for Channel 4: 100 Worst Pop Records, 100 Worst Britons, 100 Greatest Cartoon Characters, 100 People Who Look Most Like Jimmy Carr (a spoof) and 100 Scary Moments. He has also presented a series of Commercial Breakdown.

From 2004 to 2006, Carr hosted a United States version of Distraction for Comedy Central. He was also nominated for the 2006 Rose d'Or award for Best Game Show Host. Carr presents the Big Fat Quiz of the Year on Channel 4, having presented the first 8 shows each December (2004–2011). He also currently hosts the quiz show 8 out of 10 Cats.

In April 2010, Carr hosted the first British version of a comedy roast show, Channel 4's A Comedy Roast. On 6 May 2010, he was a co-host of Channel 4's Alternative Election Night, along with David Mitchell, Lauren Laverne, and Charlie Brooker. He joined the three presenters again for 10 O'Clock Live, a Channel 4 comedy current affairs show, which started airing on 20 January 2011.^[16]

Writing[link]

Carr is also a writer as well as performer, with writing credits including Bo' Selecta! (C4), Meet Ricky Gervais (C4) and material for Lily Savage and Frank Skinner.

Guest appearances[link]

Carr was a guest presenter for one edition of Have I Got News For You; later he joined Ian Hislop's team in the edition of the show first shown 23 November 2007, chaired by Ann Widdecombe with whom he “flirted” outrageously.^{[citation needed]} Widdecombe later vowed "I will never appear on Have I Got News for You again."^{[citation needed]}

Carr has appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks twice, as well as multiple times on QI. He has also been appeared on at least one episode per season of A League of Their Own.

During a guest appearance on the BBC motoring show Top Gear, Carr set a new celebrity test track lap record on the 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' segment. He was described as "the worst driver we've ever had" and "the luckiest man alive" by Top Gear's test driver the Stig. His re-appearance on Top Gear in May 2006 placed him last in the brand new Reasonably Priced Car, with the slowest time ever (due to the fact that he spun off on his timed lap). Carr also hosted a highlights edition of the show, and on the Top Gear Live World Tour of 2009/10 he hosted the section 'Carmageddon' in which the Stig successfully attempted a 'gear change'.

In the United States, Carr has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien twice and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno three times. Carr has also appeared on the Irish news comedy show The Panel.

In 2003, Carr was in the music video for the song "Proper Crimbo".

Carr appears at the end credits of Ross Noble's Randomist DVD, where he punches Noble on his way back to the dressing room. Noble had joked in his show that Carr only performed for a "weak" 1 hour 20 minutes, as opposed to Noble's 2 and a half hour show. Carr can also be seen for a few seconds in the audience for Dara Ó Briain's live DVD.

In January 2008, Carr appeared on E4 show Big Brother Celebrity Hijack as a hijacker for the day.

Carr appeared on the Royal Variety Performance in December 2008.

On the gameshow Deal or No Deal, Jimmy was the first ever contestant in the 2012 celebrity editions. After losing the £250,000 box earlier in the game, and turning down an offer from the banker for £14,500, he continued to the end game and his box contained £750.

Radio[link]

Carr is a regular guest and interviewer on Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4) and The Fred MacAulay Show (BBC Radio Scotland). In January 2005, Carr hosted 'It's Been a Terrible Year' — a comedy review of 2004, on BBC Radio 2. Up until July 2006, he had a Sunday morning radio show on XFM, with the mercurial comedian Iain Morris. The show had a strong emphasis on toilet humour.

Features, of varying popularity, have included:

• Goth Classics — Item lasting about four weeks in which the Sisters of Mercy track 'This Corrosion' was played twice.
• Now That's What I Call A Jukebox — Long running item invented by Iain Morris where a number of songs are selected from a Now That's What I Call Music album, and are put to a vote. The song with the most votes is played.
• The Songs You Should Like And The Songs You Do Like (But You Like The Song You Should Like As Well) — This catchy-titled item consists of playing in sequence one credible but underrated or overlooked song (The first was 'Touch Sensitive' by the Fall) and one guilty pleasure (Liberty X's 'Just A Little Bit' followed) On 9 July 2006, the item was renamed 'A Song to Patronise, A Song To Sanitise.' Traditionally, items are carried out with little professionalism, presumably to match the rest of the show content.

In January 2006, Carr made a joke on Radio 4's Loose Ends, the punchline of which implied that Gypsy women smelled.^[17] Although the BBC issued an apology, Carr refused to, and continues to use the joke during his acts.

Carr appeared in 2 episodes of the radio series of Flight of the Conchords in 2005.

On 22 January 2009, he covered Zane Lowe's evening show on BBC Radio 1 between 7 and 9pm.

Carr will become the fifth "Curator" of The Museum of Curiosity when the show returns in late 2012, following on from comedians Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Jon Richardson and Dave Gorman.

Stand-up comedy[link]

Carr performing during his Jimmy Carr: Joke Technician tour at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in January 2009

Carr does stand-up tours continuously over the course of the year, taking only five weeks off between them.^[18] In 2003 he sold out an entire month's performances of his Edinburgh Festival show Charm Offensive by the second day of the festival, and received 5-star reviews from four major newspapers. In 2004 he performed sold out solo shows at Dublin's Vicar Street, Leicester's Comedy Festival, Glasgow Festival, Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the Galway Festival along with appearances at the Bloomsbury Theatre where he filmed his first live DVD. Also in 2004 he threatened to sue fellow comedian Jim Davidson for using a joke that Carr considered 'his'.^[19] The matter was dropped when it became apparent that the joke in question was an old one used for decades by many different comedians. He toured the country with his show, A Public Display of Affection, starting on 9 April 2005 at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury and ending on the 14 January 2006 at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End. He also appeared at the EICC during the Edinburgh Festival in August 2005 with his Off The Telly show. Later on in the year, in late November, he released his second DVD "Jimmy Carr: Stand Up".

In August 2006, he commenced a new tour, Gag Reflex, for which he won the 2006 British Comedy Award for "Best Live Stand up". He released his third DVD, Jimmy Carr: Comedian in November 2007. He also performed at the 2006 Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, as well as making a return visit to the Newbury Comedy Festival. In 2003, he was listed in the Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2007, a poll on the Channel 4 website for 100 Greatest Stand Ups, Jimmy Carr was the 12th. A new national tour commenced in autumn 2007 named Repeat Offender, which began at the Edinburgh Festival that year. In autumn 2008, Carr began touring his new show, entitled Joke Technician. As with his previous tour, he performed many shows at the Edinburgh Festival, even adding an extra date due to ticket demand.

On 23 April 2009, the dates for Carr's 2009-10 tour, entitled Rapier Wit, were announced. The tour opened on 20 August 2009 with 9 shows at the Edinburgh Festival before touring the country.^[20]

On Twitter, Carr released details about his new DVD entitled Jimmy Carr: Telling Jokes. The DVD was released on the 2 November 2009.^[21]

In July 2009, Carr revealed that he is currently touring with Las Vegas band the Killers. Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers explained that it was part of his vision for his band’s shows to become more of a Las Vegas-style spectacle. Flowers, who grew up in Vegas, said: “We had met Jimmy before, at a Comic Relief gig, then we bumped into him again at a party a couple of weeks later. “We were just throwing ideas around and having a comedian as part of the show sounded like a Las Vegas thing to do — it used to be common in the '60s and '70s – “Jimmy seemed to like it so we are giving it a go.”

Carr's sixth Live DVD, Jimmy Carr: Making People Laugh, was released on 8 November 2010.^[22]

Carr's 2010-11 tour, entitled Laughter Therapy, was announced on 8 April 2010. The tour will start with a run at the Edinburgh Festival before touring the country.^[23]

Carr also appeared at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal in July 2011. At which he performed his 2010/11 tour show 'Laughter Therapy'.

Carr's latest stand up DVD was released on 21 November 2011 with the title of Jimmy Carr: Being Funny.^[24]

Live Tour Shows[link]

DVD releases[link]

[edit] Second Life

On 21 December 2006, Carr announced plans to become the first major comedian to perform in the virtual reality world of Second Life. This was confirmed on his MySpace webpage on 3 January 2007, and a competition launched to choose a select audience from the list of his MySpace friends.^[25]

Carr's Second Life show took place on 3 February 2007 at 7.00pm, at Adam Street Bar and Members' Club in Central London. Fifty MySpace friends made up his live audience, with 100 virtual attendees in Second Life itself. The show was enjoyed by both sets of audiences, with excellent feedback received on both Carr's MySpace profile and within Second Life.^{[citation needed]}

Carr hinted at the show that he may perform future shows in Second Life.

In March 2007, Laura Jackson from the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that Carr had obtained the world record for being the first comedian to perform a stand-up gig to an audience in cyberspace, following on from his Second Life show.^{[citation needed]}

Controversy[link]

This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (March 2011)

Detractors of Carr's humour include Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe, who — following an appearance with him on BBC One panel show Have I Got News for You — wrote in the Daily Express that "His idea of wit is a barrage of filth and the sort of humour most men grow out of in their teens".^[26]

Veteran comedian Arthur Smith was quoted in the Sunday Mirror in 2005 as saying "He has a terrible act. There I've said it and already I feel better".^[27] Smith has gone on to criticise Carr on other occasions. In a 2009 interview with The Times he said: "He (Carr) makes jokes like little clocks. He has no interest in their context or meaning, only that they cause an explosion of laughter. I want a comedian to have a hinterland. The best comedians are interested in jazz, poetry, and the world".^[28]

In October 2009, Carr received criticism from several Sunday tabloid newspapers for a joke he made about British soldiers who had lost limbs in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.^[29] The newspapers themselves came under criticism for falsely claiming the audience reacted with stunned silence when the joke was told.^[30] Carr himself has defended the joke as "totally acceptable" in an interview with The Guardian, in which the interviewer noted his tendencies to make jokes about disabilities and rape.^[31] Carr would go on to describe the interview, with Guardian journalist Stephen Moss in the paper's G2 section, on his Twitter account as about "[selling] my DVD to the liberal elite."^[32]

Awards[link]

• LAFTA Awards 2008: Best Stand Up
• LAFTA Awards 2007: Funniest Man
• British Comedy Awards 2006 – Best Live Stand Up
• Rose D'Or Nomination 2006: Best Game Show, 'Distraction'
• LAFTA Awards 2005: Funniest Man
• Rose D'Or Nomination 2004: Best Presenter, 'Distraction'
• Loaded Lafta Award 2004 – Best Stand Up
• Royal Television Society Award Winner: Best On-Screen Newcomer 2003
• Perrier Award Nominee: 2002
• Time Out Award Winner: Best Stand Up 2002

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jimmy Carr

• Official website
• Jimmy Carr at the Internet Movie Database
• Jimmy Carr on Twitter
• Jimmy Carr on Chortle, including forthcoming tour dates

Joe Satriani
Satriani live in New York in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Joseph Satriani
Also known as	Satch
Born	(1956-07-15) July 15, 1956 (age 55) Westbury, New York, United States
Genres	Rock, instrumental rock, hard rock, blues, heavy metal
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, guitar instructor
Instruments	Guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals, harmonica, banjo, harp
Years active	1970–present
Labels	Sony, Epic, Relativity
Associated acts	Alice Cooper, Mick Jagger, Deep Purple, Steve Vai, G3, Sammy Hagar, Chickenfoot, Jason Becker, Greg Kihn Band
Website	Official website
Notable instruments
Ibanez Joe Satriani Signature model

Joseph "Joe" Satriani (born July 15, 1956) is an American instrumental rock guitarist of Italian origin, multi-instrumentalist and multiple Grammy Award nominee. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, and some of his former students have achieved fame such as Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan and Alex Skolnick. Satriani has been a driving force in music credited to other musicians throughout his career, as a founder of the G3 tour, as well as performing in various positions with other musicians.

In 1988, Satriani was recruited by Mick Jagger as lead guitarist for Jagger's first solo tour.^[1] In 1994, Satriani was the lead guitarist for Deep Purple.^[2] Satriani worked with a range of guitarists, including Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Larry LaLonde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Brian May, Patrick Rondat, Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert, Adrian Legg, and Robert Fripp through the annual G3 Jam Concerts.^[3] He is currently the lead guitarist for the supergroup Chickenfoot. Since 1988, Satriani has been using his own signature guitar, the Ibanez JS Series, which is sold in music stores worldwide.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Satriani was born in Westbury, New York. He was inspired to play guitar at age 14, after hearing of the death of Jimi Hendrix.^[4] He has been said to have heard the news during a football training session, where he confronted his coach and announced that he was quitting to become a guitarist.^[5] In 1974, Satriani studied music with jazz guitarist Billy Bauer and with reclusive jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. The technically demanding Tristano greatly influenced Satriani's playing. Satriani began teaching guitar, with his most notable student at the time being fellow Long Island native Steve Vai. While he was teaching Vai, he was attending Five Towns College for studies in music.

In 1978, Satriani moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a music career. Soon after arriving in California, he resumed teaching. His students included Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Bryson of Counting Crows, Kevin Cadogan from Third Eye Blind, Larry LaLonde of Primus / Possessed, Alex Skolnick of Testament, Rick Hunolt (ex-Exodus), Phil Kettner of Lääz Rockit, Geoff Tyson of T-Ride, Charlie Hunter and David Turin.

Music career[link]

Satriani started playing in a San Francisco-based band called the Squares,^[6] where he continued to network and make musical connections (Squares sound man John Cuniberti co-produced his second album). He was invited to join the Greg Kihn Band, who were on the downside of their career, but whose generosity helped Satriani pay off the overwhelming credit card debt from recording his first album.^[7] When his friend and former student Steve Vai gained fame playing with David Lee Roth in 1986, Vai raved about Satriani in several interviews with guitar magazines, including Guitar World magazine.

In 1987, Satriani's second album Surfing with the Alien produced radio hits and was the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. In 1988 Satriani helped produce the EP The Eyes of Horror for the death metal band Possessed. In 1989, Satriani released the album Flying in a Blue Dream. It was said to be inspired by the death of his father, who died in 1989 during the recording of the album. "One Big Rush" was featured on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie Say Anything.... "The Forgotten Part II" was featured on a Labatt Blue commercial in Canada in 1993. "Can't Slow Down" featured in a car-chase sequence in the Don Johnson starring show Nash Bridges.

Joe Satriani also sang backing vocals on the self titled Crowded House album. Satriani was a friend of Michel Froom. Neil Finn of Crowded House confirms this in an interview with FlixelPix photographer David Cleland http://www.flixelpix.com/blog/archive-neil-finn-interview/

In 1992, Satriani released The Extremist, his most critically acclaimed and commercially successful album to date. Radio stations across the country picked up "Summer Song," which got a major boost when Sony used it in a major commercial campaign for their Discman portable CD players.^[8] "Cryin'," "Friends," and the title track were regional hits on radio. In late 1993, Satriani joined Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for departed guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during the band's Japanese tour. The concerts were a success, and Satriani was asked to join the band permanently but he declined, having just signed a multi-album solo deal with Sony, and Steve Morse took the guitarist slot in Deep Purple.^[9]

In 1996, Satriani founded the G3, a concert tour intended to feature a trio of guitarists. The original lineup featured Satriani, Vai and Eric Johnson. The G3 tour has continued periodically since its inaugural version, with Satriani the only permanent member. Other guitarists who have performed in G3 include among others: Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Fripp, Andy Timmons, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Adrian Legg, Paul Gilbert, and Steve Lukather. In 1998 Satriani recorded and released Crystal Planet, which went back to a sound reminiscent of his late '80s work. Planet was followed up with Engines of Creation, one of his more experimental works featuring the electronica genre. A pair of shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco were recorded in December 2000 and released as Live in San Francisco, a two-disc live album and DVD.

2000s and future[link]

Satriani playing in Chile, 2003.

Satriani regularly recorded and released evolving music, including Strange Beautiful Music in 2002 and Is There Love in Space? in 2004. In May 2005, Satriani toured India for the first time, playing concerts in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. In 2006, Satriani recorded and released Super Colossal and Satriani Live!, another two-disc live album and DVD recorded May 3, 2006 at the Grove in Anaheim, CA. In 2006, Satriani signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a non-profit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A. Satriani has personally delivered instruments to children in the program through a charity raffle for the organization and, like Steve Vai, sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.

On August 7, 2007 Epic/Legacy Recordings re-released Surfing with the Alien to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release. This was a two-disc set that includes a remastered album and a DVD of a never-before-seen live show filmed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1988.^[10] Satriani's next album Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock, was released on April 1, 2008.^[11] Satriani released a live DVD recording of a concert in Paris titled Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock and a companion 2 CD set on February 2, 2010.^[12] In March 2010 Satriani participated with other guitarists in the Experience Hendrix Tribute Tour, performing music written and inspired by Jimi Hendrix.^[13][14]

Joe Satriani with Stu Hamm in Rijnhal, Arnhem, 2008.

On 29 May 2008 it was revealed that Satriani was involved in a new hard rock band called Chickenfoot with former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. The band features Hagar on vocals, Satriani on guitar, Anthony on bass and Smith on drums.^[15] Their debut album was released on 5 June 2009.^[16] The first single and video released was the track "Oh Yeah," which was played on the Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien on 5 June 2009. Satriani received a co-writing credit on all the songs on the band's debut album.^[17] Broken Records magazine asked Satriani about his new band, and he enthusiastically mentioned that "it was great fun" and it gives him a "kick in the music bone" to be playing with such great talent. He said it felt quite natural to step back and play more rhythm guitar than solo guitar. Chickenfoot's second album was titled III, and was released on 27 September 2011. Its first single was the track 'Bigfoot'. On its first week of release, it reached a chart position of #9.

In April, Satriani and Chickenfoot voiced themselves in an episode of the animated television series Aqua Teen Hunger Force. In May 2010, Satriani announced he was about to enter the studio to record a solo album, and dates were released for an autumn tour. He also said that demos had been recorded for a second Chickenfoot album. In May 2010, Satriani joined Sound Strike, a movement led by Rage Against the Machine singer Zack de la Rocha protesting Arizona SB1070.^[18][19] As a result, Satriani refuses to perform live in Arizona. Satriani released his 13th studio album Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, on October 5, 2010.^[20]

On December 4, 2008 Satriani filed a copyright infringement suit against Coldplay in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Satriani's suit claims that the Coldplay song "Viva la Vida" includes "substantial original portions" of the Satriani song "If I Could Fly" from his 2004 album, Is There Love in Space?. The Coldplay song in question received two Grammy Awards for "Song of the Year."^[21] Coldplay denied the allegation.^[22][23][24] An unspecified settlement was reached between the parties.^[25]

Satriani released the DVD/Blu-ray of his 3D concert film Satchurated: Live in Montreal on April 24th 2012 after its limited showing in theaters. The film was shot in December 2010 in Montreal and was directed by award-winning filmmakers François and Pierre Lamoureux. ^[26] Satchurated is the first Blu-ray concert film available in 3D with Dolby TrueHD 7.1.

Other work[link]

Satriani is credited on many other albums, including guitar duties on shock-rocker Alice Cooper's 1991 album Hey Stoopid, Spinal Tap's 1992 album Break Like the Wind, Blue Öyster Cult's 1988 album Imaginos, band members Stu Hamm and Gregg Bissonette's solo albums. He was credited with singing background vocals on the 1986 debut album by Crowded House. In 2003, he played lead guitar on The Yardbirds's release Birdland. In 2006, he made appearances on tracks for Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's solo CD/DVD dual disc Gillan's Inn.

On Dream Theater's 2007 album Systematic Chaos, Satriani contributed spoken lyrics to the song "Repentance." Satriani contributed a guitar solo to Jordan Rudess' 2004 solo release Rhythm of Time. He composed much of the soundtrack for the racing video game NASCAR 06: Total Team Control and contributed to Sega Rally Championship. He has in feature films, including 2006 Christopher Guest film For Your Consideration as the guitarist in the band that played for the late-night show.^[27] Other films include Moneyball in which he appears as himself playing Star Spangled Banner.

Satriani in 2005

Style and influence[link]

Satriani is considered to be a technically proficient guitarist,^[28] and has been referred to as a guitar virtuoso.^[29][30] Satriani has mastered all performance techniques on electric guitar, including legato, two-handed tapping and arpeggio tapping, volume swells, harmonics and extreme whammy bar effects. During fast passages, Satriani favors a legato technique (achieved primarily through hammer-ons and pull-offs) that yields smooth and flowing runs. He is also adept at other speed-related techniques such as rapid alternate picking and sweep picking. Satriani was influenced by blues-rock guitar icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore and Jeff Beck,^[2][31] as well as jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth.^[32] Satriani created his own recognizable style and is an influential guitarist.^[33] Satriani has received 15 Grammy nominations^[34] and has sold over 10 million albums worldwide.^[35]

Equipment[link]

Satriani has endorsed Ibanez's JS Series guitars, and Peavey's JSX amplifier. Both lines were designed specifically as signature products for Satriani. The Ibanez JS1 (the original JS model) was based on, and replaced, the Ibanez 540 Radius model that Satriani first endorsed. Many of his guitars are made by Ibanez, including the JS1000, and JS1200. These guitars typically feature the DiMarzio PAF Pro (which he used up until 1993 in both the neck and bridge positions), the DiMarzio Fred (which he used in the bridge position from 1993 to 2005), and the Mo' Joe and the Paf Joe (which he uses in the bridge and neck positions, respectively, from 2005 to present day).

The JS line of guitars is his signature line with the JS1000, JS1200, JS2400, JSBDG, and JS20th using Ibanez's original Edge double locking tremolo bridge. The JS100 and JS120s both use Ibanez's Edge 3 tremolo bridge. The JS1600 is a fixed bridge guitar with no tremolo system. The guitar he was most associated with during the 90s was a chrome-finished guitar nicknamed "Chrome Boy." This instrument can be seen on the Live in San Francisco DVD. However, the guitar used for most of the concert was in fact a lookalike nicknamed "Pearly," which featured Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups.

Satriani uses a number of other JS models such as the JS double neck model, JS700 (primary axe on the self-titled CD and seen on the 1995 tour "Joe Satriani," which features a fixed bridge, P-90 pickups, and a matching mahogany body and neck), JS6/JS6000 (natural body), JS1 (the original JS model), JS2000 (fixed bridge model), a variety of JS100s, JS1000s and JS1200s with custom paint work, and a large amount of prototype JSs. All double locking bridges have been the original Edge tremolo, not the newer models, which point to a more custom guitar than the "off the shelf" models. Joe played a red 7-string JS model, seen in the "G3 Live in Tokyo" DVD from 2005. He also has a prototype 24-fret version of the JS—now called the JS-2400—which he has used with Chickenfoot. As of late he has used other prototypes featuring a Sustainer or a JS model with three single coil-sized humbucker pickups.

Satriani's guitars are usually equipped with his signature DiMarzio humbucker pickups, Mo' Joe and PAF Joe, although his 24-fret JS model features a Pro Track single coil-sized, humbucker pickup in the neck position. Some of his guitars are still equipped with the pickup models he favored in the past, the DiMarzio FRED and PAF Pro pickups. Satriani has used a wide variety of guitar amps, using Marshall for his main amplifier (notably the limited edition blue coloured 6100 LM model) up until 2001, and his Peavey signature series amps, the Peavey JSX, thereafter.

Satriani in New York, 2010.

The JSX began life as a prototype Peavey XXX and developed into the Joe Satriani signature Peavey model. However he still used distortion pedals with the clean channel rather than the built in od channels. Satriani has used other amplifiers over the years in the studio, such as the Peavey 5150 (used to record the song 'Crystal Planet'), Cornford, and the Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (used to record the song 'Flying in a Blue Dream'), amongst others. He has recently switched to the Marshall JVM series, having used a modified JVM 410H in his Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards tour in 2010 and with Chickenfoot in 2010 and 2011.

These modified JVM Marshall amps were prototypes for a signature amp which was scheduled for release in 2011. The reverb has been replaced by noise gates which cancel any lag when switching channels. The clean channel has been replaced by the clean channel of a 6100 LM model which he likes as an option to use distortion pedals with. The orange od channel and the modern red od channel have been better matched with each other as he still claims to prefer the organic od channels of the JVM amp rather than pedals. The red od channel has been modified to be based more on beefy rock than a nu-metal sound. The fx-loop has been simplified to be serial only.

His effects pedals include the Vox wah, Dunlop Cry Baby wah, RMC Wizard Wah, DigiTech Whammy, BK Butler Tube Driver, BOSS DS-1, BOSS CH-1, BOSS CE-2, BOSS DD-2 and a standard BOSS DD-3 (used together to emulate reverb effects), BOSS BF-3, BOSS OC-2, Barber Burn Drive Unit, Fulltone Deja Vibe, Fulltone Ultimate Octave, and Electro-Harmonix POG (Polyphonic Octave Generator), the latter being featured prominently on the title cut to his 2006 Super Colossal. Satriani has partnered with Planet Waves to create a signature line of guitar picks and guitar straps featuring his sketch art.

Although Satriani endorses the JSX, he has used many amps in the studio when recording, including the Peavey Classic. He used Marshall heads and cabinets, including live, prior to his Peavey endorsement. Recently Satriani used the JSX head through a Palmer Speaker Simulator. He has released a Class-A 5-watt tube amp called the "Mini Colossal." Satriani has been using a Marshall JVM410 head in live gigs since 2009.^[36][37] He is currently working with Vox on his own line of signature effects pedals designed to deliver Satriani's trademark tone plus a wide range of new sounds for guitarists of all playing styles and ability levels. The first being a signature distortion pedal titled the "Satchurator," and the "Time Machine," which will be a delay pedal, with more to follow, including a wah pedal called the "Big Bad Wah."^[38] On March 3, 2010 a new pedal was announced on Satriani's website regarding the new Vox overdrive pedal called "Ice 9."^[39]

Recurring themes[link]

Satriani during a concert in Rijnhal, Arnhem, 2008.

Satriani's work frequently makes references to various science fiction stories and ideas. "Surfing with the Alien," "Back to Shalla-Bal," and "The Power Cosmic 2000" refer to the comic book character Silver Surfer, while "Ice 9" refers to the secret government ice weapon in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. "Borg Sex" is a reference to Star Trek, which features a homogeneous cybernetic race known as the Borg. His albums and songs often have other-worldly titles, such as Not of this Earth, Crystal Planet, Is There Love in Space?, and Engines of Creation.

On the album Super Colossal, the song titled "Crowd Chant" was originally called "Party on the Enterprise." "Party on the Enterprise" featured sampled sounds from the Starship Enterprise from the Star Trek TV show. But as Satriani explained in a podcast, legal issues regarding the samples could not be resolved and he was unable to get permission to use them.^[40] Satriani then removed the sounds from the song and called it "Crowd Chant." The song is used as goal celebration music for a number of National Hockey League teams and MLS teams including the Minnesota Wild and New England Revolution.^[41] The song is also used in the EA Sports hockey video game NHL 10.

"Redshift Riders," another song on the Super Colossal album, is "based on the idea that in the future, when people can travel throughout space, they will theoretically take advantage of the cosmological redshift effect so they can be swung around large planetary objects and get across [the] universe a lot faster than normal," Satriani said in a podcast about the song.^[42] On the album Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock the song "I Just Wanna Rock," is about a giant robot on the run who happens to stumble upon a rock concert.^[43]

Awards and nominations[link]

Nominations[link]

Satriani has the second most Grammy Award nominations (15, after Brian McKnight), of any artist without winning. See further artists^[44][45]

Discography[link]

• Not of This Earth (1986)
• Surfing with the Alien (1987)
• Flying in a Blue Dream (1989)
• The Extremist (1992)
• Time Machine (1993)
• Joe Satriani (1995)
• Crystal Planet (1998)
• Engines of Creation (2000)
• Strange Beautiful Music (2002)
• Is There Love in Space? (2004)
• Super Colossal (2006)
• Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock (2008)
• Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joe Satriani

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joe Satriani

• Official website
• Real "Guitar Hero" Joe Satriani turns Teacher at WorkshopLive.com
• Audio Interview with Joe Satriani on Guitar Jam Daily, June 2007
• Part 2 of Audio Interview with Joe Satriani on Guitar Jam Daily, July 2007
• Joe Satriani 2006 Modern Guitars Magazine Interview with Brian D. Holland
• MusiciansFriend Interview with Joe Satriani
• Joe Satriani live pictures
• Early Joe Satriani Photo
• Joe Satriani guitar video workshop
• Joe Satriani Artist Page at Guitar Video Channel