Inside Randy Alameda's Gibson Guitar Collection | Cars & Guitars Passion

Inside Randy Alameda's Gibson Guitar Collection | Cars & Guitars Passion Hard Parking with Jhae Pfenning · Sep 8, 2025

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This is Heart Park and brought to you by right honing right Toyota out of Scottsdale, Arizona.

Coming up on today's show, I recently traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I almost couldn't say that. I will go to Mexico to visit my good friend Randy Alameda,

or really Randy Arnold, but find out why they call him Alameda. Check out his Gibson guitar

collection and the vault he built. Plus he has two NSXs, first gen and second gen.

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So Randy Arnold, I know he's Randy Arnold. Everyone around here knows you as Randy Alameda.

We are at an undisclosed location somewhere in Abakirche.

Welcome to the podcast. I've been trying to get you on for a few years.

Well, it's a deep South Valley thing here, you know, where we're at.

You know, we had a federal security driving up and down the street every day

and when I moved in here 40 years ago, they were making the B1 Bomber Motors over there.

Four years ago or 40? 40. 40 years ago.

So tell us about that. It was great. It was great.

There was a federal car driving up and down the street here once an hour, 24, seven days a week.

It was great. And then they had a problem with throwing their solvents out the back door.

So they polluted the water. So they had to shut everything down.

And then they went away. They closed everything up, put these wells in,

supposedly got rid of the contaminants and then sold the property off.

As you could see, the fence just fell down about a week ago.

I actually noticed that when I was pulling in.

And they're going to set up a catering for the movies.

It will be a catering for the movies that'll be over there,

and they'll be coming in from the street south of us, not here to also have that fence.

They said they're going to put up a brick wall. We'll see.

So if people may notice, just behind your shoulder are a few Gibson guitars.

That's just, it's not even, it's so small, it's not even the icing on the cake

of what we want to explore today.

Because I've known you for a while and I describe you as,

he's this old guy who all he does is play golf and he's an old rocker

and he's just a fireball and I make sure I always stop by and say hi when I'm in town.

You are 74 years old this year?

I am 75. I will be 76 in two months.

So you're 75. Where does the time go?

I have no clue. I was born 15 days into 1950.

Which actually rolls into one of the things behind them.

We're going to get into the guitar specifically after we do the city-out interview

so people need to stick around because we're going to go through including this special vault.

Yeah. That's a great thing that my neighbor had built.

My neighbor built that with the free pour in there.

I brought security experts in and they go, oh no man, nobody's coming in here.

The quickest way through here is through the wall and they'll have to have a jackhammer.

So tell us about you. Tell us about, there's so many places we can go

because we're both car guys. We're both NSX guys.

I didn't try to race you one year but I wanted to see where my car was,

my old car and you graciously escorted me out of town.

And so that's when I really realized that maybe one day I needed to upgrade

but there's so much about you. There's the cars, there's the music, there's the...

And I financed it all with a medical career.

And there's a medical career.

And there's a medical sales career.

I was a certified orthopedic physician's assistant.

I assisted in the operating room. I treated patients.

So what brought you here 40 years ago?

Well, the draft was closing in on me in Missouri and I knew it was

and I knew I wasn't going to go back to college because all my buddies

had too much fun drinking and having fun.

So I enlisted, I was a car guy, I was the car wash boy at the Chevy garage

in high school and we had a local drag strip.

And that was the drag strip that Dave DeSpain always talks about.

It's a little place in northeast Missouri.

And I thought everybody had Don Garlett's and Chris Carimasini's

and that on Saturday night show up at their drag strip.

I didn't realize that they were that special.

But yeah, I grew up in there and I became a car guy working at the Chevy deal

because I got to drive all the cars after I washed them, which was a big deal.

Maybe I only got to drive it around the block, but it was cool,

especially when the Corvettes came in.

But that was my high school and then I went to college

and I decided well that wasn't going to work.

But there was a guy that had a, he was an Air Force recruiter

and of course he had a blue SS 396 and he was racing at the drag strip

and he said, hey man, you know, I know I heard you guys talking about

the draft closing in so hey, here's my card.

You know, and it was a real small town so I knew that things were getting close

and the draft board secretary had called me and said,

have you guys made any other plans?

Because if you haven't, maybe you should make some now.

So I called the Air Force recruiter and next thing you know,

they gave me six months worth of medical training and sent me to Clovis.

Where is this?

New Mexico.

Oh.

Ten miles out of Texas.

And it was a brand new hospital and it was a great assignment

and I worked the emergency room for almost four years.

It was a great assignment.

And while I was there, I became a patient.

I crashed my murder cycle and broke my left leg and my back

and they said for sure I was not going to ever walk again

but on the third day I passed a little gas

and all the nurses came in and cheered.

Can you take us back through that?

I actually have a really good friend of mine right now

who just crashed his Ducati a few weeks ago.

Oh my.

Hips, his lumbar, his ankle, both arms.

Oh.

I was texting him last night and he says he can't move his toe yet.

They said he's going to walk but keeping those spirits up

and you've been there.

I've been there.

Take us through that.

I never thought, you know, those three days

because I knew the surgeon and I saw him with the 18 gauge needle

when he rammed it into my foot in the ER

and I knew that I didn't feel a thing and he was distraught

and so was I.

And it was pretty crazy.

Like I said, the nurse came in on the third day

and I farted.

And everybody came in and cheered.

What's the correlation between passing gas and walking?

Well, the vagus nerve controls the digestive system

and everything below it, you know.

And I had bruised that.

So it was not working.

My digestive, there were no bowel sounds.

There was no feeling below the waist.

And once I farted, that meant well,

things were starting to work at least in the digestive system.

And after, so I spent the rest of my time.

This was about four months before I got out of the military

in rehab, you know, in physical rehab.

And I was walking with Cain when I went home

on a physical leave and got separated

from one of my guitars on the plane and it got smashed.

Oh, how old were you at this time?

I was 22 when I got out of the military.

And I was going to go to college in Portalis.

But that didn't work out.

And I ended up coming to Albuquerque

and applied for unemployment.

And they said, go see this guy at the medical school.

And the next day I'm working for the Department of Orthopedics,

which started a whole career for me.

Which was amazing that I was able to do that.

So you tried to collect unemployment and they said, no way?

Yeah, they said, no man, you can have unemployment

if this guy, Mr. Gibson over at the university,

doesn't hire you, then we'll give you unemployment.

You know, and I literally had cash in on my boots,

my cowboy boots, had a poli T-shirt on.

I was just going to unemployment, you know.

But it was a great career.

The Department of Orthopedics helped me throughout my medical career.

How long did you do that?

Well, I try to remember.

Because I had another accident.

And I had an accident.

Like I said, I broke my back and my left leg.

And then when I went to work for New Mexico Orthopedics,

it was a great job.

But the big corporate people bought the company

and the doctors I worked for said, you know,

you might want to get another job.

And so I went into orthopedic sales.

Did you ride again, by the way?

Never attempted?

Never, never got on another.

I got on the back of one of my lifelong buddies,

Harley's, a couple of times.

And I never got on a motorcycle again,

other than just a ride to the grocery store and back.

And those were all in Farmington,

because that's where my buddy lived.

But no, I never got on another motorcycle,

and I won't.

Well, I mean, especially at this point.

Yeah.

Gosh, I mean, I'm so fortunate that I'm sitting here

and not sitting in a wheelchair.

You said you had another accident.

Yeah, I've wiped out a Honda 1200,

hit a 74 Chevy head-on.

She turned in front of me,

probably going 35 miles an hour.

And I suffered a basilar skull fracture

and was unconscious for 24 hours.

And then woke up and I've been fine.

But I have had some residual effects from the skull fracture.

Because that was quite a wrap.

But I have no residual problems.

I had a little problems with balance,

which is probably why I never got on another motorcycle.

Because I don't have good balance.

And that is one thing.

So after that, I couldn't go to work.

So I had friends in the music community

and I went to my friend, Louis Campos.

I said, Louis, I'm starving.

I'm not going to make my payment.

And he says, well, hell, there was a couple of women

in here just yesterday looking for a guy.

Here's their number.

So I called them up and I went to work for them.

To be clear, they were looking for a musician.

They were looking for a guitar player.

Let me go to the women show up looking for a guy.

And they were looking for a guitar player.

And they just fired their guitar player in Santa Fe.

So it was my first job as a lead guitar player.

And my friend, Louis Campos, he said, yeah, you'll do fine.

You just go up there and you just do what you do

and you'll do fine.

At that point, you were still Randy Arnold.

And I was still Randy Arnold.

And well, no, they called me Randy Alameda in the 70s

because I lived in the last house on Alameda Drive

in the North Valley.

You know, right across from the smoke shop

and where the buses would turn around.

So when my car didn't make it to work,

I could get on the bus and it'd take me

right to the county hospital.

How convenient.

It was a great place.

And I lived there for a couple of years.

And then after that, bought a home in Westgate.

How did that became your guitar name?

Because I lived in Alameda.

And everybody in the 70s was usually David Redtruck

or George, whatever, you know, but because I had...

Some lobster names.

And I thought they were going to give me that

because I drove a 56 Chevy that was purple.

They were going to call me Randy Purple Truck.

But because I lived in Alameda,

they called me Randy Alameda.

And the name just stuck.

So I had, during my whole career in music from

after the head injury, you know, I was Randy Alameda.

And we toured the entire western United States

except for California and Washington.

We played every other state and most of the states

between Ohio and the Mississippi River.

Why not California or Washington?

They didn't pay.

They wanted you to pay.

You want to go play at the troubadour?

Well, you had to have your management pay

to buy you a slot.

We weren't going to do that, you know.

And it was a great experience, you know,

but you just never eat the same thing.

You never eat your own cooking.

You're always sleeping in somebody else's bed.

Was it always a bad thing?

No, it was always okay.

It was good. It was different.

Would I recommend it? No.

The hardest part for us being from New Mexico

was we couldn't find any decent hot food

once we got out of the Southwest.

So we would have people send us hot food,

chilies and peppers and sauces.

When we were going to be in a place for two weeks,

then we would have them send it up to us.

And it was a great experience.

We played, like I say, nonstop.

Many times we would play eight or nine shows in a week.

You know, we played the University of Idaho at Pocodella.

There was a country band,

I can't remember their name,

but they were national recording artists,

and they played first.

Then we had a nude streaking race,

quarter-mile race,

and then we played after that.

And at the end of our last song,

the skies opened up with lightning and rain.

It came down and it was pretty dramatic.

What was it like to work back then?

I mean, you guys, I assume you had a manager?

We worked for the Good Music Agency,

which was in Minneapolis, St. Paul,

and he kept us working.

And it was great.

And if we did well at a place,

he made sure when we went back next time we got more money.

Did you guys even, like for here in Albuquerque,

were there any residencies?

There weren't anything like that.

There were bands who played here regularly,

but they didn't play every night.

And we played six nights a week.

But always around different places?

Yeah, always in different places.

And we were booked by the guy out of Minneapolis, St. Paul.

And he flew into town and made some suggestions

before he booked us.

And then he attended a couple of shows

and said, okay, you guys are what I'm looking for.

For quality control.

Yeah.

And we were on tour with Eddie Van Halen's cousin

had a band called Lion.

They were on there and there was a band called The News.

I wonder what they became.

But we actually, our lead guitar player had,

his girlfriend had been abducted from one of our shows,

brutally raped and beaten.

And it affected him.

Yeah.

Of course that did.

And he was a local mass murderer here in Albuquerque.

His name was William Wayne Gilbert.

He killed a couple and two other women.

But not her.

Oh, he killed her.

Oh.

He killed her.

Abducted her from our show at the bar

and took her out by the dump and brutally raped and beaten.

And it was just a terrible thing.

Yeah.

You know, but it was, that was tough.

And then the guy went nuts.

You know, of course the guy and he lost his voice.

And all of a sudden we're on the road

and I'm the only singer.

Lord help you.

Oh, my voice was so shot.

It was great when he got his voice back.

But he lost his voice when he came back to the murder trial.

Yeah.

You know, it was pretty traumatic.

But it was a great career.

I loved it.

And then after Ashley Pond, that was the local radioactive cesspool

in Los Alamos.

And that's where the band had initially formed was there.

So that was the name of that band was Ashley Pond.

How long did you guys play?

How long did you tour?

We toured.

And then what, when, when was this?

This would have been 1980 because we're getting the head injury

occurred in 1980.

That was four years old.

And I could not, I could not work anymore

because I couldn't, I had no balance.

But that didn't matter when I was playing the guitar.

They just thought, oh, hell, he's drunk.

No problem.

The notes are okay.

Everything's fine.

But yeah, we did that.

And I guess I toured.

We toured until, let me get this right.

I think it was 98, 99.

I think we stopped touring in 2000.

I think it was 2000.

I kept playing, but it was just regionally.

We didn't go out and, you know, we'd go out

and wouldn't see New Mexico for four months.

And it was, it was a great thing.

It was, it was something that I looked back on with great fondness.

Where does the music obsession come from?

My, because you're not, it's not like you just used to play.

We kind of did a pre-tour of this place.

Well, my grandmother, my sainted grandmother

was a Baptist church pianist.

That's how I knew her.

And my earliest memories are sitting on the pew next to her.

And if I misbehaved, I got the knuckle on the forehead.

And of course I'm up there in front of the whole church.

So, so, so I'm, I'm on display, you know.

So it was, it was pretty tough there.

But it, my grandmother had three sisters

and they all played musical instruments

and went to the community houses.

And, you know, I was from a town of 325 people

when I, in 1950.

And everybody, all the sisters had married husbands and stuff

so they didn't play together anymore.

But still when the family reunion would get together,

there was nothing but music.

And it was a wonderful thing.

But I, I knew it only as piano.

And then when I was about seven years old

I found an old guitar in the farmhouse attic

and it had a hula dancer and a palm tree

and kind of an ocean.

And I grabbed that old guitar with the rusty strings

and ran down and said,

Grandma, what is this?

And she tuned that sucker up and played.

Right there on the spot.

On the spot and I was stunned.

And I said, grandmother,

will you teach me how to do that?

And she said, yes.

After you learn how to play the piano.

Oh.

So I spent the next five or six years

learning how to play the piano

to meet her satisfaction.

And then when it came time

for me to get a guitar,

she took me to the music store

and made sure I got a good instrument.

That started it.

And that started it.

And then there was my,

and then in junior high school

the kid came up to me

and asked himself,

is the best drummer I was ever going to meet?

And he was two years younger.

And his mother.

Why are you?

Because you were known for being a musician.

Because I was known for being a guitar.

I was known for playing guitar.

And he said,

I understand you play guitar.

And I said, yes.

And he says, well,

I'm the best drummer you ever met.

And it turned out he was right.

He was also a better guitar player than me

and a better singer and a songwriter.

He's an inventor too,

but that's another story.

Did he go on to be some household name?

No, he never did.

He never did.

And it was kind of a shame, you know,

but he did invent some things, you know,

a highly efficient electric motor, you know,

and had, he had several,

I think he had 20 patents when he passed.

But he was a musician

and he played the bluegrass things

of Durango and Telluride.

He'd play those with his band.

I think the band he had was called Cold Bank Holler.

But we were friends until he passed, you know,

but he was right.

He was, even though I remember him as a guitar player,

he still was the best drummer I ever played with.

All that is amazing to me.

I can play by ear barely on some things

when I was a little kid,

but as far as tuning a guitar and learning that

and drumming,

I don't know how people could just keep up with that drumming.

We know my mother played the piano.

Of course, she was a Baptist church pianist and organist.

And so it was, there was piano,

there was a piano and an organ.

There was a Hammond organ in the living room

in my childhood home.

So it was, the music was there

and it was kind of inevitable.

I just, it just, the medical stuff

just kind of fell out of

the coldness of the draft in 1970.

When you guys, so you were able to avoid all that

getting shipped overseas and all the crazy that.

Because they sent me to Air Force training,

medical training,

and once I got through the basic training,

they said, okay, this guy can actually.

We need you here.

So they, they gave me a full six months worth of training

where everybody else got to,

which was great.

It also helped me with promotions

once I got into the active thing.

But, and once I got through with that,

the tech school, then they sent me to Clovis,

which I was going with everybody's going,

oh, we want to be anywhere but Texas.

So I got 10 miles outside of Texas.

Given your history in that,

I want to get back to the music in a little bit,

but with the medical,

what are some of the things that you were able to see,

some of the things that,

how you see veterans now,

I think some systems, some cities,

some states are better than others

and taking care of the veterans.

Because I think not to get overly political here,

but you and I have known each other for a while

to where we're pretty unfiltered

in the things that we talk about.

Right.

Yeah, is it as,

I don't want to say is it as bad as it seems,

because I do know some areas are a lot better than the others.

But, you know, what aren't they telling us?

Well, based on things you've seen,

based on things that I've seen,

I think there's a severe lack of healthcare providers.

And as a perfect example,

my normal appointment would have been this month,

but they sent me a letter last month saying that

it'll be in December,

you know, five days before Christmas.

And so I think that's pretty much par for the course.

That's what's happening to our veterans today.

You know, it's been...

Sounds like it's been a problem for a while.

It has been a problem for a while.

And I never claimed disability

when I got out of the military.

I went in after I retired.

I went in to see if they would give me discounted medical care.

And they had me medically evaluated in it,

and they came back 70% disabled.

And I think that's pretty much right on.

And I see, guys,

we have a pretty good VA here,

but the other VA's that I've been to,

I attended a couple of my veteran buddies' deaths

in other VA hospitals,

and it was despicable.

That's the only thing I could say.

And I think maybe I get treated a little bit better

at the VA because of my long work history

with the university connection and the VA connection

as I did sell orthopedic implants and devices.

What do they need to do to improve it, in your opinion?

Staff.

Just staff? It's just a staffing issue?

Staff.

We've got all these wonderful young physicians

that I see come through the University of New Mexico Medical School,

which I've been affiliated with since 1974.

And they're great physicians.

They're physicians for the right reasons.

And we can't keep them.

They're here and then they're gone.

They go someplace where they can make a lot of money.

And you can't blame them.

New Mexico is the middle of nowhere.

Albuquerque is to take a left turn at Albuquerque,

and you'll end up in Juarez.

Yeah.

If you guys weren't here, I would not be here.

Well, yeah.

I think you're right.

I'm proud of my service.

I'm proud of the people that I worked with at the university

and at the VA hospital.

Getting back to the music.

Doing all the touring, kind of rubbing shoulders

with other musicians over time.

Some fell off.

Some became somebody, or somebodies,

where there are multiple, like how does it happen?

Are there multiple music?

I don't want to say festivals,

but events where there was just like hundreds of bands there?

There was a lot of quote-unquote day-long shows

or weekend shows where they had multiple bands that I would play,

and I was fortunate enough to meet some pretty prominent musicians.

Not that I got to know them well,

but got to meet them and exchange a few things about equipment

or the weather, whatever.

Ever get to play with anybody?

Oh, like I said, play with them.

Or did anybody get to play with you?

Yeah, I got...

Well, Rick Derringer played with us in Flagstaff, Arizona.

And I had just joined the band

and saw this guy in a burgundy blazer sitting at the bar.

And there was a spot next to him, so I sat down

and I said, are you Rick Derringer?

And he said, yes, sir.

And so that was my first night with the band.

And within two hours, we're up on stage playing music.

I'm up on stage with Mr. Rock and Roll Huchiku, you know?

Which was pretty incredible.

Especially looking back at it, huh?

Yeah, looking back at it, it was just marvelous.

And we actually had a bad band crash later that night.

There was a snowstorm in Flagstaff

and Rick's sound man broke his leg

and Rick jumped in the one good van we had.

And of course, me with the medical training,

I had to take the sound man to the hospital.

So I missed the after party.

I missed the after party.

But the next night, the sound man was unable to do it,

so our sound man covered for Rick.

So we got to go and see the sound check

and it was, of course, ZZ Top

and with all the animals, with the long horns

and the buffalo that they had on stage with them.

And that was pretty cool getting to meet those guys.

You know, Frank Beard was really very personable.

I didn't get to talk with Billy or Dusty much,

but Frank was just as approachable as anybody.

He was a very nice guy.

But yeah, that was crazy.

And there was other times when there were musicians

that I got to be on the bill with them,

you know, on the bill with BB King.

That's pretty cool.

That's something that you don't get to say very often.

I wasn't the first band,

but I was one of the bands before him.

I was very fortunate that I was able to pull that off.

And then when it looked at just as the band stuff

started to go away, you know, that was...

That's when I dunkled down and started on the medical thing,

going as hard as I could go.

And of course, that led to divorce.

And of course, divorce led to me playing music again.

When was the last time you were able to play?

Oh, the last gig I played was in 2019.

It's not too long ago.

Not too long ago.

What are your guitars do you actually play with

versus just look at?

I play all of them.

I really like my late 50s Les Paul specials.

They're double cuts.

I play slide guitar, so I need that extra little bit of the neck.

But those are the ones that I play the most, I think.

And that may be just because they're recently acquired

in the last five to seven years.

My favorite guitar is the...

I have a 2005 Les Paul standard,

which was one of the 25 guitars made by Gibson

for Jimmy Page to pick his personal instrument from.

I got second pick.

Well, I was overwhelmed when I realized that I got second pick.

But I was back to Missouri for a family reunion

and I was close enough to Nashville and I had my son with me

and I said, let's go to Nashville.

And I had a friend in Nashville that I stayed with

and so we went to the Gibson showroom

and I said, I looked up at this beautiful

what I thought was a 59 Les Paul.

And I said, is that what I think it is?

And he says, oh, you're right on the money.

That's Jimmy Page's number one.

And I said, oh, yeah?

And he said, yeah, that's it.

He wouldn't give me any discount.

But he said, you know, if you want a discount,

you can go to Guitar Center.

They've got a few of these, but not from the run of 25

that we made for Jimmy to pick his instrument from.

So I thought that was pretty cool.

So I really like that guitar.

I really do.

And I beat it up.

I play slide on it too, you know?

But at least I use a glass slide.

I used to use metal, but now I use glass.

It has a little more subtle tone,

not as sharp as metal is.

How many guitars do you have?

28, 29.

What started the obsession to start buying the guitars?

Well, after college,

I sold my Hagstrom 12 string

and my Super Reverb

and when I went into the military

and actually I traded the amp for a banjo

and an acoustic guitar.

And I decided I was going to be maybe the shakiest guy,

playing the banjo at the pizza joint

because I'd seen that.

I thought that was pretty cool.

Of course, that didn't last long.

And I traded the banjo for a set of polyglass

tires for my 68 Camaro Pace car.

There you go.

And I thought it was well worth it.

And when I broke my back,

they sent me home and I was walking with a cane

and I had that Gibson guitar that I bought in 67

and it made a flight and I didn't

and it got smashed.

That led to me coming to Albuquerque

eventually, it was months later,

and buying a guitar from my friend Louis Campos

who became my musical mentor

for my whole life.

He always had faith in me

and when I didn't have a job,

he'd say, well, call this person

or call that person and they'd say,

oh, Louis sent you?

Well, then you're okay.

And I do miss him.

But I was fortunate enough

that at the end of his life,

and you'll love this,

I took him to the crest in my NSX

once a month.

And we'd also go out to the reservation

and have a Laguna burger.

It was really a hoot

because he was always a car guy.

He was a beamer guy.

I'd bought his wife's BMW

and got a divorce in 2004-2002.

Did you guys smash it up?

No, I drove that car

until it had 247,000 miles on it

and I had replaced the front suspension.

Any electrical problems?

You said BMW?

No, I had no electrical problems

in that car.

I did buy a donor vehicle

because the suspension

was going in the front.

So I bought a donor vehicle

and was able to

also take the transmission out

and put it in there in the 74.

And then I sold the donor vehicle

for more money than I paid for it.

So you've been in the car since

back in high school?

High school, on the farm.

I was driving a pickup truck

with a hay wagon

or a tractor behind me

with a block on the brake

and the clutch so that my feet

could depress it.

What car did you want growing up, Randy?

I always thought it would be a Corvette.

You look like a Corvette guy.

I drove all the Corvettes.

There were several Corvette owners

that I got to drive their car

around the block.

But my favorite car

up until the NSX

was the 1969 Pace car

convertible.

It just had all the bells and whistles

include I'd put a pioneer

tape deck in it

and some nice speakers.

It was a great car.

I just loved it

and it got totaled

while I was in Clovis.

But I had it for three years

and it was just great.

One thing about that car was

especially in the 60s

is you met yourself at least once a day

because every Chevy dealer in America

had one or two of those Pace cars.

And there was four of them in Clovis.

And I don't know how big Clovis is

but it doesn't sound like a city

that's going to be that big.

Well, Clovis I think was about 20,

was about 20,000 people

when I got there

it was about 18,000 people

that worked on the base.

Now part of those people were

Clovis population

but it was a

a tack fighter base

and we

we flew a lot of missions out of there.

Why the NSX?

The NSX

were NSX guys?

Senna

I had my friend the drummer

was selling satellite TV.

So I started selling

satellite TV

and I'm sitting here watching

you know it's three o'clock in the morning

and I'm watching Senna at Suzuka

Senna and Prost

and I'm thinking

this is living

you know because

I was watching it live

and it was a big thing

and once again something that I shared

with my friend Michael the drummer

you know he

he was selling satellite TV

and I sold

several systems down here

so I made a little money selling it too

but it was watching

Formula One

the satellite dishes

that got me

and I can remember

in the pre-race stuff

which of course there were no commercials

I'm getting a direct feed from Suzuka

you know and

I see this beautiful red car

with a black

hard top on it

and Senna gets out of it

and I went

someday

I'd like to have

it's kind of a different Senna story

than you typically hear

but I saw him drive that car

and it wasn't long after that

there's a YouTube

video it's in early high

of him wearing a pair of loafers

driving

the NSX

at Suzuka

and once again

I must have watched that

a hundred times if not a thousand

you know it was just wonderful

watching it and

Senna was he was my hero

my friends would all come over

you know on Sunday morning

we'd be up here 4 o'clock

in the morning you know

watching the race from Europe

you know

and it was a terrible day

when he lost his life

it was

it really affected me

but it was

that

association was Senna

with that car

and then seeing the high definition

video of him driving the car

that really

sold me on the car

I only have

have you had two first gins

I only had the one

and I

I was

I had an Integra

that had

247,000 miles on it

when I got rid of it

and I drove it everywhere

I drove it to Seattle

I drove it up and down the coast

I drove it back to Missouri

remember the year of your Integra

and it was a 92 GS

with an automatic

so I thought

this car

maybe I should step up to an NSX

so I went out

to the Acura dealer

of course I knew them already with

having worked on my Integra

and I said you know

I think maybe

I'd like to get

one of them NSXs

and of course when you say that

they just look at you funny

they looked at me kind of funny

and then

I said you know I'm looking

for one with

just a stock one with an automatic

just something I can cruise around in

because it would be just like my Integra

it wasn't three days later

they called me and said well you know

we've got just exactly what you're looking for

except it's a five speed

and I said I'll take it

I didn't even ask how much

and so when they got it

when they got it on the floor

at the dealership

I walked in

and I announced

who

is going to sell me this car

and the owner

said this gentleman here is going to sell you that car

was that Black and Ivory or Black and Ivory

it was Black and Ivory

and

the owner

sent the salesman to do the paperwork

and then the owner

who was an NSX owner himself

okay

showed me

all the little ins and outs

of closing the trunk

all those little things

that you don't know

and I was impressed with

the way they handled it

I loved the car immediately

and when I bought it

it had

60,000 miles on it

I paid $30,000

for it

and it has

90,000 miles on it today

and I've gone through

a set of

track tires that were

on the fat fives

I have two sets of chrome fat fives

I bid on two of them on ebay

but the chrome ones are terrible

and they're terrible

the fat fives are just absolute

the silver ones are nice for some weird reasons

but I was

new to it

I had no clue what I was doing

and we went

so after

I bought the car

they handed me a car

of a gentleman named

Felipe Bono

and his car said NSX Club

of New Mexico

and I can remember laughing

saying I'm not going to join the car club

but of course you know

within 30 days I'm a card carrying member

of the club

and it turned out to be one of the best decisions

of my life

and we drove

all over

all over New Mexico

and Southern Colorado

in those NSX's

and I just loved every mile that I put

and I bought it in

let me get this right

2000

you're 75 so I'll allow you to be off a year or two

I want to say

I've had it 12 years

so probably around the same time

so 2011, 2012

yes because

I went to

this one I met you

we went to

Palm Springs

NSXpo

and

I was the last person

that they let register

so I was the last minute registrant

and we drove

out there it was like five of us

went out it was just the most

wonderful thing and that's when I met you

at Science of Speed

and I think

it didn't meet you until we got to Palm Springs

but then you guys

also came through

on a cruise at some point

and we came through in 2017

we did a cruise where we went

over to Arizona with to Science of Speed

and then came back

right to Albuquerque

and it was on that

trip

that they called me and said

we've got a 2017

NSX for you

we take the saddle

interior and no options other than

the stereo

and wheels and I said yeah I'll take it

did you have them get it for you

or did you already

they got it for me it was

the showroom floor

for Hurricane Harvey

so it was in San Antonio

or Houston it was in Houston

so it was inside it was protected

it wasn't flooded at all

but all the other cars

were absolutely ruined so they were

under the gun to get all

this insurance stuff so they didn't want

so they loved

to get rid of the car

were you able to get it at a

decent price?

I bought the car

for

$145,000

there you go

and the list on it was $175,000

and that's a low option

that's just the interior

the stereo

there wasn't a lot of options

and I never was

thinking that I needed it to sound

better

you know be louder or

go faster

because my gosh the thing is

incredibly fast it's incredibly

quick and nimble

with that extra torque vectoring

you get with the all wheel drive

it's really

I have got myself in trouble

going to get gas in my

car thinking that I'm in

the 2017

and I'm going into that 90 degree

corner a little faster than it should

you know it's because it is

that much quicker through the corners

especially at lower speeds

but could I pick one of them

that I like more than the other

I don't think I could

maybe I could

but they're totally different

and I go back to once again

we saw it the same day

Peter Cunningham

get in that black NSX

and take those

laps around there

and when he got out of that car

it was like a

total eclipse of the sun

his smile

when he got out of that car

and it was when he gave the

gal from Colorado the ride

you know

and he got out of that car beaming like that

and I said to myself

I think I want to buy one of those

and it was

it was the right time

some investments that I had made

came to fruition

and it was a great purchase

it has been a great car

and do I want to sell it

no do I want to modify it

you still have the first NSX as well

yes I have them both

I have them both there

they're 30 yards away

we'll get done

we can check those out really quick

that would be perfectly alright with me

it's kind of a

kind of a clueage because it is

a 75 year old

garage

it's my 75 year old garage

I'm a piler

hey that's okay

you were telling me earlier that

the main part of this residence

has been here since probably

1920

1930

and it was just

a one room

adobe

and then they added

a kitchen and a bathroom

and then they added

another room

and then a bedroom and a living room

and then that's when

I bought the house

and then I added

put on a thousand

square foot addition

we're sitting in a space that's probably bigger

than the rest of the house combined

yes it is

and my neighbor

my neighbor is a contractor

and a car guy

so he has done almost all of the work

over here

and it didn't matter what he charged me

it was well worth every penny

we're going to talk about the best car you've ever had

well the best car I've ever had

is the

91 NSX

the second best would be the

92 Integra

what's the third the wider cord that's out there

I know you love that car I do love that car

because it's got the six speed

and it's an automatic six speed

but it's got the six cylinder

and it's a two door

and they've only made that

until 2017

so I really like that car

and it has got the style

the only thing I don't like is the seats

they're not they're hard

compared to having you switch them out

with some other more comfortable

Honda seats

I just haven't I'm lazy

probably

I probably could do that I did

the guy I had

a junkyard down here that I went

every time my

Integra broke down he had

several of them down there

but he closed that place down

and retired

so there's still four or five

Integra's down there to be

scavenged but you can't

get into the yard anymore

so you like eBay you're telling me that earlier

I like eBay

all these little NSX diecasts all over this place

you know I bought

these three red guitars

I bought off eBay

and they were

two of them were one owner guitars

I got them from the original owners

in 1960

and 1962

I was going to say you got to go to Facebook Marketplace

man you'll get those seats I can promise you that

you don't even have to look for them

oh I know they'll have them

and I should buy them

I should

it's got

a great hard drive

it has every friggin option

that you could get on a Honda Accord

but it's got also 135,000 miles

on it now

because I've driven it all over

and I love the car

I don't hesitate to drive and it's quick

handles well

stops

parks easily

and it's small enough you know you can

get in places that you can't get in a bigger car

so you've told me offline stories

of sex drugs and rock and roll

and booze

but you don't drink

I love to drink

when was the last time you drank

and why don't you drink

I quit drinking in

2008

and I was a tequila drinker

and

one of my drummer buddies

that I had a

I had a band

with two drummers and two guitar

players and

we had basically the Allman brothers

and we drank

our share there and I

I realized

after

basically after music

that

probably wasn't a good idea

for me to continue to drink

because we were all affluent

and we were buying

high dollar booze

and

drinking it

and

in 2008

two tequila drinking buddies

moved

gracias adios

and that's when I quit

and I'm glad

that I quit

there was no actual

issues

there was no DWI

no accident

none of that stuff

I need to stop

and I did

and I was successful

and one of my friends

of the two guys that moved away

he works with James Cameron

like D. James Cameron

yes D. James Cameron

yes he does 3D rendering

and shit like that

he worked at Sandia Labs in the micro

in the micro area

the film industry loved him when he moved to California

he lives

I think he lives in Big Sur

has a wife that speaks six languages

Big Sur is nice

that's a beautiful part

that was a long time ago

and that was a long time ago

because I had a car before

between the Integra and the

yeah

I'm trying to even remember what it was

but oh I had a CLS

okay another actor

a 3.0 CLS

and it was a great car

it was a great car

and I had three

1200 Hondas

and all of them were great cars

and I was able to work on them myself

and keep them running

and I was fortunate enough

hang with a couple of Honda mechanics

who had raced Civics

and

in Southern California

at the dawn of Honda coming to America

so they

were the ones that really

got me driving Hondas

there was three brothers

and

two of them have passed

one of them became one of my best friends

my golfing buddy

and they were all Native American

you're 75, you'll be 76 in a couple months

everything you've been into

the music, the cars

the medical field

everything

you look back on as

damn that was amazing

well I think it will always be

the music

there's something

there's something about

playing in front of an

electric crowd

there's just something

about that

it brings something out of

me anyway that I didn't even

know was there

and

so the music

is definitely

the biggest part

of my whole life

and

without the music

I think my life would have been

a complete total waste

and yes

it was great to have that wonderful

job working for the big orthopedic group

it was wonderful

selling

stuff that I was getting

15 and 20 and 30% commission

off of

and people were lined up to buy it

it was a great

a great experience

but as I said

you know when they said I couldn't

take the doctor's golfing anymore

I knew that my sales career

was over

you want to tell us, tell the podcast

people what that means

when I was

working for the

large orthopedic group they sold the group

and

my physician called me in and he says

you need to get another job

and I said Sam what do you mean

I needed what did I do

and he said you didn't do anything

we sold

the business

you are the highest paid person

that doesn't have an MD

do I need to say anything else

and I said no you don't

and I called up

the three guys who had offered me jobs

in the last year

and one of those guys

hired me immediately

to play golf with his doctors

and I said

that was my job was to take the

doctor's golfing

because he didn't play golf

and I did

he didn't want to learn how to play golf

and I said I can't take these people

golfing I can't afford that

and he handed me a credit card

pretty good pay

pretty good pay yeah

I went through let's see I went through

three Kia Sportages

and

$40,000

yeah you know

that wasn't much they were all junk

but they were great they were

utility vehicles they served

the purpose they really

I used to want to sport it's pretty bad

they were great vehicles

but all three of them had

busted exhaust manifold

there was a problem with that

with those motors

but yeah I

really did enjoy

enjoy the sales it was great

and I got to travel

and one of the companies that I

worked for was a

golf oriented

company

so I got to play

some of the most expensive golf courses

in America

on the company dollar

because they'd have a national

sales convention and we're

at Defuski Island which is

one stop away from Hilton Head

yeah

you still play golf all the time

I still play golf all the time

don't get paid to do it

now I pay to play to play golf

and I play

with three pharmacists and a

lawyer

one of the pharmacists is also

an attorney

and I've played with the same

three guys for many

many years

and one of the pharmacists

one of my musician buddies

from the 70's

and he was also

the guy that

got my ex wife into

Manx cats which have no tails

you know

which was and for a while

we had like six or seven

Manx cats in my son's

bedroom before he was born

but that was one of the things that also

was a rift between me and my

first wife my only wife

I'm not looking for a second one

no not looking but you never

know I mean there's

there's been a couple of

you know I live in a Hispanic

neighborhood

I've been here 40 years

so when the wife was

gone

everybody knows what happened

the single women

in the neighborhood they all

knew me

you know and I was very fortunate

that

the one that I

the one that I really liked

she got

sick and died

well I'll tell you something

you know and I

I really miss her

and she

it's funny I

am with the sound man

living with him

and we go to the

Albertsons

and get stuff

to cook

and I look up at the checkout girl

and I see this Hispanic woman

with this beautiful smile

and this bubbly personality

and I said to my

to my partner

the sound man I said you know

that's what I'm looking for

and I met her a week later

at a party in the neighborhood

and I was smitten

and it was

that was all she wrote

you know

and

I had six or seven

wonderful years with her

she was wonderful

just was really good for my

for my ego at the time

you know going through

a 20 something year

25 year relationship

with the same woman

and I was just sure that I was going to be with her forever

it was no bigger surprise

to anyone than me

that I fell in love again

and I did

and

at her funeral her mother said you know

you were the only man

she ever loved

wow

I'm crying right now

but you know

emotion like that

you can't

put a price on that

you cannot

yeah she was

she was something

she was still she was something

I really do miss her

and she's been gone

she's been going a long time

how long

11 years

yeah

she's been going 11 years

yeah I would have married her

but

she didn't want to get married

yeah

I think she knew

I think she knew more than I knew

because she got sick

and

she died of hepatitis

and she died

three or four months before

they had to cure

yeah

you just don't know

and that teaches you

treasure every moment

if not even every second

Randy that's why I'm here dude

I told you

I said I'm coming out

we're gonna do this

yeah

it's kind of a cleansing

for me to say some of these things

and talk about some of this stuff

you know

I mean I

like I said for those three days

when I was sure

I was gonna be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life

that

was pretty heavy stuff

what would you say to my boy Bryce

who's in the hospital right now

don't give up

and listen

to the doctors

they can do some

the things they're doing today

in orthopedics

it's light years

from the stuff I was selling

just 15 years ago

sure

you know I worked

for Johnson & Johnson

I worked for Depew

I worked for the biggest companies

in America

it was a great career

it really was

and when it was over

I was glad it was over

my last experience with

arthral care

I had briefly talked about that earlier

where I was selling

a bunch of spinal wands

and I knew the company

was doing something funny with inventory

but

I was making money so I wasn't

gonna say anything

and then I realized that

it was time for me to retire

and my business partner

said well we're gonna have a national sales meeting

why don't you go and that'll be

your retirement gift

so I went and they said

you sold more of this product

than anybody else did

so we want to know why

you're selling this stuff and nobody else is selling it

and I said well you know

I think it was a good product

and so we had this new company

that

we formed to

sell this product

and you've been sitting here through these classes

what do you think

and I looked the president of the company

in the eye and I said

somebody is going to jail

and he got

white and the two

vice presidents next to him

looked very uncomfortable

probably not what they were looking to hear

that wasn't what they were looking to hear

the punch line

the three individuals I was speaking to

all

got prison sentences

the president of the company got

20 years

and the other two guys got 6

and 4 years

because they were

defrauding the government

you know not to go down that rabbit hole

but I don't know if I had sent it to you

and I could send it after this but very recently

they've been busting all these companies

for doing just that

billions of dollars

right and they're finally realizing

that all of these medical companies

have been doing this

they park inventory some

place and then it looks like

it's been sold

and then at the end of the

year

consolidation well where did this

and it's obviously

they're selling stuff that they shouldn't be selling

I mean it's illegal

you know and

as a sales

person I didn't realize

what was going on at first

but when they replaced all my

inventory

and then I went to the

which was ready to

expire you know that was going to be

several thousand dollars that I was going to

eat

when they offered me the

opportunity to

to get the out of dodge I did

sure and I'm glad I

did and I've never looked

back and that was

my last corporate

function was telling

that gentleman that

he probably was in trouble

we'll talk about cars and guitars

sure we're going to go around

and we're going to do the second part of the video

we're going to point at some cool shit

okay but for those people who are listening

instead of watching the video which I keep

telling people they need to start watching these videos

but if you're listening the rest of it

we're going to be walking around

and Randy's going to be telling us about some of the stuff

we're seeing how many guitars

did you say you had? I think I have 28

could you put a

value on those

today

not what you bought them for but just today

it's you know

I've got

I don't know what the

Jimmy Page is worth but

I wouldn't sell it

but I would

I'm going to guess that it's probably worth 30

to 40 grand

that's just one of them

because you've built

what's behind me

I built a guitar vault

my neighbor

the builder

had just remodeled

a pawn shop

and one of the things that

they did was they

threw up a

safe room

so it was really easy

to use those plans

and translate them to

sticking it in the corner

of the house

we paid for an architect

to draw it up and everything

we went through all the right things

getting the permits

all that stuff

it's great and the best thing that I've done

since I've been here is I put solar up

solar in

2012

you know

so it's a long since paid for itself

well let's take a look at it

okay Randy what are we looking at here

first off I have a question for you

I want to explain what this is

well that's my

dear friend Christian's

leather work

he did the SRV

when he was

living in Oak Cliff

that's my initials

RA in my ruling planet

being Saturn

so he made those custom covers for me

the 2000s

and I'm very pleased with

how they are of course I don't use big amps anymore

what's the thing that nobody would actually know

about who made those

it's Christian Brooks

who did the Stevie Ray Bond

SRV strap

he went to high school with Stevie Ray

this is a

1976

Gibson Explorer

this white one here

the natural mahogany with the white pickguard

they made a run of

Firebirds Explorers and Flying Vs

and I bought it

in 1976

for Maynard's music

in Old Town

and as I said earlier

my dear friend Tim Pierce

studio musician in

Los Angeles

I used to fight him for

fret time

I'd go in there and he'd be playing it

I'd be playing it and he'd walk in

tell us the significance of that name

Tim Pierce is

probably the most recorded

guitarist in modern history

he was

the guy in the bowler hat

on Jesse's girl at the dawn

of MTV

this is a 1994

Gibson

special

Les Paul special

what they refer to as

TV Yellow

this is one of

300 that they made

in celebration of Gibson's

100th year

this actually left the factory

on my birthday

in 1994

I bought it randomly on eBay

this is a

2005

Jimmy Page

Les Paul

standard this is one of the

25 guitars that Gibson

made for Jimmy Page

to pick his personal instrument from

I was fortunate

enough that I was

the second guy through the door

sure and I bought

the second one it's the one you talked about earlier

and I it is

an unbelievable guitar

it has some Jimmy Page tweaks

on it that really make you go

oh that's how he gets that sound

because this has a split coil

here in a coil tap

it's really quite the instrument

is a

1959

Les Paul special

what's the difference between that one and the one

right in there next to it?

this has P90 pickups

single coil

and they have a little bit more bytes since I'm a slide

guitar player I like

that and see I can turn this

into a single coil here

and get that same byte

off of this Les Paul

but the 59s

had a

manufacturing defect

because the neck

stopped right at the body

so most of them

snapped off

during play

one year later

in 1960

they had moved the neck

in a fingers worth

into the body

and that corrected

most of the problems

so this is a 1960

both of these guitars

were one

owner guitars

the same person owned them

this one here

is a

1962

Les Paul

standard

it also is a one owner

guitar I bought it from

the original owner

whose son

learned how to play and did change out the pickups

to EMGs but changed them

all back

so it is exactly as it came from

the factory in 1962

and

I think this is probably worth

35 maybe 40 grand

these

I can't place a value

on that Jimmy Page

I don't know

the Gibson Explorer from 1976

it's probably

4 to 7 thousand bucks

and the

limited edition

from 1994 the Centennial

year

and maybe 4

because they were

pretty special guitars

we're in the vault

with all my dead people over here

you know

clapping is not dead yet

few shots of me

Newport Beach Hooters

nice

and obviously

I'm into Escher

to get into the vault

with the different pictures

and sometimes there's articles of clothing

there's some car stuff in here

how do you decide?

something that means something to me

you know like the Jeff Beck

bag

we got to sit there and watch sound check

and we were

in the third row

it was fabulous

you could hear him breathing

it was fabulous

you know and of course

the shot of me and Billy

and Dusty there

that was

that was something

I was pretty proud of

all right we'll have

sit in front of us right here on the floor

this is a 1964

SG Special

what is it in here? one owner

as you can see has a little honest

wear on the back of it

it's in here because I

I wanted

and I'm still trying to have

a Gibson from

every year

from

1959

to I'm sorry from 1958

to 1968

I have a 68 SG over here

it's in one of these cases

there's three SG cases

I have to keep

labels on the ones

and I haven't labeled all of the cases yet

I think it has to do

I think it has to do with the fact that

I play golf three times

you know it does have that

and I have a couple of acoustic

guitars back here I have

yeah I was going to ask you about that

there's the electric everywhere

I have a Gibson

here

it is probably my

most acoustic guitar

and I will have to take it out of the law

to show it to you

but this guitar is what

Elvis used, not the spray guitar

but one like it

on his comeback special

how'd this one get in there

what's the story

well

I saw an ad

for this guitar in the Albuquerque

paper

and I went to see it

that it had

these cracks in the

ebony here

I called up my friend Louis

the guitar

owner, the guitar store owner

told him what I had

the guy wanted

$450 for it

it's a

1973 dove

it was 1974

the guy who owned it

his father owned a bar

Roswell

and

I was able to get it for $350

because that piece cost

$150 from Gibson

I never replaced it

and this guitar is one

of the sweetest

sounding guitars

on the planet, it's probably not in tune

I need to tune it up

this is a very special instrument

have never

found one that has

this kind of

see that inlay

that's all wood inlay

all individual pieces of wood

and then

the book matches

so this piece of wood

was the same as this piece

at one time

it's crazy because the phone

can't even capture the richness

and the deepness of that red

oh yeah

and this is

the loudest acoustic guitar I've ever played

so I played this

Molly's

Molly had a little

a liquor store about half the size of this room

and she built a beautiful bar

and my friend Mike and I

and my friend David Redtruck

we were the first people to play in the bar

and my friend Michael had a Gibson Hummingbird

which is like

a step down from the dub

and the dub is like

a step down from the super jumble

but

this is one of Gibson's most

expensive instruments

and it's in 1973

and I bought it

for $350

and it sold new

for 1500

in 1973

and today this instrument

is $5 to $10,000

I would say it is my favorite acoustic instrument

I've ever played

the instrument is a 1965

Gibson SG

Standard

it at one time

was in nine

separate pieces

after riding

through

a tail end collision

so where does one go to rebuild

a guitar

you have to find

it's a very special kind of person

who can take an instrument that's been

this was in nine pieces

I mean

there's breaks across here

there was a severe break here

this was in three or four pieces

but

we have here a real craftsman

who did this

he said it wasn't worth doing it

but it cost fix it for me anyway

it means that much to me

I bought this guitar for $60

1974

with none of the hardware

none of the stuff

no pickguard on it I just bought the guitar

for $60

so I

put all new hardware

on it

and it was my favorite guitar

how much was this thing to restore

I was

it was $600

to get it restored

and that was a bargain at twice the price

this were an

undamaged

1965

you're looking at 10 to 15 maybe even

$20,000

I bought it for like I said

$60 in a box from

bass player

and it's been my

go to guitar ever since

but this would be my favorite

and it just roars

and it has a

patent

a PAF here

and a patent number

and guitar

player aficionados knows that

those two are the most desirable

Gibson pickups

of the 60s

as I say

this one is

this one is a T-bucker

and then this one is not

so this one is the old one

and this one is the T-bucker

so this is the one huh

oh yeah this was my favorite guitar

it was always mine

it was always my favorite

and it doesn't weigh anything

it doesn't weigh it's really lightweight

it's actually a

2019

of Pelham Blue

and this will take you

back

there was a TV

show that starred Paul

Revere and the Raiders

and

Paul's

guitar player had a blue

SG like this

and I always wanted one

so in 19

Gibson made these in two different colors

and believe it or not

this was

$1800 including shipping

and it just absolutely

screams I replaced the Gibson pickups

with

and they are

high dollar custom pickups

and I converted it to

original wiring

which this had a circuit board in here

so I got

a modern guitar

with antique wiring

and antique pickups

so it just sparks like

at the moon for sure

it's just a great guitar

Firebird

from

2013

the biggest case the one next to the one

next to the yellow sticker

I called Gibson

after I bought the guitar

I became friends with a couple guys

at Gibson I'm sure

because you spend $10,000

to answer your phone

you know so I called them

in 2008

and I said

winter guitar

there's the Gibson ad right there in the corner

for the Johnny winter guitar

I said

and I was at the NAMM show

which is you know like

Carmel show for cars

I'm at the NAMM show

and I'm going well

how much is this guitar

and I say well

that guitar is going to be

$11,000

and I said

damn that's a lot of money and I'm sitting there

playing this guitar at the NAMM show

and I hear this guy behind me

going

that Firebird sounds pretty damn good

and it was

Ulyon Roth

who took the guitar

out of my hands

and immediately

grabbed the next Gibson

rep

and that guitar was gone

damn

so I sold that one for Gibson to Ulyon Roth

and then

I got home and I called Gibson

and I said you know you sons of bitches

there's too much fucking money by God

and he says well you know those are a special run

of Johnny winter guitars

blah blah blah

and we've already made the only

ones we're going to make

he says but I don't have any

on the showroom floor

can I make you one

so I got

that one made

and it is everything

but the paperwork

it's a Johnny winter Firebird

and it's in it barks

it barks it just screams

but it also weighs

15 pounds

we're looking at

your

sounds

So, we're looking at your 2017 NSX and your 1990s, the 91, right?

It's a 91.

It has the 95 wheels, aren't they, or are they 96 wheels?

They're 90, technically 94 plus.

94.

94 plus.

Yeah.

And I bought those, I went to Carson Coffee in Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe paper had those

wheels in there.

And I thought that Chris had told me he was going to sell his, so I called Chris and said,

are those your wheels in the paper?

He says, no.

So I called the guy, went over there, typical story.

I got the book, I got the wheels, I was going to get the car, and my wife said, later for

you.

Hmm.

So, would you like the book with the wheels?

Great.

So I bought the wheels for 600 bucks.

Nice.

And then my neighbor, refinished on it.

God, he's been great for me.

He really has.

And did you see the Gibson?

Oh, yeah.

I've never been a better time than I did at Gibson.

And then there's one of my blues, all-star blues jammed with my name and lights.

Randy Alameda.

Every Wednesday of the dry, Gulch Brewing Company, Ingrill.

They had great food and they got good deer.

It was a great gig.

Those are my favorite wheels for the first gen, by the way.

I like mine too.

And because they've got the two-tone, you know, they've got the smooth hair.

Yeah, it's polished.

It's silver, but you have the dull and polished.

Yes, yes.

And he...

And it glistens when you drive.

He did a great job when he did these.

He went online and looked at a lot of them and said, okay, I'll fix these for him.

And he's refinished several sets of wheels.

He did them for my BMW too.

Oh, they were great.

No?

Once he got those done, they were just the plain BMW wheels, but they had that sparkle,

like you're talking about there.

When do you decide between these two what you're going to drive?

Since I've got 90,000 miles on this one here.

It's usually this one.

But this one is so much fun to drive.

And people just go crazy as you know every time I park it.

People are going, wow, where did you find this?

And I say the same thing.

In the garage.

Be careful what you wish for.

The Acura dealer.

Because both of these were just that.

I said, I might like 191.

Well, they had one for me in three days.

Oh, would you like to buy a 2017 for 30 grand off?

Yes, as a matter of fact, I would.

What a deal this is.

This is my third set of Michelin's, but I think it's got 34,000 miles on it now.

You drive it?

Yep.

Well, and Roby does too.

And I tell him to do that.

Thanks for showing us your cars and your guitars.

Hey guys, thanks for checking out the show.

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About this episode

Randy Alameda shares his fascinating journey through music and cars, showcasing his impressive Gibson guitar collection and two NSXs. From his early days as a car wash boy to becoming a certified orthopedic physician's assistant, Randy's life is filled with colorful stories, including a near-fatal motorcycle accident and a successful music career. He discusses the significance of his guitars, including a rare Jimmy Page Les Paul, and reflects on his passion for cars, particularly the NSX, which he associates with his admiration for Ayrton Senna. This episode is a deep dive into the intersection of music, cars, and personal history.

Acura Integra Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Corvette Ford Explorer Honda Accord Honda Civic Kia Sportage Pontiac Firebird

Original notes

EP292 Cars and Guitars with guest Randy Alameda

Randy Alameda aka Randy Arnold is a big time Gibson guitar collector and auto enthusiast. Jhae travels to Albuquerque for a sit down with Randy and to see the guitar vault.

Summary: In this episode, host Jhae sits down with Randy Alameda, a 75-year-old Albuquerque icon, at an undisclosed South Valley location. Randy shares his vibrant life story, from his music career touring with the band Ashley Pond to his passion for Acura NSXs and his medical sales background. He recounts surviving a life-altering motorcycle accident, his extensive guitar collection housed in a custom vault, and his reflections on love, loss, and resilience. This episode is a heartfelt dive into music, cars, and perseverance.

Chapters:

02:03-2:55: Randy discusses moving to Albuquerque 40 years ago, living near a B1 bomber facility, and local environmental issues.

3:19-4:08: Introduction to Randy’s guitar collection and the custom vault built by his neighbor.

5:10-9:02: Randy’s backstory, including avoiding the draft, Air Force medical training, and a severe motorcycle accident that nearly left him paralyzed.

12:59-20:49: Music career highlights, touring with Ashley Pond (1980-2000), and a tragic incident involving a bandmate’s girlfriend.

21:03-24:23: Origins of Randy’s music passion, sparked by his grandmother and early guitar discoveries.

26:04-28:44: Insights on veterans’ healthcare issues, drawing from Randy’s medical career and VA experiences. 30:18-32:14: Encounters with music legends like Rick Derringer and ZZ Top, plus a van crash anecdote. 33:09-35:09: Randy’s favorite guitars, including a 2005 Les Paul from a Jimmy Page run.

40:23-50:36: Randy’s love for Acura NSXs, inspired by Ayrton Senna, and his ownership of 1991 and 2017 models. 57:44-1:12:05 Reflections on music as the heart of his life, plus a poignant story of a lost love.

1:12:05-1:28:03: Tour of Randy’s guitar vault, showcasing rare Gibsons like a 1959 Les Paul Special and a Johnny Winter Firebird.

1:29:05-1:32:25: A look at Randy’s NSXs

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