Nice clip indeed! I love when Mark is impersonating people, he's really good at it. Regarding the failure to play the opening notes of BIA, that can be due to a number of things. I noticed that his body seemed very stiff. He had difficulty turning his head and had to turn his whole body. He was very chatty and very "on", which is not unusual when people have had a few glasses of wine. That may not be the case here, though.
Did he say "I used to have a strong left hand"? Indeed seeing him now,
He didn't say "I used to", but "I had a strong left hand then". The word "then" meaning "therefore". Because he started playing the guitar right handed but was in fact left handed, he then [therefore] had a stronger left hand [the hand used to press down the strings] because that is his dominant hand. But of course his hands are nothing now compared to what they were.
Ah, thank you very much for explaining. Those are the details that often get lost because of the language barrier. His mood was great, but he looks really not in a very good condition, it is not meant from a nasty point of view but it's more that I am concerned. I hardly recognize the MK that I loved to see live on stage for decades. I wonder how he manages to play more than a couple of notes on the new record. I don't expect any worth mentioning soloing but only strumming at the most. I know of course that there is some studio wizardry. That solo on Pale Imitation is one of the most beautiful ones from the last albums.
It also struck me that I admire him for doing this whole auction thing. He keeps control over everything, and that means he controls what happens with all those really iconic guitars. It gives me the same "gulp" that MK felt when I think that those really really iconic guitars are not longer in his reach. Many of them I have seen live on stage, those moments he created with them are pure magic in my memory for ever, and of course he knows that he no longer would be able to create that magic, so instead of leaving it and just live on, he keeps control and decides what to do with them. That is so typical for him.
Another little detail: When that girl handed him the Martin, and after he played, when he gave it back, I was thinking, hopefully he is not too arrogant in ignoring her helping hand, and indeed he made that little funny remark to her, I love him for that. His whole personality shone very humble, reflected, wise, and with much self-irony.
I had a good laugh about him imitating Chet, that Guitar Store Georgie and the teacher, he indeed likes to do that obviously. I had an even bigger laugh when he started that red Fender story once more, with every same detail that we all are able to cite in our sleep (50 quid, big stretch for him, blew the radio) I really wonder if he himself is not bored by it in the meantime. But at the beginning of the talk he was very eloquent and hard to stop. I love this clip!
LE
