Archive for May, 2008

Thinning The Guitar Herd

May 29, 2008 by john No Comments »

Looks like I’ve sold one my guitars… my trusty Jackson is currently on extended test-drive with a friend who is delighted with it. This guitar is a classic shred machine with reverse pointy headstock, Duncan humbuckers and a Floyd Rose trem tailpiece / locking nut. I originally purchased the guitar for use in Vital Idol, the Billy Idol tribute in which I played. It was perfect for that purpose and delivered beautifully on those awesome Steve Stevens tones.

I knew I’d eventually sell this one since it’s really not something I continue to use on a daily basis. A friend of mine has been very interested in the guitar since I first mentioned I might let it go. Based on his feedback it appears he’s planning to buy it. I’m always happy to see musical equipment get into the hand of people who are truly excited to have it, and there is something freeing about liquidating surplus stuff. I’m making him a deal on it, mostly because he’s a good guy and also because I can see he’s going to put it to great use. Fly! Be free! Rock on!

 

The Garage Is Clean !

May 27, 2008 by john 2 Comments »

It’s so completely aberrant and unexpected that I’m going to blog about it : my garage is actually clean and mostly empty. That is pretty unusual. This weekend Teri and I spent the better part of two days hauling junk to the dump and Goodwill, and all the remaining stuff got put out in the shed. Then we disassembled the big chrome shelves that used to occupy the long wall of the garage. All this cleaning was in preparation for this weekend’s big party, but still … ! We’re actually considering leaving those shelves out after the party is over. A clean garage is a strange thing. I always thought the state of the garage was sort of a paeon to law of chaos; as I recall from my university physics class the universe tends toward entropy. If so goes the universe, why then not the garage?

At any rate, we’ve successfully enforced temporary order and cleanliness in that confined space. It’s all at once beautiful and unnatural. Can this order be maintained? Stay tuned for an update. The smart money is on entropy.

 

Thoughts On The Preons Gig 5/22

May 25, 2008 by john No Comments »

The Preons are sounding better all the time. I think our Thursday night show at the Comet tavern was really good. Janie and Josh were very solid, and Brad was his usual awesome self. Good stuff all around, with everyone reaching for new ideas during the more free moments of our set.

We shared the bill with two other bands, so we played last. On a Thursday night, that usually means the last band has an 11:00 start at the earliest. The first band on the bill was a duo from Idaho who few in to play the show. They were very cool and played great. We spent some time chatting with them afterwards and I’m sure we’ll play together again. The middle band on the bill was musically good; but they had (1) a lot of gear and (2) apparently didn’t own a watch. After taking a fairly long time to get set up and line checked, the band then left the stage and went outside to smoke / hung out in the bar / stand around for another 20+ minutes before beginning their set. Although I did enjoy hearing them play, when their set was over the band immediately abandoned the stage, leaving their gear behind. They took another 10-15 minutes to return and clear their equipment from the stage. When we finally had sufficient control over the stage to set up our gear and begin playing, it was much later than we had expected. I didn’t get home until around 1:30 AM, which made for a pretty wiped out Friday at work.

 

That Giant Fuzzy Woofy Sound

May 22, 2008 by john 1 Comment »

My Behringer bass amp (BXL300A) seems to be on its way out. Fortunately it’s not my gig amp; the trusty Ashdown half-stack is awesome sounding. But I use the Behringer as a practice amp and it resides at our rehearsal space. I don’t feel I’ve abused it particularly, and it isn’t like it’s been moved around all that much. It’s developed an unpleasant distortion that doesn’t seem to be affected by any amp settings, and that’s making for big dissatisfaction from me. I doubt it’s the speaker distorting. My guess is that something in the preamp side of the of the circuit is clipping, but nothing inside this amp is user-serviceable. I’ll keep it around until I can figure out what to do next. Feh. I

 

Jumbalassy

May 20, 2008 by john 6 Comments »

JumbalassyIt was a strange turn of events that caused the Jumbalassy.com domain to escape into the wild where it frolicked and commingled with other feral web sites. Eventually an expedition allowed this domain to be safely recaptured and it’s back home again. I spent the last year thinking it would never happen. At any rate, I need to put that site back together. For the moment it’s a WordPress install, and I need to do a bunch of customization. But at least it’s back on the air.

 

Tube Sox Go 2-0

May 15, 2008 by john No Comments »

Last night was another great softball game. We came from behind to win against a pretty good team. Hats off to the “banal fowls” for a great game and for having such an awesome team name. The team is playing pretty well, and after two games I think we’re starting to find our groove. I managed to reach base and even swatted for an RBI. I think my average is something like .400 so this is the perfect time to print my stats 🙂

As usual we headed down to Bad Albert’s for some post-game refreshment. Gotta love that place.

 

Standing Ovation

May 14, 2008 by john 1 Comment »

A week ago my wife and I went to hear the Seattle Symphony perform some chamber works. It’s always a pleasure to hear the SSO because the level of musical competency is very high, and because the acoustics in Benaroya Hall are superb. 

Naturally, at the end of the performance there was a standing ovation. It wasn’t absolutely undeserved; the performance was good. But at the curtain call for concerts and dramatic productions it is a reflexive action for the audience to rise to its feet and applaud vigorously for several minutes – whether or not the performance warrants the recognition. My issue with the obligatory standing ovation is that it is meaningless. It’s akin to an enforced gratuity in restaurants. I make a point of recognizing things around me that are extraordinary (I suppose you’d call me an affirmer); but I don’t lavish praise over every action accomplished by another human. Unconditional praise rewards every act as virtuosic… how can you possibly recognize true greatness if everyone gets the same evaluation? At work I ask my managers to tell me what I do well and to identify opportunities for improvement. For most people, balanced feedback is the basis of continuing to challenge one’s self to strive for growth.

While I recognize the skill of professional musicians and other performers, I don’t believe it’s necessary for an audience to automatically demand an encore or deliver a standing ovation. The more it becomes part of the ordinary end-game for every live performance, we lose the ability to provide recognition for truly extraordinary events.

 

The Falcon Has Landed

May 12, 2008 by john No Comments »

XBOX 360Yesterday I purchased an XBOX 360 with the new 65 nm “Falcon” chipset, which is smaller and more energy efficient than the previous 90 nm build. The biggest differences between this new chip and the old one is heat,  which is the prime suspect behind the dreaded RROD. It took a few days of research to understand how to discern whether a unit has this new chipset by inspecting the outside of the box. The best ways to tell all involve a quick glance at the barcode label on the box:

  • The build team should be FDOU. This is the only build team that has been confirmed to have access to the Falcon chip.
  • The power supply should be 175 watts. The Falcon chip requires less power than the previous 203 watt power supplies.
  • Lot # 735 or higher.
  • Manufacture date 8/24/07 or later.

The sales person at Best Buy was cooperative about going to the stock room to check on the label for me, and he understood exactly what I was looking for. He told me they sell through a lot of units and are constantly restocked by Microsoft, and at this point ALL of their stock is Falcon-based. I hooked it up last night and fired up a few games. So far, so good. Assassin’s Creed is going well, although I’m back to the beginning so there is some tedious rework until I’m caught up to where I was before. Hopefully no RROD on this one. I purchased the 2 year no-bull extended warranty thing through Best Buy, so if there’s so much as a minor glitch I’m heading back there for a replacement.

Bring on the beasties! I’m looking forward to some serious clobbering this week.

 

Thoughts On The 80s Invasion Gig 5/10/2008

May 11, 2008 by john No Comments »

We played a wedding reception yesterday in Cashmere, Washington. It was a lovely drive over, and we arrived early enough to enjoy the 76 degree weather. Cashmere is a beautiful small town right on the river, and I enjoyed watching the rafters, kayakers and dogs playing in water.
The wedding was nice. I was hired to play classical guitar during the ceremony so I assembled some renaissance favorites for the processional. The bride specifically asked me NOT to play the traditional bridal march as the recessional, so I selected a composition by Gaspar Sanz. Our dance set later in the evening was well received, and the dance floor was full all night. Plenty of kids were running around, which always makes the scene more fun.
After we finished our set we all decided to drive home rather than stay at the hotel overnight. This meant a fairly sleepy drive home and a 3:30 AM arrival, but it was nice to arrive at my house and sleep in my own bed. All in all, a great gig.

 

The Quest For Wattage

May 9, 2008 by john No Comments »

My trusty Stewart power amp sounds amazingly good. It’s a reference-quality studio amp and delivers a very clean 60 watts to my 8-Ohm speakers. The issue of late is that I’m playing bigger venues and could use a little more oomph. The logical step would be to find a bigger power amp. I’ve started to look into the 300 watt amps made by Crest, Crown and QSC; all three manufacturers have amps in this range that cost pretty much the same. I’m pretty sure I can find one that is under 20 pounds and is designed to withstand the rigors of road life. All that remains is do the research on lab results and figure out what to sell in order to make the purchase.