Archive for January, 2009

The Preons Get Crazy

January 28, 2009 by john No Comments »

Warr Guitar - Front

Last night’s Preons practice was something of an avant-garde extravaganza. It was the debut of the Warr Guitar, the MIDI trigger pedals, the digitech Whammy pedal, and the Boss Slicer. I busied myself all night trying to consistently find the right strings and frets on the Warr Guitar, switching back to bass for a bit. Bass feels much more natural and effortless to me but I’m sure I’ll get there with the Warr as well. Brad and Josh had a twitterfest with the Slicer and they each took a few laps with the Whammy pedal. We accomplished the mission of expanding our sonic palette and I’m sure some of this sonic mayhem will find a place in our live set.

My immediate thoughts on the Warr is that I need to spend time dialing in some effects tuned to its enormous sonic range. All of my current effect patches are either set up for guitar or bass, but not both simultaneously. Clearly I need something specialized for this instrument and I’ll make time this weekend to do some programming. The Preons are proving to be an excellent laboratory for sound and music. I’m really enjoying the creativity of the band.

 

Wirefest

January 26, 2009 by john No Comments »

I’m not a professional network technician, but over the last decade I seem to have acquired a lot of the necessary skills and tools associated with that trade. Yesterday I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to diagnose an intermittent telephone signal, only to discover the source of the problem was the initial wiring performed by the installer. Our telephone signal is delivered via the digital cable that carries our television and broadband connection. The incoming line is routed to a digital telephone adaptor which provides the analog lines for residential use, and these lines are tied to our internal phone system using snap “gel connectors”. I have never considered these types of connectors to be reliable, and they continue to prove my theory correct. So part of the problem was the 3-way connections originally installed by the cable technician.

When we bought the house, one of the internal wiring problems I immediately noticed was the outmoded daisy-chain telephone lines. I found that the telephone lines ran all over the house in a haphazard fashion and were frequently spliced via scotch tape (!) with the red / green wires occasionally reversed. Obviously this was not going to work for me, so I spent several days pulling all of the existing 4-conductor wire out of the walls and pulling new Cat5E home runs from each phone location back to my new network panel. This ensured that each phone line would be correctly installed and would have all 8 conductors wired. While I was at it, I also pulled runs of Cat5E for the internal data network which terminate at a gigabit switch, also at the network panel. With all new voice and data lines going back to a single network termination point, I had reason to assume my internal wiring was not the source of the issue.

Last summer the digital phone technician who came to install our voice lines couldn’t get a decent connection via the punchdown block I installed on the wall. Looking back on the problems he had, I can see that the issue actually stemmed from the gel connectors he used to patch into the voice/data adaptor. His solution was to bypass my punchdown block and wire the whole thing up using gel connectors. It was a mess and I knew it would fly apart at the slightest provocation. Eventually one or more of the connections became intermittent, which resulted in yesterday’s wiring festival. Once I isolated the telephone issue I spent about twenty minutes rewiring the primary feed such that it cleanly terminated at an otherwise unused network patch panel in my rack. I clipped each of the poorly-connected phone lines and re-terminated the lines with RJ-45 connectors, then plugged them into the patch panel. All of the old gel connectors are gone, with each line correctly wired and labeled. Everything is working again and it’s going to be a lot more reliable and easy to service. But how many people happen to have an extra network patch panel in their residence? Or a bag full of RJ-45 connectors and a crimp tool? Or the special tool that installs compression fittings on digital cable? I’m a wire geek with just enough knowledge to be annoying to real network technicians…

 

MRI : A Cruel Meeting Of Medicine And Muzak

January 22, 2009 by john 2 Comments »

This morning I had an MRI, which is a fairly claustrophobic experience under the best of circumstances. The technician asked me if I was comfortable with being in a confined space for 40 minutes or so, and I told him there would be no problems with that. He said the machine is quite loud and gave me a pair of headphones to wear while inside the machine. This would allow him to communicate with me during the scan, and would also help block out some of the considerable noise it generates during operation. The last question he asked me was “would you like to listen to some music while we do the scan?”, which seemed like a thoughtful idea and I was happy to have something to listen to. Thirty seconds later I was whisked into the cramped space inside the MRI. It’s a little like being buried alive I suppose. And what did I have for my listening pleasure? Kenny G. Buried alive with Kenny G as my soundtrack. It was a brief eternity in Hell. Or in Hell’s elevator at least. Immediately I resolved to live a better life and maybe go to church more frequently.

 

Barack Me, Obamadeus!

January 20, 2009 by john No Comments »

What can I say that hasn’t already been said today? It’s a beautiful day. I’ve never seen such an outpouring of love and respect for a President. I’m surrounded by people who participated in, or reported on, the last four or five Presidential elections. Emotions are running high and there is a lot of sniffling and dabbing of eyes. I was too young to really understand the public response to President Kennedy. But I think I understand some small part of it now. President Obama, lead on.

 

Check Out The Brand New Bag, Dad

January 19, 2009 by john No Comments »

Today I bought a new gig bag for my Warr Guitar. I went to a couple of music stores looking for a padded gig bag for a six string bass, which also happens to nicely fit a Warr Guitar. It’s a really nice case for my instrument and I’m mighty pleased with it. I’ll put pictures up tomorrow. For now, I’m busily noodling and trying to memorize new scale patterns.

 

Thoughts On The Preons Gig 1/15

January 16, 2009 by john No Comments »

Last night’s gig was our best yet. We’re locking in on some great elements within our music and the internal focus is really improving. There are lots of external factors that influence the quality of a show, and among them are the other bands on the bill. Last night The Preons were the final performer in a night of four bands. Note to promoters out there: it’s really crummy to book four bands on the same night. The agreement among the bands, and with the bar, was the each band would play a 45 minute set in order to avoid having the last band (us) starting so late. Someone (sound operator usually) really needs to be the big meanie and enforce set times.

When I arrived at the bar at 6:30 last night I represented 25% of the total population of the room – including the bartender! The sound operator arrived about 20 minutes later, followed by a few social drinkers stopping by to get a quick cocktail before heading home. I left at 8:00 to run down the street for 1 Uppers rehearsal. At that point people and musicians were still drifting in. There was no indication the first band was ready to begin, but I assumed they’d be underway before too long. When I returned from my rehearsal shortly after 10:00 I discovered that the second band was only just starting their 45 minute set. One hour and ten minutes later they finished. The next band started ten minutes later, and they played an hour-plus set. Note to other bands out there: as much as it sucks to be slotted on a four-band bill and have your time restricted, please remember your brethren… starting late and playing late will impact everything that is scheduled to occur after you. And so some time around 12:30, The Preons began our 45 minute set, playing to the faithful handful of people who had stayed long enough to hear us. Two friends of mine stuck it out and stayed until the end of our set (thanks Chris and Don!).

The set was pretty standard for a Preons gig, but we really had a good lock on the music. Josh seemed very relaxed and comfortable, and his vocals had an unusual urgency. Janie was supremely confident. After our set, two people from other bands came up and complimented her on her playing. That’s especially gratifying when it comes from fellow musicians. Brad, as usual, was great. He plays with a consistently high level of musicianship and awareness, which raises the overall experience for the balance of the band. I was very satisfied last night with my playing, despite a couple of minor spots where my rhythm was a little loose. The Ashdown rig delivers such immediacy on the low end of my bass that I found myself tempted to dial down the lower frequencies a bit.

We hit our stride from the first notes of the opener “Cobra Kai” and cruised through the set nicely. I had a lot of fun playing big chords on the bass. I think my brain is already absorbing the idea that I’ll be using the Warr Guitar, and my patterns are opening up into wider voicings and two-handed parts. After the show I had a nice conversation with the young woman who played bass in the band before us. She played both electric bass guitar and 7/8 acoustic (upright) bass, and it’s obvious she has classical training. It’s probably one of more satisfying post-gig bass summits that I’ve had. That conversation probably lasted 15 minutes and by the time I loaded up the car and headed for home it was already close to 2:00 AM. Four hours of sleep, and I got up to head for work. Thank goodness for the awesome power of caffeine!

 

Some Kind Of Day

January 15, 2009 by john No Comments »

So far today I have had:

  • 2 car rides
  • 1 bus ride
  • 1 cab ride
  • 1 blood pressure test
  • 4 X-Rays
  • 3 changes of clothes
  • 6 meetings at work
  • 1 meal

And it’s only 5:15 PM. I still have a few things left to do today:

  • 2 hours of band practice (playing guitar with the 1 Uppers)
  • 1 hour of bar gig (playing bass with the Preons)

Hope I have time for dinner somewhere in there…

 

Random Encounter. Deliberate Interaction. Philosophical Stir-Fry.

January 14, 2009 by john No Comments »

Last Saturday night I played a very satisfying gig in Seattle, at a club on Capital Hill. Late at night it can be a little sketchy in that area and I try to be aware of my surroundings when leaving. After the gig, at about 2:30 AM, I was loading the last of my gear into the car. I had just closed the trunk and noticed a black man about my age approached me on the dark street. He was alone, wearing a dirty coat and smelled like he’d been wearing the same clothes for a few days. I sized him up immediately to assess his threat level, noting whether he seemed left or right handed (in case I had to defend myself) and whether he seemed to have anything in his hands.

He asked me if he could ask a question (which always amuses me because it’s circular to ask permission to ask a question). I told him yes. He pointed vaguely up the street and said his family was up there in a car trying to sleep and he wanted to know if I could help him. It was really cold out and he was looking for a place where they could sleep for the night. He showed me a printed list of shelters / churches where they had tried to get in, but all the free ones were full and he didn’t have any money since he was out of work until Monday. What he wanted was a couple of bucks toward the nine-dollar cost of staying at the YMCA. I thought about it for less than three seconds and fished out a ten dollar bill for him. The guy immediately started to weep. He hugged me, telling me his name and saying he’d never forget my kindness, and that he’d pass it on to someone else as soon as he was working again. Then he walked away and that was the last I saw of him.

So either I got taken by some con artist with a great line. Or I helped some guy who just needed a hand. It doesn’t matter because if he was lying to me it’s on him. Either way I’m OK with it. If nothing else, got a hug for $10, which isn’t bad.

If there’s a point (and most of the time in life there ISN’T a point), it’s only that it would have been really easy to ignore that guy. It definitely constituted a risk to interact with a stranger on a dark street late at night, and I don’t recommend it to everyone. But how many people around us just want to be treated as human and are denied? The homeless, elderly, handicapped, disaffected, depressed, alone, etc etc. Those are people who really NEED to have their humanity celebrated and recognized. But most of us are socially trained to ignore that segment and to just walk on by. And in doing so we rob those people of their humanity, and eventually they don’t recognize themselves as human, which is when antisocial behavior begins… it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy… those people become less functionally human and we take even further steps to avoid interacting with them.

In a less extreme case, we might just put up our shields and ignore some guy playing the violin in a subway. I don’t know. That guy on the street said he’d never forget my kindness, and I hope I never forget that he took a risk by asking for help. I guess we both got something out of the deal.

 

Brilliant Random Beauty

January 13, 2009 by john No Comments »

Today I received an email from someone who mentioned this event and it made me recall hearing about it when it happened. The event occurred about a  year ago in SW Washington DC, in a subway station underneath a busy shopping mall. A youngish man in jeans, T-Shirt and baseball cap got off the 8:00 AM metro train and positioned himself against a wall out of the flow of rush-hour pedestrians.

Standing beside a trash can, he opened a violin case and he took out his instrument. He put the case on the floor, propped it open and seeded it with a few dollars and pocket change. And then he began to play. For the next 43 minutes the violinist performed six classical pieces. Over 1100 people passed by, probably on their way to work. In Washington DC, it’s possible a portion of these people were on their way to offices in the capital.

As with most street performer encounters, it may raise some thoughts … this violinist seemed pretty good, but do you stop and listen? Would you really have time for this in your busy morning? If you stop and pay attention to him are you obligated to throw a dollar or some token pocket change into his case? Or do you shuffle onward, annoyed by the moral choice and acoustic pollution?

The pieces he played were not popular tunes. They were elevated and difficult pieces more at home in cathedrals and concert halls. The rough acoustics were not bad in the metro station but it was hardly Carnegie Hall. Less than three dozen people paused to listen, if only for a minute. After all, these people were on their way to work. The listener who seemed most enthralled was a young boy about 5 years old whose parents seemed impatient but allowed him to listen for a few moments. At the end of his subway concert the young violinist had grossed a modest $32 in tips tossed into his violin case. He donated the money to charity.

Here is a video of his subway concert, from one year ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

The young man in the jeans and T-Shirt is internationally acclaimed virtuoso Joshua Bell, who was playing a Stradivari violin worth over 3.5 million dollars. He is perhaps the world’s finest violinist and has been awarded the Avery Fisher Prize – the highest honor in American classical music. A few nights before this impromptu performance in the subway, Bell had played to a sold-out concert hall in Boston where people fought over $100+ tickets.

Give somebody a hug today.

 

The Dark Tower : The Waste Lands

January 12, 2009 by john No Comments »

Over the weekend I started reading the third book of the Dark Tower series. My daily bus ride allows for great reading time, and it’s easy for me to drop right into my seat and begin. For a moment this morning I glanced out the window as the bus was on the viaduct, noticing how beautiful Elliot Bay looks in the dark blue light of 7:00 AM. The Waste Lands continues the story of the Gunslinger and his companions, and sets the stage for journey via mass transit (of a sort). Thus it’s entirely appropriate for bus reading.