As we continue to remodel our house in a sort of room-by-room fashion, we’ve been going through an interesting process of reduction. In order to make space for the demolition and reconstruction, we clear the room of everything. Then we strip away the floor, walls, ceiling, and sometimes the walls! Then we begin to rebuild. Once the room is finished we begin to put items back into it, and we usually wind up getting rid of about half of what was formerly inside that room. Every time we do this I’m amazed at how much stuff we don’t put back… these items get donated to charity, given away, or jettisoned to recycling / trash. The result is a much cleaner and more streamlined room.
The room currently undergoing remodeling is my tiny music room. We’re in the home stretch, with just finish work remaining. It’s going to be nice to have that space completed and ready for use. The big question for me is… will I get rid of some “excess stuff” (tough to use that word when talking about musical gear!) as part of the process? The answer is yes. I’m going to make a list of all that extra equipment and put it up on Craigs List / eBay. Let the winnowing process begin…
On Friday 3/19 Dudley Manlove Quartet celebrated our 15th anniversary at the Nectar Lounge in Fremont. This was also the night we debuted the shiny new Plan 9 horns. Also joining us for the anniversary celebration were Matt and Joe, original members of the band who both happen to play a pretty mean sax. At a few points during the night we had ten musicians onstage, rocking the hits. Opening the night were our friends The Hemingway Reference, who played a fabulous first set. I’m sure we’ll work together again.
I arrived early enough to get loaded in and generally situated. The house sound operator is a longtime friend who used to run sound for us in Jumbalassy, and he’s also worked with The Preons. Great to catch up with him as we finished wiring the stage for soundcheck. We started the night with some great standards and the room’s energy was a great source of inspiration for us. At a few points during the night I found myself tempted to turn my guitar amp up, which means the stage volume was a bit louder than usual. My amp is only 40 watts, and when turned up tends to begin introducing some distortion; this is a deliberate characteristic of the amp’s design and not simply clipping due to excessive gain. In order to minimize logistic challenges at this show, Steve borrowed the opening band’s Epifani bass amp. He usually uses an SWR combo for our shows, and it sounds great. I was really impressed at the power and tone of the Epifani setup. It’s pretty tempting as a potential upgrade to my Ashdown bass / Warr guitar amp.
Overall, the gig was a blast and one that I’ll remember as a highlight of my first year with the band.
The Dudley Manlove Quartet is looking forward to our 3/19 show at the Nectar Lounge in Fremont. This event marks the 15th Anniversary of the band and and will be the debut of the Plan 9 horns. The Hemingway Reference will be opening the evening, and during our set you’ll see some surprise appearances by former members of DMQ. Sure, we’re a great five-piece quartet. But with the addition of three amazing horn players and special guests, we’ll be a TEN piece quartet. That’s pretty big for a quartet, you gotta admit!
Tickets are still available for this event, but they’re going fast. Some tickets will be available at the door for $10, but you should definitely consider purchasing in advance for $8. This will be a fun evening of celebrating 15 years of adventure and music with the DMQ crew, and we’ll look forward to seeing you there.
Doors will open at 9:00 PM and we’ll be ready to make the music happen. Arrive early… settle in… get your dancing groove on. This is going to be a great 15th Anniversary party!
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I have been hearing some buzz about Jet City Amplifiers lately and have started to look around for more information on them. I know they’re located in Woodinville, WA, which makes them local to me. I have been using a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe for years, and it is a pretty good workhorse guitar amp. I’m interested in taking a look at the 50 watt combo Jet City is making. Not certain this is a perfect fit for my needs until I’ve tried one at a gig, but it’s interesting enough that I’m beginning to do some research.
The trusty black strat continues to be my primary guitar, although I may take the plunge and custom-build a new guitar at some point. My pedalboard project has been an important effort in cleaning up and improving my signal path, and now I’m beginning to explore the other end of the system. Another small step in the relentless pursuit of awesome tone…
The Dudley Manlove Quartet is playing a few great shows this month. In preparation I’ve been working on my parts and gear. One of the interesting discoveries of recent weeks is that my wireless system seems to be very particular about its power supply. According to the manufacturer it runs on 9VDC at less than 800 mA, but it doesn’t operate correctly when connected to my pedalboard’s buffered power supply. So I have installed the original power adaptor for the wireless receiver and plugged it into the power strip under the board.
The band is doing a few new songs at the 3/13 show, and the 3/19 show will mark the debut of the Plan 9 horns. We’ll be rehearsing material with the horn section for the next couple of weeks. Mark you calendars for these gigs, It’s going to be a fun month!
Last night The Preons had a really great practice. We’ve been getting into some interesting stuff lately with experimentation and exploratory free-form sections. The band has been working on songs for the upcoming recording sessions and it’s beginning to sound more solid. We should be ready to start putting down the reference tracks pretty soon. Last night we spent some time running through older material as well… it had been a while since we ran through songs like “Listing and Lost”, “Grove of the Patriarchs”, and “The Conflict of the Cobra Kai”. While we were at it, we dug into “48 Express” and “Charlie Munden”. It’s interesting to hear how the band has solidified and become more relaxed. We haven’t played a live show in a while, and we’re definitely ready to hit the stage again soon.
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On Saturday 2/13 the 1 Uppers performed at Slim’s Last Chance Chili Shack in Seattle. It’s a cozy bar with a great vibe, and we were definitely in our element with great chili, tasty beer (served in jelly jars) and a cozy stage. We were the final act on a three-band bill, so we spent time listening to the other bands play and chatting with friends. Our set was pretty tight and felt great. My fellow electric guitarist Kris Geren wasn’t here for the gig, which left me with some BIG boots to stumble around in. First off, I couldn’t figure out how to set up my amp… I like to have it on the floor because it benefits from the bass coupling effect when sitting directly on stage. But it would have been firing right into my ankles, which isn’t any good for being able to hear it. I wound up pulling a chair up on stage and perching the amp on top. This worked pretty well and I could hear myself at a moderate volume.
The set consisted of the usual mix of originals and covers. I felt that it went well. Jon Hyde and I spent the evening flipping solos back and forth, sometimes sharing sections and trading ideas. On the Lloyd Green tune “3 Picks” I had a double solo, covering a section that usually goes to Kris. This was one of those moments when I did my best to sound like two guitarists, rather than attempting to simply run a solo throughout the entire section. It’s always interesting to have this kind of challenge. We played an original “Fall Back” at a slow pace, which brought out a new level of melancholy. As we started that song it seemed like we were struggling with whether to pick it up or play it slower. Within 16 bars we had settled into the tempo and it became a great rendition.
All in all, a good night with the band and fun one. The 1 Uppers rhythm section is very solid, and it’s a gas to set up those great country grooves with Caben and Eric. Jon Hyde rocked the steel as always. David was in good form, and played a fine show despite battling a cold. I look forward to the next gig, and to having Kris return to the fold. If you haven’t visited the 1 Uppers web site lately, I’ve made a few updates. Stop on by and click around.
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I admit that I’m one of those users who modifies gear and is always wishing there was just one more feature aboard… and as such I provide feedback to most of my gear manufacturers. One of the mainstays on my pedalboard is the Line6 POD XTLive, which I’ve had for a number of years and like reasonably well. I haven’t upgraded to the X3Live because it didn’t seem like a justifiable expense for the feature set.
But if Line6 were to build a new POD to my specs, I’d be the first guy to buy it. Here is the list of features it should have in my shiny imagination:
- Make this unit physically smaller. It’s too large and heavy considering what it does. I’d like to see the unit scaled down by at least 1/3. Make it the same size as the M9, but keep the expression pedal. Put the switches a little closer together. If this beastie occupied less space on my pedalboard I’d be much happier.
- Get rid of the plastic stomp switches and replace them with standard metal switches. These should be lit when active.
- The small LCD is fine for displaying multiple lines of text. I’d like to see an additional readout that is visible from eye level on stage. It should be capable of displaying at least 8 characters of text at 1″ tall.
- Get rid of the external transformer and put this inside the unit. I know this seems counter to my first request of making it smaller. It should be possible put the transformer inside the unit and having a standard IEC power cord.
- Make the pertinent button labels backlit from inside the unit. If this is impractical (uh, how much can an LED cost?), how about allowing the USB connector on the back of the unit to power a laptop LED gooseneck light? That way we can see our pedalboards on dark stages. Another benefit of having a powered USB port: you could plug in your iPhone charger right into your pedalboard. I frequently charge my phone between soundcheck and the gig, and this would be a simple way to do it.
- Get rid of MIDI on this unit. In fact, let’s get rid of MIDI entirely on everything. USB for the win! It’s bidirectional, faster, and more reliable / stable. MIDI is akin to the telegraph. It served its purpose when the buffalo still roamed. But it’s the year 2010, and while we didn’t get those cool jetpacks as promised (dammit!) we can at least embrace USB and allow our music toys to gracefully daisy-chain.
- Include a physical docking space where the Line6 wireless receiver can be integrated right into the unit and powered interally. Or just build this in. The Line6 wireless systems are great. I love mine. Build it right into the unit please.
- Wanna get REAL crazy? Let’s put Bluetooth capabilities into this system and build a small Bluetooth retrofit for guitars. I’d love to control patch changes wirelessly by turning a knob or pressing a button on my guitar. Or put the transmitter on my guitar strap, right on the wireless unit I’m already using!
Hey Line6, if you use my ideas you owe me a beer. And one of these new units. And a pony.
The 1 Uppers will be performing this Saturday at Slim’s. As part of my preparation for this weekend’s gig I’m doing some practicing at home. It’s also an opportunity to continue the fine-tunining of the pedalboard. We are likely to surprise the audience with a few new items, and naturally you’ll be hearing some favorites as well. The band has been working on recording a CD and we’re making good progress on it. Hopefully we’ll be ready to begin mixing and mastering this recording in the next month or so. I still need to finish up some solos and stuff, so a couple more studio days loom in the near distance. Come on out this weekend and hear The 1 Uppers!
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This weekend we extended our subscription to The Seattle Opera through the 2010-2011 season. The operas scheduled for next season are all wonderful selections:
- Tristan and Isolde (Wagner)
- Lucia de Lammermoor (Donizetti)
- Barber of Seville (Rossini)
- Don Quixote (Massenet)
- The Magic Flute (Mozart)
I’m unfamiliar with the Donizetti opera, so this will be an interesting first exposure to it. The others are absolute classics and very familiar to music majors. I recall analyzing The Magic Flute for several weeks in a cross-functional music / history class. For the Rossini opera, we’ll be studying “The Rabbit of Seville” to ensure we’ve got our scalp-massage choreography ready.
If you’re inclined to see an opera for the first time, I recommend The Barber of Seville as a great starting point. If you’re looking for something with vocal pyrotechnics, get tickets for The Magic Flute.
