Archive for the 'Music' Category

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change of time, change of scenery?

Published on March 9, 2008 in Family & Friends, Music, Random Thoughts and Work. Closed Tags: , , , .

Next week, not this week, is Spring break for Chicago public schools. Sarah has just given notice at her job (seems like a sinking ship, doing what it can to cut costs by cutting hours). We think we should take another road-trip/vacation… last year was our trek across Missouri. Where should we go this time? Sarah wants to go somewhere “green,” so I guess maybe we need to head somewhat South-ish? At some point, we want to go see Mom, with Sarah’s mom, but that’ll wait until we all make some time at the same time and Mom has her guest room ready… and New England is probably no more green than it is here.

I walked around the Y and changed all the clocks, again, today. Last time the time changed, I was late for work when my clock changed on the wrong weekend. It was too smart for its own good. My new clock has a daylight savings time mode, so I got there with no problem… and I think we only had one guy show up late because he hadn’t changed his clocks.

And yes, the amp and equipment and stuff all still seems to be working great, I’ve got a couple opportunities to go play with some people in the city this week… to try some stuff out, see if there’s a good fit. I plugged my bass into my computer and played along with some tracks yesterday. It was fun. Looking forward to playing with people… hoping something comes together.

guess what all still works

Published on March 6, 2008 in moBlog and Music. Closed Tags: , .

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I leave, things close

Published on December 18, 2007 in Family & Friends and Music. Closed Tags: , , , .

java hutIt’s not as tragic as when I went to college and came back to find out Eleni’s Midnite Cafe was about to close, but finding out a couple days before a visit home that the Java Hut is going to close after this weekend is a little sad. I can’t say it’s shocking or earth-shattering, but it’s not good news. I spent a lot of time there. The Overtones were, essentially, born there, out of the ashes of Just For Sundae and our devotion to making the Open Mic happen by running the list and donating PA equipment. I’ve added it to my list of things to do while back east. I hope they can still make me a good sandwich. One myspace bulletin with a rumor led to a google search that brought up a surprising amount of blogs about the closing… so here I am joining the blogwagon again.

Here are some Java Hut related Overtones tracks:

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and here are some of my pictures from the Java Hut

and we’re back

Published on November 12, 2007 in Family & Friends, Music, Photo and Web. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

hacked… something about world writable folders, lots of accounts, not just mine. I didn’t even know I had any world writable ones. I had to go through and change them all and then test things to make sure everything still worked. I’m still doing it now, actually. After I post this, I gotta see if it worked and see if all the logs worked and then experiment with posting from the phone again. It took a lot of time and effort because my backup wouldn’t quite restore correctly. Had to kinda build a place for the site from scratch and then import it in piece by piece. Anyway, I think it’s all back now.

Thankfully this happened early Saturday morning, so I was completely distracted by the fact that I was going to see They Might Be Giants. It was a great show and brought back a lot of memories of some good times. Unfortunately, driving to a show in Chicago is worse than driving to a show in Boston. We learned our lesson though (took an hour to find parking). Next time, we’ll take the train in from O’Hare or go out early and make a day-long event out of it. They almost wouldn’t let Sarah in because she had her Diana camera with her. But she convinced them that it wasn’t going to take any high quality videos of the band, that it was basically a toy, and they let her in. The venue was cool, nice balcony seats and a few benches throughout the floor area. We were there a little too late to snag a seat for ourselves… again, lesson learned. It was a real treat to see them with the horn section. I do kinda miss the Eric and Graham/Hal days, but the Dans are good, there’s no denying it. The banter was as witty as ever.

Enjoying my day off, so far. The tentative plan was to catch up on all the TV shows we’re behind on. We’ll see what really happens once Sarah gets up and we get motivated (or don’t :) ). Got another Adventure Ed overnight this week (and next week). There’s pictures from last week’s trip on the gallery (mostly taken by the kids). There’s more staff lined up for this week, so I should be able to take more myself.

Rockin’ like it’s 1997

Published on October 31, 2007 in Family & Friends and Music. Closed Tags: , .

Back when I was still in school, mostly the UMASS days, I would make a point of seeing They Might Be Giants if they played within 45-200 miles of where I was. I made friends that I still keep in touch with, through our mutual love for TMBG and our involvement in the various online newsgroups, chats, and web forums dedicated to the band. I enjoyed their live performances before I actually appreciated what it was like to be a performer in a rock band and continued to be impressed by their abilities after I had played in several bands. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a Giants show, but Sarah was looking for possible gift ideas for me and we found that they were playing in Chicago, next Saturday. We bought a couple tickets, today. They weren’t doing the kids-specific albums back when I saw them, but there were plenty of kids at the all ages venues I’d see them at. My favorite solution to the kids-in-a-bar situation was at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT. The stage was at one side of the room, the all-ages crowd filled in a large space between the stage and the opposite wall, but the bar was on that wall, so they erected a net around the bar which only had one opening in it, where the staff was checking IDs. Nowadays, they have their shows with very specific age restrictions/policies. This show is a 14+ show, should be fun; Seriously looking forward to it…

back east trip journal; entry no. 2

Published on August 25, 2007 in Family & Friends and Music. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Today was yard sale day. It was also in the 90s and the heat index made it close to unbearable outside. We didn’t have as many customers as we’d hoped, but at least a bunch of the sorting and lifting is already done. There’s plans for a bigger, better yard sale in early October. I don’t think I’ll be out here to help, but I feel like I’ve done my part. It may not have been an immense amount of work, but the heat over the last two days has made it feel like an extremely immense job.

After the sale, I took a much needed shower and then headed off to Worcester. I explored a little, to rekindle some Worcester memories, mostly of the times when I lived out there, which is really getting to be a long time ago. My final destination was the Java Hut, where Mark and Raianne were playing tonight. The place was pretty crowded and kinda warm. I got a milkshake on the way in, and it didn’t settle very well… too sweet or something. The opening performers were pretty decent, but in the middle of Raianne’s set I got a phone call from Sarah (about this awesome all night flea market she was attending) and some douchebags stole my seat while I was outside. I stood for a few more songs, but the combination of the heat and the milkshake eating my insides and the fact that I was standing after a ridiculously long day out in the ridiculously hot heat was just too much… so I got in the car and headed back to Mom’s. It’s past my bedtime, anyway.

Plans are starting to dwindle.
I think tomorrow’s itinerary includes sleeping …maybe some eating …possibly getting dressed.

Trip and ToDo Lists

Published on August 5, 2007 in Family & Friends, Music and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Things that I’d like to accomplish back east:

  • help Mom with stuff for the Yard Sale
  • visit Camp Foskett
  • visit the Hock Teen Center & Camp Elmwood
  • catch The Bangles @ the Woodstock Fair (sweet)
  • take pictures @ the Woodstock Fair (hopefully better than theirs)
  • see some Wormtown music (maybe a Wormtown Wednesday)
  • hang out with whoever says they miss me

Northeast Stuff to acquire and bring home:

  • Devil Dogs
  • Peggy Lawton Cookies
  • Coffee Syrup
  • Moxie & other Polar Sodas

Find and bring home:

  • folding chair with footrest
  • last year’s Nalgene bottle with the good lid

Before I leave:

  • make sure I have coverage at the Y
  • get new sneakers
  • load up iPod with audiobooks/new music
  • get new iPod mount for car

What’d I forget?

sorry I missed it!

Published on February 3, 2007 in Family & Friends and Music. Closed Tags: , .

I usually don’t forget, it must be the new environment. Yesterday was Groundhog Day. I haven’t even looked up what the result was yet, but the real tragedy is that I didn’t listen to Pookey Bleum’s brilliant, yet danceable, February 2nd. I remember waking up everyone who lived with me on at least one occasion by putting the song on repeat, extremely loud, until they gave in to it’s power and got up and danced and said, “Hey!”

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warm weather, mmm

Published on November 7, 2006 in Computers, Family & Friends, Music and Web. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Doing lots of cleaning and packing this week. Gonna pack up the mac and zombie (which now has a legal copy of Windows on it, due to a find while cleaning a closet) as well as a couple basses, and at least the top half of my bass amp. Those things plus most of my clothes and maybe all my movies/books/etc. will come in the car with me, out to Chicago, and stay out there. I’ll come back after Thanksgiving and clean out everything else that’s here. Looks like that means everything, too, cause nothing seems to be happening on the sublet front. I got an extra day to clean due to a day of work being rained out. It’s decreased the pressure of the whole cleaning/packing situation, and made it seem a lot easier to accomplish. It’s been pretty easy so far, but there’s definitely a lot to be done.

Hey look! My girlfriend’s a model (perks of working for Threadless, I guess):

Sarah models threadless shirt

I’m very excited about being with Sarah, and the job hunting, and the trip to Florida for Thanksgiving… should I try to contact my brother and see him while we’re there? Or my uncle? or both? I’m not sure.. brother Ernie is not really good at keeping in touch. It could prove to be more trouble than it’s worth. I’ll give it an honest attempt.

listening party?

Published on November 2, 2006 in Music and Random Thoughts. Closed Tags: , , , .

I got the 5.1 speakers hooked up to my TV earlier this year, and have been pleasantly surprised by the occasional movie or TV show that makes really good use of the surround sound. Even when it’s not used well, like that weird Wal-mart commercial I was watching, where all the sound suddenly shifted to the back speakers for no apparent reason, it’s still kinda cool. It creeps me out for a second, and then I remember that there’s speakers back there and it’s intriguing. Sometimes I just think about the guy who mixed the sound, and what was going through his head while he was putting sound back there.

Today, I listened to two old albums in a very different way. A few years ago, a bunch of us tried to get the necessary CD players and coordination to play the Flaming Lips four disc album the way it was meant to be played… but it proved a bit too difficult to really experience it as intended. So I was thrilled to find out that it wasn’t just a fluke or a phase for them, and that they’ve re-released a couple albums in 5.1 surround sound. Not only that, but the liner notes include these big long explanations of the entire concept and the mindset and the steps that led to this style of recording. They also included maps explaining what kind of stuff got mixed where and a little bit of why and how. It’s a lot of fun, and it makes me want to tweak my speaker set-up so that it’s just right.

So, does anyone want to come over and listen to this stuff? It’ll motivate me to clean and pack faster if I know company is coming, I think. It’ll be a listening party… I’m not sure when I might have time, but lemme know if you’re interested.

woot