Last Gig of the Year

Tomorrow I will be headed out to Galveston to play at the Gravity Bar.

I am there from 2 to 8pm & then they have an open mic night.

I am hoping it will a busy sunday since the weather is supposed to be nicer & it is a 3 day weekend.


Who knows?

I will find out tomorrow.

keeping up with stella

My guitar amp was sounding kind of weak. I thought it was being drowned out by the bass amp that I just started noticing the high notes were sounding really weak so I decided to swap out the tubes.

Not all the Tubes. Just the two power tubes which in this case woud be Groove Tube EL84s. It is a small amp and just has two power tubes and I think 3 pre-amp tubes. I left the pre-amp tubes alone but I had a set of Groove Tubes with a 5 rating. I had been using 4s but they were out last time I went to buy some so I went with the 5s.

They rate them between 1 & 10 with 10 being the cleanest. The lower numbered ones break up easier and provide a little better blues tone. The heavy meatal players would like the higher rated ones.

Groove Tube is a company buys a bunch of tubes and tests them and matches up the sets. I have been using the EL84-S version. They have some that are called R's also which are made in Russia and I like them in my Pre-Amp Section of this amp. The Russian made ones are a little cheaper but since I have been happy with the sound, I have been trying to stay with the same tubes.

I try to buy a set as soon as I replace them so I will have a back up set in case one goes out.

I know most people aren't going to be that interested in my tubes but so what. I got nothing else to talk about right now except maybe my bass amp cabinet that I just put togeather.

My Carvin 15" 600 Watt Speaker came in the Mail (UPS) and I put in in a Speaker Box. I had an old Radio Shack 15 inch PA Speaker but it was worn out so I decided to make a bass cabinet out of it & see how it s0unded.

I did put some strips of 1x2' wood in it to reinforce it and break up the midrage coloration & I also stapled some fiberglass filler on the walls to deaden it a little. I have a book about making speaker boxes that I bought at Radio Shack several years ago. It has all kinds of formulas for figuring out box and port size but I just decided to try this out and see how it sounds. If it doesn't work I can always build another box.

It sounds pretty good at home & I will find out how it works at the gig this weekend. I will keep my other bass cab sitting on top of it and experiment by switching back and forth to see how they compare & also try using both at the same time. The Gravity Bar is an open air type place so I can get away with it being a little louder at the source and still not blowing everybody way.

I am also experimenting with using my other Twin Reverb as a guitar amp & have been experimenting at home usine a dual amp set-up. I can use both amps or either one by itself and I like having the extra options but I may not do it at to many show since I already have alot of stuff to haul around. I will know more how I feel about it after I play a few gigs.

I wish my Blues Junior had the tilt back legs like the Twin Reverb. I am thinkin about making a stand for it so I can tilt it back. They sell em at the Guitar Store but I don't want to spend any more money than I have to right now since I have had to buy several things lately.

Is all this keeping you on the edge of your seat?

I didn't think so.

It is not good for your back anyway.

Well, I just made some pop corn so I think I will eat it now.


Keep the faith.

More Amazing News

That's what you want so that's what you get.

The first big news is that I built a cart.

Excieted?

Well, There is more.

It is collapsable. The walls will fold down so I can load it in my truck.

Keep your cool here. I know that is alot of news but Somebody has to live in my world.

It should make it much easier to load up my equipment and since I used hinges for the sides, I can more easily fit it in my truck.

I started thinking about it when I played at the Balinese and the actual club is a long walking distance (Relatively) from where I Parked (on land).

I bought one of those furniture movers with four caster type wheels. They swivel and roll. I took the wheels off and put them on some 2x4s and put a piece of plywood on top of that. Then I used hinges from Home Depot to connect the side walls. I connected the front and back walls with hinges so that when you fold the side walls down then the front walls fold down on top of them.

I will keep you updated on this exciting information. Email me if you have questions.

Since I had bought a more powerful bass amp I decided I needed an additional Speaker Cabinet for it & I purchased a 600 Watt Speaker from Carvin (carvin.com) I am going to put it in a PA speaker box that I already have and see how it sounds. I will probably use it and the speaker box that I already have. At least in bigger venues anyway. My current speaker is rated at 400 watts so I will be a little less worried about the 600 watts speaker getting fried by the 450 watt amp. Probably wont happen but if it did I would be dead in the water and you know we don't want that.

I also stopped by Radio Shack and bought some connectors to make a new speaker cable. I already have some speaker wire so I will probably solder that tonight depending on how I feel.


There you have it. Enough Exciting news to keep you going for weeks.

I am playing my third anual Eve of Christmas Eve (Dec 23rd) Concert this Saturday night at the Stag's Head Pub. Stop on by if you get tired of the corporate hype and have an ale or soda pop. They make some good food also. It is an authentic English Pub with barstools and everything.

Return Policy

Hey,

It's me again.

Marc.


I took it easy today except for unloading my equipment and also driving over to Guitar Center.

Last night at the Balinese in Galveston my new bass amp went out again. Just went dead.

Luckily it was when I was setting up and checking my sound so I had time to go out and get my back-up amp. It is a guitar amp but I can use it to power my bass cabinet in a pinch. And I was in a pinch. I was playing as part of a presentation that included a Photoagraphy Slide Show by Jon Steele and also a live performance by Herb'nPipeline, a rockin Reggea band from Corpus so I had set slot of time and no time for major equipment failure.

I have really only heard good things about the GK amps but after the same thing happening two times in less than 3 weeks, I decided to return it and get another brand. I went with a Behringer 4500 which is a 450 watt model. More power than I need but hopefully not more power than my bass cab can handle.

I will keep you up to date on how it all works out.

The gig at the Balinese turned out to be a good one. They moved at the last minute to the Casino Bar which is where there used to be a casino and I think Howard Hughes even hung out there.

Everybody was very cool. Jon Steele is a very positive guy and did a great job putting the event togeather as well as bring a hell of a slide show of his photagraphy. He travels the world and takes pictures of Surfers and waves. His work is featured in the Surfing Magazines.

The band Herb'nPipeline turned out to be some cool guys also. The bass player even offered to loan me his amp when he found out that mine had just gone kaput.

They played good music and all were very supportive.

It was an overall great event and I thank Jon Steele for inviting me to participate.

The only drawback to playing at the historic Balinese Room is that it is a long way from the Seawall out to the end of the pier where the clubs are. It is a long hallway or you can take the outside route and walk just above the crashing waves. It was foggy out there last night and too wet to go outside.

I need to build a cart that I can carry my stuff with. I used a furniture mover cart last night and just set a large plastic tub on it and threw stuff in that.




OK . I am starting to ramble.

The time has come to be gone.

Howdy

Hey,


I don't know who is reading this but I hope you are doing fine.

It has been a while since I typed antything out and posted it here. I have been busy mostly with stuff & also some things. Not to mention other stuff also. So you can see how busy I have been. Right?

I went and saw the Casino Royal James Bond Movie. I liked it OK. It is a good movie but I was disapointed that they didn't have that many gadgets. They had a car but didn't really show too much in the way of cool buttons or switches. Also they didn't have a cool watch or a briefcase. No special Shoes. Nothing like that.

My new bass amp that I wrote about in the post just below this one went out on me about a week ago. Last Sunday, I played one song at the Gravity Bar and then it just died. No smoke, Sparks, or anything else dramatic. It just went dead. The light would not even come on.

I went over to Guitar Center on Monday and found Jeremy, the dude who sold it to me, and he swapped it out for another one. I think it was just a fluke. Everybody says that Galian Kruger makes good products so I am just thankful that they were cool about it. I had bought about 32 days ago and the return policy listed on the receipt sad 14 days. It does have a 2 year warranty but I would have had to buy another one while warranty work was done and then I guess just return that one. Luckily I had an extra Twin Reverb that I used as a back up and it worked very well. I am not sure that it doesn't sound better than the GK but I don't want to use it for a bass amp. I like having it as a back-up for my guitar amp, bass amp, and PA. I had hooked it up to my Bass Speaker Cab and there was no problem.

I am headed over to Mollys Pub later tonight and then tomorrow I am playing a set at the Balinese Room in Galveston as part of a Presentation by Jon Steele, a Well known Surfing Photographer. I am not sure what to expect but it should be fun. I am opening for a Reggea Band called HerbnPipeline (Urban Pipeline) which is somewhat of a rocking Surf type band. I will find out more when I get there.



Thats about all the news I got for now.

Except last night I was outside on my driveway and the geese were flying over. It was foggy so I couldnt see them but they were low and honking quite a bit.

If I only had a Brain

I decided to practice a little last night for the One Man Band Show & I went to turn on my Bass Amp & It made a clicking noise but no sound. It would work for a second right when turned on but then something inside it would click & it would go dead.

I can't afford to worry about things not working so I decided to buy a new amp to replace it. I can still use the Cabinet from my Carvin Amp but will power it with this thing I bought today at Guitar Center. Jeremy over there in Guitars at the Westheimer Location helped me and was real cool about everything.

I took it home and plugged it in and it seems to sound pretty good. It has a button to push for active pickups & I like that & it has more tone controls than I had before. It also has a direct out that I can run to a PA System if I play in in a large venue that has it's own sound.

From what I could tell today, It does sound better than my Carvin. The Carvin was a good amp though. I bought it 3 years ago and it has seen quite a bit of work. Nearly 200 gigs & also used it to practice on also. It was a good value and I am not mad that it wore out. I may send the chassis to them and see if they can repair it.

The new amp is also slightly more powerful & has more effects. I don't know if I will use them but it basically has more features and was a good match to my existing speaker Cab.

Thats all I got for now. I will know more better how it sounds after the gig Saturday but I am pretty optimistic at this point.

2 votes for Kinky

I had the day off today from work so I decided to go ahead and vote early.


I heard the Repulican Radio DJs all talking about John Kerry but for some strange reason I didn't see his name on the ballot.

It felt good to vote so we celebrated by heading over to Katy Mills Mall and buying a couple of slices of Cheese Pizza. I have eaten there a few times before going to the movies & I know the trick is to ask them to stick it in the oven for an extra minute or two and burn the cheese a little.

We went over the the Movie Theater but I didn't see anything that was starting anytime soon that I wanted to see. We walked around the mall & went into the SPCA and looked at some cats & that was about it for our voting celebration festivities.

I also took a few minutes to fill out my KPFT listener ballot to elect board members. That was a little less fun. They had a statement from each canditdate and it didn't sound like any of them are hugely big on music.

All that voting has made me tired.

I guess I better take a nap.

Maybe I will eat a peice of chocolate.

No, I think I will wait til after I wake up.

Maybe I could have one peiece now and one when I get up.

Now you know what it is like to be wired into my brain.

If you gotta know all my business, I am planning to practice a little & then load up the equipment for tomorrow's gig in Conroe.

The Space that Belongs to Me

Hey,

I opened up a MYSPACE Bands Page.

I never thought I was a MYSPACE kind of dude but they allow songs to be posted for free & I thought I would try it out.

If you want to check it out go to www.myspace.com/marctwymanonemanband


I have four songs on there from the CD if you want to hear em.

OK,

Now get back to work!

The Positive Side

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." (Dr. Hunter S. Thompson)

I got that quote from the Blog for the Gavleston Music Scene web page. I don't know if it is completely acurate but I like the way it sounds.

This past weekend was a good one on the Strand. First of all, my old artist friend (that I am not really friends with) walked by and stuck his head in the Gravity Bar when I was playing. I spoke to him but he seemed a little shy to say anything back. Still it has been a while since I saw him and it makes me feel good to know he is still out there doing his thing.

Got a chance to chat with some of the other local regulars also & that was cool also.

There were a brother and sister that showed up right when I started playing & they ended up hanging out for about 4 hours. Roger & Lisa. They are from East Texas and Lisa told me that she had just lost her husband a month and a half ago & Roger brought her out to the island to help them relax. Seems like a pretty decent thing for a brother a brother to do but I got the impression that they enjoyed hanging out togeather anyway. They turned out to be "Good People" Roger had a few drinks along the way & was making quite a bit of noise & I think quite a few people actualy came in since it sounded like a real party. After about 4 hours he seemed like he had enjoyed a fair number of beverages and he started getting even rowdier. When ever someone would leave he would yell at them to "Tip the Band" at one point he went out in front of the bar and started hawking or whatever it is they call it when carnival people advertise on the street. He was actually giving people hell if they didn't come in.

He was trying to help me do good. I guess it is his nature. I never met him before and I really don't know him but I was touched by what he did. Not because I wanted him to harrass customers but becuase for whatever reason he was trying to do something to help me. It was cool thing to kind of hang out with these folks and it made me feel good that I could make them feel good for a few hours.

I was glad to have a good gig since last week was real Cloyster Fork if you know what I mean. I was playing downtown at a place that I will call the Dancing CockRoach & someone that was sitting at a table with the owner requested that I play a particular song & since I didn't know the song and never want to learn it I responded with some of my well test marketed humor. They didn't get it I guess and by the next song they told me to get the hell out & were extremely rude about it. I was scheduled to start at 10 and by 10:25 the show was over.

Instead of not paying me, They wanted to make the Phuc U official by telling the manager to pay me $5.

The funny thing is that these people loved to do news stories about how they were helping the New Orleans Musicans.

I guess they don't feel the same love to Houston Musicians.

Still they had been drinking & maybe it was just the liquor talking.

I did get to meet a very nice guy named Oscar who works there. He worked in the Kitchen and he gave me a tip and also offered to make me some food. He seemed upset that I didn't take him up on it. I really wasn't hungry at the time but what a hell of a nice gesture.


This my friends is why I lam on this Quest. I don't actually have a destination that I know of but I am loving the journey.

Out here there are no stars.

This is the land where the Pharoh died.

LC & KW

I normally don't watch the smooth jazz show that comes on channel 11 sometimes but I had it on earlier with the sound down & I noticed they were featuring guitar players.

I turned it up and it was Larry Carlton & Kirk Whalum doing a song called "Cold Duck"

I have a couple of Larry Carlton LPs but I would have never recognized him. He used to have long hair & now it is short and gray. I always thought he was a good guitar player but I never realized how he could really rip it up. He was doing some strong shit. It was a funk jazz kind kind of sound coming from the bass & drums. They had a keyboard player also but Larry was playing some serious blues riffs and his technical ability is amazing. Very Clean but still mean.

Kirk Whalum was wailing also but I didn't turn it up in time to hear most of what he did.


Thats all I got right now. Got work to do.

Memorial Drive

I stopped by the Shakespeare Pub Sunday night for a couple of hours. Not a whole lot of customers but there were a few musicians. I played a few tunes with the house band members but it was not the House Band set. Little Screamin Kenny was showing me a guitar that he is thinking about purchasing & he wanted to play it so he sat in. Spare Time Murry is also the host of the jam was playing bass guitar and MC, Matt, was playing drums. A dude named Flash came up after a while and played keyboards.

It was kind of a fun jam. I started out with a Screamin Kenny Standard, "Too Tall to Mambo" I had never played it before in a band setting but I knew the words from hearing him do it quite a few times over the years.

It was louder than what I would normally play & there was no monitor so it was kind of hard to hear the vocals but I am better at dealing with that than I used to be. It is just kind of wierd to have to imagine what something sounds like instead of actually hearing it.

I was playing through my 15 watt Fender Blues Junior & it wasn't really cutting through real well with all the other bigger amps but there was planty of music coming from all the other guys that it wasn't a big deal. It was probably louder than it sounded to me since I was standing in front of the drums.

There was a dude who played before me that just plugged his guitar into the house amp with out turning any dials or tuning it up. It was kind of funny that he almost didn't play becuase he couldn't get his guitar case open. Thats the kind of entertainment you can get at these jam sessions. I find it better than TV.

Even when a jammer is really bad. It can be entertaining. It is more entertainment if the are really bad or Bad enough to be good.

I know when I first started going to the Jam Sessions over 12 years ago, I probably provided some of that type of "good" entertainment.

I have seen some pretty good players show up at Jam Sessions. Over the years at the Shakespeare Pub I have seen Chris Duarte, Michael Williams, Carollyn Wonderland, Joe Guitar Hughes, & quite a few other notables.

OK I gotta go.

Carvin Amplifier

My fellow Earthlings.

How do you do?

About 3 years ago in December I sent off for a Carvin Bass Amplifier. It is a relatively small amp. 100 Watts and a 15 inch speaker. It has been a good value and I have gotten good use out of it. I use it to practice and have used it for all fom my live One Man Band Shows & also about a dozen full band gigs also.

The bass guitar that I use has active pick-ups. I didn't plan to have active pick-ups or even think about it. It just happened that the Bass Guitar that I ended up with has em. There are some electronics inside the guitar and it uses one of those square 9 volt batteries. I think it is becuase of the active pick-ups that I get feed back when the bass guitar is close to the amp. It wouldn't be as much of a problem if I played the regular way. At least I don't think it would. To deal with this problem I have to place the amp at a certain distance and it seems to take care of it. The problem with having the amp off at a distance is that I can not reach over and adjust the volume or tone during the song. & even between songs it doesn't really work to have to get up, walk over, and make adjustments.

It is what is called a "Combo" amp. It has the amplifer and the speaker in one unit.

I decided to build a box tha would hold the amplifer part and run a speaker wire to the speaker. It will allow me to place it on the stage and be able to reach over and make adjustments much easier during the gig.

Today I went to Home Depot and bought a board, some wood glue and some screws and made a box and it seems to work like that just fine. I haven't painted it yet. I was thinking of painting it black but I am not sure I want to take it apart and paint it.

It will be a big help at certian times. One exmaple would be when I start playing & the venue doesn't have alot of poeple but then a crowd starts to build up.

People actually have a big effect on the acoustics of a room/venue. They actually absorb some of the sound or deaden it a little & some situations there is a lot of chatter. In a situation like that I would need to turn up the volume on all the instruments.

I guess the other situation is if I run all the customers off and need to turn it down.

Tuesday night Blues Jam

Seems like they should call it Tuesnight.

Something about the Day/Night combonation.

It doesn't seem to work for Sunday. The Sun/Night clash is obvious so the rule of common sense would apply. I like FriNight & WedNight (pronounced WesNight) but Monday is still going to have to be Monday Night.

I willl see if I can organize group of scholars to make it official.


They have had a blues jam on Tuesday nights down the street at the Abbey Pub. It used to be called Jeff's Sports Bar but he sold it and the new owner re-designed it and tore out the bar and a wall and made open all the way accross the bar is on the side instead of the middle.

I got there after 10:30 & I think what was the House band was still playing but a jammer or two sitting in. There was a dude in the middle of the stage playing bongos but I couldn't really hear him. They had him miked but I think the bongos were not close enough. I found myself watching him play and imagining what it would sound like.

I didn't know the drummer but I met him and he was a nice guy. Larry (from all the House Bands) was playing Bass. He is really good. That is about the best way I know how to say it. The young guy they call AppleHead was playing guitar and Orq Hisown Self was also playing Guitar. I don't know Orq but I am a fan of his music.

Barry Felt was there, a drummer dude I have know for maybe 7 or 8 years from the Blues Jams. I think I met him at the Shakespeare Pub but he used to also hang out the Jam Sessions that the 420 Band hosted in NW Houston.

I got to play a few tunes with Barry & Larry. It was great fun. Barry is really getting good at the blues shuffle on drums & Larry is an absolutely fabulous Bass Player. He has played with some of the best acts around town.

There were a couple of other "Jammers" there. They got up and played guitar & Harmonica & sang several tunes & then it was over.

The Flapper

The other day I noticed that our toilet was running after it was supposed to stop. It is the same age as our house and is about 14 years old has been a good toilet. The only mechanical problem I had ever had with was when the arm inside the tank broke a couple of times. It is the one that connected to the flusher handle. I had replaced it a couple of times & finally broke down & bought the metal one instead of the plastic and it has held up great.

I looked inside the tank and realized that it was time for an overhaul. It had one of those bulb type floats hooked up to a wire arm & the part that is supposed to close up when it gets full had a worn out rubber washer/gasket. I went to my local Home Depot yesterday and purchased a kit with a new type of flapper and float design.

I started taking it apart and when I took a good look at the new kit, I realized that it didn't have enough parts and the ones it did have were not compatible with my old parts. Still, I went ahead and took the tank off and took it outside and washed it out with the hose.

Today I went back to Home Depot to return the kit I had purchased and get a more complete one that had all the parts. I was waiting to speak to the Home Depot associate and there was a lady who had a clogged toilet and was discussing what type of Drano to buy. The guy was trying to tell her that nothing he had was really good for the type of clog she was talking about but I don't think he wanted to say anything bad about the products they had to offer. She kept asking basically the same question over and over and he wasn't really coming out and telling her what he was trying to say so I spoke up and told the lady that a liquid plumber probably wasn't going to do the job & She could try putting a garden hose down the toilet and then get someone to turn it on while she had it crimped & let the pressure build up in the hose and give a few blasts and see if that worked. The Home Depot dude said that sounded like a good thing to try so she finally left.

I got the complete kit and returned the other one and when I got home from work today I was able to complete the toilet overhaul and am now back in business.

My life may not be completely in order but my toilet sure as hell is.

Saturday Day

I haven't seen "Gus", The old artist dude for several weeks now. I hoping all is going well for him. I don't know if he was an actual rent payer so he may have been run off by the powers that be on the strand. Some of the artists actually pay rent to shopowners and have a spot reserved every week. I will be back out there Saturday October 28th. If he is not out there, I will probably ask around a little & see if anybody has seen him. If I do see him, I probably won't talk to him all that much but since I may not be out there on the Strand until next summer, I may spend a few extra minutes bothering him. He seems to not mind the attention as long as he doesn't have anybody looking at his art.

It was my first time to play on a Saturday. Parking is free on Sundays so I assumed it was on Saturdays also. There were some folks putting money into the parking meter receipt/pass dispensor & I told them it was free on the weekends. The guy pointed to the sign that said "Mon- Sat" & I stood there and looked at it like the Dumber Dude from Dumb and Dumber. Then I went ahead and got me a ticket.

It was a good day for the Blues as far as customers during the day at the Gravity Bar. They had a band called D.R.U.M (Devine Rhythm & I don't remember what the other two letters stand for). They set up while I was breaking down. They were playing on the stage at the other side of the Gravity Bar where the actual stage is located. I was set up in an area closer to the strand sidewalk so there was no problem getting in each others way. I heard them do a sound check & They did Bob Marley's "War" & they sounded very good. I would have stuck around but I was exhausted & Still need to drive home.

Thats all for now. I have to run a few errands & get out and about & enjoy the nice weather.

Howdy

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Or whatever the case may be.


It is a nice morning here in Katy Texas. The humidity is down a little bit and it feels good outside.


I just got my CD order back from Dallas. It is pretty much the same CD as I had before but I had a little mastering work done by Rock Romano & I also took one of the songs off that didn't really sound that good to me. I had recorded it using just the guitar only & it just didn't flow. Not that it was bad because it didn't have the bass & Drums. I just didn't get into the smooth rhythm. Maybe I wasn't tapping my foot & feeling it or something but I know it will be better when I do it next time. Besides, If a person is going to record a Robert Johnson song or song of his style, It really needs to be right. I th ink it was towards the end of the day when we did that one & It may have been that I was getting a little tired.

Brandon Shannon had really done me a huge favor and spent an entire Sunday setting up and recording back in December of 2005. He has now moved to Hawai and I need to drop him an email to see how he is doing. I met him when he was the sound man for the Armadillo Palace and he really is a good guy to know & hang out with.


The other cool thing that I had mentioned some time back is that when I contacted a local company here and asked about pricing of Duplicating/printing the physical CD itself, I got an email in response and it turned out to be from an old friend of mine from Dallas. It was complete fluke. I had been in contact with Marvin Shapiro from time to time but probably hadn't talked to him in a couple of years. He was a college friend of mine & we drank alot of beer & also did quite a bit of fishing at the local cow ponds & area lakes in East Texas.

It was great to have Marvin be involved in my CD & he really took care of me this time & I really appreciate his help but mostly it was cool just to have a reason to call him a few times and work on something togeather. If I ever get the money to make a DVD, I am going to ask him to do the camera part of it. It will probably be kind of expensive since I will need a sound recording dude and also the filming part and then have to get the sound part mastered and then edited to get the best parts. I really think that will be the best thing to use to show what I do so people can see the one-man-band aspect but also get to hear studio quality type sound.





Thats all for now.

Politics

I don't really watch that much sports anymore. I was Houston Oilers fan for a long time but when they up and moved it made me realize that it was really a business and the team didn't belong to the city or the fans. It kind of made me think about being a sports fan a little differently.

I was still rooting for the Houston Astros have another miracle comeback this season & I still will watch the rockets from time to time but it just isn't the same.

Yesterday, One of the NFL Players for Tennesse stomped on an oposing players head with his shoe and they had to give the guy 31 stitches. To punish the guy they suspended him for 5 games. http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/cp_f10029A.xml.html


I heard about the story on the news this morning and the newscaster dude said that it was a shame that children had to see stuff like this. I thought it was funny that alot more children were going to see it being re-played on the news in slow motion. It is kind of sickening to me when news people try to talk about caring about children or caring about Texas. They don't give a damn about anyone. If you think they care about you, wait til you are newsworthy & see how much they care. Do you want a news camera there pointed at you when you are being wheeled into an ambulance? Why do poeple need to see that anyway. Isn't it good enough to know someone got smashed up and may die or do you need a picture?

Speaking of caring about children. What about Congressman Mark Foley? He was on a committee to protect expoited children. I am sure he went to church every Sunday. Seems like the people who pretend to be the most moral turn out to be the wierdos.

Thats is another reason to trust Kinky Friedman. With a name like "Kinky" it is almost impossible that he will ever turn out to be a depraved pervert & even if he did he probably wouldn't be breaking a campaign promise.

Henry Ford

After an exhuastive research endeavor at the Entermazement Labratories, I have come up with an inovation to dampen the sound coming out of my Fender Blues Junior Guitar Amplifer.

Don't let the name fool you. It can still get pretty dang loud.

It is a tube amplifer. With tube amps you tend to get a better tone by turning them up at least a little bit.


I am using a dampening device that has polyester fibers tightly meshed into a flexible rubber backing. I place the fiber side towards the speaker & prop it up with the vocal mic stand.

It is hard to tell from the stage but it seems to be doing the job.

Another great thing about this device is that it also works well as the passenger side floor mat on my truck.

Warm WInd

If you hadn't noticed, It is pretty dang windy today. Not the cool breeze you would hope for at this time of year either.

Yesterday, I stopped by Bennos on the Seawall to get a Fish Poboy & the wind was coming in from the water pretty strong. It was sunny and not alot of clouds but all of the sudden it started pouring down rain. I have most of my stuff that really can't get wet in the front of the truck but I do keep the PA speakers and a my bass amp in the back but I put them in 55 Gallon Trash bags. I just slip the bags over the speakers & then I put a plywood sign over that. I specifically made it to use as a cover and a sign both.

I still don't like the thought of anything getting wet so I keep a Tarp in the truck also incase it is really bad. I ran out and started putting the tarp over everything and by the time I was done, It had stopped raining.

It tured out that one of the guys working in the kitchen was one of the dudes that I wrote about in my blog a couple of weeks ago that had come in late to Whiskys Pub. I think his name is Marino. He is a musician also and has a gig at the Balanese Room tonight.

It was good Po-boy. I was really just trying to order the sandwich but I guess it normally comes with French Fries, Cole Slaw, & Hush Puppies so I guess I got my carbos for the day in one meal.

On my way out to Galveston yesterday, I stopped by Rock Romano's Red Shack Recording Studio and picked up my CD. He had done kind of a Budget Remaster & eliminated some of the hissing noises, Cleaned up the begining and endings of songs & Did some minor EQ adjustments & took out some of the real low end bass. He also adjusted the levels of all the songs so that they are equally hot. The other thing I wanted to do was change the order of the songs on the CD so that there was a little more variation between tracks. I had all the slow ones togeather last time & I realized it needed to be changed.

It is mostly stuff that most people wont notice but it really does make the CD easier to listen to as a whole & I am really happy with it. There are a couple of songs in particular that it really made a huge improvement. Particularly the cover of "Wi nd Cri es M ary" It had a lot of hissing noise and he took it out using his super computer Pro Tools Skills.

I am not going to put Rock's name on the CD credits when I get more copies made and make a new CD Insert. It would look good to have the name of a known reputable studio on there but it is not really fair to Rock since he was doing just a couple of hours work & not really dong what would be considered "Mastering" the CD & it would not reflect what he could do on a proper budget.

I had given him the Green light to do 2 hours work on it and use his own judgement on what to do instead of me sitting down with him and doing it with him since I figured with the limited time, I would probably end up getting in the way and not much would get done. I am pretty sure he spent alot more time than 2 hours on it since I know just listening to the CD just one time would take up about half an hour alone. He did me a favor and I definitely owe him for that.


Thanks Mr. Romano, You Rock!

Smile

For the past couple of weeks, I have been video taping my shows. I was originally thinking of making a video presentation tape to try to use as promotional propaganda.

I bought the video camera when I fisrt strated the one man band but I didn't like the sound quality of the microphone. It was the cheapest one they had at Wal-Mart. It uses the smaller VCR tapes. The biggest problem is that it didn't seem to pick up the bass guitar sound.

I figured out recently that I could run the sound out wire through my mixer and then into the VCR & that does improve the sound quality a little bit. I can EQ it a little & take out some of the high end sounds & kick up also turn up the bass end a little. I am also placeing the camera closer to the bass amp so that it picks it up better. It would be nice if it had a Microphone input so I could hook up a better mic. One that is designed to capture sounds from the entire room.

It is a little more work to haul one more piece of equipent, set it up, and change the tape but it is very helpful to actually watch the tape & see/hear things from a different perspective.

I just wanted to keep you up to date on the lastest scientific methods here at Enermazement Management, Inc.


Happy Trails (to you)

Week Number 12

Well, Next week will be my 13th week playing the Sunday gig at the Gravity Bar in Galveston. We are kind of taking it week by week to see how it goes but it has lasted longer than I originally expected.

Today was kind of wierd though. I was out in front of the Gravity Bar putting up a "Live Blues" sign and a dude walked up and told me that it was a violation of the Sign Ordinance & I could't put it up. I asked him in what capacity he was telling me that & he said he owned two businesses on the Strand & one of them is a club down the street. He said a group of business owners had complained to the city and I was going to get cited. I told him that since he was the only one talking to me about it that it looked like he was the only one that had complained. He said that the sign didn't fit in and looked bad, etc. I wasn't feeling like really getting into it with him so I didn't confront him with the fact that his bar also features live music at the same time as my gig.


Wierd thing #2: There was another bar down the street (going east) that was having some kind of Bike Run. Not Motorcycles but actual bicycles. They got a group of people togeather and rode from bar to bar along the strand and surrounding area and stayed at each place for a little bit and then moved on. They had very loud whistles that they were blowing as they rode down the streeet. The Gravity Bar wias the last stop and when they got there they were pretty well liquored up & were very loud and were also blowing the whistles inside the bar. The whistles were peircingly loud table by table everybody else (all the paying customers) that was there before they came in, basically exited the bar. Several of the people in the bicycle group were wearing T-Shirts from the bar down the street & It almost seemed like a scene from Cheers where the poeple from Garys bar were visiting. There was this one guy in particular that was extremely rude. I remember thinking that he was the single rudest customer I had ever seen at a bar since I started playing live music. He was coming up by the stage and holding his hands over his ears and making a face and saying something about how my harmonica was too loud. The wierd thing about that was that it was about a tenth as loud as the whistles they had. After they cleared out the bar & were leaving, the one rude dude came right up to me and yelled a derogatory comment at me at the top of his lungs. He had been drinking but I had really had enough of his crap & I just looked right at him & I think he picked up that I wasn't going to take any more shit & he turned and walked out the door. I later found out that this dude was the owner of the bar sponsoring the bike run thing. His bar is called Poor Michaels. What an Asshole. I don't know what he was pissed about. Maybe it is becuase I was playing blues music & his club is supposed to be a blues bar. There is no possible way that a guy who owns a blues bar could possibly be a cool guy if he is out harrassing blues musicians just because they are playing at a bar down the street.


I really am amazed that on the same day, the actual owners of the two closest bars on strand street that feature live music both gave me shit & in such a direct way.

I guess it is thier way of letting me know that they have noticed that my gig has gone well. Thanks Guys.



Still, The whole thing seemed very strange. People are funny animals.

Really, Why the hell not?

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/

I have noticed that Just in time for the November Elections, Gas Prices are Going Down & The Stock Market is at near an all time high.

I have made it a point to stay out of discussing politics lately but I can't see a good reason not to vote for this dude.

What better endorsement could you need than Willie Nelson.

Unless of course you are a terrorist.

Mose Allison

My friend Eddy gave me a CD yesterday when I played a the Gravity Bar. It was an extremely nice gesture.

I got a chance to listen to alot of it on the drive home from Gavleston & it is some pretty cool stuff.

Here is a link where you can hear parts of the songs on that same CD:






http://www.amazon.com/Allison-Wonderland-Anthology-Mose/dp/samples/B0000033AH/ref=dp_tracks_all_1/104-7534978-1738336?ie=UTF8#disc_1


Mose plays piano and does the vocals. It is some good music. Eddy told me he really like the lyrics and I agree.

I had to listen close to tell excatly what it was but he has this thing he does where he kind of scats along with the piano riffs but it is kind of like a growl (sort of) & is not real loud but it sounds cool as hell.

I looked at his discogrophy page and it looks like he has been recording since 1988.
Check him out for your own self.

If you like it, then you might be hip.

Zildjian

Howdy,

I was out last night to put up some flyers at the Vintage Bar for the show there Next Week. I was kind of excited to see that Hamilton Loomis is going to be doing a show there October 19th. I don't know Hamilton but I used to have his first tape which I won by being the right caller during a blues program on KPFT about 10 years ago.

It would be cool to see him in a setting like the Vintage Bar.
After that I had another errand to run and was driving by the Big Easy and saw Jeremiah Johnson's Truck parked out there so I snapped that it his regular night to play ther so I stopped in but they were just going on break. He has a guitar player and a Bass player plus him on acoustic guitar also & they are doing a sort of unplugged thing. I hung around and chatted with the band and waited till they went back on and listened to about 5 songs. It was good music & it always relaxes me to hear good live music. Jeremiah used to host a blues jam out in the Katy area at Einstiens and I went to it almost every Sunday night for about a year. It was good to see what he is up too and as I told him last night, He does good at what ever setting he decides to use. He does alot of good original tunes & he has one in particular that was very good. I don't remember what the tune was called but it was about what someone feels like after they kill someone. It was sort of a country sounding song ala Thunder Road but has a mix of alternative rock with the vocal riffs also. I am going to have to make it over there when I have more time so I can kick back and relax & listen to more of the show.

Today, I stopped by my local Katy area H&H Music store and was very upset to see that it is closing down. They got bought out and they told me that there is a very good chance that it will re-open after the liquidation.

I went in to get some picks and was planning to get two packages which cost about $4 with the starving musician discount. Most of the inventory is already gone so I had to look around and check the sale prices. I looked for a bass amp & also PA Equipment but most of it was gone. I found the 18" Zildjian symbol that I had been eyeing for the past year. It is a 200 & something dollar item (retail) & they had it for just over a hundred so I had to buy it. I really didn't have the money but I just couldn't pass on it.

I is very excited.

I am now going to go home for lunch and see what it sounds like. I would like to get a chance to practice with it a little before playing at Whiskys Pub in Galveston tomorrow but it really won't matter since I am used to hitting the 14" Zildjian Symbol that I alrleady have. I am sure that it is going to sound great.

The biggest thing I need to figure out is what configuration to use. I may just substitute it for the 14" symbol or if it sounds good enough, I might try using it with my drum stick contraption that I wrote about here a month or so back.

Or just come to a show this month and you can see for yourself. I have been playing alot in Galveston lateley but I do have some September Shows in Houston Also. The Vintage Bar on Thursday the 14th and The Stagshead Pub on Saturday the 23rd. Or come on out to Galveston on Sunday Afternoon and check out the Gravity Bar on the Strand or if you are out on a Thursday, I will be at Whiskys Pub tomorrow & then again in two weeks. Check the schedule on my website. If a gig gets cancelled, I will update it there.

So as Marvin Zindler always says, Good Golf, Good Tennis, or Whatever makes you happy!

Gus the Fireman

After about 10 Sundays in a row at the Gravity Bar, I am starting to get familiar with some of the vendors & artists that work on the Galveston Strand every Sunday afternoon. They probably work out there alot of other days but I am only there on Sundays.

There is one guy who does characatures that always will swing by while I am playing and say hello. The "stage" area where I play is near the entrance and the entryway. There is a metal hand rail type devider. He usually comes up there and leans on the rail and gives a smile and a wave.


There is another guy who lives in an apartment up above the Bar & he sells his art right on the sidewalk. He just leans it on the building near the entrance of his apartment. I don't talk to him that much but he says hello and we have chatted a couple of times. One time his painting fell over and I picked it up & he seemed to appreciate that.


There is another guy who is a bass player that lives up in an apartment. He is usually sitting out on a bench at some point and we chat a little but it is his home so I try not to invade his space too much. He has come in and listend to me play and also come by Whiskys Pub also.

There are also the people that give the horse carriage rides. I have chatted with some of them usually about how business is.

The one guy that I have talked to the most is an old feller & a nice guy. He just sets up on the sidewalk and paints and sells his work. He smokes a pipe and has some pretty thick lenses on his glasses.

Since I had changed the format of my show and been doing the marathon gigs, I have not had a chance to chat with him for several weeks. This past week it was real busy all day but I was able to take a break at about 7pm and walked over and visited with him for a little bit.

It was nice to see him and we talked for a minute and I started to realize that he might have had a drink or two. He was pretty well lit up. He told me that he had played guitar with Willie Nelson & he sang me a couple of old country songs. It was a great time. I really was feeling good about everything and told him I had to get back and play some more.

A few minutes later, He had made his way over to the Gravity bar and I ran into him outside. He had decided that he wanted to play a few tunes and wanted to use my guitar. Not one of my favorite requests to say the least but after 3 years of playing in Bars, Clubs, pubs, taverns, pool halls, Ice Houses, & other premium venues, I have learnt how to deal with these type of situations & handled it about as smoothly as I could.

Overall this past Sunday was a pretty good day for the Blues.

I am thinking next week will be more of a challenge since there will probably not be as many people out on the strand but it is not easy to predict those kinds of things. I am just happy to have the gig. The customers are generally in a good mood and there is a wide cross section of what I like to call Humanity.


I have done extensive market research and figured out that Humanity is my target market.


Oh yeah, I hated to hear that the Croc Dude got killed. I liked that guy.

Tempted

Last Sunday Night, I was driving home listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage. It is a radio program that has been coming on 93.7 fm for the past several years. I think it runs from 8 to 10pm.

Little Steven is in Bruce Springsteens Band and also plays "Sal" on the Supranos.

He is one of my favorite characters on that show & also one of the characters that killed "Big Pussy". It was one of the best scenes ever on that show (Except for the one where Christopher killed the guy in the butcher shop and all the pig's heads were looking at him,) They took Big Pussy out on Tony's boat and Sal, Tony, & a couple other dudes lined up in a row facing Big P & he knew he was about to get done. He started crying a little and asked them not to shoot his face. Then they all pulled out thier guns and started shooting, Maybe about 40 or 50 shots total. They camera shot they used was from the view of Big P & it almost looked like a scene from Dick Tracy. With his hair and make-up Sal looked like a Comic Book Character. The expression on his face was priceless.

If you want to check out his show, Here is the website:

www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com

I think they have some archived shows to listen to. Check it out of you like cool music. He plays Garage band, Rockabilly & other cool stuff.

One of the songs he played last Sunday was from Marty Stuart, The Country (&Bluegrass) singer/musician. It is called "Tempted" and sounded like a Buddy Holly tune.

It was specifially listening after that to hear who did the song and was surprised when he said marty Stuart.

I had seen him on TV playing mandolin several times and always liked what he did.


Well,


Thats my report for now.


Rock On!

Why the Hell Not?

I am not running for Governer.


But lately I have been trying to push my limits a little bit.

Used to be when I had a 4 hour gig, I would play 4 forty five minutes sets, take 3 twenty minute breaks. I tried to stick to that schedule.


Lately, especially since I started playing at the Gravity Bar on Sundays (for the Summer) I have been playing longer sets. In the past several weeks I have played sets that lasted up to two hours and 10 minutes. I have also started earlier and played from 3 to 8 instead of 4 to 8. I figure if I am going to go to all the trouble of driving to Galveston & do all the loading and unloading, I may as well maximize the exposure.

I started bringing a lunch box up to the stage and if I get hungry, I just eat a banana or something. I pretty much just stop to go to the restroom or replace a broken string.


Thats all I got for now & I know it ain't much but I just wanted to check in and say hello.

Keep the Faith & stay positive.


Than ks

The Office

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/

I got the DVD for this British TV Comedy Series at the Harris County Public Library. I think it is a total of 12 episodes that were originally shown on BBC and I think it was also shown on PBS.

Last night I was watching episode 1 from the second season and I was almost too embarrassed to watch. Thats how I know I am buying into it. Not that I don't remember it is a TV Series but the simple fact that I felt embarrassed for the Boss Character when he is making an idiot of himself.

It is a different kind of humor but it really does crack me up.

OK, That is all for today. I gotta load up for a gig.

Dilana Rocks!

Last TV Season, I started watching the Program Rock Star INXS & got interested in it. It was kind of like American Idol but much better. They were picking a lead singer for the actual 80s Rock Band INXS. The original singer had died.

We went and saw the band with the new singer, JD Fortune, last month on June 28th.

Now they are doing a show called Rock Star Supernova. http://rockstar.msn.com/

Tommy Lee and some other rockers are forming a new band and they are picking a singer.

One of the contestants is from Houston(currently). Her name is Dilana and she has done gigs in the Houston area for the past several years. I have never seen her show but I had heard that she used a Karaoke type set-up where she had backing tracks & would put on a whole show of Rock and Pop Songs. A friend of mine named lloyd had seen her live show and told me she was good and I had been meaning to check it out.

A couple of years back when I first started my live show, I played alot of the same "Venues" that she played at. Mostly Sports Bars & some rougher type places also. Not anywhere I would consider dangerous, Just more down to earth than other places.

Dilana's Web Page is http://www.dilanarox.com/

From the first two episodes it looks like she is a front runner in the competition. I know it can chage week to week but I am definitely rooting for her. I never met her in person but from watching the show, she seems to be very supportive of the other contestants and comes across with a certain level of humility that I like to see in any type of performer.

The first song she did was from Nirvana and she really did rock. As a matter of fact, when I was watching the show my comment was that "She F---ing Rocks" which was funny to me a the time becuase that is what she always advertised.


GOOD LUCK DILANA!

More Complete Noise

Howdy Folks,


The Big News from the band is that I have come up with a way to play the Hi-Hat or Symbol using a contraption I designed.

The last big breakthrough was adding the bass drum which I considered to be a big deal at the time. As far as the sound, It was probably a bigger deal when I got the better bass drum. The first one was a piece from of a beginner set that I bought on Ebay.

Lately though, I have found myself pondering for extended periods trying to find a way to add symbols to the ongoing mix without taking away from the guitar or other sounds. I am basically out of limbs & really don't want to have to use un-natural or odd movements to play. I don't want the focus to be on a freak show. I know from experience that as far as live performance, the novelty of the one-man-band will only last so long. It has to sound good.

But back to the pondering. I really have just sat and thought about this quite a bit & really had nothing. The wierd thing was that I was just relaxing at home Sunday & without really thinking about it just started working on the stand & drum stick. All of the sudden I had it.


It is a very simple design & instead of using a spring to pull the drum stick back, It uses gravity. I drilled a hole in the stick where there was more weight behind it than in front & ran a piece of coat hanger wire through it and taped it to a stand. Then I just attached a piece of string to the the stick and at the other end tie it to the bass drum pedal. I think Isaac Newton would have gotten a kick out of it.


The sound difference is not completely subtle but the small addition of a symbol at the right spot in the beat is huge.

I am going to use it Thurday at Whiskys Pub in Galvestown and am really excited about it.

The other thing I like about is the image. There will be a drumstick hitting a symbol just off to the right. It looks kind of like something from the Adams Family.


I have conceptualized a way to also add another drumstick but I am going to work with this set-up for a little bit before I do that.

I have decided to take the floor tom out of the mix for the time being. Partly becuase I don't use it that much & also because it doesn't fit as easy with my new symbol striker contraption. It is also bulky to transport & I am trying to make my set up and break down a little less taxing.


If all this useless information is putting you to sleep, then enjoy your nap.


Thanks & Blah, Blah, Blah!

Crazy

They had a show on channel 8 (PBS) the other day about Patsy Cline. It showed TV appearances in a chronological order. I am not sure what I would say about Patsy Cline that people don't already know. Maybe I could look up some interesting fact and pretend like I knew it.

I did't ever really think about it but I was surprised that she was only 30 when she died.

It really amazed me how she sang Crazy & you could hear Willie Nelson's Vocal Inflections in her voice. Once you write a song like that and it is a hit record for Patsy Cline it kind of takes all the pressure off of having to prove anything.

Anyway, It is a good program & I am sure it will get re-played if you missed it.

Are you scared yet?

According to all the news it is now officially hurricane season.


It doesn't get much better for newspeople than hurricanes. They love to do that shot where the reporter stands at the water and talks about a storm that might be a couple of days away but they love it the most when they can actually be in the hurricane itself.

They are talking about how we might need to start having a Category 6 classification just in case. I thought it was pretty funny when the one weather dude started saying "Cat 3" & "Cat 4" instead of actually saying the word "category"

Alex Trebec has to say catagory alot more times than that but he doesn't say "Cat". But at the same time he does pretend to know the questions to all the answers.

The Royal Device

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.htm












My friend Dennis Ginn sent me this web site. The Subwoofer is built using some sort of underground chamber & compression area. Just from looking at the pictures, I can only imagine how many hundred thousand dollars it would cost for a listening room like this one.

Click on the site and check out the pictures. It is crazy.

Wired!

I was supposed to play a gig in Galvetston today. I thougt it was just me playing but I found out the other day that it was going to be a double bill with me opening for a band called Fast Food Junkies. I had never heard of them before but they sounded like a band that I would like. They play Metal/Bluegrass or something like that. They have a web page that explains it which you can find if you Google the band name.

The problem with me doing show with another band is that it takes me too long to set up and break down my equipment. I have to load and set up a whole bands worth of equipment. So when I get done playing, The other band would have to wait to get set up. In reality, they usually don't wait so all my equipment gets intermingled with thier stuff. Not that I would worry about anybody stealing something or anything like that. Musicians are usually pretty cool about sharing equipment & being respectful. I am just used to loading everything in a certain order & know what to watch for with the different pieces (Drums/amps, etc.) & can avoid damage. The knobs on my bass amp stick out too far & get smashed easy. My smaller guitar amp is very tempramental & If I load it facing backwards, My bass drum's tuning keys will be hitting the knobs and also the guitar input which is very easy to damage because it is plastic & not metal like it should be. I always appreciate when people offer to help but I really have to do it myself. The truth is that it is probably just some sort of personality disorder.

One of the things I don't like about being a one man show is that you don't get the band comradery. The cool thing about doing a double bill gig is that you get to meet and hear the band & talk about music like junior high school, stuff like that. Who knows? I never know but it is the adveture that keeps things rolling anyway.

My point is this:

Since I had the day off, I decied to tackle a project I had been dreading for some months now. Our little house on what was the Katy Prarie has a central a/c unit but I decided to add a window unit in the den living area room or what ever it is. A few years ago I bought a 14500 BTU model at Home Depot but I evenutally realized that the wiring in our walls was not heavy enough to safely run it. I only bought the more powerful model becuase it was the most efficient and was Energy Star Compliant or something like that.

Today I added a circuit breaker and ran a wire to the unit. The guy at home depot who helped me was a department manager who had stopped by to take care of something on his day off. I had several questions and needed several items so I told the guy several times that I would figure it out and wait for someone else to come along. I just didn't feel right about keeping him at work but he kept telling me he was happy to help.

I had taken digital photos of my breaker box & also brought a picture we took when the house was being built 14 years ago. It was really helpful when I was explaining what I was trying to do.

I got 70 feet of wire, a 15 amp circuit breaker, a plug for the wall, & a thing made to fish the wires through the walls. I also bought some PVC and fitings so I could shoot the wire out of the top of the breaker box straight into the attic without having to try jamming it through the back of the box with all the other wires.

I took the little plate off of the weather proof box and looked for a replacement that had a hole in it but couldn't find one. I decided to drill a hole in the plate but it need to be almost an inch wide & the drill bits that big are about 20 bucks. Using a tip from the guy in the drill bit section, I taped sandpaper around the drill bit and spent about hour rasping out the hole.

It was a job fishing the wires and hanging out in my attic with sweat dripping off my face but I got it all done and now I am basking in the coolness as my muscles ache.

I is so proud of myelf.

Global Warming

This past weekend was pretty busy for me. I had a gig Friday Night, Worked at my Day Job for 9 hours on Saturday, & then had a gig Saturday Night also.

I woke up Sunday and relaxed for a little while & then spent about an hour or so unloading my equipment from the truck and setting it up in my practice room. After that I headed over to Lowes & Home Depot and picked up some Insulation for my attic and some Wind Turbine Roof Vents (like from back in the 70s) plus a few other odds & ends. The AC guy who checked out our styem and added freon last year recommened that we get the turbine vents. I also bought some roofers caulk/tar stuff, some rope, & some breathig masks to wear in the attic when I was doing the insulation.

My house already had three roof vents so all I had to do was get up on the roof and carefully remove them without tearing up the shingles. The vents I bought are made of aluminum and came in two parts. I went ahead and assmebled them on the ground and then carried them up to the roof and installed them (one at a time). Luckily I didn't run into one of those typical problems that seem to arise when a job is expected to be simple.

One thing I decided to do this time was to tie a rope on front of my house and throw it over & use it to hold onto while I was walking around. It was only rated for 50 pounds but I wasn't putting that much weight on it. My roof has a pretty good pitch in the back so it was nice to have something to hold to help stabelize while I was carrying the Turbines, Tools, Nails, roofing caulk and & stuff like that.

I got the vents installed without falling off the roof and then started working in the attic. I bought several bags of enviromentally friendly insulation. They are kind of bricked up and made to go in a blower machine. I didn't rent a machine so I was using an old broom to break them up and spread them around in the section of attic over my garage. It is an attached garage & shares the same attic as the rest of the house. The garage usually gets so hot in the summer that you could literally pass out.

I got the insulation done & was not exactly nice and fresh so I took a shower & we took the dogs out for a walk except I rode my bicycle.

When I came home from work today, the first thing I did was go to the garage to see if it was any cooler & then I went to the attic. The most noticeable difference was in the attic but the garage was better also.

I was really proud of myself.

I may not save the planet but the way engergy costs are going, I am sure it is going to pay off this summer.

Well there you have it. A few days in the life of Marc Twyman, a dude that sometimes refers to himself in third person.

Now I sleep!


But I will get back up and continue to fight Karaoke and all other forms of pure evil.

be humble

Friday night I had a gig in Humble Texas at the Twin Oaks Tavern. It was my first time to visit this particular establishment.

It is located in the Historic business district area. There is an Antique Store, a Cybercafe Skatepark type place, a few other businesses, and also the Humble Cafe.

I had arrived early and was already set up since I was trying to beat the 90% chance of rain. As far as transporting/loading/un-loading my equipment, I can function in the rain but it is much more work. & they were also talking about Thunderstorms, High winds, etc.

I noticed that the Humble Cafe had a pretty good crowd so I took that as a solid endorsement from the local community. I stepped on over to the Humble Cafe. I took a look at the menu and decided to break my fast on Hamburgers and also french fries that I have been able to maintain for almost a week and a half now. Acutally, before that, It had been several months since I have had a Hamburger & even longer since having one from fast food corporation.

I ordered the Humble Burger with no onions or mayo. Mustard, Lettuce, Pickles, Tomatoes, all on a freshly baked roll type of bun.

After that I took a short nap in the truck. I was actually parked right in front of the Twin Oaks Tavern and also underneath one of the actual Twin Oaks that it named after.

So there you have it. Mystery, Drama, Humble Burgers, No Onions, & Oak Trees all in one story

You find another blog in the internet that offers all that, then you know you are spending way too much time on the internet.

All Mixed Up

Here is a picture of a Mixer that I just bought at H&H Music. It is small as far as mixers go and only has 4 channels but it is still a huge thing for me. I really should have bought it long ago. The biggest thing it is going to do for my live sound is that I can individually adjust the volume of the Bass and Snare Drums. Before this I was running them both through the same channel and could only adjust the volume by moving the Microphones farther and closer to the source. The other thing will be that I can shape the sound of the two different drums by individually adjusting the Bass, treble, and mid range dials. Also, I am now able to add a microphone to the symbols.

The third big advantage is that I am no longer using the adapters and am able to have the balanced cable connections.

Yipee

Robert Johnson Photograph Expert

If I had a collection of every picture ever taken of the Beatles and had studied the content of the images then I think it would be fair to call myself an "Expert" on Beatles Pictures.


I have done that with Robert Johnson Pictures. I even named the pictures. The one on the left is called "Hat" & the one on the right is called "Cigarette". I don't bother to reference Robert Johnson in the individual photo anymore than they use J_FKs Name when they mention the Zapruder film.

As far as the general public knows there are just two known photos of Robert Johnson in existance. I personally think there is probably at least one more sitting in a photo album somewhere and the person who owns it has no clue of how much money it would be worth.

I was listening to Mr Robert Johnson on my record player a couple of weeks back & also took the time to read the back of the Record Jacket. I already knew that he had only recorded about 30 songs but I never realized that he had recorded them in Texas or if I did, It never really hit me. According to the liner notes of the Columbia release: "Robert Johnson/King of the Delta Blues Singers" He did five sessions. Three in San Antonio in 1936 and two in Dallas in 1937.


As much as people think of him as a guitar player & he obviously was a gerat one, I think the name of the Record is correct. He was really a great blues singer. His recordings have been the biggest influence on modern blues and rock & Roll. If you listen The Rolling Stones, Elmore James, Eric Clapton or Led Zepplin versions (& others that have covered him also) It is clear that what is copied most often is the vocals, lyrics, phasing, & fill comments. There was a blues revival in the 60s and many guitar players since then also have copied his playing but it did not have the mainstream influence as the vocals.

This may all be old news to you but it is something that I am just now picking up on.


With all that said, I have decided to try and take the time to work on learning more Robert Johnson on guitar.

Thanks

I have mentioned before that I didn't want to use my website or blog to blow my own horn by talking about people that come to my shows when all it would reall seem like I was doing is talking about how much they liked me.

Still, since I make the rules here, I can break them also.

Just in case anybody is reading this blog, I would like to mention how much I appreciate the people that have actually driven accross town (or even walked across a street) to come to one of my gigs.



Thanks!

Here is your tip Asshole

One of the things I used to like about Luby's was that you didn't have to give a tip. I don't begrudge anybody making a living but part of the value part of eating at certain establishments is that it is a good value. If you eat a 5 or 6 dollar meal and then have to give a tip, It raises the price of the whole dining experience about 20%. Still, If I go to Luby's and get all of my food on a tray and drinks also, I don't really feel like I want to meet my "server" when they come up to the table and tell me thier name, etc. I am sure they are all nice people but I just want to eat my lunch and leave.

The Chinese buffets are about the same except they do bring you a fortune cookie with your check.


What about Sonic? You park your car, Push a button, Order your food & they bring it to you in a bag. How much tip should someone get for bringing it out to the car? I have brought up the tipping at Sonic issue with several folks I know and find that poeple are about split on tipping at Sonic (at all)

If the person at Sonic is going to get a tip, then why not give one to the Cashier at the Grocery Store or Walmart? That is a hell of alot more work that carrying a bag of hamburgers out to a car.


My general rule on tipping at a restaurant is that if they take the order and bring it without too much of a wait or mishap & also keep the drinks refilled (or even just bring me a big ol glass even better) they deserve the standard tip rounded up to the nearest dollar. If they have good waiter/waitress skills and make the dining experience even better, then they deserve more. Also if it is a cheap meal but the service is good, then the tip should not be limited to 15%.

Part of what really sucks about getting bad service is sitting there trying to decide about how to handle the tip. It makes me feel like a mooch not to leave something but at the same time why should I pay extra to get treated like crap?

I like to ride my bicycle

I was driving down my street the other day and saw a garbage sale in progress. I found a ten speed bike that I liked and asked the guy how much? He said $20. I was happy with the price but also didn't want to deprive him and myself of the fun of haggling a little bit. I found a few screwdrivers and some wire cutters and told him that if he threw them in he would have a deal.


The bike is a Raliegh and technically it is a womans model but I don't need a bar on my bike to prove I am a man. It is a mauve color and has some nice features like center pull brakes, quick release front wheel, a decent seat and some nice shifter mechanisms. It also has brand new tires that don't leak. Whoever set it up knew what they were doing. All of the brake and shifter adjusments are just right. I took a few minutes to adust the seat height and handlebars and was ready to cylce.

Yesterday I rode for about 20 minutes and tonight I went about 25. Since I rode after tonight dark I wore my reflective safety vest. I guess I am really getting to the age where I don't care what people think. The only thing I need now is a safety helmet which I plan to buy very soon.


Not much else to report except I did notice it is big trash day tomorrow and one of my neighbors is throwing away a couple of sections of chain link fence and also a chain link gate which I think will work well around our patio for the dogs. I have to sneak over there in a little bit and try to get it without getting noticed. Maybe I still do care a little bit what people think.

WWW.MERLEHAGGARD.COM

http://www.merlehaggard.com/tour-concert-booking-info.html

Above is the shedule part of his web page.


I was sitting here listening to a favorite record of mine & when I say record I mean record. I like the album covers much better than CD Jewel case inserts. This one isn't too fancy though since it is "His Best" which is a collection of his MCA hits. I am not going to do a commentary on Merle but what an excellent job he does. The lyrics, music, mix, the overall feel of the music, not to mention the man himself. He is Merle. What more needs to be said?

I decided to look up his schedule and see that he is playing in Beaumont on March 24th. He appeared at a Rolling Stones Concert in Arkansas on March 9th & has several dates with Mr. Bob Dylan in April. My friend Larry Jackson saw a Rolling Stones Concert in California a couple of weeks ago and said the sound sytem was excellent and it was nothing like the Super Bowl half time show. I was busy taking a nap during the Super Bowl but I hadn't heard the best reviews. Larry said it was one of the best concerts he has ever seen and he has been going to Rock Concerts since the 60s. I have been too two Concerts with Larry; CSN&Y in 2001 and also the Neil Young Greendale show & personally vouch for Larry when it comes to his expertise on Rock & Roll Concerts.


Ok, We will no return you back to your regularly scheduled program.

Galveston

This past Thusday, I had a gig in Galveston at Whisky's All-American Pub. It was my first time to play on the Island. I left early so I could miss the traffic. The weather was great & it has been quite a few months since I had seen the ocean water so I decided to stop over at the Seawall and relax for a little while. I stopped by the Flagship Hotel since it is right at 25th street which is also the street that I need to turn at to get to the venue.

It was really a nice day. There was traffic cruising by on Seawall Blvd and People were buzzing by on bicycles, skates, & other contraptions. There were a few surfers & other people hanging around also but it was still very relaxing to be at the ocean. The breeze was coming from the water so the air was fresh and the sound of the waves was there also. I walked out on the jetty and made a (cell) phone call & basically just looked at the water and the sea gulls for a while. There was dude fishing at the end of the jetty but it didn't look like he was catching anything.

After about an hour, I headed over to the venue and unloaded & set up my equipment & also put out my "Live Blues Tonight" signs and then took it easy for a couple of hours. I brought my own pillow from home and took a nap in the truck & ate some home-made chicken vegitable soup that I had brought in a thermos.

I had no idea what to expect about Whisky's Pub and it turned out to be a nice place with a good stage & they did have blues and classic rock playing on the Juke Box which is always a good omen. Overall I had a good time and everybody was very kind and made me feel welcome.

I am scheduled to be back over there on April 6th and am looking forward to it.

There was a guy there from California who is a photographer for a Surfing Magazine and he took several pictures. If he emails them to me, I will post them here or on my web site.

Also, If you happen to read this before tomorrow (Sunday March 5th), I got an email from the Blueshound his ownself saying that they were going to play a song from my CD on the show which will be between 2 and 4 pm Central time on KPFT 90.1 FM which you can also hear on the web site at www.kpft.org

The Wailing Wailers

Bob Marley & The Wailers or as they were called at the time, The Wailing Wailers. Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, & Bunny Livingston.



I have a CD titled "Bob Marley Reggea Legend Forever Gold". It has a picture of Bob with Dread Locks on the CD Insert but the music is obviously from the early days when the wailers were more of a vocal group. The CD cover doesn't even list a record company.

It really is some good stuff. Bob does not do all the lead vocals but all the Wailers' back-ups and harmony vocal riffs are really great.

KPFT 90.1 Wins 2006 KBA Award for BLues Programing on Public Radio

The "Keeping the Blues Alive" awards were held in Memphis, TN on January 28th, 2006. Pictured from left to right: The "Blueshound" James Nagel, and his lovely co-host and wife Colleen; HBS Director - Jennifer "The Marquessa" Weaver; KPFT General Manager - Duane Bradley; HBS President - Sandy Hickey; "Blues on the Move" DJ's, Mr. & Mrs. V, and Joe Montes of "Smokin' Joe's Roadhouse". Photo was taken by Donovan Allen, HBS Lifetime Member and photographer for the KBA's and IBC's.
HBS is so very proud to partner with KPFT in "KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE" in Houston, TX. In honor of the DJ's, HBS will acknowledge the winners on Thursday, February 16th at Cosmos Cafe, with entertainment provided by 2006 International Blues Winner, Joey Gilmore. Come out that evening for a great night of blues. Go to Calendar of Events for details.

The type and picture above are copied from the Houston Blues Society Web Site http://www.houstonbluessociety.org/

I am happy to see the recognition for KPFT. We are lucky to have a Radio Station that provides Blues Programming and I take my hat off to all the Volenteers that make it possible. Good Job.

John Campbell Friends/Discussion Group

Below are a couple of posts from my achived entry "Train of Thought" about John Campbell (which you can find on this blog)

Please note the link to the discussion group.



Hi Marc,Found your blog doing a search on John Campbell....Great story about John back in Nacogdoches!! Would love to post this on my website - Drop me a note at tom@devilinmycloset.net There is also a community of John Campbell fans that gather at:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/devilinmycloset/


Take care,Tom Geiger
1:00 AM
F. Sage said...
Marc,A group of John's family, friends and fans recently returned from Louisiana and a celebration of John's life and music on his birth date. John died far too soon and the void left in the music world is just beginning to be recognized. I'm inviting you and any of your readers to join our discussion group that Tom Geiger mentioned in the previous comment. We have a lot of fun and many surprises to offer -Captain D

KPFT - 90.1 on your fm dial

KPFT has been on the air in Houston now for almost 36 years. It is a true listener sponsored station.

I first started listening because of the Blues shows on Sundays & other music programs during the week also.

It is a Freedom of Speech oriented station and if you listen enough, You will probably here something that you disagree with. That is really what makes it great. There is no corporate sponsorship.


They are currenty having the fund drive and you can make a pledge by calling 713-526-5738 preferably during a show that you like. You can support the blues programs if you call this week on Sunday before 4 pm.

The web site is www.kpft.org If you are not in the Houston area, you can listen live on the interenet also.

Tone is brought to you by:

Edison's light bulbs employed a conducting filament mounted in a glass bulb from which the air was evacuated leaving a vacuum. Passing electricity through the filament caused it to heat up enough to become incandescent and radiate light, while the vacuum prevented the filament from oxidizing and burning up.
a
Edison continued to experiment with his light bulbs and, in 1883, found that he could detect electrons flowing through the vacuum from the lighted filament to a metal plate mounted inside the bulb. This discovery subsequently became known as the Edison Effect.
In 1875, American, G.R. Carey invented the phototube.
In 1878, Englishman Sir William Crookes invented the 'Crookes tube', an early prototype of cathode-ray tube.
In 1895, German, Wilhelm Roengten invented an early prototype Xray tube.
In 1897, German, Karl Ferdinand Braun invents the cathode ray tube oscilloscope.
In 1904, John Ambrose Fleming invented the first practical electron tube called the 'Fleming Valve'. Leming invents the vacuum tube diode.
In 1906, Lee de Forest invented the audion later called the triode, an improvement on the 'Fleming Valve' tube. Lee de Forest introduced a third electrode called the grid into the vacuum tube. The resulting triode could be used as both an amplifier and a switch.

These type of dudes don't usually get mentioned when people talk about electric blues but they are the ones that first made it possible.

It is a shame that Ben Franklin never got to play an electric guitar. I am sure he would been a real head-banger.

I don't really have a great understanding of how amplifers and tubes work. I am able to make repairs on my amps by looking at them and finding bad connections and re-soldering them. I gennerally have this problem with my Fender Blues Junior which is a relatively newer amp that I bought at Mars Music when they were going out of business. It is a 15 watt tubecombo with a 15" speaker. A "combo" is one where the amplifer section and the speaker cabinet are all in one unit. The problem with this little amp is that the solder connections don't seem to be as good as in the older amps. Basically, "They don't build em like they use to" .

Also, It is a pretty hot running amp for a 15 watt. As far as watts, Tube amplifers are generally more powereful or louder than solid state. This particular amp is set up with the power tubes (EL84's) are being pushed pretty hard and they run pretty hot. This will cause the tubes to wear out quicker. For a 15 watt amp, It can get pretty loud and is powerful enough to use at small to medium size clubs. The problem with a combo amp is that the vibration from the speaker (since it is in the same unit) can cause connections to rattle loose. The tubes also get vibrated and will be more sensitive to becoming "microphonic"

On the Blues Junior, I wonder if the heat from the power tubes causes the solder to fail or if it is just the poor design of the tube socket holder or just a cobonation of several factors including vibration from the speaker.

I have had to open up the back and re-solder the power tube connections several times and also one of the connections on the reverb tank.

I also do have a couple of older Fender amps and have not run into this problem. They also used metal in the input jacks instead of the plastic used on Blues Junior. Still, I do think the Blues Junior is a great amp particularly considering what they cost.

One of the things about tube amps is that when you get the tone you like, It is best to leave it alone until something breaks or wears out. You can replace the tubes with the exact same brand and not get the same sound. That is one thing that I like about the "Groove Tubes" which are tested and rated. You can buy a matched set with a numbered rating (from 1 to 10) and get pretty close to the same tone. The other advantage is that if you use the same number/rating, you don't have to have to have the amp re-biased (if it is not self biasing)


Tubes are only part of the equation when it comes to tone but they are a big part. Another big variable is the Guitar Pick-up not to mention the equipment operator.

You may be asking "What is your point Marc?"

& if so, I would like to ask you something:


What is the cross between an Elephant and a Rhino?


The answer is NOT "What is on second"

Sad News

I heard some bad news. Benny Valerio has passed away.

He has been around playing Texas Blues for a long time. You can find out more about his music on his web site http://www.maneevents.com/texasthunder/


I knew Benny from his Blues jams that he would host out here on the west side of town. He was a hell of a guitar player. As a guitar player and also a person, he didn't hold anything back. You always knew exactly where you stood with him.

Benny and his brother Danny had played music togeather for quite a few years. Danny is a bass guitar player and whenever I saw them on stage, I would always get a mental picture of them playing as teenagers. You could just see it. I don't know the exact way to explain it but it was something of a happy moment each time. Just great to see two brothers who had played music togeather so much of thier lives.

Danny is a great guy and I wish him the best. I know this is a tough time for him.

The Service for Benny will be at 1:00 this Friday the 20th at Houston National Cemetary on Veterans Mermorial.