March 31, 2005
1-2 CRUSH ON YOU
a new rose?
I played one of these on my lunch break yesterday. I've been sampling most of the better acoustic guitars lately--martin, gibson, taylor, larrivee, etc., and I was mightily impressed by this model. it has a unique way of dispersing the string tension over the top of the guitar (called "lateral compression"), so as to reduce the amount of internal bracing needed, and prevent the eventual bellying up that often occurs to the bridge after a while. there's also some sort of neck height adjustment utility. regardless of its alleged innovations, it plays wonderfully and sounds beautiful, and can come home with me for just about a grand...
here's a link to the mfg's web site:
March 30, 2005
NEWS OF THE WORLD
with his feeding tube temporarily removed, the pontiff takes a moment to croon the 1957 Johnny Mathis hit "Chances Are" from his apartment balcony...
Laura Bush (seen here while her translator was taking a bathroom break) at a meeting in Kabul, before handing out free copies of Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and The Purpose-Driven Life to the women of Afghanistan...
March 29, 2005
KILLING FLOOR
my new studio mate....
you know, one of my very favorite things is when I have folks over to work on projects in my home studio, but there is a limit to my hospitality. from the sound of the big kerplonk and frightened squeal that emanated when my new four-legged friend was startled from his perch by the light this morning, I've got a fairly sizeable microtus pennsylvanicus abiding in my little sonic cellar.
he has a delectable repast of sharp cheddar in his future. oh yes he does.
...
March 28, 2005
March 26, 2005
March 25, 2005
March 24, 2005
CHIP AWAY AT THE STONE
this looks like what I'll be doing this Friday and Saturday.
except I'm not a little old Japanese man.
and I'm not planning on glueing anything.
up to my tits in work at the office, so am again daydreaming about
making things, tangible objects that make sound,
-- not data, not numbers, not deadlines.
the stew-mac package arrived.
I'm in business.
March 23, 2005
CRY ME A RIVER
...screw you guys - I'm going home...
Mr. Bonds, I'm sorry. Life doesn't work this way. You don't get to be the home run king, the 40/40/40 kid, the titan of all baseball, and then when the attention and scrutiny that comes with it arrives at your door, cry victim, play the race card, blame everyone and everything but yourself (the description of your children's crying broke my heart. really.)
If that little chickie-poo, who says she was your mistress for nine years and received $80 grand of your undeclared baseball autograph cash, is a liar, then you have nothing to worry about. The IRS can't indict you on hearsay. And if your famed musculature happens to remind us of other baseball luminaries such as jason giambi, ken caminiti, or jose canseco, that's probably just our wild tabloid imaginations. We should go on believing that in the entire history of baseball, it is only you, Barry Bonds, who was able to arrive at a point in your late 30s when all of a sudden your numbers skyrocketed. Just hard work, right? and god-given talent, of course. give god his props, 'cause you've got to thank somebody other than your doctor...
You have clearly taken advantage of the conditions you were brought up in--son of an all-star major leaguer, godson of willie mays, knee-high to a batting cage since you could walk. Not a shocker you learned how to murder a fastball. But please, don't go off half-cocked and cry racism and victimization when reasonable questions are raised. That just insults our intelligence...and with what passes for standards of intelligence these days, that's really saying something.
Enjoy your time off. Go home and cheer up. We've got some baseball to play.
p.s. if you decide to make a comeback in '07 and the Giants won't take you back, you might look into playing for Boston. They're quite fond of bloated vainglorious whiners....
March 22, 2005
GUNS ON THE ROOF
In the aftermath of yet another school shooting melee, I'm just wondering if the teenage perpetrator's grandfather, the ex-cop whose guns were used in the shootings, would have anything to say about why he needed an arsenal of weapons in his home.
For what? Personal safety? Just another cop who likes guns? I'm hearing that the kid's parents were not present due to suicide and/or mental illness. So, the progency of this magical union is allowed access to a gun closet?
In any case, Gramps took a bullet first, so I guess we'll never know....
Enjoy the media circus!!!
...
March 21, 2005
SPRING IS HERE
To do’s:
New nut (again) for the telecaster. The current one is shimmed to raise the height. Flip that, I’d rather just have it correct. I’ve since learned that the real key to easy-playing action has more to do with the truss rod adjustment than nut height. I’ll leave it a bit higher this time, better facilitating those cool first position pull-offs, and buzz no more anon...
Replace pots on les paul. I’ve managed to keep the les paul completely and totally stock since I acquired it nearly a decade-and-a-half ago, but control pots do wear out, and these ones are over 30 years old ('74 LP custom). One nice fringe benefit will be the re-wire--getting the volumes to work independently. I don’t know why Gibson didn’t do that in the first place. No cost difference. Tonally the same. Way better functionality. Well then, a good opportunity to shine ‘er up as well…
Rewire the Stratocaster. Not terribly urgent, as it’s functionally just fine. But I can’t get every single pickup combo, which means something’s shorted inside there. And no wonder. There’s an acre of white cloth push-back wire jammed inside there. I have yet to master the art of laying out the guts of a strat in a neat and space-efficient way, but with 50 feet of cloth wire on order, I’m going to learn…
Speed knobs for the lap steel. You'd think that an instrument as simple as a lap steel would at least have its electronics tight at $300 per (a new chandler), but as usual, it's another small set of chores to get it working the way it should. the first logical step is to install two speed knobs for easier volume/tone tweaks while playing, get that speedy west faux wah effect...
Tele/les paul jr. I’ve got an old tokai telecaster body bolted onto a les paul-style neck. It was a gift from someone I met in college. At one point I lent it to someone who promised to paint it, but all they did was lift the hardware (which was never returned) and spray it with a thick layer of primer. It’s remained in that sorry state until now. A bridge, vol/tone pots, a new bone nut, and one big-ass soapbar P-90, and I should be able to get it working. And yes, a very cathartic sanding & re-painting will follow in due course… whaddya think? TV yellow?
The patron saint of all this first-day-of-spring-cleaning?
March 18, 2005
PAINT IT BLACK
most fat!!!
GUITAR GEAR GEEKERY DEPT:
if guitar players are a smallish percentage of the population, and electric guitarists an even smaller one, and electric guitarists who use overdrive pedals a still smaller slice, then the number of those who use this particular model is well and truly a statistically unstable population count. Still, I offer this toothsome soupcon of information because I believe this item to be the very best of its kind.
Here's the tip: if you've got one, you're probably happy with it, but if you really want to get the most from it, open it up and adjust the internal trimmers (using a jeweler's screwdriver)--gain & treble--by lowering the gain and raising the treble. otherwise, to my ears, it's just too muddy sounding. set at its default, it was a great addition between my telecaster and dr. z carmen ghia amp, or in front of a midrange generator like the marshall jcm800, but it was less satisfying with cleanish-sounding fender-type amps (like my old boogie combo). now, with these tweaks, it becomes much more versatile -- great with humbuckers and single coils alike, very rich and detailed with low-gain preamp settings. I'm still running my various instruments through it to test the new settings, but suffice to say that thus far everything I've tried (two strats and a les paul) is blooming out of the speakers with glistening harmonics and tough midrange girth. no more mud. this thing works. and yes, I know it's expensive, but there's plenty of music gear out there that costs more and delivers less. bonus: it's no bigger than your average guitar tuner...
Inventor/Proprietor Mr. Jon Blackstone lives in my old neighborhood (E. Village) and I met him when I bought it from him, but this is in no way a solicited or paid endorsement. I've had this for almost four years. If I didn't like it I'd have sold it by now. I'm a nobody in terms of showbiz profile, but believe me, this is good merch...
COMPUTER GEEKERY NEWS: I managed to install two dvd drives this week in my computer. round cable rules. ribbon cable sucks. it's all about the gear, sonny jim...
have a nice weekend american idols.....
.....
March 17, 2005
HEROES
My grandfather, Timothy J. Buckley, circa 1920 or thereabouts...age 16(?)
if this photo had ever fallen into the hands of the "black & tans," he'd have been hunted down and summarily shot on sight. once, during a visit with some friends' cousins who were visiting from England, they made mention of the "queen mother" and her latest jubilee or some such. aged, infirm, and unable to walk much, he sat up straight, banged his cane on the floor and declared, "she should be taken out and shot with a rifle!" he had become a bit more outspoken in his dotage--his remarks concerning the "troubles" were rarely this specific or pointed, but it was abundantly clear that he never lost the Republican fire in his belly (and I loved the fact that he had already decided on the preferred means for her execution). of course, they never got him. he immigrated to the U.S. in 1926, went to work, got married, raised his two daughters (including my Mom) and although he had very little of his own discretionary wealth, found a way to also buy his brother a house so he could raise his two boys (my "uncle" cousins) in relative comfort. a master carpenter, he built a lot of our furniture. this was a great man, and when I reflect on the meaning of this day, it is his life and example that I fall back on as my standard. if the lowly english rabble had ever caught up with him, I'd most certainly be a lower class of mammal today...
incidentally, he was not boastful. we never knew about this picture until after he died. it was discovered in a box in the attic. my guess is that he had forgotten about it, and would have dismissed it as a bit of youthful exuberance or even vanity.
More than anything, I miss his stories....
'Go raibh maith agat mar gheall ar gach aon ni rinneas dom'
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! UP CORK!!!
...
March 16, 2005
ANGEL
Happy Birthday Mom.
Oonah Buckley Clarke
March 16, 1941 - October 1, 1998
March 15, 2005
AGUAS DE MARCO
Remember March, the ides of March remember:
Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?
What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,
And not for justice? What, shall one of us
That struck the foremost man of all this world
But for supporting robbers, shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
And sell the mighty space of our large honours
For so much trash as may be grasped thus?
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman.
...
March 14, 2005
TV EYE
not much of import to relate today, but last night I had an experience I don't really have much anymore--an evening of TV watching...my attention to season one of both "deadwood" and "carnivale" is beginning to pay off, as I'm now fully familiar with the characters and various interweaving plotlines. I don't think either of these shows would lend themselves to first-time viewers any more (particularly carnivale). the uninitiated would probably need to play catch up with a DVD of season one... but these season-long story expositions have indeed set the stage for a more nuanced viewing experience--and happily, I have a few 'double feature' sunday evenings ahead of me until Carnivale closes out its 2nd season in a few weeks.
now if HBO would please give the green light to another season of "the wire" ...
March 13, 2005
YARDBIRD SUITE
...remembering Bird, on the fiftieth anniversary of his passing....
March 11, 2005
BUDDY
The new face of country music…
...um, uh, where's his cowboy hat?
You won’t see his mug on the cover of Tiger Beat, or for that matter, any magazine devoted to what folks pass off as “country music” these days…unless of course he’s spotted over to the side of Emmylou Harris (he’s the guitarist/other singer in her band)…
Meet Buddy Miller, singer, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, sideman, engineer, producer, recording studio proprietor, and a very handsome man…
His wife Julie is also a recording artist. They're each solo artists in their own right. And they have put out two albums as a duo. During the early stages of producing what would have been Mrs. Miller's new solo record, her brother died suddenly. Grief-stricken, she ditched the project. So Buddy took up the reins and finished it. And it’s magnificent.
One caveat: given its inspiration, it’s not surprising that this record touches on spiritual issues…so, if you’re bothered by mentions of The Almighty (and even—yikes!—Jesus), then this might not be your cup of tea. But to be sure, this record name-checks God in the same way the Staple Singers, or Bob Dylan, or even Ray Charles might do. There’s a gospel influence, but it ain’t Christian rock. For that matter, it ain’t rock, it ain’t country, it’s just good music, good singing, beautifully executed by humans in a recording studio, led by a guy who might just change what folks think of this genre.
I hate what they’ve done to country music in Nashville. But I have become quite fond of Buddy & the Mrs....
[Fellow guitar geeks – dig those crazy Wandre guitars that Buddy plays (they’re an Italian make, from the 1960s)… pawn shop poetry…]
…
March 10, 2005
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLUES
Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke 1903-1931
arguably, the 2nd greatest jazz trumpeter, ever (after louis armstrong, of course) ... unprecedented breathe and tone for his time, he often performed on cornet...
his genius was such that during piano lessons as a youngster, he would ask that his teacher play a piece so he "could hear how it sounded," and then play the piece back note-for-note. he never did bother to learn to read music...
Today is Bix's 101st birthday. Sad to say, longevity was not in his cards...a deficit of healthy habits, living on the road, combined with a surfeit of bootleg gin, ended his run at age 28, in apartment 1G, 43-30 46th St., Sunnyside, Queens...a long way away from the family who disowned him for becoming a professional musician, back in Davenport, Iowa...
...
March 09, 2005
THE PIANO HAS BEEN DRINKING
Charles Bukowski 1920-1994
. . . and to think, after I'm gone,
there will be more days for others, other days,
other nights.
dogs walking, trees shaking in
the wind.
I won't be leaving much.
something to read, maybe.
a wild onion in the gutted
road.
Paris in the dark.
[Bukowski died on this day in 1994]
...a hoist of the jug to todayinliterature.com...
March 08, 2005
I WANNA BE YOUR DOG
here is a picture of a dog riding a skateboard...
March 07, 2005
WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?
here is a picture of a cat with a lime peel on its head....
...
March 05, 2005
EVERYBODY'S GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE EXCEPT FOR ME AND MY MONKEY
[has Bubbles been forced to seek employment elsewhere?]
Miki the Performing Monkey.
This is a very entertaining animal who does tricks such as pick-pocket, gives kisses, plays basketball, tries on hats, rides a scooter, and much more. Great for greeting and general walkaround entertaining. Optional: If client provides "Polaroid Platinum Spectra" film, we will supply camera and sleeves and individual pictures can be taken as party favors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inside of The Science Place: FREE with admission to the "Age of Michael Jackson" exhibits hall.
thx loads to scienceplace.org...
March 04, 2005
SIGN OF THE TIMES
accompanying graphics brought to you by the highway blogger...commemorating the 1500th US combat casualty with a festival of freeway free speech festoonery...
p.s. since the install of sitemeter two weeks ago, we've broken the high water mark of 100 hits! now I know how matt drudge must feel....
...
March 03, 2005
I'M ONLY SLEEPING
In a 2004 interview, Hunter S. Thompson said he remembered meeting Bush at his Super Bowl party in Houston in 1974. He said that Bush was "with a guy who had come to sell . . . " but then cut himself off. "Look, I'm not going to put this next sentence on the record. Let's just say that 'a friend of mine' was buying cocaine. I have friends in Houston from all walks of life. Lawyers. Professional men. Bush was hanging around with this crowd of what you might call gilded coke dilettantes."
"He knew who I was, at that time, because I had a reputation as a writer. I knew he was part of the Bush dynasty. But he was nothing, he offered nothing, and he promised nothing.
He had no humor. He was insignificant in every way and consequently I didn't pay much attention to him.
But when he passed out in my bathtub, then I noticed him. I'd been in another room, talking to the bright people. I had to have him taken away."
March 02, 2005
MISS YOU
I’ve been away at all-day meetings since Monday, so allow me to check in with what’s been going on around the world…
The Republicans are angry that everyone isn’t lining up to voluntarily give up their social security checks at a time when the system is solvent. Yeah, that must suck for them. All this omnipotence and nothing to show for it. But isn’t their position on Social Security pretty similar to their approach to Iran: to say that they plan to attack and destroy it is perhaps ridiculous, but that said, everything is on the table. Yeah. Also, freedom is slavery.
L’il Kim is in trouble. Can you just imagine? Why do the cops keep interfering with hip hop artists’ normal day-to-day armed streetfight conflict resolution activities, and why is everybody being so super-technical about a few little fibs (white lies?) to a grand jury? Sheeee-it. L’il Kim, she just be all up in there with her peeps, she gots their back, she just do what she do, know wha’ ‘m say’n?…
British government now worried about an epidemic of chicken flu. Yngwie Malmsteen still at large…
Supreme Court now considering public displays of The Ten Commandments. Charlton Heston still at large…
The Queen of England (still sucking air and taking up space in the most lifeless and vacuous way possible), will honor Bill Gates as an honorary knight. Obi-Wan Kenobi still at large…
Bush demands that Syria leave Lebanon. Thanks for the sage leadership, O George of Arabia. Your honorary knighthood is waiting for you at the palace. You know Laura’s got to love London—lots of shiny lights and marching soldiers with funny hats. Also, the Royal pork rinds. Yummy!
The NY Times wrote a feature article on how dumb “The Bachelorette” was, and how it has worn thin. Gee, really? Huh. Well then thank you, O paper of record, for explaining that to me. I was wondering why I had been feeling so disillusioned by the inability of gay men and blonde escorts to form a lasting bond. Thanks. I feel better now.
All in all, a slow week thus far, and a weak post, I’ll admit. I’ve been shying away from “topical” posts ever since the election, and it’s probably a good idea….more effervescent acid trails of bullshit in the days to come!
…