Band practice is supposed to start in 43 minutes. As of this moment we’ve all chimed in that we’re good to go for today. Fingers emphatically crossed that nothing changes.
I did a line check with all of the gear I want to bring today. I am massively downsizing the pedals and massively upscaling the amp situation. Also… I’m going to play the SG. I don’t know why. I am just feeling like today should be an SG day.
Everything is working. The new reverb pedal sounds cool. Here’s hoping nothing falls apart over the next 41 minutes and we actually have a practice today. It’s going to be painful. I have no calluses on my left hand finger tips. I’ve only played for about five minutes and already I am hurting, big time.
As of this moment, band practice is on for 6:00pm tonight. I’m swapping out my amp and my pedals so I have a bunch of things to test drive before I go. I might put new strings on one of the guitars while I’m at it. I have to clean the kitchen first though.
Work has been good this week. No disasters, no scary moments. I did get a call from a customer (service programmers, like me, are not supposed to get calls directly from customers) but I was able to help the guy and it actually felt pretty good. Nope, this past week was a good week at work.
It was the rest of civilization that blew chunks. My wife and I agreed when we discussed it last night that this week has been the longest six months of our lives.
I need to do something creative this weekend. I NEED TO. Photography. Let’s go out and snap some pictures! Let’s play with the new long lens I bought a few months ago. Let’s play with the 120 film camera I bought a few months ago. Let’s go to the ocean and watch the sunrise and shoot all sorts of good stuff. Of course we should check the weather first… snow and rain today and tomorrow and rain on Sunday. Well you can just bite me, mother nature.
Music it is then! Guitar! I will play guitar this weekend if it kills me! I don’t know if we’re going to have a band practice or not. I’ll post something to our messenger thread later today (when it’s not pre-8:00am so that the other three guys don’t think I am weird and obsessed or anything) and see what’s up. If not then I need to find something else to do.
I do not want this weekend to be spent doom scrolling news sites and reading stories about the collapse of american democracy that will build up inside of me until I have a stroke. No. That would be bad, even if it is more or less inevitable. I must play guitar! I! Must! Play! Guitar!
Gotta go into the city, Cambridge, to pick something up.
Gotta find two 9v power plugs for guitar pedals. I know I have a bunch of them around here somewhere. Probably need to grab a power strip too.
Gotta setup the guitar rig I want to use for the next practice (tomorrow?). Guitar (Gibson Les Paul Standard) -> Duel overdrive pedal (Keeley D&M Drive) -> Digital reverb pedal (TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2) -> Amp (Fender Bassbreaker 18/30 which does not have a built in reverb, hence the digital reverb pedal). We’re going simple for a while. My big pedal board is making a ton of awful, squealy noise and I want to rip it apart and see where it’s coming from (guaranteed it’s the power supply).
Gotta write and record some music. There are only three days left in March and I haven’t written or recorded any music this month. I still want to try and get something in for the RPM Challenge’s Record Every Month challenge. Probably not likely, but we’ll see.
The last time I bought something form guitar center’s website they gave me a delivery date, told me the package was out for delivery, and then didn’t deliver it. They did this two or three days in a row. When it finally arrived they had failed to pack the power cable and when I complained they asked why I needed it… it was a guitar amplifier… was I supposed to use it without power?
I had forgotten about all of that when, this weekend, I ordered a pedal from guitar center’s website. Today is the delivery day. It has been showing as out for delivery since 9:36am. The estimated delivery time says it should arrive between 11:30am and 2:30pm. It is now 2:47 and it has not been delivered yet.
Yeah, I should have known better. I’m never getting that (relatively) cheap little digital reverb pedal, am I. I’m an idiot. Just call me sucker.
ADDENDUM: I got an email notification saying the package was delivered. I guess all it took was me complaining about it on the internet. Heh, as if.
Go back in time two posts and look at the picture I shared of my Fender Bassbreaker 18/30 amplifier with something that appears to be mold covering the imitation tweed. I don’t know where that came from. I don’t know why it’s on that amplifier but not on either of the other two Bassbreaker products I own (the Bassbreaker15 watt amp and the 1×12 extension speaker cabinet).
It’s gross.
I found a post on reddit that suggested using white vinegar to clean off whatever that mold looking shit is. I guess mold growing on tweed amps is a thing? I’ll share a screen shot of the post here:
I went grocery shopping today and picked up a bottle of white vinegar. I just finished sponging off the amp and it looks like it worked. I am mostly pleased with the results. The only negative I can see at this point (assuming whatever that shit was doesn’t just grow back immediately) is that now my amp smells like vinegar… and so does my cellar… and so do I. Oh well.
We have yet another contractor coming today. The arrival window we booked opens at 8:00am. They texted us at 7:00am saying they were on their way. We assumed that meant that… ya know… they were on their way. Well its 8:02am now and they still haven’t arrived. So I guess they weren’t actually on the way.
Today is a monumentally huge day for the entertainment industry. Well… for my personal entertainment industry preferences. Alex Lifeson of Rush is releasing a new album today with his other band, Envy of None. Now while I will say that that sort of gothy/synthy/poppy vibe Envy of None gives off is not generally my personal bag, I did enjoy the first record and I have been enjoying the first three songs they snuck out from the second record even more. They are winning me over.
Along with that, there is a new Throwing Muses album out today. Technically there are two new Throwing Muses albums today, but only one is going to streaming services. I’m going to have to actually go somewhere and find a copy of the other one. Moonlight Concessions is the one you can stream. The singles they gave us ahead of time are seriously working for me. I haven’t started listening to the full album yet but I am really excited to give it a spin.
Even more important, Kristin Hersh sent out an email to her mailing list today (which I’ve been subscribed to for about as long as email lists have been a thing) and it lists some new tour dates. They are all in Europe, which is great for folks in Europe but not very helpful for me. There was some good news for those of us who live in the nazi states of america. Just read the last line on this screen shot from the email…
US DATES COMING SOON!!! Robert is excited. Robert’s wife is probably going to be slightly less excited, but my finger are crossed that she’ll be okay with going to another show with me.
On top of the musical gifts we get today, there is also a new episode of Yellowjackets where they actually talk about DATs. Digital Audio Tapes. I never owned a DAT player but somewhere around here I do have a couple of DAT tapes because I spent some time in a recording studio in 1993. There is also a new episode of Severance. I think that show might be losing me a little. I have found my attention drifting while watching the last two episodes. I am just thinking that we’re so deep into the black box that we’re never going to find out exactly what’s going on and maybe I am just trying to subconsciously protect myself from disappointment. I don’t know. The show is still good but I am getting worried.
The contractor is here. He rang the door bell at about 8:10 or so. Right when he was supposed to. That’s good news. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll be finished before I start work.
Speaking of music, I started noodling out an idea for something for the Record Every Month challenge. I am thinking of continuing along with the acoustic 12-string stuff I was doing last month. I also got my 6-string acoustic guitar back from my singer, who borrowed it 10000 years ago. Right on queue, today’s That Pedal Show episode is talking about 12-string guitars and the guys are bitching about how difficult they are to play. Just like me!
Right then. Time to go and get ready to start my work day. Happy Friday, everyone. Enjoy the new music.
ADDENDUM: The Envy of None record was originally supposed to come out today, March 14, 2025. It did not though. The new release date is March 28, 2025. Bummer, dude.
There is a Rush 50th anniversary boxed set scheduled for release next week. I wonder if that’s why they pushed the EoN release? Who knows.
Inside the Red Head's Head 