Tag: lizardfish

Volume

I’m watching a YouTubes video where folks are talking about how happy they are to be going to concerts again post-Covid. Now we can debate whether or not we are actually post-Covid (we clearly are not) but that’s sort of beside the point. One of the things they are enjoying is the volume level. I have to admit that I miss that. I miss standing in front of my amplifier, slamming an Emin7 chord, and being able to feel the air moving around my legs. It’s a pretty magical thing.

Lizardfish doesn’t really play that loud, whether it’s rehearsals or gigs. We just don’t. We play loud, but not loud enough to quite “feel” it. The main reason for that is the drums. Whichever amp I choose to use on a given day can do it. Mike’s bass amp can do it. Greg’s PA system can do it. Kevin’s drums can’t. In most of the bands I’ve been in it’s been the opposite. The drums were so loud we had to crank the amps to compete. Now we have to keep them somewhat low. I don’t know if it’s because Kevin doesn’t play that loud or if his drums don’t project that well.

What I do know is that the first time we get back together will be the first time I will play through my Fender Deluxe Reverb since February 1, 2020 and I am going to want to run that little bastard as hot and as loud and as crunchy as local noise ordinances will allow. The drums as we know them would not be able to keep up with that. However, after the 2/1/20 gig but before the start of the lock down, Kevin bought new drums. He hasn’t had a chance to play them. If the volume limiter was his actual drums, then what if the new drums project out like crazy and he is suddenly 10 times louder than we’re used to.

That would be awesome. I seriously hope that happens because I am going to want to be stupid loud.

Hopefully the day is coming soon. Please, Covid, let us have our band back.

Anniversary

I missed an important anniversary yesterday. I was all focused on Covid itself and I missed an important date that is mainly important because of Covid.

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of the last time Lizardfish played together. It was Greg’s birthday party. We played a couple of sets and it went really well (except for the untimely death of a snare drum head, RIP). We took a couple of weeks off after the show, like we usually do, then Jen, Harry, and I went to Florida for a week, and by the time we got back Covid was a thing and the country was starting to shut down.

We haven’t played since.

Every time I start thinking I might be okay with trying to get together, something Covid related happens that screws it up. We were talking about maybe having a play in December. I wasn’t really good with that, but maybe early January? Nope. Omicron. Crud.

Maybe… things seem to be calming down around here. Maybe March? Ugh. I miss playing for real. I miss my band.

Two Notes

Two notes as I get ready for bed on a Saturday night.

First, game three of the Red Sox/Rays ALDS series is tomorrow at 4:00. I really thought Tampa Bay was going to sweep us, but last night the offense and the bullpen pulled out an impressive win. We need more of that tomorrow. We have a chance to close out the series without leaving Fenway. Sounds good to me.

Second, one of my neighbors is having a party with insanely loud music that is making my skin crawl. Where is Lizardfish when we need some massive volume to drown out the lame noise?

The Empty Lunch Break Post

My lunch break is ending. Time to throw up a post.

I got nothing.

Nothing at all.

The last three days have felt like the longest six months ever, har har har.

Jen asked me a question about a Lizardfish show from a few years ago. I had to go to the Lizardfish website to get the details she wanted. Turns out the domain has expired. Did I know that? I think I did. lizardfishmusic.com is no longer a thing. Lizardfishmusic.wordpress.com is though. Turns out I never added the 2/1/20 show to the list of past shows. There’s a post for it, but I never took the next step and added it to the list. I’ll fix that. While I was there I took a second to add a new post saying that we’re missing it. Because we are.

My back is killing me. My neck is killing me. My shoulders are killing me. My legs are killing me. My feet are killing me……. and I still have 28 minutes of exercise to do today. Yikes!

We are planning a drive up to Vermont to check in with the kids and deliver some seasonal clothing. The closer we get to the weekend the more excited about it I get. I’m really looking forward to it, even if it requires me to do a shit ton of laundry. Can’t wait.

See? I had nothing to talk about.

One Day Down

The Facebook bookfayce exile has lasted more than 24 hours. One day down, six(?) to go. I reached for the phone to check for notifications two or three times and just put it straight down. Nope. No bookfayce there.

I say six days to go, but do I mean it? As in… is it six days or one eternity? I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. I am classifying this as a temporary experiment, but if I feel okay at the end of a week I will just continue to stay away.

Forever though… can I do it forever? Probably not. When the band starts up again we are going to be communicating through Facebook messenger. At least we always have in the past and I don’t think I can Spartacus all four of us into a revolution. I think I am at least going to be using Messenger. After that, what about gigs? I am going to have to play the promotional game. Not that promoting the band on Facebook ever had any real results in the past. You just do it because it’s there, right?

All of this talk is making me want to get the band together. Nope. Not until (at the very least) my house has it’s booster shot. Even that is probably not enough to lighten the Covid-19 lockdown rules. We’ll have to see. We are taking it seriously here. Still. Very serious. Still.

Speaking of guitar… when the new Klon KTR circuits hit the stores, I am getting one. I just want to state that publicly. My Ryra The Klone pedal is awesome, but when the new KTR comes out I am going to replace it with the new redesigned KTR. You heard it here first, babie.

Booster

I am not yet quite qualified to get a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot. I have to wait a couple of weeks, I think.

I really want it. I really want it.

I want my band to get back together. The whole writing/recording demoes thing is starting to get old. I need to play loud with three friends who are playing along at a similarly loud volume.

I need a shave. I need to play live music. I need a booster shot. I need to delete Facebook. I just decided a few minutes ago that I am going to experiment with a full week away from the bookfayce. I am going to delete it from my iPhone and my iPad and close the tabs on my computers that I keep open. Hold on, give me a second… Okay, it’s off my phone and my iPad and it’s no longer open on this computer. Let’s give it seven days and see how disconnected and awful I feel. Conversely, I could say to give it seven days and see how less depressing life seems. Seven days without nazis. Well… I’m not deleting Twitter yet, so there are still nazis to piss me off.

When did this booster shot post turn into an anti-facebook post? I don’t know, but I still want the booster so… there’s that.

Okay, back to work.

Jinx Part Two

Remember a couple of posts back where I said I was suddenly a jinx at work? Oddly enough, the word jinx came up again in a totally unrelated topic today.

I am actually afraid to mention it out of fear of actually jinxing it myself because irony is dead.

We have something in the works for my parents’ healthcare situation. We got some info today that if it happens would be a gift from the healthcare gods, but the person relaying the info actually said that they didn’t want to jinx it.

Holy shit snacks, please don’t let this be jinxed.

Please let the superstitious jinxing be localized to that one issue at work.

Pretty please.

Oh, and did I mention that Lizardfish covers Stevie Wonder’s Superstition? Is that enough to keep all superstitious coincidences at bay for a few decades? That’d be nice, m’kay.

Dusty Hill

Dusty Hill, the bass player from ZZ Top died. I cannot say that I was ever a ZZ Top fan, but I can say that I have been thinking about them a bit lately.

ZZ Top to me was the awful cartoonish characters from the ’80s. The beards, the terrible videos, the over produced synthed up crappy songs. I had no interest at all. The small number of earlier song that I knew were okay. Tush (which Lizardfish was playing when I joined), and Cheap Sunglasses were good songs. There were a couple of others that I liked too. They were really just a blues band, which might be why I was so put off in the 80s, but I think maybe they were a little too Texas and not enough Chicago for me. I never really thought of it that way before, but that might be exactly it.

Over the last few months I have been wondering to myself if I should go and give their first few records a try. The main reason being my recent obsession with cool guitar gear. That’s kind of embarrassing to say out loud, but there it is. ZZ Top’s guitar player, Billy Gibbons, is a Les Paul guy. He’s known for playing a 1959 Standard that he named Pearly Gates (apparently after the car he was driving when he went to pick it up? Is that true?). Seymour Duncan sells a set of pick ups called Pearly Gates that are supposed to be cloned from the PAFs in Gibbons’ Les Paul. Hearing other people talk about his guitar and the gear based on his guitar, and knowing that they weren’t absurd comic characters in the 70’s, and also knowing that the band existed for over 50 years without ever having a line up change (which is pretty amazing), has been making me think that their first 2-3 records might be worth a listen.

And then yesterday it was announced that Dusty Hill died. I gave Cheap Sunglasses a spin in the car on the way to work today in his memory. There was a quote from Billy Gibbons saying that Hill wanted the band to continue without him and they will honor that request. So I guess they will finally have that line up change after all. Maybe I’ll give Tres Hombres a spin today too. Maybe it’s worth it for this Chicago (albeit via London) blues fan to dip his toe into some Texas for a bit.

Rest in Peace, Dusty Hill. Someday when my band gets back together I’ll see if they want to play Cheap Sunglasses.

I’m Tired

I am really tired tonight but we’re going to hang out in the living room for a while and watch the tube.

Is it weird that the last two programs I watched, Fear the Walking Dead and an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 whose name I didn’t catch, both ended with a nuclear warhead detonating over American soil? Is that an omen or some shit? I keep trying to figure out what the “nuclear option” is for my parents’ healthcare. Now I’m watching bombs go off in the good ol’ USA.

Coincidence?

I need to make some music. I need my band to get back together. I don’t know if it’s possible. Covid-19 done fudged everything up.

Stupid global pandemic.

Les Paul Tips

I can’t sleep so I’ve been putzing around YouTube looking for cool ideas for things to do with your Les Paul.

First things first, this dude is playing a copy and that offends me. He has an SG and another Les Paul on the wall behind him. Are those cheap copies too?

Anyway, he lists five things and literally every video I’ve looked at tonight lists exactly the same things. The first two are things that I figured out on my own back in 1987 when my Peavy amp’s foot switch got smashed in my car. I thought they were common knowledge. No one taught me, I just figured it out after about 0.68 seconds worth of research.

The third and fifth tricks are things I use occasionally. I learned about “woman tone” (terrible name, Eric) from a Clapton biography back in ‘86 or ‘87. The kill switch thing… I forget where I learned that… it might have been that same Clapton biography or maybe a guitar magazine column. I’m thinking maybe Rik Emmett’s column? I learned a few things from him, but most of it was way above my skill level.

The forth tip is the one that’s interesting to me. I first learned of that from a That Pedal Show episode last year and I’ve been playing with it lately, but it’s not making that much of a difference. I’m guessing it will be a bigger effect at higher volumes. I want to try it at a Lizardfish practice, assuming there someday is another Lizardfish practice.

Okay, I might try to sleep now. Class dismissed,