Tag: Music

Neglecting the Ol’ Bloggie

I haven’t been posting much lately. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, you know what I mean? Work is Insane with a capital I, the holidays have been super stressful. So much to do, so many demands, so many headaches. I haven’t been sick, but through the last 2–3 months or so I have generally felt like sickness is right on the doorstep. I just want summer back, you know what I mean?

I booked a vacation day for this coming Friday so that I could have the full day to get ready for the next gig. I scheduled the day off back in October, right around the time we played the last gig. Since then we have booked a major vacation for late summer. No spoilers, but I need to use up a sizable chunk of my vacation time. So much so, that I had to book more time than I currently have in the bank. That means for the next few months I can’t take any more vacation days. Yikes! That’s especially painful because I feel like I need a good couple of days off. Granted, the holidays are helping but I feel like I need a couple of days off when the rest of the world is working. Now don’t get me wrong, this coming weekend is going to be spent with the love of my life and that is far and away my favorite way to spend time. I just need to be able to hide under the covers for a day or two. That ain’t happening.

Sure I have been bitching about the holidays, but Christmas was fun. The kids were great, the family was great, everything was great. I was very happy. I just wish that with all the time and energy spent preparing for Christmas, that Christmas itself could last a little longer. A week, maybe? That seems fair. We don’t have plans for New Years Eve, but we do for New Years Day, there is a much needed game night, and we do have plans for New Years Eve Eve, there is a gig to play. We had our final pre-show rehearsal on Monday. I asked the band if we could agree to never, ever book another December show. They were all very quick to agree. It has kinda gotten in the way this month. It will be another really fun experience when it happens on Friday, but I will be pretty pleased that it’s over with.

My 21 year old cousin Abigail got married today. It was a surprise. No one outside of her immediate family knew it was happening until it was already done. Her husband is a soldier and is being sent overseas. They decided to tie the knot ahead of his deployment. Very romantic, yes? I wish the two of them the best. Speaking from experience, being married is the best thing ever. I wouldn’t want to change a thing. I hope someday in the long distant future they look back on their lives together and say the same thing. Congratulation Abbie and Tim.

I am sure I could come up with a few more post-worthy topics, but I must run off to pick up the kids. Talk to you later, okay?

Fuzz

We had a band practice today. It was the last one before Friday night’s gig.

The band agreed that from this point forward… no more December gigs. This month has been suck after suck after suck, and there just isn’t time to work on the music. Practice went well today, apart from the singer having a cold and having to take things easy. We cranked through all three sets as quickly as possible and we were all toast by the end. Fingers just didn’t respond the way they should have. It was tough, but over all there were few disasters.

I took my amp and my pedals home in the hopes that I will be able to work on all of my pedal settings through the actual amp I want to use at the gig. Unfortunately there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to do what I need to do, and it will require volume to get it right. Still, I hope to spend some time with it. Fingers crossed.

Four days to the gig.

Greg Lake

Out of the three members of Emerson Lake and Palmer, only Carl Palmer remains.

I woke up this morning to find out that Greg Lake, vocalist, bassist, guitarist, all around great musician, had passed away after a battle with cancer. It was yet another musical kick in the teeth from the hell beast we call 2016.

I spent much of my day listening to ELP and the first King Crimson record. All of Mr Lake’s finest moments.

This year is an asshole.

Rest in peace, Greg Lake.

My Guitar is Home

Finally, after almost five whole weeks, my guitar has come home. More importantly, it’s in one piece!


It has a new bridge pickup. I can’t wait to plug in and play it. Gibson Dirty Fingers pickups are really high output. It’s going to make that tube amp I bought last March scream!


Check this out. For the first time since I bought the guitar back in 1990, the pickup switch actually sticks in the neck pickup position! It’s a Christmas miracle!


As for that huge hole in the finish that was all the way down to bare wood? The tech told me he’d make it so it wouldn’t get worse, but it wasn’t going to look good. He was right about both things. It’s so weird to run my finger across that spot and feel nothing but the glossy finish. It’s amazing!


It’s not a good time to actually plug her in and test drive the changes, but at some point tomorrow I will. My Marshall amp is just itching to make some noise with it’s old friend. Then there is a band practice Sunday when this sucker is going to get some tube amp and fuzz box time! Bring it on!

My Les Paul Custom is home!

Gig is Getting Close

The band’s next gig is December 30th. With Christmas and everything happening between now and then, the date is actually much closer than it looks on the calendar. Our drummer sent out a rough draft of a setlist today. Let then arguing begin! Personally, I like to wait until we’ve actually played through a set before I suggest changes. I just like to know how it all feels, you know?

I am going to be using my Fender Deluxe Reverb for this show instead of my Marshall. I really love it except that when I use my two Big Muff pedals together it sounds like an over compressed mess. I’m going to see about swapping out the second muff for an overdrive pedal and try to use it as a clean boost. I already have one setup that way in front of the first Muff pedal in order to give the signal a little extra push. Now I want to add one after the first Muff to try and get a volume boost for leads. I’ll let you all know how it goes.