Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Face melting goodness, just like mom used to make
Ok, shameless self promotion... deal with it, yes it's spelled with only ONE V!
CD Baby
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/skivies
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Lorem-Ipsum/dp/B0056BGGBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313624600&sr=8-1
For all you Mac babies out there
iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lorem-ipsum/id443190327
Interview that took place with the Westword while I was in Canada.
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2011/06/the_skivies_on_its_history_and_lorem_ipsum.php
Clicky... listen read... enjoy. Tell your friends!
CD Baby
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/skivies
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Lorem-Ipsum/dp/B0056BGGBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313624600&sr=8-1
For all you Mac babies out there
iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lorem-ipsum/id443190327
Interview that took place with the Westword while I was in Canada.
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2011/06/the_skivies_on_its_history_and_lorem_ipsum.php
Clicky... listen read... enjoy. Tell your friends!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Old folk art = new challenge
Birthday Party Discovery
Recently I met with some friends to celebrate our drummer, Ryan's 30th birthday at Casa Bonita of all places... Ever since he'd seen the South Park episode he's wanted to go there... and what self respecting full grown 30 year old man wouldn't? Your 30's are a milestone! Gone are the days when no one gives you credibility based solely on your age (read lack of experience)...
So, we took in the sights, smells and (stifling the urge to vomit... ok it wasn't that bad... well, almost) tastes. Holly and I ordered TWO carafes of margarita, foolhardy as it may seem given that we hadn't yet tasted them. Afterwards we were pretty confident that we'd made a poor choice. They lacked every component that makes you call a margarita a margarita... unless you substitute anti-freeze to give it that neon yellow green color so prevalent in nature.
Ok so after we got the food part out of the way it was time to go truly experience "Casa don't Eata" in all its splendor, I mean that's what you're paying for right? The experience! We went through the pirate's cave, I forgot what its actual name is, then we played ski ball, everyone donated our tickets so Ryan could get the best of the most useless shit they give out as prizes. He chose the tiara, some Groucho glasses (that would be too small on a Cambodian toddler) and a stuffed green frog whose stuffing is probably toxic to say the least. We watched various characters get shoved off the 2nd story ledge into the famous pool below, then the guy in the gorilla suit chased the same characters around the dining room while...
Wait! (What's this?) Actual real, genuine mariachis! (And they're GOOD!) They were playing a traditional folk set list too! No half assed La Bamba crap either! Trumpets, guitar, violins, vihuela and best of all guitarron! Many of the group agreed that this was by far the best asset Casa Bonita had to offer and these people were by far the most talented in the room. It wasn't until about a month later that I would get bitten by an interesting sort of bug.
You shold know...
Being a musician (a mediocre bass player/ mediocre guitar player) with A.D.D. I have found what can be a dream come true for people like me. This morning I was clicking through Youtube videos and came across a couple of good guitarron players. I've always been curious about the instrument and every time I've seen live mariachis I find myself watching what the guitarron is doing. The complexity of their bass lines for the instrument having so short a neck... it's really something. I've always wanted to incorporate this instrument into a different style just to see what texture it could add. So I did what anyone with a curious itch would do to scratch it... I Googled it.
Homework
Search box [guitaron] Google's reply [showing results for "guitarron" instead] Me: thanks Google for making the correct assumption and not telling me or the rest of the world what a dumb illiterate ass I am...
One of the first places that comes up is search engine gold, one better, I'll explain that in a minute.
After looking at various instruments on eBay, guitar center and other online stores I'd had it in my head that I was going to own one of these things no matter what... but I didn't want to commit to something like this until I got to actually play one... no way would I spend approximately $1000 for a good one... let alone $300+ for a crappy one, besides I don't know the first thing about them aside from the fact that they sound COOL!
Luck!
Finally I go back and click on the link for a local shop called Mi Vida Strings- http://www.mividastrings.com/index.html and find everything I could want to know (except for how to play one). The owner Eric Trujillo is a craftsman who specializes in upright bass among other stringed instruments. Aside from being one unique quirky cat that collects and sells Dunny and Munny (http://www.kidrobot.com/), he's quickly making a name for himself in the luthier community, especially given the fact that he is possibly the only luthier that specializes in the less common instruments across 4 states. He's super friendly and was more than happy to answer every question I had about my new found interest.
After answering my questions he told me "you know I do rent instruments so if it's something you're not too sure about why don't you take it home for a month, if you decide you want to continue with it you can rent to own."
Exactly what I needed! So, he set one up with new strings while Holly and I went across the street to a little Italian deli which he recommended. We had eaten a big breakfast earlier so we passed on food, just got some teas and bought a fresh baked cantaloupe cake... and some nice balsamic vinegar... dammit.
About an hour later we came back and he had just finished prepping the instrument for me, I filled out the necessary paperwork and we were driving home with my new oversized baby...
Moment of truth
From the moment I set this thing in my lap I knew I was in for a challenge... traditionally it's tuned ADGCEA, sometimes the high A is tuned an octave lower to put it one octave higher than the low A. Did that make sense? Didn't to me either.
The neck is a foot long at most, and the body's about the size of a small coffee table and it has 6 strings.
After tuning it for about 15 minutes then trying to noodle around on the thing and come up with something that didn't sound Egyptian, I decided I'd better get a book... I found Mariachi Mastery by Jeff Nevin
http://www.amazon.com/Mariachi-Mastery-Maestria-Guitarron-Enhanced/dp/0849734622/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313280442&sr=8-2
Hopefully this will be a good starting point.
Then I read in Wikipedia that of all the bands and in all the places, The Eagles used guitarron on "Hotel California"... ugh... to quote the big Lebowski:
so... lessons? I guess I'll know exactly how cool this thing can be once I can play something that wont cause my cat to attack me when I play it. I'll keep you posted on that.
Recently I met with some friends to celebrate our drummer, Ryan's 30th birthday at Casa Bonita of all places... Ever since he'd seen the South Park episode he's wanted to go there... and what self respecting full grown 30 year old man wouldn't? Your 30's are a milestone! Gone are the days when no one gives you credibility based solely on your age (read lack of experience)...
So, we took in the sights, smells and (stifling the urge to vomit... ok it wasn't that bad... well, almost) tastes. Holly and I ordered TWO carafes of margarita, foolhardy as it may seem given that we hadn't yet tasted them. Afterwards we were pretty confident that we'd made a poor choice. They lacked every component that makes you call a margarita a margarita... unless you substitute anti-freeze to give it that neon yellow green color so prevalent in nature.
Ok so after we got the food part out of the way it was time to go truly experience "Casa don't Eata" in all its splendor, I mean that's what you're paying for right? The experience! We went through the pirate's cave, I forgot what its actual name is, then we played ski ball, everyone donated our tickets so Ryan could get the best of the most useless shit they give out as prizes. He chose the tiara, some Groucho glasses (that would be too small on a Cambodian toddler) and a stuffed green frog whose stuffing is probably toxic to say the least. We watched various characters get shoved off the 2nd story ledge into the famous pool below, then the guy in the gorilla suit chased the same characters around the dining room while...
Wait! (What's this?) Actual real, genuine mariachis! (And they're GOOD!) They were playing a traditional folk set list too! No half assed La Bamba crap either! Trumpets, guitar, violins, vihuela and best of all guitarron! Many of the group agreed that this was by far the best asset Casa Bonita had to offer and these people were by far the most talented in the room. It wasn't until about a month later that I would get bitten by an interesting sort of bug.
You shold know...
Being a musician (a mediocre bass player/ mediocre guitar player) with A.D.D. I have found what can be a dream come true for people like me. This morning I was clicking through Youtube videos and came across a couple of good guitarron players. I've always been curious about the instrument and every time I've seen live mariachis I find myself watching what the guitarron is doing. The complexity of their bass lines for the instrument having so short a neck... it's really something. I've always wanted to incorporate this instrument into a different style just to see what texture it could add. So I did what anyone with a curious itch would do to scratch it... I Googled it.
Homework
Search box [guitaron] Google's reply [showing results for "guitarron" instead] Me: thanks Google for making the correct assumption and not telling me or the rest of the world what a dumb illiterate ass I am...
One of the first places that comes up is search engine gold, one better, I'll explain that in a minute.
After looking at various instruments on eBay, guitar center and other online stores I'd had it in my head that I was going to own one of these things no matter what... but I didn't want to commit to something like this until I got to actually play one... no way would I spend approximately $1000 for a good one... let alone $300+ for a crappy one, besides I don't know the first thing about them aside from the fact that they sound COOL!
Luck!
Finally I go back and click on the link for a local shop called Mi Vida Strings- http://www.mividastrings.com/index.html and find everything I could want to know (except for how to play one). The owner Eric Trujillo is a craftsman who specializes in upright bass among other stringed instruments. Aside from being one unique quirky cat that collects and sells Dunny and Munny (http://www.kidrobot.com/), he's quickly making a name for himself in the luthier community, especially given the fact that he is possibly the only luthier that specializes in the less common instruments across 4 states. He's super friendly and was more than happy to answer every question I had about my new found interest.
After answering my questions he told me "you know I do rent instruments so if it's something you're not too sure about why don't you take it home for a month, if you decide you want to continue with it you can rent to own."
Exactly what I needed! So, he set one up with new strings while Holly and I went across the street to a little Italian deli which he recommended. We had eaten a big breakfast earlier so we passed on food, just got some teas and bought a fresh baked cantaloupe cake... and some nice balsamic vinegar... dammit.
About an hour later we came back and he had just finished prepping the instrument for me, I filled out the necessary paperwork and we were driving home with my new oversized baby...
Moment of truth
From the moment I set this thing in my lap I knew I was in for a challenge... traditionally it's tuned ADGCEA, sometimes the high A is tuned an octave lower to put it one octave higher than the low A. Did that make sense? Didn't to me either.
The neck is a foot long at most, and the body's about the size of a small coffee table and it has 6 strings.
After tuning it for about 15 minutes then trying to noodle around on the thing and come up with something that didn't sound Egyptian, I decided I'd better get a book... I found Mariachi Mastery by Jeff Nevin
http://www.amazon.com/Mariachi-Mastery-Maestria-Guitarron-Enhanced/dp/0849734622/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313280442&sr=8-2
Hopefully this will be a good starting point.
Then I read in Wikipedia that of all the bands and in all the places, The Eagles used guitarron on "Hotel California"... ugh... to quote the big Lebowski:
so... lessons? I guess I'll know exactly how cool this thing can be once I can play something that wont cause my cat to attack me when I play it. I'll keep you posted on that.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
0 gravity
Over the course of years two people consume each other's identity losing themselves in the process. Maybe this is why elderly couples start to look alike after so much time. It's a rarity anymore where once it was the standard- http://www.divorcereform.org/rates.html although they say that divorce rates drop during a recession.
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