So, I blog occasionally about the search terms that land people here… but this is a special kind of awesome:
porn yinz maze
This person searched & clicked twice… or two kindred spirits out there really need to meet.
Seriously.
What does one get when you search “porn yinz maze“? Apparently something here at this blog. I get the maze, I get the yinz, …but porn? Maybe I need to draw a maze with boobies and put the word Yinz in it to satisfy this potential reader.
If you’re out there & you’ve managed to find your way back… what exactly were you looking for? A maze of Pittsburgh? A maze of porn? Did your iPhone auto-correct “maize” to “maze” and “corn” to “porn”?
This is my new Tetris. (Thankfully I’ve never had a phone cool enough to play Angry Birds.) Online guitar builders are popping up like mad, and now there’s a contest for making the ugliest one over at Joe Gore’s Tone Fiend blog:
Go try your luck at making the worst! There is some serious competition over there. Sadly, I like some of the “bad” color schemes. I guess I do like goofy guitars after all. (You may remember the mutant beauty pageant.)
I still haven’t seen a virtual guitar builder that can do this though. I did a Google image search for ‘Tetris Guitar’ and came up short. This was the next best thing. It would be cool if it still worked to play video games. Really though, $190 is a very reasonable price. If I had $200 to spare, I’d get one of these.
Had a great time last night at Stage AE for the Flogging Molly show! It was a nice evening out, much closer to home than the last Flogging Molly show that we had to drive to Cleveland for, and we didn’t wait too long to buy tickets this time. (Last time, we waited too long & it sold out!) After arriving home from work, Bethany & I headed to Dormont Dogs for a nice quick meal. (I had the Connecticut Ave. dog minus the onions, it was fantastic!) We then battled and easily defeated the tunnel monster on the way to the north shore.
We got there early, because I’m generally OCD about getting to shows early. We lined up outside behind the mob of green & black T-shirts peppered with the occasional tartan patterned kilt or someone who didn’t get the memo about wearing green to a Celtic punk rock show. There were more people than I had expected. It was windy, but not unbearable. We were entertained by the 3 or 4 scalpers passing by asking for extra tickets. One guy had his leg in some sort of brace or cast, and one guy was on a bike. They mustn’t have scored any, because I didn’t see anyone selling them.
This was sadly the first time I’ve seen a show with the big room opened up. I need to get to more shows down there. (The 1st time I was there was to see Dethlehem and they were on the smaller bar stage.) It’s a fantastic venue. You have a nice view all around. The only thing I’d change is having the floor slightly sloped… but then again I’m just short. After getting a superficial pat-down at the door, we stopped & said hi to Jeff who was working & not setting any fires. Then we made our way to the bar where I got a Killian’s Irish Red because I can’t really take too much Guinness. The wife opted for water. At a Flogging Molly show? Water? She must be the more responsible half.
We joined the pack of Yinzers crowding the merch table as we tried to get a look and get up front. It was easy to see that the dude wasn’t taking orders from any other dudes… so my wife ordered our shirts and a patch once we squeezed our way to the front. As I was getting a dollar out of my wallet to pop into the tip bucket, it fell into my beer. So, dude got a soggy dollar & a dry dollar. Sorry. Not that sorry though. You can still spend it. I picked up a Devil Makes Three CD too. I saw them online & liked what I heard. I asked the merch guy which one he suggested. He showed me the 1st album & the live one. He seemed to indicate that the live one was a nice cross-section, so I went with that.
To the floor! It was still relatively easy to make our way to the center & almost front of the floor. Things were starting to pack in as we got there, it was pretty good timing & placement. We thought. Bethany thought she smelled a skunk, and we were too far away from the obligatory dreadlock kid for it to be Patchouli & BO, so it was most likely the extremely pungent weed that we were smelling burning much later. (I bet area Taco Bell locations had a surge of customers after the show.) Our friend Laurel made a last-minute decision to come to the show, so she joined us right as the lights went down…
Brothers of Brazil | Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA) 05/10/2012
The Brothers of Brazilwere up first. Imagine a young Fred Schneider(or Michale Ian Black) on guitar and Billy Idol(or maybe even Johnny Rotten) on drums. These dudes were quite interesting. The guitar-work was amazing, & the drummer was quite the showman & very entertaining. They had this weird samba punk rock vibe… it was odd. I’d see them again. I dunno if I’d buy an album. It was fantastic that they opened & closed with a theme song. I believe these dudes will do well for themselves. I don’t think Bethany & Laurel were as amused as I was.
The Devil Makes Three | Stage AE (Pittsburgh, PA) 05/10/2012
Up next was The Devil Makes Three. The crowd stated getting a little more packed in, and a drunken kid beside me ruined the first 2 songs by slurredly “singing” loudly & off-key directly into my ear, until he decided that the crowd wasn’t as into it as he was, and muttered something about us being lame & pushing forward. These dudes rocked quietly, but they play really well. They have great melodies & harmonies… even though they were minus their regular bass player. I have no idea what to call it. Is it folk? Alt country? Blues? Punk? It’s close-to-but-not bluegrass or rockabilly. All I know is that I like it. I’m gonna say if you like punk rock, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, or old folk or blues stuff… you ought to check these cats out. They win the award for coolest guitars too. Cooper McBean played a mean-looking old archtop with what I think was a P-90 mounted in it. it looked like it had been left out in a sandstorm after someone dumped some paint-thinner on it. I wanted it. He mainly rocked the banjo & a tenor banjo. The lyrics are great. Check out this comic set to the lyrics of the song “The Bullet”. I will see this band next time they’re in town! Bethany really dug them too, being a country fan and all. I think Laurel was trying to figure them out.
Well, we enjoyed the part of the set that wasn’t ruined by belligerent drunken meat-heads. Starting at about the same time as The Devil Makes Three, the crowd directly behind us was swaying & getting rowdy. Oh well, it’s a concert. We’re in the middle of the floor. That’s what happens. Until these testoster-tools behind us start arguing about something. I heard something about touching or talking to a sister. I’m not sure. Maybe they were bumping into each other, maybe someone was trying to bump uglies. I was trying to pay attention to the blisteringly talented band on stage. There was arguing, shoving, and a guy getting in the middle. Somebody’s “bro” got in the middle and then calmed things down. Security was eying them and pointing flashlights from the ramps on the side, but apparently not responding. Then everything was “cool” and it remained calm, for a song or two anyway. All of a sudden I hear “oh my god!” and my wife is on the floor on her ass. I pulled her up and swung around and yelled something to the effect of “Who the [expletive] knocked my wife on to the [expletive] floor?” Two dudes larger than me in height and girth (one in a kilt as well as a drunken stupor) looked at me with an expression that can only be descried as “oh shit”. I turned around to ask Bethany if she was OK. She nodded. I swung back around to the now large gap in the crowd surrounding the two sweaty ass-clowns and demanded that they apologize to Bethany. They did, looking like a dog that just took a dump on the living room floor, as security arrived to further scold them and ask me if Bethany was OK. Next time how about responding before a bystander gets knocked over? I guess she saw one dingleberry trying to choke the other dingleberry as she got knocked down. I would expect this kind of crap at a metal show, but for folk punk? Way to uphold drunken Irish fighting stereotypes, McPotatoheads. I don’t know if I would have punched those guys, or what… but apparently my tone of voice or the look on my face told them not to mess with me. I thought security was going to drag me into it too as he was asking if Bethany was OK. Later Laurel laughed as she said she thought I was going to swing & she’d end up jumping on the fat guy & throwing punches too. Maybe we’re all a little too violent?
Finally, it was time for Flogging Molly! Despite all of the drunken violence, the smell of burning leaves in the non-smoking venue, the guy in front of me repeatedly backing himself into my junk, getting sweat on me from the shirtless guy, and paying $12 for parking, we were having one hell of a great time!
If you’ve never seen Flogging Molly in action, I’m not sure how to describe it. Seven people come on to the stage and sound like 70. The crowd really started moving so I pushed Bethany & myself forward & off to the side as we lost Laurel with the first wave. She found us not too long after that. Dave King & company ripped through a bunch of hits & some stuff that they don’t regularly do live. I remember it being a long set & how I liked every selection. I could have watched them go for many more songs, even after the encore. I can’t pick a favorite track, I like so many of them. I really enjoyed “What’s Left of the Flag”, “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”, “Float”, & “The Son Never Shines (on Closed Doors)”, & of course “7 Deadly Sins”. The inter-song banter keeps things light with songs that can have such heavy lyrical matter all the while to a happy beat. You get the feeling that they’re all playing right from the heart. You have this killer group of musicians that can probably between them master any instrument you might have lying around. Dennis Casey has his hands full trying to compete with & leave room for all of the other instruments. I was glad he got a spot for a guitar solo of sorts, in with the Guinness chug. Every time I see a Celtic punk band, I get the urge to buy a Telecaster. At any rate, Flogging Molly did not disappoint. We’ll see them next time they’re in the ‘Burgh, Cleveland, or anywhere else nearby. I know Bethany loved it, I think Laurel did too. After the show, we ran into my cousin Patience. Taste in awesome Irish music must run in the family.
A while back, a friend of ours who is a teacher invited my wife & I to a Learning Festival that’s happening at her school this Saturday (May 12th). I can’t wait to go check it out! All of my favorite stuff is going to be in one place. Garrison Carida of the 501st Legion will be walking around in Star Wars attire, there will be a dude showing his guitar collection (there’s 50 of them!), they’ll be raffling a Fender Stratocaster from Moonlight Music, there will be free appraisals of collectables, and much much more! Looking at the flyer, it’s like I put the thing together with all of my favorite stuff.
Our friend is taking her 7 year old nephew, my wife is taking me. Ha! At any rate, I know other geeks read this that may be interested. Here’s the official flyer:
Apollo-Ridge Education Foundation Learning Festival – Sat. May 12th, 2012 (Click the image to go to their website.)
I used to think I wasn’t picky when it came to my guitar sound or tone. I thought I wanted a Les Paul through any old amp as long as it was cranked as loud as possible. I liked a switch to turn the dirt off or on. Maybe I thought it was cool or “punk rock” to not care about my sound.
Lately, I care about my tone. It doesn’t have to sound exactly the same all the time… but I have learned to roll the dials in the directions that make me happy.
Dunlop Cry Baby. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I actually just sold a Jim Dunlop Cry-Baby on ebay because I didn’t like how it messed with the signal even when it was off. I may pick up some kind of wah that has a true bypass… but even at that I doubt I’ll use it much.
Any more, I don’t even use a foot-switch for going clean. I play dirty all the time. If I need to clean it up, I roll back one of those volume knobs, or use a switch on the guitar. I generally always play bridge pickup & that’s it.
I like tube amps. I have a Crate Power Block that sounds pretty good live, but like razorblades were taken to the speaker cones when recorded or miked in any way. I wince when I hear bands playing through solid state amps… especially when there are 2 guitars through the same kind of amp.
So, I generally go through this tiny Egnater Tweaker from my friend Dave that sounds huge, or Erin’s Blues Junior which gets incredibly dirty at reasonable volumes.
The biggest thing I’ve learned is to just listen. If I like the sound, others will too. What I think I want might not be exactly what I want. I’ve learned to trust my ears.
I still haven’t done anything with my box of goodies from Guitar Fetish to beat up that New York Pro Strat clone. It’s not that I’m nervous, I just haven’t had time to sit down & get it done yet. I’m also still open to any tips/tricks/advice.
Think it will help? Everyone seems to say it will. I might need a sponge too?
I’ve gotten some decent tips from Facebook, SMG, and Misfits Central. What else do I need to consider as far as pots & capacitors?
How would you connect the dots here? What pots & capacitors would you use?
How would you wire this?
Should I do the 7-sound thing? What if I want the neck & the bridge both on at once?
Should I replace the pots while I’m in there? How do I tell if they’re 250k or 500k?
I’m guessing a wiring diagram with my proposed setup doesn’t already exist out there, not even at Stew-Mac. Looks like these cats will make one for $30, but I think I can do that myself. (Although a very rough one.)
I need a crash course in guitar wiring, I guess. Ha ha.
I also might try to setup a work bench/space in the basement so I don’t ruin the dining room table.
Inspired by a post called Gig Preparation, I thought I’d make some checklists. I think we’ll need one (and a half) for our stuff, one for setting up the gig, and one for doing stuff at the gig. The lists would change depending on who’s working the gig or who set it up, but you should be able to help with the flow of things even if you’re not the organizer. This is also from the point of view of a guitar player, because that’s all I’ve ever been. I’m guessing it would be the same for a bass player & quite similar for a drummer.
Gig Checklists…
-·♠·-
Before the gig:
☐ Get all the details in order:
☐ The bands
☐ The place
☐ The time
☐ The price
☐ All ages or 21+
☐ Is it a benefit?
☐ Any specials if it’s a bar?
☐ Selling tickets?
☐ …using social media – Link the crap out of details/event pages.
☐ Flyers– Hang ’em up, pass ’em out.
☐ Word of mouth
.
☐ Communicate with the other bands…
☐ Sharing equipment? – Cut down on changeovers between bands.
☐ Playing order?
.
☐ Do you need your own door person?
[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅]
Stuff to take:
☐ Guitar – In a case or gig bag, I actually saw a guy use a bath-towel once.
☐ Backup guitar(s) – Don’t kill the show when you break a string.
☐ Amp head & cab(or combo)
☐ The merch box(es)
☐ Your gig backpack or briefcase. (“What’s that.” you ask? Keep reading!)
☐ Nail clippers
☐ acetaminophen / ibuprofen / aspirin
☐ Band-aids
☐ Cloth or towel
.
\m/_(-_-)_\m/
At the gig:
☐ Set stuff on the stage for the 1st band & any bands sharing
☐ Backline the “main” act if there is one & set up in front of them.
☐ Tune (Silently! – No one likes the tuning song! – Tune your backup guitar too.)
☐ Let the Sound Technician do their job.
☐ Set up a Merch Table/Corner/Counter/Box.
☐ Put your door person at the door.
☐ Using a setlist? Reach into that backpack & get one made!
☐ Have a drink? Water, Beer, or something harder.
☐ Tune Again (Silently! – No one likes the tuning song!)
☐ Unless you’re awesome & have a tech, get a string-wingman.
.
웃웃웃웃웃웃웃웃웃
I’m sure there’s stuff I’m forgetting, but I think this is a pretty decent start. What do you think I’m missing from the list? Do you have an emergency gig kit? What’s in it?
I’ve soldered stuff before, but it’s been a long time, I’m going to need to learn again. I just got a box full ‘o neat stuff that I’m going to slap on to that New York Pro that I picked up at Hoke·E·Geez. I have this urge to do as much of it as I can myself. (I’ll still have it set up when I’m done by Aaron at Lawrence Music.)
Guitar Pimpin'
I’m sure I can do it. I might make a mess, and it might take me longer than someone who actually knows what they’re doing, but I can do it.
GFS | Lil Killer Black Humbucker Rail Pickup for Strats
I went with a goofy pickup configuration, because I have the luxury of not knowing what I’m doing & no one to tell me “that’s not the way you do that”.
I got 2 Lil Killerhumbucker rail pickups, one 15K for the neck, & one 10K for the middle. I have no idea what the K means. I got a Pro-Tube lipstick tube pickup for the neck position, because I thought it looked neat… and because I never use the neck position, so I thought this might be neat to try out. I opted for the 6K version, because that’s what the pickup in the calibrated rail set comes as… even though the GFS page suggests you use the 4.9K one at the neck position. Will it make that big of a difference?
It's gonna look (& sound) a little different by the time I'm done with it.
So, I have these pickups, & the 5-way switch that came with the guitar. What kind of wiring do you suggest I do? Do I need to worry about shielding tape or paint? Do I need flux, or no flux? Can anyone show me a diagram for a normal setup? What about something “hot-rodded” using these components?
I have a soldering iron and some solder. I might get one of those soldering stands with the alligator clips.
This ties in with an earlier blog post. I’m just trying to figure out how to reach people. When people who have never heard of us catch us play, we generally have people coming up to say they dig it. It’s a good feeling. I’d like it to happen more often because I think the band is doing a fun thing, and I’d like more people to share in the fun.
Getting people to come out in the first place is one struggle. Getting yourself in front of an audience that’s already there is another struggle. Getting people to watch you once they’re there seems to be an entirely different struggle.
Has this ever happened to you? Yes, it has.
Lately I’ve seen a trend of bands telling people saying “hey we’re 1st, come early” or “hey we’re last, come late” then their fans show up for just them & don’t bother to check anyone else out. I generally tell people to come for the whole show & check out the other bands. We try to book shows with bands we dig, just for this reason.
Spider-Man:: This has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that I found it hilarious.
I hate to come of as a whiner, and I know I will to some readers. I’m just trying to express my frustrations, and this blog is a forum for just that. In fact, it’s my forum for just that. I’m trying to work it out for myself & to possibly get some insight from other local (and some not so local) musicians.
In fact, I think I have ranted about this very topic online before, maybe just a similar one… but I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
I also don’t want to dismiss the people that come see us at just about every show. Your presence is incredibly important to us, and we value it. We just want some more people there to watch with you, and we don’t want things to get stale where you’re seeing the same show over & over. Even if you’ve only caught us once, or if you’ve bought a T-shirt, or told us you liked a video online… you are awesome and we truly appreciate your support & attendance.
I recently saw the worst case ever of this crazy only-watch-the-band-with-a-guy-I-know-in-it thing going on. We played a show where people watched the band they came to see, then just absolutely bailed. Not even the bands stuck around to check out the other acts, one of which was a touring act & the reason we were all playing the show. It’s disrespectful. I get that stuff comes up, & sometimes you need to go. It happens. Sometimes there’s burnout. Sometimes there’s arrogance. Sometimes there are good reasons. Sometimes you’re just being ignorant.
I know personally that a bunch of people from my wife’s family came out to a show at a bar once where my wife & I absolutely love the wings. We had told everyone how cool the place was, they all decided to come to the ‘Burgh to eat some legendary wings & watch my band play… killing 2 birds with one stone. They sat through one band that everyone liked, then through a 2nd band that was just absolutely awful… one member was so drunk and/or high that he would strum the guitar and look down at it dazed for a minute or so while apparently hearing stuff that none of the rest of us could. This was all endured just to see us play. The place was packed all night, the bands & their fans watched each other, and everyone had a good time.
Not to judge a book by its cover, but I all kinds of judged books by their covers the other night and I hit the nail on the proverbial head. A quick scan of the room revealed some crazy demographics. More specifically a bunch of old people trying to look cool and standing on tippy-toes watching their kid play with no general comprehension of what was going on up on the stage or around them. If I’m calling them old, you know they were old. We knew these were parents, aunts, uncles, and neighbors… and they were going to split as soon as their kid’s bands was done. Boy, did they ever. If it was a cartoon, there would have been a cloud of dust & a cartoon noise. Whoop!
It must be happening everywhere because the touring band had it written into their contract that they weren’t to be slated to play last on any of their shows. You can’t blame them. You tour to build support for your album, and if no one sees you play, no one’s going to buy your album or you merch or come see you the next time you roll through town. We took the cleanup/closer spot because none of the other bands would.
Do you know what it's like to be on the bill and to play for fifteen minutes and the only people there to see you are the other bands and their girlfriends? Don't talk to me about Rock n' Roll! I'm out there in the clubs and on the streets and I'm living it!I AM ROCK N' ROLL!
We didn’t help their cause because we apparently weren’t a draw either. We watched the touring band, & they watched us. The handful of people that came to see us were there for all of the sets that night… and the show started an hour or so later than it was supposed to. It was awesome that the touring band actually stuck around to see us play. I’m sure on the road they’ve seen crappy band upon crappy band night after night… but it was an unparalleled show of respect for us, and assured us that the sound guy & doorman had to stick around until we were done. Ha ha.
Playing their new hit, ''Girl Girl Girl''!
Well, there were more people there to watch us… since it was a rare all-ages gig for us, we had an under-ager and her mom eager to see us… we were told we’d be rocking about 8:00pm. We eventually went on much much later, way past the under-ager’s bed time. So, two people who bought tickets & came out expressly to see us had to leave early and were unable to see us because of all the ridiculousness and shuffling. Then the dozens of people who came out to see the other bands watched them then left. Immediately.
Try as he might, Jeremy could just not meditate in front of a stereo. Live music is the only way to go.
It would be nice to say that whoever sold the most tickets had to go last… but then again, they did sell a lot of tickets, so that has a certain amount of pull as far as when you want to go on.
I didn’t hear any of the opening bands even mention the touring band… the headlining band that (again) we were supposed to be there in support of.
Before you say that my band sucks (you’re certainly entitled to your opinion), I’ll say that no one who left early would know, because they didn’t even give us a chance. I’d rather clear the room myself than have it cleared for me. How do you expose people to your live show, if the people in the place don’t even stick around for one song?
World (and Lunar) Domination 