November 2005
Tuesday, Nov 29
Fox (Faux) News' Chris Wallace now claims Bush never tried to link al-Quaeda with Saddam Hussein.
Oh really?
Actually, he did, several times...even I remember it.
read reference at thinkprogress dot org
Monday, Nov 21
Sometimes, people will do the right thing.
My father died in early 2000, and last night, out of curiosity, I did an internet search for his name. One of the returned results was the date and cause of his death, itemized in a long list of tobacco-related deaths. The web site is for an anti-tobacco mission bordering on religous zealotry.
Aghast and angered (or, half-baked and royally pissed off), I wrote this email:
To whom it may concern,
You have erroneously listed my father's death in a list of deaths from tobacco use, Item #22 on one of the pages of your web site.
My father was a lifelong, avowed non-user of tobacco, and the lung cancer that killed him was of a unique strain completely unrelated to tobacco use.
You are effectively slandering my father's name by categorizing him in a group of tobacco users, when you obviously have not bothered to ascertain the truth.
If you have any regard for contextual truth, you will remove my father's name from this list.
Lo and behold, early this morning, I got a reply:
Dear Bryan,
Thank you for notifying me that your father was not a smoker. I have removed his obituary from this list of "Could these have been tobacco related deaths."
Please accept my sincere apology for including your father's name on this possible tobacco related death list.
With compassion,
Mike Sawyer
Executive Director
I Will Never Use Tobacco, Inc.501 (c) 3
Okay, thanks. Sometimes people do the right thing. Good for them, because I was ready to instigate serious legal action.
Tuesday, Nov 15
Return to drum set. New heads for Eric's entry-level Yamaha set, adding a good snare drum, cymbals and some hardware.
Saturday afternoon, 1:00. Rehearsal is twenty-three hours from now, to work on new material. The front porch gigs are over, and it's time to move forward with the new configuration.
I meet Alex at Fork's with my shopping list. First stop, the snare drum rack.
"So, I was considering this one, or maybe this one..."
"Mmmm - you don't want to do that. You don't want to do that at all. Let me make a phone call, I work with a guy that's got a bunch of really good ones he's trying to unload, and letting them go for about half that." Sure, why not?
"What else?"
"I need a couple of cymbals...I was really liking these Paiste's here."
A few minutes playing around the cymbal racks. We agree, the Paiste Mark 1's and 2's are very nice. Then Alex takes down the big binder with all the price lists in it and looks them up. The ride goes for $360, the crash $250. And that's before hi- hats.
"How about a Plan B..."
Alex tells me the differences between all the Sabian models. I feel the combination of an AAX 17-inch crash and a 22-inch Paragon ride will be quite nice, and Alex agrees. The price is well within reason. Also am going with 13-inch hats this time, instead of the 14-inch army helmets I've played all my life. Meanwhile, Alex hears back from the snare drum contact. We can meet him later that night, and he has the same ride cymbal I want for far less than the store price. Who is this guy?
"All right, what else?"
"I need some hardware...a couple of extender arms, a kick pedal, and a remote hi-hat."
I have some configuration notes scribbled on a pad. We enlist a sales assistant for the basics, and he rounds up what I need. We check out kick pedals. I test an Axis that feels great, and a DW5000. The Axis is pre-owned, a bit rusty, and a single footboard. I've played split footboards all my life, and right now is not the time to change. I choose a new DW5000.
We've got the crash, hi-hats, kick pedal, remote hi-hat and additional cymbal stand, and a couple pairs of Vic Firth 5B wood tip sticks. Total cost is more than I paid for Eric's little drum set, back in '97.
Alex has all the new heads in his car - Evans generra's, clear, oil-filled. 2-ply tops, 1-ply bottoms. I write him a check.
Need to make a trip to Sam Ash. Alex decides he'll come along. We stop by a drum shell and hardware distributor he currently works for to leave his car there. He takes me inside and shows me around. I'm intrigued by his description of the process of building one's own drum set, using the Keller shells they stock and all the different hardware - lugs, tension rods, and the like. He shows me the large sheets of drum finish wrap, and describes how they're made to achieve the colorful swirls. He says it would be quite simple to stain the shells myself, and notes that Drum Workshop used this very line of shells until three years ago. Hmmmmm....
Returning from Sam Ash, we drive to Alex's apartment. We're going to Mr. Snare Drum's house to look at his available stock and buy a drum. Alex drives, since he got directions. The guy lives way over on the far side of Hermitage.
We find the house, and are led to the basement. This is who he turned out to be. He's from Jersey, and is jacked up on coffee. Highly personable, intelligent, and a top-notch craftsman. Also a rep of sorts for Sabian, hence the deal on the ride cymbal.
He has an oddball assortment of snares he's made, all different sizes and finishes. I describe my situation and tell him I need versatility. After banging on a few amazing drums, I pick one. The shell looks a bit like one of my cats. The drum sounds better than any I've ever owned. I write him a check.
Alex and I have to go back to the supply warehouse to get the cymbal. It's a bit strange being there at night. Still in Alex's car, we head back to his apartment.
Arriving, I'm about to pour on the words of gratitude and say goodbye, when he looks at me and says, "Okay - your house." Ahh, sure thing. Out at my place, we begin putting heads on the little black drums. We then discover that the tension rods and hoop clamps for the kick drum are missing. Scrambling around in the attic where everything else was neatly stashed away, wrapped up and in sealed bags, they're nowhere to be found. The hour is late and I'm sinking into frustrated despair. I hesitantly ask Alex if I can come get him in the morning for one more trip to the warehouse, and he says he'll go ahead and run by there tonight, and I can get the stuff from him in the morning. Well, dude, you're going way above and beyond the call here; try not to get mugged.
After an early wakeup and hectic morning, I get the heads put on the kick drum, quickly re-tune everything, and start loading the van. I'm also taking the Motif and keyboard amp. It's been a few years since I loaded gear like this, and lacking bags or cases to put drums and hardware in, it takes me a long time. I gape at my van's interior, all loaded up with music gear. The proverbial worms are already spilling out of the can and crawling all over my shoes.
Rehearsal was a real eye-opener - truly the next level. Our keyboard player loves the Motif, the acoustic guitar player has brought out a Les Paul, and we have drums, not congas. We are also a lot louder. We work on new material, and inspirations fly.
The Sabian cymbals sound excellent, the incredible Magstar snare drum is alive and dangerous, the DW kick pedal is the best I've ever owned, and the remote hi-hat is one of the greatest inventions known to man. The hi-hat is now on my right side, comfortably positioned slightly in front of the kick, right next to the ride cymbal, allowing for some lovely interplay between the two. No more playing cross-armed, uncomfortable and unable to breathe correctly or use proper snare drum technique. It feels like an entirely new instrument.
Everybody is extremely pumped up, and we will likely be gigging by next spring.
Huge, gigantic ups to Alex Turkovic, without whose immense help, guidance and transportation I would have endured enormous hassle and higher cost. What a guy. I owe him big time.
Friday, Nov 11
Houseplant update:
In a recent post (below), I lamented over some plant distress brought on by changing their environment. Now, I am pleased to report that I am encouraged by tiny, yet distinct, new growth on the plants I was most concerned about. There's one that was seriously cool looking and lost damn near every leaf, to my great dismay, but I did like my mother (probably) would have done and pruned that sumbitch back. It is definitely not dead, and I bet by next spring it will be flourishing with new growth.
All else seems pretty much okay, particularly a lush gardenia that has lots of fresh, new-looking leaves on it. And one of the bonsai's is actually about to bloom.
So there.
Sunday, Nov 6
Life's about to get a bit messy here on the home front. (What, even more than it has been for months???)
Got most of my mother's greenhouse-dependent plants off to new homes. Still have several that need a home; I have almost no place left to put them. I spent roughly two weekends bringing plants in from outdoors, and assembling multi-tier racks and flourescent light fixtures for Mom's bonsai's that have to come in for the winter. Everything looks really nice - except some of them apparently got distressed over the change and their leaves are turning yellow and falling off.
Now, after all that really nice looking work, I'm walking around all upset...Mom, what the hell, I'm really trying hard here, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I don't think I'm going to actually kill anything, but some of them sure don't look happy. For those concerned, yes, I know I kept all Mom's bonsai books, and there's a wealth of other information available, but look, I can't figure all this out at once. I'm just going to have to stumble a few times during this first season cycle since Mom left this realm.
My studio builder has finally re-appeared after a long absence that nearly caused my designer and me to hire a different builder. I'm glad he's come around; I really like "Yankee Mike" and I know he's going to do a killer job.
Here's a studio Mike LeBlanc built. I got a grand tour of the place. The guy is damn good.
Now, during the next six weeks, I've got to have my attic ready for the living-room speaker installers, the studio builders, the HVAC guy to install the studio's air system, and whatever company I decide on to put in a new alarm system. (Until the alarm system is put in place, my house will be guarded by a heavily armed, highly caffeinated paranoiac, three days a week. You pick which three.)
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