Here Comes The End...Of The World!

I am sure you are aware that a popular notion being bandied about in the media is that December 21, 2012 will mark the end of the world. Once the Mayan calendar runs out, it is thought by many that some catalysmic change will be enacted upon the earth. We don't know if there is a series of natural disasters that will occur, a heavanly body will impact us, or a black hole will manifest and swallow the planet up. Doomsday is right around the corner and it brings to mind some songs which have embodied a similar thought pattern. Check out The Who's "Had Enough", The Osmonds' "Last Days" and REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine". Have a listen ASAP. Before it's too late!

Toy Instruments: Design, Nostalgia, Music

I highly recommend this book by Eric Schneider. You will find within the pages of "Toy Instruments", a wealth of musical toys that appealed to children and adults as well. The stylophone is one of the many instruments discussed. David Bowie even used one for his recording of "Space Oddity". I personally owned the Musson toy synthesizer. This simple keyboard contraption incorporated a crude sequencer which could be set to play at varying speeds to sweep the note "pegs" which could be moved to generate simple melodies. I had many hours of enjoyment with the device. I even output the "toy" through delay and effects boxes to increase the fun. Check this book out. Who knows. You may recognize one of your own favorite toy musical instruments!

Merry Christmas 2012!

Have a very merry Christmas from EMI!

Paul McCartney's Electric Ukulele

Late into his set performing at the 121212 Concert for Hurricane Sandy relief, Paul McCartney joined in with the remaining members of Nirvana for a loud noise workout. McCartney was equipped with what looked like a cigar box with a guitar neck attached. You could see him fiddling with the volume and tone knobs, too. Paul played the thing with a slide. I think it was an electric ukulele. Seeing as how Paul plays a uke in concert, this is my guess. A very arresting looking instrument, though. Quite similar in appearance to the guitar Bo Diddley used to play.

Electronics Now Analog ThumbDrum Kit

The Electronics Now Thumbdrum kit was a unit that produced a number of analog percussion instrument sound imitations. As seen in the picture, your fingers would tap on the rubber pads to produce the sound assigned to that tab. The results were fairly crude sounding imitations of hand claps, snare drums, cymbals, wood block, etc. There were pots located on the back of the unit that could be adjusted to sharpen the attacks on the sounds so there was a little bit of extra tonal variety available through the Thumbdrum. The whole kit included building the circuit board with the various components included and wiring to the control pads and then assembling the sheet metal case to its wooden end pieces. A fun project to build with some OK sounding percussion instruments to toy with.

Rock and Roll Assholes Part 2 - Blonds

As they get older, some rock performers try to extend their youthful appearance by changing their hair color. Witness the guy second from the left in this picture. That's not his natural hair color but one day, WALLA! A bleached blond mane. The two folks on the right edge of the photo appear to have let nature take its course and have let the gray have its way.

MONKEES LIVE 2012

The Monkees hit the road again: Mike Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork in concert at the Flint Center in Cupertino, CA. Their performance was combined with some video tribute pieces to Davey Jones, who passed away earlier this year.

Bruce Springsteen Afloat!

Bruce Springsteen at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA. on 11/30/12. Carried aloaft a human and camera sea.

CONCH SHELL

A true curiousity music piece to be sure. Blow in to the carved opening to make a bellowing sound. What? I hear nothing! A sputtering whimper of escaping air is the only sound. Never got the hang of this one. To eBay and beyond!

Rock and Roll Assholes Part 1 - Gene Simmons

http://youtu.be/aSRlprZPCS8




Ah. The ever graceful Gene Simmons in his 10 inch platforms. I guess it is fitting that he kick off this R&R Arseholes feature as he did put out a solo album, "***hole".

Univox Uni-Tron 5 Envelope Follower Pedal

The Univox Uni-Tron 5 is an envelope follower guitar effects pedal.  Not a very compact design.  Since this was an older pedal and utilized old school electronics construction, it measured about 10 inches long by 6 inches wide and had a sheet metal housing!  The pedal produced wah-wah like sounds.  It sounded pretty cool filtering a bass guitar.  I do remember it being a very noisy pedal.  A lot of hum accompanied your output which had to be addressed.

The Bulbul

Indian manufactured instrument:  the bulbul.  A low cost instrument that is appealing at face value.  A 6 stringed, dulcimer-like box that uses typewriter key buttons to be pressed to fret the strings at a particular spot to generate a note.  The strings can be tuned any of several ways but two strings are generally tuned the same and generate a drone.  A pick or fingerpicking may be used to pluck the strings.  The problem I had was tuning the strings.  The tuning pegs are a little hard to manipulate.  The sound generated by this instrument was also less than pleasing to me.  Sold it on eBay for about $50.00. 

Electro Harmonix Drum Sequencer

Had this Electro Harmonix thing for a little while.  Used it as a crude 8-note sequencer.  Sold it.  Underutilized and misunderstood.  For a better understanding of what this device was designed for, please follow this link and let the wise people explain:

http://www.dron.de/gear/gear34.html

Acrylic Panpipes

There was a time when I was enthusiastically snapping up divergent musical instruments fully confident that I could master playing each and every one.  I think the striking appearance of these acrylic panpipes is what attracted me to them.  I never did master playing them.  They were actually quite difficult to produce tones through but my approach was probably all wrong.

Dean 12 String Bass Guitar

Dean 12 String MONSTER!



I owned this Dean 12 string bass for about a year.  I found it simply too difficult to play and sold it on eBay.  It is otherwise a noise monster.  This instrument is thoroughly capable of creating walls of sound and suitably dense sonic textures.  I do miss it and have often thought of getting another.  But probably won't.    

My son and his first guitar.  This was actually my second 12 string bass. 

The first one was actually stolen and insurance paid for this replacement.
The Dean was actually a better instrument.
 

HALLOWEEN VIDEO CRYPT

Interesting collection of horror, science fiction, music video and weird video clips:

www.halloweenvideocrypt.com

FEEDBACK DRONE

This one is a little embarrassing. A one note (literally) video with noise attached. Crude effects applied and a manipulated soundtrack that is a gratingly enlongated feedback drone. I guess it represents a time and place. The little uke or guitar is long since gone either broken or sold on ebay.

Syd's Ghost logo for the time being.

My friend, Scott Caldwell

A buddy of mine who I grew up with and saw sporadically over the years after high school, passed away recently.  His name was Scott Caldwell and I miss him very much.  He was the guitarist in the second band I was in and he was phenomenal.  I miss his wit and keen insights which I remember from long ago but which stick with me.  His musical tastes were exquisite although greatly varied and I respected his opinions and taste. After he moved out of state, I wrote him too infrequently.  We still held some small hope of getting a band together over the span of 20 or more years and great distance seperating us but I think I held that dream as a remote but still possible occurrence that was always a place of calm and reassurance in my soul, I guess.  Well, now he is really gone and his talent and energy no more but I feel like he is a point of inspiration and I want to continue on and keep his memory alive.  This is a song that I love very much and I think reflects somewhat how I feel toward him and I dedicate it to my brother Scott Caldwell's memory: The Kinks' "Around The Dial".

Roger Waters performs The Wall in San Francisco

Korg Kaossilator 2 Rocks!

Hello.  Just a few words about the Korg Kaossilator 2 dynamic phrase instrument:  It's sweet!  There are over 100 different instruments built in to this handheld unit which is only slightly bigger than a deck of playing cards.  There are synth instruments, guitars, basses, drum sets, percussion, etc. that the user can access and manipulate.  Use it as a standalone instrument, or treat it as an idea generating musical sketchpad that can inspire you toward new compositions and musical approaches.
The "K2" is playable through a touchpad interface that allows you to crudely play "notes" and adjust volume parameters.  Being as this is a black screen on which you are tapping and dragging your fingers to alter the sound, finding the precise spot where a note can repeatedly be played is a little difficult.  Maybe a grid pattern could be added that would roughly estimate where notes are and what various effects are possible with sliding your fingers across the touch screen. 
That being said, there is a lot of cool sound packed into this little box.  Try out the various synth leads, traditional instruments such as trumpets, kalimbas, piano, a Mellotron influenced "tape flute", guitars, or drum kits and percussion.
  Another nice feature is a looper function which allows you to lay down some musical patterns and then play another sound over the top of it.  Soundscapes created in this fashion can then be saved to an optional microSD card you can add to the unit.  There is a headphone jack for playing in private but a word of warning.  You may get lost in the rich, lusterous tones.  There is also a mic in, 1/8" jack for adding an external microphone.  The unit also has its own built in mic.  Vocals can thus be added over other loops you have previously created.  Nice.
We haven't used the K2 in a live setting but it would definitely be capable of adding some interesting flourishes to a live performance environment.
The Korg Kaossilator 2 should keep you busy for some time to come.  Go check it out!

Syd's Ghost Second Trailer

Here is the second Syd's Ghost promo piece.  More to come, eventually.

http://youtu.be/JorMMNlWYj0

Syd's Ghost Project

Here is a clip from a music project I am sporadfically involved in (like this blog).  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/GxMXbIc8ulc