One Night With Janis Joplin

The initial stage set for One Night With Janis Joplin.  The backgrounds changed as the play progressed.  We saw the last performance of the play at the San Jose Rep.  Mostly a concert of Joplin songs by the actress portraying her along with a Big Brother and The Holding Company cover band.  A very well played set of songs.  There is a thin narrative which accompanies the music that fills in Joplin's discovery of blues music, her elation at live performance and her subsequent disillusionment with everything.

Tenor Sax For Middle School Band

My son, Jack, is learning to play tenor sax for his middle school band.  Practice makes perfect.  He is doing well.

Time Lapse Camera Fun

Time lapse sequence of some of my duties at work in a video conferencing TV studio.  A post to EMI only for the sound effects added to the video, I guess.

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts at Mountain Winery in Saratoga, September 7, 2013

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts perform at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA., September 7, 2013.  I forgot what a nice cover version she does of "Crimson and Clover".

The Monkees In Concert at Mountain Winery In Saratoga, CA., 08/14/13

The Monkees, Mike Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork, perform "Randy Scouse Git" at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA. on August 14, 2013.  It was a very enjoyable show.  The boys did a lot of alternative takes on their classic songs.  Mickey playing the tympanis center stage for "Git" was a particular highlight.

SMOOTH CRIMINAL DANCE ROUTINE 2013

My son's dance take on Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.  Nice dancing!  Click the link below to see the dance video:



SMOOTH CRIMINAL DANCE ROUTINE 2013

CMT's The Music Man at the Montgomery Theater, July 2013

The Children's Musical Theater completed a run of, The Music Man, in July 2013.  Here are three views inside the Montgomery Theater where the musical was performed.  The first shot was taken backstage with some of the band props on display.  The second picture is the view of the audience from the theater stage.  The third picture shows the orchestra pit where the music accompanying the performance is created.  This area is located just below the stage.  And by the way, a fine production of The Music Man was staged!

Wireless Mic Mania At CMT!

This is the wireless microphone table at the Montgomery Theater in San Jose.  The Children's Musical Theater (CMT) was taking the stage with performances of "The Music Man" in July 2013.  Performers with lines would come to this table to be outfitted with a wireless microphone.  That's a lot of mics!

Electric Ukulele at July 4th Parade!

One of the floats in our neighborhood's annual Fourth of July parade, showcased a band with a strolling, electric ukulele player!  What will they think of next?

Cheap Trick's Crazy Guitars!

I saw cheap Trick perform at the Mountain Winery venue in Saratoga, CA.  As usual, the band paraded about a number of unusual guitars.  Tom Peterson steadily banged away at his invention, the 12 string bass.  What a devastating tone this thing delivers:  a thick, metallic drone that can pierce through Cheap Trick's instrumental wall of sound or anchor the bottom end of the rhthym section.  Rick Nielsen, the lead guitarist for the group, trotted out this yellow box shaped axe and his monstrosity, the 5 necked guitar.  Lead singer Robin Zander dons an assortment of guitars as well but seems to favor the 12 string guitar format.  It is best to hear Cheap Trick in a small venue at maximum volume levels.

Cremona Automatic Instrument on Display in the Mark Twain Bookstore in Virginia City, Nevada!

My family happened to be visiting Virginia City, Nevada as part of a side trip spent at Lake Tahoe, California.  Virginia City is a well preserved ghost town that offers a lot of old, weathered buildings and storefronts.  We stopped in to the Mark Twain Bookstore and came upon a Cremona automatic instrument.  Call it a player piano if you like.  An effigy of Mark Twain is seated next to this automatic instrument which asks for a quarter to be inserted to get the music machine working.  Located inside the piano structure can be seen a marimba, a bass drum, cymbals and a perforated music sheet roll . I checked the Internet and found this description which would fit the device:
"The Marquette Piano Company, also of Chicago, marketed its line of very high grade American instruments under the "Cremona Automatic Musical Instrument" name.  It was an early entry into the coin piano business and produced from about 1905 thru 1920."
Although it was not working during our visit, I am sure this Cremona automatic instrument made a fine racket in its time!

The Shag - May 10, 2013

The Shag perform May 10, 2013 at Stevie's Bar and Grill.  The Shag are a power trio whose members include Doug Tessier on guitar, Tim Vandenberg on drums and Mark Tutko on bass.  The band performs a varied selection of old and new tunes, all in a very danceable vein.

Marxolin Oddity!

Here are some views of the musical instrument oddity, the Marxolin.  This multi-stringed instrument was meant to be played with a bow, violin-like, which is conspicous in its absence in these pictures.  I didn't get one when I bought this used!  Just as well.  If I had tried to tune the strings, I think they would have broken or otherwise damaged the hardware on this old thing.  Look up the history of this ax yourself to get a better handle on how it was played.  The whole thing perplexed me.

Spongbob and Patrick Rock Out!

This bizarre box is designed to safely protect an egg enclosed inside.  The box is tossed in the air and allowed to fall to earth.  My son chose the decorations for this egg carrier device for this cub scout group activity.  It is called "Niagra Or Bust" in honor of the misguided (?) adventurers who have taken the plunge over the falls in various containment devices over the years.  Spongebob and Patrick in rocking poses provide egg carrier device decorations.

Syd's Ghost - Proposed Title

A graphic for a proposed Syd's Ghost tune.  A bit of an injoke as Syd's Ghost is currently a musical duo who don't have a drummer.  If they need percussion of some sort, the two members play a tambourine, maracas or cow bell themselves or employ a drum machine. 

Beatles: Rockband Live Demo 2011

Beatles: Rockband,  a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts is here demonstrated at the Fry's Electronics home office during one of Frys' "Tech Shows".

Omnichord Jam

Omnichord jam 2012.  Using an Alesis Ineko multi effects box and a Dean practice/distortion unit to work out some ideas.  The readily available bottle of Tums may or may not be related to the sonic results.

THERI-P Pinewood Derby Car Theremin

This odd creation, called Theri-P, is an open class Pinewood Derby car that has a Bleep Lab's Pico Paso theremin added to the vehicle.  The open class races allow the adult parents of the cub scouts in our Pack to try out their own, often unorthodox, car designs.  Here, I added the Pico Paso, a speaker, and a flashing LED flashlight to trigger the theremin light cells.  The results were a repetitively voiced theremin tone that stretched out for 5 to 10 seconds as the car completed the race course and I was finally able to get to the car to shut off the noisemaker.  Great fun!!!  My son calls it The Syd's Ghost Mobile.

Syd's Ghost - "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" Mini Promo

Mini music video promo for Syd's Ghost performing Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun".  This is an instrumental version of the Roger Waters penned Floyd tune.  The visuals are trying to capture a space journey and the music, a stab at space rock.

CABLE FAIL!!!

Talk about trying to fit a square peg in a round hole!  I was videotaping my son's school talent show the other night and was in the process of setting up.  I ran an XLR cable from the back of the room where the camera sat to the front of the school auditorium.  I was hooking up a microphone in front of the stage to capture audio to the camcorder I was using.  I made sure I had the right end of the cable to attach to the mic: female XLR cable end to male XLR microphone attachment.  Everything looked fine and I proceeded to gaffer tape down the 50 feet or more of cable to the auditorium floor.  I went to connect the microphone to the cable and discovered that I had a male cable end to attach to a male microphone end.  WRONG!  Somewhere in the process of setting up the cable, I had screwed up!  I rushed to take the gaffer tape off and reverse the cable so that I had the right orientation and then started to retape.  I got about half way up the floor before I ran out of tape....Well, that's another story.

The Who - Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA., 2/1/13

The Who were in Northern California, Friday, February 1, 2013, performing the rock opera, Quadrophenia.  Here are Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend leading their who "Big Band".  A very nice concert performance of the Mods related conceptual music work. Windmills were very much in evidence.  Long Live The Who!

PAPER JAMZ MUST DIE!!!

Have you ever been around a kid who starts playing with the loud and obnoxious Paper Jamz products and WON'T stop?  Here is one solution, if you happen to have an indoor tornado nearby.

Jamming with Garageband 2013

My son plugged in to an iPad and using the Garageband app. We have the Jam guitar interface that hooks your guitar up to the iPad. Jack is playing my Fernandes guitar and let me say that it is a very heavy guitar! He doesn't seem to mind. It is fun to play your guitar through Garageband's handfull of amp modeling and effects pedal choices. If you have a quick song idea or riff you want to file away for later, it is very easy anywhere within the Garagband app to quickly record your idea. Nice program that is very addictive!

ART MR-1 Personal Reverb Processor!!!

A very cool reverb effect pedal that I misguidedly sold away. I go through periods of intense interest in music creation and then I have long dry spells of no interest in making music whatsoever. During one of the latter phases, I decided to conduct a massive eBay sell off of my effects boxes and instruments. The MR-1 was a cool pedal with multiple preset reverb effects. The reverb type could be selected by turning a dial to its particular number and then the amount of reverb processing increased or decreased in relation to the instrument signal input into the MR-1 ("wet/dry"). The "cathedral" selection yielded massive, spatial results. The "large hall" setting was also a personal favorite. A lot of these reverb effects can be introduced into DAW's with software plug-ins but this pedal sounded really great.

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

Oops! It was an accident!

Actually, the violin was not as valuable as you think.....

Everybody Is In Showbiz

There are too many mediocre singers and performers in the world today. No thank you American Idol and Glee, etc., etc. for this miserable trend.

QUESTION FOR ANYBODY

Hello. Has anybody purchased the low-cost Bass Synthesizer pedal available out there for about $49.99? If so, how does it sound? Is it worth the money?

Adventures in HD Music Selections

We got a 1080p plasma for the house. I was watching Comcast HD music channel. Regrouped Asia and Yes - Pathetic. Steve Howe is basically a skeleton holding a guitar. Also carried Royal Albert Hall clips of the Who in 2007. Roger's voice is godawful. The Seeker is already sounding well tired. Bright spot in group is Simon Townsend. Handling the high vocal parts and looking like he is actually enjoying being onstage. The rest are stiffs. Pete Townsend,too. Deep Purple - a train wreck. Only decent sounding band is Rush in a Frankfurt concert. But they are obviously only going through the motions. Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart are middle aged in appearance and spiritually fat. Geedy Lee always looked bad and that is nothing new here. Bryan Adams doing some solo guitar performance at some peace festival. Looks like hell but has a surprisingly strong and decent voice. Haven't watched old Joe Strummer video yet. More ugh for sure.

R.I.P. Richard Wright

Go listen to the live disc that was part of Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma" release. Richard Wright provided the keyboards to "Astronomy Domine" and "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun". In a few words, haunting, otherwordly, hypnotic. Good music to travel by in the wee hours. Or put some headphones on and slip into your isolation tank. Space music for you to expand by. Another fave of mine is the work Wright contributed to the Floyd disc, "Animals". His axes included vocoder, organ, synthesizers. Beautiful, fluid work. Displayed nice chops when he accompanied David Gilmour on his recent "solo" tour. I didn't see the live show but caught a tour video. Turns out Wright sang the early, warped Floyd single "Arnold Layne". He did it again for the Gilmour tour. Hard to believe 40 years passed by at all. Surely, a virtuoso of the colorful, economic, tasteful, flourish and fill. Wish he had been heard from more.

The Rock Lifestyle

Listening to the recent Nickelback cut, "Rockstar" brings to mind other peons to the life of a rock star. A few of my favorites in this group include The Kinks' "Rock and Roll Fantasy", and "Life on the Road". The Who offered "Success Story" and "Long Live Rock". The Byrds summed it up by asking "So You Want To Be A Rock and Roll Star" and chronicled some of the highs and lows of the experience. The money apparently is VERY good.

Noise That Hurts

Fun With The Nero Sound Recorder

I was performing a rudimentary test of the sound editor function on my work computer and I came up with this scratchy-mic soaked trifle. I like to pile on the effects.

Pop Mediocrity Knows No Height It Can't Scale

Natasha Bedingfield sings of a "Pocketful of Sunshine" in her bland pop tune. Truth to tell, it will be a "pocketful of gold" more likely judging from the overwhelming popularity and response to the ditty. Fool's Gold.