No Place To Start A Family

July 4th, 2008

Hopped the train down to SLC to see a few bands play in a garage. Seriously. It’s a garage. Complete with garage doors. Manual ones. They have no air conditioning (it’s a garage). And they serve no alcohol. This makes sense, when you remind yourself that it is a garage.

And not just any garage. It’s a garage where Death Cab for Cutie, Jenny Lewis,* Rilo Kiley, My Morning Jacket and The Shins used to play.

* My companion told me that Jenny Lewis’s tour bus was bigger than the venue, which is, I feel compelled to note, a fekkin’ garage.

Kitten Surprise!!

July 2nd, 2008

How To Break Up A Cat Fight

Whu?

July 1st, 2008

Obama will call for an expansion of government support for faith-based programs….

I’m trying to remember what my position was on this when Bush pushed for it. Nevertheless, between this and the Clarke thing, I’m wondering just WTF has happened to the Obama campaign. ARE DEMOCRATS HIRING BOB SHRUM AGAIN?!

Excuse Me While I Nerd Out

June 30th, 2008

Having found myself constantly fighting against Garage Band’s limitations, I recently purchased Logic Express, and ohdearlorddoIloveit. The amp simulators alone are amazing. Do I want a British all-tube 2×12 open or closed-back cabinet? 40- or 50- watt? Use a condenser or cardioid mic? Centered on the cone or off-center? And then the effects—the seemingly endless array of effects inserts I can patch in to the console. The EQs are finally sophisticated and usable and effective. The dynamics processing is usable. The loops are great and easy to use. AND I CAN FINALLY PUNCH IN! PRASE THE LORD AND PASS THE PRE-AMP!

Since I’ve gotten Logic, I record lots and lots of noodles—mostly just ideas I’m essentially jotting down or techniques I’m playing around with. I’m thinking that I’m going to start sharing them here.

Here’s one from a couple of days ago:

Once it’s back up and running, I’ll just use Odeo for these.

Enjoy this 50 watt British 2×12 cabinet with a good bit of growl, a leslie speaker rotation slowly, and two—count’em, TWO—delays.

Apologies for the clicking sound. Apparently I shouldn’t bounce tracks when my compy is busy doing lots of stuff.

Two Things:

June 30th, 2008

1) Did anyone else hear that bizarre first call into Diane Rehm’s interview with Salman Rushdie? WTF?

2) Did anyone else see Kyra Phillips’s bizarre “interview” with some general in response to the Sy Hersh piece?

And I’m reminded again why I quit watching US news media last summer. I’ve only been dipping my toe into it over the past few weeks–a little MSNBC while washing dishes; a little CNN while eating breakfast–and now I’m just going to give it up again.