Thursday, February 28, 2008
Bring on the Ampersand!
I've got another version of the logo. I wasn't happy with any stock ampersands I could find, so I made my own. This is actually part of a Romulan font, in keeping with the recent Trek theme. I modified it, and stuck it into the logo. I like the ampersand, I'm just not sure I like the sizing and layout of the whole thing now. Still needs some tweaking. I like the simplicity of the "+" sign, but I think it's true that it can be misleading. I dont' want to be known as "Black plus blue"
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Girl #134 Back Story
I got to recalling the other day how I came up with the song. I owe the entire song really to four things: Sixpence None The Richer, Kurt Nickelsburg, Laurie Anne Lessmister, and a TV show called "Time Trax". I'll start at the end and work backwards.
Time Trax was a really lame TV show that aired on one of those "lame" networks. It was a low budget sci-fi show about a guy who travelled into the past (which happened to be our present) to capture criminals that had fled the future and ended up in other time periods. I have only seen one episode, and I think it was during one of those "channel surfing" moments that will most likely prove to be one of the leading causes of the decline of Western Civilization. So I was watching this episode featuring John Delancie, who is most famous for his role as "Q" in a number of Star Trek incarnations. He played a fanatical , er, fan of a musician who happened to live in the 20th century. So Q had travelled back in time to the twentieth century to steal some memorobelia from said musician before she made it big. I guess the idea was that it would be easier to steal her boots if he got to them before she was a sensation. Oh, note: I guess her music is HUGE in the future. So the hero of the show is dispatched not only to round up the criminal and return him to his proper time period, but also to offer protection to the musician... who happens to be a hot chick. Big surprise, along the way, he falls in love with her. In typical "back to the future" style, the hero of the show actually ends up accidentally helping the musician chick write the song that goes on to be the single that forever secures her position as a rock legend. So the two of them are sitting on a couple of hay bails, and she's playing a "work in progress" song for him that she just can't seem to quite finish. The hero of the show happens to play guitar, and makes some recommendations about how she can make the song better, and finish it. The ONE thing I remember from this episode in detail is this sequence, because he said something that I found interesting. His recommendation was to invert the chord progression that was used in the verse for the refrain. I thought that was a nifty idea, and made a lot of sense. While in the middle of writing Girl #134, I decided to employ this tactic. Slight modification followed, but the inversion is the thing. That's the end of part 1.
Laurie Anne Lessmister was a girl I was dating at the time. I've spelled her name incorrectly here so that it won't show up on a google search of her in case someone tries it. I met her at Santa Monica College, and we dated briefly. Since it was college, I was seeing a couple of different girls at the time, and had just come out of a relationship or two. But she was always particularly interesting because she was so hard to figure out. More on this in a minute.
Kurt Nickelsburg was a dude I was living with at the time. But not in THAT way. We were just roomies. We had a three bedroom apartment in Irvine. He and his lady were in one room, I was in another, and his brother and HIS lady were in the third. Kurt and I often chatted about girlfriends, who we were dating, and whatnot. One day, in the kitchen, kurt asked me how "the girl I met at SMC" was. I said I didn't know, as I had not heard from her lately. He asked me what her name was.
And that's when it hit me: I did not know. I could not remember. It was the weirdest thing in the world. I thought I had been struck down by an instant case of Alzeimers Disease or something. I stood there in the kitchen, scraping the insides of my brain(s) trying to figure out what her name was. How could I not remember the name of a girl I was dating????? I kind of went silent for a moment, and Kurt started laughing. The ONLY thing I could remember about her at that instant was which NUMBER she was. Ie, she was the sixth girl I had dated. Or the tenth, or whatever. For conversations sake, she was NOT the 133th or 134th girl I have dated.
I found the fact that I could only remember her by a number to be terribly de-humanizing and insulting to her. Reduced to a number. How can one person be so detached from a girl he dated? Unknown. I pondered this feeling, and realized it was great song writing material. Not so much because of the fact that I felt it, but because I beleived that if extended to a much more extreme degree, it would REALLY be a kicker.
Finally, there's Sixpence None The Richer. A one hit wonder from the nineties that produced the toe tapper "Kiss Me". It's playing in your head right now. Am i right?? I wasn't really a big fan of the song. In fact, I disliked it. But what I disliked about it more than the song itself was it's blatant and dramatic OVERUSE in movies and TV shows. There was a period of about five years where ANY time two people were in a romantic situation, or were bout to kiss, or were on their first date, or maybe the guy finally caught up with the girl at the airport right before she left for her summer in paris, they would cue that song. I'd love to see a list of all the places it showed up. Must be hundreds of movies and TV shows. I'm sure those SixPence kids are all rich off royalties. this got me thinking. There's lots of songs like this one. The one they play when the lead characters are entering a romantic scene. Each decade seems to have two or three of these. It occurred to me that the opposite does not exist. We need a "go to" song for all those scenes when heartbreak is taking place. That scene when Bobby is going away for college, and is leaving his high school sweetheart behind in favor of all the hotties he's going to pull when he arrives at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Or the scene were Suzie realizes that Jim is just holding her back from achieving her dreams of becoming a professional dance choreographer. Etc. Someone needed to write that song.
So I headed up to the third room in that crowded Irvine apartment, and in about a half an hour had the song completed. Save for a minor lyrical adjustment by Bill Fischer a few weeks later, the song was birthed fully formed. I don't know how I came up with the number 134. It was just a random number that didn't seem impossibly huge, but was insultingly large. I recall the refrain came together VERY quickly. The verse took a little more work, but it still came out pretty quick.
RATS. Just remembered yet another influence. Also channel surfing related. There's a song called "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" by the chick group "TLC". I don't like the song at all, but i saw the video once. The image that struck me was at the very beginning. It's on YouTube if you want to see it. It's pretty much the direct inspriation for the first few lines of my song. It shows some swarthy, model type dude rising from a bed and heading over to a mirror. In the background, you see some woman, still sleeping, wrapped in the remnants of a white sheet. The dude looks into the mirror and seems both disgusted with himself and bewildered. Kind of that "how did i get here?" look on his face. I really liked that image, and used it to start off the song.
POST AUTHORING UPDATE: I did a little digging around, and found the video on youtube. Turns out, my memory of the video changed shortly after I saw it, but so what. I guess I remembered it differently than it actually was, but ain't that always the case. Oddly enough, the part of the video that i was thinking of is actually the story of a guy who dies of aids. here's the video. Fast forward to about 2:45.
DOUBLE RATS. Just remembered another influence. I have buried in my memory a really awful movie named "Flatliners". Only saw it once. Directed by Joel Schumacher, featuring one of the baldwin brothers. Said brother plays a guy who is down with the ladies, and makes a habit of surreptitiously video taping himself and a lady doing the nasty. (insert stickmen joke #3541) So the premise of the movie is that when you have a near death experience, you release into the real world living embodiments of your own personal demons. Baldwin's demons turn out to be dozens of women who hunt him down and call him to the carpet on his shenanigans. In one sequence, dozens of women are attacking him and repeating to him the lines he used to pick them up. One woman says "I didn't pick you up, I picked you out". Nice. The second half of that got translated directly into my song, in the second verse. You know "I pick you out, call you sweet and sincere".
So there you have it. The entire song is nothing more than a patchwork quilt of memories and experiences lifted from cinema, television, music videos, and my own crazy life.
Time Trax was a really lame TV show that aired on one of those "lame" networks. It was a low budget sci-fi show about a guy who travelled into the past (which happened to be our present) to capture criminals that had fled the future and ended up in other time periods. I have only seen one episode, and I think it was during one of those "channel surfing" moments that will most likely prove to be one of the leading causes of the decline of Western Civilization. So I was watching this episode featuring John Delancie, who is most famous for his role as "Q" in a number of Star Trek incarnations. He played a fanatical , er, fan of a musician who happened to live in the 20th century. So Q had travelled back in time to the twentieth century to steal some memorobelia from said musician before she made it big. I guess the idea was that it would be easier to steal her boots if he got to them before she was a sensation. Oh, note: I guess her music is HUGE in the future. So the hero of the show is dispatched not only to round up the criminal and return him to his proper time period, but also to offer protection to the musician... who happens to be a hot chick. Big surprise, along the way, he falls in love with her. In typical "back to the future" style, the hero of the show actually ends up accidentally helping the musician chick write the song that goes on to be the single that forever secures her position as a rock legend. So the two of them are sitting on a couple of hay bails, and she's playing a "work in progress" song for him that she just can't seem to quite finish. The hero of the show happens to play guitar, and makes some recommendations about how she can make the song better, and finish it. The ONE thing I remember from this episode in detail is this sequence, because he said something that I found interesting. His recommendation was to invert the chord progression that was used in the verse for the refrain. I thought that was a nifty idea, and made a lot of sense. While in the middle of writing Girl #134, I decided to employ this tactic. Slight modification followed, but the inversion is the thing. That's the end of part 1.
Laurie Anne Lessmister was a girl I was dating at the time. I've spelled her name incorrectly here so that it won't show up on a google search of her in case someone tries it. I met her at Santa Monica College, and we dated briefly. Since it was college, I was seeing a couple of different girls at the time, and had just come out of a relationship or two. But she was always particularly interesting because she was so hard to figure out. More on this in a minute.
Kurt Nickelsburg was a dude I was living with at the time. But not in THAT way. We were just roomies. We had a three bedroom apartment in Irvine. He and his lady were in one room, I was in another, and his brother and HIS lady were in the third. Kurt and I often chatted about girlfriends, who we were dating, and whatnot. One day, in the kitchen, kurt asked me how "the girl I met at SMC" was. I said I didn't know, as I had not heard from her lately. He asked me what her name was.
And that's when it hit me: I did not know. I could not remember. It was the weirdest thing in the world. I thought I had been struck down by an instant case of Alzeimers Disease or something. I stood there in the kitchen, scraping the insides of my brain(s) trying to figure out what her name was. How could I not remember the name of a girl I was dating????? I kind of went silent for a moment, and Kurt started laughing. The ONLY thing I could remember about her at that instant was which NUMBER she was. Ie, she was the sixth girl I had dated. Or the tenth, or whatever. For conversations sake, she was NOT the 133th or 134th girl I have dated.
I found the fact that I could only remember her by a number to be terribly de-humanizing and insulting to her. Reduced to a number. How can one person be so detached from a girl he dated? Unknown. I pondered this feeling, and realized it was great song writing material. Not so much because of the fact that I felt it, but because I beleived that if extended to a much more extreme degree, it would REALLY be a kicker.
Finally, there's Sixpence None The Richer. A one hit wonder from the nineties that produced the toe tapper "Kiss Me". It's playing in your head right now. Am i right?? I wasn't really a big fan of the song. In fact, I disliked it. But what I disliked about it more than the song itself was it's blatant and dramatic OVERUSE in movies and TV shows. There was a period of about five years where ANY time two people were in a romantic situation, or were bout to kiss, or were on their first date, or maybe the guy finally caught up with the girl at the airport right before she left for her summer in paris, they would cue that song. I'd love to see a list of all the places it showed up. Must be hundreds of movies and TV shows. I'm sure those SixPence kids are all rich off royalties. this got me thinking. There's lots of songs like this one. The one they play when the lead characters are entering a romantic scene. Each decade seems to have two or three of these. It occurred to me that the opposite does not exist. We need a "go to" song for all those scenes when heartbreak is taking place. That scene when Bobby is going away for college, and is leaving his high school sweetheart behind in favor of all the hotties he's going to pull when he arrives at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Or the scene were Suzie realizes that Jim is just holding her back from achieving her dreams of becoming a professional dance choreographer. Etc. Someone needed to write that song.
So I headed up to the third room in that crowded Irvine apartment, and in about a half an hour had the song completed. Save for a minor lyrical adjustment by Bill Fischer a few weeks later, the song was birthed fully formed. I don't know how I came up with the number 134. It was just a random number that didn't seem impossibly huge, but was insultingly large. I recall the refrain came together VERY quickly. The verse took a little more work, but it still came out pretty quick.
RATS. Just remembered yet another influence. Also channel surfing related. There's a song called "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" by the chick group "TLC". I don't like the song at all, but i saw the video once. The image that struck me was at the very beginning. It's on YouTube if you want to see it. It's pretty much the direct inspriation for the first few lines of my song. It shows some swarthy, model type dude rising from a bed and heading over to a mirror. In the background, you see some woman, still sleeping, wrapped in the remnants of a white sheet. The dude looks into the mirror and seems both disgusted with himself and bewildered. Kind of that "how did i get here?" look on his face. I really liked that image, and used it to start off the song.
POST AUTHORING UPDATE: I did a little digging around, and found the video on youtube. Turns out, my memory of the video changed shortly after I saw it, but so what. I guess I remembered it differently than it actually was, but ain't that always the case. Oddly enough, the part of the video that i was thinking of is actually the story of a guy who dies of aids. here's the video. Fast forward to about 2:45.
DOUBLE RATS. Just remembered another influence. I have buried in my memory a really awful movie named "Flatliners". Only saw it once. Directed by Joel Schumacher, featuring one of the baldwin brothers. Said brother plays a guy who is down with the ladies, and makes a habit of surreptitiously video taping himself and a lady doing the nasty. (insert stickmen joke #3541) So the premise of the movie is that when you have a near death experience, you release into the real world living embodiments of your own personal demons. Baldwin's demons turn out to be dozens of women who hunt him down and call him to the carpet on his shenanigans. In one sequence, dozens of women are attacking him and repeating to him the lines he used to pick them up. One woman says "I didn't pick you up, I picked you out". Nice. The second half of that got translated directly into my song, in the second verse. You know "I pick you out, call you sweet and sincere".
So there you have it. The entire song is nothing more than a patchwork quilt of memories and experiences lifted from cinema, television, music videos, and my own crazy life.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Girl # 134 Conclusion
Executive Summary: A very brief recording session saw Black and Blue finishing up the recording chores for this song. Fischer on Bass and a new third part to the harmony, Munson on “Dark Jazz” piano. Carl’s Jr. on luscious digestibles.
Detailed Description: After some timing challenges, the recording session was bumped from Saturday to Sunday. Fischer is working weekends, which forced the sessions into the evening slot. Munson arrived at Torrance Operations North (TON) at about six o’clock. Due to the newly organized and “tricked out” recording studio, BNB were able to begin work almost immediately.
The session started with bill queueing up the song on a loop, giving the duo an opportunity to practice both the bass line and the piano part. Munson had forgotten how to make an “A” chord on the piano, but Fischer was able to provide technical expertise on this. Fischer provided a post it note with the chords for the verse and refrain which were used by Munson as he sussed out the piano part. Fischer was playing the Fender “Jazz Bass”, and some difficulties were encountered with interference. Noise, I mean. Not child or family related. They ran thought the song a number of times, until both were comfortable with the newly written parts, and their ability to play them
For recording, the first up was the bass line. Fischer started out with a number of false starts, due possibly to a change in location, orientation, and lighting. After five or six takes that did not reach the end of the song, Fischer got a solid track down. A second was attempted, and was ultimately achieved. Though there was one minor flub in the first third of the song, it was barely noticeable, and the rest of the track was deemed solid. Munson threw down the hammer (as he is currently wielding the “producer hat”) and the duo moved on. There was a good side chapter where Fischer was scrambling to meet the count in, and as a result popped the cable out of his bass. He was able to re-insert and recover. In fact, it may indeed be this track that was ultimately used in the final version.
The piano was then hooked into the firepod, and Munson sat down to record his track. The vision for the piano part was that it would only appear minimally within the song, exact location unknown. Perhaps just a few chord hits here and there. To achieve this, it was decided to record piano over the entire song, allowing BNB to chose (at a later date) where to make the track visible within the song. Three false starts later, and a solid foundation track was complete. One or two sections needed to be hit with insert overdubs, which went smoothly. (Author note: insert overdubs are SOOOO much easier with Cubase, vs. doing it at TRU. It’s a simple mouse click to choose a good insertion point, and then it’s one click to record the overdub. If you don’t like it, you can just delete it, with no damage done to the original track. Truly brilliant!!!)
All during this time, Fischer had been kicking around a new harmony part, which he suggested should be included in the song. A rapid transformation of the studio was done to facilitate this action. Three takes later, and it was nailed.
The last recording duty for the evening was to correct a clipping problem with the lead vocal. Apparently, Munson was so emotionally caught up in the final lines of the song that he sang too loudly, and caused some techmology problems. With Fischer manning the board, Munson sang into the can a few times and after about five attempts, the proper volume levels were reached.
The crew did a very quick equalization session, and listened to the track a couple of times before heading off to Carl’s Jr for the requisite back-patting and commentary. Plans were laid for future sessions, and a discussion about re-writing and re-arranging “classic” songs came up. Both are open to the idea.
Upon their return, the mix was listened to again, and back-patting recommenced. Aside for final mix down, the song was deemed “done”. It has a very rich, full feel to it, which is something that Munson felt was always lacking from MNI recordings. The piano and new harmony part really help to “beef up” the song.
Though the final recording does have its flaws, it is complete. And that is a good thing. Overall, it’s a good listening experience, and it’s very satisfying to have a complete studio version of the song finished.
Next steps: The Stickmen Historical Re-creation Society (SHRS) will swing into high gear as they attempt to recreate the Third Floor Atwood recording of "Above You", using as many original instruments and band members as possible. However, it will be done using New Millenium (NM) techmology. (ie, Cubase. Not tascam)
Detailed Description: After some timing challenges, the recording session was bumped from Saturday to Sunday. Fischer is working weekends, which forced the sessions into the evening slot. Munson arrived at Torrance Operations North (TON) at about six o’clock. Due to the newly organized and “tricked out” recording studio, BNB were able to begin work almost immediately.
The session started with bill queueing up the song on a loop, giving the duo an opportunity to practice both the bass line and the piano part. Munson had forgotten how to make an “A” chord on the piano, but Fischer was able to provide technical expertise on this. Fischer provided a post it note with the chords for the verse and refrain which were used by Munson as he sussed out the piano part. Fischer was playing the Fender “Jazz Bass”, and some difficulties were encountered with interference. Noise, I mean. Not child or family related. They ran thought the song a number of times, until both were comfortable with the newly written parts, and their ability to play them
For recording, the first up was the bass line. Fischer started out with a number of false starts, due possibly to a change in location, orientation, and lighting. After five or six takes that did not reach the end of the song, Fischer got a solid track down. A second was attempted, and was ultimately achieved. Though there was one minor flub in the first third of the song, it was barely noticeable, and the rest of the track was deemed solid. Munson threw down the hammer (as he is currently wielding the “producer hat”) and the duo moved on. There was a good side chapter where Fischer was scrambling to meet the count in, and as a result popped the cable out of his bass. He was able to re-insert and recover. In fact, it may indeed be this track that was ultimately used in the final version.
The piano was then hooked into the firepod, and Munson sat down to record his track. The vision for the piano part was that it would only appear minimally within the song, exact location unknown. Perhaps just a few chord hits here and there. To achieve this, it was decided to record piano over the entire song, allowing BNB to chose (at a later date) where to make the track visible within the song. Three false starts later, and a solid foundation track was complete. One or two sections needed to be hit with insert overdubs, which went smoothly. (Author note: insert overdubs are SOOOO much easier with Cubase, vs. doing it at TRU. It’s a simple mouse click to choose a good insertion point, and then it’s one click to record the overdub. If you don’t like it, you can just delete it, with no damage done to the original track. Truly brilliant!!!)
All during this time, Fischer had been kicking around a new harmony part, which he suggested should be included in the song. A rapid transformation of the studio was done to facilitate this action. Three takes later, and it was nailed.
The last recording duty for the evening was to correct a clipping problem with the lead vocal. Apparently, Munson was so emotionally caught up in the final lines of the song that he sang too loudly, and caused some techmology problems. With Fischer manning the board, Munson sang into the can a few times and after about five attempts, the proper volume levels were reached.
The crew did a very quick equalization session, and listened to the track a couple of times before heading off to Carl’s Jr for the requisite back-patting and commentary. Plans were laid for future sessions, and a discussion about re-writing and re-arranging “classic” songs came up. Both are open to the idea.
Upon their return, the mix was listened to again, and back-patting recommenced. Aside for final mix down, the song was deemed “done”. It has a very rich, full feel to it, which is something that Munson felt was always lacking from MNI recordings. The piano and new harmony part really help to “beef up” the song.
Though the final recording does have its flaws, it is complete. And that is a good thing. Overall, it’s a good listening experience, and it’s very satisfying to have a complete studio version of the song finished.
Next steps: The Stickmen Historical Re-creation Society (SHRS) will swing into high gear as they attempt to recreate the Third Floor Atwood recording of "Above You", using as many original instruments and band members as possible. However, it will be done using New Millenium (NM) techmology. (ie, Cubase. Not tascam)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Moving Water from Place to Place
So, you want to know about the Irrigation Song, do you?
This song was written to win a wager against a guy who was living in Rich Amtower's pantry. Rich lived in Campus Village at UCI at the time, and there were quite a few odd ducks living in or around that particular apartment, including the Mysterious Mr. Fong (Rich's room mate who no one ever saw) and this guy that was living on a mattress in the walk-in pantry. I can't remember his name but he was I now recognize as a missing link between Goth and Emo and he was dating Rich's bisexual dancer friend. We were discussing whether or not there were appropriate and inappropriate subjects for songs and Rich and I bet him that it was possible to write a song about any subject.
We won the bet (which obviously had a pretty low threshold for victory) with this little gem:
The Irrigation SongIrrigation!Moving water from place to placeIrrigation!Growing crops for the human race
I'm pretty sure that there wasn't any more to it. The first attempt to convey the majesty of this song to Bill resulted in Probably Not instead, so it really all worked out for the best.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Munson On The Edge of Forever
In continuing with my theme of Star Trek inspired photos, I'd like to present this one:
This is of course inspired by perhaps one of the best original Trek episodes ever, "The City On The Edge of Forever", featuring Joan Collins as an anti-war chick who Kirk (naturally) falls in love with.
Here's a stock photo for reference.
This is of course inspired by perhaps one of the best original Trek episodes ever, "The City On The Edge of Forever", featuring Joan Collins as an anti-war chick who Kirk (naturally) falls in love with.
Here's a stock photo for reference.
41%
Okay, Munson, I’ll play ball, and provide my own free sample of the “blog” we’ve all been sparing one another, at least until a few days ago.
Or how about “lurb,” as a contraction of web-blurb? Maybe it will catch on! Well, wasn't that sarcastic.
I heard on the radio today that 41% of the cars on the road are at least eleven years old. In my own stable, that figure is more like 33%, down from 50% about a month ago. Does that make me a “new car guy?” I hope not. My philosophy on car ownership is to get a quarter of a million miles before relinquishing my grip on the steering wheel. For many folks intent on saving the planet, [gasoline not burned] seems to trump [old cars left to rot] plus [energy and resources expended building replacement cars]. Personally, I feel worse about the indestructible and/or toxic car parts going into the ground forever, and try to put one there as rarely as practical. By the way, I wonder where all the five-year batteries from the hybrids are going to go? Not that I worry much about it. New propulsion technology is sick :{
Maybe someday Don and I will convert the Sonex to electric.
Anyway, my new road machine has seven seats, and on its maiden voyage to Laguna Hills (five seats occupied) we managed approximately 26.8 mpg. That’s over 130 occupied-seat-miles per gallon (about 41% better than my station wagon). Not bad! (insert link to Unocal video.) I plan to take good care of this behemoth (or “urban assault vehicle,” as Victor labeled it), as I don’t plan on replacing it until I’m ready for a two-seater for visiting the kids at college. I have never actually achieved the quarter million figure (miles, anyway), though our 1976 Caprice Classic hit 205,000 before we loaded it on the junkyard truck. Classic. Lotta Stickmen stories involving that car. One on this site, I think!
One on, one off.
One of the sky pilot’s nightmares is the dreaded box-canyon 180. That’s degrees, for those of you who care passionately about units, like I do (though angle measurements are actually dimensionless). Anyway, with canyon walls closing in on both sides, how do you fly back the way you came? A column I read today by my favorite aviation writer, Barry Schiff, proposes that for a practical minimum radius turn in a typical lightplane, you should add a notch of flaps, bank 60 degrees, and pull two g ... at 41% above power-off stall speed. At that bank angle, load factor doubles; stall goes as the square root. It's a bad idea to go any slower.
And no, the song “April” does not refer to a Chevy Caprice. It was a Chevy Nova, and on second thought, no laws were broken that I am aware of, unless you count laws of gettin’ it on (we didn’t). You’re welcome.
And no, that song is not on my iPod. While Munson is getting messy in the boys’ room*, my own stall work-dodge of the day featured Woody Guthrie’s “Grand Coulee Dam” from 1944, and Nirvana’s 1993 cover of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.”
That’s at least as cool as humming Enya in a Home Depot. Guys?
But the real excitement was in my 2001 Impala, where I started listening to Matt’s unwanted CD collection. Very good stuff. Over the coming weeks, I will be digging into his extensive cache of REM maxi-singles and Smiths radio sessions. I also think I found my missing copy of Blood Sugar Sex Magic from twelve years ago. Surprisingly, the music still holds up. Turns out it was produced by Rick Rubin, which kind of explains things. Also, Norah Jones, which whizzed by while I was starting a family. Vic once quipped that her music is “jazz for the attention-defecit-disorder crowd.” The single is pretty cool. The next track kind of blew, and that’s as far as I got. Kinda proves Victor's point.
Munson has everything he needs burned to his iPod. Call me old fashioned; I still like to hold the printed artifact in my hands. I recognize that I’m swimming against the tide, but listening to Matt’s CD collection is good compensation. Kind of makes me wonder why I want to record a CD, if no one listens to them anymore. Did a quick Google search and found that Warner Music Group’s digital revenue is now $141 million, or 14% of total sales. That’s up 41% over the same quarter in 2006.
* Matt has been baiting me for weeks with lurid stories of lapses in personal cleanliness, waiting to see when I will spill the beans to my extensive readership, which is to say, him.
Or how about “lurb,” as a contraction of web-blurb? Maybe it will catch on! Well, wasn't that sarcastic.
I heard on the radio today that 41% of the cars on the road are at least eleven years old. In my own stable, that figure is more like 33%, down from 50% about a month ago. Does that make me a “new car guy?” I hope not. My philosophy on car ownership is to get a quarter of a million miles before relinquishing my grip on the steering wheel. For many folks intent on saving the planet, [gasoline not burned] seems to trump [old cars left to rot] plus [energy and resources expended building replacement cars]. Personally, I feel worse about the indestructible and/or toxic car parts going into the ground forever, and try to put one there as rarely as practical. By the way, I wonder where all the five-year batteries from the hybrids are going to go? Not that I worry much about it. New propulsion technology is sick :{
Maybe someday Don and I will convert the Sonex to electric.
Anyway, my new road machine has seven seats, and on its maiden voyage to Laguna Hills (five seats occupied) we managed approximately 26.8 mpg. That’s over 130 occupied-seat-miles per gallon (about 41% better than my station wagon). Not bad! (insert link to Unocal video.) I plan to take good care of this behemoth (or “urban assault vehicle,” as Victor labeled it), as I don’t plan on replacing it until I’m ready for a two-seater for visiting the kids at college. I have never actually achieved the quarter million figure (miles, anyway), though our 1976 Caprice Classic hit 205,000 before we loaded it on the junkyard truck. Classic. Lotta Stickmen stories involving that car. One on this site, I think!
One on, one off.
One of the sky pilot’s nightmares is the dreaded box-canyon 180. That’s degrees, for those of you who care passionately about units, like I do (though angle measurements are actually dimensionless). Anyway, with canyon walls closing in on both sides, how do you fly back the way you came? A column I read today by my favorite aviation writer, Barry Schiff, proposes that for a practical minimum radius turn in a typical lightplane, you should add a notch of flaps, bank 60 degrees, and pull two g ... at 41% above power-off stall speed. At that bank angle, load factor doubles; stall goes as the square root. It's a bad idea to go any slower.
And no, the song “April” does not refer to a Chevy Caprice. It was a Chevy Nova, and on second thought, no laws were broken that I am aware of, unless you count laws of gettin’ it on (we didn’t). You’re welcome.
And no, that song is not on my iPod. While Munson is getting messy in the boys’ room*, my own stall work-dodge of the day featured Woody Guthrie’s “Grand Coulee Dam” from 1944, and Nirvana’s 1993 cover of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.”
That’s at least as cool as humming Enya in a Home Depot. Guys?
But the real excitement was in my 2001 Impala, where I started listening to Matt’s unwanted CD collection. Very good stuff. Over the coming weeks, I will be digging into his extensive cache of REM maxi-singles and Smiths radio sessions. I also think I found my missing copy of Blood Sugar Sex Magic from twelve years ago. Surprisingly, the music still holds up. Turns out it was produced by Rick Rubin, which kind of explains things. Also, Norah Jones, which whizzed by while I was starting a family. Vic once quipped that her music is “jazz for the attention-defecit-disorder crowd.” The single is pretty cool. The next track kind of blew, and that’s as far as I got. Kinda proves Victor's point.
Munson has everything he needs burned to his iPod. Call me old fashioned; I still like to hold the printed artifact in my hands. I recognize that I’m swimming against the tide, but listening to Matt’s CD collection is good compensation. Kind of makes me wonder why I want to record a CD, if no one listens to them anymore. Did a quick Google search and found that Warner Music Group’s digital revenue is now $141 million, or 14% of total sales. That’s up 41% over the same quarter in 2006.
* Matt has been baiting me for weeks with lurid stories of lapses in personal cleanliness, waiting to see when I will spill the beans to my extensive readership, which is to say, him.
Stool Sample
Not really a sample, but a new drum stool has been acquired. A brief trip down to "Jim's Music" in Irvine resulted in a shiny new Yamaha seater. They pulled the standard "we're all out of the base model, the best we can do is sell you this 'cadillac of drum stools', but we'll give you a good discount".
Puh-Lease.
No stranger to lame sales pitches, Munson pitched something of his own: a fit. As it turns out, the story I was told is that the cadillac (with discount) only runs 15 bucks more than the Yugo. I figured for fifteen bucks, it wasn't worth driving to some other place and kissing away another lunch hour.
Anyhow, who cares. It's a drum stool. Yngwie, look out.
Puh-Lease.
No stranger to lame sales pitches, Munson pitched something of his own: a fit. As it turns out, the story I was told is that the cadillac (with discount) only runs 15 bucks more than the Yugo. I figured for fifteen bucks, it wasn't worth driving to some other place and kissing away another lunch hour.
Anyhow, who cares. It's a drum stool. Yngwie, look out.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Minor Logo Change
Only a tiny bit different, but it took about an hour of dorking around with ampersands and plus signs to get it to this point. I think I might like the plus sign a little smaller, but not fatter.
Let me know what you guys think.
Let me know what you guys think.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Logo Ideas
Nothing terribly flashy, but hey, thats also our M.O. for the entire project.
I spent some time trying to figure out how to incorporate an ampersand or a plus sign, but after dorking with it for about ten minutes, I noticed that I kind of liked it without it. Keeps it simple.
And again, that's one of our driving themes, so maybe it's appropriate.
I spent some time trying to figure out how to incorporate an ampersand or a plus sign, but after dorking with it for about ten minutes, I noticed that I kind of liked it without it. Keeps it simple.
And again, that's one of our driving themes, so maybe it's appropriate.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Girl #134 Recording - Fischer Studios North
Feb 18, 2008 – Recording Girl #134.
Executive Summary: Overall results of this brief recording session were good. Not excellent, but good. Only the bass track remains. The most problematic part of the recording was the drum track. Not only is Munson relatively new to drumming, but this beat proved particularly challenging. The “money” track proved serviceable, despite some subtle flaws.
Detailed Description: The day started on a not-so-innocent note as Munson threw himself into full blown “Geek out” mode with a visit to “Star Trek: The Tour”. Currently being housed in the old Spruce Goose dome in Long Beach, this is a traveling exhibit of costumes, props and miniatures from all Star Trek incarnations. Highlights included a chance to sit in a full sized replica of the bridges from the classic Enterprise, and the Next Generations Enterprise “E”. Thirty bucks well spent. Munson departed Long Beach at just after 3:00, to arrive in Torrance under an hour later. A brief stop at Costco was joyfully interrupted by a call from Fischer indicating that he was on his way home. The Black and Blue dev team were reunited at about 4:30 PST. (Stardate: unknown)
Munson and Fischer quickly got to work, after a brief photo shoot featuring the Fischer Family. A slight re-org of the studio was in order. Wooden planks had to be moved from behind the drum set, and some furniture had to be procured. Since no Sr. VP level approvals were needed to expedite these processes, they were executed without delay. Will joined in on the fun, setting up his own drum kit and collapsible chair. As the clock struck 5:00, the duo were ready for some practice.
A review of a couple different recordings of Girl #134 was in order. Fischer busted out the iPod and played the Anthill live version, and the original B+B sessions recording. I had the drum beat in my head, and played along a couple of times. The drum beat was a significant departure from the two drum beats I already know, so I knew it was going to be a challenge. Fischer and I plunked down and rehearsed the song about 10 times, some of them being recorded.
Munson got to a point where he was comfortable playing it, though the final beat was a hobbled sub-set of the fills and beat that Master Drummer Varner deployed. Fischer records will need to indicate precisely which recordings were keepers. Each take proved to be better than the last, though a peak was eventually reached, with the associated trough soon to follow. Munson was comfortable making it through the entire song, but blew four or five takes literally on the last 5 seconds of the song. Frustrations grew, and a break was taken.
It was decided that an insert overdub could be used to fix the trailing seconds of the song. This ultimately proved successful, but not without challenges. Technical difficulties aside, Munson’s apparent fatigue was beginning to show. Munson later expressed anxiety at playing drums so late into the evening in suburban Torrance. He felt that it would start to aggravate neighbors, and this distracted him from his performance.
That aside, once the final take was deemed “workable”, the duo retired to the living room for some red vines and good times.
The guitar track left something to be desired, as there was a Fischer identified flub near the end. An insert over-dub was attempted, but proved ineffective. It turns out that the bleed over from the drums into the guitar mic was significant, rendering recordings sans drums useless. The decision was made to completely re-do the guitar track. Fortunately, B+B had two things going for them: Bills guitar wizardry, and Munsons’ simple song. Though nailed on the first take, Fischer completed another take with an additional microphone added in for unknown reasons. Note: as producer, it was Munson’s job to squash any move on Fischers behalf to resort to his “knob turning ways”, though he chose the path of least resistance and allowed Fischer this one conceit. Next time, “the Hammer” will be more liberally applied.
That said, the duo decided guitar was done, and it was time to move on. A quick track of chicken shake was added, though without the traditional shakers deployed. The take fell apart half way through due to a slight rhythm variance, but a single insert overdub rectified the problem.
Two vocal tracks were done by Munson. The first was fine, but a second was suggested to “push the envelope”, as B+B is prone to doing. The second track was equally as nice, but enjoyed some more emotional “spunk” towards the end. Sadly, said spunk will force the use of dynamic volume adjustment during mix down, as the volume levels become inappropriately high.
Fischer contributed two vocal tracks, though the first one missed the end harmony. The second one got it right.
By this point, it was just past 9:00 PM, and it was decided that recording was done for the day. The only remaining track is bass.
A few more listenings of a rough mix down revealed a few shortcomings of the song to Munson, though Fischer remained oblivious. It has been suggested that this is simply part of assuming the mantle of “Producer”. One tends to be more obsessive. But in adhering with the B+B guiding principle of “Better to have a song finished than perfect”, it was decided that moving on was the order of the day.
As 9:30 rolled around, the necessary trip to Carl’s Jr. was embarked upon. Discussion/obsession on the song followed, with both congradulations and lamentations peppered therein.
One more recording session is required to complete this song, and it must happen by the end of the month in order for B+B to maintain their breakneck pace of one song per month.
Munson Thoughts: I’m on the fence about the recording. I think overall it sounds good, but there’s a part in the middle where I hear the rhythm fall apart. The drum ding at the end isn’t that big of a deal, and I can live with it, but I’m not sure I feel the same way about the middle part. Vocals are OK, but those only take a second to fix. I think the position I find myself in is this: do I want to start again from scratch at our next Saturday session. I really don’t, as I’m a strong proponent of moving ahead, but this particular song is so dear to me, I want to see it perfect. But those are the words of a band who spent 4 years on an album, and that’s not where I want to be. So perhaps I will stick with my original advice to myself, which is to move on. If at some later date, my drum skills have improved, and the desire is there, we can always revisit the song. Seeing as how Bill and I are now at a point where we can realistically bang out a complete song in one day, it’s really not that big of a deal to think that we might re-visit after some time has passed.
Executive Summary: Overall results of this brief recording session were good. Not excellent, but good. Only the bass track remains. The most problematic part of the recording was the drum track. Not only is Munson relatively new to drumming, but this beat proved particularly challenging. The “money” track proved serviceable, despite some subtle flaws.
Detailed Description: The day started on a not-so-innocent note as Munson threw himself into full blown “Geek out” mode with a visit to “Star Trek: The Tour”. Currently being housed in the old Spruce Goose dome in Long Beach, this is a traveling exhibit of costumes, props and miniatures from all Star Trek incarnations. Highlights included a chance to sit in a full sized replica of the bridges from the classic Enterprise, and the Next Generations Enterprise “E”. Thirty bucks well spent. Munson departed Long Beach at just after 3:00, to arrive in Torrance under an hour later. A brief stop at Costco was joyfully interrupted by a call from Fischer indicating that he was on his way home. The Black and Blue dev team were reunited at about 4:30 PST. (Stardate: unknown)
Munson and Fischer quickly got to work, after a brief photo shoot featuring the Fischer Family. A slight re-org of the studio was in order. Wooden planks had to be moved from behind the drum set, and some furniture had to be procured. Since no Sr. VP level approvals were needed to expedite these processes, they were executed without delay. Will joined in on the fun, setting up his own drum kit and collapsible chair. As the clock struck 5:00, the duo were ready for some practice.
A review of a couple different recordings of Girl #134 was in order. Fischer busted out the iPod and played the Anthill live version, and the original B+B sessions recording. I had the drum beat in my head, and played along a couple of times. The drum beat was a significant departure from the two drum beats I already know, so I knew it was going to be a challenge. Fischer and I plunked down and rehearsed the song about 10 times, some of them being recorded.
Munson got to a point where he was comfortable playing it, though the final beat was a hobbled sub-set of the fills and beat that Master Drummer Varner deployed. Fischer records will need to indicate precisely which recordings were keepers. Each take proved to be better than the last, though a peak was eventually reached, with the associated trough soon to follow. Munson was comfortable making it through the entire song, but blew four or five takes literally on the last 5 seconds of the song. Frustrations grew, and a break was taken.
It was decided that an insert overdub could be used to fix the trailing seconds of the song. This ultimately proved successful, but not without challenges. Technical difficulties aside, Munson’s apparent fatigue was beginning to show. Munson later expressed anxiety at playing drums so late into the evening in suburban Torrance. He felt that it would start to aggravate neighbors, and this distracted him from his performance.
That aside, once the final take was deemed “workable”, the duo retired to the living room for some red vines and good times.
The guitar track left something to be desired, as there was a Fischer identified flub near the end. An insert over-dub was attempted, but proved ineffective. It turns out that the bleed over from the drums into the guitar mic was significant, rendering recordings sans drums useless. The decision was made to completely re-do the guitar track. Fortunately, B+B had two things going for them: Bills guitar wizardry, and Munsons’ simple song. Though nailed on the first take, Fischer completed another take with an additional microphone added in for unknown reasons. Note: as producer, it was Munson’s job to squash any move on Fischers behalf to resort to his “knob turning ways”, though he chose the path of least resistance and allowed Fischer this one conceit. Next time, “the Hammer” will be more liberally applied.
That said, the duo decided guitar was done, and it was time to move on. A quick track of chicken shake was added, though without the traditional shakers deployed. The take fell apart half way through due to a slight rhythm variance, but a single insert overdub rectified the problem.
Two vocal tracks were done by Munson. The first was fine, but a second was suggested to “push the envelope”, as B+B is prone to doing. The second track was equally as nice, but enjoyed some more emotional “spunk” towards the end. Sadly, said spunk will force the use of dynamic volume adjustment during mix down, as the volume levels become inappropriately high.
Fischer contributed two vocal tracks, though the first one missed the end harmony. The second one got it right.
By this point, it was just past 9:00 PM, and it was decided that recording was done for the day. The only remaining track is bass.
A few more listenings of a rough mix down revealed a few shortcomings of the song to Munson, though Fischer remained oblivious. It has been suggested that this is simply part of assuming the mantle of “Producer”. One tends to be more obsessive. But in adhering with the B+B guiding principle of “Better to have a song finished than perfect”, it was decided that moving on was the order of the day.
As 9:30 rolled around, the necessary trip to Carl’s Jr. was embarked upon. Discussion/obsession on the song followed, with both congradulations and lamentations peppered therein.
One more recording session is required to complete this song, and it must happen by the end of the month in order for B+B to maintain their breakneck pace of one song per month.
Munson Thoughts: I’m on the fence about the recording. I think overall it sounds good, but there’s a part in the middle where I hear the rhythm fall apart. The drum ding at the end isn’t that big of a deal, and I can live with it, but I’m not sure I feel the same way about the middle part. Vocals are OK, but those only take a second to fix. I think the position I find myself in is this: do I want to start again from scratch at our next Saturday session. I really don’t, as I’m a strong proponent of moving ahead, but this particular song is so dear to me, I want to see it perfect. But those are the words of a band who spent 4 years on an album, and that’s not where I want to be. So perhaps I will stick with my original advice to myself, which is to move on. If at some later date, my drum skills have improved, and the desire is there, we can always revisit the song. Seeing as how Bill and I are now at a point where we can realistically bang out a complete song in one day, it’s really not that big of a deal to think that we might re-visit after some time has passed.
Friday, February 15, 2008
My Deep Thoughts
I've decided that this blog is turning out to be far too interesting, so I thought it would be appropriate for me to provide a blog entry that is more in line with the typical nonsense that you find at blogspot. So now, dear reader, I present to you, the first (and perhaps last) installment of a series of posts I like to call "My Deep Thougts". The goal is to "level set" on what blogs are supposed to be. We seem to focus far to much on having fun, posting pics, and talking about things that are important to us. I feel that this is not appropriate for a blog. Allow me to demonstrate...
Woke up today. Alarm went off early, but I managed to get out of bed. I grow tired of shaving. Kicked around the idea of not shaving today, but then remembered I have an image to uphold. Image of what, I'm not sure. The iPod has KT Dunstall on it today, makes me think of Dunston Checks In, a DVD I own that I have yet to watch. Movies with monkeys and kids have always captivated me, but only when together. Monkey movies, not as interesting. Kid movies, certainly not. but put the two together and it's like chocolate and peanut butter.
Rolled into the office to take a few conference calls. Good stuff covered, but it got me thinking about why whiteboards are white. I always thought it was cool that they called black boards "black boards", seeing as how they are usually a dark shade of green. I always found that ironic. But now we have white boards, and they are actually white. I find this disturbing, but only on a visceral level. Every other level remains uneffected by this revelation.
Today's soundtrack in my head is a combination of the Brady Bunch theme song, and a mashup of Enya and Prodigy that I heard in Canada a few years. It was a surreal combination of "Sail Away" and "Smack my bitch up", which oddly enough, feature a near identical cadence and rythm. File under "go figure".
I'm still sad that the X-Files was cancelled. Yes, it was a few years ago, but I still find myself longing for the days when I could join Mulder and Scully on their supernatural investigations, if only vicariously. Fortunately, I feel I will find some relief later this year, when the second x-files feature film is released. I'm thinking of installing a countdown clock on my website to mark the occasion. I really want to participate in the movie in any way possible, and if that means adding a countdown clock to the website, along with a list of my expectations, then so be it.
I got robbed yesterday. By a machine no less. No, I was not mugged by the Terminator or Robocop. This theft was far more sublime, but could certainly be the focal point of an essay on how technology is robbing us of our humanity, one snack treat at a time. So I was bored yesterday afternoon, and decided it was time for a sweet treat. I went into the employee break room, and browsed the selections in the vending machine. I had my eye on a three pack of Reeses Peanut Butter cups. I put my dollar in, entered the code, and watched with eager anticipation as the spiral server slowly rotated, advancing at impossibly slow speeds my sweet treat. I always get a tingle at the back of my neck during this wait, as I'm always suspecting the spiral will not rotate enough to release my paid-for treat, thus leaving it stranded on the edge of the drop off chute and my gullet. As fortune would have it, the treat dropped, but got snagged at the bottom. It got lodged between the dispenser opening, like that rope bridge at the end of Temple of Doom. Sadly, there was no swashbuckling hero present with a skull-dulled machete to chop the ropes of the bridge in order to bring it crashing down into the alligator infested waters below. Several attacks on the vending machine yeilded no movement, as the treat appeared thoroughly lodged. I succumed, and chose treat over finances as I shoveled another dollar into the machine. I fantasized about the newly purchased snack-pack knocking loose the stuck one, but no such luck. Two bucks for three peanut butter cups. That's a currency exchange worse than dollars for pounds sterling at this point.
So overall, a pretty interesting day.
Woke up today. Alarm went off early, but I managed to get out of bed. I grow tired of shaving. Kicked around the idea of not shaving today, but then remembered I have an image to uphold. Image of what, I'm not sure. The iPod has KT Dunstall on it today, makes me think of Dunston Checks In, a DVD I own that I have yet to watch. Movies with monkeys and kids have always captivated me, but only when together. Monkey movies, not as interesting. Kid movies, certainly not. but put the two together and it's like chocolate and peanut butter.
Rolled into the office to take a few conference calls. Good stuff covered, but it got me thinking about why whiteboards are white. I always thought it was cool that they called black boards "black boards", seeing as how they are usually a dark shade of green. I always found that ironic. But now we have white boards, and they are actually white. I find this disturbing, but only on a visceral level. Every other level remains uneffected by this revelation.
Today's soundtrack in my head is a combination of the Brady Bunch theme song, and a mashup of Enya and Prodigy that I heard in Canada a few years. It was a surreal combination of "Sail Away" and "Smack my bitch up", which oddly enough, feature a near identical cadence and rythm. File under "go figure".
I'm still sad that the X-Files was cancelled. Yes, it was a few years ago, but I still find myself longing for the days when I could join Mulder and Scully on their supernatural investigations, if only vicariously. Fortunately, I feel I will find some relief later this year, when the second x-files feature film is released. I'm thinking of installing a countdown clock on my website to mark the occasion. I really want to participate in the movie in any way possible, and if that means adding a countdown clock to the website, along with a list of my expectations, then so be it.
I got robbed yesterday. By a machine no less. No, I was not mugged by the Terminator or Robocop. This theft was far more sublime, but could certainly be the focal point of an essay on how technology is robbing us of our humanity, one snack treat at a time. So I was bored yesterday afternoon, and decided it was time for a sweet treat. I went into the employee break room, and browsed the selections in the vending machine. I had my eye on a three pack of Reeses Peanut Butter cups. I put my dollar in, entered the code, and watched with eager anticipation as the spiral server slowly rotated, advancing at impossibly slow speeds my sweet treat. I always get a tingle at the back of my neck during this wait, as I'm always suspecting the spiral will not rotate enough to release my paid-for treat, thus leaving it stranded on the edge of the drop off chute and my gullet. As fortune would have it, the treat dropped, but got snagged at the bottom. It got lodged between the dispenser opening, like that rope bridge at the end of Temple of Doom. Sadly, there was no swashbuckling hero present with a skull-dulled machete to chop the ropes of the bridge in order to bring it crashing down into the alligator infested waters below. Several attacks on the vending machine yeilded no movement, as the treat appeared thoroughly lodged. I succumed, and chose treat over finances as I shoveled another dollar into the machine. I fantasized about the newly purchased snack-pack knocking loose the stuck one, but no such luck. Two bucks for three peanut butter cups. That's a currency exchange worse than dollars for pounds sterling at this point.
So overall, a pretty interesting day.
Monday, February 11, 2008
If You've Got a Ten Dollar Head ...
Left to right: Vic, Russ Knaack, me, Scott Aguilar, and Dave Andrews on sax.
Strictly speaking, this photo belongs at classiccourtesyflush.blogspot.com, not classic stickmen, because it postdates the band by a couple of years. Don moved to Arkansas, putting a final end to all Stickmen activities, and almost immediately I started sitting in on bass with a band of engineers styling themselves Courtesy Flush.
The other guitarist stopped showing up, so eventually I was involuntarily reassigned to guitar duties. When they found out about Vic (meaning bass player, not his dirty secrets!), he was drafted too ... just in time to rename the band Ten Dollar Helmet. Notice how well Vic and I fit in. "We miss My New Invention!"
Ten Dollar Helmet went the way of The Oneders (with one fewer hit) only a few months after this photo, taken Spring 2002, not January 1, 1994. Jeez, set the damn date your camera!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Peak Photo Shoot Revisited
I earlier made a claim that I had completed the scanning (or "digital ingestion") of the Peak Photo Shoot. Research revealed this claim to be false.
But I can now say with certainty that the task is finished.
Here's the very last photo that was scanned of the entire set.
I think I have reconstructed what happened. After the photo shoot, Peak presented us with 14 rolls of film. Since we were poor at the time, Vinnie and I decided to divide the labor on film development costs. So he took 7 rolls, and I took the other 7. We both got double prints, then did a hostage exchange. So we each ended up with a full set of prints, but only half the negatives.
This is what lead me to believe that I had scanned all of the photos, as I had scanned everything that had accompanying negatives.
I suppose it's all just water under the bridge at this point, but since this web blog is all about making a catalog of all things in the Stickmens past, I thought this would qualify.
For the record, there were a total of 428 images scanned. Unless there's one or two missing, or that fell through the cracks, I think that about nails it.
But I can now say with certainty that the task is finished.
Here's the very last photo that was scanned of the entire set.
I think I have reconstructed what happened. After the photo shoot, Peak presented us with 14 rolls of film. Since we were poor at the time, Vinnie and I decided to divide the labor on film development costs. So he took 7 rolls, and I took the other 7. We both got double prints, then did a hostage exchange. So we each ended up with a full set of prints, but only half the negatives.
This is what lead me to believe that I had scanned all of the photos, as I had scanned everything that had accompanying negatives.
I suppose it's all just water under the bridge at this point, but since this web blog is all about making a catalog of all things in the Stickmens past, I thought this would qualify.
For the record, there were a total of 428 images scanned. Unless there's one or two missing, or that fell through the cracks, I think that about nails it.
R2 Madness Continues
Not really rock and roll related, unless you consider the Jundland Wastes to be both rocky and rollie. Roly? Anyhow, just wanted to mention that I have made a few updates to my R2-D2 blog. I got a couple of aluminum parts in the mail yesterday, and it inspried me to update the blog. Along the way, I found four entries that had not yet been fleshed out, and I upaded the "Sightings" page to include R2-LAV.
Read on, true believer!!!
Matt's R2 Blog
Read on, true believer!!!
Matt's R2 Blog
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