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Monday, 24 July 2006
A hell of a weekend ::
It was hellishly hot here this weekend, highs around 105 Saturday and Sunday.
Around 3 pm Saturday afternoon I heard a strange sound—the furnace was running! I saw nothing strange on the thermostat other than the current temperature indicator being over-the-top (100); the mercury inside was still where it was supposed to be. I shrugged and flipped the master switch.
When we returned home from a nap in the car at a beach Saturday, it was probably 110 degrees in the apartment, the wall clock had stopped, the G5's fan was running full-tilt and it wouldn’t wake from sleep, the digital piano’s LCD display had funny characters on it, the plant to which I have given numerous near-death experiences was looking worse than ever, and my Myspace account had been deleted.
I watered the plant and took a cold shower; we left, had enchiladas with a couple of Coronas and saw Pirates of the Carribean (pretty good, but now I wish I’d seen the first one first).
When we got back, the electronics were fine and my Myspace account was “under maintenance.” (I have been, um, promoting rather aggressively and was concerned that perhaps I’d gone too far...)
Today we went to San Francisco, where it was maybe 10-15 degrees cooler than Belmont, listened to PA speakers at Guitar Center but postponed a decision, and bought fancy portfolios and paper at Staples. Then we drove north without much of a plan beyond avoiding getting stuck in traffic trying to get to a beach. It was very hot on top of Mount Tamalpais. Pleasantly cool in Pacifica. The Italian restaurant down at the corner is pricey but very good. The wall clock is hours behind again but is running. The plant looks happy enough now.
| << Music and meat | 2006 > July | First rehearsal >> |
1 comment
Truly hot here as well, Doug! Your FURNACE went on??? must have a roll-over somewhere in its brain. You know, 99, 100, 01... Or maybe it’s a Y2K effect? Who knows?
Sound Commandos myspace page was under maintenance as well. Even though you say you’ve been “promoting rather aggressively” I very much doubt you could match the movies and games that are using myspace these days. (I hesitate to teach the Mac’s spelling checker ‘myspace’ as a word... Not usre why -- maybe I like that it’s underlined in all my outgoing messages...)
Definitely go back in time and watch the first Pirates movie! (I’m waiting for the DVD of the Black Pearl to come out, myself). :-) I used to think Johnny Depp was just another of those brat pack kids, but having watched several of his films recently (The Corpse Bride*, Finding Neverland and so on), his talent just blows me away. * Danny Elfman’s soundtrack is really good -- there are some almost operatic parts to it, even places with only eighth and quater notes, instead of the usual 64ths...
The point of this comment:
Unless you need a PA for rehearsal, and regularly play places without a PA, save your money! So many clubs have half-way decent sound systems these days (that can be made better by a good sound person!*), that most of the time you can simply show up, sound check and perform. If you run into a place that doesn’t have a sound system, and you really, really want to play there, rent something for the evening... The real trick is finding someone to run your sound who can make crap sound OK, and a good PA sound great. :-)
*Borders’ standard issue PA was a 4-channel Carvin (with built-in reverb!). By the time I’d finished setting up the one for the store I worked at, it sounded pretty good. Silk purse-like, even... ;-)
– Colin Mansfield, Monday, 31 July 2006, 15:00 PDT
This discussion has been closed. Thanks to those who participated.