After X-Mas Ramba-Jamba

Had a splendid little 5-hour jam will J.A.S., Sick Rick, Stumpy Pete (for the latter half), and Alesis drummer machine.

Set List: Adam Raised a Cane, Creep, Dead Flowers, Factory, Time, Blowin in the Wind, Powderfinger, Save Tonight, Hurt, Sweet Leaf/Born on the Bayou/Sympathy for the Devil, Knockin on Heaven's Door, Last Days of May, Lucky Man, Malicious Hallucinations, Down By The River, Mad World, Right Down the Line, For the Turnstiles, Tangled Up in Blue, Big Girl, Yoshimi, Comfortably Numb, Dwight Frye, House (x2), and Farewell Ride (x2).

Way II Be

(Dismalhead "Way II Be" and "Way to Be")

We have had these informal jam sessions and relying for content from my giganormous binder of music, which contains just about every cover I've tried to work on for at least the past 7 years or so plus some from older than that. My conceit is that the info for each song be on two facing pages. That way a musician doesn't have to worry about flipping pages during a song (I hated that in full-on sheet music).

The two main problems with giga-binder are: #1 All the singers and musicians are looking over each other's shoulders, and #2 The binder itself around 2/3 of which is something probably not suitable for a garage jam session.

I decided to put together a simple song book for our most common tunes along with some blasts from the past, but what to call it?

I happened to be listening to Sick Rick's old CD of music he put together way back in 2012 when our friend and singer/guitarist Stumpy Pete was moving back to Cali from Colorado. Sick Rick's faux band (every instrument was performed by Sicky over the thump of an Alesis drum machine) he called "Dismalhead" and titled the CD "Way to Be" (an old 70s exclamation of positivity related to "way to go" which was a sarcastic counterpart).

I thought that this songbook, from my perspective, was similar in idea to Sick Rick's CD - a group of material encouraging our small band of players to adopt some material.

The new songbook, dubbed "Way II Be" and reflecting our various influences plus a few originals, contains the following:

“Adam Raised a Cane” Bruce Springsteen, “After Dark” Tito & Tarantula, “Ballad of Dwight Fry” Alice Cooper, “Blowin' In the Wind” Bob Dylan, “Comfortably Numb” Pink Floyd, “Creep” Radiohead, “Dead Flowers” The Rolling Stones, “Dominance & Submission” Blue Oyster Cult, “Down by the River” Neil Young, “Factory” Bruce Springsteen, “Farewell Ride” Beck, “For the Turnstiles” Neil Young, “God's Gonna Cut You Down” Traditional, “Heaven” Talking Heads, “Helpless” Neil Young, “House of the Rising Sun” Traditional, “Hurt” Trent Rezner, “Institutionalized” Suicidal Tendencies, “Jackhammer” Stumpy Pete, “Knockin' On Heaven's Door” Bob Dylan, “Lucky Man” ELP, “Mad World” Gary Juyles, “Malicious Hallucinations” Stumpy Pete,  “Nebraska” Bruce Springsteen, “Powderfinger” Neil Young, “Rats” Pearl Jam, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” Sick Rick, “Right Down the Line” Gerry Rafferty, “Save Tonight” Eagle Eye Cherry, “Sedan Delivery” Neil Young, “Submission” Sex Pistols, “Sweet Leaf" Black Sabboth, “Sympathy for the Devil” The Rolling Stones, “Tangled Up In Blue” Bob Dylan, “Then Came the Last Days of May” Blue Oyster Cult, “Time” Pink Floyd, “Wild World” Cat Stevens, “You're A Big Girl Now” Bob Dylan, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” Flaming Lips.

Another Informal...

So this fine Friday afternoon we met up in the Valley of Jo for a ripping good time. Myself, Sick Rick, and J.A.S. for the entirety, Hunger Mehigh for all but the very end, Stumpy Pete and Vlad comprising some two different sections.

Set List: Bass/Drum Groove, After Dark, Anybody Seen My Mind, Last Days of May, Dead Flowers, Factory, Farewell Ride, Hurt, Down By the River, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Lucky Man, Mad World, Right Down the Line, Save Tonight, Sympathy for the Devil, Wild World, Yoshimi, You're A Big Girl Now, Dwight Fry, Comfortably Numb, Dominance and Submission, Jazz Odyssey.

Informal Jam with Firends...

A little gettogether with friends Stumpy Pete, J.A.S., and Hunger Mehigh a drummer. Debut of the inverted 5th-tuned bass. Sick Rick was due but turned-out sicker than ordinary.

Set List: Pete's Jazz, Last Days, Dead Flowers, Yoshimi, Factory, Lucky Man, Helpless, Down By the River.

Classical Carlos Jam Video - BORKED!

I had a nice, long, video-taped (yes, actual tape) Classical Carlos jam at Ur-daughter's home with Tahoe the Cat. Unfortunately I dropped the camera setting up and scrambled the audio pickup. Dang!

Anyhow, here is the setlist: Creep, Heaven, Rain Dogs, There is a Light That Never Goes Out, Tender is the Night, Old Country Waltz, Her Diamonds, Yoshimi, Doolin Dalton, Sweet Jane, Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, Your Racist Friend, God's Gonna Cut You Down, Hurricane, Sedan Delivery, Dominance and Submission, Don't Cry No Tears, Desperado, Pumped Up Kicks, Soldier Sign.

Classic Carlos Jam re: Burn

Housesitting for omdaughter and her hubster during the Burning Man festival and had an opportunity to jam on the Classical Carlos! I must bring a tune book...

Beat to the Bass

While I have pretty much spent the past 2-3 years getting acquainted with the guitar, my background is bass guitar. Funny, I was jamming with a bunch of old mates back in April and everyone expected I would be playing bass guitar - which I hadn't practiced for years having given my electric 5-string bass off to middlin-son the Owl Man.

I kinda had second thoughts before the jam and was looking to find a decent bass on eBay hopefully for around $100, when I realized I had this $2,500 Takamine fretless acoustic-electric just cased-up down in my living room. There was no way I ought to spend any money when I have this expensive instrument existing as a mere conversation piece.

The Takamine bass entered my life more than 15 years ago (last musical instrument purchased PWI - Purchasing While Intoxicated), but I never was really able to use it because of feedback problems in the various loud bands I hung with.

So, while I jammed regular guitar back at April's informal gig, I resolved to figure out how to get this rig playable. The journey of the past couple months was basically #1 - solve feedback issue, and #2 - learn fretless.

Here is my first impromptu set (flubs and all) after about 6-7 weeks practicing: Jesus and Tequila, State Trooper, People Just Ain't No Good, Swamp, Dead Flowers, Jane Says, Keep the Glove, Corona, Moonchild.

Set the First

Soooo I finally paired down my song list to the first ever LRN "official" set list(!).

The advantage is that I can keep practice down to a manageable time period and work on specific things. The entire set is about an hour, so another bonus is I can swap material and still have the time be within the bounds of decency.

Ha, of course I am planning to go back to bass music now that I have my Takamine B-10 in stage-ready condition after 17 years...

Set List: Bigmouth, Dead Flowers, Don't Cry No Tears, Easy Wind, Helpless, Her Diamonds, Jane Says, Creep, People Just Ain't No Good, Pumped Up Kicks, Sedan Delivery, Dominance and Submission, There is a Light that Never Goes Out, Yoshimi, Death is Not the End.

New Puppy!

(My slowly evolving Ibanez 2383)

J.A.S. dropped a new el cheapo brand-Asia neck pickup into my Ibanez. Before I had strung up my Ibanez I heard the bridge pickup in one of J.A.S.'s guitars (an electric Takamine) where J.A.S. had replaced the stock magnet with a new ALNICO magnet.

I remembered I had the magnet from the original, non-functioning Epiphone pickup - so I did a mag-brain transplant! The original magnet turned out to be waaaay stronger than brand-Asia, and I am getting much more sustain. Very happy the pickup has a bit of the original in it and is truly a mutant!

PS The Gibson pickup covers I bought are a hair too narrow for brand-Asia, which is why that pickup is nude.
PPS A new roller bridge is on there too.

Anyhow, here is the weirdness, when I have 3-way switch in the middle, both neck and bridge pickups on, there is no volume unless I have the top volume knob right in the middle. It is not a sweep or anything like that, basically, once I hit 5 the pickups light up and the lower volume knob controls the volume.

Involuntary Acoustic

Old bandmate J.A.S. (Geo Pigs, Ripon, Scratch Elder) stopped by last night and helped me troubleshoot a dead pup in my Ibanez SG copy. Unfortunately the pup was dead, dead, dead. J.A. is gonna drop in a new one for me, but he took the electric home not to be returned until April 15th.

So I find myself with the residence to myself late Saturday morning and ended up running my Ovation classical guitar through my electric rig. J.A. Also gave me some advice on how to set the old bass practice amp for vocals. It's typically productive like that when J.A. visits.

Also, I paired down my song selections to a limited set list. I wanted to work on a particular variety of tunes and here it is. I just need to focus in getting through the set and not dilly-dally over errors

Set List: Bigmouth Strikes Again, Creep, Dead Flowers, Death Is Not the End, Desperado, Dominance and Submission, Doolin-Dalton, Don't Cry No Tears, Easy Wind, God's Gonna Cut You Down, Heaven, Helpless, Her Diamonds, Hurricane, Jane Says, Old Country Waltz, People Just Ain't No Good, Pumped Up Kicks, Rain Dogs, Sedan Delivery, Soldier Side, Tender Is the Night, There is a Light That Never Goes Out, Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, Yoshimi, Your Racist Friend, Farewell Ride, For the Turnstiles, Girlfriend in a Coma.

New Rigs

Nothing to see hear...

Actually out of view is my old bass amp with 15" speaker cab that I am using for the guitar. That freed up daughter #1's bass practice amp that I slapped a chorus pedal on and am using for vocals. The vocal volume is a little low in these tunes because the amp is cranked. I wanted a brief practice run whilst wifey was out of the premises for a bit...

Set list: People Just Aint No Good, Creep, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, Bigmouth Strikes Again, Mad World, Dominance and Submission, Easy Wind, God's Gonna Cut You Down, Her Diamonds, Hurricane, Institutionalized, Jane Says, Jockey Full of Bourbon, Johnny 99.

It Shudda Been Worked Jam

Whut, appointment cancelled? Well idle hands and all that rot...

Set List: Deathgrip and Crackpipe (with fast Kickball Rider intro), Atlantic City, Anybody Seen My Mind, Barstool Blues, Blowin In the Wind, Corduroy, Danger Bird, Daughter, Dead Flowers, Dominance and Submission, Don't Cry No Tears, Drive All Night, Helpless, Hold On, Hurricane, Just Breathe, Lookout Joe, Motion Pictures, Police and Thieves, Pursuit of Happiness, Rain Dogs, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Yoshimi (plus outro noodling).

Death Jam Set

A cheery little set with all songs having something to do with DEATH!!!

I do believe I am feeling eternal damnation with my wee practice space...

Set List: Soldier Side, Point Blank, Nebraska, Midnight Special, Meat Is Murder, Marlene, Man of Constant Sorrow, Knockin on Heaven's Door, Hurt, Death Is Not the End.

(I Need A PA)

This is what sometimes happens with noise when the house is empty...

Garage-Office Jam

Ok, I am trying to get on a schedule of constructive practice, so everybody knows the best method is to records yourself and publish on social media blogger spot. Behavioral control by guilt and shame, ha, my old Catholic residue. Seriously though, this is the best to keep track of progress (practice really does lead to improvement).

So this early going, very impromptu set (my partner missus was giving a speech) included: Meat Is Murder, Heaven, Farewell Ride, Eminence Front, Dominance and Submission, Death Grip & Crack Pipe, Desperado, Doolin-Dalton, Her Diamonds, Living Proof, Old Country Waltz, Particle Man, Powderfinger, Pumped Up Kicks, Sedan Delivery, Sweet Jane, Tender is the Night, Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, What Is Quicksand, Your Racist Friend, Girlfriend In A Coma/For the Turnstiles.

Pedalboard

I have been trying to get a pedalboard made for my effects pedals for probably a month now. I have been playing almost exclusively guitar rather than bass from just about 2 years ago and had broke out my collected assortment of oddball pedals at the beginning of 2019 following the boot to garage office and switching from acoustics (temp changes aren't good for these) to my electrics (much more durable against the environment).

Everything needed spark, so I was going through old power chords to see what matched each pedal then splicing in through the DC transistor batter connector mostly. I was able to get 3 of 4 operational again, when J.A.S. happened to visit.

My main concern was a lot of noise through this MXR "Commande Series" early 80s overdrive pedal. J.A.S. was very kind and swapped the MXR for another distortion, and suggested I get a daisy chain power supply. They are very inexpensive (I ended up paying like $12) and have a variety of different AC connectors.

Once I got everything powered I had to figure out a design. I had thoughts for a kind of box-like setup with hinges and lids and such, and was eyeballing some solid wood lying around in the garage. I also picked up a roll of Velcro tape, ha, which actually was not one sided sticky tape. This "tape" had hooks on one side and felt on the other (to make a wrap around bind).

So Friday night I used Elmer's school glue and glued the felt side of the Velcro tape on the bottom of the pedals. I already had the 9" x 12" rectangles of green felt for the hook side of the Velcro tape.

I ended up needing to ditch a dinette table at the dump (it was daughter's old one and supposed to go to good will, but during the move she lost bolts attaching all the legs).

The leaf for the table had a nice edge to it going round the out side, so when I chopped it in half the result was a long triangle shape perfect for a pedalboard. Plus is was almost exactly the correct width for the sticky felt pieces I was planning to adhese to the surface.

The only difference from my original conception is that I was planning a "landscape" pedalboard and ended up with a "portrate" layout pedalboard. Turned out to be a fair cop.

The pedals are (clockwise from 7 o'clock):

1. DOD FX65 Stereo Chorus (1985-89);
2. DigiTech DigiDelay Digital Delay (2002);
3. Aria Pro II DT-1 Distortion (1980s?); and
4. Systech Phase Shifter (mid-1970s).

+1 Luck Guitar

Whippersnapper "+1 Luck" Guitar

Whoooo-haaa, the newest addition to the Luminous guitar family... I had been helping Sick Rick in Litigation Trickster mode and he laid on me his version of a Les Paul Jr. copy!

"Whippersnapper" is Sick's own line of hand-made guitars, mostly from kits and necks that Sickness plays around with and eventually finishes. This particular model is "+1 Luck" because Sick Rock found a four-leaf clover and embedded it somewhere inside one of the guitar's cavities.

I have not plugged the beast in as yet, but soon. I am just about over my winter's cold and overdue to records another tuneish (heavy emphasis on the "ish"ness) video.

Happy New Year!