@#$@#$@#$$ Woodshed...

Spend the better part of the last three hours in the proverbial woodshed, trying to get my hands back.  Looking like the hands aren't the issue - it's the soul.

Keep going back to the same runs & fills I've been playing for the last twenty years.   No spark, no light... no hope.  At some point, do you just run out of things to say?

Sick & tired of hearing myself play.

Going to kick back and listen to Joe Bonamassa for a few hours and write.  Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't, but if I never hear another pentatonic run, it'll be too @#$@#$ soon.

In a related note, very happy with my new Hercules GSP38WB A/G Guitar Hanger.  Rugged as all hell, and hasn't dropped anything yet. 

Oh, for cryin' out loud...

Oh, for cryin' out loud.

Police arrested a Kitchener, Ont., father outside his daughter’s school because the four-year-old drew a picture of him holding a gun. 

Jessie Sansone told the Record newspaper that he was in shock when he was arrested Wednesday and taken to a police station for questioning over the drawing. He was also strip-searched. “This is completely insane. My daughter drew a gun on a piece of paper at school,” he said.  

Officials told the newspaper the move was necessary to ensure there were no guns accessible by children in the family’s home. They also said comments by Sansone’s daughter, Neaveh, that the man holding the gun in the picture was her dad and “he uses it to shoot bad guys and monsters,” was concerning.  

Police also searched Sansone’s home while he was in custody. His wife and three children were taken to the police station, and the children were interviewed by Family and Children’s Services.

2/24 - Friday links

The coolest page on the internet.

DBT - Third Night, Homecoming Show.

Marking the passing of a member of the "Wrecking Crew"

What it takes to start an online store in Greece

General Aladeen v. AMPAS

Not good...

Three nights ago, my son pointed to an otherwise unremarkable patch of ceiling and asked "Daddy, what's that crack?"


Turns out, it's a hole about the size of my hand.  And a leak.


An inspection of the roof above indicates a rotted piece of decking, and a pretty long lasting leak that finally took it's toll.


Guess who's spending the weekend patching a roof?

Don't Change

In it's prime, INXS was one helluva band. If nothing else, like the truly great acts, they appreciated the value of negative space.  Usually, the note you leave out is far more important than the lick you put in.  Space is important.  Stewart Copeland understood that.  Phil Spector never did.

Couldn't tell you why, but INXS on the KICK tour remains one of the best shows I have ever seen.  I admit this without shame.  Could've been because it was one of my first concerts, but more than that it was just an amazing show.

Hard to believe that Don't Change & Shabooh Shoobah are thirty years old.

I'm showing my age.

This song remains timeless.

Behold

Two modern masters.  Behold the badassery.

Hangers-on

Looking for a way to securely store my guitars.  With a pair of rugrats running around the house - including the mancave - keeping expensive toys safe is rather important.  Thinking about ordering the Hercules GSP38WB A/G Guitar Hanger.  On the entirely off-chance I'm not muttering into the void, does anyone have any suggestions?

Dead weekend

Not much happening in the garage this weekend.  Temperatures in the low 30s with a strong wind, plus a sick kid who wants nothing more than to come outside & help, make accomplishing anything pretty much impossible.

That, and the fact that I truly need a drill press.  Manually drilling 76 7/16" holes perfectly straight is damn near impossible, and threaded bolts are unforgiving.

Eruption

Do you think Ed ever gets tired of playing "Eruption"?

One of the greatest guitar heroes of all time.  God, I'd love to hear something new.

But the old is all we've got, and the old is still better than everything else.

UPDATED:  Better video

Really?

Dear God, has anyone priced Egg slicers recently?

One of my favorite childhood kitchen toys, I just stumbled across a need for one while watching Good Eats S2EP5:  The Fungal Gormet.  Never occurred to me to use one to slice mushrooms.

No idea if I've already got one at home, so I'll hold off on that purchase for a bit.

A Different Kind of Truth

Van Halen's new album, A Different Kind of Truth, was released yesterday to generally favorable reviews.  New disk is based largely on old demos that have been circulating among the faithful for more than 30 years.

As a guitar player, it's pretty much required reading for me.  Edward's riffs form the foundation of a pretty fair amount of post-1978 Rock & Roll.  Even if you don't hear it as much in modern recordings, it's what's everyone works on in the woodshed - which is where I'm going to be spending the next several months reclaiming my chops.

Should be interesting, if nothing else.

Wuxtry

Given that I've lived in Atlanta for the better part of the last decade, it's surprising that I had never darkened the door of Wuxtry Records, one of Atlanta's best-known independent record stores.  Until yesterday.

Wow.

Any record shop with a fully stocked King's X section is completely cool with me.  Depth of catalog was mindblowing, and reasonably priced.  Tons of used CD's, which I prefer to MP3's for some reason.  Also a deep, deep array of vinyl, which someday I will get into, I suppose.

Second weekend

Things went a great deal smoother the second weekend.  

As you can tell, I've still got a long way to go.  At this point, both main cabs are basically complete - structurally.  Still lacking cosmetics & doors.  Will likely wait until the build is complete to add shelving inside the units.

Will likely spend the balance of the week filling, sanding, painting & planning for next weekend's project:  the workbench.  The two 2x4's you see to the immediate left of the cabs will hold the pegboard (locking) above the workbench.  I've also just about decided to house the compressor & shop-vac in the leftmost cabinet.  That frees up the space under the bench for drawers, and makes implementing a lock mechanism significantly easier.

Had to shim everything about 1/2".  Turns out, the backs of garages are higher than the front, for obvious reasons.  Whole garage falls off about 4", moving left to right.

It's important to remember that the garage ISN'T the project.  I'm not building fine cabinets from rare mahogany --  I'm building a @#$@$@#$ workstation / storage unit.  This should end up tight & functional, pretty from the street, but damn the minute details.

The real project comes next.

Better.

Closest yet.

Not quite there yet, but better.  Might well be as close as they get.

Garage band.... saws

My friends in recovery tell me that the first thing you have to do is admit that you have a problem.  I'm something of a chaotic guy to begin with, but I seem to function pretty well considering.

My tool situation, however, has become completely unmanageable.  And it's a situation I've been powerless to correct.

I've got plenty of tools.  That's not the issue.  The problem for any resident of an old school ranch is storage & organization.  I own perhaps 40 screwdrivers.  Most days, I can't lay hands on a single one.  My dozen flashlights have been hidden by well-meaning spawn throughout the estate.  Finding a charged battery for a power tools is a quest worthy of Arthurian lore.

The garage has always been a problem area, and where my tools - theoretically - have been stored.  Trouble is, it's such a monstrosity that you can't FIND anything!  It's a perfect state of anarchy.

If you are lucky enough to actually find the tool you need, good lock finding a suitable workspace.  Every flat surface is covered with... stuff.

On top of that, the garage proper is home to everything that doesn't belong in the house.  Tools & household items are littered together throughout the space.  Perfect example.  I have a mini-cooler.

... full of calk.

In any event, I started the process of solving the problem last weekend.  Building a series of three closets, with a workbench in-between.  Workbench will also contain drawers for storage, and an old-school pegboard for the usual suspects.  Insulated spaces for the compressor & shop-vac for noise isolation.  for I have many other projects slated for this year, but I can't get started without a place to work.

behold the results after weekend number one: