Archive for the Music Notes Category
- Jus’ Wanna Bang On a Drum All Day - October 27th, 2008
- To the Beat of a Different Drum - October 21st, 2008
- Moving Onward - October 13th, 2008
- Your Evening Dose of (Cross)Culture - October 3rd, 2008
- Speaking of Old tunes - July 7th, 2008
- Where Does The Orinoco Flow? - July 7th, 2008
- What’s New On Our Other Sites? - January 9th, 2008
- Ways to Get Screwed - January 3rd, 2008
- Ren Fest Fun - October 22nd, 2007
- Jon & Carrie - September 12th, 2007
- And Now, Here’s Deanna! - September 10th, 2007
- Some Things I Haven’t Written About In A While … - August 17th, 2007
- Own A Piece of History. It’s Only $8M! - August 8th, 2007
- Rod Deacey, Live Recordings from Brewer’s Alley - July 27th, 2007
- Indie Heaven Spotlight Seeks New Site - July 18th, 2007
- Who Needs the Stick - June 19th, 2007
- And I Don’t Even Like Opera! - June 15th, 2007
- Weekend of Music … - June 10th, 2007
- Finally it Offers Service! - May 25th, 2007
- Hal Ketchum at the Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis, May 4, 2007 - May 4th, 2007
- As If the RIAA Weren’t Bad Enough … - April 17th, 2007
- Catching up … How’ve you been? - February 12th, 2007
- Earl Klugh - February 5th, 2007
- Earl Klugh at the Ramshead Tavern - February 4th, 2007
- Busy, Busy, Busy - January 19th, 2007
- RIAA Moves to Stab Artists in Back - December 11th, 2006
- Women Who Play Cello … - December 7th, 2006
- Dark Music - December 5th, 2006
- From the Labyrinth - December 4th, 2006
- Sometimes, Price Isn’t Everything - November 28th, 2006
- CD Release a Resounding Success - November 11th, 2006
- BOB SIMA CD RELEASE SHOW SPONSORED BY THE WESTSIDE CAFE - November 1st, 2006
- HoJo’s Back! - October 24th, 2006
- AcoustiSoundâ„¢ - October 17th, 2006
- Seeking Inspiration - October 8th, 2006
- Misled - October 4th, 2006
- Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme - October 2nd, 2006
- Musical and Photographic Parallels - September 19th, 2006
- Bajo Sexto - September 6th, 2006
- Tenor Guitar? - September 2nd, 2006
- Oceanharp - August 31st, 2006
- The Studio in the Dining Room - August 30th, 2006
- New Keyboard - August 28th, 2006
- Such a Bargain! - August 22nd, 2006
- Wanted - Cheap - August 21st, 2006
- Reducing String Costs - August 21st, 2006
- Hey, I like that! - August 14th, 2006
- Effective Practice Method - August 14th, 2006
- Expansion of the Mind - August 7th, 2006
- Napster Nabs Metallica - July 27th, 2006
- I Give You Pictures at an Exhibition … - June 21st, 2006
- Emo Preview … - June 21st, 2006
- Stereopool at Maritime Heritage Festival - May 6th, 2006
- This Girl can Sing! - March 16th, 2006
- emo - December 16th, 2005
- Music-a-Go-Go - December 16th, 2005
- Hal Ketchum at Ramshead Tavern - October 22nd, 2005
- POSTPONED —
Mango Project Demo Recording- September 24th, 2005 - Speaking of Chaos … - August 26th, 2005
- Passion v. Technique - August 18th, 2005
- Whatsa Bul Bul? - August 18th, 2005
- Great Extrications - August 4th, 2005
- New Photos Posted - August 2nd, 2005
- What Do You Get When You Cross … - July 19th, 2005
- Live8 - July 9th, 2005
- Refocusing - Phase I - June 17th, 2005
Donna’s been saying lately that I play a mean steering wheel, and that since I like percussion stuff so much, maybe I ought to learn to play something. So, yesterday, I made good on a five-year-old threat to go visit the House of Musical Traditions down in Tacoma Park, and came away with a 12″ [...]
Mountain Rythym Custom Series Drum Set
For some time, I’ve been fascinated with some of the more off-beat percussion instruments (yes, pun intended), such as bodhrans, djembe and the like. In fact, I was looking very closely at some at the Renaissance Festival over the past couple of weekends. While perusing the web site of the [...]
Okay, the great lens debate is over. The one I have is wrong for birding. Once I figure out what I’m going to do, I’ll let y’all know. In the mean time, I’m going to stop boring you to tears with it.
In other news, I decided to close AcoustiSound (for real, this time), and let [...]
via e-mail from Rob
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3 October, 2008 @ 21:33 by Geren
Now, this is rap!
This is a great live version of B Movie, by Gil Scott-Heron, possibly one of the best raps of all time.
Here are the "official" lyrics:
Well, the first thing I want to say isMandate my ass! Because it seems as though we’ve been convinced that 26% of the registered voters, not [...]
Back in 1988, Enya released a song called Orinoco Flow (Sail Away). Out and about on the internet, she seems to be credited as the creator of this song. I know, however, that she is not. I distinctly remember hearing this song on WBAL radio in the late sixties or early seventies. However, I can’t [...]
You may have noticed that I took out the sidebar item for the RSS feeds from our other web sites. Mostly, I did it because they were not properly updating on a regular basis. For instance, the section for Orchard Studios should, for the past three days, been indicating that the feed was missing.
The big [...]
Way #1 — Live in Maryland
Maryland has, for years, been known as “The Fee State.” Well, now it’s January 3, 2008, and Maryland’s new sales tax is in effect — 6% now, instead of 5%, as well as a doubled cigarette tax! At least the ciggie tax doesn’t affect me. And, fortunately, we bought the [...]
Donna and I spent most of yesterday back at the Renaissance Festival. I always enjoy the entertainment, but, as much or more, I enjoy watching (and trying to figure out) the people.
This guy looked like he was trying to make some kind of statement. I found it to be a bit ironic — cancer-stick [...]
Our friend Bob Sima set me a link to a really great sounding duo from Hagerstown, Jon & Carrie. Check them out, if you get a chance. It looks like they’ll be playing in Frederick this weekend — too bad I’ll be out of town on business.
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Lest you think that all I’ve been doing is playing with motorcycles over the past few days …
This past Friday night, Deanna Bogart played for Chapelgate Presbyterian’s 2nd Annual Night of Jazz event. I took a bunch of photographs for the church. Click on the picture above to see a slide show of Deanna’s [...]
Kiah – The bird. Remember her? Shortly after we got her, I took her down to the avian vet for a check-out. It seemed to the vet that she was generally healthy, but, a bit under-weight. She weighed about 76 grams that day, and a bird her age should weigh at least 85 grams. Well, [...]
That famous farm near that alfalfa field near Woodstock, NY, is for sale!
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Monday evenings, Rod Deacey hosts a great showcase series upstairs at the Brewer’s Alley in Frederick. This week, AcoustiSoundâ„¢ was on hand to record a few of Rod’s songs. Visit the AcoustiSoundâ„¢ web site to take a listen to the results.
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This past weekend, AcoustiSound provided sound reinforcement for the Indie Heaven Spotlight concert series, hosted by Rick LaRocca, and held at the Lakeside Cafe in Columbia. Rick’s been doing this series at the Lakeside Cafe since last November, and the series has been quite successful. Unfortunately, our hosts at the Lakeside Cafe have decided that they [...]
Those of you who’ve known me a while know that, for a long time, I’ve been fascinated by an instrument called a Chapman Stick. Well, check out this guy:
glumbert.com
And, he’s got a web site here: http://andymckee.com/
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[via Rob]
This guy is good! Even Simon says so!
But wait! There’s more!
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It’s been pretty much a musical weekend, all the way ’round. Friday night, we went to Mad City Coffee to see our friend Bob Sima. While we were there, I thought I might fool around a bit with the little Casio camera’s “movie” mode.
The results, while not exactly ready for broadcast television, are really much, much better than [...]
Ugh. That was pretty bad. Ah, well. Whaddaya want fer nuffin! Anyway, among other errands last night, we ordered Verizon’s FiOS service, finally. We got the letter in the mail earlier in the week that indicated that the complete service package was finally available in our neighborhood, and, I know that it really is, as our next door neighbor’s installation is already [...]
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It seems that the RIAA hasn’t been able to exert enough power to control what we listen to, and how we get to listen to it. Now, the record companies have, through the “Copyright Royalty Board,” chosen to charge non-traditional broadcasters (meaning, anything other than standard over-the-air AM and FM radio stations) increased royalties — [...]
It’s been a few days since I’ve had anything to say. Well, that’s not really true. I’ve just been too busy to write anything since last week sometime. The only reason I have the time right now is that a client had to cancel an appointment today. So, just what’s been up?
Last Wednesday night, I [...]
Just a couple of quick shots from last night’s Earl Klugh show at the Ramshead. Earl’s just about one of the most down-to-earth, normal musicians I’ve ever met — along with all the guys in his band. We were lucky enough to get to talk to Earl a little bit after the show. I [...]
Earl Klugh - 2/4/2007, 8:00 pm
Earl Klugh
Sunday, February 4
5 & 8pm
$33.50
Earl Klugh is an American smooth jazz/jazz fusion guitarist. Earl Klugh normally finger picks a nylon and bronze strung guitar. At the age of 13 Earl Klugh was captivated by the guitar playing of Chet Atkins on the Perry Como Show. Earl Klugh has [...]
Wow, it’s been a busy morning here. So busy, in fact, that it’s almost afternoon!
Our friend, Bob Sima, is participating in the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance 2007 Conference, and needed an ad designed for the program. Of course, it ended up as a last minute job. At left is the final ad, [...]
In a not-so-surprising-to-me-move, the RIAA is now pushing to reduce royalties paid to artists when their music is downloaded for use in digital media. By the way, this would be a stab in the back to artists like Metalica that so fervently supported the RIAA’s efforts to squash download services like Napster.
The full story is [...]
… should not wear skirts. They tend to look like they’re giving birth to a Spruce tree!
And, while we’re at it, if they want a large, vibrating piece of wood between their legs, there are plenty of other, more pleasurable ways I can think of to get it there.
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Yesterday’s discussion of the “darkness” of John Dowland’s compositions led me to poke ’round the ‘net, looking for dark music. The search turned up a couple of interesting sites…
First is Fred’s Official Dark Site Index, where “you’ll find the links to the OFFICIAL sites of many dark-wave / gothic / electro / indus /… [...]
We brought home Sting’s new Songs From the Labyrinth CD last night, and I listened to it this morning while researching credit card processing systems. Interesting stuff (the music, not the credit card crap).
The CD features Sting and Edin Karamazov performing the works of John Dowland and Robert Johnson, composers during the Elizabethan period. Sting [...]
For those of you who’ve been following along, I’ve been taking guitar lessons. And, considering my less than stellar practicing schedule, I’m fairly pleased with my progress — I used to joke that I knew four chords, but couldn’t tell you what they were. Now, I’ve got a whole slew of chords under my fingers. [...]
Bob Sima’s CD release concert last night was a resounding success — at least in our opinion. There was a good-sized crowd at the Black Box Theatre in Frederick, and they were treated to a great, evening-long concert, starting with Rod Deacey (owner of Frederick’s Westside Cafe, and the area’s biggest patron of the arts), [...]
Bob Sima’s new CD is nearly ready, and he’s having a CD release party. Make plans now to attend — it’s going to be an evening of great fun and entertainment, and it’s just a short distance away, at the Cultural Arts Center (Blackbox Theatre) in Frederick, on November 10. All the details are [...]
Well, look who’s back! And, an interview from this morning…
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I mentioned recently that Donna and I went back to the Reniassance Festival to hear the Mediaeval Baebes. What I may not have mentioned is that the sound company did a great job of absolutely butchering the sound.
I’ve heard the Mediaeval Baebes before, and have a couple of their CD’s, and they’re incredible. I also know that [...]
Matt at 37signals has this great article on finding new sources of inspiration.
I don’t have a lot to add, but I’ll list his bullet points:
Look to the past
Look to a foreign culture
Look to nature
Look to a different medium
His biggest point, though, is to seek to be an individual. When everyone else is looking one way [...]
And, no. I’m not talking about the song by Cool and the Gang.
The various industry associations like the BSA, RIAA and MPAA really enjoy publishing bogus stats about piracy as if they’re factual, but that’s their job as industry associations/lobbying groups. What’s worse is when those bogus numbers are cited as being factual by the [...]
One of my favorite songs has always been Scarborough Fair, and most people are very familiar with the version recorded and performed by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. I say version, because, although the song is credited to Paul Simon on the album, it’s really a very old English folk song, dating back to medieval [...]
I’m reading an interview with Phil Ramone (musician, producer and engineer) in which he’s asked what a good recording is. His response:
“I think it’s important to stop worrying about the technology and make sure that you capture the event in its primary state.”
Later in the interview, he says,
“I think you can never, ever fix a [...]
Yeah, it’s another guitar-looking thing. But, this one’s pretty bizzarre. It’s a 12-string bass guitar. Leave it to those crazy Mexicans (Mexicanos locos)! More info…
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I’ve heard of all kinds of guitars — bass, electric, steel-string, nylon-string, cigar box — you name it! But, I’d never heard of a tenor guitar. Interestingly, it’s only a 4-string instrument. Standard tunings are CGDA or DGBE, or for Irish tuning, use GDAE. A standard six-string guitar is tuned EADGBE (more guitar tunings here). [...]
In case you forgot, I’ve got this little category about strange musical instruments. This is one of them.
This thing is called an Oceanharp, and it’s an acoustical friction instrument that sounds like a synthesizer. Filled with water it produces a magical sound reminiscent of whales.
Find out more, or buy one, here.
Never a dull moment here [...]
The Studio in the Dining Room
Uploaded by gerenm.
For lack of a better place, the new keyboard’s been set up in the dining room. The “workstation” is made up from closet organizer units from Target. (!) They were relatively cheap, and, once we decide where to set everything up permanently, I can get a Jerker workstation [...]
After the band disaster last year and subsequent sell-off of everything keyboard related, we decided that it is again time to have a keyboard in the house. However, this time, we had much different requirements in a keyboard — 88 piano-weighted keys, excellent piano sound and easy use were paramount.
We (well, I, really) had decided [...]
Appparently, I got more of a bargain than I bargained for when I picked up my Soundcraft 200BVE mixer. It’s, as mentioned previously, a modest mixer: 16 mono inputs, 4 sub-groups and a stereo mix. I bought it, used, from its original owner. The mixer is better than 20 years old, but operationally, it’s a [...]
I’m looking for some parts to upgrade my Soundcraft 200B 16-channel mixer. The idea is that I want to turn it into a larger mixer, with 24 inputs. That means I’m looking for a 24-channel frame, 8 #2106 input modules and another 8 channel input backplane. I guess an 8 channel 200B would work for [...]
The bass strings on a classical guitar often go dead before the trebles. However, the strings are usually not worn out — the windings are just cruddy. They can be cleaned and re-used!
Remove the bass (wire-wound) strings only. Loosely coil them and place them in a large mixing bowl (preferably metal or glass). Cover the [...]
I’ve discovered that I actually like Blues Traveler. I didn’t used to.
I was watching Austin City Limits the other night in HD. They’re actually shooting the show in HiDef now, and, man oh man, it looks friggin’ AWESOME! Anyway, Blues Traveler was on, and they’re really, really good. I think the one thing about them [...]
We’ve all got spare change. Here’s a way to put it to good use and improve your playing — no matter what instrument you play! In particularl, it’s a good way to work on those “problem areas” in any piece you’re working on.
First define the exact cause of the problem. This is something usually quite [...]
I haven’t written anything in the music notes department in quite some time. Frankly, I’ve just not been inspired to play any music, or write any music, or even to write about any music for a long time — since the band broke up in December of last year, really. Sure, I’ve posted a little [...]
Staunch opponents of digital music downloads, Metallica, have changed their tune, so to speak. Their music is now available for download on iTunes and arch-enemy Napster. Full story here.
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Yeah, I had to go there, didn’t I. What can you expect. I’m cooked!
I had a really great entry penned here, but for some reason, my session timed out on me. Not sure what that’s all about. I’ll break it down for you.
Pictures are here. That’s the really important part, anyway.
The show was awesome. Keith, [...]
Emo Preview …
Originally uploaded by gerenm.
Welcome back my friends
To the show that never ends
We’re so glad you could attend
Come inside, come inside!
This is as cool as it gets, friends. That’s me on the left. And the real Keith Emerson on the right.
More pics when I wake up, but I just had to share this one [...]
Just a quickie to let you know our friends in Stereopool will be playing at the Annapolis City Dock on Saturday to close out the Annapolis Maritime Heritage Festival. They’ll be hitting the stage at 5PM. More info can be found here.
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I don’t know how many of you watched American Idol this last time around, but this girl can really sing.
It’s not that I make it habit to watch this stuff, but, it was on in the house for background noise (was it last night, or the night before last?), and I was pretty impressed with [...]
I remember when you said “emo” and people thought you were talking about Keith Emerson.
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I have been giving music in general, and playing in a band in particular, a lot of thought recently. The reality is that I don’t have the time to make it the priority it needs to be in order to do it right. And, I’ve got other things that I need to make my highest [...]
We caught the 9:30 show again this year.
ketchum05/PICT2073.jpg
A shot from this year’s show. More images from this year are located here.
geren/ketchum04/PICT2516_bw.jpg
Here’s a shot from last year’s show (you can see a few more here).
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Geren will be recording and engineering a demo CD for The Mango Project.
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I’ve added an event information listing here at Blather de la Semaine. Basically, it’s a list of our photographic events, be they sales and exhibitions or organized photographic outings. In most cases, we’ll welcome you to join us at these events.
Also, we’ll list any of my musical appearances, and other items that we feel are [...]
…it’s important to know the hows of the craft you’re pursuing, but it’s equally important to remember why you started doing it in the first place…
A dulcimer-like instrument with 27 typewriter keys! Also called a Benjo. These instruments come from Pakistan and India. They have 4 melody strings, 2 drone strings and sound great. Played by strumming like a dulcimer and pushing the typewriter keys down to fret the notes. Fully chromatic. Total length is 29 inches. A fun instrument!
Post [...]
Back in June, I mentioned that I was stepping down as keyboard player for LaRocca, after which I let myself be talked into re-joining the band.
After the last two gigs (yes, there have been gigs, and I’ve not talked about them. There are reasons), I came to the realization that the band just wasn’t the [...]
For those interested, a few of my shots are now posted on the Stereopool’s photo page. You can check things out at stereopool.com, on the photos page. Two of my shots are obvious, and the third image of mine is captioned, “Wow! Glamour shots of Chris!”
While you’re there checking out the pictures, take a few [...]
… a trumpet with a violin?
Well, you get a trumpet violin, of course!
The bell is a trumpet bell fitted to a violin neck with a small resonator cone. Instruments like this were used in classical acoustical recordings early in the 20th century. The on pictured is handmade in Rumania. The thing sounds like a cross [...]
I caught a little bit of the Live8 rebroadcast on VH-1 today. I came in somewhere toward the end of The Who’s set,
and caught all of Pink Floyd’s set. You know, for a bunch of old guys, these guys sure can kick some musical butt!
They even looked like they were having a heck of [...]
As I mentioned a couple of days back, I’ve found a need to re-focus my life. And, I found that I was simply trying to do too much. As a first step in getting life back under control, I’ve stepped down as keyboard player in LaRocca. I will remain a member of the group, but [...]
