Guide to pants off living
May 2005
The Hunt
Friday, 20 May 2005
A few weeks ago, I heard a couple of killer tracks on Woody McDonald's show 'Wig Wham Bam' on RRR. I will now refer to this as 'having picked up the scent' because since then, I have been on the hunt for the albums that these tracks appear on.
I am realising that without the need to track, hunt and kill wild animals for food, there still remains a dark part of my psyche that is yearning for fulfillment. And, thanks to the commercial / capitalist world we live in, it has found it in commerce.
Really, the music / CD / DVD or whatever, is just an excuse to take one of your poisioned plastic cards and swipe it deftly through the heart of a trembling retailer, and leave triumphantly with your prize.
"Ha HA", you exclaim. "I have wealth, and I'm not afraid to use it."
Though, I remember not so long ago when I was just another scavenging, slobbering fiscal weakling, swooning around at the bulging stench-filled carcass of a great heaving supermarket, sifting through coins just hoping to score a bargain.
Anyhoo, Tally-Ho! I'm going out to pay much more than recommended retail for music; just because I can!
Posted by travo at 3:10:03 PM
Frampton; still alive. Less hair.
Monday, 16 May 2005
Many, many thanks to Tike. I was privileged enough on Saturday night to meet the sound engineer for Peter Frampton and get a tour of the entire rig including Frampton's guitars. Yup, I even got to get my greasy mits on a couple of them.
Pretty damn amazing. He has a trio of Les Paul's, a non-fender Strat and some damn tasty acoustics. One of his Les Paul's had an amazing bridge setup which was an electronically controlled system which could re-tension / adjust tuning within a split second. It increased the weight of the Les by at least another kilo and a half, and cost about $10K to fit! Peter played it on the night for one song only. Started off in normal tuning, and for about 16 bars (maybe less) switched it to open G tuning, for a very average slide solo, and then back again to finish off the song. Still, a very cool guitar.
I also got to learn whole bunch about in-ear monitor systems thanks to Tike. I admit to a whole heap of ignorance on the subject, but I got a great overview of the process and techniques involved in setting up the system - very cool and very interesting. I tried to explain it to people, but their eyes glazed over - so I'm not even gonna try to explain it here. Mail me if you're desperate.
The show was good too. Frampton is fairly self deprecating on stage and is warm with his fans, he remains a fairly tasteful guitarist. His songs are not exactly my cup of tea, but that's okay. Oh God, just remembered, his keyboard player is woeful. Sorry dude, but sheesh, get some flavour! Drummer was tight, bass player was mmmnnnyyyaaa but is apparently a mate of Framptons from the old days.
Anyhoo, thanks to Helena and Shawn for hookin' me up with Tike and huge, huge thanks to Tike for his time, tickets and the tour of the system. I hope that you enjoyed what little you saw of Melbourne.
Posted by travo at 3:42:54 PM
Big Steps
Monday, 09 May 2005
My girlfriend and I have an important announcement, we're making an important and significant step in our relationship. More important than our trip abroad (to China) later in the year. We've got a cat.
Yup. You know you're embarking on a serious and solidifying stage of your relationship when you and your girlfriend settle on a pet.
You may have already seen the photo on the homepage, you can also check out a couple of extra pic's that we took this evening. She's pretty damn cute. She's a weenie little tortoiseshell. Meli and I picked her out from a whole bunch of cats - young and old - at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital.
And BTW, thanks heaps to the Lort Smith - they were great. Very helpful and friendly staff who care heaps about the poor discarded little kitty's. And what a broad bunch o' kitties; there was the strung out one from Coburg who had been doused with dog liquid flea repellant (which makes cats fit and get sick) - it had a shaved bit on it's leg where they had given it relaxants. Then there was the older cats who had out lasted their owners. Despite reports, there was also a ton of little kittens. Damn! But we settled on our kitty, who is about a year old and appears to have been abandoned.
So, now that you're past is behind you (Broadmeadows Bunnings carpark and bin scraps) - welcome to the family Pixel.
Posted by travo at 10:15:54 PM | Comments (1)