Keith Richards Hospitalized

I just saw that Keith Richards was hospitalized in New Zealand after suffering a mild concussion. You can read the article here.

The article said that Richards suffered the concussion after falling out of a palm tree while on vacation in Fiji. I guess my only thought about this is WHAT THE HELL IS KEITH RICHARDS DOING UP IN A PALM TREE?

275 year old people should not climb palm trees for any reason.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Jackie, I love you.

Saturday Morning

It is a lovely Saturday morning. Yesterday was awesome as well. It was the first day that felt like Summer to me and despite my crippling back pain it felt great.

I had a good session with "House Music" last night. The music was pretty twisted and loud and I was able to play without too much difficulty.

I am glad to be getting the websites back up and running. Jackie has added some video of Harvey to her website. It's nice to finally be able to incorporate video into our websites which is something that we have wanted to do for awhile.

I am still trying to decide what I want to do with my website. I want the layout to be different than what it was but I'm not sure how I am going to go about it.

My good friend A.C. came over to the house last Sunday and we spent a couple of hours transferring a bunch of my CD's into his laptop so he could upload the music into his Ipod. We must have loaded at least 20 CD's of mine into Anthony's laptop. I burned 6 CD's from Anthony as well. The CD's I burned from him were

Metallica - Master Of Puppets
The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles - Let It Be
The Beatles - The Beatles (Discs 1 & 2)

As most of you probably know The Beatles self titled album is commonly referred to as "The White Album". I burned Anthony's copy of "The White Album" because he had the American Stereo version of the album whereas I have the British Mono version. When "The White Album" was first released in Britain in 1968 it was available in both Mono and Stereo versions whereas it was only available in stereo in the U.S.

When I was a child I had the Stereo version on cassette but when I started collecting CD's I found a bootleg version of "The White Album" which contained the British Mono version plus a lot of demo's of the albums songs recorded by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison at Harrison's house. So for years the only version of the album that I heard was the Mono version.

Listening to the Stereo version that I burned from Anthony was awesome. It was the first time that I had heard the Stereo mixes of those songs in probably 20 years and they sounded wonderful. I guess the best way to describe it would be to imagine yourself reading a book with regular black text on white paper and then someone hands you that same book in a glossy, full color, "pop up" version. "The White Album" has always been my favorite Beatles album but it was like I was hearing again for the very first time. When I was a child The Beatles were always my favorite group (at least until I discoved The Who).

Anthony also gave me two DVD's to watch. The first was a collection of fishing shows called "Fishing With John". "Fishing With John" is some of the funniest stuff me and Jackie have ever seen. There are only 6 episodes but they are absolutely hysterical. The host John goes fishing in various locations with different celebrities. The celebrities on the six shows were Tom Waits, Jim Jaramusch, Matt Dillon, Willem Defoe, and Dennis Hopper (2 episodes). The half hour where Jack and I watched the episode where John and Willem Defoe go ice fishing in Maine was one of the most rewarding of my life.

The second DVD is a movie called "Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus". This film was playing down at the Detroit Institute Of Arts a couple of months ago. I have not seen much of it yet but it is a documentary of a musician who lives in the south (Texas I believe) and it seems very interesting.

Websites Are Back

I received the copy of Microsoft Front Page 2003 that I ordered yesterday. After doing some re-configuring I have gotten mine and Jack's websites back up and running. Jackie will probably be updating her site tonight. I am contemplating a re-design of my website as I was kind of tired of the old format. I'm not sure what kind of website I will be creating but I hope to have something up soon. In the meantime on my site you can see a picture of my wonderful nephews.

Black Helicopters Aren't Just For The Sky Anymore

Just when I was secure in the thought that cattle mutilations were caused by extraterrestrials I read this.

Websites Back Soon

I ordered a copy of Front Page from Microsoft yesterday so mine and Jack's websites should be back up and running within the month. I am hoping that we will be able to start work on our webpages right where we left off at since I saved the files before I wiped our computer. As the copy of Front Page I bought yesterday is a newer version that what we were using previously I'm hoping the files will transfer without problem. If they don't then we will have to redo our webpages which is ok with me but I don't think Jack would be very happy. I have been thinking about redoing mine anyway.

I re-aggravated my back getting into my Jeep to get the second steroid injection Wednesday morning so I have been in agony ever since then. I took it pretty easy yesterday and watched some DVD's and took my beloved painkillers. I also recorded a new piece for the "Northville" project.

Steroid Injections Pt.2 and other nice things

I received my second steroid injection this morning. Because the herniated disc that I have is the lowest disc on my spine the doctor must administer these injections in the top of my ass crack. In case you weren't sure that injections in the top of your ass crack are a bad thing let me reassure you, injections in the top of your ass crack ARE a bad thing. However I did learn that I have lost 9 pounds since last Monday.

The building of the modular synth is progressing slowly but surely. I have included a few pictures below of the completed oscillator section.

The guitar effects manufacturer "Effector 13" is going to feature some of the music from the "A Beautiful Morning" album on their website. "A Beautiful Morning" was recorded using a Effector 13 pedal called the "Truly Beautiful Disaster". I sent a copy of the album to the owner of the company yesterday so it will probably be a little while before its up on the website. I will let everyone know when they can check it out. Anyway I'm pretty excited about it.

That's all I have for now.

The front of the circuit board of the oscillator section. 

The front panel of the completed oscillator section of my modular synthesizer. 

Joshua Vincent Gazley

I forgot to post this in my last blog post. Jackie and I have a new nephew. Joshua Vincent Gazley was born on March 18th to Theresa and Ryan Gazley, Jackie's Sister and Brother In-Law.

1rst Audioblogger Post / New "House Music" / Steroid Injections Anyone?

Right now I am going through my regular routine of cleaning the tape heads on my various tape recorders here at the lovely Breezeway Studios so I thought I would make a quick post.

Below is the first of what will be many Audioblogger posts. Jackie recorded this first post. You call a phone number and then you record a "message" that you want to be posted up on your blog page. Then you hang up and it automatically posts your "message" up on the page. We recorded this one and then immediately went to the computer and it was already up on the blog here.

I start getting steroid injections into my spine tommorrow morning in an effort to fix my back. That should be fun.

"House Music" has a brand new album out called "Effortless". I will probably be posting it up on my download page soon. It features Tom Saari on vocals, Joe Lafata on Keyboards and myself on guitars.

I am making progress on the building of my modular synthesizer. I have completed the two voltage controlled oscillators. Next I am going to start the filters. Sadly I did not take any pictures while I was building the oscillators but I am going to start taking some pics as I build the rest of the synth system.

Mine and Jack's website's will be back in business eventually.

A (somewhat) Quick Note

Hello, Jack and I are once again up in Paradise. There is a lot of snow up here. I just thought I would post a quick message to let you all know what has been going on.

I recently had to wipe our computer clean and re-format it due to viruses. As a result of this both mine and Jack's websites cannot be updated until we get Microsoft Front Page back on our computer. It may be awhile before there are any updates on those sites.

There are still people coming by to look at our condo once in awhile but no one has put in any bids on the place yet. Thankfully there hasn't been any shootings next door in the past two weeks.

Since I cannot update my main "music" website this blog page shall become (temporarily anyway) my "all purpose" blog.

That being said I recieved my new updated version of the Cakewalk digital recording software a couple of days ago. It looks pretty cool. It's recording capabilities have expanded from 16 tracks to 64 tracks so I am pretty geeked about recording with it. Now that I have a Mellotron I can really due some damage.

I also finally recieved my Paia modular synthesizer kit in the mail about a week ago. Now I need to assemble it all and I will have my very first modular system to experiment with.

Happy Birthday, Back Pain & White Trash Saturday

Happy Belated Birthday Sass! Jackie's Mom's birthday was on January 28th.

There have been some rather interesting things happening lately.

I start physical therapy for my back today. I haven't really mentioned it to many people but my back has been pretty messed up for about a month and a half now. I went to the doctor and he took some x-rays and told me to try the therapy and if that doesn't work he will take a MRI and we will go from there. I have alot of back pain which has been making it pretty hard to work on any music.

Last Saturday night the kid who lives next door to us shot both his mother and stepfather in the legs with a .22 caliber rifle.

Jackie and I had gone out to dinner with my family for my cousin Tina's birthday. When we got home we saw a fire engine parked on the main street of our condo complex. As we turned the corner to our building we saw a truck marked "Bomb Squad" parked outside of our neighbors house with a man in full Army camouflage gathering things together. Then as we pulled up to our driveway there were 2 Chesterfield Police cars parked outside our neighbors building with their spotlights on. The cops were inside their condo and they left soon after that. When they left no one was in the house.

These neighbors are to put it nicely "white trash" so seeing that the Bomb Squad was there we figured either the "white trash" kid was building bombs or perhaps he was operating a "white trash" meth lab in the basement. When there was no one left in the house after the police had left Jack and I figured that they had all been arrested and taken to jail.

The next morning I was cleaning the condo for an "open house" we were having that day to try to get someone to buy it from us. I was in the music/scrapbooking room when Jackie asked me if I had seen the Fox 2 news van outside. I hadn't. Jack said that as she was coming into the complex she had passed the van as it was leaving. We figured that the van's presence in our quiet, sleepy little condo complex had to have had something to do with the police/bomb squad activity that had taken place the night before. We did not fail to appreciate how lucky we were that Fox 2 News might be filming and more police activity might be taking place while "prospective purchasers" of our condo would be walking through and trying to imagine what their new life at Seaview Condominiums might be like. Thankfully no incidents occurred while the "prospective purchasers" were touring the condo.

Jack and I went to my parents house for dinner that night. We watched Fox 2 news and found out that the "white trash" son had in fact shot both "white trash" parents. I also read an article about it the next day in the Macomb Daily which is where I found out that they had been shot in the legs over a dispute about money. The son had left the condo after he shot his parents but was arrested soon afterward. Jack and I are still not sure why the bomb squad and fire engine were there though. I think that the "white trash" mother had to be laying in the hospital that night thinking "Damn! I really kicked ass at that Motherhood thing".

I tried to imagine the scene of the shooting myself the next day.....

White Trash Son - "Mom and Dad, I want that money. It's mine"

White Trash Dad - "We are not giving you this money so you can just go spend it on supplies for your meth lab"

White Trash Son - "It doesn't matter what I'm going to spend the money on, it's mine"

White Trash Mom - "We are not giving you this money"

White Trash Son - "Oh, O.K." (turning and walking into his bedroom, returning after a minute or two with a rifle)

White Trash Son - "You could have just given me the money but now you are going to have to feel the power of a .22 caliber rifle as I shoot both of you in your legs"

White Trash Mom and Dad - "Son, don't do it"

White Trash Son - (Thinking to himself, "Yes, this is the thing to do in this situation. They won't give me the money so I must shoot them in the legs. This situation couldn't possibly turn out badly for me", He pulls the trigger multiple times and shoots them both)

White Trash Mom and Dad - "You shot us you son of a bitch"

White Trash Son - "You bitches just got served"


I had more to write but anything else I would type now would pale in comparison to the "white trash" shooting story so I will stop here.

Greetings From Paradise - Pt. 2

This is the last day of mine and Jack's "mini-vacation" up here in Paradise. We are leaving early tomorrow morning. I have school Monday evening and then all day Tuesday.

The highlight of our day yesterday was a trip to Eckerton for dinner at the Bear Butt Inn. Jack and I both got hamburgers. Jack got american cheese and bacon on hers while I got all crazy and got american and pepper cheese,bacon, and ham on mine. Their hamburgers are the best.

I have been reading a book up here that my Grandmother bought for me called "The Encyclopedia Of Music". This is the most fascinating book I have read in a long time. It basically begins with sections on each of the orchestral instruments (strings, woodwinds, brass, ect.). Then it has sections on individual composition styles throughout the centuries such as the Medieval, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic era's. The third part of the book has individual biographies of over 100 of the most famous classical composers.

Jack and I have gotten some pretty cool shortwave stations in up here. We started off our day today listening to China Radio International. We were not fortunate enough to receive any more free Chinese language lessons. Yesterday we also listened to Radio Austria International, Radio Sweden, Radio Taiwan, Radio Habana Cuba, and KBS World Radio which is broadcast out of South Korea. I wanted to hear Radio Cairo Egypt but the reception was too poor.

Jack's Uncle Dennis and Aunt Barb are up here as well so we are going to go over to their house a little later to visit. We are going to the Yukon Inn for dinner tonight. Good Times.

Greetings From Paradise

Jack and I are up in Paradise until Monday. We got up here about 8:00 P.M. last night after driving through torrential rain and snow.

I am listening to China Radio International on my shortwave receiver. They are trying to teach me Chinese. As a result of their efforts I can now say "Cat" In Chinese.

I brought my old acoustic guitar up with us to keep at the house here. I don't use it much at home since I now have the Martin so I figured it would be good to have something up here to bang on.

I set up my "Audioblogger" account the other night. I haven't gotten a chance to make a posting yet but I will try to make one on the way home from Paradise.

That's all for now.

The Birthday Boy. 

The Holidays Are In Fact Over/Brendan is 4 Today!

Yes my friends, The holidays are over and the year is 2006.

Today is my nephew Brendan's birthday. He is the big 4 today. He will be starting his school career very shortly.

The holiday season was wonderful. Many good times were had. Thank You to all of you who thought enough of me to give me gifts. You are all wonderful, beautiful people and I love you all.

Mine and Jack's condo is still up for sale. We dropped our asking price by $3,000 in an attempt to lure some more "potential buyers". We have had a couple of people in to see the place but we have received no bids of any sort.

I received a lot of cool books for Christmas. My lovely wife bought me "Two Way Radios and Scanners For Dummies" and "Ham Radio For Dummies" as I am going to start preparing for my entry into the world of ham radio.

I am going to be setting up my "Audioblogger" account this evening so look here soon for my first "Audio" blog post. The way it works is I will call a phone number with my cell phone and record my "post" and then it will automatically be sent as an audio file to this very blog page. Pretty cool eh?

My New Year's Resolution is to be a more dilligent and attentive Blogger.

That's all for now as "The Gilmore Girls" is going to start soon.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Happy Holidays to everyone.

I am just about ready for Christmas. Christmas Eve night Jack and I are going to my parents house for a holiday gathering with the Archers. That should be fun but it is also just a primer for the blitzkrieg that is Christmas Day.

Jack and I will wake up early Christmas Morning and open our presents. Then we will drive over to my parents house and exchange presents with them and my brother since my sister is in Florida for Christmas. Then we will drive over to my grandparents house for Christmas morning breakfast and presents. Then we will drive over to Jack's parents house to do presents over there, have Christmas Dinner, and see my nephews. Then we will drive to my cousin Karen's house for the Butler family Christmas gathering. Then we will drive home and probably fall asleep very quickly.

I am probably going up to Paradise with Jackie's dad and my brother in-law, Ryan this Tuesday morning. Jackie will be coming up on Thursday evening. Sass and Terrie are supposed to come up with the boys on Friday night. I am taking my scanner, shortwave radio, and a microcassette recorder. I tell you this as if you care what I take up with me.

I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas.

Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have updated my main webpage - https://home.comcast.net/~sonicworkshop/

I've completed my album "A Thread Of Light In The Cloak Of Darkness". I have the album, in it's entirety available for download at my download page - http://www.soundlift.com/band/music.php?id=102893

I have to stop typing now. I just bit into a pepperoni and sausage Hot Pocket and sausage juice squirted all over me.