Virtual Sound Bloggyesy

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Friday - 3/17/06
7:43 pm
Santa Monica, CA
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St. Patrick's Day

Thanks for dropping by.

As we all know I have been having problems saving to my server which is partly why I haven't been updating as frequently. Another reason is that I've still been catching up on sleep. Yet another reason is that I have been busy doing other things as well which I will update you on now.

I set up the VSO in the spare room, actually the office of the fiance of the friend of mine of which and whom which...ok we won't start that again. Basically it's her office which she partly relinquished for the VSO and my sleeping quarters. I set the system up and played a couple times which was great.

I meant to record my first LA practice session but as usual but the wire wasn't hooked up and I didn't capture it. It was a great jam session though. For some reason my playing seems to be smoother and more defined. Probably a result of my wanting to be more concise and "better" overall now that I'm "in the zone" so to speak.

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The day started out pretty normal, and ended pretty normal so you don't get your hopes up. Governor Schwarzenegger didn't drop by for dinner or anything. I did my laundry and folded it but I had nowhere to put it so I left it on the dryer

Except for my winter coat which was tossed like a useless rag on the washing machine. I plan to have a bonfire one day and burn my winter coat in an Eskimo rage against the raging snow machine we call winter.

So it was actually raining today.

I was planning to take the bicycle down to the grocery store and the beach after but my plan was foiled by the foul weather machine. So I decided to do some chores instead.

I attempted to feed the cat

but he had plenty of food left.

(water too)

By the way this is the cat

great, more allergies...

That's ok, I bring it on myself. I love cats, and animals in general. I pet him 26 times an hour and unmercifully drag myself right into the cloudy whirlwind of dander. Truthfully there could be rabid lions living here and I'd graciously pet them and [hospital] stay as this place is so great.

.Then I walked around wondering what else I could do for these nice folks who are so graciously letting me stay until I get settled. (which I promise won't be more than 12 years)

I looked to see if I could mow the lawn

but the grass was perfect

Then I thought about trimming the bushes in front of the house

but thought better of it as it looked like
something out of Little Shop of Horrors

I didn't want to get eaten by the local fauna so early
on my trip, damn italics, so I looked for some other stuff to do.

I was going to repaint this small defect in the otherwise perfect house
but I couldn't find any paint. Or to be honest, I didn't look for any

(Hi Jennie)

Then I tried to get the mail

but there wasn't any

(help me)

At this point I realized I was utterly bored and
saw my truck was in bad need of a washing

The grime from this great land of ours caked all over it.
Look, there's Texas ..oooh, and there's Arizona, wow,
what scenic caked on dirt...let me take a picture of it

As you can see it is pretty dirty

I'm not sure if I'm too cheap, too lazy, or simply
that I don't want to drive in this hellish nightmare
of a place to drive but I didn't go wash my truck
and I'm glad I guess as it rained on and off today.

Soon after the caked on sightseeing I noticed the pumpkin that had
maintained itself since October due to the warm climate in Santa Monica

If that isn't an indication of the nice weather around here I don't know what is. Normally back east this pumpkin would have rotted long ago. Not to mention it would have been smashed almost immediately after purchase by eastern climate-crazed ignorant baboons (I myself being one in my youth)(a pumpkin)(alright, a baboon too)

I narrowly avoided a parking ticket today.

They are relentless about street cleaning apparently and will ticket you in a heartbeat if you are on the side of the street they are cleaning on the designated sweeping day. I seriously avoided getting a ticket by about 40 seconds as I moved my truck just in time.

As you can see some other people weren't so lucky

At least they have jobs to pay for said parking violations.

I then proceeded in out of the rain and cut my
knee-ripped jeans into cutoffs as per my dream

First I cut off one leg

and then the other

Then I put them on

Am I doing this right??

Then I put them on

and Viola' (cello)

instant shorts!

hmm, although they don't look that even

the right leg seems to be longer

Maybe It'll start a trend

This is LA

I guess I took my clothing design
friends for granted back east

Their tailoring was quite cheap

Ok on to something a little more exciting.

some mail had arrived!

none for me but it was exciting!

Look at that, a piano store is closing. Maybe
I'll throw a liquidated piano in the VSO setup

I Think Not

(damn pianos)

I then walked around the house and went through their things. No, not really (unless G&T never read this)(Hi guys!) Like I was saying, after cleaning the house top to bottom I hired a skywriter to embellish a sign on the sky for all to see how great they are for letting me stay. The sign read "G&T you guys are the best, I really appreciate this, if it wasn't for you I'd be back in Ass-a-choo-setts like a deranged goat..." just then the plane ran out of smoke, not that that the sign would have survived for them to see it, which is maybe why I chose that particularly. All that aside I didn't go through their things as much as I walked around and took pictures of it to emblazen on the internet for all to see.

This is a newspaper clipping signed by Adam Vinatieri

There is a picture of Gary and his Dad running the Boston marathon
perched right in front of me while I practice which is quite inspiring

ludicrous speed...go!!!

Sorry I'm watching Spaceballs.

(but I'm sure they were running the marathon with equally ludicrous speed)

Ah-Ahem...

ok back to the action

Gary took up welding at one point and made some impressive furniture
pieces I thought were corporately furnished until I was informed otherwise

A coffee table

Hold on let me clear my cr*p off of it

A coffee table

Shelving units

After seeing these items it was clear to me that one day
Gary would help fabricate my VSO rolling hamster ball

(yet)

After my roller-ball thrill-ride of a morning I said the heck with the weather and got on my
(Gary's) bike and went to do a few errands which will be described thusly.

I ventured out to Trader Joe's to buy some food for the lions

As you can see it was a tarpy mess

Then I happened upon a
helpless music store trying to hide

but to no avail, I pounced upon it like a hungry lion

The store mainly carried acoustic instruments. Guitars, banjos, ukuleles and other stringed
acoustic instruments that I had never seen, and some that I had. The tour is as follows

I first went into the banjo room which was
finger-pickin' goof...I mean "good", no... let's leave it "goof"

Then I noticed this man-jo amongst the other womanly banjos

This thing was a beast to say the least

A Fingerin' we'll go
and this alone I know
if this thing came my way
I'd surely cease to play

This thing had 35 strings that were elevated 9 inches off the neck. I'm not sure if it's picked, plucked, strummed, bowed, or just showed, but this carpal tunnel banjosaurus machine was way out of my league. I swiftly ran past this ferocious lion of an instrument like a mad lemming

I next saw this six sided "Box banjo" which was a
hexatar in my opinion but they wouldn't go for it

I'm sure that heating vent was doing wonders for the action
(and was much too small to make an escape through)

Moving on

I then entered Ukulele heaven..

..or hell if being played by the wrong group of dwarf midgets

Then I saw my second most hated instrument of all time

the violin

(or fiddle in this case)

Fiddle-dee-da
Fiddle-dee-dee
I hate dem dere fiddles
as much as can be

This instrument is a ridiculous whining force unless hours of practice and dedication are put into it. Even my feeble attempts to reproduce a solo violin electronically are met with ghastly dis-appeal when trying to reproduce said instrument. Moving on (he said in a frustrated manner)

I then encountered the King Kong
of exclusive banjo-daddy's

This long necked beast of burden was a burden just to think
about playing it so I moved on which we all will as well

I saw an interesting lap steel guitar

This thing was more a lap-dance steel with all it's protuberances

Then I saw one of those bass guitars
they use in Mexican Rhythm combos

I had never seen one up close, let alone played one, so I moved on

I listened for awhile to the silent
cello duel next to the other drab axes

and then I moved on

They had a dimly lit stage set up but unfortunately
it was mostly acoustic music they hosted.

VSO being the most anti-coustic force in the area
I decided against seeking a venue here

Then I saw another infestation of butterfly guitars

These things are common in dem dere parts

This was a really nice whatever-you-wanna-call-it

Then I saw a sweeet Dobr-ass
which I lavished to romp on

but decided against it in lieu of this thing

Whatever it was I wrote like 6 albums on it
and I friggin' love it whatever it is.
I didn't care to notice the price.

Then I saw a hey-guitar next to the phone

"Hey, someone sawed that guitar in half!"

"It's for you"

Moving on, I then harped on this thing for awhile

Actually I left it alone, It was an expensive blue harp, or woodgrain rather

Then I saw this xylophone

It was made of actual blocks of wood which I though was unique

(must have been a tough carve)

Then I left said guitar store behind me as I went off to find a pump to fill the tires on Gary's mountainbike as I was getting dizzy trying to blow the tire up with my mouth. I went to a local bike shop which didn't have the right size pump.

I locked my (Gary's) bike to a rope which I guess wasn't
the most secure spot but hey, I was only in there for a minute

any would be thieves would had to have hacked through a
4 inch diameter rope so I figured it was reasonably safe.

Then I went and did the errand which was on the top of my list although I ended up doing it last. I went to city hall to inquire about street performing permits for the 3rd Street Promenade and Pier in Santa Monica.

I was greeted by a friendly woman who said it sounded like I fit the bill as far as rules and regulations so I am going to review the documented list of rules and regulations to make sure I qualify and don't tick anyone off which I'm sure will end up happening regardless. I will get the permit next week if all goes as planned and play next weekend sometime as that's the best time, and also the time I can get a ride to and from said gig without having to transport the VSO on the bicycle which is not forthcoming

They had some lovely fauna outside the courthouse