2009 Year of Gear Review

I have gone through more guitars and amps this year than ever before due mostly in part to Craigslist. Truth be told, it all started when my buddy Travis Thompson asked me to play electric guitar at Disciple Now event at his church in San Antonio.



2003 Fender Squier Stratocaster.



2008 Epiphone G400



2004 MIM Fender Telecaster with Fender SCN noiseless pickups and 5 way switch.



2007 Epiphone Dot



2009 Xavier XV 620



2000 MIM Fender Fat Stratocaster



2005 Epiphone Standard Les Paul



2004 Epiphone Standard Les Paul



2006 Fender Highway One Telecaster. Made in U.S.A.



I have loved playing all of these guitars. I only have the Highway One right now and love more than all the others combined.

These are the Amps I have used, bought, and sold this year:

Vox VR 15



Vox AD30VT



Roland Cube



Fender G-DEC Jr.



Fender U.S.A Blonde Blues Jr.



Marshall MG30DFX



Fender U.S.A. Ultimate Chorus



Blackstar HT-5 and Cabinet



Epiphone Valve Jr. Head and Cabinet with Celestion G12m Greenback speaker

CD Review: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd

I finally listened to this album all the way through without stopping this morning. I have tried this several other times, but either lost interest or fell asleep.

Originally released in 1973, about 8 years before I was born, the album has sold 0ver 45 million units worldwide. I have always wondered what all the fuss was about. I first listened to it during my sophomore year of college simultaneous with The Wizard of Oz. One has to be very familiar with both to get the full effect of the watching/listening.

I won't break this album down song by song. I don't have that much to say about it. This is one of those albums that I can appreciate. I suppose the use of synthesizers and sound effects is impressive, but the Beatles did better with Sgt. Peppers. I can appreciate that others enjoy it, but this is a one-and-done for me. I didn't really like any of the songs enough to even want to listen to them at another date. I guess I'll keep it in my library just in case someone happens to be around who wants to hear it.

Then again, it might be fun to try the Wizard of Oz playback some other time.

Check it out, and decide for yourself.

10 MILES....

That's right. I ran 10 miles tonight for the first time ever. It took me about 1 hour and 25 minutes. It wasn't so bad, but I won't be doing it again any time soon. A huge accomplishment for me as my longest distance before tonight was 8 miles.

Shiny New Knobs

I just put some new knobs on my Boss TR-2 tremolo pedal. I think it looks great! They are much bigger than the old ones, probably too big!

What do you think?

Before


After

Welcome to the Wonders of Dendrology

"Dendrology is often confused with botany. However, botany is the study of all types of general plants and dendrology should be considered more as a subcategory of botany specifying in wooded plants" Thanks wikipedia for explaining my wikimedia.

As I was walking back to our apartment from the gym I looked down and picked a leaf up from the path. I occurred to me that of all the trees around me, I couldn't tell you the name of one of them.

I took the leaf home and jumped on the internet to find out from which type of tree it fell. This is the information age after all.

This is my leaf


I simply typed "leaf identifier" into the yahoo search bar and clicked on this link:http://forestry.about.com/od/treeidentification/tp/tree_key_id_start.htm

Basically, you take your leaf and follow the prompts. It was as easy as that. I found out that my leaf fell from an American sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). These trees have a fruit shaped like a spikey ball. The leaves look like stars,have 5-7 points, and change beautiful shades of red in the fall.


Thanks to bamboosage on flickr for this great gum ball pic.

With your new sweet gum identification skills, you have no reason not to impress your friends the next time you're out in nature. Just let 'em know how great those sweet gums look this time of year.

Thanks to the Solder Master General

I recently acquired a 2004 Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top in Cherry Sunburst from a pawn shop in Plano, Texas. I bought it for a song. Wheeling and dealing guitars and guitar gear has become a small hobby of mine as of late. I bought this guitar with the intention of reselling it. It was in pretty good shape, but the two tone control potentiometers were scratchy (a common problem among older guitars).
I purchased two 500k short stem pots from StewMac. I consulted with the smartest electrical engineer on the planet, Solder Master General,Travis Thompson. Travis talked me through the basics of soldering, including the minimum necessary tools: a cheap soldering iron, some solder, a sponge, and a holder. I was able to acquire all these for under $20.
I was pretty nervous about overheating the capacitors and pots, that may not even be possible, so I took my time and used PlayDough to keep the capacitor from touching the pots. It may not look pretty, but the good news it that it worked and the pots sound totally silent.

Below are some pics from my first foray into soldering.

Enjoy.

Album Review: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

YouMightBeInterestedToKnow

• This is my first exposure to this band fronted by Win Butler and his wife Regine Chassagne and... well if you really want a full background on the band check out Wikipedia.org. I did find it interesting that this album was recorded in what was once a church and that the themes from the album came from the band watching YouTube videos of a lot of TV preachers and get-rich-quick schemes.
• Released on March 3, 2007.
  
• Ranked at the top of many lists for Album of the Year in 2007.

Song-By-Song

1. Black Mirror - An upbeat, dark, piano driven song with an overall theme leaning toward lack of trust in the world and hopelessness. I really like the atmospheric droning created by the strings and female vocals. Pretty cool song.
   
2. Keep the Car Running - Reminds me of some really great 80's new wave, the kind with a real heart. I guess this song is about always feeling a fear and a sense of needing to get the heck out of town.
   
3. Neon Bible - Music is simple and beautiful with some incomprehensible lyrics.
   
4. Intervention - Huge church organ with acoustic guitar, brilliant! This is the type of song that really saddens me. The lyrics obviously point to some bad experience the artist has had with the church, and they attempt to cleverly sing about the stupidity of religion. Hopelessness.
   
5. Black Wave/Bad Vibrations - Female vocals lead off here then about halfway through male vocals return with a slightly different feel. Another song about hopelessness with lots of references to darkness and the ocean. Some cool choir stuff on this one.
   
6. Ocean of Noise - Incredibly slick intro with a laid back chunky piano comping throughout the song. A song about trying to cut through the distractions, or maybe just about the distractions. Very good song that bleeds right into the next one.
   
7. The Well and the Lighthouse - Kind a song of dual themes. Falling into despair and then seeing that there is hope beyond this imperfect world. A light and airy ending. Very thought provoking lyrics. Some Christian ideas in this one.
   
8. Antichrist Television Blues - Upbeat piano driven tale of a man who wants a daughter that can sing well to bring glory to God, or maybe just to himself. An interesting look at what may be the motivations of ungodly televangelists. Surprise ending. Maybe the best song on the album.
   
9. Window Sill - Acoustic guitar with great backing drums. Seems to be about the despair seen on TV and how affected we are by TV. Builds to a nice climax.
   
10. No Cars Go - Great drums fuel this whole song. Lots of energy. Nice blend of male and female vocals. A song about the emptyness "between the click of the light and the start of the dream". The only semblance of a solo on the album leads to the closing mantra. Lots of interesting sounds on this one.
    
11. My Body is a Cage -Slow moving with organ and light drums. This one explodes with horns and a full gospel choir. My favorite line of the album is here "I'm living in an age that calls the darkness light. " The album ends on a bittersweet tone.

Overall Impressions
I loved it. I sat captivated for the entire 46.9 minutes save 3:58 spent on Black Wave/Bad Vibrations. The many allusions on this album to the ocean and television were really thought provoking. I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the natural with the unnatural. The ancient with the modern. This album seems to be about making some sense of it all despite the seeming darkness of this age.
Musically, it was very engaging and I can't wait to listen to the entire album again. I wouldn't really call this roadtrip music though. Best save it for a slow night alone.

Rating:

7/10

Dallas Days, Arlington Nights

For those unaware, Stacey and I have moved to one of the largest states in the union, Texas. I accepted a position as Doctor of Audiology (Au.D) at Owens Ear Center in downtown Dallas. The work is good, I spend the majority of my time evaluating patients for hearing loss and fitting them with excellent technology. It is very rewarding. Stacey works at an adult living center in DeSoto. She finds a lot of joy in her work as well. We decided early on to live outside of the Dallas metroplex. We are making a home in the lovely "City of Parks", Arlington. Many probably associate Arlington with two things: Six Flags Amusement Park and the Texas Rangers. Rightly so, but I might add that the area is truly beautiful.

Weston Gentry : Master of Arms, nay, Master of Words

I laughed today. A deep belly laugh, laughing from the corners of my mouth, and laughing from my eyes. If you have not had the pleasure of meeting Wes Gentry, I am sorry. Today I read his journal from his trip to Europe. What a delight! Wes, if you are reading this I must tell you that one of my greatest regrets is that our conversations have always consisted of the same poor subjects. After reading your facebook profile and journal from the earlier part of this year, I can say that you are the funniest man I know. Such wit, such comedic genious. I have been laughing, tears and all, for over an hour. Good day to you Wes, good day.