Coming Together

Posted on April 18, 2012 by tim

The music thing is remains a preoccupation.  I am not so patient with building effects boxes right now– it’s a pain to have to wire up really complicated ones with switches and lots of pots, etc.  So few projects are on hold, including the famed Gristelizer.  I have upgraded a computer here to work as my mixing workstation and now with a new, very cheap bass guitar I have the makings of a band!  I had experimented with using MIDI and sampling to simulate a bass  but there really is nothing like the real thing.

Anyway, 30-minutes of fooling around with a basic drum loop, a single pass of the 12-string guitar, line-direct in through a digital echo that comes with the mixing software and voilà! - a big FLAC file of sloppy one-chord fiddlings.  Now, all I have to do is sit down and work out some song structures to hang some of this sloppiness on.

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OOC or AAF?

Posted on April 18, 2012 by tim

In psychiatric nurse parlance, OOC is our abbreviation for “out-of-control” as in out-of-control behavior (OOC Bx), which usually goes to describe some manic or BAD (bipolar-affective disorder) personality. It’s not cool to say that someone is BAD, so I only use this term for my own personal note-taking. On my unit, however, we sometimes employ another politically-incorrect term to describe OOC, and that would be AAF, which is meant to stand for “acting a fool” among those in the know. Any other nurse in the world would recognize in this term “african-american female”, but around here, AAF almost always signals unruly behavior, destruction, threats and fighting, and a sigh.

So what does this have to do with, you know, my cycling, et al? It has more to do with sighing than anything else, really. I worked so much last week and I was so sleep-deprived that I could not get it together to get to the 300K brevet in Ashland, OH on Saturday morning. I had actually contemplated riding to the event before I tried to get my sleep schedule (or lack-of-sleep thereof) turned around to be able to make it to the 0600 start in time. It promised hills, wind and rain and I had planned to do it on the fixed-gear. I probably would have DNF’d!

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New Bike

Posted on April 11, 2012 by tim

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Posted via my cell phone, some pics snapped on Easter as I rode out to a family gathering– here it is, kitted up in short-haul glory. The handlebars are a little lower than I usually have them but it’s not so uncomfortable. That chain is super-expensive and extra-heavy-duty but it’s also weighty and there is a bit of rolling resistance with it. So I might change it if I can find another NJS chain that’s not so spendy. The fork has a carbon steerer and it has a bit of flex in it that probably dampens some vibrations. The flex might also make torquing up a hill a little less efficient. I’ll know more during this weekend’s 300K through Amish country, eh?

Last weekend I made a dynamo-driven, map light that I’ll also try out this weekend. This will be detailed in another post someday. Also, I have ordered some fender fixings that will help me to put together a lightweight and durable fender of my own design. Once I get this together, I’ll post!

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13th Floor Elevators – Gloria

Posted on April 3, 2012 by tim

I forget if I already posted this here or not, but it is worth another listen. It’s Van Morrison’s “Gloria”, done Texas Psychedelic-style. I have been reading the definitive biography of the Elevators, “Eye Mind“, a little at a time over the last months. High times, indeed!

Post script bonus:

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Ohio 200K 2012

Posted on April 2, 2012 by tim

I took the new fixie this weekend to the Columbus area for the first brevet of the season, the “Flatlander 200K”. I froze my butt off at the start and the sun did not come out as it was predicted to do. Lots of riders participated– more than 50 were signed up, some new and some old-timers whom I have not seen in 4 or more years. I had hoped to ride with some of them but I got off to a fast start and despite falling back through groups of riders to meet up with them, I could not quite fall back enough to do so.

Instead I was content to ride with my old friend, Jim Koegel, who missed most or all of last year owing to a bike-crash cracked pelvis. He’s a very funny guy and also a solid, steady finisher, so I was content to enjoy our company with whomever we would have along. I also had the pleasure of riding with some first-brevet younger fellows and I talked up some of the other long-distance cycling that is to be done in Ohio.

The 300K is in just 2 weeks, so I have some training up to do! The 240-mile fleche is 2 weeks after that and then in another couple of weeks is the 400K. It’s time to get off of the sofa and especially if I plan on riding a 1200K on the fixie this year!

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Off the Cuff Proto Pop Fail

Posted on April 2, 2012 by tim

If anyone ever mentions The Pop Group, I instantly think of “We’re All Prostitutes”, as it was listed on a prominent compilation in its heyday. It’s got a catchy rhythm that won’t grow old, same for its lyrical import. Anyway, I am posting this as Nick Cave, a musical force in his own right, gives a good description of how music can turn your head around. Here’s the song in its entirety.

It was another song of the era, “Everyone’s a Bigot” by The Offs, that gave me the same feeling that Nick describes and I started this post with the idea of showing it here, but in mid write-up I see that it’s now unavailable from youtube, alas. Listen to this Offs tune, “You Fascinate Me“, instead!

Other social/political music of the period that spun my head around included the triumphalist “We’ve Got The Neutron Bomb” by The Weirdos, “I Hate The Rich“, by The Dils and “Class War“, by Mission From Burma.

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T-Zone

Posted on March 12, 2012 by tim

I think I might have seen this when it first came out in the 1965, so I was a little kid, just 6 years old. It’s haunted me ever since! I remembered another actor besides the most-excellent Burgess Meredith (of Cleveland!) as the protagonist. Such a distinctive voice!

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In This Fashion:

Posted on March 2, 2012 by tim

It’s difficult to imagine a band like this playing on mainstream TV in the US, as this is, in France. That choppy effect is probably a Gristleizer.

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More Guitar Effects

Posted on March 2, 2012 by tim

So, I kind of got the basic effects made that I though I needed. We have fuzz a couple times over, a couple of different overdrive boxes, including a tube preamp, some compression, some reverb, some delay, and a very cheap but pretty good knock-of of a legendary vibrato effect. Now I can make sounds now that will make you want to search frantically and to then lunge for the nearest waste-paper basket or toilet bowl to relieve yourself of motion sickness and aural angst. “Music” is a wonder!

Since I can almost crank out a project in a night, I just can’t leave this alone. There are all sorts of noise-making projects out there. Some are quite versatile and worth trying out. Their names are also entertaining– Gristleizer, Meat Sphere, Christine, Thunderpuss, Karate Shop, Chunk Chunk, Uglyface, Harmonic Jerkulator… All based on some other effects from another era, or made to enhance some other sonic idea or circuit. Check out this page of schematics, or this one. I wish I had time to really fool around and make my own circuit someday, but as the weather is going to warm, I am pretty sure that I will not want to sit around so much, soldering and whatnot.  But after listening to a Gargletron circuit, I am tempted to add this to the list of projects that I would like to develop.

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New Bike Stuff

Posted on March 2, 2012 by tim

So, the new frame is here and I will be building it pretty slowly. I did not have all of the parts necessary and it was only when the frame arrived that I got around to ordering stuff. Just a couple of minutes ago a carbon fork like one that I have been looking for appeared on Ebay and was Buy-It-Now for way less than what I have bid on even used forks of the same make/model. Needless to say, I snatched it up! The current steel fork is nice, but I am more interested in a saving a pound or more and maybe gaining a little comfort along the way.

Contrary to my last (and current!) bike, Whitey, this build is going to have almost all black components. To break this up, I am going to try some red bar tape. It usually works out that I return to my stand-by fave, Profile Shock Wrap, which comes only in black. I’ll hang some pics here once I get that new fork on. The paint job is really really nice.

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