School Holidays

Hello bloggers. Apologies for Novembers abysmal bloggery content. Due to it being the last few weeks of the school year, doing a gala ballet run and all the usual musical giggery shenanigans i haven't had a chance to blog a single thing. In summary I can say we moved house, but on account of the olimpian workload, we still haven't unpacked. Considering we packed all our stuff almost a month and a half ago, its almost like being on holidays living out of a suitcase these last few weeks. Well, school finishes tomorrow, and apart from the odd gig and a few more violin lessons its free running till the end of January. No real holiday plans, just intend on catching up with the last few months of living, no doubt the bloggery content shall increase so keep watching this space.

Hooner 4000 moves on....

You all remember our old car, the Hooner 4000, well, it was time for it to go, so i popped and ad up on gumtree and later on that day a gent was happy to take it off my hands for a trade, in the ad i had specified a table tennis table, and he showed up with the goods, four brand new bats and everything. I think he got a bit of a rough deal, the car was falling to pieces, he didnt mind thought, he was just happy that it started.

Liam came over the other night and we set it all up in the carport under the house.

GAME ON!

New gig settup

Remember that Roland Mobile Cube I got a few weeks ago, well i used it last night at a solo violin gig for the first time. It was a cocktail function, new office opening, and they wanted some easy listening background music and also a PA to use for the speeches. Well my roland worked a treat. Above you can see it mounted on a mike stand, electric viola resting on the side and a line with a mike running to the podium.

Note the excessive use of velcro on the back of the unit. I used my pedal juice for power, (the unit itself runs on 6 AA batteries, but I treat those as emergency backup) so no mains plug required (less wires and looks neat) and played some backing tracks I made last year using Band In A Box, jazz standards mainly with the odd novelty tune thrown in for fun, (flintstones, batman and a few others, nobody even batted an eyelid when I played a jazz version the doors 'light my fire') and just crooned along for an hour, then a break for the speeches, then more jazz crooning in the keys of D and G, it was great. Also, i used my phone to play the backing music, which for every track change, would bluetooth the song name to my watch, so I would know what is playing next without having to refer to a playlist or anything like that. It really made for seamless music and effortless crooning.


And here is the most important item of all, the beer holder. It took a while to set it up as it was my first time doing it, but next time I reckon I can get it all down to about 5 mins settup and soundcheck. Also, due to the compact nature of the whole thing, this was a gig I could cycle to and enjoy a few beers without worrying about driving or parking. I have another gig exactly like this in a few weeks so I'll be well practiced by then.

Sound equipment

I used my small PA system for a gig last saturday, here it is all wired up to rock the place, two mikes and two instrument inputs, MP3 player velcro'd to one side (along with backup MP3 and a charger) and my violin preamp velcro'd to the other, didn't need to remove the desk from the speaker at all and yeilded the quickest pack up in ages. Punchy sound, yamaha stagepass 500.



On my preamp is a very fancy button usually reserved for starships and sci-fi clifhanger episodes, its the "Phase Inverter", just flick that wee switch and hey presto your phase is inverted. You know the stuff: "captain, we cant penetrate their shields", "try inverting the phase, ensign", "huzzah it worked", that kinda stuff. I once played a computer game (star trek bridge commander) and the last level took about absolutely aaaaages to solve, eventually realising that the solution was to invert the phase. If only I had that button....



In a tetronian effort after the gig here is the fiddle and bike in the back of the hatchback without folding down the seats.



Also, I got one of these last week and cant recommend it highly enough. It runs on batteries for about 20 hours, also runs on mains (or the pedal-juice), and can take three inputs. Plenty loud enough to function as a speaker for one of my solo violin gigs, or as an on-stage personal monitor when playing with bands or just as a boombox out at the bbq. Also good for practicing at home with the electric viola without having to set up all the big equipment. Its really small, about the size of a small shoebox, here and here are demos where you can get an idea of the scale. It can be mounted on a mike stand or just leave it on the floor. I have a gig next week where I am going to use it to play jazz backing tracks for a few hours whilst I croon away and at the break the host is going to use it with a mike to make a few speeches. The best bit about all this is that I can now cycle to gigs with a PA system, score another one for the environment.

More Power.........

My sanyo pedal juice arrived yesterday, it is a 9v power supply for pretty much anything, it is the same size as an effects pedal so fits into the lineup quite nicely. It will run one pedal for 50 hours, considering i dont really use the octave one that much, it'll keep me going for months worths of gigs. It fully charges in about 3 hours and it totally ROCKS! Its great for when you are doing a gig where there is no power sockets near you and it also cuts down on wires and settup time. It has a power readout light, so it lets you know with plenty of warning before it is completely discharged. Also usefull if your power supply causes a whining noise, this one eliminates that completely AND it eliminates the need to keep buying 9v batteries, score one for the environment!

Chop-stick-master!

We went for japanese the other night and Finn wanted to use chopsticks but we didnt bring his toy ones so I improvised a set of training chopsticks from the chopstick wrapper and an elastic band. Go MacGuyver!

New guinness......

It tastes like a lager but looks like guinness........the verdict is still out on this one...........

Yaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr

We did a wedding outdoors down in Fremantle last week, this was a nice moment when a replica old sailing ship coasted by where we played

Highlights of the week

Jane, Magz, Pat and I are all playing in the same concert in the next few weeks with the Allegri Chamber Orchestra and they are doing a spread on us. Here we all are looking extremely musical.

The Irish band I play with have been doing a few residencies lately, one of which falls on halloween, bear in mind we are an irish ballad band.....

Not sure how we are gonna make it spooky?!?

I was putting the dogs out last night and I saw Fionn had made a collection of all his favourite toys under the table. He is hilarious!

Pimp-my-case

I got a few iron on patches at the weekend in fremantle and decorated some of my cases.

Here are my two gig-bags, the decepticon, naturally, is the electric viola

Here is my small pedalboard with new starfleet insignia, makes me feel like every gig is an away mission, best not wear the red-shirt!

And finally my manbag. A manbag is far more than just a purse, it is a multi-functional and stylish bag with one strap, as worn by Indiana Jones and most pirates. Its important to have it as plain as possible so that it blends in with your attire and doesnt get mistaken for a handbag. I use it in the summer here when its too hot to wear anything with pockets. On a regular excursion it can contain a wallet, camera, bottle of water, harmonica, portable bluetooth fold up keyboard, spork, pen, leatherman tool, tin whistle, earphones, keys and when the occasion suits, the sacred Sivalinga stone KALI MAAA!!!!!!!!!!! Well anyway, I upgraded my manbag the other day with the insignia of the republic commando units from star wars. Pretty cooooooooooooooooool

The Clan

I did a gig with a rock band last friday, filling in for one of their regulars, it was great craic, we did a whole bunch of ACDC covers including my favourite, back in black.

More holiday snaps

Here is the mom and the sister taking a stroll on the beach by sunset

And the sis got a new bike, its the enxt model up from mine, full size electric and it goes like a rocket!

And here is Hugh, trombone and tuba in hand, off to the brass mines to earn his crust.....

Back from the holidays

Its been term break for the last two weeks so hence the bloggerifical hiatus. It was a good two weeks off, plenty of dinner parties, beer, gigs, beer, day trips, sleep-ins and some beer. Here are a few highlights

My new pedal board arrived and was immediatly kitted out with a boss RC2, the OC3 and a volume booster for taking your volume up a few notches during solo's. Its much more portable than my other peadl board and can run off batteries if needed. Handy for gigs with limited power access or busking.

Heres a shot from sunset last week up in mullaloo

I got a lot of jobs done during the holidays, one of which being the repair of my sadle, the bar had bent on account of a 100kilo friend of mine having a go of the bike, one quick trip to Dave at urban commuter and he sorted it out with a flash new black one.

Theme from a summer place

This is what happens when you leave musicians in a room full of empty beer bottles (which were emptied by said musicians....)

Fat-Boys

We went to Novembars last night and had a trial run of the Fat-Boy burger, 1.4 kilo's of ultimate gluttony

Here I am feeling confident and hungry

Hugh checks the clock

Ready.....steady.....CHEW!

Here I am after 38 mins, one mouthfull to go, It was hard but we did it. Hugh clocked in at 31 mins and I trailed behind at 40. I am writing this the following morning and i am still full! Aparrantly the local record for this is currently standing at around 12 mins.

Vrooooooooooooooom

Finn had a go on Anthonys bike at the weekend, he even got to beep the horn and everything.

Snap jack

This is the COOOOOOOOOOOOOOLEST thing I have bought in aaaaages. Check out the video below.

SNAP JACK

Bumper Sticker

Hahaha

C

I know this is a parking sign, but it is also a common request of all viola players.

If facebook was around in the past....