Tayto-stash

Jane got back from Ireland a few days ago and her suitcase was half filled with a bounty of tayto goodness, here they are on display in our giant vase.

Keg-o-meter

I picked up two of these magnetic thermo-strips at the weekend, they tell you how much beer is left in your kegs, they are prety handy as I usully just judge by weight.

Gorilla-pod

I picked up one of these whilst in KL over the school holidays, its basically a universal tripod which you can manipulate into many configurations

Fridge-cam

Pole-cam

Great for the camera, but also for that pico projector.

Franken-fionn

Fionn had a dog bite wound that we didnt know about and it got infected, so one trip to the vet later Fionn appeared all hooped up on morphine and toting 21 stitches all up his left side


He was prety out of it the first day but is doing an amazing job of not being aware of this 17cm gash on his side

Due to his convalescence he has been granted 'comfy chair' privileges

Tool Art

I use my Leatherman Juice XE 6 almost every day, opening parcels/bottles, fixing violins, it has so many uses.

Check out the art, I spelled Leatherman with a few slightly dubious configurations...

KC's

We managed to squeeze in a trip to KC's as part of the hectic whistlestop tour of ireland again this time. Here we are just after opening time with Tristen about to encounter his first creole.

Mono-manus-octo-sonas-munus

Salutations. I took my 5 string viola to a trad session last night, along with the octave pedal (Boss OC3). There were a lot of melody instruments at the session (whistles, mandolins etc.) and only one guitar so I pretty much played the bass for the night, it was great! Also, because it was mainly jigs and reels, and because the signal was so clear from the viola through the octave pedal, I could do most of the gig one handed left hand pizz (one fingered pretty much, C1-G1-C1-G1-G-C1-G1-C2-C1-G1-C1-G1-G-G1-C1-C1-) so that kept my right hand free for other tasks, such as drinking beer. Hahaha, playing the viola just got even EASIER!!!!

Beer beer beer

Check it out, its one of those pour your own pint stations, I saw it in the bull mccabe up by the airport when I was in Cork last week, its a pretty sweet settup, you can either leave your credit card behind the bar and settle up at the end or just put 20 pints worth of cash behind the bar and pour away till the regulator trips over. Great for matches, dont have to que at the bar etc.

Speaking of pour your own beer, here is what I currently have on tap in the bar. A really smooth stout and a refreshing wheat-beer

Im Back

Hello blogfans, its been a mad two weeks, travelling half way around the world from wedding to wedding, and its great to be back. The weddings were amazing! Here is a photo of Margaret & Hugh on the lawn of Ampleforth College


Here are the briday party.

Met up with the lads in Cork, heres Owen, Gosia, Hally & Fionn, all looking well.

And here is the ONLY photo I took in all teh 5 days we were in malaysia, its the petronas towers from the shopping mall below it.

the twin towers

We are in kuala lumpur at the moment, staying in the lap of luxery in the shangri la hotel. Its amazing and has set a new standard for all our future travels. Here is a photo of the petronas towers from inside the shopping mall at its base.

Chefs Speciality

We went to a vietnamese place last night, check out the ingredients of no. 49..... Three chefs thumbs up!

new gigbag

I got a new gig-bag for my electric viola, its just like my other one but on grey, they are great bags, soft cases but pretty rugged, nice and light, waterproof, plenty of space for all your bits and pieces too so great for cycling to gigs with.

one word: WOW

Check it out, its a kegerator/arcade unit, complete with in dash tap and glass holder, projector with a 120 inch screen and loads of racingcar games preloaded. WOW!

Irish session

A quick clip of a trad session I played at a few weeks ago, mighty craic!

Interesting signs

We went for a walk last night with the hounds and came across this, i guess its where asian folk go to argue

And this wholesale store owned by Mr.T.

Fionn - Hypnohound!

Viola loop 3

Here is another loop, again the bass doesnt really come through on the cameraphone, and a purely audio recording doesnt lend itself to the live producing element of looping. Ah well, its an excuse to go out and buy another gadget ;)

viola loop 2

Here is a loop of the russian folk song Dark Eyes

Viola loop 1

This is my first loop arrangement, its taken on a cameraphone so the sound quality is not so good, the bass doesnt really come accross well and I was so busy thinking about what pedal controls what loop I totally stuffed up the ending but you get the general idea.

5 shooter....

Check out what arrived in the post. Its a Yamaha EV 205, 5 string violin/viola. Strings are E A D G C.

Check out the tuning pegs, no need for finetuners

Count'em, 5 strings. It takes a bit of getting used to, as the strings are bunched slightly closer than usual, you sometimes get some unwanted pizz release from adjacent strings. Jsut need to get some smaller fingers.

The bridge is great, each string has its own pickup, so even with the preamp (onboard) turned off, they are so sensitive it works almost as good, great for if a battery dies during a gig. Unfortunately I only had about 20 mins to play with it yesterday, it works perfectly with the loopstation and it sounds AWESOME through the octave pedal, in fact I might even get some bass gigs out of this!

Ill record something on it tonight and post a video tomorrow, watch this space!

Yanchep

We went off to Yanchep on saturday to Jon Edwards stag, highlights of which being beers at sunset on the beach, a giant floor piano and the bbq fry-up to beat all bbq fry-ups!

classic comedy

Derrick and Ben came over last night for tunes and a few beers, here is the cumulation of our musical creativity, a malteaser man. Classic.