Friday, April 20, 2007

boneheads

Lovely beautiful day today here in New York City. Spring seems to actually be here.
Spent most of it in my appartment sorta baby sitting two highly reccomended 'contractors'
who were patching a hole in my ceiling that they put there a week ago to get to the clogged
drain belonging to the 3 girls with long hair upstairs that was destroyed by the plumber
they called after they just couldn't figure out why the water wouldn't go down the drain anymore.

So these highly skilled guys got started late. I gave them some space since I had told them
last week that my ceiling was perfect before they cut a hole in it. I wanted it put back perfect. (see below
"Commitment to Excellence")

The "BOSS" violated Rule Number One of Spackle and Paint. Never Ever Paint Over Spackle
before it is Sanded Smooth. Paint will seal it for further generations like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
(so, today's shoddy Pablo Plus job is saved for further generations.... or until the girls upstairs
clog the drain again)

I did get a few minutes out in the pretty day when I took the bike over to Brickman Hardware for
another quart of Ralph Lauren 'stone wall' semi-gloss paint. The BOSS's guy put too much spackle
on so the job didn't dry. They slopped paint all over (I could have done that myself!) and left without finishing.

I've got stuff to do like change the gearing on my Bianchi Pista Concept so I can be ready to
go train at Kissena Park tomorrow with the Track Cycling Pals. But my appartment is a mess.

the 3 Levels of NYC Renovation

1. Juan Pablo (shoddy landlord job)
2. Pablo Plus (still not great but at least you get a reacharound)
3. Commitment To Excellence

Bike Built For Turning Left Tomorrow(at Kissena Park)
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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

from the year 2000

I found this tune on the internet.
Steve Earle & the Dukes doing "I Feel Alright" from my first tour w the Dukes in the year 2000.

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Tune is from the Bob Harris Show on the BBC.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Gear

Gear.

Ok, music gear, not bike gear this time...
over on my website I have pretty darn detailed Gear Page that details the guitar
rig that I had out with me on the tours with Steve Earle & the Dukes. I had to cover
a lot of sounds w Steve and this rig performed really well cause it is all rock solid stuff and because the guys who moved it around (the Dukes Crew guys who teched for me-Justin, Brian, Brent and Chief too...hell all of 'em!) took such good care of it.

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my fabulous sounding Dr Z Amps

When I'm playing with the Roscoe Trio or sitting in with TANDY I go by "New York Rules" which means don't take anything you can't carry up/down the stairs in one trip.

Of course it couldn't be done without the Fender Pro Jr. Designed by Bruce Zinky for Fender in the early 90's this little Class A dual EL 84 monster pretty much can do everything that I like except for crushingly loud/clean Surf Music. I've used the Pro Jr's on tons of records and we have a pair for house rigs at the Lakeside Lounge.

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Fender Pro Jr.

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Tuki full bottom cover keeps in nice.

I present to you the Don & Dewey Model 'batteries only' pedalboard. The board itself came from a Steve Keene Art sale. Besides it being cool and Don & Dewey and all... the board fit perfectly into a bag that I had from the very first Alesis Drum Machine. the Don & Dewey Model is all about portable and quick. Batteries means I don't have to get AC power to my place on the stage. I'm not carrying a power supply or a heavy extension cord either and I don't need a voltage converter overseas.

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Don and Dewey Model Pedalboard nicked up around the corners by the damn airlines

Signal goes like this..
Into the Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner footpedal operation w standby switch. Then over to this great Boss DM-3 Analog Delay that I've had since the Del-Lords. The names of these pedals were long ago obscured by Roscoe Diner stickers to hide their origins from pedal geeks and Audley Freed. Then I go over to my new favorite tremolo pedal the Aramat Tubular Tremolo. It sounds really great and has a makeup gain that can be used as clean boost in a pinch. Then we go down to the fantastic Frantone Brooklyn Overdrive. This is the best overdrive I've ever heard for small amps and that is all I have to say about that. Now last but by all means not least I have one more little spot left for one more pedal... its gotta be fun and its gotta be light. I've had some wiggle pedals there in the past but when I found this little thing over at the Guitar Bar in Hoboken I found a $40 chunk of pure teenage enthousiasm. The Danelectro Black Licorice octave/fuzz is the only octave fuzz I found that did the octave DOWN. Its cheap. the knobs broke off. It eats batteries but after you've been playing for an hour and you need a little more this thing has it in spades. Plain old batshit crazy spades.

I have been using the George L cables for the pedalboard for quite a while. Great for the pedalboard you just clip 'em to size and use George's special plugs. When the Yayhoos were headed to Europe this feb I also switched over to George L's guitar cables. When you take 2 cables and a spare it really lightens the bag. Don't let this size of the George L's fool you. Tom Heyman told me they are tough and every body knows they are hi-fi as all get out.

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Since the Stonetree Roscoe Deluxe showed up last summer it has pretty much changed things for me as far as all the guitar switching goes. Put it this way. There are a bunch of very sexy guitars over at my Studio stomping their feett and biting their pouty lips for lack of attention. Way it goes.

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Roscoe Deluxe Sr. w my old road bike (Andy York has the bike now)

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Cable TV

hey,

I just noticed SLiTHER has hit cable TV. Sure was fun for me
to hear the Yayhoos doing "Baby I Love You" in the theater. Now you can hear it on your TV.
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Elizabeth Banks is pretty great....and so is James Gunn for putting my song in his movie!