Super Groovy Gig

Here's what I love about this photo:

• The finish on the drums (can't tell if it's pink sparkle or champagne sparkle).
• The drummer has dropped a stick.
• The crash cymbal stand is very close to falling off the stage.
• The drum rug is some early type of shag.
• The singer's hair. (That'll show those uptight squares!)
• There's another stage for another band. I wonder if they both jammed together at the end.
• Somebody decided that wrapping the stages with burlap would look nice.
• And of course, the big ass, bitchin' Kustom PA speaker.

My Next Band

This is pretty indescribable. The slide guitar sounds like something I recorded in Ottumwa.

I Thought You Were Dead

I did this today while waiting for water putty to dry. Had to fill in the old hinge slots on the cabinet frame before I veneer it. Don "Snake" Prudhomme classic Army paint on a Lamborghini. OK, it's the wrong Snake for the quote.

Old Alfa Romeo

Getting a bit sideways on turn 1 at Circuit de la Sarthe. I tried to work the effects sliders to make this look like an old Kodachrome, but it looked much different on the TV.

Donnie Iris

I forgot about this song until we were driving back from Thanksgiving and heard it on satellite.

Schlitz Malt Liquor

Is this what the White House looks like now every night? Goddamn, that's goofy. Much goofier than anything you'd see on Hee Haw or anything like that.

Rogers

Here's some guy with a giant set of Rogers, same vintage and finish as mine, although most of his are double–headed and the smallest look like power toms (which were just coming into vogue around then). Looks like he has some of those aluminum Rogers kick pedals like I had. Those were great. Home–built plywood cases—that looks familiar. :)

Little Stevie Vai

I TiVo'd a Steve Vai concert on Palladia (a great channel to watch HD music) and watched it the other night. It was just an hour's worth of a Blu–ray/DVD/CD he has out called Where the Wild Things Are (nothing to do with the book/movie), recorded in Minneapolis in 2007. What a powerhouse of talent he still is. All the technical wizardry humanly possible, and loads of feeling. He can convey emotion so much better than Clapton. I just don't get why so many guitarists think Clapton is god. He mostly bores me. This band had 2 keyboardists who also played violin, one of them an incredibly cute Asian chick. My oh my. That's the stuff right there. Although plenty talented, I didn't dig the drummer so much; all tattooed, shirtless, and fauxhawk.

Carnage

If you race one of the stages from one of the great big tracks (Fuji, Nürburgring) against CPUs, the CPU cars will stop once they get past the end of the stage. For the helluvit, I turned around and went all the way around the track until I got back to the finish line where they were parked. I spent 15 minutes bashing into them. Sometimes one of them would drive a few feet down the track after I rammed them closer to the finish line. Hooray for technology. That's me up on my side against the guard rail. I opened the lens all the way to kinda get a tilt–shift thing going on.

Whta the Fuck Are You Lookin' At?

Santa with an attitude.

Alien Invasion

Here's an explanation for the freaky spiral in the sky over Norway.

Forza Stuff

Datsun beater. I just remembered that 101 was KKRQ, now KQCR. Gotta redo the bumper sticker. I wish they'd add flat paint.





Spotted this while watching a replay at Le Mans. I don't think I'd wanna lick that ice cream.

What Are the Odds?

One of our tech support/testing guys in Peoria is a drummer. He sent me a little story about building a drum riser. He Googled and checked out the first hit. After a bit he recognized the url. It was my drum riser plans I'd put together years and years ago, apparently when the world was still black & white, before we got color.

He added a nice touch to the top surface; stick–on 1x1' carpet tiles. Mine was always bare plywood, which made it good for marking hardware positions with magic marker, and easier to clean when the bass player spilled beer on it.

Yes, Minnesota Has Dumbasses

Here's the goofball that threw tomatoes at Sarah Palin during her book signing at the megamall. What a fuckin' dweeb. Throwing stuff at a woman—a woman who's not Anita Bryant—is just pitiful. And she's not even in office! Fucking political wackos can all go to hell.

NASA Nikon

It has big buttons like an old person's phone. Free shipping!

More New Tunes

Had practice today and worked up Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting and Holiday. Kinda of a weird combination, when you think about it. A gay man singing about fighting, and a punk band singing about not fighting. Or something.

Van Halen Paint

The NSX I was using was really boring in just white. I added some EVH paint to make it more interesting. When I went to upload the screenshots, I entered a description something like "Inspired by Eddie Van Halen's guitars." That phrase did not pass their no–naughty–words filter. WTF?

I love this course set up in a quaint old town on the coast of Italy or Greece or Sicily. Something like that. Cobblestone streets that are bumpy as hell. Lots of great curves, corners, and hills. The Mt. Fuji course is also a blast.

Planets Are Creepy

Ever wonder what a planet sounds like? Me neither. But it turns out it's a cool mix of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Forbidden Planet (yeah, I own that), and Rush's 2112 and Cygnux X–1. NASA made recordings of the electromagnetic waves as Voyager flew by.

Speaking of Rush, Exit Stage Right was pretty good. The guitarist and bass player were both amazing. The keyboardist played everything exactly right and was really fun to watch. He loves himself some Rush. The drummer did a pretty good job, but—no pun intended here—rushed the hell out of a lot of stuff and lost his place a bunch of times. They don't play live much, so it could be nerves. He looked kinda like a skinny John C. Reilly. I only stayed for about 4 Zed Leppelin songs, not being a big fan. They were also really good. Much tighter than ESR, but then they play a lot I guess. They do the Led Zeppelin persona thing—wigs and stuff. I think that's kinda lame. Just play the fucking music. The drummer had the same amazing right foot that Bonham had, did those flurry of quick doubles in Good Times Bad Times that you can hear in the beginning of the iTunes clip. Wish my foot could do that.

Sewing Machine

So that's how it works! It took me a few seconds once the animation started running to figure out it was a sewing machine (yeah, I didn't see the title). I never wanted to devote the brain cells to figuring out how they worked their magic because I was sure it involved worm holes and voodoo. What's amazing is how fast some sewing machines can run and still do that without getting all fucked up or breaking the thread. Ever see industrial ones run? Sounds like a minigun sawing an Iraqi hut in half.

Disad–Vantage

There was a card that came in the Forza 3 case for getting a free bonus pack of cars and tracks. 10 cool vintage cars, including a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe (always liked those better than the roadster), Charger Daytona, and '67 Miura that is a blast to drive, as is the little '65 Alfa. It also has 2 tracks with multiple courses at each one. The one is a huge concrete test track. It has about a dozen different configs. Some of them go through some old warehouses. You could probably do one of those videos if you were good. Much like that Ken Block video, there's a helipad. I thought I could drive over it and run into the helicopter. Nope. There's a 6" curb that's a bitch when yer doin' about 80 in a Vantage. Why she's no fun. She fell right over.

I Won a Veyron!

Sadly, I can't touch it. It exists only as 1s and 0s. I also can't paint the 2nd color (the red area). Slight bug in their car painting editor that you can't change the 2nd color of a 2–tone paint job. But I made the best of it and added the trippy purple wingy stuff. Sick? You bet. And it goes like bat shit. Sure, ya gotta start braking half a mile out. After upgrading parts to just a couple points below R2, I used it in an R3 race in New York (the old track with long straights) and lapped every car before the end of the 12th lap.

Badass Frogmobile

I love the Citroën DS, so it's no wonder I dig this off–road version. It actually looks like it should've been born that way. Nice job on widening the hips to make room for the big meats.

Bohemian Muppets

This Muppet video version of Bohemian Rhapsody is pretty good. Could done without Miss Piggy though. She's such a pig. Ha. I never realized both the guitarist and bass player were left handed.

Them Crooked Vultures

Kim got me the album for my birthday. It kicks ass all sorts of ways. Lots of neat experimentation with moving the beat around while other instruments carry on. I used to hate Dave Grohl, but I'm digging the drum parts he comes up with. You can definitely hear John Paul Jones' Led Zeppelin influence in some of the stuff, like Elephants and Scumbag Blues. And Josh is all over everything. Yay for that. He makes cool sounds. Go listen. Now, you bastard!