Monthly Archives June 2010

It is supposed to be raining on and off today so I can’t go play outiside
This wouldn’t happen if I was some hippie with a hand drum!!

I re-engineered the electronic kit by adding a longer rack tube and re-positioning the bass drum pad so it does not move
I also decided to use the spikes as crash/chyna and moved the SPDS around a little bit to compensate for the pad that triggers poorly
The kit proved to be very compact with out the acoustic snare, so I added it too
I did not use a backpack last time , so I may be able to make room by putting small objects on my back
There also needs to be a re-thinking of the way I tie the speaker to the rack
It was all falling off every 30 seconds and irritating the shit out of me

I have loaded some noise stuff onto the Zune and plan to use it during the performance tomorrow
Hopefully it will not rain
There is a concert on Peavey Plaza and hopefully, I can get as close as possible to ...

After 25 years of not going to the doctor, I have gotten myself on the state run MinnesotaCare health program
Having spent most of my adulthood as a broke ass musician in Texas, it has been very hard to get health insurance
You usually need a full time job and even then, the insurance was so expensive that it was intimidating
This pretty much put a fiscal barrier between me and healthcare that turned into an emotional one as well
I was so intimidated by the complexity of the system, the high cost each month and the huge deductables that I just convinced myself that I would have to live without insurance

After all, I was going to die young anyways right?

Credit Laura for building a fire under my ass
She sat on the phone with me while I filled out the applications and didn’t let me give up...

Come out and hang with me in the back room while I try to figure out what to play

Here is a video of my firdt attempt at busking on Nicollet Mall
I had a good time and worked out some bugs

Hopefully, it will be nice next weekend and i will be able to do it again

Skies are sunny and I am heading out to Nicollet Mall for my first attempt at busking

Come out and see me! (if i don’t get told to leave by the cops)

Not gonna be able to play the travel kit outside today because there is a 70% chance of rain today and tomorrow

One of my biggest  barriers has been the sheer amount of equipment that it takes to do what I do
Playing a show is literally a full days work
2 hours of breaking down and packing the performance setup into The Van
1 hour of waiting around the club for someone to let me in
2 hours of unloading into the club and setting up (usually not including a torturous sound check)
30/45 minutes  to perform (usually for 3 people and the sound guy)
2 more hours of breakdown and packing back into The Van 
45 Minutes of lading from The Van to the house
It’s been a while since I played a gig that made any of this worth it so I stopped for a while
The idea of touring by myself  isn’t very practical either

The idea of a mini-kit came from trying to figure out how to get to Japan
I needed a compact dru...

Looks like nothing is going on tonight so I will spend it getting the new mini-travel drumkit ready for busking on Nicollet mall tomorrow

I have made a video tour of the kit and will post it very soon