Category observations

I have been having lots of trouble mounting any electronic pads on my chrome drum rack tubes
The tubes are very strong but, as a result, conduct a lot of vibration
So much that it transfers to other pads mounted on the tube
Simply put- If you hit one pad, it makes the other ones trigger

I have avoided using electronic pad rack tubes because they seemed to weak to support all the other things I wanted to mount on them but then I noticed that speaker stand tubes were the same circumference as the rack tubes but as light/thin as the electronic tubes
Based on that judgement, I assumed they wouldn’t be able to handle the weight of mounting drums on them

I have been re-building the electronic kit and was going to mount a PA speaker on the speaker stand
As I was lifting this bulky and heavy speaker on...

Originally posted Dec 13th 2007 at 11 am
One of the stronger emotions I encounter on a regular basis is the need to disconnect from the rest of the world
Things happen to frustrate or damage me and I just want to shut everyone out
I’m sure that everyone feels like this but my problem is that it happens quite frequently
My recent bout of drama has been particularly painful and it that withdrawl urge has been kicking in again
This lead me to listen to one of the most important albums in my collection
Gary Numan always seemed to tap into that emotion (or lack therof)
In an age where electronic artists were humans trying to sound like machines, Numan’s music seemed to assert the exact opposite
It wasn’t the precision robot-like music that Devo was performing (which FUCKING RULES!)
It was as i...

First of all, congratulations 
You have established a new environment for women to express themselves on their own terms instead of being some musician’s girlfriend
You now have cool names to rival the coolest name ever (Rockula, of course) and colorful personas to go with them
You are now on stage more than your boyfriend’s mediocre band and your burlesque/fetish/bondage/fashion show/roller derby event draws more people than his sucky band ever did
You get to post your pics on Facebook so that all of your girlfriends can tell you how beautiful you are as your stalker male friends try to compliment you in the least creepy way possible (although it never works)
Your collective self esteem has skyrocketed in the last 10 years as women have proven themselves to be on the same artistic and intell...

The national debate about the economy seems to divide society into 3 camps
The rich, the poor and the rapidly dwindling middle class
Until recently, those middle class citizens vacated their positions on the ladder by moving upward
Now, the areas south of the poverty line are filling up rapidly
The inhabitants used to be mostly darker skinned Americans and people like me
We peacefully co-existed with each other, mostly in the service industry
Mutual respect came from occupying the same rung of the ladder whilst maintaining our dignity
“They” were just honest people looking to feed their families born or immigrated into a very meager existence
“We” were slackers who were mostly born into the middle class and yet weren’t born with the primal urge to move up the ladder
Rather that we pursued ...

Anytime I have a dream that involves playing a gig it usually ends up the same way
I am frantically trying to get all of my equipment ready to go and there’s always something missing or I have 5 minutes to assemble a rig that usually takes 30 minutes (if I was well prepared beforehand that is)
I cannot remember ever having a pleasant dream involving a gig
However, I just woke up from the most wonderful dream where I played a gig and it went well
Not only that, but people appreciated my show and it eventually ended with a bunch of us talking about cool stuff after the gig

Is that such an unreasonable dream?
I don’t need the millions of dollars or the sea of fans or even the line of groupies at the backstage door
All I need is to share my art with other people and to have themm appreciate it

I hung out with my friend who doubles as a therapist today and we discussed the fact that some people continue to hang out with me simply for the reason that they don’t like to do the talking

We all get told a million times that the art of good conversation is achieved by listeing instead of just waiting for someone to pause so that you can start talking
I obviously fall in the “talker” category and I have had much anxiety over the amount of wear and tear it has on my friends
But then I get reassured that this quality is a main reason why I have so many cool people surrounding me

Of course, I still need to be conscious of listening
Mostly because it is a free resource of material to digest and make your own
But I also have to allow myself the luxury of knowing that most people just don’t h...

There are all types of things people have said to me to make me feel better
Be it a failure with my music, rejection from a girl or setback in life, the sentiments I would get from people seemed more like a pat on the head
Of course, people meant well but I usually took it as them trying to say something so that they could feel better about saying something
It almost never used to comfort me but I understood the sentiment
Most of the time, I would rather have somene help me with the situation but that is not realistic and rarely can anyone help you with your problems

Now I know that it is my own hostility that colors my perception of what other’s words mean to me
It is also helping me to consider advice from people when I don’t like the solution
I have reversed my opinon on several things ...

I love mistakes
Especially in music
I get to say to myself “they just fucked up there” to myself (and anyone around me) whilst listening to the track
Some examples are-
-The intro to “On With the Show” on the 1st Motley Crue album (Mick Mars doesn’t completely synch up when double tracking the guitar part)
-The beginning of “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones (Charlie Watts is trying to find the beat and hesitates for a sec, covering it up by making his hi-hat washy)
And countless other flubs like stray voices when recording instrument tracks or slight mistakes in technique
I know lots of other music-philes that share the same love and it becomes like an episode of MST 3k
Rock music is full of such mistakes but I find that electronic music is lacking in such a human element
Obviously, the ...

The issue of the whole “making lists” technique of self improvement boils down to one point
You use the list to separate your job from your time off
The mechanical shit you have to do to keep life moving is your job
It’s not just going to work and getting paid, but your job is also to pay your bills, scheduling Dr’s appointments, making sure your oil gets changed etc…

Your “time off” can be leisure or it can be work
I personally had a fucking blast making my TV show
It was a ton of work but it was the process as much as the praise at the result that mattered
PyroplasticFlow has become a very quickly accelerating situation artistically and is taking a ton of concentration
However, this is all stuff I would glady do
Most important of all, I have learned the value of working for the sake of m...