7.29.07

On November 30th, 1999 there was scheduled to be a huge World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. This would start a new round of trade talks which was to be a huge step in globalization. The WTO talks were quickly overshadowed by the largest globalization-protest in america. There was an estimated 40,000 people who showed for this. The protest was initiated by a small anarchist group from Eugene, Oregon.

I found some neat YOUTUBE videos from the protest. Here is one of them.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SX35re580ew

7.24.07

i've been working on a bunch of new songs for a solo record and it's going well. i bought a new classical guitar to write on, and i like it. i wasn't totally in love with the tone of it, until i realized it was tuned an entire step down. Now that i've brought the guitar up to it's intended pitch, it sounds incredible. The best part is that i only paid 200 bones for it.

I've been wanting to use really thick reverb on vocals for a long time, but i could'nt get the reverb to be dark enough. I've always had a problem with the SSSSS's in my voice. If i'm going for that huge vocal reverb sound, i'd always hear the SSSSS's reverberating and it sounds very cheap and digital. So basically what i do now is after i record a vocal track, i create a duplicate of that track. So i have 2 tracks of exactly the same vocal. i take the 2nd vocal track and turn the hi's way down. I add reverb to that track only. I leave the first track dry(no reverd)That way, you hear the presence and clarity of the original track, and the only thing that is reverberated is the warmth of the voice.

7.13.07

I just got home from tour, and i'm totally exausted. i wish i would have kept a better journal on this tour. It's impossible to encapsulate all that happened on this tour, so i've decided to make some lists of notable experiences. One list for the high points and one for low points.

High Points:

1. Playing Abeliene and making some new great friends(Dustin, Grant) seeing some old ones(Dax) and getting a bunch of free books(Thanks Grant).
2. Beach Days(virginia beach, turkey creek, and destin florida)
3. Camping trip with james monaco, making hot dogs, making smores and making bad jokes.
4. Meeting the incredibly generous multi-millionaire Paige Jenkins, who later invited all 12 of us to stay at her house and throwing a lavish pool party that lasted until 6 in the morining.
5. The pickel Barrel (http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=14961886)
6. Sick dance party in coby's garage in rural central Ohio.
7. Watching White Cross at cornerstone. "All the People! In the City! living in Sin! Such a PITY!!!"

Low Points:

1. Held up at gun point in kansas city, infinitely sucked, but hey...no gunshot wounds.
2. Upon arriving at a party in denton texas, saw a young man get ferociously stabbed in the stomach. We promptly left with no idea of why it happened and if he survived.
3. Axle on the trailer broke, and the tires of the trailer squeeled and smoked in the wheel wells of our rented Uhaul. Subsequently we got free hotel rooms from Uhaul on account of renting us a 1970's rusted peice of shit. So it was a low point, with a high point resolution.
4. Air Conditioning in the van broke.

So that's 7 good, and 4 bad. Not bad at all.

Thanks to state bird, and to the winston Jazz routine. I hope i get to tour with these bands again. great players and great guys.