The weekend Thread

[Eric***]

And yes, I know I look like an idiot because what I'm doing does not match the song that's playing. Which is not to say I wouldn't have looked like an idiot anyhow.

You are completely hilarious in this clip based on the track playing in the background. Way too funny.

[Brian Krashpad]

You are completely hilarious in this clip based on the track playing in the background. Way too funny.

That first batch of live video is from an extremely funky song consisting almost entirely of one chord, called "North Valdosta Road." Everyone else in the band chugs along through it playing the chord as a major chord, and I hit the chord as a 7th sus (or something like that, my theory ain't so hot) and just let it ring, to create a little tension between the two parts and funk it up. But you're right, paired with the schmoove country-folk-rock groove of the song overdubbed, it's hilarious.

It gets a bit better when it goes to the second batch of video, which is from a song called "Color and Dust" (and yes, it scares me a little that I can ID the song with no audio), but if you watch during that part, the other lead guitarist (blond guy next to me) is now playing an acoustic, rather than the lap slide he was playing in the first clip. So the audio over that portion has a slide going, but no one onstage playing slide.

[otaypanky***]

Your band sounds really good

[Brian Krashpad]

Your band sounds really good

Thanks. As noted, the audio of that clip is a studio recording mashed together with live video of us playing other songs.

Ooh, you know what, I just remembered that there's a podcast somewhere that has some of our songs live on it. Lemme see if I can find that.

Edit:

If you go here and go to the very end of the podcast, there is some talking/interview, and 2 songs recorded live. Unlike the studio music above, I know I'm on this recording, as it was not only live, but when our other guitarist, Dana, was out of the country. So any electric guitar you hear (for better or worse, haha, is me):

http://www.thehottamales.com/tsc/Med.../11/TSC11.html

[Brian Krashpad]

SUN: ...

That afternoon I went to the skatepark with my son, got a couple pics I may post tonight.

Finally got round to getting the skate pics.

Jack:







Me:



Can't see it very well, but I gots my Santa Claus/Most Interesting Man in the World white beard goin' on.

[Eric***]

I'll be going camping this weekend. Somewhere up north -- one of my friends recently had her 30th birthday, so this is a camping trip birthday party. It's car camping, so hopefully some beer drinking will be involved with the other outdoor activities.

[Brian Krashpad]

I'll be going camping this weekend. Somewhere up north -- one of my friends recently had her 30th birthday, so this is a camping trip birthday party. It's car camping, so hopefully some beer drinking will be involved with the other outdoor activities.

That sounds great. Hope you'll have good weather.

Unfortunately it's still too hot for camping down here yet. Probably will be for at least another month, maybe longer. I can hardly wait for hoodie weather.

[Spudman***]

Started my weekend on Thursday by paying sunvalleylaw a visit. Did some mountain biking with the boys and then the next morning did a power climb straight up the peak just east of Hailey Idaho.









Sunvalleylaw is in pretty good shape. He rode great on Thursday and then burned me hard on the climb Friday morning. My quads still ache...and yes, beer was involved.

[otaypanky***]

WoW! What scenery Spud!

Brian, aren't you a bit concerned about breaking a wrist or worse on that board? I used to rollerblade a lot mid 90's but always wore protective gear. Between working with my hands and playing guitar I was way too afraid of a mishap to go without

[Robert****]

I am volunteering at a triathlon tomorrow morning, and then on Sunday, I am running Edmonton Marathon. It has been terrible air here though - huge forest fires in B.C. have created very thick smoke, which has drifted into Alberta and now is hanging over Edmonton... it has been very nasty actually. The authorities have advised people to stay inside. I am hoping for rain and clear air on Sunday!

Nice ride, Idahoers! Looks like a fun time!

[Katastrophe]

Nice lookin' ride, Spud & SVL! That sure is pretty country up there.

Robert, will they cancel the marathon if the air is still smoky? Hopefully, it'll clear out in time.


Not much going on at Katastrophe Manor -- Mrs. Kat drove to Katy (about an hour away) to do some school clothes shopping with her mom. It's tax free weekend.

Baby Kat and I are hanging out at the apartment... She's coloring, and I'm here.

[Bloozcat]

That mountainous terrain looks so nice!

The highest elevations here are the county landfills (garbage dumps).

[Brian Krashpad]

WoW! What scenery Spud!

+1!

Brian, aren't you a bit concerned about breaking a wrist or worse on that board? I used to rollerblade a lot mid 90's but always wore protective gear. Between working with my hands and playing guitar I was way too afraid of a mishap to go without

Naw, I prolly should get some wrist guards, but I've never worn any of that stuff. I stay out of the bowl. I go up the ramp, I come back down.

********

Sat: Too wet to do anything outside. Big cleanup inside Casa Krashpad.

Sun: Had a really good day in church yesterday. Played one song in the early service, which is unusual for us. Went off very well, despite playing to the trad people. Then my daughter (she's our bassist) and I and a couple of the rest of the band went to Mickey D's for breakfast during the remainder of the service. Then back for second service, playing 4 songs (one a repeat of the one from first service). Again, the performances were really good. The one we played in both services was an "anthem" meaning the congregation did not sing along.

After getting home for lunch, I managed to get the front yard mowed, and get a huge limb that had fallen dragged off into the side yard. Going through some drama between our daughter and Mrs. K, so I skipped band practice that evening.

Today is first day of school, both for our kids and all the kids in town going to UF.

[Eric***]

I'll be going camping this weekend. Somewhere up north -- one of my friends recently had her 30th birthday, so this is a camping trip birthday party. It's car camping, so hopefully some beer drinking will be involved with the other outdoor activities.

Despite a downpour on Saturday night, camping went well. Packed up in the rain on Sunday morning and came home.

Had some friends over for dinner on Sunday evening, and suddenly the weekend was over. How'd that happen?

[NWBasser]

I am volunteering at a triathlon tomorrow morning, and then on Sunday, I am running Edmonton Marathon. It has been terrible air here though - huge forest fires in B.C. have created very thick smoke, which has drifted into Alberta and now is hanging over Edmonton... it has been very nasty actually. The authorities have advised people to stay inside. I am hoping for rain and clear air on Sunday!

Nice ride, Idahoers! Looks like a fun time!

Hey Robert, I just got back from Banff on the 21st and we had some thick smoke on one of our days up there. On the way back through Salmon Arm, BC it was really thick! Unfortunately, my car's AC which uses the cabin air filter gave up about that time and so we drove through with the windows open. By Vernon, things had cleared up considerably although I still had a rough throat from it.

On a side story, the older son of the family camping next to us at Kootenay Nat. Park is an accomplished classical guitarist. I had brought my beater camping guitar and he played several very nice classical tunes on it. He's a very talented young player and it was quite a treat to hear him play. I'll have to post a link to his Youtube vids for you guys to check out.

[Brian Krashpad]

Nothing Friday night, apart from from crazy crap going down at the end of the day at the office-- when I was "covering" for everyone except the office manager/word processing gal. Ugh.

Saturday: more cleaning at Casa Krashpad during the day, trying to keep it from getting out of hand with the kids back at school and Mrs. K back at work. In the evening we had a last-minute Cinnamon Hill (my "hippie band") practice, moved from our usual spot at the keys player's house, to the guitarist/slide player's studio (he is a photographer and has a separate building next to his house with a nice open room. All the stringed instruments were acoustic, although in some cases also put into the PA. It was a partial practice, with the host, me, our lead singer/rhythm acoustic player, and keys player/singer. So, no rhythm section. Very mellow and a lot of fun. I played some 6, some 12, and some mandolin.

Sunday: long day. Got up early and got ready for church and made a spinach salad for the potluck after church. Then into town for church. La Familia Krashpad was all over the place at the service: my son was the crucifer, my daughter read the New Testament lesson from the lectern up front, and played bass with me up in the choir loft, and of course I played guitar with her and the rest of the band. We only had 2 songs, but both featured some rocking leads so that was fun for me. I was kind of out of breath after the second one, because they were only about 6 or 7 minutes apart in the service, and it gets hot up in the choir loft.

After the service, there was a potluck and barbecue. The church provided hamburgers, hot dogs, and pulled pork BBQ. The members all brought side dishes. Lots of good food, plus the praise band director's oldies band played. To my surprise, my spinach salad got almost entirely eaten, despite that it was relatively healthy and had neither potatoes nor macaroni nor beans in it.

Went home for a couple hours and took a short power nap, then went back into town for more fun. There was a daylong "fest" of like 14 acts in one venue, all doing short 25 minute or so sets, alternating acoustic acts and full bands. It ran pretty smoothly and there were a bunch of people there I knew. One of whom, who I've known for over a decade, didn't recognize me with the full (mostly white) beard I've grown out since our beach vacation a month or so ago. I have better pics I may post later, but in the meantime here's a couple my friend Phred shot with his cellphone:

My friend Rob's band (he played in two bands that day), Company Man (he's on lefty guitar):



My friend Tom (bass/vox) and Chuck (vox/guitar) in their band Righteous Kind:



And you?

[Eric***]

Friday: went to the jam/band practice I've been doing the last few weeks. We played "All Right Now" by free about 25 times. Urgh. I think I've got about 90% of the solo down, which is pretty cool.

Saturday: dinked around at home in the morning, and started changing strings on my Godin, since I broke one at church music practice on Thursday. Went to help a friend move around noon; he's getting married and moved into a new apt. Moving's never too great, but it was good weather, which is about all I could ask. That evening, we went to a party hosted by someone my wife knows that night. Kind of boring, but I found a couple of interesting people there.

Sunday: went to church in the morning, played both services. Had a couple of chances to put in some solos and leads, which was cool. Unfortunately, I didn't know ahead of time, so I had to make up something while there and didn't turn on the boost as a result of my lack of confidence. Finally talked the sound guys into doing a headphone monitoring system for the bass and electric guitars, but we'll see where that goes. The one personal monitor we have (Samson S-monitor) isn't made any more, so we'll have to find some suitable substitutes.

Went over to the WL's house afterward for a lunch with the team, came home, napped, then went to real church in the evening. Went to a bar with my wife afterward and talked until it was too late, went home, went to bed.

Is it Monday already?

[Brian Krashpad]

Eric-- you didn't know you had solos until the service itself? Was a practice missed or something?

Also, for non-church or foreign peeps-- "WL" = "worship leader," I'm guessing.

At our church, I usually use "PBL" (Praise Band Leader) and "MD" (Music Director), since at any given moment either can be leading worship. In our church the MD does the "traditional" side: organ, choir, and hand-bell choir. The PBL does our band.

[Eric***]

Eric-- you didn't know you had solos until the service itself? Was a practice missed or something?

It's more like we skipped through the song with the "instrumental" (i.e. repeated chorus with no vocals) during the normal practice time, so I forgot there was an empty spot in the song until Sunday morning during the run-through.

I certainly didn't have to play anything in that spot, and considering I wasn't loud enough for anyone other than the drummer to hear my quasi-pentatonic wanking, it's as though I didn't do anything.

It's a mildly frustrating part of the experience right now, in that there's very little notification of songs beforehand or time to really go through things during practice, so if you want to do something other than chord bashing, you have to guess what will be played or get really good at improvising. It's OK though. Could be better, but far from bad.