Views Of Texas

Waveforms

2012-01-27T02:04:00.003-06:00

A little thin on the blogging this week--sorry.

Here's A Beautiful Mess's new singer Natalie Rose at the GRC in Kerrville last Saturday:
She's overcoming her shyness and kicking serious ass on the vocals. Just an amazing talent, and I really hope my experience and skills can help advance her career.

Towards that goal, and also to advance my own career with The Televators and whoever else I might work with, I've started assembling a new home recording studio.

Dipped my toes in the pool with some freeware, and found that it's almost as easy to use as the obsolete multi-track tape machine I retired over 15 years ago:
It's a damn good thing that the computer Buz and I finished building a few months ago meets the minimum sys-req's for the latest entry-level digital studio software, because I'll be loading a Cubase® system on it tomorrow and will need to start recording ASAP.
Tonight the Televators worked on a song we (mostly me...) wrote three weeks ago and I spent some time operating our guitarist's ProTools to get my ankles wet.

The eventual goal is to be able to strike while the iron is hot and record new musical ideas as soon as they come. The added benefit is not taking up valuable full-band rehearsal/recording time that's already at a premium. We can record the whole group basic tracks together, then go our separate ways to re-write and refine and re-record our own parts individually like all the big rock stars are supposed to be doing these days.
It's a steep learning curve for me when you consider that I started in this business back when companies were trying to replace tubes with transistors, but every time I get cranky it helps me to remember the time a few years back when I didn't get to mix my old band BLISS in HemisFair Plaza opening for KC & the Sunshine Band.
The soundman had a new (at the time) Yamaha digital mixing board and I didn't have a clue how to operate it. Hardly any knobs. Kinda humiliating.
But I know good sound, and look forward to mastering the new technologies. Don't want to be denied many more times, especially when it comes to Natalie Rose and A Beautiful Mess, who are kicking it pretty hard right now and deserve the best I can give them.

Scanning Fender Guitars

2012-01-18T02:22:00.006-06:00

From a Polaroid SX70 SLR:
My first bass--should have kept it!
After I had been playing guitar for about a year and expressed interest in trying bass too, mom asked my teacher if it was a good idea. He said that I was "a natural" and that exposure to more instruments could only benefit so she bought this bass from her hairdresser for $100 including the tweed hard-shell case.
It's a 1962 Fender Precision Bass, which turned out to be such a popular combination of woods, finish, and dimensions that Fender periodically produces modern clones that retail for over a grand.

At the time I got her, it was a beat-to-crap 14 year old bass that was probably only worth $300 if you included the case, so mom made a steal.
I thought it a cool coincidence that my new bass was made the same year I was born.
I got the wiring fixed, put on a set of RotoSound SwingBass strings to replace the dull flatwounds, and learned how to lay down a groove.
I also learned how to get my Geddy Lee and Chris Squire on.
It was badass.

Unfortunately, I had to justify the purchase by doubling the length of my guitar lessons to fit sight-reading in bass clef plus technique tips, and drag two heavy axes up the long set of stairs to my teacher's studio.
(Soon after we added classical guitar to the list, but thankfully I was allowed to use my electric so only an extra lesson book was added to my burden if you don't count the time--and to this day I have never owned an acoustic guitar).

Once I joined a "real" band and started playing bars at age 18 it was time to get my stage rig in order, so to finance my first echo unit I let the Precision go for $500. Not a bad profit, considering how little I had spent besides my time getting her in fighting form.
At the time, vintage Fenders had just started to rise in value due to the perceived degradation of the brand after it had been bought by CBS. Musicians (and apparently the Japanese collectors) had finally figured out the mojo living in the '50s and early '60s American instruments.

Of course I miss the old girl.
I learned all about the bass on probably the single best make and model and year there ever was. Nothing beats a Fender Precision--they are copied by everyone from cheap beginner models to boutique builders plus Fender American-made models (and Custom Shop), Made in Mexico ones using USA parts, and the Squier brand that uses overseas factories to produce some really fine and affordable versions.

There are a lot of producers that will insist you use their personal favorite or a rental if you don't bring a good one to a recording session, because the "Pbass" is really the standard of the industry, and has been since the mid 1950s when it was the first successful design that electrified bass and allowed musicians enough room in their cars to carry more than 3 people and a change of socks. Those big old double basses were a pain in the ass, and rightfully earned the nickname "doghouse".

Don't own anything remotely like a Precision right now, but I have a set of specs written down somewhere detailing a variation that would suit me right down to my toes. Maybe someday...

Maybe fifteen years ago I was in a guitar store in Houston and saw what could have been her twin going for $6400 and the prices were still rising fast for the next few years.
I refuse to look at eBay results in case it might make me even sadder, but it's really not about the money--I just miss an old friend that was special. Hopefully my bass has eventually found a home with someone who really appreciates how great it is and can make some good music with her.

This is a Fender Stratocaster I painted and tweaked in the early 1990s:
Sanded down the body and sprayed it white with rattle-cans and clear coats. Since it was a 1970s CBS Fender I didn't refuse what might have been sacrilege on a better instrument.
The knobs and pickup covers got some dayglo action, but the pickguard was the main focus.
I did this job when my brother and I owned a unique screen-printing company that specialized in everything BUT T-shirts. We took pride in finding a way to get a print onto materials and shapes that still confound the so-called experts.

I made the "splashes" by dipping tongue depressors we used for stirring into thinned custom blends of ink, then blasting fine droplets onto the pickguard with a burst of compressed air.
The technique worked so well I decorated a model rocket the same way.

Both projects got lots of attention at the time and gave me a bit of a reputation, but that particular look is dated and silly by today's standards.
But by doing the unexpected in a creative and competent way, I managed to impress the right people and get pulled into a very successful band as their new soundman.
Funny how that kind of thing happens.
Right place, right time.

Old vs New At The Stafford Centre

2012-01-14T23:13:00.009-06:00

The Stafford Centre (in Stafford Texas, just southwest of Houston) is a very nice and modern facility for concerts, conventions, etc.
It was country music legend Ray Price's birthday (87 ?) and we opened the show with a 45 minute set.

The hall seats around 1400 (sold out, and the tix weren't cheap), so this is merely a rear corner view:
All the abstract angles and projections aren't just for looks--they come from computer simulations on the behavior of soundwaves in the space, to tame reverberations and keep the frequency response consistent in as many seats as possible. Rooms like these aren't boomy or muddy, and the people in the back can hear just as well as those in the middle.

Keeping with the theme of professionalism, the stocked mini-fridge in A Beautiful Mess's dressing room even had a bottle opener stuck to the side for our beers.

You always see these round unfrosted bulbs surrounding dressing room mirrors in the movies, even though they aren't much help. Tradition I suppose.

If you look closely, the trash can is labeled "stage left". The yellow floor stencil says "DO NOT BLOCK" because there's an exit door behind the can.
It made us happy to load our gear in and out of Exit Stage Left.

I should have taken a picture of the other stencils that said something about a drop zone and had skulls--if the counter-weights that let you move light trusses easily were to fall, these marked the landing zone where you shouldn't stand unless you have a death wish.

Big acoustic basses weren't loud enough once guitars and vocals got amplification, and were a pain in the ass to transport. That's why Leo Fender designed the first successful electric bass in the early '50s.
I never had any desire to play one of these monsters, and I don't much care for the sound either.

This is more to my taste, whether I'm playing bass or doing sound.

Natalie Rose and A Beautiful Mess cranking it out, featuring Steve Gonzalez.

We weren't allowed to fully present our own hard-hitting modern electric sound lest we offend the grey-hairs and fatigue their hearing before Mr. Price's much more organic and subtle acoustic presentation. I whole-heartedly concurred (which surprised more than a few people) and in fact had already reached the same conclusion long before seeing all of the extra violin players reading sheet music during their soundcheck.
Gotta do what's right in each situation. Bad soundmen have egos and agendas unrelated to right now.
ABM + Nat Rose get to hit it as hard as we feel appropriate at OUR shows, and that's as it should be.

So with zero conflict or drama--total cooperation all around--I'm still wondering why we suddenly lost the wonderful monitor mix established during soundcheck in the middle of our first song.
Nobody in the band could hear Natalie onstage well enough, then her monitors came back too loud and we had feedback twice-3 times, and the boys never got back what they needed.
I raised an extremely polite version of hell twice with no results, but we played on like the professionals we are and won an encore + standing ovation, so nobody cares much anymore besides me.

I've never screwed an opening act and never will, but it's a long standing tradition among the insecure and small-minded in this business. I'm sure anyone with a job has been sabotaged before, so you understand.

Meeting the fans and selling product in the lobby afterwards.

I had just finished the mixing board shot in my last post and was skipping down the stairs (yeah right) when The Legend himself passed before me on the way to his own exponentially bigger autograph and merchandise fan session:
Following in such a talented and successful man's footsteps is a humbling experience, even when just trying to steal a photo let alone forge a new career. I was a little freaked out getting this shot, remembering all the times I saw RP on Hee-Haw etc.

Country music will never be the same as I remember hearing it on AM radios back in the good old days, but at least it's still healthy and will survive in one form or another.

A Tired Mess

2012-01-14T05:11:00.003-06:00

It's been a long and busy week.
Have driven across a fair piece of Texas in the last 48 hours and not quite done with it.
I'm satisfied with just working again, but when the work is also this nice I have to give thanks and pray that the rest of 2012 is much more of the same.

Going from gas station sandwiches for breakfast to gourmet catered backstage grub for supper was a bit of a shock at first, but I can get used to the good life pretty quick and act like it's no big deal.

More to come...

The Future Of Country Music?

2012-01-08T04:28:00.005-06:00

My band A Beautiful Mess is playing again, with our long-awaited new singer:
After months of listening to the guys talk her up (I'm going to drive all the way to Converse for practice sessions where I'll have nothing constructive to do??) it turns out to be true: Natalie Rose is the real deal.
Maybe I can get her to name the second album with all the big hits Views Of Texas...and mention me at the CMAs?

We chose a delightful honky-tonk/restaurant in the blink/miss town of Belmont TX for our first shakedown gig. Low pressure, a built-in crowd of locals, and not much money at stake so no hard feelings if things don't go well.

It's a band of seasoned professionals, so the music and sound are guaranteed.
We were just giving young Miss Rose a taste of our loud rock-style guitars and drums, bright lights, and a soundman who will take good care of her.

She took it in stride, and won over the crowd right away.
I can practically smell natural talent, and she's home-baked bread and bacon.

One of maybe 6 buildings in town.
I can recommend the Belmont Social Club if you want a $23 steak dinner or $12 burger plate in the sticks somewhere between Seguin and Gonzalez, right by the intersection of Alt90 and 80. The food looked and smelled amazing. It's a BIG two room place that didn't have a single seat to spare, which is really saying something at those prices. My big city cynicism asks if it may just be the only decent meal within 40 miles, but what the hell do I know about Belmont Texas?

Speaking of prices...
Our next show will be at The Stafford Centre near Houston next Thursday, opening for country legend Ray Price.

It's Ray's birthday, so come out and show some love for someone who's seriously owned every stage including the Grand Old Opry and every roadhouse between Atlanta and Bakersfield.

From what I hear, the production company's liason was a little condescending, explaining in agonizing detail what we need to bring versus what is provided, in specificity, ad nauseum.
Our representative smiled at his phone and maintained a respectful demeanor and even resisted the urge to drop the classic "This ain't our first rodeo" line.
His text to me took 99% less time to deliver: "We bring backline--hotel rooms provided".
("Backline" = Our own guitars, basses, amplifiers/pedalboards, and drums).

Just because our singer is 17 doesn't mean the rest of us are.

But this isn't Natalie's first rodeo, either. She's done some big shows before meeting us.
Deliver the goods, she will.

2011 Wrapped Up

2011-12-30T01:56:00.003-06:00

This was our Christmas Card photo:
Sylvia felt strongly about it, but I'm keeping my choice private in case it's needed in the future.

This one was probably #3, but would have required a return trip earlier in the evening and on a partly cloudy day to fill-in the black sky top-right:

Christmas trees are kinda cool in infrared:

A photo from the last Televators show:
Wish I could remember the photographer's name to give him proper credit, but it's my opinion that pics of me given to my band are fair game for blogging.
Bet he's as mystified as I am by club owner's lighting choices--they're like crows and ferrets fascinated by bright and shiny highlights moving around.

Here's my personal favorite from the Tennessee trip:
Nothing special--guess I just like the view. Means something to me.

For a change I tried staying "in the moment" this Christmas instead of looking for photo-ops, and concentrated on prep and hosting during our party.
It was a bit of a relief at the time although I kind of miss not getting anything worth sharing, now that I look back.

2011 Christmas Card Search

2011-12-24T04:00:00.004-06:00

I know some of you look forward to this particular yearly tradition here at Views Of Texas. It's a favorite of mine, too.
With my wider usage of Facebook in 2011 I'm a little more in-touch with friends and family than in years past, and have been surprised and touched by how many people have mentioned that they keep and maybe even frame my card photos. Thanks for the extra pressure y'all--as if I wasn't stressing hard enough already!

Between my trip to Tennessee and learning songs for the Televators show two weeks ago, there wasn't a lot of time to look for likely candidates. Add all the recent rain and recording studio sessions to that, and we managed exactly ONE photo excursion. A record low if your mathematical savvy is limited to "more = better". Fortunately I was working fast and smart, with few mistakes.

We went downtown on December 6th, and it was more than a little breezy with temps in the low 40s or maybe even less. I was wearing flannel sleep pants under my jeans and several layers on top plus scarf and hat. Syl and I were both toasty-warm most of the time, but in order to manipulate camera buttons and tripod parts I only had a fingerless biker glove on my right hand so the tips were frozen solid. I need one oversized mitten every December.

We started on the Riverwalk, mainly because this is the first year with the new LED lights.
Most locals hate them. A LOT.
Personally, I think the old lights which were draped over the top of the big trees looked pretty, but didn't illuminate the trees themselves all that well so it was rather a jumbled mess of colors in vertical lines. Boring, and random. At least now you can see the shape of the trees.
Part of the problem might also be the colors.
Before, there was mostly red, green, and yellow bulbs. Mostly blue now.
I'm not going to comment on the digital camera white-balance issues with LEDs--saving that for the CFL discussion when the USA finally tries to outlaw tungsten lightbulbs.

There weren't many people getting in my shots due to the cold, and the long shutter speeds usually made them all but invisible so long as they kept moving. Sylvia yelled out "Free beer at MadDog's" once to unclot a major artery, though. I'm a lucky man.
Hated the big illuminated H E B in front of the Alamo tree. A classic case of a sponsor crossing the line far enough to shoot themselves in the foot. We truly love HEB as a store, company, and local patron of all good causes but whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be busted back down to grocery bagger.

I do a new "Rivets" shot every single time I'm on the Presa street bridge. Looks like a new paint job--very smooth. Went for focus on the distance rather than the near rivets this time, and like it a lot. 45 seconds well spent, then moving right along to the next photo-op which will probably include one of the little arched footbridges over the San Antonio River. Sometimes a theme becomes apparent after-the-fact.

Someday, this view will be perfected.
I liked it a lot last year (or was it 2009?).
All I know is that it makes a really nice wallpaper on my new Dell widescreen monitor.

The newspaper recently ran a story about how squirrels are chewing through the wires on our new lights, among other failures including overwhelmingly negative public reaction.
The original plan was to remove the bottom 10 feet or so in January but leave the rest of the strings up all year, but that's just wishful thinking now. They finally realized that the old lights draped over the canopy were out on the fringes of rodent territory. The new ones are speed bumps on squirrel highway--I bet they're chewing on them for the same reason that I want to set fire to the big annoying rubber speed bumps in my neighborhood.

During our final choice card photo's long exposure, a cranky old grammity stopped and asked "Do you live here? Do you like these new lights?"
When advised that yes we actually do, she replied "Not me--I hate 'em! I miss the old dingley dangles."

There's a joke in there somewhere...

December Miscellany

2011-12-23T00:04:00.004-06:00

Went to a fine Christmas party, but only took one picture, and it was in the bathroom:
Wonder if anyone noticed a big flash in the gap under the door?
Sometimes I would rather drink and play with fire than take pictures.

Spotted at Target:

Doing yard work, I discovered that someone's been camping in our alley:
Five blankets/comforters, two pillows, and 2 books--'Garfield's 30th Book' and 'The Biggest Loser Calorie Counting Guide'.
When I tell this story, the reactions are evenly divided by gender.
Every woman says "How sad" and every man gets a little annoyed that there was a bum right behind my house for who knows how long.

With several weeks of regular rain the campsite was a soggy filthy useless mess, so I filled up our trash receptacle and it's long gone.

Remember this post from last year?
We finally know what the steam engine looks like with all it's lights:

I had forgotten all about this:
They contacted me a few years ago and asked permission to use my photo, which was nice considering how many times I find my work on sites that never asked and don't give me credit.
If you click on the pic it goes to that image on my Flickr pages, which is why I remembered. Trimming the fat, I was about to delete it.

Memphis Bonus

2011-12-19T00:45:00.004-06:00

Our cousin Bruce in Memphis is an extraordinary man--something we've always known.
We were shocked and delighted that time in the '70s when he showed up at our door with no warning just before Christmas, having hitched rides from Tennessee to upstate New York during a blizzard.

When he had a kidney removed, our mom sent him this plant:
That was 40 years ago, and he's kept it alive and well since then. Our mom was as special to him as his mom is to us, but I was amazed at his dedication and got a little misty eyed.

Then he brought out some treasures that left all three of us choked-up:
The shotgun on the left is a Browning Auto-5 12 gauge semi-auto made in 1950. On the right is a commercial German Mauser 98K that was re-barrelled for the .22-250 varmint cartridge in the early 1960s.

These were my father's guns.
Just...Oh My.

Dad had left them with our uncle Jim so they would be there whenever he might find himself near that part of Tennessee and have a day to spare for hunting. One of the perks of being a pilot in the USAF back then is a certain amount of flight time under your own control if you knew how to massage the paperwork.
When uncle Jim died Bruce took it upon himself to safeguard these pieces of our heritage and return them to us.

As we took the shotgun apart a few days ago there was another misty-eyed moment when we found our father's initials engraved upon a hidden piece of steel by his own hand.
I'm not taking apart the rifle any time soon, but when I do it will be with an eye peeled for fingerprints because I'm pretty sure the last person to handle what's hidden inside the walnut stock was dear old dad.

Three or 4 years after he went missing in action in 1966, my mom got rid of his guns. The collection of firearms, ammo, and reloading gear was so heavy it collapsed the legs on the pool table in our garage.
Only one, a military surplus Springfield M1903A3 that he was in the process of turning into a Texas-style deer rifle survived, stashed deep inside a trunk in the basement--but I pretty much finished that project back in the 1990s. It was something, but the loss the rest of the collection was one of those things that has always chewed on my guts every time I thought about it.

Having these fine pieces suddenly show up again is beyond my wildest dreams--it's hard to find the words to express how much it means to me.

Back in 2008 I shot this photo called "The Duck Hunter" while testing some then-new flash gear, and really liked it:
The bird book was the oldest thing in the picture, from 1936 I think, but it had a satisfyingly vintage feel overall.

A few days ago I re-shot it with my father's shotgun, and even managed to find the same page:

Memphis

2011-12-14T23:53:00.004-06:00

After a short but excellent time in Clarksville, we headed west to Memphis where a fourth cousin lives. He put us up for the night, then took us on a tour of his company followed by a trip to Beale Street and other downtown sights.

Former home of those bastard Grizzlies, the pyramid is being gutted and will soon be a Bass Pro Shop. No shit!

Ken and I on the banks of the Mississippi River, a stone's throw from Cybil Shepard's townhome.

The famous Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King met his untimely end.

On Beale St.

Rudy Gay banner on the parking garage at the FedEx Forum, new home of the Grizzlies.

Elvis stencil graffiti.

We also went to the Peabody Hotel, where those famous ducks live on the roof then ride the elevator down to splash in a lobby fountain with the turtles.

Intermission

2011-12-10T00:54:00.003-06:00

Been working my ass off learning songs for tonight's show.
Televators will be at Hot Tin Roof Saturday December 10th @ 10pm.
(Southeast-bound IH10 access road between Callaghan and 410--was Mama's back in the day)

We're going to be kind of loose in spots, but it's a very solid band.
A lot of our song choices might surprise you, but I think you'll like the way we interpret them. Still bummed that I couldn't get any Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb stuff in the mix, but maybe next time...

televatorsband.com

You can hear our original songs there, and sign up for free crap.
Hope to see you there.
No shots, please--I have a million notes to remember, and they have to be in the proper order.

*****UPDATE*****

The show went better than I expected--there were people who knew our original songs, and the way we played many of our covers went over really well.

This is the rarest of photos--me singing.
I'm a team player, and happened to have a mic...
The song was Hashpipe.

In response to the exclusion of RUSH yet again in this year's crop of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we played the 2112 Overture + Temples Of Syrinx.
At the end, someone in the crowd shouted "Play the whole fucking thing!!" and I think that's possible with this band.
To confuse the nosy, it was the 1812 Overture on our setlists.
Kind of wild that in just a few weeks (plus a century) it'll actually BE 2112.

And here's the actual setlist from my very first paid gig that didn't involve a garage and someone's parents on vacation:
Note that the 4th set was listed as simply "2112". We played the entire 1st side of that album as well as we could. History repeats, eventually. Sounded a LOT better tonight.
Lots of other great classic tunes on that list...

Made It!

2011-12-08T23:45:00.003-06:00

After an agonizing morning spent on the foggy backroads, we were finally in familiar territory, although with 20 years worth of changes.

A convenience store on the last corner was a bit of a shock, so it was comforting to see that the driveway we were looking for was the same as it had been all our lives:

Likewise the house that holds so many memories:

It was a great visit--I only wish we could have stayed longer.
Got to visit with our aunt and three of the cousins on Thanksgiving day and part of Friday, along with new (to us) extended family. You can see how happy we were just being there:

The crops and cows and chickens are long gone since there aren't as many mouths to feed these days, but evidence remains:

When we were kids, this barbed wire was loosely wrapped around a much smaller tree:
It marked the end of the homestead, and the beginning of the wilderness where only us kids bothered to venture.
Lean-to campouts, the springs and the caves, running with the dogs, swinging on vines, being immersed in nature and family...it was our playground.

Homeward Bound

2011-12-01T23:57:00.003-06:00

Rather last-minute, my brother and I drove to Clarksville Tennessee for Thanksgiving.
We grew up in San Antonio and upstate New York, but no matter where we were living our true second home was always in the woods along the Cumberland River.
For a month at a time in the summers, or when life was handing us lemons, that's where we went to reconnect with family and the earth.
Our uncle schooled us in hunting and fishing, taking our late father's place.
The herd of cousins (all older than me) schooled us in smoking, rock albums, sneaking out, and according to the stories--playing doctor.
We were tight, and it was a shame that Ken and I hadn't managed to go back in 20 years.
Mainly we went to see our aunt.
Words can't describe what she means to us.

The drive up was rough.
18 hours non-stop.

Gridlock in Austin, of course:

Same thing in Belton or Round Rock or whatever:

Not too bad in Salado, but that probably didn't last long:
In fact, it was stop-and-go from Austin to Waco.
NEVER drive IH35 on the day before Thanksgiving if you can help it.
Always heard it was bad, but this was my first time.
Wow.

Once we could open it up, the miles flew by fairly quick.
Here's the rented Mazda 3 at a pitstop somewhere in west Arkansas:
Nice little car.
Fast, with nimble handling in the twisty back roads later in the trip.
35 mpg--a big help.

Crossing the Mississippi River into Memphis--the beginning of the end:
Had I not been driving, could have messed with the GPS app on my phone to find a better route for the home stretch. As it was, we spent a lot of extra time going 30 mph through small towns and hitting tons of red lights and stop signs.
Lesson learned, and I managed to improve the results on the way home somewhat although the final tweak wasn't made until just before navigation went back to big signs over the highway. That's what we deserved for not even bringing a map.

I had never used any kind of GPS before, and at times it was wonderful.
Even bombing down IH35 on the way home it was cool to have a constantly updated ETA.
Just should have practiced with it before leaving to learn the quirks and traps of a free phone app.

More to come...

Back In Texas, I'm Number Two

2011-11-29T00:09:00.006-06:00

Our Thanksgiving trip entailed a ton of driving and other stuff, which I'll detail soon.
I averaged maybe 4 hours of sleep per day, with long stretches of none.
So imagine my delight at having to serve jury duty on my first full day back.

The Bexar County Courthouse is great, as are the people who run things.
No complaints there.
It was just the idea of getting up really early and off-schedule yet again, then sitting on my tired old butt for another full day that made me sad.

After 2.5 hours of boredom I was trying to keep from snoring when the guy next to me started a conversation about my book.
Terrific--a new best friend. Just what I need.
He had never heard of author Elmore Leonard (Seriously? Must be a heavy rock you live under) so I opened up to the page with "Also By..." and pointed out the ones made into movies like 'Mr. Majestyk' and 'Get Shorty', among others.
Right then the bailiff started the first real action of our day by announcing that they were assembling two 20-person jury pools who would meet in the hallway.

Mi amigo kept talking at me, so I almost missed it when my name was just the 2nd one called that day.
Wow--a huge surprise. So soon!?!
Also a mixed blessing--easy instant escape from Lenny Chunkbutt, but what if I end up on a long trial that jacks my entire holiday plans?

So the 40 of us line up in order out in the hallway (I'm still #2, hehe) and it's explained to us that we've been selected to provide two juries for 2 different courtrooms...pause...pause...BUT that because the threat of a actual jury trial has come along this far, both sides have suddenly settled.
Sweet relief on the part of everyone.
As soon as we can trade our juror badges for a card certifying that we've fulfilled our obligations, every man woman and idiot among us is free to go. Again, I was #2.
I liked the part where they said "...you can go to work or back to bed. Your boss has no way of knowing you got off so early".
Like I said, the folks who run things at the courthouse are great.
Funny, honest, friendly, helpful--typical San Antonians.

I was starting my truck for home by 11 AM, and am looking forward to spending my $6 check on beer once it arrives.

Want to point out that I really did enjoy the educational aspects, and was honored to participate in our court system yet again.
The only reason I sound at all cranky was that I've been living on a 3rd shift kind of schedule for most of my life so mornings aren't my strong suit by a long shot, especially when I'm completely wiped-out from the previous week of hard travel and minimal sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T21:01:00.001-06:00

Hope all my readers have a nice holiday this week.
I'll be on the road, so check back next week to see for yourself where I've been.

SA Rock and/or Rolls Marathon

2011-11-20T03:52:00.001-06:00

Wow--the new blogger interface doesn't work worth a crap with our more advanced browsers. Bet it shines out like a shaft of gold with Internut Exploder. Please excuse the wonkiness and crowded writing. Apparently all the Blogger lessons I've learned are "out" and it's going to take me some time to figure out how to make this supposedly easy interface work properly. Sylvia did the SA Rock And Roll Marathon for the fourth straight year last Sunday, and of course I'm proud of her. After treating the first two like advanced classes in shootting crowds and sports and then missing 2010's, I decided to concentrate on my job re: bringing fresh clothes and a ride home. Still managed to take some pics. Two days prior, all the runners we know met for a carb-loading party. The biggest hit was this cake:

If you ever need one of these fancy theme cakes like you might see on TV, contact me and we'll hook you up with the designer/baker. She's just starting her business and does great work. Deliciousness!

Waiting for your runner after the finish line is torture. A million sweaty people wandering about and breathing hard (me included). A dude puked right in front of me, but I got off lucky with that. Another runner died not too far away at the same time. Some people want to blame the organizers but hell, you're running in South Texas which can hit 100F on any day of the year. It was a humid 80F at the time, which isn't all that bad. It's a shame that he died, but the odds of it happening during a marathon are 1 in 50,000 so it's not exactly rare and the organizers do the best they can.
Imagine my surprise seeing these guys playing the main stage. I was their soundman for many years, yet never got a call for this gig. Screw 'em. Would have turned them down anyway, so no harm done.

After the lost child announcements, they re-started Metallica's Enter Sandman, and a metal couple of marathoners (sp?) had enough gas left in the tank to mosh around. Nice.

It's ironic that Vince Neil's drunk bloated ass was headlining this healthy and fit event. I would have loved to be in his hotel hallway an hour prior, since most guys like him have zero direct experience in the concept of 11AM. Never saw Motley Crue live unfortunately, but I dig a bunch of their songs. Mick Mars is a great guitarist, and Tommy Lee kicks ass despite his retardation and compulsion to suck whoever's ass is considered "cool" at any given time. Nikki Sixx is a cromulent bassist and slightly above-average heavy rock songwriter. And then there's Vince... His autobiography is a fun and wicked read, though. That's Dana Strum on bass, and the other guys from Slaughter in Vince's band, BTW. Here's Sylvia's medal:

They get better every year. I like how they used the bell tower from Mission Espada.

Veteran's Day 2011

2011-11-10T23:29:00.004-06:00

I'm very proud of my father's Distinguished Flying Cross and his Air Medal (awarded 5 times) but I can think of none more meaningful than the Purple Heart.
Skill and daring are wonderful things, but sacrifice is the essence of military service.

Just Checking In

2011-11-09T00:12:00.005-06:00

Hmmm...what's new?

After the show, I took off the strings and gave my 4-string bass a good cleaning.
Rosewood fretboards like some lemon oil every year or so--otherwise they get too dry and might crack.
Under the strings around the pickups there's usually a LOT of what looks like dust, but is mostly skin cells and (if you're playing it hard enough) pulverized pick.
Not going to clean the other bass until I get new strings for it. Taking off 8 strings and putting them back on is a royal pain.

Halloween went well enough.
The kids started coming before dark, so the early-birds missed the fire and smoke and lights.
We only had 45 tricksters, which is a tie for the lowest since I've been keeping records.
Only 1 teenager got TacoBell sauce, and two little ones managed to fall down on our porch.
I had some photos, but accidentally deleted them from my CF card, thinking they were already on the PC. No great loss.

It rained just enough on Monday for the roads to be as slick as goose poop.
Some guy in his 20's driving a nice new-ish Dodge Charger didn't look and pulled-out 30 feet in front of me, then stopped.
I hit the brakes and started sliding, and he put it in reverse and spun his wheels to no effect.
Time slowed way down until the impact with his front fender, which wasn't enough to move his car more than a couple inches.
We cleared the street (something everyone should do--the cops aren't going to be reconstructing anything unless there's a fatality, so get the hell out of everyone's way!) and surveyed the "damage".
He was all "That dent was already there, and this scratch is no big deal".
I took that as a good sign and said (in my jolliest voice): "Let's look at mine!"
Then: "I got nothing. Wanna call it good, and be on our way?"
With that we shook hands and took off, which is NICE.

Some people get too wrapped up in procedures to look at the big picture.
The police probably had 250+ minor accidents to deal with that day, which would mean at least a 45 minute wait, and the "damage" was below any possible deductible, so what's the point?
Live and learn--he's sure to look both ways from now on, and I'll continue to be a perfect driver who's only accidents are someone else's fault. Or something like that.
My neck DOES kinda hurt a little...

Ever try to sign a little girl out of school when the relevant paperwork has been misplaced? Not so easy in this day and age. Adventures in babysitting. The whole time we waited, the kid was begging for my phone so she could play Angry Birds, then they finally tracked-down mommy in Las Vegas. Verbal permission isn't really kosher, but apparently I was so calm and patient and understanding (compared to A-hole parents?) that a correct judgment call was made in my favor.
Here's my little nugget Jada 6 years ago:
They grow up so fast, or so I've heard.

My new band has a show coming up in December so I'll be busy learning more songs for that, plus we're recording a Christmas Carol spoof I first wrote about 15 years ago. I'll post a link when it's done.

The Televators

2011-10-31T02:02:00.003-05:00

To make clear what I was talking about in my last post, I joined a band two weeks ago and we played the KISS FM Halloween Party last night in the parking lot behind Nice Rack on Console Dr.
Formerly Galaxy Billiards, in the IH10/Wurzbach area.

It was kinda cold--the fingers didn't respond to half-hearted commands but for the most part my playing was good enough. I only got lost maybe three times and that's not too bad considering how many new songs I had to learn on short notice, with only ONE rehearsal!!

My thanks to Buz for the loan of his super awesome bass amp rig. Despite being in storage for years, everything worked to perfection.

Seven months ago I was at my lowest weight in decades, but things change.
It's a delicate balancing act to get your instrument low enough to look cool while also hiding a fat belly. I failed on both counts.
That's Becky (Bex) on vocals, Jaime Flores on drums, and David McCall on guitar.
We all go way back to my days running sound for The Hitmen, which is how KISS FM mistakenly billed us on radio ads for the show--yet one more humiliating aspect of the last week I'm trying hard to forget.

George and Martha Washington danced to one of our original songs. It was surreal looking out and seeing this, so I'm glad Sylvia got some pics of it.
The tune is rather brutal for the most part, but during the verses my bassline is a gentle rolling melody that combines a kind of Stone Temple Pilots take on Motown with an almost classical music sensibility. When I talked to them after our sets they told me how that particular section of music grabbed their attention as a perfect background for their period dancing. They were awesome.
It was one of those sychronistic things I'll never forget, especially after mentioning the Bicentennial in my last post.

Because I've been so damned busy with the Televators, my Halloween preparations have had to wait until the last minute. Sylvia spotted this decent one-eyed styrofoam skull today and got it for half-off. I added the (real) serrated knife and started on the gore, but the fake blood I have pretty much blows goats. After adding a few coats I realized that the crap I bought needs something fibrous to coagulate upon, so one quarter of a ball of cotton spread around in thin bits saved the day.
It's really gross, even up close:
I had just enough ink left in an old Sharpie™ to black out the missing eye.

Buz's Van parked in our driveway means I probably won't use the "Suddenly backing-up truck with taillights and beeper" gag I invented last year. It was a huge success, causing many kids and parents to jump for their lives while screaming and possibly peeing a little. Oh well...
At least the weather is cooperating.
With daytime temps in the upper '70s I hopefully won't sweat too much going in and out of the house a hundred times setting-up our show for the trick-or-treaters.

Rest assured, some things never change: If you ring OUR doorbell, you had better say "Trick Or Treat!" like you mean it and be wearing a costume worthy of our good candy.
All of the lame treat-grubbing wannabes and sullen teens get a packet of TacoBell™ sauce in their bag. (Sounds the same when it hits the bottom of their bag, yet tastes a bit different...)
There is an implied contract that governs these things--it's out of my hands.

Practice Makes Perfect

2011-10-29T00:43:00.003-05:00

It's a true enough saying, but there are at least two qualifiers.
You can only attain the level of perfection allowed by your innate skill and talent.
And you need TIME.
Practice takes time, which is often in short supply.

I can only take so many hours a day with headphones clamped to my skull, pounding out heavy rock with twice as many basses as normal in the mix.

Thankfully, the modern world makes learning songs much easier than it was when I started playing back before the Bicentennial.
I'm in front of my PC switching sources from CDs, mp3s, YouTube, and the band's website. A compact mixer and a small tube preamp for my basses take up less space than my old practice amp.

Still, I'm wiped-out and just want tonight's show to be over so I can have some beers and try to forget all the mistakes I'm going to make in front of a big crowd.
I'm scared, and that's a feeling I always used to avoid by practicing enough to really know the material.
But there's just no time...

Judas Priest, Etc

2011-10-15T04:39:00.004-05:00

A big thank you to my friend Holly for thinking of me first when her other friend bailed on going to the JP concert.
This was my eighth time seeing the Priest, and since this is their "last" world tour, I'll probably only get to see them a time or two more.
It was a bummer that KK Downing has already retired due to wrist problems, but the new guy looked just like him and played close enough to pass.

This is what corporate boxes look like at the ATT Center. I saw Metallica last year from a similar box, and it's starting to grow on me.
At my age comfort, space, a waiter, and a restroom 20 steps away rate higher than getting slammed by the 'tards around me.

I wasn't impressed by the sound engineer, and clearly Rob Halford is due for retirement. He sounded great for the first ten songs but after that luck had more to do with the results than the soundman's feeble attempts to keep things together.
I totally could have done a better job on the vocals.
The rest of the band was like a well-oiled pile-driving machine, as always.
Hopefully Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society was paying attention--Fast does NOT equal Heavy.
(They sucked)

Thin Lizzy should have played second instead of opening.
They had like 7 huge hit songs, and sounded great.

A Beautiful Mess played in Kerrville tonight, and when we were loading the equipment into the club I spotted a Coleman cooler just like mine except for the colors:
One of the cooks or bartenders is probably confused right about now, because when they got to work their ice chest's lid was white.

I never liked my green lid anyway--this is much better.
It's the kind non-hateful prank I prefer.

For a change the club didn't have it's backyard lit-up with a bunch of halogen floods, so I was able to shoot this view across the Guadalupe river:
The stars at night are big and bright...

I Don't Get It

2011-10-10T00:43:00.002-05:00

Spotted on the street yesterday:
The low pants have been out of style for at least three years.
The green hat was like part of a halloween costume.
His T-shirt is still around his neck, but otherwise off. Is it smart to advertise your abs when your re-pregged woman is right behind you?

Except for the shoes (which probably cost the same as a month's supply of baby food and diapers) this clown isn't wearing ANY of his clothes correctly. I would hate to find out that he works in a hospital, although that would be a stretch.
Fry cook?
Even that worries me.

(Sorry, but I'm getting cranky in my old age).

Here's something I knocked out last night:
(The picture, not the whisky). I'm saving it for a special occasion, like an emergency Civil War style amputation or maybe the start of the NBA regular season.

Last night was amazing.
Had to be the worst thunder storm since way before the drought started.
It was scary for awhile, but I loved every minute of it.
Just wish I could figure out how the water got into our garage.

Diamond Knife and Shear

2011-10-04T00:34:00.003-05:00

A preview of the site with my photos and be found here.

I'll update this post and add a link over there-->> when it's live on it's own domain.

Frankly, I don't recall taking all those photos. Glad I didn't have to do the post-processing, although I tried to make Steve's job easier by keeping the light levels as close to each other as possible while also insisting on new white paper when the pieces we were using got stained with oil.

Most of the websites that are filled with my photos belong to bands, so this was a nice change of pace for me. It sure was easier, since you don't have to worry about facial expressions and muffin-tops when dealing with steel.

Now that the weather has changed a bit, you can expect a return to normal around here.
I always slow down in the summer, but this was a particularly long and hot one. Rest assured, I'm looking forward to getting out there and shooting what I like again.

Sharper Things

2011-09-21T22:37:00.005-05:00

Here are some shots I took for a friend's company website:

The shop tour was an education--posing and shooting all the dangerous steel was fun.

Here's one I did in our kitchen a few days later:

If you need anything sharpened professionally, look up Diamond Knife & Shear on Wye Dr. in San Antonio.

Quiet Contemplation

2011-09-12T04:24:00.003-05:00

There's no possible way I could come up with an image of my own to represent my feelings about September 11, 2001.
That's why I waited until the anniversary was over to comment.
Fortunately, the work of the many journalists and photographers who were there ten years ago stands strong to this day.
We salute their efforts and thank them for telling an important story so well.

It pains me to know that so much of the world hates The United States.
We'll never win their love with free food, money, bombs, or the bodies of our children and parents, but that won't stop us from going down the same dark road again and again.
We as a people are stubborn and stupid, as are the jackasses we elect to office who don't even know which way to drag a plow.
But it only takes one smartass to turn things around...

I remain optimistic, and proud to be an American.

Random Stuff

2011-09-06T04:21:00.004-05:00

At 4am I stepped outside to water a small patch of burnt grass.
For the first time in a long time, our patio thermometer delivered good news:
Since it's impossible for air conditioners to fight 100+ degree weather to much better than a mid-70s stalemate, tonight is the coldest my body has been since early March.
Goosebumps.

(At 6:30am the temp is down to 60f, which is even better).

Today was the very first sign that there might be a change in the hot and dry suffering we've endured, and for that I'm grateful.

A little taste of hope goes a long way towards improving one's mood.

In totally unrelated business, I saw this:
I'm interested because bacon rules, but haven't tasted it yet.
Several vegetarians of my aquaintance have a bacon exception, which proves that they aren't completely insane.

Blessings

2011-08-28T03:47:00.007-05:00

Tonight I was blessed when my truck managed to start one last time at a gas station so I was able to make it to the show.

Steve's girlfriend Jan was blessing #2 because she went to AutoZone and picked up a new battery for me, then went above and beyond to take the old one back for my $12 core exchange refund.

I knew that my battery was about to fail and was trying to make it just one more day, but like all good plans...
It was a sweaty and dirty affair swapping them out in a bar parking lot in the dark by myself, but at least I had my tools and a good flashlight.
Mostly I'm glad and blessed that I didn't end up needing a jump-start at 3:15AM in some random bar parking lot.

Speaking of good flashlights, if you're interested in what I'm using now please take a moment to read this review I wrote for my friend Matthew's website.
It's been a long while since I've written anything over there, but with several of us contributing there's plenty of new content all the time.
Mostly Matthew, which is a good thing.
Y'all should bookmark it, or at least remember to use my handy link over there on the right and up 12 spaces or so-->

Just Learnin'...

2011-08-23T01:49:00.004-05:00

Every once in a while I like to try new things, even when they they don't appeal to me at first.
A good example is when I first tried to shoot dripping water into a bucket.
I suppose some day I'll have to try smoke photos (when there aren't fans and AC blowing all over the house).

This time it's drops of food coloring in a vase full of water.
I'm just trying to get a handle on the techniques involved, in case they are someday needed to tell a story or make money.
Plus, it's fun to play around with my cameras and lighting gear.

What I didn't expect was liking the results.

When I see food coloring/smoke photos from other people (and they are usually better-quality than mine) the results just don't do much for me.
I've even questioned people as to the possible audience for them.
Abstract prints? Maybe, I guess.

Perhaps it is the random nature of the results that bothers me?
I'm used to having total control over the scene whenever I set up the lights indoors. (Portraits not included)

On the other hand, a few clicks in PhotoShop and there's all kinds of things you can do should the need arise.
I didn't even begin to explore those possibilities, because for me most of the fun, work, and decision making when taking pictures happens before the shutter button gets pressed.

I guess the main thing is that it didn't feel like a waste of time, because learning is a worthy pursuit even if the possible future application of that knowledge is hazy and undefined.
Maybe that's why I read so much?

ViewMasters Of Texas

2011-08-14T04:58:00.003-05:00

We went to some antique stores in New Braunfels last week, and someone in our group proved that people sometimes listen when I talk.
Imagine that!
(I'll have to be more careful...)

Selma remembered that I was looking for a ViewMaster, but especially an older one from when they were made for adults, too.
In the '60s or '70s the eye spacing got too narrow when they got marketed as just a kid's toy.

This is a Sawyer's Model C, and as near as I can tell from my research it was made in 1950:
Gotta love the bakelite body!

The reels she scored are also very early examples--most of them feature the Grand Canyon. No stupid cartoon characters here!
An all together super-awesome package of historical goodness.
Thanks, Selma!
Love it.

My interest and successes in 3D photography date back a few years before the current fad.
One of my contacts has sent me a link so I can get my own ViewMaster reels made, which is nice.

Fire Stuff

2011-08-07T22:18:00.002-05:00

The rest of my station tour photos:

SAFD 41

2011-08-05T23:28:00.002-05:00

More from our fire station tour:

The water cannon that's at the end of the big ladder. I wasn't able to climb up and shoot down the legnth of the ladder for safety and insurance reasons, but that's okay because unless I had a pocket camera with almost unlimited depth-of-focus the result would have been a blurry mess.

Radios in the back seat--communication is vital for these people and their mission.

For the big fires this truck comes out to recharge the BA's (breathing apparatus).
Generator, compressor, storage tanks, and already filled BA bottles--sweet!

Axe, hoses, and connections to the engine's pumping system.
While the trucks get more modern-looking every few years, the basic tools of the trade are pretty much the same.
I wish I had been paying attention when the jaws of life were shown...

More to come

German Chocolate Cake?

2011-08-03T23:44:00.006-05:00

That's what we were served at a fire station tonight.
It was good--both the cake and the tour.
Thanks, Mel!

I have a lot more pictures to share during the coming week.

Hacking On My Friend's Phone

2011-07-24T03:44:00.014-05:00

At the show tonight I took a closer look at a friend's cellphone and noticed that it probably qualifies for membership in AARP.
Then the jokes started flowing until we were crying.

Hidden under the battery is an original Dead Sea Scroll.

The blueprints were discovered in the Great Pyramid.

It's processing chip only has 1 pin.

The State Phone Of Arkansas.

Patent #2.

Solid state? No. Tubes.

Has both dowsing and witch identification apps.

The LCD screen is backlit with crushed-up fireflies.

Only cellphone that's succeptible to damage by termites.

The camera takes pictures that are 20x20 pixels.

This phone is so old, it still owns 3 slaves.
A paperwork thing.

Capable of sending text messages containing an amazing 5 characters.

Endorsed by Methuselah.

It's capacitors are made by silkworms.

The only game on it is Tic-Tac-Toe.

Default wallpaper was actually taken at The Last Supper.

The only phone allowed by the Amish.

The ringer uses an actual bell.

On a party line--if it rings 3 times the call is for the farm down the road a ways.

You roam on a horse.

The OS wishes it was Windows Vista.

Still recieving signals from Sputnik.

Texting is done in Morse Code.

The previous model's speakerphone resembled a Victrola.

Lincoln wrote the 1st draft of the Gettysburg address on the notepad function.

Free accessories include a saddle scabbard, compass, magnifying glass and steamer trunk.

Grandma can work it just fine.

Calendar only goes up to 1975.

The only people who can accurately explain your billing plan are the Knights Templar.

ALL custom ringtones feature banjo.

9 Monty Python sketches had this phone somewhere in the background.

Repair shop is at the blacksmith's.

Battery life is measured with a sun-dial.

The only "Bling" available was a 20 ton cat statue.

Updates come via Pony Express.

The "leather" case was discontinued when the dodo bird went extinct.

Travis tried to call for reinforcements at the Alamo, but couldn't get any bars.

Original calling plan was 40 pieces of eight for 17 minutes.

Text message notification is via smoke signal.

Speech-to-text function only recognizes Aramaic.

And yet it still doesn't drop calls as often as the iPhone.

We've forgotten at least a dozen more.
Feel free to add yours in the comments.

Bugs And Basses

2011-07-21T03:04:00.004-05:00

Waiting for my best friend Buz to arrive from Phoenix late one night last week, I spotted this cicada shedding the dirty exoskeleton it had inhabited for years in the dirt:

Prepping for his visit has taken a lot of my time, which is why postings have been a bit scarce in these parts.

During the years I was in The Hitmen and The BeWires, Buz was my favorite bassist that graced those bands, but sadly he never put up with the politics and bullshit long enough to suit my desire to listen to great rock bass night after night. We agree on most details of equipment and technique, and now that he's here I got to take pictures of a truly rare and crappy bass in his collection:
Resonator guitars (usually called Dobros after an early and popular brand) used a vibrating steel diaphragm to make them louder in the pre-electric days, but they are a terrible idea for bass guitars. Fender made a few in 2003, and I have the honor of doing a little work on this one.

Mostly we're helping each other out while enjoying good company and doing a little damage to our livers. I repair his headphones and bass gear while he upgrades all of our computers.
We play to our strengths and resources, then take an occasional (solo) pee in the back yard in this fine post-rain weather.

Hope y'all will forgive me for neglecting my internet friends in favor of real flesh and blood ones for a change.

The News Media...

2011-07-14T00:12:00.004-05:00

...are clueless.

Accompanying a story in the SA Express News today is this photo of gunshop owner John Dury.
I think he's wearing that wonderful smirk on his face because he totally played the reporter and/or photographer.

The story was about the new ATF requirement that gun dealers turn-in the names of anyone buying more than one semi-automatic rifle of a caliber larger than .22LR.
In the story, pretty much every dealer contacted claimed ignorance of the new rule, which isn't surprising since the ATF have problems doing anything right.
(Randy Weaver, The Branch Davidians, the recently discovered operation that let a buttload of AKs and ARs get to the drug cartels with no arrests...and then got caught lying about it! Jeez...)

Anyway, I think Mr. Dury is laughing inside because he managed to get the reporting team to photograph a Remington 7400 instead of an "evil assault rifle" like the AR15's on the wall behind him.
The 7400 is a nice and expensive hunting rifle that only holds a 5-round box magazine, and while it's definitely under the purview of the new rule I seriously doubt that the cartels would EVER be interested in one due to the lack of firepower.
(By firepower I mean lots of bullets, since the 7400 can be chambered for cartidges that are WAY more powerful than the so-called "assault" rifles).
What he managed to do was promote the fact that law abiding citizens who happen to need two such guns at a time are now subject to a rectal exam by a reckless and irresponsible gov't agency, all because criminals are able to get guns no matter what anyone does. Which has ALWAYS been true--just look at NYC and Chicago.
Rather than let the clueless media demonize AR15s for the millionth time, he managed to inject a bit of truth into an otherwise biased report.

So us citizens lose a little more of our rights, and the criminals keep on as before.
This new rule is just an attempt to LOOK like they're doing something.
Trust me--it'll have zero effect.

The only way to keep guns and drug cash from crossing the border into Mexico is to control the damn border better.
Keep terrorists and illegals to the south, keep the guns and money to the north.

The Berlin Wall worked pretty well.
Mines, sentries, tanks, whatever it takes.

In unrelated news:

Man, that little storm on Sunday was delightful!
Finally got to use my windshield wipers for something besides bugs.

Faith Fixing

2011-06-29T23:30:00.004-05:00

Last week I fixed an amp for the band.
Opened it up, poked around inside touching this and that, made sure the connections were secure, bent a few wires around...
Never found a clear cause for it's failure to function, but after I screwed the lid back on and hooked it up it worked perfectly.
I think I've mentioned before that this happens a lot.
I call it "Faith Fixing" because whenever I lay my hands on the inside guts of electronic things, they come back from the dead.
Now, I'm also good at finding real problems and fixing them--don't get me wrong--but the unexplainable repairs probably account for 50% of my successes.

When our Honda's air conditioner suddenly stopped blowing air last night, we feared for the worst but tried to be brave.
After all the fuses checked out fine (don't forget the ones under the hood!) it started looking like a lot of money was going to be the only solution. Bummer.
Still, with nothing better to do after shop hours I turned to the Google and within only a minute or two found a chart that explained how to make the AC diagnose itself--COOL!
Hold these 2 buttons down, turn the key, release the buttons, count the blinking lights.
12 blinks means the blower motor or it's transistor are bad--now we're getting somewhere! And since an electric motor will almost always warn you of impending failure through loss of efficiency, weird noises, and bad smells, I figured it was this mysterious transistor.
I tried to "sleep on it".
Early this morning after dropping Honda Girl off, I returned to Mr. Google instead of dropping the car at a repair shop--the water pump cornholing we got on my truck was still too fresh in my mind.

Found a YouTube video on how to replace the blower motor, which showed me just how easy and cheap THAT repair would be, if needed.
Don't even have to take the dashboard apart? So where's this darn "transistor" then? Must be close by...

Within an hour I've returned from Radio Shack (+HEB) and soldered a 1 ohm resistor across 2 poles on the offending module to simulate the correct load, then re-installed it to check the blower...which works fine! Looking good...
An hour after that and I've returned from O'Reilly's with a replacement module and am driving around the block in bare feet enjoying cold cold air.

The broken part on the left ended up costing $60 to replace, which was a surprise after the $90 I was seeing on the web and the $180+ it would've been had I gone straight to a repair shop instead of mousing and typing and wrenching and soldering.

It was also nice to successfully use my knowledge and skills on a job where I knew exactly what I was doing for a change.
The internet is a wonderful thing, especially when it not only saves you money but also makes you feel better about yourself.

Just A Heads Up

2011-06-23T01:21:00.002-05:00

If you leave your Harley parked for longer than 1 day, spiders will take advantage:

I was about to haul our trash container down to the street when I spotted this spider finishing a web between it and my brother's bike.
After shooting the video I decided to let the garbage wait until next week.
If Ken needs to go anywhere, wrecking a nice new web will be on his conscience.

Real-Time Weather Blogging

2011-06-22T01:33:00.005-05:00

Don't think I have ever seen a storm front span all of Texas, from Del Rio to Texarkana. That's a big'un!

All that matters is the rain, and it's about time!
Haven't had any rain here in SA since early March, and it's been hot and dry ever since.
An "Exceptional Drought" is a terrible thing.

Update: Just seeing water from the sky dripping off our brown plants does wonders for my heart:

Unless you've been through a drought or three like we've had recently, you'll never know how uplifting a few minutes of rain can be.
I feel better right now than I have in several months.

So Far, So Good

2011-06-13T00:39:00.003-05:00

My DSLR seems to be working correctly except for one little glitch that hasn't negatively impacted results in testing so far.

This is me with the groom, James.
As usual, I caught the garter.
My collection stands at 5, I think.
All you have to do is try--most single guys are looking at their feet with hands in pockets.
Buncha spoilsports.

Fixed?

2011-06-12T02:03:00.002-05:00

Hopefully.
After a HUGE and FREE sirloin meal at the brand new Bandera/1604 Saltgrass Steak House™ (as part of their pre-opening "shakedown cruise") we went to a housewarming party. While there I managed to pour the exact amount of beer down my neck to give me the balls needed to tackle the final part of a week-long camera repair marathon.
It'll be a few more hours before I'm positive (waiting for epoxy to fully cure) but all signs point to success.
I won't go into all the details beyond saying that modern cameras suck compared to things like guitars and fences.
Can't get parts, disposable construction philosophy, a dozen different plastic formulas all press-fit together.
Yuck!
CAD/CAM is both a blessing and a curse.
NOTHING is designed to be repaired easily anymore.
I look forward to the day when digital cameras mature as a product and DON'T need to have a "Newer Better" model introduced every damn year.
During the film era, a camera could be on the market unchanged for 5-10 years or more so long as a competitor didn't invent some kind of groundbreaking new technology.
Standardization and Spare Parts is my mantra, like Fender guitars that can be fixed in any major city world-wide because there have only been minor changes over the past 50+ years.
Got an old Harley or Chevy?
Replacement parts are all over the place, including those made by vendors who saw a gap in the market and started making new ones for bikes/cars that are older than me.
Modern cameras?
Good luck!

Anyway, tonight was my deadline because we're driving up to Austin tomorrow for a friend's wedding and of course I'm expected to shoot some stuff for them.
I have plenty of other cameras (and we'll be taking several) but the Alpha300 is my workhorse.
Hopefully I'll be posting some Austin results instead of bitching about massive repair failure.

FYI: Flag Day is Tuesday.

Taking A "Break" From Photography???

2011-06-05T05:47:00.004-05:00

For the third Saturday in a row I found myself in Kerrville, right on the banks of the Guadalupe river.
The crescent moon rose into a gap in the trees while we were on break (lucky timing!) so I shot this:

Unfortunately, this will be the last photo from my main camera for awhile:
Apparently my backpack wasn't closed all the way, and while pulling it out of the truck my DSLR flew out and hit the street in front of our house.
It landed hard and I was really scared by all the flying pieces, but they turned out to be just the lens cap and battery.
The only damage as far as I can tell right now is a big piece of rather crappy plastic that forms the grip, which has a big rip in it and torn screw holes.
By holding the battery in manually I was able to take pictures, so there is hope.

If I can get a replacement for the broken part, I can install it myself.
If not, I can probably repair the grip piece anyway with some epoxy and kevlar fabric.

The anti-dust sensor shaker/image stabilization mechanism isn't sounding right, but I recall hearing it's a common thing with Sony Alphas that have taken a fall so I'm not going to worry until I do some research. Something about the sensor mount getting knocked past it's zone of proper travel or something. An easy fix, I hope.

I guess the main thing is, of all the parts that could have gotten wrecked, the grip is probably the best choice.
Viewfinder, LCD, lens, flash, controls, etc, are all fine, so with a little structural repair or replacement I'm hopefully going to have it back in action fairly quickly and cheaply. I'm crossing my fingers as hard as I can that insurance won't need to enter the picture and I won't have to ship the camera off for repair, although I know of a really good place with good reviews and low prices.

In the meantime I can always shoot some infrared black and whites with the F828.
And the camera in my new phone has been surprising me every time I use it--like for the 2nd pic above, which I emailed to myself for this post.
Or maybe I'll buy some film tomorrow and finally get around to playing with my father's delightful German "Kodak" from the '50s...

I have options.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T22:27:00.003-05:00

Thank You For Your Service And Sacrifice
Memorial Day is a big one for me.
I don't shed tears very often, but every year at this time...

We've had this flag for a long time (Thanks Ray and Selma!) and flew it with pride quite often until the bracket that attaches to our house broke a couple years ago.
I found a steel replacement but hadn't bought it yet, then Memorial Day came rushing out of the future and I was suddenly in a bind.
So I did what I always do when something needs fixing in a hurry (or on the cheap) and started digging through our closets and garage.

Here we go...an old tripod for band lights!
Added a cinder block to one leg, and it withstood 30mph gusts with ease.
And while the flag still means the same when it's on a short pole sticking out of the wall at a 45 degree angle, for some reason it really does look better on a vertical pole 10-12 feet up.
When the wind blew it for the first time, I got all choked up.
Then I ran for a stage light so I could leave it up all night.

I need to find an even taller steel pole at a good price, and stock up on concrete mix--gonna do it right as soon as I can.

This morning I went through my CDs looking for this photo taken by my late cousin James's daughter Melody:
Ken and me at Arlington National Cemetery, on the day in late 2004 when my father and his crew finally made it back to where they belonged.
38 long and painful years.

This photo captures the exact moment when I was finally free to start the second chapter of my life.
I remember clearly that the pain and rage which had always filled me was suddenly starting to fade, and we both broke into big smiles.

My prayer on every Memorial Day since has been that all the other families who's loved ones never came home will someday get the same relief.
Death in war is bad enough, but not knowing what happened or where they are is unbearable, because you can't move past it.
Thankfully, as administrations come and go and the years burn away, the people who find our missing loved ones are always out in the field searching.
They are the best detectives and archaeologists we have, in my opinion.
And their stated mission is to find them all.
May God Bless Them.

A Lot On My Plate

2011-05-25T00:09:00.008-05:00

This week I'm very busy, what with several just-completed band trailer repairs, a 3-day weekend of shows coming up, and figuring out how to work this thing:
This is my first "smart" phone, the Samsung Fascinate.
What strikes you right off is the sheer size of it.
(Remember when phones used to get smaller every year?)
It's posed on a $20 bill to illustrate it's dimensions, including just how wafer-thin it is.

The "Super AMOLED" screen is 4 full inches tall (or wide) depending on how you hold it--works either way and auto-rotates the image. 800x480 pixels. From my limited testing so far I'll give it a rating of Gorgeous/Accurate/Holy Crap!
Makes the backlit LCD on my DSLR look small and weak, and it was nearly state of the art a few years ago.
I haven't watched any movies on it yet, but a couple of games looked superb, as do my own photos--which incidentally just showed up on their own after I signed into my Google account.
It looks like every pic I've ever uploaded to all of my blogs past and present are there.
Creepy.

I only thought I might want a smartphone for the bigger and better screens so I could carry around a compact digital portfolio of my work, but I have to admit that the mobile internet and apps and games are already catching my fancy.
Sylvia said "Since we have to pay for the data plan every month anyway, use the shit out of it!"
No problem, baby.

I also like that it has a standard 3.5mm jack, so when I want to use it as an mp3 player or watch videos, any earbuds or headphones will work in stereo. Our last phones were mono.
And it came with a 16gb microSDHC card already installed.
It's like Samsung was reading my mind!
Every feature that was important to me is here, but I have to admit that Sylvia picked the Fascinate and I just got really lucky.
A quick Google of the specs and I was totally on board.

We had always assumed that since we're Verizon customers, going to their stores and/or website would be the place to get the "best buy".
Nope.
The Big V still has the Fascinate at $200 each, plus you have to deal with a bunch of double-talk and poorly answered questions when it comes to your bill.
We expected an even worse experience at BB, but within 15 minutes the automatic doors parted and we felt like Bonnie and Clyde.
(Speaking of BestBuy...
Unlike a lot of people, I don't hate them.
It helps that I've never needed knowledgeable salespeople, although I fondly remember when you could go into any Sears and find someone in every department who had a firm grip on the facts. The internet, and before that catalogs and writing letters to the right people, worked pretty well.
When they have the lowest price on something I've already decided to buy, that's where I go).

Which would YOU choose--$400 or Free?
I guess Verizon will still make an obscene amount of money from our new data plans over the contract period, but all those pictures of Ben will cover more than 25% of it.
Don't even know what to make of the published MSRP of $600 each. As a portable media player, internet device, gaming unit, photo portolio, phone, vid/still cam, etc, they might be worth it.
As long as we don't go crazy and start spending money on endless downloads of content and apps that add to our monthly bill, it's a sweet deal.
Just being able to check weather radar before loading-out of a club has me excited, in the unlikely event that it ever rains here again.

My job right now is to figure out how to convert and transfer the music, movies, and photos we already own to the new devices.
Now that Sylvia has Angry Birds on hers, I probably have plenty of time.

PS: So far, the 5 megapickles camera looks pretty good. It actually focuses on specific things!
Hope I don't get sucked into the current iPhone wormhole of leaving my "real" camera at home and using apps to try and make art out of snapshots, but we'll have to wait and see on that.

Tires And Tribulations

2011-05-22T05:48:00.006-05:00

This weekend our new country band A Beautiful Mess has crossed the line from a good band to a great one.
Everyone is comfortable and confident now, so instead of worrying about what lyric or chord or sound cue is next, we're all in the zone and can push the music to new heights.

One big recent improvement is this Fender Telecaster clone that John built for himself--it's sound is perfect for the band and he plays the shit out of it:

We played in Kerrville tonight. The club has a patio overlooking the Guadalupe River. It was hot and steamy.

Driving home we saw lots of deer, but luckily they were on the sides of IH10 instead of bouncing off our truck.
The good luck held right to my door--as I got out, I clearly heard air hissing out of one of the trailer's tires. By the time I had unloaded my personal gear into the garage, it was completely flat.
Must have gotten punctured in the very last minute of a 125 mile round trip!
Compared to our last flat this was a dream scenario, as I was able to fire up my air compressor and refill the tire, then back the trailer into our driveway and park it.
Rikk got to go home with minimal delay, and I can deal with the tire whenever the hell I feel like it. And unlike last time, here at the house I have a nice big hydraulic jack and someone to help me.

I'm going to see what the Martinez Bros. can hook me up with for around $40, since this tire was already overdue for replacement.

I guess everyone got it wrong.
Tonight was The Rupture.

Not Much Happening...

2011-05-14T00:37:00.007-05:00

It finally rained this week!
Being woken up by thunder, and lying in bed listening to the rain--sweeeet!

But then I found that the storm had done some damage--a big section of tree was cracked, but it landed on a lower part so taking it down was complicated and dangerous. I had to jump off the ladder with a saw in my hand, then later as it finally fell the rest of the way I almost got my arm torn off by the rope I was using to pull it free.
No pictures.

I DID take a picture of the tiedown bungee attachment thingies that I added to the front of my truck's bed.
It had a front pair already, but they are recessed in the floor and hidden under my bed liner. To install these I made some steel plates that are on the other side of the body's sheet metal, to distribute the stress better than any washers could.
Lots of drillpress and grinder action.
Best part was--these were salvaged from my old Mazda pickup right before I got rid of it. I was walking past it one day and saw them, and thought "I wish my new Dodge had those". It only took around 45 seconds before I realized that all it took was a wrench to get the process started.
Now the band's lights don't tip over when I haul-ass around corners.

Not much else to tell, so here's a picture of my basses:
I never get tired of looking at them.
Just wish I had more opportunities to play them.

Blast From The Past

2011-05-04T23:44:00.005-05:00

Here I am in January 1988 driving my late great Olds Cutlass Supreme:
My brother and I were headed to the Ft. Davis area of West Texas to fly BIG model rockets, having been certified competent and safe by the governing body the previous year in Colorado.

This was the biggest one I flew, at around 5 feet tall and 4" in diameter.
I used an H90 for the main motor, as seen in the photo.
A few seconds later, 4 Estes D12 motors on fuses "air-started" to give it an extra push, plus a lot of white smoke.
(For those of you who flew Estes motors as a kid, 2 x D = E, so an H = 16 D motors, plus the extra 4!)

Post-flight handful of stinky motors.

For rocket meets like this, we had to apply months in advance to the FAA for a waiver that allowed us to penetrate "their" airspace. In return, the air traffic controllers were supposed to keep all aircraft away from the area for the duration of the scheduled launch window.

While big for me at the time, my rocket wasn't anywhere near the size and power of some of the others--I didn't even hit a mile in altitude but other guys probably went over two. And believe me, if something that big and fast hit any kind of aircraft, or God Forbid got sucked into an engine...

Which makes it all the more surprising that on the 2nd afternoon, a couple of Apache helicopters came around and invaded "our" airspace!
After orbiting the valley we were flying in, they made a few low passes right over the launch area.
Guess what color they were painted?
Any markings to be seen?

Maybe all those conspiracy theorists you used to laugh at weren't so crazy after all?
All I know is what I saw with my own eyes.

Tonight I also scanned a photo of my father from 1957:
Climbing into a jet fighter was probably a high point of his time in the service, since he ended up flying (and instructing) in multi-piston-engine stuff not long afterwards.

We were both 26 years old at the time of these pictures.

Snake In The Grass

2011-05-01T02:11:00.004-05:00

And not just any grass--this is Raliegh St. Augustine, the finest grass known to man.

This is the second checkered garter snake I have caught this Spring. Compared their markings, and it's clearly a different individual of the same size, so they are possible litter-mates.

Getting back to the grass...dude...I finally understand why Hank Hill got all emotional over his Raliegh St. Augustine lawn.
I have around 25 square feet ($1.59/12x18" sod) next to the front porch and it blows our regular St. Augustine all to hell.
THICK carpets of grass with wider blades that lean towards the blue end of the green spectrum rather than the yellow--just beautiful stuff!
Even the saddest 2 pieces of sod that I bought a week later, from the bottom of the pallet at Home Depot, have come back to life nicely and are already impressive.

If we ever win the Lottery, you can bet your ass a crew would be here within days to re-do the whole lawn with Raliegh.
Grass so good, it's endorsed by Luann Platter®

Royal Wedding?

2011-04-29T04:15:00.002-05:00

There, I Fixed It!

2011-04-28T00:03:00.004-05:00

I don't know if this qualifies as a redneck repair since we didn't use any duct tape or cardboard.

Two weeks ago while making gordita shells for our family's Fiesta Pachanga, Sylvia broke the handle on her mom's tortilla press.
(We managed to get through this disaster--don't you worry about that!)

Looking at it, I saw that the handle snapped at the raised part of the top flat where it applies all the pressure--a recipe for disaster when using cheap aluminum sand-castings.

A steel handle was part of my repair plan from the beginning, because I LOVE gorditas. I looked through our scrap metal collection and also scoped-out new stock at Home Depot, but every option involved too many cutting and/or grinding operations and I didn't want to spend 5 hours and eight dollars fixing a $12 tortilla press.

As with all of my "cheap" fixes, I let the item sit in plain view for a week or more and waited for inspiration.
On Monday I walked past it on the way to the garage and that's when I spotted my 7/8" wrench, still new-in-package:
Drill one hole, cut one part off the wrench, and do a little grinding--Done!

The thickness and length were perfect, as was the dog-leg design that was going to be the main consumer of fabrication time and effort had I used any other materials.
My drill-press and bench grinder got some action, and my brother's high-speed cutting tool and carbide drill bits saved us a lot of time. It was tool time!

To be honest, at a fair $10/hr labor I could have just bought 2 tortilla presses, but they would have broken their crappy handles eventually. The wrench is going to endure.
Factor-in the current cost of gasoline and I think we came out WAY ahead, provided my fix lasts through a few gordita dinners.

Blood Sweat And Tears

2011-04-24T04:01:00.003-05:00

Proceed At Your Own Risk

The very essence of any rodeo is danger.
If some cowboy wasn't inches or seconds away from getting seriously damaged, why would anyone bother to watch?
Man vs Beast, in all it's primal glory.
(Not to slight the girls--I've seen several get knocked off their mounts at the charreada and it was only luck that let them get back up instead of going to the hospital).

The main point is that it's a dangerous sport for all concerned.
And there is a rich cultural heritage that deserves to be maintained.
If we ban rodeos, what's next? Not being able to smoke in bars?

In this series of photos we start AFTER a horse was so uncooperative that it took almost ten minutes to get to a point where the ride could start.
(I would have said "Screw him" by then and gotten the show moving along, but this is the Charreada).

Someone opened the gate an inch to "help" and the horse used his big muscled butt to knock it wide open, much like Tim Duncan in the low post.
Keeping with the Spurs references, Mayhem (Ginobili) ensued:
Remember the color of the rider's shirt.

How much of the charro can you find?

I was glad to see him still in one piece, trying to stay alive:

What happened next was around 15 minutes of unsuccessful attempts to get this crazy-ass horse down the chute out of the ring:
Seeing the poor thing bleeding like this was sad and pretty much bummed everyone out at the time, but as I recall the events while looking at ALL of my photos, that horse was an asshole who nobody should have tried to ride and he nearly killed a man.
It was a fair fight, and despite a little blood the horse won.

Just so we don't end on a sour note...

This is my favorite shot of the day:
I had already taken a bunch of pictures of this miniature horse "backstage" but when the little boy rode him out during the opening ceremony I felt there was something extra special that needed capturing.
All of my other takes are cool and tell part of the story, but this one is the best by far because of his smile.

Boys And Girls And Lassos

2011-04-20T23:39:00.002-05:00

More from the Charreada:

The SA Stock Show & Rodeo is a huge well-oiled machine.
Everything happens according to schedule, and it's very impressive.
The Charreada is anything but.
Things happen when they happen and nobody gets their panties in a bunch over delays.
Kind of charming and certainly true to it's roots, since everyone is there to have fun instead of trying to win big money.

The young girls are the true daredevils--the intermingling patterns they ride are more dangerous than trying to stay on a bucking horse or steer (most of the time).
All the more amazing when you finally notice that they ride side-saddle!

I got the impression after 2 visits that only teenage girls ride--no children or adults.
But males of all ages, from 6 to sixty-six it seemed, are on horses and throwing loops of rope.

More to come...

Technical Detour:
At the very beginning of the day I took off my favorite 50mm lens and used the 55-200mm zoom throughout.
When you're stuck ringside during the action, a zoom is the only way to go.
What surprised me a little upon seeing the photos is how much I still really like this lens, after not using it hardly at all over the last year. There's a smoothness to it's pictures that is very pleasing to my eye, yet when things get gritty it manages to hang in there and capture that contrast.
For an inexpensive zoom lens, it performs well enough for my needs and the results remind me so much of the 50mm's that they sometimes seem to be a matched pair.
(Sony's curved aperture blades are surely a big part of this).

I'm hoping that the 35mm F1.8 that I plan on buying next will exhibit the same qualities so I can extend my range into tighter spaces and maintain a consistent "look".

The Charreada

2011-04-17T23:17:00.005-05:00

It's been four years since our last (and first) charreada. I want to go every year at this time, but it never seems to work out.
Today I got up early despite working last night, and also DVR'd the Spurs' first playoff game just so we could go.
Last time I got some decent photos so I wanted to see if I would get inspired again.

And just like last time I ended up behind the scenes, down in the dirt with the horses and the flies.
Instead of being invited into their world I just acted like I belonged there and boldly went wherever I wanted.

...to be continued

Flash Modifiers

2011-04-14T00:11:00.005-05:00

This is what I've been doing lately, besides yardwork

Last week I built a new grid for my main flash.
My last one was a great first attempt, but over time I found that the straws I had used to focus the flash into a smaller circle (instead of blasting the whole room) were too long, resulting in too much of a good thing by far. Full-choked light wasn't as useful sometimes, so I wanted a wider pattern.
I had my brother run it through his bandsaw to shorten the whole thing, and it pretty much exploded into tiny pieces all over the driveway. This was a surprise, since the same modification had worked fairly well on a grid for my smaller accent flashes.
I made a new one with 1/2" straws (vs 1") and it works much better for me. Also used balsa wood instead of frame mat-board since it's much easier to cut and sand, saving mucho time in construction. Balsa is fragile, but in this box form with all the straws filling space (and glued together) it's very strong, yet light.

I used the grid to light the main petunia and a minimum of surrounding foliage:
I like it when the light starts to dim just outside of the main subject, so surrounding items don't compete for attention. Grids are great for that.
In this case, after a few exposures I added my other two accent flashes to the foliage and white blooms to add some spice.

After that project got me back where I was before, I jumped right into the next one.

A softbox is a light modifier that, much like using a white umbrella with your flash, spreads the light out and therefore softens it. Shadows have less of a hard edge to them. Like the difference between direct sunlight and overcast.
Unlike umbrellas, there isn't any stray light spilling into the rest of your "studio", and they are also easier to get into difficult angles like straight up or down.
I started by going through my stockpile of old microphone stands and booms and came up with the perfect setup.
Then I found a sheet of new black foamcore for a dollar.
Cutcutcut, glueglueglue.
(Using a self-healing cutting mat really helps--Thanks Lisa!)

The inside walls are reflective (using foil) and for now I have some material from a white linen napkin to spread the light:
As with all of my DIY light modifiers, this has a good friction-fit when mounted to the flash.
No velcro or rubber bands for me, if I can help it.

Finally found some feeder mice locally today, so Candy got to come out of her habitat and socialize before dinner:
The softbox was around 15" away, and you can hopefully see how all of the "specular highlights" ( = relections of the light source) are long and smooth instead of being pinpoints of over-bright ugliness like you can get with bare naked flash.

I used a 2nd flash unit behind a blue gel to hit the wall behind this scene, and appreciated the quick artistic freedom that small flashes can furnish when I decided to make the right side fade a bit darker.

Candy was her usual twisty/grabby/snakey self, so I ended up having to partially disassemble the 8-string bass's stand to pry her loose.
I should have been ready for this, since right before her last feeding she somehow managed to get Sylvia's car keys stuck on her tail.

My Second Car

2011-04-07T23:19:00.002-05:00

Also my mom's last car.
Since she knew that I would end up with it sooner rather than later (my brother drove pickups and rode motorcycles) I was allowed input.
Besides, we had similar tastes--I was driving a '77 Monte Carlo, she had loved her '77 Pontiac Bonneville--we both liked mid-size General Motors cars with V8s, rear-wheel drive, and automatic transmissions.

As sick as she was, the thought of spending more than a few hours on a car lot (or 5) filled her with dread. My suggestion was to point out cars she saw on the street that appealed to her, and then I would gather some (pre-internet) intel on them. Once we decided on the model we would decide on a dealer and go make the deal as fast as possible.
Several neighbors had Oldsmobile Cutlass Supremes, so we saw some variety of them.
Chevy had an SS version of the Monte Carlo at the time which was pretty NASCAR for a woman her age but she was still interested, especially since it was MY dream car.
Too bad they only came in black that year, and the whole point of the new car was to get rid of her black Dodge Mirada.
Texas sun + black car = sweat and discomfort.

So we decided on the Olds:
I had noticed (in parking lots) that some Cutlasses had vertical grills of two different styles, but that those from GUNN Oldsmobile @ 410 and Broadway had much better looking ones that were entirely 1/2" squares that looked a LOT better, so this is how we picked the dealer.

Once on the lot, a few colors were attractive to her but we both kept coming back to white. Not only is it 20 degrees cooler inside on a sunny day, but it's also more visible to other drivers at night--and I do a lot of driving at night.
We looked at one, but a quick scan of the window sticker revealed a weak powertrain.
By this time Gary had come outside the dealership and attached himself to my mom, so I went off in search of more white Cutlasses.
The third one had a 307" V8, and with a 4-barrel carburetor!
We took it for a test-drive, then were able to get my mom into Gary's air-conditioned office.
She had plenty of car buying savvy, so the trade-in negotiations took little time.
After low-balling on a financed price, she whipped out her checkbook and asked if the same price was okay if she paid in full.
She was very tired and sick, you see, so it was "Yes" or we walk, Gary.
Played him like a cello, even though he WAS a nice fellow.

The car was a real pleasure for us both as we spent too much time driving to hospitals, and was our game chariot when we finally saw our Cubs playing the Astros in a doubleheader in Houston. I kept it spotless and gassed etc for her, and even made tapes so she could enjoy her first car with a cassette deck.

When it became my car, I started by pulling off the rubber trim strips that protected the doors from parking lot dings. They ruined the clean lines of the body, and luckily were affixed with foam tape! Instant improvement in looks.
When my brother and I were getting ready for a trip to Colorado Springs to fly our first BIG rockets, I took the Olds to our mechanic in Universal City to get an oil change and otherwise check it over for the long drive.
They were also a big Goodyear Tire dealer, and showed me a damaged tire that wouldn't survive the drive.
Should have seen the look on that guy's face when I said "Okay, give me 4 of your 70-series (fat) Eagle STs, and how about putting them on a set of these American Racing® aluminum mag wheels?"
As a longhaired metalhead (who probably had a can of beer in my hand and was smoking in the waiting room--the '80s if you recall) it was nice to suddenly get the "Yes SIR!" treatment for a change.
I then took her to a brake and suspension shop and got a set of Monroe gas shocks plus some stiffer springs by TRW.
Goodbye Mushy Ride!!

Over the next few years I built a pretty killer sound system for that era, and my brother found me the computer chip that went into the Olds 442 version of my car.
The new chip meant that if you really put your ankle into the gas pedal, emissions and gas mileage programming went out the window.
Combined with my other mods, this car took-off like a rocket and could hold that speed in curves and corners.

It was a sweet "driver's" car, with that perfect combination of performance and comfort. I had installed a nice aftermarket steering wheel that was smaller and felt better in your hands, which added to the already responsive handling.

Around '95 some woman trying to "make" a yellow light nearly killed me in this car--peed blood for a week--but I still drove it in semi-wrecked condition with lots of plastic taped over the openings for another 5 years.
Eventually sold it as a parts donor after leaving it parked behind a friend's house for a few years with the windows gone.
Very sad end to a fine ride.

As much as I love my current Dodge Dakota and the Monte Carlo that was my first, this 1985 Oldsmobile was the great love of my life when it comes to cars.
My only regrets were that nobody made a decent dual-exhaust system for it when I had the money. I was all ready to make this final upgrade for the extra horsepower and external sound quality, but nobody stepped up to the plate.
Whenever I watch the show Overhaulin', THIS is the car I wish they would restore for me.

Bad Year For Wildflowers...

2011-04-06T00:07:00.004-05:00

Not nearly enough rain over the winter and into spring, so the dazzling displays we're used to aren't happening.
I've seen small patches here and there, but nothing special.

This is from last year:

But I have hoses and desire, so growing stuff around the house is still part of the plan.
I laid some sod today in a part of our lawn that's almost recovered from a state of pure dirt several times only to get lost again to drought.
Fertilized, watered, and cut the rest of our grass in the last week and it's getting greener every day.

Since moving here, I have grown and harvested (and eaten!) Anaheim chiles, jalapenos, serranos, and banana peppers--all from seeds! Most of my potted crops lasted at least two years, but only the jalapenos were a huge success when it came to cooking because...they're jalapenos!
Instead of seeds I started with seedlings from Home Depot this year, at the bargain price of $1.68 for 4.
These things are growing so fast and strong that I'm done fooling with seeds despite the satisfaction of coaxing life from the tiny flakes of heat.

They have tripled in size already and...are those blossoms I see?

Flowers = Food

In previous years I would be lucky to get fruit by late July.
Looks like I'll be making fresh salsa before June.

Since they are in pots I've been bringing them inside when the temps get into the 40s at night, like they have this week, to keep from slowing their progress. And this batch will stay in the pots.

Next year is another story.
I really hope to have put in a small backyard garden by then.
No big plans--just the Holy Trinity of TexMex cooking: Peppers, Onions, and Tomatoes.

Whole Lotta Towin' Goin' On!

2011-04-03T05:11:00.006-05:00

When we moved here in 2003 I got most of our stuff across town in a 1990 Mazda that I bought from a band member for cheap. It was already pretty far gone at that point, and after the last load I parked it in the garage and never drove it again.
It was like a big set of shelves, and the cab was my filing cabinet.
Us men can be like that, and we totally get that our ladies don't understand.
The girls have their own strange ways, and we keep quiet about them too if we're smart.
Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago and a guy shows up at the door wanting to buy a metal desk currently in our driveway, to recycle it.
Told him no, and as I was closing the door I barely noticed that his shirt said "We Buy Junks Cars" (verbatim). Luckily the gears turned quickly enough to get a cash offer for my dead Mazda:
Here's The Recycle Man's assistant helping get the POS Mazda out of my life.

What's amazing is how quickly you can go from having two pickups to none!
Within a few days I was trying to return books to the library and didn't get very far at all.
Managed to limp back home and diagnose the problem as a failed water pump:
Greg the tow truck driver was the BEST one ever!
Gave me tips on how bad towers might wreck my brake lines if they use hooks instead of straps on the rear-end. Stuff like that.
A real pro.

As for the repairs, the final product is great but the process and pricing included a little too much ass-rape for our tastes, so we are in search of a new place to take our vehicles.
We really liked the former manager who was all about doing right by the customer--this new guy is "by the book" and the third chapter gets yucky.
Recommendations gratefully accepted.
MedCenter part of town if possible.
Thanks!

As I'm typing this there are still a few pesky bits of gravel that need to turn loose of my shoulder blades.
Some jealous dillhole (or random asshat) wedged a beer bottle under the band's truck so that the front driver's side tire would get to experience explosive decompression.
A nice loud pop, followed by steam in my face since it was almost raining.
Then the Ford Ranger settled quickly to the ground.
Nobody else in the band was sober enough or smart enough to change the tire, so I had the privilege of ruining a favorite shirt and adding some character to my best jeans.

At one particularly frustrating point when the Ford's jack wouldn't go high enough to do the job I yelled "Don't we have Triple A?" but it turned out I was all alone at the time, so my question went unanswered.
Thanks, guys.

Our Dodge Dakota's jack kicked serious ass and was the only thing that got me home before 5AM from a club that's only 1.2 miles away. Thought I had an easy drive until the real world fish-slapped me.

Marathon Girl Brings Home The Gold

2011-03-29T00:40:00.005-05:00

Sylvia left me home alone all weekend to run in the Dallas Rock & Roll Marathon.
She did the half-marathon (13.1 miles) and scored her 5th medal.
That's all three R&Rs in SA and 2 in Dallas.

The headliner for the after-concert was Bret Michaels.
I'm proud as hell of Sylvia's accomplishments. No effing way I could run 10% of a marathon, but maintain that I could beat her in the 50 yard dash any day of the week.
Even at 9AM!

While she was gone I raked leaves and branches with a rake that I rescued from the middle of a street in Selma, fixed a leaking hose, and watched the Spurs lose twice.
Made some killer hashbrowns one night for the next day's breakfast tacos.
Washed her car.
Vacuumed my truck.

Crunch...Crunch...Crunch

2011-03-26T22:29:00.004-05:00

Spring is here, so it's time to watch your step.
The junebugs are all over, and for some reason they just can't deal with smooth concrete. Our porch and patio have dozens of them, all "turned turtle" (on their backs) waving their legs in the air.
Every night a 'possum comes around and eats the helpless idiots.
Screens are junebug-friendly.

Brush Pickup + Morons

2011-03-25T23:53:00.006-05:00

Having a broken doorbell is a Godsend during the weeks leading up to free city brush pickup! I barely notice the treetrimmers hustling for work.

The notice for brush pickup came about 3 days before one from the automated trash truck driver complaining about my branches hanging over the street and getting in their way, so I got to work on the problem I didn't need to be told that we had.

A few months ago we got an extension ladder on deep discount, and that was pretty much the budget for new yard tools--I'm still using my Stanley carpenter's hand-saw to rip through big limbs. (Bow saws are great, but this sucker is still pretty quick and comfy). A small chainsaw is next.

After dropping a few big chunks of the other tree it was time to tackle the king-daddy one seen below. The trunk is rotten 3/4s of the way through, but waiting for it to fall on it's own wasn't an option because it extended more than halfway across our street.

I set the ladder, walked inside for a cool drink, and came outside to find that my neighbor's landscapers had parked their truck in exactly the wrong place:

Break Time!

I knew from experience (at 9am every-other Wednesday) that they are over-staffed and therefore quick, and I like this particular neighbor, so felt it was best to retreat for a siesta.

The sawing took about two minutes before the tell-tale creaking and cracking started so I put my ankles into it, and also got ready to jump in case there was going to be any kick-back action like the previous tree that almost knocked me off the ladder from fifteen feet up.

And that's when I heard The Moron.

Some dumbass in a small SUV came roaring up the street just as this HUGE section of tree started falling slowly down onto the road. They swerved and almost hit someone else's truck to keep from getting crushed when my rotten ash picked-up a lot of speed at the end.

What gets me is that the way our 'hood is designed the is zero reason to drive up our street if you don't live here or are visiting. This idiot didn't stop anywhere, from one end to the other.

Imagine their story: "I was just cutting through, and a falling tree almost killed my dumb ass!"

Yessir! Woulda messed-up that pretty new car something fierce, inside and out.

Working Overtime?

2011-03-23T02:32:00.002-05:00

No, not really.

On a recent weekend night off we went with some friends to the Overtime Theater in the Blue Star Arts complex.
I can't recall ever seeing live sketch comedy before--and I really enjoyed it.
Very funny and clever.

Could have helped them with some lighting and sound tips, but doubt their budget would take the strain since it's clear that they're doing this because they love it and not for the big bucks.

Anyway, the Overtime Theater has my recommendation and I hope we go see some of their future productions.

Mission Espada

2011-03-15T22:57:00.003-05:00

Sometimes we'll end up at one of the Missions on a whim, usually with a guest who's never seen them.
Since I almost always have one of my cameras with me, I'm semi-prepared for these spontaneous visits but miss having more of my kit.

This time, I wished that I had my flash gear.
Good high-iso performance got me this, but I had to pass-up the shot I wanted.

This is a new look at a subject that I'd entered in a contest years ago.
It lost, and also managed to generate some controversy--good times!

I would've liked to have had my infrared camera along, as the Missions are a great place to shoot in black and white.

Maybe next time.

Gotta Love Springtime

2011-03-13T05:51:00.002-05:00

The weather's getting warmer--daytime highs in the '80s!
Plenty of stuff to do outside:
Planted a nice crop of jalapenos to hopefully make up for last year's pepper disaster. (No more experimenting with the lesser breeds).
And plenty of petunias to make Sylvia smile.
Trimming the trees and killing the dandelions.

And catching critters who've awakened after a long winter nap:
This is a Checkered Garter snake, and it's pretty much the only subspecies of Garter in the southwest USA and northern Mexico.
The ones most people are familiar with from up north are good at hiding in foliage and around water, but ours have to disappear in the rocks and dirt so the checkered pattern is a nice adaptation that explains why most folks have never seen one.
Always wanted a checkered for a pet but this guy was too wild and besides that, Sylvia said no.
He's already been released and with any luck will be scaring the dopers across the alley right about now.

Another Good Dog

2011-03-08T16:55:00.002-06:00

This is Copper:

He stayed with us for a few days, and we had a lot of fun.

Copper is well-behaved, quiet (indoors), and likes to wrestle.

I enjoy taking care of other people's dogs because I get to experience a wide variety of breeds and distinct personalities without worrying about Vet bills or the cost of food.

Screw Styx...Let's Eat!

2011-03-05T03:58:00.002-06:00

I had more concert pics and stories, but enough is enough.
Who cares?

Something I learnt at the rodeo:
When I posted this photo of my bacon-wrapped hotdogs on FaceBook a friend came right back with "sausage wrapped with ham and then bacon", and called it the "whole-hog dog".
Damn!
I'm going to keep taking baby steps on this stuff.

The main course was some seriously great burgers.
It was windy and they were smoking, and I doubt I'll ever take (or even see) a better photo of a grill.

More STYX

2011-03-01T00:26:00.004-06:00

It's been two weeks since the rodeo and concert, and I'm still blogging about it?
Lots of other stuff has been happening, and I'm way behind.
Remind me of this when I'm complaining that I don't have any new pictures or stories.

Ricky has changed basses and Tommy's now playing a Les Paul, so you can tell that we've finally moved past the 1st song.
JY never changes guitars, and in fact has played this exact same Fender Stratocaster from the beginning.
A friend of his in college invented a distortion or booster circuit of some kind and installed it in the guitar. JY could never get the same sound out of any other gear, and got hooked on it. Forever friends, a boy and his Strat.

This guy sings almost exactly like Dennis DeYoung, the original keyboardist who sang some of the hits, but I think the new fella is less pretentious.
I explained to Sylvia that the other guys hated Mr. Roboto, Dennis's concept album that almost killed their career, and that they wouldn't play the title song. I was right.

Here Tommy is playing a 12 string electric that looks like someone took a saw to a Telecaster. Like me back in the day, he even played a solo on the 12 complete with bent notes. What a little stud.

I had just finished telling Syl about how the band was formed by the Panozza brothers, who played drums and bass, but who were now too old or too dead to tour.
Then who walks up onstage but Chuck Panozza! Ricky Phillips switched to a 6/12 doubleneck so Chuck could play some bass and feel like a star again.
After this song he sat behind the drummer and rested, then played the rest of the night. Two basses at once?
Very Spinal Tap at times, but they made it work.

Rodeo Concert 2011: STYX

2011-02-23T22:42:00.004-06:00

What I like about the concerts after the rodeo is that you can take any camera and lens you desire into the ATT Center.
Also, they are only about an hour long which saves my ears.

In the case of bands like STYX, it means that there's no filler--100% Hits!

I wonder how many shows they've done where they arrived at the stage in the back of a pickup and had to walk through poopy dirt?

The only guys remaining from the '70s, James Young and Tommy Shaw:

Ricky Phillips on bass:

The only other time I saw STYX was around 1978-9 at the 3000 seat Palace Theater in Albany NY, front row balcony, on the Grand Illusion tour.
I knew their songs from the radio and was afraid of cheese, but was quickly converted. Tommy Shaw was an incredible performer, then and now.

You can Google the other guys.

Over a week later their songs keep popping into my head for hours at a time.

More to come...

Horses, Bulls, And Cowboys

2011-02-18T22:44:00.007-06:00

More from the 2011 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo

Thanks to Holly we got some decent seats--much better than any previous year.

Team roping is one of my favorites.

I've never figured out how the 2nd guy gets a rope around the calf's legs.
To be honest, some of them don't.

Here's my favorite sequence:
The rider's raised hand signifies that he's ready, after a rather long time spent getting to this point.

But I would imagine he wasn't quite ready for this:

Followed by this:

He managed to hang on to that wild beast, but was also awarded a re-ride a little later.

All 4 hooves are off the ground:

The bulls were all crazy this year:

Only one rider managed to hang on for the full 8 seconds and win some money on this night, and I don't think this was him:

That Rodeo Time Of Year

2011-02-16T23:59:00.002-06:00

Yes my friends, the rodeo is back in town!
And for the 7th year in a row, San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo has won the large indoor rodeo of the year. Between this and the Spurs that's a lot of banners hanging from the ceiling of the ATT Center.

This year we weren't able to arrive early enough so I could walk around taking pictures, but I'm about out of ideas anyway.
Managed to find a man washing a cow before sundown, which is kinda kinky:

Then we ate.
Bacon-wrapped hotdog, chickenfried steak sandwich, Frito Pie...YUM!

We hit the doors just before the Star Spangled Banner started, and the staff closed the doors until it was over so we waited with mucho respect.

There was some of the usual rodeo stuff which you've all seen before, so let's skip ahead to my favorite event, the Mutton Bustin' :

Nothing better than seeing a 4 year old clinging for dear life to an angry sheep.

Got some cowboy action photos up next.

And after that, I'll go on and on about how great STYX was.

Barbed Wire

2011-02-10T22:35:00.003-06:00

These are the actual photos I took during the SuperBowl last Sunday--the previous post had pics from the previous visit.

Red didn't want to hang out.

He just kept facing North, for well over an hour.

So I shifted gears.

Superbowl Sunday

2011-02-06T23:35:00.003-06:00

We had a nice little football and commercials party at Holly's house:

Got to hang out with Red:

And Dixie:

Good food, good people, good game.
Drank wine for a change, after some whisky to light my fuse.

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-04T02:58:00.003-06:00

I finally got to take some pictures of snow tonight!
After listening to the TV weatherjerk warnings all week, things would have gotten ugly if the promise of snow had failed to materialize.
I even put one of the band lights on our patio so we could easily check for progress during the Spurs/Lakers game. (NICE tip-in for the win, McDyess!)

The obligatory 'snow on vehicle' shot favored by most South Texans:
Some decent accumulation here--the streets and roofs are solid white.
It might look like dusk, but I shot this at 2:04AM.

Snow be coming down and shit:

The edge of our patio has a nice layer, but unless the grass and leaves are completely covered this weather event is best described as a 'light dusting'.
Freezing rain and sleet earlier tonight closed all our highways, because apparently nobody around here knows how to drive.

This is the "snowstorm" that gave me a chance to take some pics:
I find it hard to believe that there will be school closings tomorrow, but then I'm jaded from growing up in the middle of New York State. School closings were rare and wonderful things, but it took at least a foot dumped between 4 and 6AM for the snowplows and salt/sand trucks to get far enough behind that the buses couldn't cope.

The chilly temps for 3 days has been a bigger issue, what with freezing water pipes and such. I got it all under control pretty quick, so we're all good.
Not looking forward to hauling the band gear in and out of the club tomorrow night, but it's the LAST show for BLISS so there's no way around it.
Y'all should come out if you can--it's going to be the most insane rock show in a small club EVER!

ReTox Bar, On Patricia @ West Ave.

Then And Now--Army Edition

2011-02-02T22:55:00.003-06:00

I read a ton of books--so many that I gave up on retail bookstores in favor of used shops, the public library, and flea markets.
My interests are diverse, but growing up on an Air Force base had an affect and I lean towards military subjects rather often.
Oddly, I don't favor one branch of the service over another and have even read great books about the Coast Guard. I DO tend to prefer stories and biographies set from WWII to the present, mostly because there's so much more technology involved.

When I find some of this technology (or when it finds me) and the price is right ( = almost free) I'll grab it.

Case in point--an Army Signal Corps volt/ohm meter from 1943:
This photo is where I got "Then And Now" for the title, because my modern digital multitester is in the shot for a dramatic size comparison. Surprisingly, the olive drab unit will measure pretty much anything that the new model can.

Looking inside, I hope you can see why I like it so much. A big VU meter dominates, but again it's very similar to the digital.

The guts, on the other hand, belong to another era. Hand assembled, and very primitive looking.
The other night I got around to testing it, and found that it still works and is as accurate as you could ever need!
I plan on bringing it to a show soon just to see if anyone notices me using it to fix something.

I don't know what our parents and grandparents paid for the vintage meter, but today they sell on auction sites for around $25. My new digital one was less than $5, but if I wanted to spend exponentially more for essentially the same device I could.

Here we have my J-45 telegraph key, which is really just a J-37 with a steel leg clamp for use in tanks and aircraft:
These were used from WWII through Vietnam, and in fact there is evidence of new units still in the inventory up to the 1990s.
For those who don't know, a telegraph key is used for sending Morse code, which is like sending a text message with 3 to 5 key presses per letter.

A lot of ham radio guys still use the J-37 key today because it's such a good design and since it's military will probably never break.
They like my J-45 version when travelling, which makes sense.
I've seen prices from $10 to $130 for ones made by GE and a host of other suppliers.
Wonder how much mine is worth, seeing as how it was made by Hughes Aircraft Co?
(As in Howard Hughes).

Lastly, we have a radio microphone that's interesting to me because it's made by Shure:
Shure still dominates the market today, and has since before I was born. I would guesstimate that 90% of the concerts and TV shows you've seen had anywhere from a few to a LOT of Shure mics.
Only in the last decade have others made mics that I liked better in certain situations.

The other items in my small collection make very loud noises.
I'll probably get around to talking about them someday.

Back On Track

2011-01-30T23:17:00.003-06:00

On Christmas Eve my main computer got infected with something nasty.
I was able to get the spare online later that night, and made do with slowness and no PhotoShop until a week ago. Got my demons exorcized (thanks to my friend and tech 'Buz', and have spent the time since then fixing my wireless network issues and upgrading what I could.
Now, we're back to the way things were over a year ago (before the last major disaster), but even better. Progress!
The main problem remaining is that many of my Christmas gifts were supposed to be prints of my photos, including ones taken AFTER the disaster. Without PhotoShop, I was seriously behind schedule.

Then the band took two weeks off and then some, so money has been tighter than _ _ _ _, which meant I couldn't afford to get anything printed.

Today my wallet had some new friends inside, so I bought Sylvia the scanner she wanted (to embarrass her friends from West Campus HS) and as luck would have it, the same unit has a printer built-in.
I just finished getting it up and running, and after a couple of minor glitches that were soon fixed the prints have been landing in the tray, passing inspection, and getting put into frames!

These three are for Sylvia's new office:
When I say "new" office, I mean that the frames were bought over 3 months ago (just before my life went all crazy) and I'm glad they finally got done.
Over the next few days I hope to clear the backlog of other jobs that need doing, and being able to make quality prints at home saves me an incredible amount of time and effort.

I've never had a printer before.
Over the years the horror stories from other photographers kept me away.
Color management was always the biggest issue, with guys spending months trying to get the correct profiles created and installed, only to have software updates ruin everything again.
And we're talking about printers in the 4-figures range.
No thanks!

Dipping my toes in the pond for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised when the very first print exactly matched the way the file looks on my monitor, without having to do jack-squat.
(Okay, instead of "pleasantly surprised" let's make it shocked!)
The place where I used to get them done had a definite shift to the red end of the spectrum (I guess for warmer and more pleasing(?) skin tones) and there was no way to avoid it.
Not anymore.
Dead honest representation here, so far.
The real test will be black and whites, which used to suffer from a touch of pink.

Here's the bestest part: Our new Epson printer/scanner cost less than logic would admit is possible.
Not $200.
Nor even $90.
How does $30 sound to you?

Suited me just fine!
Add $10 for glossy photo paper and color me impressed.

Of course, photo ink costs more by weight than gold OR cocaine so eventually the Piper will get paid.
Hopefully I'll be all caught-up by the time I need more ink.

Dos Caballos

2011-01-21T22:27:00.004-06:00

This is my new friend Dixie:

And this is Red:

A Fine Hawk

2011-01-20T22:26:00.005-06:00

Getting the mail yesterday I somehow spotted this hawk lurking in the big tree in our back yard:

It eyeballed me as I took 2 photos, then took off:
I was lucky to get this shot before it was blocked by the neighbor's house and trees.

* * * * * * * *
Does anyone remember that funny movie from the '80s where all the high school boys were horny?
OK, narrowing it down, they had a peep hole in the girls gym shower.
Kim Cattrall (pre-Mannequin) was nicknamed Lassie and the smell of gym socks made her howl?
Well, there's now a 2nd restaurant in SA named after that movie located in the old Red Lobster at 410 & Callaghan. (I think the original is on Culebra near downtown).

Don't go there!
Trust me.

We broke our rule about giving a new place a month to get their act together, and are now back to rigid enforcement.
2 burgers with fries/onion rings and sodas = over $16 = ouch + it better be really good.
Nope--the fries were soggy and the rings tasted like fish.
Tilapia, to be exact.
And when a burger is supposed to have onions, there should be more than 1 small circle.

But what sucked the most was waiting over 45 minutes for disappointing and overpriced food.
With no apology.
It's like they were driving to HEB for more meat and potatos after each order, as if the idea of needing to churn them out on a Friday night was a big surprise.

Our polite email giving them a heads-up got a reply that struck us as a lot of excuses.
Here are some gems, copied verbatim, leaving out the parts that had crazy bad syntax or made no sense:
"...we are a gourmet restaurant.

We prepare everything fresh and hand patty meat.

We are not a fast food restaurant."
(Got THAT right!)

I suggest you "hand patty meat" a little faster and some day you can work your way up to a slow food restaurant.
I grilled steaks with rice and corn for dinner tonight and it took less time, despite starting with a cold stove and frozen BBQ.

And for the record, fishy onion rings are unacceptable.
Fish gets it's own fryer--every idiot knows that.
I'll have to disagree with the use of the word gourmet.

Walking Around Boerne

2011-01-14T00:38:00.003-06:00

On Sunday we traveled up IH10 a bit to Boerne, which brought back memories of the time I damaged Sylvia's Dad's truck using the rear end of a deer at 4am.
First, we went to Market Days in the town square to look at the same kind of stuff that can be found at the Market Days in Leon Valley or any other small town that wants to end up losing money on a noble idea.
And to try our best at avoiding mud. (I was coughing a lot, because at 3am that morning I was loading the band's trailer in the cold cold rain).
Syl bought some blueberry/habanero and other similar jams from a vendor who it turns out also sells at Artisan's Alley here in town.
Enough of the complaints--let's walk the main street and poke around some shops!

Closed
Closed
Closed
Hey...nope--too Alamo Heights-ish.
Cross the street.
Closed
Closed
Stop to take a picture up a tree:
This was fun because other shoppers(?) had to look up too and couldn't figure out what was so important that I needed a picture.
Made you look!

We started finding a few antique stores that were open, and the fun began.
I soon found the big brother to our Pyrex salsa containers, at a very low price due to inconsequential chips in the lid. SOLD!

I almost bought a publicity print of Don Knotts as Barney Fife, but the signature didn't seem right to me. It would have looked great next to my autographed print of Julie Newmar in her CatWoman outfit.

Found some great ViewMaster discs from the '60s and '70s, like the moon landing, and would have gone back for them had I managed to locate the ViewMaster viewer itself instead of just a non-stereo-vision screen projector.
After teaching myself how to make 3-D photos a few years ago, I soon found that nobody I know is able to view them correctly without lots of effort (not gonna happen) or lots of expensive equipment (also not gonna happen).
However, I do know how to make my own ViewMaster discs.
Someday...

Later, I spotted this great old Chevy pickup hiding between some buildings:
It was very cool.

After the New Year's Eve show in Kerrville, our singer forgot her jacket.
Because I'm sweet, I brought it back to SA instead of trading it to a 9-tooth pig farmer for some chops.
But since I'm also a bit of a dick, at our next show last Friday I dragged a ladder onto the stage and hung it up as high as I could.

Still haven't found out how she got it down, but whoever helped her is on my list.

Random Stuff

2011-01-05T22:28:00.003-06:00

While waiting for the plumbers today, I took apart our old cordless house phone.
We've been cell-only for a long time, and it was a POS anyway, so I was collecting screws and spare parts from the base unit (got some good stuff).
Then I noticed that the adjustable external antenna didn't even have a wire up the middle, so I'm guessing that the two spirals of wire with the foam are the new antenna protocol.
And by new I mean 2003 as opposed to 2000:

This is my new grill--a Christmas present from Sylvia:
It's the one I wanted, and after a few meals has proven to be the perfect grill for us in both size and features. Easy to clean, doesn't take up much room, LOVE it!
Best part is that my brother assembled it for me on Christmas Day so I could concentrate on getting the house ready for our party later that night.
If you look at this post from August you can read about the end of my old BBQ, as well as my newest bass. I got a case for that bass for Christmas, too.
Awesome.

Last week we went to Holly's to take pictures of her horses.
I have a bunch of stuff to work on from that shoot, but it'll have to wait until I can get my computer fixed. As I mentioned last time, this spare one doesn't have PhotoShop and in fact can barely handle the internet, so my more important (to me) photography will have to wait a while longer.
In fact, besides the horses I have a few other shoots sitting patiently.

While at Holly's I took the opportunity to sight-in my .22 and shoot a group to check for accuracy after all the recent work I've done to it:
That's 3 shots into one ragged hole at 30 yards.
Center-to-center this measured out to 0.157" according to my calipers, which is extremely good for the same gun with a heavy aftermarket target barrel, let alone a 25 year old thin factory one like mine.
And I'm still not done tweaking this gun!
Very glad to finally have proof that I'm on the right track.

Oh, and the plumbers did a great job so far, with high hopes for complete success when they find the right parts and return.
The leaky faucets are now dry, and the most-corroded metal drain pipes have been replaced with PVC.
Plus, my home-brewed fixes were approved by an expert.

No promises as far as how long you'll have to wait for another post, but I'm 72.2% more optimistic than I was just yesterday.
Oh yeah--Happy New Year!

Merry Computer Failure!

2010-12-25T03:25:00.002-06:00

I'm in the middle of trying to get my old and crappy tower to work with this modern internetty thing you kids are so fond of these days...

Thanks to my tech Buz, at least we're online again in time for the big party tonight so we can settle arguments like men with dueling Googles.

This 'pooter doesn't even have PhotoShop, so many of my presents are going to be even later than I had planned.
Massive Christmas Fail on my part.

Thanks for visiting Views Of Texas.

Merry Christmas, Y'all

2010-12-24T01:40:00.004-06:00

I went in a totally different direction for our card photo this year:
We LOVE our "Sneaky Santa" ornament.

Hope all of my readers have a delightful holiday.

Tired Of Waiting

2010-12-14T22:29:00.008-06:00

In our search for this year's Christmas card photo, on Thursday we listened to the people who said that the 'Museum Reach' part of the Riverwalk now has pretty lights.
Didn't take a single picture, because it was actually the exact same lame decorations as last year, just seen by people who didn't even know about Museum Reach a year ago, I guess.

On Sunday evening we made one last attempt, heading down to St. Paul Square and Sunset Station. Sylvia had seen the lights all over the locomotive while I was failing to find parking on Thursday--it was too crowded and I gave up.
Our return visit was at the perfect time of night, giving me time to scout around before the sun went down all the way so as to be in-position with a few minutes to spare.

Southern Pacific (Texas & New Orleans) 2-8-2 #794 was fully decorated, and it's headlamp was lit:
This photo was taken about five minutes before the "perfect" time--stars are starting to be visible but the sky is still too-bright of a blue.
When are they going to light this thing up???

As usual, the tree inside the station is beautiful, with the star in the stained-glass acting as a tree-topper.
Clever.

Back to the loco: Sylvia asked the security guards about the lights, and they said that different organizations are responsible for the lights on the grounds and those on the train, and were under orders to leave it alone.
They chuckled when she told them she was about to start flipping breakers if it doesn't get lit in the next few minutes.
Well, the Friends Of The SP 794 were either late or not coming down on Sunday at all, and I had already lost the sky light levels I wanted.

So we took matters into our own hands.
First, Sylvia threw a big master breaker, but nothing happened.
I was very proud of her balls.

After a while I got fed up (and cold) so I opened a steel box and looked inside with my flashlight.
A bunch of the breakers inside were labeled and I started flipping the likely suspects.
Lights started coming on!

The only breaker I didn't flip was labeled "Computer", and I was afraid of it.
Didn't want to accidentally enable the engine's smoke system, but in retrospect it might have been the one that powered all the rest of the lights--as you can see, I only got about half of the loco lit.

I was trying to keep track and return things to the way I found them, but within seconds the tourists started crowding around and "Ooh-Ahh-ing" so I decided to just leave the breaker box hanging open and get away while the getting was good.

Update: We finally put up the #1 tree tonight, and also decided to go in a different direction for the card photo.
I shot it in 5 minutes in the comfort of home, featuring our favorite ornament on the #2 silver tree that's in our front window.
Now we're both very happy with the results.

To be honest, there's only so many iconic SA locations that are decorated, and I've already used the best ones.
The new plan is to look for smaller "detail" scenes wherever and whenever they can be found, with me working hard to nail all the technical details.
My 50mm F1.8 lens is perfect for this approach, and really shined tonight.

Riverwalk Views

2010-12-05T01:00:00.008-06:00

I'm back, and as promised here are some scenes I shot tonight while scouting around downtown for this year's Christmas card photo.
To tell the truth, it took me a long time to get back in the groove after so long away from night photography.
Camera settings and tripod handling is second nature, but actually seeing and feeling the scene in front of me, and finding my vision of it, didn't come easily.

Tower Life Building as seen from La Villita.

Back wall of The Little Church At La Villita.

Shot a very similar view from this spot 2 years ago, and our card last year was shot from street level behind me.

The old courthouse on the left, I don't know what's on the right.

Finally, something I like.
Sylvia and I both went "Oooh!" when it popped up on the computer screen.
Not really sure why it works for me yet, but I trust my gut.
Still, it won't be on our Christmas cards this year--I can do better.
I have to do better, because in years past the bar has been raised pretty darn high.

What was funny tonight was how many times people would watch me working a scene with my DSLR and tripod, then slide into my exact spot with their pocket cams as soon as we left.
Hopefully this doesn't come off as arrogant, but I could tell that they weren't going to get usable results just by glancing at their cameras and techniques.
Every copycat brought home pics that are dark and blurry because in all cases my shutter was open for 2 to 10 seconds or more and there's no way to get anything decent hand-held even if they crank up the iso speed. Not at night.
I was a little flattered, but Sylvia took it personally and seemed highly offended.
She scoffed twice, and one time said "Good luck!", which was also flattering.

The freak show of tourists and locals was interesting, too.
Inappropriate/impractical outfits and bad hygiene kept us amused.
We were cracking each other up the whole time with a running commentary that would have gotten us shanked if we didn't speak in code.

I had a wonderful time!
The best part is that I get to keep doing it until the card photo is found.

What's also nice is that I have two from last year and '08 that I'm fine with using, so there's no pressure.

BLISS Video from Friday night is streaming at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/crashtastical

Thanksgiving Day 2010

2010-11-25T23:23:00.003-06:00

The band had to play last night, because just like the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, the day before is the biggest drinking night of the year.
I got to play bass at the end of the night, and it was a lot of fun:
To be honest, I really miss playing regularly and am trying to get this part of my life fixed. It's terribly frustrating and depressing.

Here's a view of the sky just before the cold front blew in:
From the '80s to the 40's in a couple hours--on a drive across town I started with the AC in my truck and ended up switching to the heater.

In a newish neighborhood ("The Parc"--how pretentious!) on FM1516 near Converse my brother detoured me to this scupture of a deer made from scrap metal:
It's huge--at least 40 feet high. You can get a sense of the size by the bicycle sticking out of the buck's chest.
It was already dark and I didn't have a tripod, so I did the best I could for a photo. Definitely going back for daytime color and infrared pics--especially since the high thin cirrus clouds I love for IR photography are finally back in season.

Sadly, some rotten scumbags stole tools and clothes and jewelry out of a truck parked at the family gathering today. Instead of shopping for Christmas on Black Friday, they'll be buying necessities just to get through their visit, which is just wrong.
At least nobody got hurt, although I would give thanks if the thieves had an "accident" and lost their teeth and maybe some fingers...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Sorry I've been too busy to take nice pictures lately, but with Christmas coming soon you just know I'll be shooting some cool stuff for our card so be on the lookout for the outtakes.

Candy Is Dandy

2010-11-14T22:16:00.003-06:00

Snakes won't eat when their skin is too tight, so after shedding last week I knew Candy would be hungry.
First, she has to earn her meal by posing for the "Chair Project".

This is (was) the 2nd mouse:

Sylvia latest medal, from today's Rock & Roll Marathon:
I would have gone, but didn't wake up until 1:23pm. Oops.
(I haven't slept well all week)
I'm very proud of her--she came home to a bouquet of flowers sold to me by a couple of surly emo "girls" who'll never get another dime from me.
Hey, try not to let your hatred of men interfere with commerce?

Veteran's Day 2010

2010-11-11T17:54:00.005-06:00

Thank You, Veterans

This image and many more like it can be found at the Library of Congress's Flickr page.
As Americans, this photo collection is ours, both from a copyright standpoint and for the simple fact that the pictures are us.
The Flickr page is organized in "Sets" by subject, along the right side of page 1.

I highly recommend that you take a look around--there's all kinds of great stuff.

Thank You, Voters!

2010-11-03T14:14:00.006-05:00

Sure, we still have a dysfunctional system filled with career politicians.
But a message has been sent in no uncertain terms.
Now, the people who make our economy function have some hope, whereas two years ago the only ones who felt good were the deadbeats and those who pander to them in exchange for votes.
I feel better today than I have in a long time.

(Wonder how long before a commenter twists this into a race issue somehow--the lack of logical thinking on the left can be shocking sometimes. All I want is for my country to prosper again and it clearly wasn't going to happen the way we were going, so save your breath).

Halloween went well.
We had 59 kids, which is low, but that means I have a good supply of candy for myself.

My newest trick was a success.
I had parked my truck so that the kids would have to walk behind it to get to our door.
Our ghoulish dummy (torso + head) was in the bed and had a light on it, which slowed them down a bit.

Then I pressed a button on my remote system which activated taillights and a backup alarm like those found on commercial vehicles:

There were many who jumped back, some screamed, and the fathers usually nodded appreciatively.
My idea was that while being afraid of werewolves and spiders is fine, there are things in the real world that can be quite deadly if you aren't careful.
Getting killed by a dumptruck in reverse is far more likely to happen than being attacked by a vampire.

5 people got packets of Taco Bell Sauce instead of candy this year.
Pushing 30 and no costume?
Oh hell no, candy is out of the question!

Texting or talking on a cellphone while holding out your bag?
Taco Bell Sauce for you!

The saying is "Trick OR Treat", and it's our choice.
Follow the long-established rules and you get the good candy.

We also gave some to the tiny tots who are so young that their parents will surely check every piece, just to mystify mom and dad.
(Don't worry--they got candy, too).

My new tiki torch was an improvement because it holds more oil and didn't need a refill at 8:00.
Apparently, Garden Ridge is the only place that sells them year-round. WalMart's had flickering LEDs instead of fire, which is totally unacceptable.

I added some spare stage lights this year to make everything more visible--it was tricky getting them dim enough to keep from overpowering the scenes and strobes.
Next year will see more work along this line as well as more sounds and another smoke machine.
The new scary-noises CD was pretty good--well worth a buck50.
Which brings me to the main thing--while we'll never come close to the commercial haunted houses, it's always the scariest home in the 'hood.

Have to keep my spending at around $20 for show improvements since we spend so much on the damned candy. SPURS tickets and parking and drinks are a better entertainment value, but Halloween only comes once a year.
So, I try to be creative on the cheap and slowly build and refine every year.

The best comment was from a little boy who said Boy, this house is some house!

Stuff and Junk

2010-10-30T04:30:00.003-05:00

BLISS has a new sponsor, Venom Energy Drink.
25 calories a serving, and lots of good flavors.
The grape mixes well with vodka.

Our T-shirts are cool but whoever printed the banners must have quit work at 4:20, because the band's logo should be the main focus instead of getting tacked-on in the bottom corner.
Hopefully, this relationship will feature a little more attention-to-detail in the future.

My roadies tonight were Halloweiners.

This is a perfect example of how NOT to do it.

A Beautiful Mess

2010-10-21T23:34:00.004-05:00

Our New Band debuted last Sunday at PediCab on Cevallos (next to LaTuna near Blue Star)
When BLISS is over early next year, A Beautiful Mess will be ready to keep me busy--on Sunday we had an opening act and only played 1 set.

Steve and I have worked together with The Hollering, Simmons Allison Group, The BeWires, The Hitmen, BLISS, Loud Nine, and a few more acts over the past 20-odd years.
We both consider ourselves lucky to have found a partner in music that is at the top of their respective job in South Texas, and we're also great friends.
Basically, he joins bands and when their soundman proves to be a tool I get the call and stay until the band breaks up years later.

John is from Kerrville, and is perfect for the new band's country/rock sound and look.

Valentino knows a billion songs and is quite a character.
Put a nice shirt on this guy and we have a star.

The opening act was an all-woman band whose name escapes me, but they were alright. The crowd at PediCab loved them.
Our set ignited more dancing, since it was now dark and our music was less serious and the beat was far more infectious.

Rikk is in charge, and it's been a real pleasure to work with him over the last few years. We have that mind-reading thing going, so the work gets done with minimal aggravation and always to our shared professional standards.

I worked with Stephanie for over a year and it was great to hear her sing again.
It's about time she found a band that's going to be able to bring her talents to a wider audience.

I suggested "Gravel Avenue" as a name for the new band, but it didn't make the final cut.
I'm going on record right now as claiming that name for future projects.

Halloween preparations are proceeding nicely.
I have work to do tonight on one of the scenes, and have started buying candy.
So far I have Snickers, Starburst, and Skittles, but the bowl must have a hole in the bottom because it doesn't look as full as it did a few days ago.

No More Chalk After This

2010-10-16T04:24:00.003-05:00

I used to own a mini-Marshall amp. My Peavey practice amp sounded much better, so I sold it.

Yes please cheese.

These bike adverts were everywhere. Notice the motorcycle batteries used to power the internal lights.

I waited for a long time to get anything decent from this artist, but we both failed.
She was using a Roomba to drag her chalks around but instead of embracing the random nature of this device, was hovering over it with the remote trying to control it.
Etch-A-Sketch at best.
Roombas aren't heavy enough to provide the required downward pressure, so the chalk lines were wimpier than a 2-year-old's worst efforts.
We were on a very tight schedule (how did I get so many pix in under an hour?) and I had to wait while she changed batteries then either stand in my way or drive the thing into the shadows.
To add insult to WTF?, her "canvas" was the very best location that usually hosts the top showcase artists.
I was expecting a masterpiece on this corner, and saw nothing.

We were asked to be on the volunteer staff this year but couldn't do it.
Next year, I really hope we can.

Chalk 2 +

2010-10-13T22:02:00.005-05:00

Some more photos from Chalk It Up! 2010:

A guy in my camera club met this guy in a bar that night and drank beer with him for hours.

The stolen chair project continues:
That's the largest wooden roller coaster in Texas back there, so obviously I was parked behing Neiman Marcus.

When did my visitor counter pass 50,000?
Last time I looked it was at half that, and I'm pretty sure that it only passed 20K less than two years ago.

Chalk It Up! (6 years in a row)

2010-10-10T04:20:00.006-05:00

I started this blog in early 2005, and that October we first heard about Chalk It Up! and decided to check it out.
Been back every year since, and there are more photos of it than any other annual event including the rodeo.
Last year it took me four posts to show them all, but I'll try to do it in 3 for 2010.

The late great Linda Pace, of Pace Picante Sauce fame, started this whole thing among many other art projects and endowments.

Chalk Tacos

I see funnel cake

More to come...

At tonight's show, during the first break I spotted a suspicious drunk sitting on our stage...
He kept losing track of our tip jar, then finding it again and trying to move it behind him without anyone noticing.
I noticed.
After telling the guitarist to "watch this!" I went back to the stage and somehow a wad of bills had moved from the jar to the dude's shirt pocket!
(Hanging out in a wad, I might add).
I snatched back our money and tore him a new asshole, then got the rent-a-cops involved, and they also had a ball with this idiot. Threatening him with jail if he didn't confess, calling him an ungrateful bitch for stealing from the band, etc.
Meanwhile, his friend tried to explain to me how "he has a good job and doesn't need to steal", which didn't hold much weight against me actually seeing him do it.
On my recommendation he got sent home with a stern warning.
If I see him again, no mercy.

Introspection (Looking Inside)

2010-10-05T01:44:00.004-05:00

I've had this photo rattling around in my head for well over a year and tonight I finally decided to just give it a try, fully expecting to learn something but then have to do the whole thing over.
But it turned out just like I imagined, and was far easier to make than expected.
10-15 minutes was all it took, with a handful of lighting tests, three exposures to get one of me I could live with, then 4 or five of the skull to get it placed exactly where it belongs so I didn't have to screw around in PhotoShop for an hour.

I wish I had so many teeth!

It's been a LONG time since I posted anything on Flickr or changed my FaceBook profile picture, so that's why I got off my ass and finally just did it.

Got A SPURS Fix Today

2010-10-04T00:24:00.003-05:00

For the second time in recent memory, server error caused me to get a LOT more bacon with my breakfast than I ordered. Oh darn.

Fortified by my extra pig meat, I braved the crowds on too-little sleep to see the SPURS practice at the ATT Center.
Free parking, free admission, this little gift to the fans is a yearly ritual for us.
$1 hotdogs and sodas.
With training camp only just begun it's a very early look at all the new faces, many of whom will likely be gone before the season starts.

And it's nice to see the vets out having fun.

I was bummed when Tiago Splitter hurt an obsolete tendon and had to sit out. The best player in the Spanish league last season, we've been waiting for him for years.

I didn't know what the Coyote was doing until reviewing pix in the car. Just...wow!

Did I mention that the place was infested with little kids?
Most were of an age where they won't rate a paid ticket during the regular season, so it was nice that families can give 'em a taste of the excitement.

More than once I just closed my eyes and reveled in the sounds and smells of a game.
Almost brought a tear to my eye--I love my team and city so much.

If anyone cares, the Blacks beat the Silvers with George Hill and DeJuan Blair putting up the most points out of all the SPURS.
James Gist, Alonzo Gee, and Garrett Temple showed a lot of hustle.
McDyess and Jefferson looked more comfortable than last year.
Coach Popovich was funny as usual, and it was great to see the return of Jacque Vaughn on the coaching staff. He's a school for our young guards, and will be a big help (for less money than Avery Johnson).

Afterwards, we went to DQ for mini-Blizzards and onion rings.

"The Chair" and Halloween Preparations

2010-10-01T01:18:00.002-05:00

Now that we have a truck, I've been trying to remember to drag the bar stool around with me so I can add location pictures to the project.

Halloween will be here before too long, so I'm already planning this year's upgrades(?) to the show:

I'm trying to increase my use of sound this year, and last night thought of a way to assemble some spare parts laying around for a new gag on the trick-or-treaters.
Wired and tested successfully tonight.

Not your typical "spooky" trick--more like a life lesson.

History For Sale

2010-09-23T22:17:00.006-05:00

I have been intriqued by this old house on Huebner Rd for many years.
In fact, I photographed a simpler stone home next to it back in 2006 or so, when this one was still occupied.
Sadly, the other was torn down within weeks of me shooting it, to be replaced by commercial interests on this busy street that's moving fast from "country" to "city".

Hopefully whoever buys it does a complete restoration. We don't really need more medical offices at the cost of historical stone architecture.

The section on the right looks original, and much older than the rest.
Typical, in my experience. Small crude shacks get additions as the family and the bank account grow.
I don't like to think of what might be living under that patio--there were a LOT of wasp nests on the porches making me nervous.

Old front door?

New front door.
I mean really new, which is a good sign.

Covered parking at the entrance, and places for the valets to stay dry.
Looking forward to the housewarming party.

The driveway from Huebner curves under the awning, then exits onto a side street--both sporting iron gates.
Behind the stone walls and iron at the front is some kind of pool or fountain--I didn't investigate because the tall weeds were hiding all kinds of critters and the last thing I need on a Thursday is to be sprayed by a skunk or bitten by a rattlesnake--missing work is never an option.
(You 9-5 types probably can't imagine being unable to miss a day of work.
I'm proud of my perfect attendance, but then if you don't work you don't get paid in this biz)

If I bought this place everything would go, down to the stone.
Wood, wiring, floors and ceilings, the roof--it's all rotten and nasty, leaking and full of mold.
But the results would be amazing.

In an interesting coincidence, last Saturday night I mentioned this photoshoot and discovered that a friend of mine also loves this house.
When the boards come off so that work can begin, I'll try to get some interiors.
Or at least keep an eye (and a lens) on developments.