Pimp My Band

TELEVATORS have a lot of cool things happening soon that I'll be sure to let you know about in a timely manner.
Shows (including at least one here in SA) and our CD release top the list, and in conjunction with the release we're scheduled to do some internet radio station interviews. Following that will be actual physical product for sale on Amazon and other sites, so start saving your beer cans for the recycling $$$.

The photo shoot we participated in up near Austin a few weeks ago yielded a lot of fun pics of my bass for me to play with, but we recently got some of the content from the photographer they had hired.
Here's my favorite:


I was a little worried, but looks like us old farts still remember how to look like a band.
Don't get me started on the colors and exposure choices, though.
Kid photographers these days with their Instagrams and chlamydia and Photoshop dyslexia...


Saturday before last my phone went screwy and all my contacts disappeared.
WTF?!? is an understatement.

Turns out they had vanished from our carrier's online backup and everywhere else.
As I went to my texts to copy the most important ones down, the names of my peeps disappeared before my eyes, leaving only their numbers!
Weird.

We both had the original Galaxy S Fascinate and Sylvia's had been powering-down or locking-up randomly for several months already so we said screw it and went to Best Buy on Sunday and bought a pair of Samsung Galaxy S IIIs for $50 each.
Just...WOW!!
What a great device.

Among other things (meaning everything) the camera is a huge improvement, with a much smarter flash system, true macro capability, and many more megapickles.

I decided that my new phone needed a new custom wallpaper, and coincidentally remembering how my infrared camera "sees through" some guitar finishes I decided to do a quick and dirty IR of...what else?...my bass.
Sorry.



We were about to leave the house for the rest of the day so I didn't bother doing a proper session with lights and a dark background, etc, just shot it on the beige carpet and threw some ham-handed Photoshop at it much like the first photo above received.

I'm fascinated by the fact that the black stain around the edges of the bass is invisible to IR. I first discovered this with my Ibanez Artist guitar with a nearly identical "Antique Violin" finish, but when you consider that it was made in Japan in 1977 while the bass is 2004 Korean, plus the advances in finish materials, it's really quite remarkable.

More guitars need to be shot in infrared so I can get a handle on this phenomena.

Iceman On Location

On Sunday, Televators went east of Austin (Yay Toll Road 130!) to visit Austin Music Ranch for a photo shoot.
We're working with a promoter up there and the shoot pulled together several of their artists, models, and the ranch itself.

It was an interesting afternoon.
When I got bored and my bass got heavy it seemed like a good idea to put it down, so I did.
A lot.

Set My Alarm For Christmas

I could definitely sleep for a few weeks at least.

The Televators show went well enough. Played my new bass the whole night, and loved it. I had been afraid that it's big body would overwhelm me in my emaciated condition, but it doesn't look too bad:

But jeez--I'm swimming in that shirt and my jeans are baggy, too. Need a tailor badly.

Early Voting is a wonderful thing. No crowds, and you can choose the most convenient location. Highly recommended!

This post is coming from my old computer while the new one is in the shop. Hopefully it's just the video card that needs replacing--if it's the motherboard going bad I'll be building a new machine and it won't be cheap.

My truck had been acting up for the past month--stalling at red lights and sometimes in the middle of rush hour traffic, which tends to add stress to your life as it flashes before your eyes. Took it to Bring Your Own Parts on Bandera and they drove it around town for two days and never could get it to act up, which is the way these things always go. After checking for water in the gas tank, fuel pressure, spark, and a few other things they apologized profusely for not fixing it and charged me $80. So far I'm happy with the deal, because in 3 days of heavy driving it hasn't acted up once--not even a hint. Feels like it used to, so it looks like they fixed it much like I fix sound gear. Open things up, push and prod, then re-tighten the nuts. Crossing my fingers...

Did I mention the new camera? Since dropping my Alpha 300 it was never the same. The sensor shifted so far that composing a shot was mostly guesswork and the sharper center of the lens was sending it's info way off to one corner. I got fed-up and ordered a used Alpha 200 body from KEH and it's been great, at a price that's lower than repairing mine would have cost. I'm having some doubts about how the exposure looks on the LCD, but will get it ironed out soon.

Can't believe that the new NBA season starts for the SPURS in less than 24 hours. Going to sit quietly in a dark house and watch the game. Unplugging the doorbell. Yes--I'm bailing on Halloween this year. As much as I love scaring the kids (and parents) there's just no way I can put up the show in time tomorrow. The above list of things plus working 6 days/7 shifts a week killed any chance of it. Despite amazing early tests, I never was able to finalize the design and implementation of my newest scene, either. Oh well, there's always next year... GO SPURS GO!!!