Spurs Mascot Fun

Here in San Antonio we love the Spurs and their mascot, the Coyote.
The original was amazing, and after he suffered a stroke and couldn't carry on his understudy has grown into the job so well you wouldn't know the difference.

The last game we went to was vs my cousin's home team the Memphis Grizzlies, game # 77 of 82 in the regular season. That night the first 10,000 people through the gate received a Coyote Bobblehead!

Here's the pic I took in the stands and posted to Facebook right before tipoff:

Five of us went to the game (Spurs won) and 6 coyotes came home. Somebody didn't want to keep theirs and left it unattended for long enough that our friend snagged it. Is the box empty? Do we need to call security of the homeland variety? Is this a test of honesty? What would an American in the 1990s do?

The deal announced during a break in the game was that free lower-level tickets to an upcoming game would be awarded to the best photo tagged #coyotebobblehead on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Well hell, I was all over that idea.
Within a couple of days we were in Austin and I had brought a mascot.

After the capitol we hit an Irish pub on 6th Street for a few hours:

After getting home I kept having fun with the coyote under the self-imposed limitation of only taking pictures with my phone:

Amazing what you can do using LED flashlights and a tripod with a DIY smartphone mount.

But my photos never showed up in the pool of contest contenders, so either they didn't add FB entries for some reason or there was a very short time window to get them in. Almost every entry I saw was weak in concept and especially execution.

Oh well, no free tickets but at least I had fun trying.

It's not really a bobblehead anyway.
When you flick the head it goes "Boing-ing-ing-ing-ing" and that's about it.
A real bobblehead has a balancing act going on between the weight of the head and the action of the spring it's mounted upon that sucks you in and takes way more than 2 seconds to finish.
Slow and hypnotic, random and magical.

Much like Spurs basketball when they are playing the way they do when we win.

Samsung Pics #1

As I mentioned before, many cameras including the Galaxy S3 went to Austin.

On the grounds surrounding the capitol building I found a rather new Vietnam War Memorial that was pretty nice:

 

With only minor phone manipulation it was possible to get an exposure that revealed much more of what was actually there. Very impressed sometimes by how camera-like Samsung phones can be. 

 

Back at the state cemetery, this view of the 9/11 Memorial turned out nice straight from the phone, and a tiny bit of Photochop didn't make the file get all wonky: 

 

That's WTC steel girders in the middle, with actual battle damage alongside the artistry. 

Had no idea such a display was here in Texas, and as someone who spent many of the most important years of my life living in New York it was good that none of my friends were nearby when I found this shrine. Got a bit misty-eyed, or maybe allergies.  

Onward To The Capitol

After a nice lunch at Threadgill's, that is. 

 

It's inspiring from the outside, partly because it's bigger than the Federal one in DC. Security was fairly stiff, which I forgot to expect. My camera bag was full of all kinds of sharp and burny things that get emptied out before I fly anywhere, but after a few apologies combined with my joking attitude entry was obtained without getting charged with a crime.  

 

This was my first visit to the center of Texas government, and it was beautiful and inspiring. 

Nice restrooms, too. Definitely going back. 

The Texas State Cemetery In Good Old Black & White

Took 4 cameras with me that day, and used three. Yes, I count my Galaxy S3 phone as a camera because it sure acts like one much of the time. Didn't end up using the Vivitar HD videocam.
These were shot with my 2003-vintage Sony F828 which is rigged to block all visible light and only record infrared. I just like the way things look this way, from the bright foliage to the dark skies. It's different without being too wacky.

 

This is the money shot. The wrecked headstone drew my attention right away, and this in-your-face composition really works for me. Your mileage may vary. 

Next Up: We visit the Capitol building.

Texas State Cemetery

A few weeks ago I escorted 75% of my 2013 Lake Tahoe Vacation "Duckies" on a day trip to Austin to visit the resting place of some important people.
Located a mile or so east of the heart of Texas partying--on the other side of Interstate 35 from 6th Street:

 For my international readers who might not know, Texas Governor John Connally was seriously wounded while sitting right next to President John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in Dallas.

Ann Richards was a much more recent Governor, and the first woman to hold the highest office in Texas. A good sport, she lent her voice and image to an episode of the cartoon "King Of The Hill".

Now we bring things up a notch in the pecking order around here.
Tom Landry was THE coach when the Dallas Cowboys football team meant something.
His body isn't actually here, but his legacy means enough that a monument is mandatory.
His hat is a Texas Icon that rivals those worn by the cowboys and patriots who settled our great state.

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.

Austin Again & Again

Last Wednesday Televators played with three other bands at Red Eyed Fly in downtown Austin.
Hooka Hey from Paris France was really good. (Their video is NSFW, in case you look it up)


We played well, and debuted our new song 'Sonetto' which features acoustic guitar, a more melodic bassline than usual, and Led Zep-ish vocals and drums.


My favorite moment was when we finished our set with the driving 'My Paradigm'. After the thunderous ending there was 3 seconds of silence, then a member of another band on the bill yelled "How the hell do you follow THAT?!?!"
Exactly how it should be done, my friend. Take no prisoners--go out and kill.
We cracked up.


Still deeply in love with my new-ish Ibanez Iceman bass and Peavey MAX tube pramp. Great tone inspires me to play better.


Just two days later we were back in the State Capital to return to Wire Recording studio and get down to work mixing the 3 unfinished songs recorded last April.



Our producer Lee Popa spent too much time and called-in all his favors mixing 'Milk Run' on his own, delivering a fine final product. Then he dropped the rest of the project, violating our contract and exposing himself to a nice lawsuit, but instead we chalked it up to lessons learned and we're still going to attach his name to the final results since that's all we have left of any value.


We used Wire engineer Joey B for mixing last Friday, in a marathon 7pm to 7am session.
Joey really knows his way around the studio, and is a cool relaxed cat to hang with.


It's interesting that we get to combine the convenience and speed of recording digitally with ProTools, but get to enhance and warm up the sound with piles and piles of vintage tube audio gear culled from famous studios world-wide. My bass might get run through a compressor used by The WHO while Bex's vocals are catching a vibe from something that the Beatles or Stones once used.


The rest of the band went back to re-do vocals and stuff on Sunday, but I missed that trip.


Not to fear, because I just went back up to Austin for the third time in a week for more mixing this Wednesday.
10pm-7am this time, and we finished 'The Visitor', our next release. The other two should be done in a few days, hopefully without my help.


Mixing is a tedious and exacting process, and we found the perfect engineer for us. Joey and Televators plan to work together from now on. But man, after hearing the same song again and again and again all night long, I'm so burned out on it that listening to the results is the last thing I want to do.
No wonder many artists never listen to their own recordings.


Some of you might wonder why I didn't mix it myself, given my 25 years of experience mixing live shows.
Well, the studio is a totally different animal and the results will be heard for years on all different kinds of sound systems from iPods to car stereos, home theaters to REAL theaters (SHHH--it's a secret for now).
I just don't have the gear or experience to do it justice, and that's cool.
Besides, live sound is more like playing an instrument.
It can be creative, spontaneous, and fun.
Plus, if you make a mistake people often blame it on the band and forget about it two seconds later.


Once 'The Visitor' gets mastered (yet another engineer performs final tweaks to make it fully compatible with all playback environments and CD pressing) I will post links so y'all can hear it for free (before you buy it on iTunes).
Once the final two songs are mixed and mastered, we'll be approaching record labels to try for a recording contract as well as looking for opening slots on major tours.

Again I ask: "Why didn't all this happen when I was younger?"
But hell, if bands that I grew up listening to can still do it...

Where Was I?

Ten minutes after I made the previous post our internet shut off.
It's been 8.5 days with no webbage, and that wasn't cool at all.
Rene just drove off in his ATT truck, and I'm finally online again.

Here's the rest of my Museum Reach photos, which would have been available here last Saturday had ATT not screwed my pooch so hard:

A neat little footbridge across the river, just around the bend from the Museum.

San Antonio Museum of Art.

SAMA again.

While working on this project an old forgotten dam was discovered.
Archaologists dug around and did the research, and their findings are on a historical marker nearby--I'm just glad they added underwater lights or it wouldn't be noticed.

Nike Human Race: Austin Texas

(Please read this first)

One of 25 cities participating in Nike's Human Race, Austin was close enough that Sylvia entered, ran and finished with a pretty good time.
I went along and took pictures, of course.
Wish I had brought a ladder!

Kitty-ears and her friends were smart--they were the only people I could easily find in the crowd of over 15,000 runners/walkers.
We filed this away for the next race.

These folks had a good view.





Bringing up the rear was a typically Austin sight. This goof planned to hop the entire race.
I wonder how far he got.


Next: Celebrities, and reliving my past.