Tuesday, January 27, 2004
New year, same old curmudgeon, different expression!
Okay, so we're already a month into 2004 and it's been two whole months since I've bothered to write anything in here. SO EFFIN' WHAT? I've been spending the last two months burning off bad vibes and getting my ass back together again, as Archbishop Jimi once sang in an outtake.
I am indeed in a much better state of mind these days! Isn't that just precious?
Yes indeed, I was in quite a dark mood last Thanksgiving. I apologize for that. But you know how it is when the evil in the world occasionally overcomes your defenses. I am as vulnerable as the next guy. Really, I'm a softie at heart, a guy who wants to cry when poor little animals get hurt, even more so when poor innocent people get hurt. But I'm not getting into that now, since I'm in such a good mood. After all, the Dems are finally doing their primaries thing, and the boy who the Bushies were counting on to win isn't winning, so they're worried. I'll take Kerry over that loudmouth poseur Dean any day. I would take Kucinich over any of them. There's *my* kind of candidate, an unabashed unrepentant liberal! Too bad he hasn't a cowpatty's chance in a rodeo. I'll take Kerry. Even if he is married to an heiress. There's a chance this neocon nightmare may be coming to an end!
But I digress...let's talk about fun stuff!
Well, Big Bear is history. Not with a bang, but a whimper. The stores hung on for a time after their tentative Jan. 1 reckoning date, then just kind of vaporized quietly. Within a month they'll be open again with all new insides, new management, and brand new Giant Eagle signs on the facade. Many of the same folks will be working there. As I've said, I'd rather have Giant Eagle than a pathetic, atrociously emasculated Big Bear. I hope Penn Traffic goes straight down the urinal.
I'm ranting again...gotta watch out for that.
In other news, I have spent much of the intervening time between posts without transportation. God, has it been that long? It's been almost two months! My Mercury developed a bizarre problem whereby it won't start, or at least stay started, and when it cranks it cranks funny. It makes even less sense to me than my description must make to you. I've had it. Now if it will just stop snowing and warm up long enough for me to get out there and replace the neutral safety switch, which I suspect is the problem.
Twiggy & Frollywog is movin' on up. We got our four-song CD completed, packaged, and out the door to several local clubs and acquaintances. I must say it is a professional sounding product! I've also done much of the legwork for getting us a web presence. Check frequently at www.twiggyandfrollywog.com to see what progress I have(n't) made.
Floorian has comes out of hibernation for a time so that we may play two shows. Last week we did Little Brothers on an icy Wednesday night, so naturally hardly anyone stuck around for our set. Jason from Twiggy & Frollywog showed up. So did Stu from my old band, Brokedown Sound (the remains of which are now known as Sens). It was a happy evening. Tomorrow we're playing Skully's, complete with a psychedelic video light show that the others are coming up with. In the interim, we Floorians returned to Little Brothers on Saturday as audience for the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who have apparently never played Columbus before (usually opting for the more psych-friendly atmosphere of Cleveland). Lead singer/guitarist Anton came up to us and chatted for a while as we hobnobbed by the bar. I wondered to myself who this guy was. A friend of Lee's who I'd never seen? I shook the dude's hand. It registered later.
I have more recently been obsessed with amplifiers, and more recently still, tube amplifiers, and tubes in general. See, the Floorian guys now all have me out-amped. Todd has a Marshall half-stack. So does Lee. John has an old silverface Fender Bassman. So the upshot was that I had a fit of eBaying for a nice amp to replace my infuriatingly lame Laney HC50. I was specifically looking for tube heads that I could afford, even though I don't have a cabinet, which is kinda stupid when you think about it but I was suffering from amp envy real bad last week. So anyway, I kept looking for stuff like Fender Dual Showmans, Sovteks, Red Bears, Carvins...anything that wasn't some meathead thash-metal amp or an overpriced hood ornament like a Marshall, Mesa Boogie, etc.
I ended up winning a late '60s Kustom K200B head. One of the ones with the blue sparkle tuck-and-roll covering on the outside. For those whose knowledge of amps ends with the usual suspects, Kustom's trademark tuck-and-roll covering amounted to thickly padded vinyl upholstery. On the outside of a guitar amp. I'm not making this up. Yes, these things were made by human beings...in Chanute, Kansas of all places. In their day they were considered to be really high-end mass market amps. Kinda like...well, like Marshall, Mesa Boogie, etc. Anyhow, vinyl upholstery or not, this thing is supposed to deliver 100 watts RMS. Which will be terrific if I can find an appropriate cabinet for it. I just hope the tone is good for guitar. See, cuz like a schmuck I bid on it before I'd carefully examined the photos. If I had, I would have noticed that the plate on the back read Model K200B. That's the bass model. Like, doh! Well, people say that guitars sound heavenly through Fender Bassmans, which is terrific, except that this ain't a Bassman, nor is it even tube-based. But people do say that Kustom K200s sound good. We shall see.
At any rate, all this thinking about tube amps got me into my Googling mode, and among many other website, I came across www.ax84.com, a DIY tube amp site, as well as a plethora of dealers selling tubes. I read up on different tube types, the whole NOS (new old stock) and current-production situation, and realized that it's all kinda neat. There still exist huge quantities of unused tubes manufactured decades ago, in their original packages, easily available for purchase by guys like me. Some are pricey, many others are inexpensive. Most of the old ones came from the great old American factories like GE, RCA, Sylvania, Tung Sol, Raytheon, etc, and a lot of the new ones are products of developing countries like Russia and China. But they're all out there, and it's quite neat to compare the attributes (and pricetags) a 40 year old RCA 12AX7 to a just-sealed 12AX7 from who knows where. I dunno. Tubes are just neat.
Speaking of tubes, I dug my old Heathkit AA-151 tube stereo amp out of my old room (aka the attic) at my folks' house last night and brought it home with me. I spent at least one hour trying to get everything settled into place again as I fired it up and plugged my turntable and CD changer into it. Seems that among other things those tube sockets are a mite touchy...barely making contact in a few cases. Also I get nothing but hum from one channel. But the channel that does work (when I finally got it to work) sounds...well, VERY neat. This is the sound of true, unadulterated vintage hi-fi, folks. Remember, this is a Heathkit amp. Somebody bought this thing in pieces back in the early '60s and soldered and screwed the whole thing together himself. It even has all the original Daystrom-branded tubes (although the lettering is barely, barely readable). The working channel is remarkably, amazingly clean and sweet for such an old piece of iron...especially one that has been sitting idle in an attic for at least a decade. For instance, I popped on one of my guilty favorites--a 45 of "Tango Di Majorca" by Phil Tate and his Orchestra, on Oriole--and I could just picture myself as a Kennedy-era sophisticate in a crew-cut and v-neck sweater, smoking a pipe, feeling very smug about my swell hi-fi system. Those shimmering trebles! The floor-rumbling bass! The dynamic range, the RIAA equalization curve, the whatever-it-is with all the impressive looking numbers and cryptic abbreviations. And besides, for 14 watts per channel, it is LOUD. If I can get that dead channel working again, I shall be utterly SCHWIIINNNNGGG!!
One last humorous line before I go for tonight. This is from the great Shelley Berman:
"One goof. A group of geef."
I will tell you where this observation came from and what the fuck he's talking about in the next installment. And it even dovetails nicely with what *I* was just talking about. Just like a soap opera!
G'-BYE-eye
Billy S.
I am indeed in a much better state of mind these days! Isn't that just precious?
Yes indeed, I was in quite a dark mood last Thanksgiving. I apologize for that. But you know how it is when the evil in the world occasionally overcomes your defenses. I am as vulnerable as the next guy. Really, I'm a softie at heart, a guy who wants to cry when poor little animals get hurt, even more so when poor innocent people get hurt. But I'm not getting into that now, since I'm in such a good mood. After all, the Dems are finally doing their primaries thing, and the boy who the Bushies were counting on to win isn't winning, so they're worried. I'll take Kerry over that loudmouth poseur Dean any day. I would take Kucinich over any of them. There's *my* kind of candidate, an unabashed unrepentant liberal! Too bad he hasn't a cowpatty's chance in a rodeo. I'll take Kerry. Even if he is married to an heiress. There's a chance this neocon nightmare may be coming to an end!
But I digress...let's talk about fun stuff!
Well, Big Bear is history. Not with a bang, but a whimper. The stores hung on for a time after their tentative Jan. 1 reckoning date, then just kind of vaporized quietly. Within a month they'll be open again with all new insides, new management, and brand new Giant Eagle signs on the facade. Many of the same folks will be working there. As I've said, I'd rather have Giant Eagle than a pathetic, atrociously emasculated Big Bear. I hope Penn Traffic goes straight down the urinal.
I'm ranting again...gotta watch out for that.
In other news, I have spent much of the intervening time between posts without transportation. God, has it been that long? It's been almost two months! My Mercury developed a bizarre problem whereby it won't start, or at least stay started, and when it cranks it cranks funny. It makes even less sense to me than my description must make to you. I've had it. Now if it will just stop snowing and warm up long enough for me to get out there and replace the neutral safety switch, which I suspect is the problem.
Twiggy & Frollywog is movin' on up. We got our four-song CD completed, packaged, and out the door to several local clubs and acquaintances. I must say it is a professional sounding product! I've also done much of the legwork for getting us a web presence. Check frequently at www.twiggyandfrollywog.com to see what progress I have(n't) made.
Floorian has comes out of hibernation for a time so that we may play two shows. Last week we did Little Brothers on an icy Wednesday night, so naturally hardly anyone stuck around for our set. Jason from Twiggy & Frollywog showed up. So did Stu from my old band, Brokedown Sound (the remains of which are now known as Sens). It was a happy evening. Tomorrow we're playing Skully's, complete with a psychedelic video light show that the others are coming up with. In the interim, we Floorians returned to Little Brothers on Saturday as audience for the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who have apparently never played Columbus before (usually opting for the more psych-friendly atmosphere of Cleveland). Lead singer/guitarist Anton came up to us and chatted for a while as we hobnobbed by the bar. I wondered to myself who this guy was. A friend of Lee's who I'd never seen? I shook the dude's hand. It registered later.
I have more recently been obsessed with amplifiers, and more recently still, tube amplifiers, and tubes in general. See, the Floorian guys now all have me out-amped. Todd has a Marshall half-stack. So does Lee. John has an old silverface Fender Bassman. So the upshot was that I had a fit of eBaying for a nice amp to replace my infuriatingly lame Laney HC50. I was specifically looking for tube heads that I could afford, even though I don't have a cabinet, which is kinda stupid when you think about it but I was suffering from amp envy real bad last week. So anyway, I kept looking for stuff like Fender Dual Showmans, Sovteks, Red Bears, Carvins...anything that wasn't some meathead thash-metal amp or an overpriced hood ornament like a Marshall, Mesa Boogie, etc.
I ended up winning a late '60s Kustom K200B head. One of the ones with the blue sparkle tuck-and-roll covering on the outside. For those whose knowledge of amps ends with the usual suspects, Kustom's trademark tuck-and-roll covering amounted to thickly padded vinyl upholstery. On the outside of a guitar amp. I'm not making this up. Yes, these things were made by human beings...in Chanute, Kansas of all places. In their day they were considered to be really high-end mass market amps. Kinda like...well, like Marshall, Mesa Boogie, etc. Anyhow, vinyl upholstery or not, this thing is supposed to deliver 100 watts RMS. Which will be terrific if I can find an appropriate cabinet for it. I just hope the tone is good for guitar. See, cuz like a schmuck I bid on it before I'd carefully examined the photos. If I had, I would have noticed that the plate on the back read Model K200B. That's the bass model. Like, doh! Well, people say that guitars sound heavenly through Fender Bassmans, which is terrific, except that this ain't a Bassman, nor is it even tube-based. But people do say that Kustom K200s sound good. We shall see.
At any rate, all this thinking about tube amps got me into my Googling mode, and among many other website, I came across www.ax84.com, a DIY tube amp site, as well as a plethora of dealers selling tubes. I read up on different tube types, the whole NOS (new old stock) and current-production situation, and realized that it's all kinda neat. There still exist huge quantities of unused tubes manufactured decades ago, in their original packages, easily available for purchase by guys like me. Some are pricey, many others are inexpensive. Most of the old ones came from the great old American factories like GE, RCA, Sylvania, Tung Sol, Raytheon, etc, and a lot of the new ones are products of developing countries like Russia and China. But they're all out there, and it's quite neat to compare the attributes (and pricetags) a 40 year old RCA 12AX7 to a just-sealed 12AX7 from who knows where. I dunno. Tubes are just neat.
Speaking of tubes, I dug my old Heathkit AA-151 tube stereo amp out of my old room (aka the attic) at my folks' house last night and brought it home with me. I spent at least one hour trying to get everything settled into place again as I fired it up and plugged my turntable and CD changer into it. Seems that among other things those tube sockets are a mite touchy...barely making contact in a few cases. Also I get nothing but hum from one channel. But the channel that does work (when I finally got it to work) sounds...well, VERY neat. This is the sound of true, unadulterated vintage hi-fi, folks. Remember, this is a Heathkit amp. Somebody bought this thing in pieces back in the early '60s and soldered and screwed the whole thing together himself. It even has all the original Daystrom-branded tubes (although the lettering is barely, barely readable). The working channel is remarkably, amazingly clean and sweet for such an old piece of iron...especially one that has been sitting idle in an attic for at least a decade. For instance, I popped on one of my guilty favorites--a 45 of "Tango Di Majorca" by Phil Tate and his Orchestra, on Oriole--and I could just picture myself as a Kennedy-era sophisticate in a crew-cut and v-neck sweater, smoking a pipe, feeling very smug about my swell hi-fi system. Those shimmering trebles! The floor-rumbling bass! The dynamic range, the RIAA equalization curve, the whatever-it-is with all the impressive looking numbers and cryptic abbreviations. And besides, for 14 watts per channel, it is LOUD. If I can get that dead channel working again, I shall be utterly SCHWIIINNNNGGG!!
One last humorous line before I go for tonight. This is from the great Shelley Berman:
"One goof. A group of geef."
I will tell you where this observation came from and what the fuck he's talking about in the next installment. And it even dovetails nicely with what *I* was just talking about. Just like a soap opera!
G'-BYE-eye
Billy S.
