Friday, June 26, 2009: Badgers Return to Duty

I had some Pho with Chris and Richard F today. Afterwards we walked up to College and grabbed some ice cream. Then it was back to SsW. I had to quickly sort out my stuff for the weekend as I had Harold rehearsal tonight and afterwards I was heading out by GO to Wyndham.

I met Rock Steady Matt at the usual spot and we picked up Phil. Then we headed over to Chez Harold. There was some pizza and lots of coffee. We only went until 9:45 pm or so but there were some nice things recorded.

At 10:10 pm Matt gave me a lift over to the Harold GO Station and I waited for the train. It was like a 2008 flashback standing there. Thankfully it is no longer winter. The train filled up at Union with baseball fans. Jayne collected me from the GO and took me back to Wyndham.

My badger rig returns to duty

Harold GO

Thursday, June 25, 2009: Rain and Control Voltages

It rained and thundered all day. Not that I really minded. I wasn't up for going out anyways. I spent some of the day moving my gear back up from downstairs where Chris and I brought it in after the gig on Tuesday. Then I spent many hours with the Kraftwerg. My focus with in after I got it was setting it up for use at the Ambient Ping, in conjuction with with Moog. Today though I just spend hours trying weird patches with the Korg EA-1 running as a sequencer. I recorded some of what I did although I am not sure if I'll use it or not for anything.

It was great fun though and patching things like the Ring Modulator out to the control voltage in for the cutoff frequency of the filter gave some truly bizzare results. The box still sounds like an ARP to my ears and it's oscillators don't approach the rawness of the Moog's but with three oscillators and all the crazy patching options one could ever dream it is capable of producing some really snarly old school Walter & Wendy Carloseque sounds.

Ring Modulation to the CV for the Cutoff Frequency...

Wednesday, June 24, 2009: Ground Level

I was pretty exhausted today. This might be due to not being able to fall asleep after the gig until about 5:00 am. I sort of puttered about all day however this evening Jayne came into the City and we went down to Queen St W to the opening of a Cafe called Ground Level that is connected to Ground Level Youth Ventures that helps street kids get themselves sorted out. Knox is a supporter of this, so Jayne had me come with her and get some photos of the place.

Afterwards we drove up to College and got some food at Sit In Bangkok after a great deal of searching for parking. I had the beef salad which was outstanding. We hung out there until late then I got a ride back over to SsW.

Morning sky

Ground Level

The Cafe

Tuesday, June 23, 2009: The Ambient Ping

I woke up early and considered running but then decided not to. Lugging all my kit over to The Central and back would be enough exercise. I did stroll up to the GFM for some tasty breakfast. It was absolutely amazing out again today. I checked the weather channel before I left and saw that it was 34 C in Bangkok and supposed to go up to that here. Finally weather I can enjoy. I got my hair cut then walked back down to SsW and started organizing things. The garbage men are on strike so all the trash can things are wrapped in plastic in an attempt to stop people from using them. I saw many with the plastic ripped off and the 'out of service' sign on the ground. I had to go downtown with Bobo in the afternoon so he picked me up in the Bobomobile. I came back up to mine for around 4:00 pm and ran through the set again and fine tuned some gear issues.

I have had the three rigs set up in the empty room for last few days. There are bascially three rigs which all sub into a mixer which is sent on to a master mixer. Rig one has the Korg MicroKorg (for Happy Ghost), the EMU Vintage Keys Plus, the Kaoss Pad 3, the Kaossilator and mini-Kaoss as well as the Roland MC-303. Rig two is the analog rig that has the Moog Little Phatty, the Moog CP-251 control processor, The MFB Kraftwerg mini-modular, and the Thingamagoop. The third rig is the guitar rig that has the Godin LGXT controlling the Roland GR-30 guitar synthesizer which runs in the Zoom G1 pedal, on to the Sherman Filterbank, then out to the Boss DD-20 and the Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory Man. After I'd run through the set I began packing up for transport.

Chris came over at around 6:00 pm and we packed the remaining stuff up and took it all down to the Chrismobile and then drove over to the Central on Markham Street. Jeff, Catherine and Phil were already there, Phil and Catherine having just returned from the UK last night. We moved the stuff in and I began the long task of setting up. It took an hour to assemble my massive set up. Jeff had brought his lappy for audio recording in the Harold style so I had to sacrifice the Thingamagoop in order to patch in as I was sort two long 1/4 inch cables. As it was I had a lot of crap on stage.

There was a good turn out including Jayne and Sweet William who turned 15 today. Bobo brought Treasure Kat. It was also a Snowmelter reunion of sorts as Richard F and Justin M were both present. Deb W was there as was The Bean and DJ Kev. Matt arrived making all the Harold badgers accounted for. Nathan also came out although Stephen was working.

I went on at around 8:45 pm and played about 35 minutes. it went relatively well from my perspective, that is, no major technical problems. I had some tuning issues with the Kraftwerg's oscillators during the first piece but otherwise all went well. After my set I made some room for Phil to set up then hung out with people and enjoyed his set. After Phil was done his set I set up my bass and we did a set together at 11:00 pm until 11:30 pm. That was a great deal of fun.

Sweet William helped Chris and I pack up and we transported all my stuff back to SsW. We later met Richard F and Robin at the Neon Lobster in Chinatown for some late night after gig food. I got home at around 2:30 pm.

Garbage strike

Please don't litter

wormhole clouds

The Rigs

Phil soundscapes

Phil soundscapes

The Moog Little Phatty Stage II

The MicroKorg, Emu Vintage Keys Plus, Korg Kaoss Pads and mixer

The travel Bass and the Godin LGXT

The Moog with the CP-251 Control Processer and the MFB Kraftwerg

The Central

Monday, June 22, 2009: Gas Leak

I went up to the GFM for some food this morning. After breakfast I went over to Chez Bobo today and hung about. There was a construction crew down the block digging up the sidewalk with a back hoe and at about 2:00 pm they managed to rupture a gas main. Kelly had the day off so she was out back soaking up the sun when it happened. There was a sudden rushing that sounded like a burst fire hydrant but then came the smell. Needless to say we all made a mad dash out of the house and area in general.

Ratboy's school is down the block a bit so we walked over there to inform them of what was going on. The dithering staff however seemed more concerned about reporting a false alarm than the prospect of kids leaving school and walking unawares into a major gas leak. One of the teachers walked back down towards the leak with us and by that time the Fire Department was there from the local station as well as the HAZ MAT truck from downtown. The area was taped off but under control. They evacuted a few houses and Chez Bobo was off limits. So we walked down to the GFM and hung out on the patio until we saw the Fire Trucks leaving then we headed back over.

Tonight Chris came over after I'd run through tomorrow's set and we went for food at around 9:00 pm. I wasn't up for the Dip so we walked down College and tried out a Thai restaurant called "Sit In Bangkok". The food was outstanding. Certainly the best Thai food I've had here. It was so good to have normal food again rather than more potatoes, bread or cheese.

The back hoe and gas leak

A zoom in of the back hoe

Walking back down to the leak

Firemen inspect the situation

HAZ MAT arrives

HAZ MAT is here

Standing around

The leak

Cops arrive as we leave

Venus is glad it is all over

Sunday, June 21, 2009: Father's Day

I woke up at 6:00 am which was pointless as I didn't have the big journey in to worry about. I was awake though so I read for a while then had a shower and got ready for the day. We had a fry up at the house instead of going out. I actually enjoyed this more as the portions of bacon are larger and the eggs better prepared. It is also significantly cheaper.

Paul's Dad was preaching somewhere so Paul and Sweet William headed off to that service while I went with Jayne and Wee Fred to Knox for Choir. It was a good service and we sang well. Afterwards we stayed for tea and cake then headed back to Wyndham. The three of us had left over burgers then we hung out by the pool. After about half an hour I could no longer keep my eyes open so I retired to the suite and slept until 5:30 pm.

When I emerged from nappyland The McW Massive had arrived and were situated by the pool. Salmon was cooked and there was a near mishap when the cedar planks the salmon was on caught fire. Fortunately Paul rescued it before they were destroyed. The meal was excellent and afterwards we had a nice dessert before Father's Day cards and presents were distributed. I caught the 9:30 pm GO Train back to the City.

Jayne's flowers for her Dad. Blue and gold, his regimental colours

Nice sky

The pool

The sky

Deck chair

Burning cedar!

The Salmon is safe!

Wydham sky

As it is Father's Day here are a few photos in memory of my Dad.

Dad in WW2

Dad baptising my friend Jon

Dad by the horses. This was taken during my last Christmas with both my parents

Saturday, June 20, 2009: Out to Wydham

I woke up early and was going to go for a run however it started to rain so I was stuck inside. I did record the rain nicely from my window and may use the tracks for the show. I fell back to sleep until about 9:00 am then got up. It stopped raining by about 9:30 so I took a stroll up to the GFM for breakfast. I had blue berry pancakes which was outstanding as always.

Afterwards I walked back down to SsW and made another attempt at what I failed at last night; that is soundscaping with the GR-30. This time the outcome was highly successful. I ran the GR-30 out to the Zoom G1 box and mulched up the tone there before sending it on to the Sherman Filterbank for more mulching and squishing. It's final destination was the Boss DD-20 before being sent on to my mixer and ultimately to the Zoom MRS8 recorder. I rigged up the DOD 12 second delay to the FX loop on the mixer as well. Although that works great I am going to skip that element at the show as it's just too much to deal with.

I recorder three soundscapes all about ten minutes or so in length and dumped the whole thing to Lappy where I did a rough mix of it and put it on my iPod. I willl mix it further later on and post it up on my iLike page. (posted now titled Alone with the Rain)

I had to go out to Wyndham so I packed up my old kit bag and headed to Union in a light drizzle. I grabbed a hot chocolate after I got there, bought a ticket and grabbed the train. Jayne met me at the GO Station and we headed back to Wyhdham. Tomorrow being Father's Day Jayne was in charge of the vase and flower arrangement for the pulpit at Knox so we took over the flowers and dropped them off. It also gave me a chance to take a few photos of the stained glass windows.

I went for a run when we got back and that was nice. I do enjoy running the old route. I can better gage my progress on it as I've run it longer. I got back and showered then we had dinner. We had barbequed bisson burgers then the Grumps went off to do what have you and talk into their little boxes while I joined Sweet William and Wee Fred for a movie. There was great debate concerning what to watch but ultimately we watched "Mystery Men" again as Wee Fred had missed it last time. I can watch that movie endlessly and never tire of it.

GFM breakfast

Knox window

Another Knox window