Tuesday, June 30, 2009: Thunderheads

The morning was nice so I walked up to GFM for breakfast. Bobo came by as well and we hung out there for a bit. I headed back to mine at around 3:00 pm when some big thunderheads started rolling in. There was some rain in the afternoon but it was no where as bad as it had looked it would be.

This evening Chris and Robin came by and we headed over to Sit in Bangkok for a meal. I had the beef salad again which was outstanding. We hung out there for a bit then headed back towards my area.

Thunderheads

Clouds and Church

Clouds

Stormy clouds

Beef salad

Monday, June 29, 2009: Rainy Season

I fell asleep at 9:30 pm last night and slept right through. It was diabolical out today, rain and unseasonably cool.

Rain

Sunday, June 28, 2009: Last Choir

I stayed in the Ghost Suite again so the long trip in was not necessary. We had breakfast at the Crossiant place with Auntie Pam and Gary from Choir. This was the last service with the Knox Choir until September so the recessional was slightly different. This new plan seemed confusing but worked out okay in the end.

After service we returned to Wyndham and I had lunch there. Afterwards Jayne drove me over to the GO station and I caught the train back to the City.

Knox

GOing west

GOing east

My GO

Saturday, June 27, 2009: Will's Birthday

I slept in today and was somewhat confused waking up in the Ghost Suite at Wyndham. I got up and breakfast was being just about to go on the grill out on the barbeque. We had an outstanding meal of breakfasty things like bacon, pancakes and sausages.

Will's Birthday gathering was this afternoon so the McW's clan came by and everyone hung out in the shade by the pool. Gifts and cards were given and later the Will and Wee Fred swam. Will discovered not all gifts are water proof.

Dinner was excellent with very tasty ribs for all. Afterwards we had the cake which was an ice cream type that melted while you waiting for pictures to be taken of it. It was yummy though containing both chocolate and peanut butter; two of my favourite things.

Morning pool

Morning reflection

Sky and trees

Roses

Breakfast

Breakfast

Almost ready

Will's cake

Evening sky

Evening sky

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

Friday, June 19, 2009: Little Italy Night

I met up with Richard F and Chris C at 4:30 pm for our weekly pho. Afterwards we walked down to Moog Audio as I had to pick up a couple of 1/4 inch cables. I believe I now have enough functioning cables and power bars to set up the Ambient Ping rig for a full set run through, as opposed to doing what I have been doing which is running through bits and pieces of it. There are actually only two real defined pieces so much of what I do next Tuesday will be sort of improvised and off the cuff. How do you rehease improvising? By improvising. I make no claims as to the quality of what I will attempt however. An official disclaimer will be issued prior to the gig.

I schlepped back up to SsW afterwards and made a stop at the store for milk and stuff. They were blocking College street off West of Bathurst as tonight was the beginning of the Little Italy Festival. Stages were being set up and restaurants were extending their patios into the blocked off street. I came back to SsW and prepared for next week. I am feeling a bit off so it wasn't an easy night.

At around 10:00 pm I got a message from Bobo that he, Kells and Treasure Kat were down the street at the Little Italy thing. They'd been at the Dip and were listening to one of the bands play. I walked down and met them, then headed West with them down College towards Ossington. There were tons of people wandering about on the street like us and all along the way were food venders, bands and so forth. We stopped and got some Italian ice cream then walked on. They had a bouncy castle and some sort of tunnel thing called "Island of Monkeys" which had a very disturbing enterance.

We headed back at around 11:00 pm and went up my street. I went back into SsW and they headed North to theirs.

College Street

Little Italy

The disturbing enterance to Monkey Island

Heading back

Thursday, June 18, 2009: Last Knox Rehearsal

No running today. The last two days it has been cold and very rainy. As a result my foot and leg have been caused me great agony. I limped about all day then this afternoon I took the GO Train out to Wyhdham. I walked over to the Starbucks and met Jayne there.

I need at least two more power bars for the upcoming show so we drove over to Staples where I seached in vain for one that would work for me. Part of the problem with power bars is that the plugs are angled top to bottom instead of side by side. The top to bottom makes it difficult to plug in wall wart power supplies which are what most of my devices use. The side by side king work a little better. Unfortunately normal power bars seem to have gone out of style. Now all that is offered is a power bar with a breaker circuit of some sort which is repackaged as "power surge protection". By adding the breaking they can charge 30 bucks for the power bar instead of just 10 $.

We had to take Wee Fred and a friend over to the main mall so they could buy Magical M a birthday gift so I went to the former Radio Shack there and looked about. There was a surge protecter power bar on sale that had lots of plugs, both top to bottom down the middle and well spaced side by side ones as well. I grabbed that then met Jayne. We had a tea then collected Wee Fred and Friend and drove back to Wyndham.

Sweet William has taken on the Steam Punk thing more seriously now that he knows what he is. He had managed to dig up Uncle Bill's top hat and was running about with that however it is too small for him anyways. In jest I put in on and when I saw myself in the mirror could only do one thing.

Start singing "Everybody's doing the Michigan Raggggggg!!!"

Anyways Jayne rescued her Dad's hat and dinner was served; barbequed salmon and casear salad.

Jayne and I were actually late for Choir which was a first. And a last, as tonight was the last rehearsal of the season. We still have two more services then it is over until September. The rehearsal ended a bit early and most of the Choir went up to the Queens' Head pub for a little get together. Normally I would have attempted to catch the 9:30 pm train but when you do music with people there is or at least should be a bond that forms. And there certainly feels that way now with the Choir. Jayne and I joined them and ended up staying later than expected. The food was good and I think I had the best onion rings I've had since I was a teenager. Due to the lateness Jayne gave me a lift into the City.

I managed to get to The Orbit Room to see Druck Farben for the end of their first set. I found a seat and enjoyed the show. There had also been an opening act so there were only two Druck Farben sets. The second was good and they did lots of old Genesis. Watching them play is always a treat because they are such outstanding musicians. I have to say though, watching William Hare play keys on things like Genesis' "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" is an absolute joy and marvel to behold. The Orbit Room has an actual old B3 organ and William shone on it during a few tunes. A great show.

I stayed to the end of the second set then headed out. I saw Max from the GFM on the Dip's patio and said "hello" then headed back to SsW.

Tom our Choir Master (in the red jumper)

Gary discusses important choir issues, such as nachos

Nachos and Choir

The Orbit Room between sets

Druck Farben

Tuesday, June 16, 2009: Thingamagooping

I got up early and ran to Tangerine Dream "Rubycon". It wasn't quite long enough to get me all the way back home but it was good to hear as I haven't listened to it in many moons. It was an outstanding morning. Sunny and warm. After I got back to SsW I changed, showered then headed up to the GFM for poached eggs. Yum.

It was a glorious day out today. I had dinner at Ralf's this evening at around 5:00 pm. I got back to SsW and lazed about until 8:00 pm when I practiced guitar and watched Voyager. I had intended to crash afterwards but I got pulled over to the Little Phatty and suddenly it was midnight.

I have wanted to include the Thingamagoop in next weeks show and I believe I have found the right piece for it. I will need to run it to the same mixer as the Little Phatty and the Kraftwerg but since it fits well beside them that should be easy. I intend to run it through a few pedals for additional sonic foolishness. It really is a weird little device. I unfortunately won't be able to run it through the Kaoss Pad 3. Still the Synth Wah and COPilot FX Android Modulator should be bizarre enough for what I want to do with it.

With the lights off its very pretty

The Thingamagoop by the Kraftwerg

Thingamagoop

Monday, June 15, 2009: Godin Set Up

There was a tremendous crash late last night and this morning I discovered what it was from. One of the mirrors in the upstairs washroom must have fallen down and partly shattered. Stephen must have sorted it right afterwards or been there when it happened as the broken bits were swept up and disposed of.

I went to the GFM this morning and had a tasty breakfast. Bobo joined me there and we went back to his in time for Ratboy to get home for lunch with his posse. We made a trip to the post office and generally hung about enjoying what was a very nice day.

I headed out at around 3:00 pm and walked over to Long & McQuade to pick up the Godin which was all set up. I walked back to mine then realized I was lacking in groceries so I went down to the dip for some dinner. I sat inside but the windows were all open so it was quite nice. There was a football game on the TV, Italy verses the USA and the Dip was full of cheering Italians. Italy won 3 - 1.

After I'd had a bite I headed back up to SsW and worked on the third bit for next week. I have established the opening piece, and the final one, however I want to do some actual guitar soundscaping so I employed the Godin and ran through seveal set up possiblities. I still haven't decided whether or not to use the DOD 12 second delay at all. I have managed to effectively use the Boss DD-20 so I may not need it. The GR-30 through the Zoom G1, then on to the Sherman Filter Bank, back to the DD-20 then on to the DOD box worked well, but I found I could do much of what I wanted with the DOD box by-passed. So it may not be necessary after all. I have so many stomp boxes at this point I must get several more power bars.

I soundscaped, or practiced what I hope to do live until 7:00 pm then wound down for the evening.

Max makes my breakfast

Max in the Kitchen

Floor set up; The Roland GR-30 Guitar Synth, Zoom G1 pedal, Boss DD-20, Sherman Filterbank, DOD 12 Second Delay, and Nathan's amp (the other pedals are set up for the Little Phatty and Kraftwerg)

The Godin

Saturday, June 13, 2009: Walk About

I got up at around 8:00 am today. I headed up to the GFM for breakfast at around 9:30 am and had a big plate of blue berry pancakes. I am truly amazed I ate them all. After I ate I walked over to Long & McQuade to pay my monthly Godin bill. When I got there I found out that it was "Free Set-up Day". As the Godin does need some setting up before the 23rd I then walked home, got the Godin and brought it back. I should have it back Monday or so. I picked up a second Digitech DigiDelay. I looked at several other delays but they were either too expensive or lacking a stereo out. In the end I went with what I know will work fine as the Digitech has served me well.

I walked back over to the GFM at that point and hung out waiting to meet cousin Kerrie and her boy-o Christopher. The weather had been dark, cloudy and threatening all day. However the clouds parted and skies cleared right about when Kerrie showed up. We sat out on the patio and they ate while I had a tea. It was a great visit. Afterwards I walked them over to where they were parked and saw them off then headed to Chez Bobo.

I hung out with Bobo and Kelly until about 5:00 pm. James Solar Power had invited me over to his for barbaque so I headed over to Feista Farms then on to his. It wasn't as big a crowd as the last one but it was good with real Brazillian food and good conversation. We hung out in the back by their garden and James cooked up some pincha, kabobs and chicken. We ate inside and I had the first potato salad I've ever liked in my whole life. I was absolutely stuffed afterwards.

I headed out at 9:00 pm with the intention of going home but Bobo called and I went back over there for some more back garden visitations. We took Ratboy over to a friend's party near Ossington in the Bobomobile then came back and had tea and cake. I punk'd Ratboy by calling him up on his cell and asking for "Ling How" in a rather timid Asian accent. He had no idea it was me and the prank went on for a long time until he put some grown up at the party on the line. Bobo and Kelly were cracking up and by that point I could no longer keep it together without laughing so I just hung up. Bobo called him a few minutes later to inform him he'd been had. He took it rather well. At 11:30 pm we went and picked up Ratboy and I got a ride home.

A view from James

An umbrella for shade

Candles at Bobo's

Friday, June 12, 2009: Analog Friday

I had out new cleaning lady come by today at around 10:00 am and give SsW a big sort out. Lots activity and by the afternoon everything was all sorted out nicely. I spent much of the day organizing the analog set up. I am controlling the Kraftwerg by MIDI from the Moog Little Phatty and running both signals into the Tapco mixer I normally use at Harold rehearsals. I believe this is how I will have them rigged up when I play on the 23rd. I had considered running the Kraftwerg's signal through the Little Phatty's filters but I have decided to keep them seperate for the show. I will need to sort out some kind of delay pedal for the Kraftwerg so it melds in better with whats going on.

At about 7:00 pm I decided it might be good to go eat something. I ended up going over to the GFM and having some food then meeting Bobo and going back over to his. I hung out there in the back garden for the evening and at around 10:30 pm I walked to Bloor with Bobo, Kelly and Treasure Kat. Ratboy didn't join us. His loss as we stopped for ice cream at the little place at Brunswick and Bloor. It was tasty. Afterwards we headed back west and parted ways at Manning.

The Kraftwerg along side the Moogs

The MFB Kraftwerg

Sunset out back

Tuesday, June 9, 2009: View

I went downtown today and stopped by Richard F's work. The view there is amazing. I got some good photos of Union Station and the lake shore. The weather today was sort of cool and grim.

Bobo and I had lunch at a place on Spadina. The Golden Stone was closed so we had to go elsewhere. It was still tasty.

Tonight was spent on further attempts to sort out what I am doing for the 23rd of June at the Ambient Ping. I thing at this point I will only do one piece that I've previously recorded and put out. The rest will be new or newish. I have 35 minutes to fill up so I think if there is some sonic variety it will go okay.

Looking down on Union Station

The GO Train facing east

The Lakeshore

Lakeshore and GO Trains

Looking East

Monday, June 8, 2009: Relearning Parts

I've managed to go through most of my archives to find the original tracks of older stuff I did in Bangkok in 2007. Although I have the mixed finals of some of the tracks I did then on my iPod the question as to which instrument did what can be difficult to figure out from a final mix when everything is all blended together. If I can isolate the tracks I can usually figure out what patch was used on which machine and go from there. For some things I will have to program new patches though, as I no longer have the Korg Sigma which I used a great deal in 2007.

Tonight I battled it out with the Micro Korg. I found what I needed and managed to reproduce some sequences which I sampled into the Kaoss Pad. Although it would be wonderful to have lots of sequences going live certain things require other parts on top and I have limited devices. Sampling some parts may be the only answer to doing some tracks live on June 23rd. I also want to avoid having more than one Groove Box on stage. At this point it looks like the Roland MC-303 will be the one I use. But that could change.

So at this point I definately have ONE song ready. Now I just need to get 3 or 4 more.

Figuring out what I did two years ago

Another view of the MicroKorg and Kaoss Pad 3

Sunday, June 7, 2009: Prog Birthday

I went out to Wyndham yesterday afternoon and stayed the night. This morning we had a breakfast at the Crossiant place but I must say I like the other one better although it is more expensive. Knoxing went good, all the pieces we did were pretty straight forward. Afterwards I came back to Wyndham for lunch but then headed into back into the City.

I got home around 4:00 pm and was just exausted so I crashed and woke up at around 7:00 pm. Tonight was the Druck Farben Prog-Rock Jam out in Scarborough so I called Chris and he and Richard picked me up at 7:30 pm. We got out and grabbed a table and enjoyed some nachos. There wasn't as big a crowd as normal but it was still a good night. Ed the guitarist debuted his violin during one song. Chris also got up and played Stick as well as bass.

The highlight of the night though was Druck Farben's keyboard wizard William Hare having his Birthday. A cake was provided and he was given a mysterious box containing "what every Progressive Rock keyboardist should have". It was too small to be a Mini-Moog, so it could only be one thing.

A cape!

Of course he wore it for the rest of the evening. It even had his name on the back. As an additional tribute to Rick Wakeman, Mr. Hare ate some cake while playing.

We stayed until Midnight then headed back downtown. We dropped Richardo off then Chris dropped me off at SsW.

The CNE

Why am I now the one with a non-alcoholic beverage?

Ed on violin

Violin and water

Violin, water and percussion

Blurry Druck Farben

What's in the box, Birthday Boy?

A Prog-Rock Cape!

Will he play keyboards?

A rare photo of Druck Farben's Bass Player, Peter

Chris on Stick

More Chris on Stick

The blurriness only adds to Chris' mysterious reputation

Chris on Bass

Friday, June 5, 2009: Raccoon

I was up early and about. It was a nice day however it still remains on the cool side. I had breakfast at the GFM.

This afternoon I headed down to Moog Audio and picked up the Kraftwerg. I messed with it yesterday and it sounds amazing. It is very ARP sounding to my old ears. Francis from Moog Audio pointed out that it is nearly a year to the day that I first made an inquiry about the thing. After picking up that and a small mixer from Moog Audio I headed up to Pho and met Chris, Robin and Richard F at 4:30 pm. We had a meal and yapped then at around 5:30 pm I headed back to SsW to pack up for Harold.

Tonights practice was outstanding. Jeff has hooked a laptop running NI Battery to his E-drums so the drums went from a general Midi sounding kit to Jeff's endless parade of clattering kookiness. He seemed to have several kits specifically designed to annoy Matt.

During the early part of the evening one of Jeff's sons came upstairs to discover that while we were playing one of Toronto's vermin Raccoons was sitting on the kitchen table eating what pizza had been left for us. Although we were perplexed by this Matt amused us all by saying "at least he left the coffee".

After practice Phil and I caught a ride with Matt. We dropped Phil off and said bye bye for a few weeks as he's off to England. Matt dropped me off near mine afterwards.

The ivy takes over

Who needs curtains

Only in Toronto

Jeff thinks about the pizza

Phil thinks about pizza

Matt thinks about coffee

Wednesday, June 3, 2009: EA-1

A quiet day. I had breakfast at the GFM and afterwards went shopping for groceries. Tonight I spent some time with the Korg EA-1 and found the orignal slow sequence for "Happy Ghost". I am considering attempting this live as it only consists of 4 elements, the EA-1 sequence being one of them. The other elements are sequences from the MicroKorg and some tones from the Korg Sigma which I no longer own, and often miss. The question now is whether to sample the various sequences into the Kaoss Pad 3 or use EA-1 and MicroKorg. I should be able to reproduce the Sigma sound on either the Little Phatty or the MicroKorg itself (if I run it through the Electro Harmonix LP2ube preamp).

Messing with the EA-1 before bed

Tuesday, June 2, 2009: Sunny Day

Today was a glorious day. I was still feeling a tad bit off but managed to get out and about. Breakfast at GFM followed by a walk over to Bobo's and a cigar.

This evening I took it largely easy. I am sorting out things for the upcoming gig on June 23rd. The process so far is figuring out what I will do and what I will do it with. Although I do want to use some of the gear I use for Harold, I will try and change it up enough that I am not simply doing what I would do with them only without them, or at least until Phil joins in. So I will use the Kaoss Pads, both big and little, but I think I may not use the Xio and instead use either the Bass Station or the MicroKorg. I am debating whether or not to use the EMU Vintage Keys, which I use primarly for the Mellotron sound. The Moog Little Phatty, and the Control Processor will be there for sure.

Beyond that... I am not sure. Much of it will depend on what tracks I do, or if I do new ones. I don't want to get up and drone atonally for 40 minutes.

Tonight I managed to refigure the Boss DD-20 Giga Delay so that the echo/feedback volume is actually as loud as the original input signal. I am not sure why it had this malfunction but it has annoyed me since I first got the thing. Phil gave me some tips on resetting it now it is sounding perfect.

View from the Mei Long Lounge

It was a good cigar

Monday, June 1, 2009: Omni

It was sunny and nice out today although a bit on the cool side. I met MGF downtown this afternoon for a bit so I walked down there by way of Kensington Market and made a stop at Paul's Boutique. They have this ridiculous "Frosted Flakes" guitar in the window. I checked out the back room and they had an old ARP Omni which made me feel very young again. I haven't seen one of those since I was skipping off Ms. Box's social studies class and hanging out at the Keyboard Store back in 1978.

I met up with MGF then afterwards called Chris and got together with him at Pho Hung. Afterwards we walked down to Moog Audio and poked about. I have ordered the soft gig bag for the Little Phatty as well as a stand for a laptop or groovebox. We started messing around with a little noise machine called a Thingamagoop. It's cuircut is similar to a thing I used to build with my electronic kit and torment my family with when I was a lad. It's a device that has a oscillator which is controlled by a light sensitive photocell. The more light the higher the frequency. There is a LFO and a few switches for additional freakout functions. Francis from Moog Audio ran one through their Kaoss Pad 3 and I was sold.

I started trying to sort of my set for the 23rd. This process is a combination of things including deciding which, if any, of my insturmental electronic pieces I will perform, or attempt to perform live. There is also the question of which gear I will use and what gear I would use on which song depending on whether or not I do that particular song. The other question is how many channels am I ultimately using and will I need yet another little mixer.

At 8:00 pm I watched Star Trek: Voyager and practiced guitar. Afterwards I called it a day. I did spend a while running the Thingamagoop through some stomp boxes with bizarre and terrifying results.

Blue sky

More blue sky

Frosted Flake Guitar

They're great!

ARP Omni

The Thingamagoop through the Digitech Synth Wah, Copilot FX Android Modulator, and Line 6 Otto Filter, then into the Kaoss Pad 3.