nostatic at all...

St treats for my b-day. A road trip to Vegas to see the closing show of the Dukes of September tour. A one-night stay at the Hard Rock. Interesting place. More on that in another diatribe. For now, pretty surreal colors.

Seriously. Profits make men do really nasty and counter-productive things.

I have had the pleasure of dining at some excellent sushi places over the years. Probably most notable being The Hump (and now, notorious, after they were shut down for serving whale sushi). Turns out that Nobu is housed within the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas (where we were staying), so we figured, "why not?"

In a word - sublime. Perhaps the best sushi we've ever had. And that is saying something. The red snapper was ridiculous, and the amaebi was stunning. Seriously. Oh, and the Mia Margarita was a hit as well.

Vegas is an odd place. I don't gamble (though will admit to spending hours watching poker on TV), don't drink to excess, and don't really like campy live shows. As such, Vegas isn't high on my attraction list. It does have one redeeming facet though - people watching. You certainly have a "floor show" that is live 24/7. As long as you can avoid the depression that seems to encircle some there, it is a fascinating study of human nature. Or perhaps better said as zombie nature. I just don't get slot machines...

Not mullets, mallets. Turns out the boy will be in the percussion section, and that means a smattering of tools of the trade. You got yer SD1 sticks (for snare), timpani mallets, xylophone mallets, yarn mallets, and of course bells. Everyone needs bells...

sigh...

sigh...

Apologies to Ben Folds. Day one of a "game jam" in Cambridge, MA. Evidently these are "projects". Super. I've seen far worse...

Day two of the game jam. Well, actually this is at the Sugar Shack near the Alewife station. Jam went well. Margarita was stiff. The captain is in control...

Here's your full day (all times PST):

0130 wake
0330 board flight BOS-LAX
1030 land, mistakenly wait for ride on departure level
1200 cook late breakfast
1400 audition in Noho
1630 cook quick dinner
1700 pick up the boy
1800 rehearsal in Hollywood
2200 return home, plop on couch
2300 zzz

mmm, spalted...

Another "back to my roots (sort of)" session. Doing some voice-over for a project at work (not mine). Hmm, maybe I could have been a contender. Never too late for a 3rd, um, 4th, no, 5th career...

As another MCIT system nears completion (well, actually semi-completion) a quick-and-dirty set of edits to add title cards for sequence testing. Cut, render, transcode, repeat.

A double header for the boy - piano lesson at 6pm and drum lesson at 8pm. St had to proctor the drum lesson so that I could head to tai chi class. The terms were if the lesson was done well, the boy could get his Runescape bots as an early b-day gift. Result? Evidently best drum lesson ever. Bribery does wonders...*sigh*

Hmm - love the new bass, except for the short horn that makes it damn near impossible to play in the first position while standing. Arggh.

A return to our mis-spent youth. Harry came by to check out my new toys and me his, then breakfast at the counter at Norms with st as well, then a walk to Trutone where Harry and I spent about 2 hours playing various guitars, basses and pedals. And didn't buy anything. That *is* like the old days, since we didn't have any money back then...

Then a ride on the bike to Neptunes nest for a late lunch. Who ordered winter? Geez...

Back to business. Two PIF gigs in the valley, then hustle back to SM to swap gear, then to Hollywood for IDC rehearsal. The good news is that the Roscoe killed. The bad news is the ergos just aren't going to fly so back to VA it'll go. Sad face. But a replacement will be ordered. Happy face.

no, not that kind. A rehearsal of nostatic jazz, prepping for a couple of gigs. Funny thing about all this playing...I might actually know how to sorta play my instrument.

Slogging through a largely unproductive week. At least I dragged my sorry arse to class, albeit for only the first hour. A man's gotta know his limitations. Tomorrow will have to be productive...sometimes you have no choice. Deadlines are good for that.

The official inspection of a new training system that is destined for EU. That was a tidy 7 hour meeting...but now my throat hurts. As in really hurts. But I have gigs coming up. This isn't good.

Well, not really. A nasty sore throat changed a planned vacation day into a sick day, a trip to the doc resulted in antibiotics, but the night belonged to the funk. IDC live @ Trip.

Live jazz in the park? What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon...

Wow - no gigs, no appointment, no place to be. Shocking. I suppose that's why breakfast happened at 1:30pm and the boy napped until 5pm. Sweet.

Back to the grindstone on both fronts - the office and then the studio (4+ hour rehearsal). No rest for the wicked...well, yesterday I suppose was rest for the wicked...

b-day concert gift for st, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Somewhat of a haul down to Anaheim, but festive enough atmosphere and not many hassles. Was odd being about the oldest person in the crowd though - mostly 20-something hippies and hipsters. I'm neither and at least double that. Also interesting in that the band is very much a "happy vibe" group and their music reflects that. Only problem was that they looked a little burned out from the road, and "tired" doesn't always enable "happy." But still a cool show.

No food until dinner other than a muffin, due in no small part to the evil that is some (all?) military contractors. And their lawyers as well. Pure evil.

The ribbon that it. Big schindig at work to officially open the building we've been in for a few months. Got to shake hands with the president (of USC - who I knew in my previous position). And have an ICtini. Festive. Now for the work to do...

yes, the wheel of basses™ spins again and comes up - spalted

A halloween spent hanging out while serving as friend shuttle for the boy. I suppose it is better than sitting at home and not answering the door for all the kids that don't come to the apartment. Hmm, not sure that made sense...