journal

So the good news is I have finally pieced together a nice rig. For recording I use a rack based setup, but I didn't really have a proper guitar amp suitable for live performance or just for jamming.

Over time I was able to acquire a Pearce G1 and G2r amps. I had custom cabs built for them by Miyako Designs in California. The cab dimensions are modeled after the original Pearce cabs. But these are loaded with neodymium speakers and are constructed out of solid pine so they weigh in a full 15lbs less than the originals. And they are open/closed back convertible.

The custom padded slip covers were made by Studio Slips.

Essentially I'm configuring the two amps as a 4 channel 200 Watt stereo amp using a TC Electronics G system to handle the effects and channel switching.

The bad news.... I can't play with my new toys for awhile. Monday, I fell down the stairs of that deck in the amp photos and broke my shoulder in two four places (not to mention sprained my ankle and smashed my head into a post). My left arm is immobilized for awhile (I can now testify that typing w/ one handed sucks) and after that I'm looking at a long rehab process. Doc says I can expect considerable pain for 6 months.

The good news about the bad news is they don't think I need surgery and when all is said and done I should recover almost a full range of motion from the shoulder. 90% or better.

The bruise on my bicep is pretty gruesome.

Shot photo in mirror so it is reversed, it is the left shoulder that I fractured.

Just back from a great NEARfest. Here are some galleries of my photos from the event. Shot with Nikon D50 and with a 50mm 1.8 lens. Didn't have quite enough lens unfortunately so it was a little rough getting in tight enough for good shots (particularly stage right) but there are some keepers in here. Photography wasn't permitted during the Jobson set.

Click the thumbnails below for galleries.

Riverside	Steve Hackett	Astra
Forgas Band Phenomena	Iona	Three Friends
Moraine	The Pineapple Thief	The Enid
NEARfest Friends and Various Photos

Below is a slideshow of my Neighbor's rather elaborate Halloween display. The night shots came out half decent.

Again with this batch Beardfish and Quantum Fantay were really easy to shoot while Trettioåriga Kriget was almost as hard for me to photograph as they are for me to pronounce. PFM was reasonably easy to shoot, though there was no hope of capturing how terrific the lights and video looked. The lights always look good at NF but the PFM show was really something visually. Unfortunately I lost my photos of the last third of the show because I was a dufus and had turned the auto-focus off on the D50 to get one shot and forgot to turn it back on. So the last 100 photos or so were all just slightly but noticeably out of focus. Too bad, there were a few good ones in there.

Beardfish, Quantum Fantay & Trettioåriga Kriget photo galleries below the fold.

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And here are the Saturday Bands...

I really really enjoyed CDC.

All shot with a Nikon D50 using either a 85mm 1.4 lens or the 50mm 1.8 lens. Had to play quite a bit with the manual settings to get the exposure times right depending on the constantly shifting lighting conditions. The automatic settings tended to overexpose everything. Some bands were a lot easier to shoot than others - primarily due to differences in the light and video shows. Oblivion Sun shot very easily where Steve Hillage was tough.

Oblivion Sun, DFA, and Gong galleries below the fold.

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NEARfest was terrific as usual. Here are some of my photos of the Friday Night Bands VdGG and Steve Hillage Band.