beautiful, funny, sad & true

Just for fun, I thought I’d post my list of musical instruments. What would be even more ridiculous is to put them all in the room with me and take a picture of them, but I’m not sure that’s even possible. The room’s not big enough to hold all of them, and have them out at the same time. Man, do I need a studio space!

[edit: I’m in the process of editing this entry, since it didn’t translate well when I made the switch from Blogger. Stay tuned for pictures and links.]

KEYBOARDS:
Kurzweil K2500XS synthesizer – Truly the king of beasts
Roland XP-50 synthesizer
Roland JX-3P synthesizer
Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizer
Yamaha DX7 synthesizer
Yamaha PS-20 synthesizer – these are so rare that there’s almost no info online.
Siel MK-610 synthesizer – I’d never even seen or heard of another one, ever.
Yamaha SHS-10 ‘keytar’ synthesizer
Casio SK-1 synthesizer
Casio SA-38 synthesizer
Casio SA-35 synthesizer
Suzuki Omnichord synthesizer – Such a little treasure, and surprisingly sophisticated too!
Mattel Synsonics drum machine
Korg X5DR synth module
E-mu Proteus FX synth module
Yamaha TX7 synth module
Sharper Image electronic surf/rain sound machine
Jaymar toy piano

GUITARS, AMPS, AND EFFECTS
1961 Guild Starfire III – there’s only one Elaine in all the world!
2005 Fender American Standard Telecaster
2001 Gibson Les Paul Studio
2003 Takamine EG-334SC acoustic/electric guitar
1996 Tobias Model T 5-string bass
2007 Hofner Colorama electric guitar
1962 Magnatone Custom 460 2×12 combo amp
1965 Silvertone 1482 1×12 combo amp
1994 Fender Blues Deluxe (tweed) 1×12 combo amp
Crate GX-15R 1×8 combo amp
Smokey mini-amplifier
1989 Fender M-80 1×12 combo amp
Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer overdrive pedal – with 808 ‘brown’ modification
Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff distortion pedal – one of the really old ones
Boss OS-1 overdrive/distortion pedal
Boss CS-3 compression/sustainer pedal
Line 6 DM-4 Delay Modeler
Vox U847 wah pedal
Danelectro Hash Browns phaser pedal
Ebow Plus
Ernie Ball volume pedal
ART SGX-2000 multi-effects and X-15 pedalboard

ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS:
Crucianelli accordion, early ’60s
Ernst Heinrich Roth cello, 1963
Tama Rockstar 5-piece drum set
various percussion instruments (shakers, claves, tambourines, etc.)
Elburn piano
autoharp
Angel mini glockenspiel
Ludwig professional glockenspiel
handmade African djembe

Yesterday I found this on Craigslist and bought it:

I’d been looking for a set of those for quite a while. Another week, another musical instrument for the collection. Sometime I’ll have to post the list of my instrument collection on here. That’d be fun, and I daresay it would drop your jaw.

My whole M.O. for this weekend is to keep myself busy.

Busy to keep myself from thinking about painful things; from spending too much time on the computer looking at things that will only hurt me more and confuse me more; from comparing myself to people I have no business comparing myself to; from thinking horrible thoughts about myself, et cetera.

Those things are all things that we do when we are hurting, but they’re not GOOD things, and I’m trying not to go down those roads. Some times I’m more successful than other times. I’m still feeling really sad, but I know that I have friends who care about me, and who have no patience for self-pity. Those are the people I need to be around right now, until such time as I find those feelings in myself again.

Tonight is a dinner and a movie with Joan. She’s really been there for me, which is especially interesting because right now she’s going through the exact same situation I am, so we’re able to sort of grieve and feel hurtnangry and still help each other out at the same time.

I have some down time tomorrow morning, which I’m a little worried about, but I think I’ll do okay.

Tomorrow night is a concert at the ampitheater at the Zoo. My friend Sydne has an extra ticket to see Robert Cray and Keb’ Mo’, and apparently I was the first person she thought to invite, which is really nice. (Thank you, S!) Anyone who’s talked to me about music at any kind of length knows that most types of blues-based music bore me to tears, but both of these guys are people whose music I really like and am genuinely impressed by, so I’m very excited to go. And of course, it’ll be great to spend some real-world time with Sydne. Somehow we only see each other a few times a year (Isn’t that weird?), but we e-mail like maniacs pretty much every day, so we’re always caught up on each others’ lives.

Sunday afternoon I’m going to see the movie “Stardust” with S & W and a couple of other friends, and then we’re going to dinner at Pok Pok, a Thai restaurant I’ve not been to before which was voted Restaurant of the Year this year.

So.

It promises to be a suitably fun and distracting weekend. And next week I have four gigs; three with Stephanie and one with Breanna. Nothing makes me feel better than that. One of the gigs with Stephanie is up in Bellevue, so after I’m done I’m going to my brother’s house north of Seattle, have dinner and stay overnight with them, dink around in Seattle for a bit the next morning, and then come back on Friday in time to stop at home for a bit, load my instruments in the car, and drive to Salem for the gig with Breanna. Now that’s what I call distraction.

I also need to remember to take my car into the shop one of these days. It needs a tune up or something, and the wheel bearings are really noisy too.

Anyway.

What I’m trying to say–by way of China–is to please send all your good thoughts my way. I need some cheering up. And if you know of any more good distractions, I’m all ears. Or eyes. Or whatever.

The play reading last night was a blast. It wasn’t public, but it still felt like an Event. And hey; how often do I get the chance to see a great new play for free, eat yummy food and have good wine for free, and play the cello all at the same time? Good times.

For those of you who also love The Theatah, it was a contemporary play called “The Lights.” Here’s a synopsis:

* * * * *
Winner of the 1994 Obie Award. THE LIGHTS is a dark investigation of the lives of a young couple as they struggle to exist in a large urban city that threatens to devour them. “Korder writes up a fury in a jackhammer blast of imagination that delivers tenfold on the promise of his earlier works…nothing, however, could prepare us for the lyrical authority of [his] voice in THE LIGHTS, which resonates with jagged elegies for a lost civilization.” —NY Newsday.

* * * * *

Which is all well and good, but here are some pictures–taken by Todd S. –of the actual event:

I had a tremendous time, and I can’t wait to do it again.

My friend Todd–who is an actor and theater director–called and told me yesterday about a series of readings he and his group have been having for a few months now. They go to a friend’s house, sit outside on the back lawn and read completely through a play. It’s not a public performance, but it’s a chance to keep up everyone’s skills and find compelling new material at the same time.

The last reading of the season is this Wednesday night, so Todd thought it would be nice to have some musical accompaniment between scenes. Apparently there are lots of short scenes, so sometimes it will only be a few seconds of music, but it sounds very exciting.

He was originally thinking of accordion, but I suggested cello, and he agreed. So on Wednesday night after work, I get the opportunity to provide incidental music for a play, which I’m very excited about.

But that’s not all; there’s more good cello news. I got a couple more gigs with Breanna Paletta today, all of which will feature the Breanna/violin/cello trio, which if you’ve spent any kind of time on my blog lately, you know how excited I am about that particular combination. I’ll keep you posted about the shows as the time gets closer. So far, there are a couple in August, a couple in September, and one in October.

Beware: this entry is a guitar equipment geek-out.

I was very excited to find one of these guitar distortion pedals on Craigslist this morning. New they go for ninety bucks, used (at a music store) they’re between sixty and seventy. This one was a mere forty, and it’s never been used.

The guy who was selling it is a total metalhead, so it’s not nearly enough distortion for him. He got it because he ‘might end up trying it’, but then he decided to use things other than pedals to get the sound he wants, so he’s never even plugged it in before. And it shows. It’s in pristine condition. I’ve been looking for a used one for months; it was worth it to wait for just the right one.

If you come see me play sometime soon, this pedal will be used for most of the solos. When you hear me switch to a louder, more distorted sound than usual, this will be it.

Here ends Guitar Geek-Out. We now return you to the witty, insightful blog that you’ve come to expect, already in progress.