Monday, February 1, 2010

february already?!

wowee, we must be having fun.
in fact, a very unusual situation has presented itself:
nashville has snow! if you're a fan from say, sweden,
try not to laugh but nashville has about 8 inches!
in the 15 years I've lived here we've had real snow
twice.

so on friday night around 9:30 the family unit
joined pretty much the entire neighborhood
in a sledding extravaganza. now, that was fun!
good thing many of our neighbors had sleds to share,
they don't even sell sleds in nashville.

even though my house is surrounded on the sides
and in the back with 5 acres of woods and a stream,
I live in an actual subdivision called "Briarwood".
the subdivision contains perhaps 30 homes all
seated around a large circular drive.
I never realized how perfect the undulating hills
of Hidden Ridge Circle would be for sledding.
our house is on a cul de sac and even it has a
treacherous slope, treacherous at 20 mph on a sled.
under a full moon-lit sky we had a ball until midnight
when the spell of being 10 years old again finally
wore off and we turned into frozen pumpkins.

my days are spent gleefully exploring new sonic
possibilities spurred on by the recent NAMM show
and a serious desire to downsize my guitar rig.
I'm still working on laptop guitar
but I've added a new wrinkle which I believe to be
the answer to most of my needs: Axe-FX Ultra.
this two-space rack unit will supplant everything
I do with my Johnson amps and then some.
I'm discovering things I've never heard before!
also, many manufacturers are sending out
new things for me to try, making this a very fertile
period not just for musical discoveries but
for new song fodder as well. wish me luck.

I'll keep you gearheads posted on my progress.

17 comments:

  1. Yup, I'm in the same position. Looking to maybe offload all my pedals and doo-hickeys in favour of a software solution. Problem is I don't like the "tone" of Guitar Rig 4, but I've pre-ordered Amplitude 3 and I'm hoping that this upgrade will be suitable from Amplitutde 2, which had the tone, but lacked options. All these toys and we still complain!!!

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  2. I actually read about your sledding, well maybe not exactly yours, but your neighborhood's sledding in our local California newspaper. And yes, it confirmed that all the sleds in the greater Nashville area were sold out.

    Looking forward to hearing you're playful experiments.

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  3. glad to hear you're having fun in-studio and out!

    best from the west.

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  4. Adrian, can you speak to the influence the punk/New Wave movement had on '80s King Crimson? I'm having a far-reaching discussion on this amongst a large group of KC fans, some of whom hear a relationship with the punk/New Wave and others who resolutely don't. Any thoughts?

    thanks!

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  5. Wow! Sleds were sold out in Nashville?

    I live in East Nashville, and we had about 3 inches - roads were totally iced! It's a real treat when we get snow here - it's so seldom . . . :)

    Glad you had a blast sledding!

    Diane/Nashville, TN

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  6. pete: I don't recognize the influence of punk or new wave except that new wave was happening around the same period and robert and I rubbed shoulders with some of its proponents, namely talking heads, blonde, the clash, and the b-52's (who in my opinion didn't fit either category.)
    much was made at the time of my voice sounding like david bryne's which I always thought was a hollow representation at best (I can't imagine david singing "matte kudasai" for example) and of course there was the eno connection. mostly what I thought KC shared with the heads and eno was an interest in "world musics" i.e. african rhythms, etc.
    considering krimson was never intended for mass consumption we shied away from all contemporary labels and tried desperately to sound like no one else.
    my opinion, of course.

    cheers,
    adrian

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  7. we had this place in illinois .

    http://users.rcn.com/clonk/CCFPD/PalosSagValley/Sledding.gif

    they built it for Olympic training , and later it was open to the public . in the 70's we went , some friends and my mom , dad and me on the back . my mothers boot caught the side and it pulled her leg all the way past my father , her foot was on top of my lap , she was in front of my dad .

    being a woman of God she refused medical attention , stayed in bed for a few days , and was fine . sher leg was a giant bruise for about a year !

    in the 80's i asked the toboggan rental guy " i bet you could tell some stories " he said "I WOULD'NT go down it !" supposedly a boy had hit a sharp splinter edge facing the sled , it went in his rear and exited his belly !

    also some goofy kid that worked there in the summer would go down it riding a large push broom , under the guise of "cleaning the shoots" .

    my father had heard stories of a daredevil boy who donned a helmet and rode down it on his bicycle . sadly enough they closed swallow cliff a few years ago , miss that place . it just was too much fun !

    have fun with the new patches , its not like the old roland crypto-menu system is it ? i would cringe when i had to name a patch with an "L" or a "K" in it ! we cant wait for some new stuff / an album .

    Pt2 .

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  8. Snow is overrated (says the guy living in Québec where we had 12 foot of snow in 2008).

    Adrian, you knew Dweezil is using AXE-FX, right?

    Also thanks for the insight about KC-Talking Heads.This is what I call first hand information. No rock journalist in-between. Thanks god for the internet.
    :)

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  9. I am actually going out west to play in the snow soon, can't wait, it does bring out the child in us :)
    So excited to see the dates listed for your shows ! Hoping to get to Jammin Java to see you.

    Cannot imagine ANYONE else singing my favorite song "Matte Kudasai" but you. Maybe.... an acoustic version will be on your set list for the new shows ????? Be happy !! Peace xo

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  10. Hi, I'm an italian blogger and i like listening to the guitarrist. I think that you are a great musicians and yesterday I wrote about you and Power trio on http://jazztrain1.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/un-chitarrista-di-nicchia/. I'd like to make a question. Do you know Bill Frisell? Did you play with him?

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  11. On this video you can see Bill Frisell on guitarr who plays with a jazz legend like Charlie Haden on double bass and a rock legend like Ginger Baker the ex drummer's Cream on drums.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPA735rwklg&feature=related

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  12. Good luck, Mr. Snowman from Nashville.

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  13. Great Post! I have many found snowbound childhood memories however. Last year was my first FULL winter in Canada after ten years of living in the tropics and I must say I don't intend to repeat the adventure.

    Looking forward to more new music from you!

    Cheers!

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  14. Hey Adrian

    Started listening to King Crimson vigorously lately. Wonderful music, more than music. Apart from your mystical guitar playing I think your singing is amazing. You know, the kind of singing that hits your soul instead of just sounding pretty. Maybe I'm just repeating what others have said already...

    (Something nice here)
    Rogel Gabriel

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  16. Any word if "e" will be available for digital download? I held out forever, buying physical CDs, but there's really not place in it for my life anymore ... but if I must, then I must ...

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    ReplyDelete