Jam Night

Charles, Eddie (great guy), Me, Devin, Jim

Once again we rocked it at jam night! It was a great time. We played Pride and Joy, Hey Joe, and Key to the Highway. I am very fortunate to have a great bunch of guys to play music with. And even more fortunate to be sharing it with my son.

We made a good showing and it was a lot of fun. We had a great buy, Eddie, stand in for Matt on drums.

The great thing about the jam is that if you can get into the flow then the rest of the world doesn't even matter. It is hard to get there when you have butterflies. By the time you get to the flow the whole thing is over.

We met some great guys from Issaquah. The Road Dogz told us about another jam that is out in Fall City on Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Good hours for a Sunday.

Thankfully I was able to convince my co-workers that I would be no good to them after a night of music and frivolity. I am barely capable on a good day!

Our manager Sandi

I want to thank Devin, Charles, Jim and Eddie for making my day. You guys rock! Also a big thanks to our manager. It helps to have a sexy manager inspiring you.

Powering the blues

I have recently invested $2,000.00 in active speakers. It is was a difficult decision to make. It involves taking a leap of faith. Faith in myself. Faith in the music. Faith in my band mates. The last part is still up in the air.

Mackie SRM350v2 Powered Speaker

Anyway I digress. I had originally purchased a Mackie SRM350v2. I was going to use it in my practice space as a vocal monitor and drive it with an M-Audio Profire 610. It worked. It wasn't nearly loud enough. We pushed it to the limit of a vocal monitor. It started to cut out and distort badly. I needed more power!

I went back to Guitar Center and talked to Hilding. He is a very knowledgable Guitar Center Pro Audio Manager who helped me out. He spent a lot of time with me helping me make the correct decision based on the information he could get out of me. Believe me I am never helpful when it comes to getting information. I would have made a great spy.

Hilding suggested the QSC K10 10" powered speaker. 1000 watts of power! They are loud.

I decided to swap my Mackie for the K10. I also purchased another K10. I thought it would be better to have two and not mess around. I also had the money. That helped.

QSC K10 10" Powered Speaker

I opened one of the K10s, in case I needed to make a return, and it is definitely enoughpower. I haven't opened the second yet, I have had horrible buyers remorse, but I am going to do it this weekend sometime. Here is a picture of the new gear. These guys are much nicer than the Mackie. They are much more expensive too.

There is nothing like new gear to motivate a musician. I don't like having it laying around and not using it. I just kills me that it is sitting in my practice space not getting used every day. I gotta go call the guys.

A little recognition

Jam night at the J&M

Just kidding. If I played music for recognition I would either quit playing now or play way more. My experience is that playing is work. Granted I am not a musical prodigy or even a savant.
I play for me. I play for my son. If anyone even enjoys it a little that's great. It's not why I play. I am way too old to care what others think. On the flip side it is great that Frank Hidalgo took the picture above. It is a great picture if I do say so.
It isn't recognition of my musical ability. It does look like I am having fun though. That is the recognition.