When It Rains…

the battery in the zx2 died on the way home from shawnee last night. i almost made it to 75th street. i paid overland tow $72 to get it back in the driveway.

DIY Talkbox

i had no idea you could make a talkbox for 9 bucks. this is what happens when you insert a speaker into one end of a plunger, remove the handle and run a tube all the way to your mouth. oh yeah, don’t forget to plug in the guitar. thanks to hoove for the book that showed me how it’s done.

Glimpse at the Universe

this beatles songbook was one of the many treasures i brought back from my visit with hoovie last month. it charts out the chords to every lennon/mccartney song known to man, so i started recording one of them. this is what i have so far.

It’s Official

i paid the final bill for the landline phone today. i realize that most folks got rid of their landlines years ago, but anyone who knows me is aware that i tend to buck trends until it’s unavoidable. if it wasn’t for a recent spike in my health insurance premium, we might still be reached at 913-642-2936.

Girl Boy Girl Beep

trista and laura joined me at the crossroads art district last friday for my fourth mondo beep performance: they played the monotron, the bliptronic 5000, and an optical theremin. once they had a groove going, i put the circuit bent speak and math on auto pilot through the vintage delay pedal, then i played chords and chord patterns through my distorted fender strat. we carried on like this for almost an hour. as you can see from the pic, the crowd kept their distance.

First Friday Prep

boom box? check. monotron? check. distorted fender strat? check. delayed speak and math? check-eck-eck-eck… looks likeĀ  everything is a go for the next mondo beep show this friday in the crossroads art district.

St. Joseph Antique Mall

jenny & i rode to st. joseph w/jan & jeremy today to check out a massive antique mall. we saw ALOT of cool stuff: coca cola drive in speakers, portable 8 track player, walkie talkies w/morse code buttons, and a velvet elvis.

To Hoovie’s and Back

two saturdays ago i made a kamikaze trip to southwest missouri to see my friend jeff hoover, and go back to 1984… the arcade. the pic above was taken when we were playing joust. jeff aka “hoovie” sent me home with some retro electronics he had lying around. the 1984 employees hit the main breaker at 11:00pm, killing all the power to the games & i got home around 3:30am sunday morning.

…before i left his house we put our musical talents together and recorded this with my monotron and the effects on his amp.

Happy Birthday Sara!

Wailin’ Wall @ Homer’s

i’m playing with wailin’ wall tomorrow night at homer’s. this is a group that puts a roots rock americana spin on just about everything. we’ll be trying out some new material, including a few originals and fresh covers.