Night Of The Living Geezers

channel84tvyears ago tom geeding and i created an online cartoon strip about a fictitious TV station and called it channel 84. i’m not sure i even owned a computer at the time. it seems like i was always driving to the library to send him an email. his youngest son michael bought the rights to channel 84, and turned it into a gaming podcast. last week he interviewed us, and we talked about a lot of stuff including the show’s humble origins. pictured above from left to right: tom, nick (tom’s oldest son), me, and michael.

The Fairman Brothers

fairman_bros_U2eyyesterday i waited until the storms passed to pick up wesley and joshua. they are helping me put together a music video that i’ve been wanting to make for a long time. we bought some high density fog juice from a cashier who thought i was asking for “fart juice.” sunday night they both watched a ton of 80′s videos by artists like gary numan, falco, kim wilde, and alphaville. keep checking back to see our finished product!

My Second Teenage Engineering Synth

officeandarcadei was having SO much fun with my first teenage engineering synth that i bought another one. the new one is on the left. it is the PO-24 office, and it can be synced with the PO-20 arcade (as pictured above). if you look at each screen you can also see a clock function. i took this picture at 6:59pm. here’s a two minute recording i made using both of these synths.

All Purpose Balls

allpurposeballshere are a couple more pics from the 2016 herman family reunion. these guys have some serious, glow in the dark, balls.

80s Radio Unearthed

91X-CREW-CA-1987i’m always looking for ways to time travel on the internet. i gorge on podcasts like stuck in the 80s, chips dips and dorks, and mortified. imagine my delight when i found almost 10 hours of alternative rock radio recorded in the mid to late 80s. the DJ’s pictured above worked at 91X in san diego… and yes, that is the station that spawned these recordings.

Old Style Hermans

old style hermansthis was taken in front of the old style tavern last friday night in marengo, IA. unless we’re stopped by distance or circumstance, jenny & i drive to the  herman family reunion every 4th of july weekend. saturday there were 75 of us at the 4-H hall singing “will the circle be unbroken” before eating lunch together. more pics from the weekend are below. i’ll post a video soon.oldstyledance oldstylepool volleyball

My First Teenage Engineering Synth

PO20arcadea couple of weeks ago i heard about a company that makes $60 synthesizers that can fit in your pocket. i watched a few youtube videos, and my fate was sealed. i had to own one. teenage engineering currently has 6 of these gadgets to choose from, and i opted for the PO-20 arcade. here are some of the chord progressions that you can play, modify, or replace with something original. i’m having so much fun with this one, that i ordered the PO-24 office also. it makes weird rhythms using the sound of office equipment from the 1980′s like a dot matrix printer or a  floppy disk drive.

Shady People & Me

shadypeepsmy prescription glasses broke sunday afternoon. fortunately i have another pair, but they are prescription sunglasses. that’s what i wore monday morning at homer’s. i didn’t know what assumptions my customers would make since i never keep my shades on after walking indoors. however angela (left) usually keeps hers on when she orders her coffee and shot of espresso, so i asked if we could take our pic together. a few hours later dave (right) was taking his shades off when i said “put ‘em back on! i gotta get another picture!” ashley (not pictured) also took a pic of both of us wearing shades inside homer’s, but she hasn’t sent it to me yet.

Gas & Fog

gasandfoglast thursday exactly one week ago jenny & i woke up to the sound of beeping… at 5am. the culprit was our electric kenmore stove, and apparently something in that model can be triggered to flash “F-1″ and beep without mercy. the next day my guitar student and i switched out the electric stove for one that runs on gas. i found it on craigslist for $100. and then saturday i saw a fog machine at an antique mall for $20 and bought it for $15. i now own two machines that spew gas and fog… it’s almost like having another old car! extra special thanks to jim cameron for showing me how to safely attach a ventless heater to the gas line 5 years ago, without that experience i would not have attempted to hook up a gas stove.

Groucho 1969

groucho1969two weeks ago i posted on this blog about a book of letters to and from groucho marx that i’m currently reading. last night i was surfing youtube, and saw a 54 minute video of groucho talking to dick cavett. 28 minutes into the interview he started talking about THAT book! groucho also sings “lydia the tattooed lady” on the show.