Tools Of The Trade

tradetoolsi had a few hours to myself tuesday night, so i got out some gear to work on a song. i started out with the rock-1 pattern on the casio VL-TONE. things got progressively weirder with each track i put down. the last thing i added was an insanely high falsetto effect using the roland voice transformer. i sound like a woman in the 1930′s who is trapped in the jungle.

Pea Coat Buddies

2in1christy dropped by homer’s monday. it was below freezing, and i realized we were both wearing navy style pea coats! when i asked chloé to take our picture, christy turned to check on her 4-year-old son. he was unusually quiet right at that moment, and that’s when the mischief typically starts.

Easter 2018

solidendurostime, life, and circumstance were stacked against us, but matt hawkins, me, josh fairman, and tommy wooldridge finally played together as the enduros easter sunday at overland park lutheran. the church was going through serious changes two years ago, including some departures and arrivals in wailin’ wall. that was the name of the worship band i’d been playing in since 2009. those of us that stayed around thought it would be cool to change the name to the enduros. easter morning we played:
Come On Up To The House
Let My Love Open The Door
Because He Lives Amen
I’m Gonna Sit At The Welcome Table
Ain’t No Grave

Egon, Peter, Ray, and Me

meandtheghostbustersdie hard ghostbusters fans will take notice of symmetrical book stacking and say, “just like the philadelphia mass turbulence of 1947!” - yeah, that’s a line from the movie. i made a kamikaze trip to 1984 in springfield yesterday. i indulged myself and played old games like elevator action, omega race, sinistar, and mappy– and those were just the games in the basement! there was also the ghostbusters room where slimed books were stacked, threats were painted on the door, and a scary ghost appeared in the mirror if you rang for a desk attendant.focused michael and reecemichael geeding and his girlfriend reece showed up after i’d been there for a couple of hours, and we scored pretty good on our favorite games. i’ve known michael’s parents since high school, so he sort of feels like my own kid.

Peanuts In Polyester

disco-snoopy-1978-1oh boy. here’s another page from 2 warps to neptune. as i was scrolling past a buck rogers night light & marc bolan pictures, i literally laughed out loud when i saw snoopy dressed like john travolta. i remember colorforms. i think my folks might have even got a box of them for me and my sister– not the disco set! i would have been too old to play with that one in 1978. i was too busy growing my hair over the top of my ears.

The Wisdom I Never Knew

kirksguidetowomeni was cleaning the lounge before mom & jim’s recent visit a couple of weeks ago, and found this book under the futon. i remember that it was an impulse buy at a local half price book store. there is a ton of space related metaphors & puns in this thing, but there’s also some insight: on page 18 the author claims that kirk “follows four guiding stars:
1) always say yes
2) awaken her passion
3) care for your exes
4) increase her self esteem”

aye captain!

Chloé & Elton

chloeandeltonthanks to chloé, kismet, and an 80′s songbook i heard an elton john tune that i never knew existed– chloe. it appears to be a fan favorite with 200 thumbs up and only 6 thumbs down on youtube. we watched the music video on my phone during a lull at homer’s. the morning was sufficiently twisted afterward.

I’m Not The Only One

cox-ufo-1979while searching for old motel pics online i discovered 2 warps to neptune. it was a blog dedicated to: “Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek.” you know… nerdy stuff! in august 2016 the blogger for 2warpstoneptune.com told readers to check out his new website we are the mutants. it’s an online magazine that is “sifting the disregarded remains of the old world.” huh, just when i think the air couldn’t get any thinner out here in my search for all things weird, i bump into another geek like me.

1980′s Arcade Ambience

01onearcadekida couple of days ago i went searching for the arcade sounds of my youth online. i just wanted to see if someone had a collection that i could listen to. it didn’t take long to find a youtube link that had sounded something like this. right now the link has 340 thumbs up, 4 thumbs down, and 39 comments including this one: “Whenever this plays, I can remember that arcade smell. Its like a mixture of Windex, cigarette smoke and burnt circuitry.”

200 Geocaches Later

me and michael sweeney geo sittingafter 12 years of following latitudes, longitudes, and hidden clues, i finally logged 200 geocaches. i jumped into the world of geocaching with both feet when my friends michael sweeney (above) and tim andersen asked if i wanted to go to monkey mountain, and i never looked back.  kookookachooyeah, i’m madmaxheadroom. jenny & i found the most recent geocache behind a perkins restaurant on 87th street. we left a pill container from stoner drug, and swapped it for a tiny blue translucent stone.stoner drug