Spudly

::

I used a simple little book to quit after having it recommended by a friend. I haven't had a craving or any weight gain after smoking heavily (I used to wake up at night to smoke)for 20 years.....like most of you, I have a compulsive obsessive personality and get heavily addicted to things quickly. I tried quitting hundreds of times and struggled greatly with it....

"Stop Smoking the Easy Way" by Alan Carr...he has an internet site and lectures around the world. He's cheesy, but dammit, it works!

Without going too into detail, it uses a form of hipnosis of sorts to deprogram you from believing that giving it up is a difficult thing. If you are convinced it's difficult, it will be. If you are convinced that it is not, it is the easiest thing you can imagine. Enjoyable, in fact when you finally realize that you don't *really* need them, you just think you do. You are your own worst enemy...

I hear what you are saying Jaimoe, I have seen some real stinker shows from them as well...most recently was their last show in Vancouver at the beautiful Commodore Ballroom. There was a paltry 450 folks there for what was their tour opener and first show in almost a year. They had just released an album and were trying out their new material in a live environment. PRACTICE ON YOUR OWN FUGGIN TIME!

That said though, I have seem some incredible shows from them, including a smoker of a gig at the Gorge! They have some amazing players in that band (Stanton Moore, Ben Ellman)....and some real mediocre players (guitar dude is boooo-ring).

Go down to New Orleans for Jazz Fest and catch them on the Cajun Queen or at Tipitina's and you might change your mind....

Not bloated, CB, just choc-full of heady goodness. Thanks for all the insight. You sound as obsessive as I am about these things...

Oh, and try to tell a drummer to obey the loop? "it's ME who keeps the time, bitch, not some pissy little green box, ME GODAMMIT"...you know how tempermental drummers are. poor sensitive little fellas.

Wow, some great info here, thanks all!!! Maybe we should start a looper support group of sorts…?

It all sounds like an expensive and complicated style of playing to explore…..maybe I'll just keep it at a jamsterbation level…it is GREAT for practicing….who else is gonna play the same rythym piece for 30 minutes while you wank…?

Bouche, the Filter Modeller is sweet as well (that's the purple one?)….Mu-tron! But try not to get too Line6 dependant lest the "tone snobs" turn up their noses at you!

I've also got a Line6 2x10 Spider, so I have reached my limit…….

Beats: I know exactly what you are saying about the low end being a cramped space. I liken it to a house with many floors. The BASSment is more of a crawlspace.

I once saw a workshop at a festival that you would have severely dug called "Bass is Base" and featured Marc Friedman (Slip), Arne Livingston (Living Daylights, SKB, New Monsoon) & Tye North (Leftover Salmon, Commotion, etc) all on the same stage, just 3 basses jamming and taking Q&A. Victor Wooten was in the room as a spectator, so was Kai Eckhardt. It was awesome, but the jams were irrelevant, a muddled rumble, and they spoke about exactly what you are saying. FYI, one question asked was "Who's your biggest influence"….they all said "Well, Jaco, of course, but I also love….." All paid homage to Victor as well...

Tis' the season to be jolly, fla-la-la-la-la la-la la-la....

WARNING - BORING sh!t ALERT!

If you are not a gear head, save yourself and read no further...

I have read a couple of interviews from Nero Dave where he talks about using his phrase sampler for layering sounds to create textures to fill out the soundscape…I find that sh!t fascinating as I'm a bit of a trance junkie. Can't get enough of that repetitive beat! I have some challenges with it that I thought I would post on here to see if any other phrase sample junkies may have some ideas/thoughts to share…or maybe even Dave himself? (I think you are "pablo", no?)

So anyhow, I have a Line 6 DL-4, an awesome delay modeler (everyone seems to use these nowadays), which also has a 14 second loop sampler as a bonus. When I play *alone*, it works well enough…I set up the first loop (using a drum machine, keys, guitar, mic - anything 1/4" analog), which dictates the time, tempo, and feel - the "rythmic foundation"…and then add to it and/or jam over top. If I mix in anything I don't like, I have to start again from scratch because there isn't the freedom to delete the last entry. That's all fine and dandy.

But if I play with a drummer, I personally find it impossible to use for chording because you have to create the foundation loop EXACTLY in time with the drummer. If it is even a micro second off, it will throw the drummer out. I have seen Dr. Didg using a similar system and for some reason it works for him. He punches the box with his hand to start and stop the loop…he always starts the jam off this way and then the drummer joins in and it always seems to work for him…..? I've never seen his drummer make a "scrunchy face" like mine do…?

So Dave, if you are here, what pedal/rack do you use? Without getting too into it, how is it tied into the rest of your effects? Do you only use yours to create a "thickness" or drone ….if so, how do you then change key?

I'm somewhat embarassed to say that I haven't actually *caught* Nero yet (except for the last 10 minutes of your last Silvertone show….ended at midnight? wassup with that?), we are deprived out here on the west coast - hopefully not for long…And I haven't heard anything really recent or studio from you guys (come back out west and I'll raid your merch table) so don't have a firm grasp on how you employ loops today as maybe you've only recently incorporated loops into your live performances? Any thoughts, tricks or info is greatly appreciated….

Is there any products that will automatically sync to a click track or the kick? Or is it too difficult a task being that one is analog and one is digital?

Keller Willaims uses the "Jam Man" which is great because he can fade different loops in and out or drop them all together. It's big, and looks expensive. He doesn't use it at all when playing with other people, but man is he dialed into that thing when solo!

Trey uses a "Boomerang"….essentially 2 independent loop samplers that you can switch back and forth between…..you know that cool boomerang high pitch revolving note in Ghost? His loops don't need to be perfectly in time with the music because he uses it more as a trippy effect that goes in and out of time. I have trouble using it in this fashion as well…

I have tried to ask music store people about this and they generally just get a "glazed over" look in their eyes.... ::

xo

I have caught him in both a 500 sized bar and a 5000 sized festival setting...he is both solid and forgettable IMO...But deffinately worthwhile catching if he's playing the ElMo.

His sh!t builds quite nicely and can get quite raging (for a trio)...he employs very good use of his stomp box (a mic'd wooden box that he uses percussively with his foot) His message is strong - he's a heavy environmentalist, big time tree hugger, but in a live setting you may be hard pressed to understand WTF he is saying as he moans in his Aussie drawl. He looks like a toothless, ticketless Phish Wook with a dog on a rope. I found myself wondering if he had bathed since landing on our shores...

....Overall...? GO! Get drunk. Hit on the "randy Sheila's" that will be abound. Yell out, incessantly, "Come on, then, let's throw some shrimps on the barby...." You won't be disappointed.....

xo

I personally clicked on this because I thought it wuz one of them there beastiality threads....and that folks wuz runnin a foul as it were...

Wuz gonna call PETA, but seein as how no turkey's are being hurt in promotion of the show...(cept of course the millions that will be slaughtered and consumed beforehand)......

Obscure dig #2 from the friendly couple? ::

Better "Desktop Wallpaper" than "Hat", I'm thinking.

hee.

Another Spudly? It is a popular nickname, I have found...it is almost always taken when I sign up for an e-mail service or message board...as is "Spudly Dudley". I was however successful in securing "spudly420" in hotmail....yeah, I know, fascinating stuff, yipty fuggin dee....

....as far as Nathan...."Thamusemeant" is his "regular" band....they play solid acoustic groove and have recently reformed after a hiatus of sorts....features Aimee Curl & Enion Pelta (sexy hippie chicks kickin grass) and David Tiller (quirky yet solid mandolin picker). They have lots of stuff on the archives....it's all good.

Ha! noted....

Sometimes friends purposely mis-spell "Spud" as "Crud", "Stud", "Scud", "Pud". I have nicknames off of nicknames...it never ends.

Hey Quigsy, I've seen Nathan play with Thamusemeant and really dig his stuff as well. He's a very solid songwriter, his pieces have such crisp instrumentation...it's no wonder he gel'd with the Slip so well.

Didn't they all get holed up somewhere because of a storm and came up with the bulk of the Surprise me, Mr Davis vibe and material over the course of a week-end? The "buzz phrase of the week-end" was "Surprise me"......Mr. Davis was the landlord of the house the jam space was in....or something like that....

Heh. Rachael (my partner) always pokes fun at me for my "obsessive need to know these silly little details". If she read this post, she would smile with her eyes and shake her head coyly...

Ah yes, it is indeed irksome to know that you are within walking distance to a stage that you know is going off...but you gotta eat sometime. you gotta sleep sometime.

Or even worse, the dreaded "double booking"...I live for that very dilema. Where the only complaint you have in life is "Shall I walk over here and see Karl Denson? or walk over there and see moe.?" I hate when that happens.

Jacob Fred is indeed a solid band, they have the most amazing stage presence (Brian Haas (keys) is one cool cat, as is Reed Mathis (bass)), and the most interesting song titles. "Nibbles the Squirrel", "Thelonius Monk is my Grandmother", "Muppet Babies Get Lost at the State Fair", or the glorious improv called "George W. Bush is Lying to You".

An awesome download...Do you folks know Groove TV? (www.groovetv.org)

Mike Clark's Prescription Renewal featuring Mike Clark (original drummer for the Headhunter's), Brian Haas & Reed Mathis (JFJO) and Jessica Lurie (sax from Living Daylights). WOW!

"E-ing your tits off" helps, but is not essential to the enjoyment of this band.

Wow, great piece!

I just d/l'd one of the days...Did they have seamless sets with moe.>JFJO>Biscuits de Disco>moe.? or is that seque just jams with members of? The show was highly recommended to me as A+...

I know most of you folks aren't big on the Biscuits, but did anyone catch any of their sets? (Us westies are big on the hippy trance jams, must be something in the water.) Or how bout Jacob Fred? They are incredible.....

Ya'll are very lucky to have moe.down in your back yard!

xo

Howler, I almost pissed my pants when I read the eye socket thing, not to detract from the horrible night you must have had. I still get terrified of the dark even without the variables of being in a secluded place with alarms wailing after after watching a scary movie...

That said, I love Donnie Darko.....a classic movie with a classic sound track. I am addicted to the scaled down version of "Mad World"...truly haunting, a beautiful song.

xo

PS-I have friends who lived next door to the Pinkton farm in Port Coquitlam.

....FYI, his most recent e-mail to his mailing list.....

9/20/04

Dear Friends,

Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"

Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded. They are never finished -- they just keeping moving forward like sharks that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.

They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them -- they just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all -- the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the governorships. How do you think they've been able to pull that off considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day wreaking havoc on the planet.

Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"

No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or I. People like Kerry run.

Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president -- Kerry is. So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just gave 300 women a... Pontiac! Did you see any of them frowning and moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not, they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.

My friends, it is time for a reality check.

1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.

2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.

3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya, there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real. Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything else is just a sugar-coated lie).

4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call Vietnam. There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it. Had Bush bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won." All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is going to cook his goose come this November.

So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."

Yes...Yes...Yesssss...He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...

WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL YOU DO THAT?

Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands. Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth, why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do we have any other choice?

Yours,

Michael Moore

www.michaelmoore.com

mmflint@aol.com

Wow, what civilized reparte!

I have been trying to solicit this dialog for years in different circles as I have tried to understand the appeal, which is undeniably there. This is the most "meat" I have seen on the subject (where it hasn't degraded into name calling)

Their fanbase is intelligent, thoughtful, and rabid...as is evident here...Guigsy and crew have presented a very compelling view of the band, but I am unfortunately in the same boat as Choix in that it just eludes me.

I say "unfortunately" because I honestly wish I did "get it"...Slip fans are more emotional about the Slip than almost any other fan is about their fav band. Given how passionate we all are about our music, this really says something about what this band has to offer.

My 2 *favorite* Slip experiences are not fair representations of the band, but I will share regardless. Both occured at the High Sierra Music Fest years ago.

* "The Slipping Daylights".....which was the Slip and the Living Daylights sharing the stage (holy dueling bass players - Livingston and Friedman!). the show started at 2am on day 4 of the festival. 'nuff said.

* "Double Rythym" workshop...Marc and Andrew jamming with Kai and Alan from Garaj Mahal. 2 drum kits, 2 basses. Yikes!

What is that Surprise me Mr. Davis stuff like anyhow? I know Nathan Moore is a heavy picker on mandolin type instruments....? (Has anyone heard Thamusemeant or Taarka?)

love,

xo

Nice. A booty shaking throw down will be had by all in attendance. Eric Krasno is a mean player with the key to groove.

They've only come to Van a few times over the years (during Jazz-fest, if I'm remembering correctly) and it was never promoted to our community as it should have been.

I hear mixed reviews about the Opera House...? How many peeps does it hold?

If I remember correctly, Salmon Rushdie had a Fatwa (islamic religious decree) issued against him calling for his dispatching. (basically a contract put out on him in the name of God to all muslims in the world.)

All Yusef said when asked about the Fatwa was something to the effect of "I would not be the person Mr. Rushdie would want to meet in a dark alley."

After the Satanic Verses, Rushdie himself converted to Islam for a brief time...

StoneMtn, I wish it were true as well, they have played some reunion gigs in the last few years.....Greg Anton (sax) and Chip Roland (keys) are still very active in certain circles (I never cared much for the vocalist). Classic Kimock, back when he was so timid he would hide behind the amps facing the drummer....now he actually addresses the crowd by talking into the mic! WOW!

Okay Zero, I'll bite...if you are taking requests, how bout "Shut yer pie-hole"...you might not know that one though....

KIDDING! :: :: ::

Love,

xo

Luke and I have PM'd ourselves back into a state of mere tolerence..... I don't relish in anyone's suffering, but sometimes some good comes out of these conflicts...

What did I learn today?

1. tolerence of others is directly linked to ego

2. reality is a matter of personal perception and personal perception is a mere variable of reality.

3. if you sh!t in your cornflakes, your breakfast wiill taste funny

4. you can sometimes re-use duct tape on a second hamster, but never a third.

Love,

xo

I don't know how much of a little known fact this is but Lee Aaron is now a very credible jazz singer and plays regular gigs around Vancouver....including a weekly residency at a small pub in North Vancouver called the Rusty Gull.....

I coldly yelled out "where's the red spandex, man?" one drunken eve. She didn't like it one little bit.