The weekend Thread

[Brian Krashpad]

That's what all the girls say. oke

I'll stay home and serenade the girls, while you go biking with the boys in their tight little lycra pants.

oke

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Ahem, please refer to photos provided at links above and note baggy shorts worn by yours truly, and I believe almost everyone on the trip. ;-)

 

[Spudman]

Uh oh! Now Krashpad is thinking about boys in lycra. Someone's going to have to run down there and get him back to normal.
:socool

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Ahem, please refer to photos provided at links above and note baggy shorts worn by yours truly, and I believe almost everyone on the trip. ;-)

Sorry, I make it a point not even to look at bikers' shorts.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Uh oh! Now Krashpad is thinking about boys in lycra.

That "thinking" is called revulsion, Spud.

Bet you watched the Tour de France.

I didn't.

[shudder]

I spend my time thinking about lady volleyballer's shorts.

Though, at their height, somebody'd have to put me up to it.

Get it?

 

[Mr Pants]

Krash, that sux about your band leader. I really fricking hate church politics, but I guess a system run by people is bound to have complications.

I went camping this weekend up in Vermont with my wife, sister, brother-in-law, and 1.5-year-old niece. It's really beautiful right now, with pretty much everything changing color. It got down to about 41 and 34 degrees on Friday and Saturday respectively, so it was pretty chilly, but a good time. Kind of kid-centric, but that's to be expected. No rain, which was a definite bonus.

One thing my wife and I have realized: 8-hour car rides should be reserved for something longer than a weekend trip. Whew!

Know what you mean about church politics - left my last church group for that reason. You'd hope Christians could get on a bit better!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Know what you mean about church politics - left my last church group for that reason. You'd hope Christians could get on a bit better!

Yep, we're only here because we went through the same thing about 4 years ago across town. Now something similar happens here.

Arrgh.

PS-- Spud and Steve-- I'm just kidding about the biking thing. Sorry if I took it too far.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Brian, . . . Nonsense. Party on man! :dance (we need a mosh pit, pogo dancing smiley guy with a 'hawk!)

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Brian, . . . Nonsense. Party on man! :dance (we need a mosh pit, pogo dancing smiley guy with a 'hawk!)

Thanks, sometimes I type without thinking. I know that biking is really important to you knuckleheads.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks, sometimes I type without thinking. I know that biking is really important to you knuckleheads.

Yeah, but I love me a little flingin' crap back and forth. No offense at all man. Keep the urethane side down over there in that skate park! I would love to be joining you on my old board (or my newer one). Ms. SV doesn't let me take the kids to the skatepark, so I don't really get to go. I would love to go with you and goof off.

 

[Duffy]

Weekend

Krash, I sympathize with you. We had problems at the church where my son attended the school. We left him in the school and he graduated.

I since divorced my ex wife, very successfully. But I went to a few different churches and I stayed out of things like the committees, etc., clean up crews, and so on. Noticed the minister didn't do any clean up . . . . . What's up with that?

Anyway, I went for the spiritual development part. It seems like the financial and physical plant parts always cause all sorts of problems, even the music programs.

I still really respect one of my preachers, but can't stand some of the others, and some of the board of director members or whatever they are called are ridiculous lawyer types that wouldn't understand the "right" thing to do if they had to. Not that all lawyers are messed up, don't get me wrong. Just some of these board characters at the church were lawyers and approached things very defensively, with no apparent regard for doing the right thing.

Hey, there are some great lawyers out there, like the one that handled my divorce, and the one that represented me years ago in a DWI that I thankfully beat - and also quit drinking. He cost me 1000 dollars cash on the barrel head over 25 years ago, and money very well spent.

It seems like it is the non-spiritual things that mess up churches and the church experience. Hence, when I go, I try to avoid getting caught up in ancillary functions and so forth. The band would be fun though, but even the bands have problems because some of the conservatives didn't believe in drums in church - so they got electronic drums until the kid playing them refused to play them any more and brought his own drums back. Why wouldn't church people want drums in church? I'm sure there are drums played in the bible. Their excuse was that drums lead to that gyrating type of music that evidently leads to dancing and some sort of devil worship. . . . . . Makes no sense to me. So now they have two different services based upon the type of music presented in the service. How about "coming together"?

Anyway, keep your eyes open. That band problem could contain unseen resentments and other problems that are not immediately obvious. Why can't we all just try to cooperate?

I don't blame the band director by the way. Church figures should focus on the important things, like "shepherding" and helping people develop spiritually. Plus those teachers are paid ridiculously low and shouldn't have to put up with a lot of political non-sense.

Good luck dude. Maybe you can help out - do the right thing and be an example for someone.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

I try to state out of the oversight/politics end of things for just that reason.

Basically, I do music stuff, but not in a leadership capacity, just helping out, and again sorta the same with the Youth Group, as a parent rather than the adult leader.

I have sorta become the de facto "PR Man" for the praise band's upcoming Concert for Mission India, which is a quasi-leadership thing, without actually being in charge of the whole thing. However, it didn't really make any sense for anyone else to do it. My band experience, and from the other side, experience as a writer for local mags, made me the obvious choice. Even so, I did PM the pastor on Facebook, to let him know what I was doing to promote the event.

Although, I sent the message after the fact.

 

[Duffy]

Montana mtns.

Those are some beautiful mountains in those pictures, "Sun". That had to be a fun weekend.

Is that one of those Dodge diesel trucks? Do you use it as a dedicated biking support vehicle? Did you go to the Red Zinger Classic bike race outside of Boulder, Co., this summer? A friend of mine organized it.

I've got a new cheap Diamondback mtn bike with a mediocre at best front suspension. I'm going to get something better. Lots of great trails here in North Central Pennsylvania, old railroad beds, etc.

I'm loading in all my firewood for this Winter this weekend. Charity, my fiance, is an unbelievable help. I have a big utility trailer and will be bringing in a few loads of "rock" oak, split and dried. This oak burns really good, hot, lasting embers, little ash. 500 for the whole winter. That is about what a half a tank of fuel oil costs around here and you need to burn a few tanks to get thru the Winter.

My new woodstove, lost the old 2500 dollar cast iron one in the divorce, cost 900 and is welded steel with an over 3 cubic foot firebox capacity, airtight, double wall stainless chimney pipe going straight thru the ceiling, no bends, very good draft. Fire brick lined. This stove works really good and you can shut it down and burn it cool for extended hours or crank it for some major heat. Built in blower.

There is something about wood heat that is super comfortable, plus the ambience of the visible flame thru the glass gives everything a nice vibe.

Don't kill yourselves on those bikes.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Hi Duff! That is a diesel Dodge Sprinter. They are american badged Mercedes work vans. It is not a dedicated support vehicle, just Travis's work van for his fireplace shop. He has it outfitted so he can haul bikes and camp though. Mountain biking is lots of fun, and good exercise. I did not go to that event you mention. I used to have a Diamondback also! Have fun!

 

[Duffy]

Weekend.

Loaded in all the rock oak for the Winter today. Charity is a real champ and drove the truck pulling the trailer. We have a LOT of beautiful hardwood for the cold weather which has not hit yet - we have been lucky. It was very warm today, sweatingly so.

Rock oak, that sounds like a great name for a hippie band or even a country band. Remember Black Oak Arkansas? I saw them live in Richmond in '72; WAY better than their album. They opened for the Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer - awesome act and great muscians.

Went into the music store by me with the FULL intention of buying a super great deal the salesman I know was offering me: a brand new NOS Vox
AD60VTX for 200 dollars.

They are newly an Epiphone distributer. I looked for a decent Epi SG to play thru the blue series valvetronix and grabbed a dull finished cherry trans red set neck SG. Playing with the amp models, etc., I notice a nice real low action with no buzz and the satin finish is looking better than the Gibson Faded SG that was stolen from me, a brown one. I drift through a bunch of effects and other amp models and note how light the SG is. I play some more and find myself more interested in listening to the guitar instead of the amp. I notice nice polished fret ends and fretboard edges and a beautiful dark rosewood fretboard. The pickups sound great and the satin finish has taken me in; the neck is slim and chords fall into my hands. I effortlessly play some more riffs and relax into the guitar, ignoring my surroundings. The tone controls actually work and the volume backs off into a clean sound. The satin finish on the neck feels real good. It is the style SG, teardrop pickguard, I want to compliment my high gloss trans cherry '66 Epi copy of a Gibson Standard SG.

At this point it is clear that I'm evaluating the guitar and have left the amp in my personal history. After all, the blue hybrid sounds good but I have a lot of the real amps it's showing me. 299 for the guitar. I ponder the situation and decide that this is one of those times that the guitar found me, not visa versa and that I should buy it. Without much more analyzing of the situation I decide to buy it.

I got the SG for 299 out the door, no tax, and a free set of D'darrio "tens".

After spending the afternoon weilding tons of wood I played the SG some more and am real glad I paid attention to my soul and shifted my plan off of the amp and got the guitar. Thru my Tweaker and So. Cal. cabinet it is sounding great, untweaked so far.

This stock SG faded has some real bad boy snarl on the bridge pickup and a smooth neck pickup that overdrives real well. It fits into my hand like it is meant to be there and produces some highly sought sounds.

I'm playing myself to sleep with this puppy tonight; going to jam along to some stuff out of my media center library thru my outstanding computer surround speakers with a heavy sub.

I'm really glad I stumbled upon this beautiful dull finished cherry SG. It was right on time. It fits in with my equipment plan better than the modeling amp.

Curiously, the clear vinyl pickup protectors on top of the chrome pickup covers say Alnico magnets on the bridge pickup and Ceramic 8 on the neck pickup. I doubt if this is a mistake. It is a 2010 Epi SG made in Korea. I wonder if this bad boy has a ceramic 8 pickup in the neck as the pickup protector says it does or if this is a mistake? I called Gibson and ran the serial number past them and all they said is that it is listed as having two Alnico V humbuckers. I guess I'll never know.

Irregardlessly, this SG is a real nice guitar at a very affordable price. I have been trying to focus on saving up and spending more on nicer guitars, but I like this SG better than my Gibson Faded SG that was stolen. It definitely feels better and plays better and probably sounds better, I can't remember how the Gibson sounded exactly. Plus, if I decide in the future that a pickup replacement is in order I think I will get Seymour Duncans; maybe a distortion in the bridge and a JB in the neck, or something to this effect - a hot set of great pickups. I would want to go for chrome or nickel covered ones though, so that might eliminate the distortion. I will have to research this out and maybe even get Gibson pickups, possibly like the ones on the Flying V or Explorer with the hot ceramic bridge pickup, if I can get them covered. The Gibson '57 and corresponding "plus" are also nothing to scoff at.

Anyway, still a lot of weekend ahead. I will get some SG time in and will play it thru my newly moded Blackheart Little Giant (done by Jim P with a new transformer and a VVR - variable voltage regulator). This amp head is also located right at bedside. I might plug it in now.

We still have to stack this beautiful rock oak we bought. It's just in piles now; and get some tarps and cover it. We will have a substantial area on our back portch to have some definitely dry wood stacked for immediate use. One of these days soon it is going to drop down on the fahrenheit scale and require a diligent wood burning system. This stove is VERY efficient and powerful, with more than 3 cubic feet of brick lined firebox, and air tight. There is nothing comparable to the comfort and ambience of a wood fire. Plus it saves you potentially a major amount of money around here. Just this year alone it will pay for the 900 dollar new woodstove, wood, and chimney system - straight thru the roof stainless. On top of that we will get a 30 per cent tax credit on the purchase and installation of the stove. Glad we live in the Great Northern Hardwood Forest. High quality wood in this rural area we live in is very inexpensive, way less expensive than where I was or in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. It may be the Adirondacks, but it's still a "New York State of Mind". This North Central Pennsylvania rural area is very red neck, "deliverance-ish", and a step back in time about 20 years. We like it.

REALLY liking this SG. Another example of the value of being able to roll with the flow. Now to relax . . . .

 

[Eric]

Friday: Got together for a jam/practice. We still can't find a singer. Getting kinda sorta frustrated, but at least we can polish up what we have in terms of songs.

Saturday: Slept in and then painted upstairs all day. I don't think we ended up doing much more than that.

Sunday: Played in church for both services. Fairly boring songs, but whatever. Came home, took a slight nap, and futzed around on the guitar. Mowed the lawn and cleaned up. Made dinner and had some beer in the evening.

Nothing too exciting, but a pretty good weekend anyway.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Had a VERY busy weekend.

Friday had an outdoor cafe show with the hippie side band, Cinnamon Hill. Although the original idea was only to play acoustic-electric instruments, the band leader thought better of it at the last second, since our other guitarist wasn't there. By that time the little Fender amp I usually use for CHill shows was locked up at church (from a TH night practice w/choir), so I ended up using my vintage pre-'69 Sunn 200S 60W tube head and my DIY 2x12 cab (the little Fender is a 1x10 15W amp). But I was able to keep the volume manageable, and of course our bassist actually liked me playing the bigger rig (better bass response). I played a little acoustic-electric, some electric, and some mandolin.

Had lots of friends at the show. My editor from work and his wife came out, my old friend hippie Bill, my wife and a bunch of her friends, and my daughter and her best friend. Good times. Avoided being overserved despite an open tab, unlike my last CHill show.

Saturday I got up early and took my daughter Hannah into town for a praise band practice at 10 a.m. We stopped on the way in at my office to pick up my Fender Jazz bass, which she really likes. Although she has her own bass, I fear she may have caught the multiple-instrument GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) from me, as she is now talking about wanting a Jazz for herself.

We stopped for some drive-thru lunch on the way home, but a few hours later we two plus my son drove back into town for Gator Football parking at my church. We were there from 3:30 until about 9 p.m. Left at halftime and watched the heartbreaking conclusion of the UF-LSU game back home.

Sunday morning I forgot to set my alarm and had to throw on clothes, jet into church, play one song with the choir in the trad service, then come home, shave, pick up my daughter (who plays bass with us), and go back into church for the second service, when our praise band plays. My friend Laura, who is a Cinnamon Hill fan, came to the late service. She's wheelchair-bound, so I stayed to walk out through the sort of "receiving line" at the end of the service, and help her get to her car. I played one song on mandolin, and it sounded really good.

Sunday afternoon I stopped by the hospital to look in on my Crash Pad drummer, who is having some serious adrenal gland probs, only to find out he had been sent home the day before. So that was the second time I missed him (the first time he had been asleep). From the hospital I went over to the office for a two-fer practice with just I and the new Crash Pad bassist, who is also the outgoing (long story) church praise band director. Sounds funny hearing him sing harmony vox and dropping f-bombs, haha.

 

[Eric]

Avoided being overserved despite an open tab, unlike my last CHill show.

I find that term/explanation ("I was overserved!") to be hilarious. I heard it from my brother-in-law earlier this year.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

I find that term/explanation ("I was overserved!") to be hilarious. I heard it from my brother-in-law earlier this year.

It is funny, although I should probably not make light of it. Yet again turning a failing into fodder for humor.

 

[Eric]

It is funny, although I should probably not make light of it. Yet again turning a failing into fodder for humor.

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. I don't feel like you're trying to dismiss the fact that it means being drunk.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. I don't feel like you're trying to dismiss the fact that it means being drunk.

Thanks, I'm glad you didn't misunderstand. But it's something I feel I need to work on, and frankly sometimes I don't work on it hard enough.

 

[Mr Pants]

Weekend

Me and the missus took our daughter to compete in a special needs gymnastic competition in Poole. The competitors had a great time and supported everyone regardless of what team they were on.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Me and the missus took our daughter to compete in a special needs gymnastic competition in Poole. The competitors had a great time and supported everyone regardless of what team they were on.

Outstanding. I volunteered at a Special Olympics one year when it was held here in Gainesville, and it was very very cool.

 

[Mr Pants]

Thanks Krash.

 

[Spudman]

Not quite the weekend yet, but this week I helped a friend who owns a back country touring company set up their yurts. Absolutely beautiful weather and views. It's a couple of thousand vertical feet up to the sites. We did 2 yurts in 2 days and the final one will be done next week. I hope the weather is good then too.

This is looking down at Grand Targhee Ski Area with all the colorful aspens

We start with just a bare platform

...and several hours later we have a nice cozy home

One of the views

 

[Brian Krashpad]

That's beautiful Spud.

All that vert makes me tired just looking at it though.

 

[Duffy]

Really nice pictures Spud.

I really like that last one with the high plateaus ramping up towards the mountains, flat like tilted tables, only to drop off into steep ravines down to unseen river beds.

That is some really beautiful rugged looking country.

 

[NWBasser]

Spud, are those ATV tracks that I see in the Wilderness area?

You definitely have some beautiful country around there. I've got to get over there for some biking although the elevations would probably slow me down a lot!

Those high peaks look a bit similar to our Stuart Range in the North Cascades.

I really love the aspens in the fall.

 

[Spudman]

Spud, are those ATV tracks that I see in the Wilderness area?

You definitely have some beautiful country around there. I've got to get over there for some biking although the elevations would probably slow me down a lot!

Those high peaks look a bit similar to our Stuart Range in the North Cascades.

I really love the aspens in the fall.

Those are ATV tracks. Good eye. The forest service came up and did some maintenance in the area and then blocked the trail off down below.

Ya, the Tetons and the Cascades are both awesome places.

I'm so glad for the long fall. Normally the aspens would have all dropped by now but everything is hanging on just a little longer. Makes for some really beautiful sights.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Had a great Crash Pad gig Thursday night, the start of my weekend for a change, though I had to go to work Friday on about 4 hours sleep.

Nothing Friday, was recovering from lack of sleep.

Saturday: had praise band practice and Gator Football Parking at church. Left at halftime and went home and watched the heartbreaking conclusion of the game.

Sunday: played four songs at late service, then a few songs for an Oktoberfest immediately following. Played a few current covers, and played bass on the Hokey Pokey. Had a ton of good food.

Grilled a steak for dinner.