the photos

As promised, some of the photos from the Brazen Brass DIY photoshoot.




My favorite group shot:



Some of me:








Our trombone player has a sweet camera + acquired a bunch of stage lights that she was able to set up for a makeshift studio. For the group shots, we used a self-timer. She shot the individuals of us. I shot the individuals of her. (A couple of which I think are ultra dope. So when I get copies I will post them).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Also, tonight's bike ride was AMAZING.

new bass...no toenail

So on Tuesday STB + I were moving a couch. And my entire big toenail was ripped off in a giant, painful, bloody mess. OUCH. It still hurts. And the generic vicodin-looking pain meds aren't really helping much. Although it's better than it was Tuesday. And I have some antibiotics to keep it from getting all infected. Currently my toe is just exposed muscle tissue. The x-ray tech couldn't even look at it because she was so disgusted. I'm hoping I can make the Sunday Nite Ladies Ride tomorrow without it bothering my toe too much. Especially since I don't have to work Monday and can enjoy a late night.

Now on to the really important stuff. My new bass arrived Thursday! It's a (very slightly used) G+L Tribute. It's louder than my Ibanez SR400. The reach is just a bit longer. It's a lot more "live" sounding, and maybe a bit brighter. I'm happy that they have 2 different sounds so I can justify keeping both of them. It's also a subtle sparkly red. I'm gonna go play him in a few minutes after I finish watching Obama's speech on YouTube.

Here's some pics. And I felt like my other instruments were getting a little jealous, so I took photos of everything except my tuba. I'll have to do that later this week.

The new G+L:



My guitar family: G+L Tribute bass, Nameless Acoustic guitar, Ibanez SR400 bass:



The bodhrans: an 18" cheapy + a small Vignoles + a handful of tippers (many also from Michael Vignoles):

my life as i know it

I've had a busy couple of weeks in real life.

STB was in a wedding, and then was the reception DJ. I've got some wedding photos posted. Most I think are pretty average, although there are a handful of shots I really like.

I also had another photo included on schmap.com
Aside: When I went to visit Boston Tony, I insisted that one of the very important destinations I needed to see was an authentic Boston Irish Pub. He had to go looking for them, as he didn't frequent any himself. In BOSTON. Of course, he discovered 3 or 4 within walking distance from his apartment.

I finally got around to getting some very basic maintenance done on my tuba, something I had been putting off for over a year because I never had the time to give my horn up for a week +. My tuba sounds great again, and I am very happy to have found a good repair guy.

I was also asked if I teach lessons, and a manager asked me to bring my resume by. I have zero time to devote to teaching right now. But I also really think I would enjoy it, and have really been trying to immerse myself more and more back into music.

So I'm working on my music resume right now, along with trying to figure out how many students I can reasonably handle.

This comes at a time when I am rethinking a lot of my career-life-self. I don't hate my job. There are parts of my job that I really enjoy very much, and could imagine doing for many years to come. There are parts of my job that I really do not enjoy, and those are the parts of the job that are expanding, and the things that increase as my position increases (paperwork, more bosses, more meaningless meetings, all of those management things I don't like).

I also happened to pick up a book from the library, Conquering Your Quarter Life Crises. I first read about this phenomenon in Douglas Coupland's Generation X - yes that book. The one that coined the phrase "Gen X", and led all of the baby boomers to label my generation as whiny slackers. Coupland referred to a "mid-twenties breakdown" long before John Mayer crooned the words "quarter-life crises".

Even though I'm 30 now (I can't believe it, and certainly don't feel 30), I still find the magic years of your 20s intriguing. And I've always enjoyed cultural studies, including (and recently, especially) generational differences.

So branching out and maybe teaching, and continuing to play, and network with other local musicians, that may just be what I need. Maybe in the future as my career, or maybe just as that one thing I'm passionate about no matter what.

Oh, and I attended my step sister's wedding yesterday (yep, one of those 7-7-07 weddings). I'll post photos some time this week, although I didn't get very many good ones.

misc. notes on my life at this very moment

Some notes:

1. I have 845 new emails in my yahoo box. Since I checked yesterday. I'll bet less than 10 are not spam.

2. I just had to turn down a gig with one of my bands. I have another commitment with a group I volunteer with. This is a group that I'm passionate about, and have been involved with for several years. This past year, however, I've felt less than enthusiastic about my required involvement. I love the people. I love the organization. But I hate turning down fun, paying gigs doing what I love more than anything else. I'm not sure if my apathy is just a little burnout, or a legitimate sign that I should find other ways to work for the group.

3. STB was in a wedding last weekend, where I took a lot of photos. I still have over 100 photos to sort through and clean up in photoshop. In 2 weeks my stepsister is getting hitched, so I'll have even more photos, so I need to get on it.

6. I want to clean up my itunes. I'm rather picky about some things, but there are a few things that I've let go, and now my OCD is taking over. I'm just not sure where I want to start.

5. Did I already mention ...

IT'S COMFEST WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're in town, I hope to run into you ComFest'ing it up in Goodale Park. Happy ComFest everyone!

new bag + it's contents

I found a great bag at Old Navy this week. I've been sort-of looking around for something like it for awhile.

Here it is with all of the Monday morning contents (click the photo for descriptions if you want):

photoshop

I'm waiting on a guy to call me back and hopefully change my brake pads tonight. So while I wait I'm toying around with photoshop. I took a couple really almost great photos of Nayson the other day.

Here's a little comparison of what I have so far:


This was my original photo, with a medium amount of Photoshop color correction:



This is the photo with more Photoshop color correction:



I like the richness of the first photo, but find it way too red and a little too dark. I think the second photo is too washed out from the brightness.

asian festival photos

For STB & myself, festival season (our favorite season) kicks off with the annual Asian Festival. It's held in Franklin Park on Memorial Day weekend. This was the 13th year for the festival. It's one of our favorites, largely due to the delicious spicy Laotian sausages and amazing martial arts diplays.



This year's photos are all posted in a new set on my flickr site for your enjoyment.

you know - stuff

So my new office opens Monday. Five (5!!!!!)days from today. My shortest work day this week was 10 hours. But we're all excited.

The brass quintet probably has it's first gig - we just need to confirm we can all make it. It's a big fundraiser, so we're looking at playing to potentially over 2,000 people . Kind of an intimidating first gig. Can you say "exposure".

I actually took some photos - mostly on St. Patrick's Day. Now I just need to post them.

Have been doing lots of music stuff lately and am absolutely soaking it up.

My current state of being in three words: happy, busy, tired

now public

Anyone familiar with NowPublic.com?

After a quick perusual of the site (like, maybe 1.5 minutes) I deduced it's a "news" reporting site that takes submissions from just about anyone who registers for an account. The stories are broken out much like in a traditional newspaper - world news, local news, areas of interest. The format is bloglike in that readers can leave comments. There are some citations.

I received a request today to post one of my photos along with this little story.

Thoughts, opinions, and general ramblings are welcome and encourged.

carbon leaf 2.21.07

I finally got to see Carbon Leaf again - it's been over a year since I drove all the way to Ann Arbor for one of their shows. The show was absolutely killer. Maybe because I hadn't seen them (or any great shows) in several months, or maybe because they really do put on a fabulous live show.

I took some decent photos, considering I wasn't using flash and had my little point & shoot that doesn't do too well in the dark, especially with bodies flailing across the stage as they rock out on their guitars or tin whistles or accordians.

This was my favorite photo after a smidge of color tweaking:



(click for big)

(click for all my show photos on flickr)

I also shot a few videos with the same camera. They are ultra-lo-fi but still get the Carbon Leaf vibe across. The entire playlist can be found here. Individual links to the YouTube videos follow, in recommended order:

1. American Tale - Carbon Leaf 2.21.07 - this is always one of my faves live

2. The War Was In Color - Carbon Leaf 2.21.07 - this is mellow and serious and beautiful

3. Learn to Fly (Acoustic) - Carbon Leaf 2.21.07 - this is mellow and peaceful and acoustic, and has some loud crowd noise in spots

4. Life Less Ordinary - Carbon Leaf 2.21.07 - probably one of their most popular songs, really strong lyrics

5. The Boxer - Carbon Leaf - STB's favorite and quite energetic

birthday goodies

I turned 30 last week. My mom knitted a matching hat & scarf (although my sister helped pick out the colors):



(bigger) | (biggest)

She also makes afghans, baby blankets, and anything else she feels like. Pretty, isn't it?

Since I've been whining about not taking any photos lately, I think I'm going to take photos of all the stuff she's made for me lately. And maybe the stuff my Granny has made, too. Both are really creative and if they wanted could probably sell their stuff. For some reason, knitting/sewing/related activities are fun for them.

photoless

I haven't taken or even posted any photos since the holidays - and those were family photos, definately something I want to have a lot of, but not fullfilling in the sense the more artistic ones are.

The #1 reason for this is the weather; it rained forever, then snowed, then got really really cold. So I'm not about to voluntarily leave the warmth of my home to trek through muck and take photos, all the while freezing my toes off.

But it's been long enough that I'm getting the urge for creative photography, I just need a creative idea for indoor photography until the weather warms back up.