Dingo
Jul. 24th, 2008
01:29 pm
who doesn't love Flo the cashier?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGkmJRKA
Jul. 20th, 2008
12:19 am
okay, here is a basic redux of the dr Horrible story as told with kindergardners:
Baby Horrible wants to use the red crayon, but is shy about asking the teacher about getting the crayons out.
Baby Hammer gets the crayon out and draws a little to heavy with it, tears the label just a little, shows off a picture of a brick house he drew to the teacher and then sticks it up his nose for a bit just to make baby Horrible mad.
Baby Horrible wrestles away the crayon from Baby Hammer, but ends up breaking the crayon.
The story is not about the crayon.
Jul. 18th, 2008
01:34 pm
This year I managed to line up my life in such a way I could be in Fluid Movement's water ballet. I'm not a strong swimmer as I am not naturally buoyant so I decided the best thing to do was a lot of swimming.
It is going really well, I went from wishing it would rain every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon when we practice to really looking forward to it. I think we are looking pretty good.
There is a group making a documentary about Fluid Movement and they keep interviewing us, always asking "What are you doing". One of the questions I think they ask everyone is the whole thing silly, do you feel silly doing it. Of course it is silly! I think everyone feels silly in real life a lot more than they would like to admit. Now that highschool is past and I found that you won't die of feeling silly I think it's healthy to push your self to do things that feel silly. I am going to put on a red unitard made up to look like a marching uniform (or a superhero), don the nose plugs and swim around in semi coordination with my friends.
This years show is based in Fairytale Land where the incumbent Humpty Dumpty takes a great fall and an election is required to replace him. I support Peter Pumpkin Eater, who is... sigh. I don't mind looking silly, but I do feel foolish saying this, even if it is in the land of make believe (hon)... Peter is the Republican candidate. I think there is a stigma there that our scene is still lacking a sponcer from the fund raiser. Also I notice our scene does tend to hog the resources. We get along pretty well with the Blue team but I wonder if we are going to join forces to pick on the green when we start having full rehearsals.
Riverside Park:
July 26, 2008 - Benefit Show
Tickets $25.00 for this show only, Show at 6:00 p.m.
July 27, 2008 - Shows at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Patterson Park:
August 2, 2008 - Shows at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
August 3, 2008 - Shows at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Come to the earlier shows as it might rain and the August 3rd show will be sold out to those that slack slightly less than you.
Jun. 20th, 2008
01:25 am
Bands I want to be:
Balkan Beat Box
Daft Punk
Beirut
Autechre
March Forth
Fire Water
and sometimes, I want to be in the Cruxshadows.
May. 20th, 2008
12:43 am
If any youngsters ask me what the early 90's were like I'm just going to show them this Whale video
Also from the early 90's but on a completely different tilt, I finally found some Steroid Maximus, big band electro industrial ala J G Thirlwell which some of the kids here might recognize from the Venture Brothers. Seriously, someone here from the dance scene needs to break this out for a hafla. check out the first track on the jwz mixtape 031 http://cerebrum.dnalounge.com/mixtapes/
May. 12th, 2008
05:58 pm - adventure
I went for an adventure by my self in NYC saturday to go see my highschool sweetheart Renate in a Circus/theater performance thing. I leave the house at 11:30, catch every single light and blocked box intersection through down town because there was a parade and something going on at Ravens stadium that made people drive stupid and wear cowboy hats. I pull up to the Greyhound Station in the middle of the architectual salvage parks, convenient to nothing with no time to spare and find the parking lot closed for event parking. I get some street parking and trot back a couple blocks to the station. And then I wait for 45 minutes because the bus was late.
I get a seat and read, doze and what not while we spend 3 hours stuck on 95 in Delaware. We get into Wilmington and find that the bridge we want to take is closed so we go for a fun detour through some residential streets. Downtown Wilmington on a weekend is the perfect set for a zombie movie. Completely deserted city. We went by a sub shop I got a Cheese Steak that had catsup on when Trinity Project played there last.
So I in Wilmington about the time I was planning on arriving in NYC. Good thing I planned on a lot of buffer time to just wander around. As we pull into the big Apple around 7 I start really wondering if I could master the Subway system with my minimal planning and have it deliver me to my destination in time.
I grab some beef jerky from a bodega to break some change and ask where the subway even is. Time is potentially short so I get my pass, double check the line I need and decide not to second guess my self (but to verify when I can). I get on the A downtown and check the system map. The spanish speaking guy next to me is doing the same thing, but even more deliberately. I mime the route I am taking, he mimes the same route which includes a transfer. I point to the next stop as we pull into the station and point to the stop name on the pole. Then I point where we have to transfer and hold up 3 fingers for how many stops until then. I think he mimed asking me if I was a musician. I mimed playing a trumpet because it's almost the same for tuba and I don't know how in gestures knob twiddling keytar playing would be received.
Subway delivered me right on time to pick up my reserve ticket before they started giving out the no shows. I sit by Renate's parents and chat about knitting to her mom who saw me in the paper when they did their story on young hip knitting circles.
Renate is in a group called Cirque This! I'm still at a loss to fully explain their performance other than Fevered Dream like. I'll try and figure this out before their next show because it was awesome and you really should go see them. I get to spend a good couple of minutes after the show talking to Renate which is more than I have seen her in years due to only catching up on holidays when she is back in Baltimore and during her wedding.
I decide against going to the cast party and instead go to Mehanata, a Bulgarian bar known for Balkan Beat. I find my way there with only a street address and a vague recollection of what subway lines run that way and intersect. Hungry March had played there and the tuba player was leaving as I was paying to get in. I missed the Bulgarian buffet they had out to celebrate the new kitchen opening. Went downstairs and enjoyed the music and the laser lights everywhere. I forgot my earplugs and you only get so many hours of loud in your life so I took off and wandered around. I saw fancy bars with lines to get in and people posturing looking like they were too cool and well dressed to have fun. Mehanata was filled with nothing but smiles, I know which crowd I want to be with.
The corner Deli/Grocer was open 24 hours so I got a decent BLT for $3 and $0.89 cup of coffee that was really good.
I didn't feel like planning much, tracking down friends and finding a place to stay so I had a return trip ticket at 3:45am so there was some time to kill. I wandered around by Times Square a bit. The street kabob was really tasty. Then I saw the most amazing thing ever. There was a guy walking around with a cat sitting on his head. I had to call Amy. "What is the cat doing?" she asked. Me: "sniffing the awning of a strip club". I was getting tired of walking so I evaluated the choices of seeing a midnight movie or reading in Port Authority. I wasn't sure when the movies let out so I went to read until the bus came.
Bus took me back to Baltimore, I slept on my tailbone and hurt my neck a bit but sleep was sleep and I needed it. Car was safe and I got back home by 7:30am where the cats had replaced me in my spot in the bed.
Apr. 12th, 2008
12:47 am - ADD much?
I went to the grocery store with a list and the instruction to pick something up for dinner. I got chicken legs, tater tots and asparagus. I picked up some soda for ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kazoogrrl's niece who is with us this weekend. I had her pick out some olives from the olive bar because I remember she liked them. And a small thing of ice cream for dessert.
Forgot every single item on the list...
Dinner was pretty good though.
Apr. 8th, 2008
Mar. 28th, 2008
Mar. 24th, 2008
11:21 pm
How do I reconcile my want for a pocket trumpet or a full tuba? I could rock a bass trumpet maybe...
Mar. 19th, 2008
12:07 pm - OMG IT'S ROBOTS PLAYING MUSIC!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4FuDfpa
There is a story in there if you skip past 2 minutes.
Mar. 13th, 2008
08:37 pm - on selling out
It's over played, but I am just tickled by a world where TMBG writes commercial music when they are not making songs for kids.
Mar. 6th, 2008
01:19 pm
I like to think I am reasonably well traveled, been to Europe, drove through all the regions of the continental United States.
None of the places I have been, do I get stared at like in the grocery store of my home town Hereford. Really, the greeter/help you pack your car boy was too stunned to say hi, kids hiding behind displays to take a peak and the younger ones who don't even try to hide it. I do appreciate the mom who told their kid that people can have their hair how ever they want and it was rude to point.
It was kind of fun, I felt all punk ass cool walking back to the car.
Feb. 18th, 2008
05:55 pm
Okay, who is on my team when the zombie apocalypse comes? List skills and references where available. Or if you are teamed up already leave a calling card and we might be able to work out some mutual aid.
Feb. 12th, 2008
01:31 am - space cadet!
In the last few weeks I have become very interested in the pre shuttle space program. That was back when the space program was god fearing and chain smoking. The first launch vehicles were stretched missiles and the first flight computers were rooms of slide rule operators.
Our trips to the moon were nuts. Apollo 13 was made into a movie but let me tell you about Apollo 11, the first moon landing. The on board computer locked up when trying to read radar, the flight computer was trying to land them in a boulder field and they came with in 30 seconds of running out of fuel. The lander was built out of sheet metal thin enough to punch a hole through with your fist. They took advantage of that when the air pumps couldn't equalize the pressure so they BENT THE DOOR BY HAND. Then they found the circuit breaker that controlled the accent rocket, the one they needed to get home was damaged by their suits. The work around? Jam a pen in and short it. Apollo 12 was hit by lightning on the way up and took out all the computers. A flight controller knew a fix for it and called for a flipping a switch for an unrelated system. No one in control knew where it was and the flight commander called back on the radio "What the hell is that?" One of the other astronauts knew it was a switch behind his head and got it just seconds before the mission was aborted.
In typical Russian fashion, their space race was even more full of crazy and wacky hi-jinx. If this hasn't made you yawn I'd be glad to do another mini book report on them.
I found a Mercury launch simulator to play. I haven't tried any fly by wire navigating but I did take the monkey mode off where I have to trouble shoot and fix stuff. It is all switch to manual, hit the back up circuit breaker and hope against hope. My last mission I fixed the retro rocket firing sequence, switched to backup oxygen and turned on the rescue beacon according to the backup procedure. I got a performance rating of 97% and The Manned Spacecraft Center was very satisfied with the astronaut's performance. Take that monkey! I feel just a little bit more bad ass now.
Eventually we are going back to the moon and then to mars. I don't have the highest hopes because we don't have the same testicular fortitude and drive as we used to.
Anyone want to go to the Air and Space museum with me some time soon?
Feb. 8th, 2008
11:53 pm - thoughts in cleaning my room to make space for a couch
It does not matter if it's an instrument that gets played every so often, as soon as you hang a trombone on the wall your room looks like a TGI fridays.
Though the 1 valve marching horn next to the 2 valve F marching horn and the trumpet is kind of interesting...
I like making farting sounds with my lips
05:11 pm - dork(bot)
If you are in the DC area Tuesday 26 February 2008 I have been invited by DorkBot DC to do a 20 minute lecture and demonstration about home made midi controllers and making expressive digital instruments.
Dorkbot DC is a monthly meeting of artists, designers, engineers, and others in the DC area who are interested in electronic art and physical computing in their broadest sense. I went to the last meeting and it was really a lot of fun hanging out with this bright and interesting crowd.
The meeting is from 7 PM - 9 PM at Smith Hall of Art, Room 114 GW university right by the Foggy Bottom Metro station.
This should be fun as I don't do a lot of public speaking and am prone to forgetting words on my best of days. I'm going to try and channel my inner convexhull for making my slides. If it goes well I might even share the secret of comedy during the Q&A.
01:54 am
kazoogrrl is a heavy sleeper. Most nights after she goes to sleep I can practice accordion or euphonium in the room right next to the bedroom and she will sleep right through.
There are 2 things I have found that will wake her up though:
Anthrax & Public Enemy Bring Noise
and tonight I found how to hit an even lower register on the euphonium, you can almost hear the individual peaks of each waveform.
sorry babe! watch the beat!
Feb. 1st, 2008
12:59 pm
Comment on this entry, and I will:
1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, a word etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ.
Jan. 10th, 2008
11:43 pm - Jalsah!
For all the musician types near DC this is a unique opportunity:
http://www.jalsah.org/sites/Jalsah/Loca
MIDDLE EASTERN MUSIC AND RHYTHMS FOR ALL INSTRUMENTS
Melissa’s workshop is perfect for musicians and percussionists ready to try something different! She will teach the basic structure of several popular Middle Eastern bellydance songs in an ensemble format. Percussionists can learn how specific rhythms fit particular songs and how to change seamlessly between rhythms. Melody musicians can learn popular Middle Eastern melodies and will be given instruction on basic makam theory.
The goal for this workshop is to enable all percussionists and melody musicians to play common songs together. All instruments are welcome, as this music can be played on ANY instrument.
Sheet music, guitar tab, rhythm sheets, practice mp3s, and lyrics can all be downloaded at www.dorku.com.
I think we are going to learn Yeshilem, Uskudara, Bir Demet, Yasemin, and Misirlou (Dick Dale anyone?)
At the very least if you are interested go to dorku.com and get the Maqam (scales and modes for Middle Eastern music).
(qrissy, ranger_hotsauce I'm looking at you)
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