Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra Live At Founders Brewing 12.18.11

The Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra Performing

 
I had the great fortune of catching another fantastic performance by the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra at Founders Brewing Company. They perform there on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month and it's always a packed house with people of all ages. This is one of the best regular events that takes place in our fair city of G.R. Great food, drink and service from the always accommodating Founders staff to go along with top notch entertainment.

With it being so close to the holidays, the orchestra followed in theme with some holiday tunes and killed it as usual. If you haven't been to one of their performances before, you have no idea the time you're missing out on. Along with their linked site above, you can keep up on all of their events by visiting their Facebook page here. You can also go to their site and buy their "Jazz On Tap" CD recorded at Founders or better yet, buy one when you go to see them.

I happened to arrive with my stereo recorder in hand so I could capture a little taste of the action. The first clip was recorded by setting up the recorder by the end of the bar furthest from the orchestra so there's a lot more room and patron sound. For the second recording, I placed it against the window by the sound board which is about 10-15 feet away from the players on the stage left side. You can give it a listen below...

Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra Founders 12.18.11 (Part 1) by buefordwilson

Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra at Founders 12.18.11 (Part 2) by buefordwilson


Life is good.

12 Track Radio Live Set At Jukes 12.10.11

12 Track Radio is a trio that my brother Ryan joined recently. I went to Jukes Bar to check them out for the first time this past Saturday and brought my handheld recorder to capture the set. Here's the audio:


12 Track Radio Live at Jukes 12.10.11 by buefordwilson

New Guitar For This Guy

Had another good find on Craigslist. It's a '72 Telecaster Deluxe Reissue. I had to tear it apart and fix some wiring on one of the tone pots and input jack, but it's sounding great with no hiccups now. I played it through my Kay Model 504 tube amp after repairs were finished. This is what they look/sound like:

'72 Telecaster Deluxe & Kay 504 Test_1 by buefordwilson

Life is good.

A New Recorder & Dax Riggs At The Pyramid Scheme

Recently I purchased a Tascam DR-08 digital recorder. It has built in stereo condenser mic capsules the can be positioned different ways for different types of recording. I wanted something portable so I can quickly and easily capture ideas at band rehearsals as well as live performances. Here's what it looks like:

I got to test it out at a show after a few days of receiving it in the mail. The show was Dax Riggs at the Pyramid Scheme and it was great. I managed to get some audio of his set even though the batteries ran out in the middle of it. I haven't done anything to fine tune the audio yet, but it sounds decent straight from the device. Here's the two uncut clips I managed to capture:

Dax Riggs1 PScheme 12 4 11 by buefordwilson

Dax Riggs2 PScheme 12 4 11 by buefordwilson

And here's one track I caught from Grand Rapids' own Haunted Leather:

Haunted Leather Pyramid Scheme 12 4 11 by buefordwilson

I've had a good amount of stuff going on lately and my amount of posts reflect that surely, but I'm going to try to keep up on this better in the future. On another note, I started building my first tube amplifier. This is going to be a long and arduous process, but that's all for another post.

Life is good.

Fes2val.

A really great event that happens every year in Grand Rapids is Fes2val. It is an entire day event featuring 2 member bands. Every year I have to work on that day, so I miss it. This year was no change, but I thought I would be able to catch the last three groups. Wrong. Got stuck at work and only caught a snippet of Beast In The Field's last song. Missed Jowls prior to that. Luckily I was able to see all of Charles The Osprey's set, so the day was not lost. Here are the resulting pictures:

New HTAFM Video Is Now Up!

Heavier Than Air Flying Machines, which is a group I play in, has a new video online of a song from our upcoming release "Siam" to be out on September 17th. Grand Rapids filmmaker Joel Potrykus shot and directed it on Super 8 film and it turned out fantastic. The song is titled "Follicle Gang (Green)" and is the fourth track on the album. Check it out:

Been In Chicago Thinking of G.R.

Went to stay with a couple of friends in Chicago while on vacation and had a great time. Through doing this and that, a wordsmithing comment eventually led to the formation of another group to play in. While this one will be a very low activity and intermittent outfit, it will more than make up for that in it's intensity. Watch. Wait. Anticipate.... Pat Cenataur.

Digitech Space Station Pedalboard Addition

It's time once again for the ever-changing pedalboard to be revamped. That being said, I recently acquired a XP300 Digitech Space Station. These are fairly rare and sought after. I have been looking for one at a somewhat reasonable price for years and finally hit the jackpot. I traded a Korg Microkorg for it as I haven't barely used it since buying it used a year or so ago. This is another in the line of killer Craigslist deals I have managed to secure over a couple of years. Here is the new pedalboard setup as of the end of July:

Signal path is as follows:

Guitar in to GGG Alembic Stratoblaster Clean Boost---->Digitech Whammy---->GGG BSIAB II---->Triangle Big Muff---->Ernie Ball Volume/Pan---->Electro Harmonix Memory Toy---->Hardwire Stereo Reverb(Used for reverse reverb setting)---->BBE Sonic Stomp---->Digitech Space Station---->Morley ABY Box---->Signal split between 1960s Acoustic Head with 6x10 cabinet and modified Epiphone Valve Junior head into a 4x12 cab with Celestions.

Here's a youtube video of some examples of Space Station sounds:

As I mentioned earlier, there have been a few great Craigslist scores that I've secured. For example, a Technics electronic organ(Free!) and most recently before the Space Station, a 1962 Kay Model 504 hand wired tube amplifier. The amp is in pretty remarkable shape for it's age other than a sketchy electrical cord repair. It even has the original made in the U.S.A. RCA tubes in it. There is built in tube tremolo as well. It has definitely been in a smokey environment for some years, so I had to clean it up a bit, but it sounds fantastic and records very well. I still have to get the power cord switched over to a three prong grounded plug, but it shouldn't be a big deal. Here are some before after cleaning pics along with a shot of the guts:

Front

Back prior to cleaning with back panel off.

Back after cleaning.

Guts!

Hopefully one of these days I can find enough time to start doing some youtube demos of my own with some of the cool equipment I've acquired. Until then, I'm off to Chicago this weekend for Lollapalooza.


Life is good.

Total Blam Blams, Alexis & Festival Of The Arts 2011

Been pretty busy so I haven't had the chance to post some pictures from Grand Rapids' Festival Of The Arts this past weekend. This was the 42nd year running and it's always one of the best times of the year. The weather was fantastic and there were a ton of things to do around town. I even got a chance to go into the Grand Rapids Art Museum. They had an Audubon exhibit as well as a few plate pieces by Picasso. Unfortunately I had to work two out of the three days, so I missed out on a lot. I did manage to catch local acts Alexis and the Total Blam Blams who both had killer sets. Make sure to check out the links on the right side of the page if you haven't already. You'll find both of these face melting artists under there along with many other fantastic Grand Rapids groups. I took some pictures of both as well as some other ones around town. For some reason, my camera was set to a lower resolution(unbeknownst to me), so that sucks, but here they are nonetheless:

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Picture in Picture; Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Alexis on the Clock Tower Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Total Blam Blams on the City Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Island Dancers on the Calder Stage at Festival Of The Arts 2011

Walkin' 'round town.

Walkin' 'round town.

Walkin' 'round town.

Walkin' 'round town.

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum: Picasso Plate

Grand Rapids Art Museum: Chair Close-up

Grand Rapids Art Museum: Picasso Plate

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum: Audubon Exhibit

Grand Rapids Art Museum: Audubon Exhibit

Grand Rapids Art Museum: Audubon Exhibit

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum

 I also got a quick video clip of the island dancers on Calder Stage along with these horn players in Rosa Parks Circle going through a solo feature of all of the musicians:





Life is good.