MAJUSCULE

Recruiting is already getting to the nitty-gritty and fall camp starts soon. Games in just over a month. Figured Netflix dropping this (NSFW) trailer was as good a time as any to start this thread. (Jake Paul, Barry Bonds, and Marion Jones notwithstanding.) If you haven't seen the Manti Te'o doc in the same Untold series, it's great. I'm looking forward to both of these, but especially the Swamp Kings, of course. Anyway, as per usual, Florida has one of the toughest schedules in the country this year, including starting on the road to a top-10 or 15 team in Utah, who'll be hungry for revenge after a close game last year. Vegas has our over/under at 5.5 wins... fans are confident we'll get past that and the players seem to have a chip on their shoulder about the doubters, but it'll still be a tough row to hoe with a new QB and continued roster turnover. We need our new DC to have an impact and young players at WR, TE, LB, and S to make a difference. I do believe Billy Napier can get it done, but patience often runs out a lot quicker than it's promised. Thankfully, he's killing it on the recruiting trail, and the 2024 guys seem to know that it could be a rough season on the field. They understand that they're part of the rebuild and that it doesn't get done in a day when it's being done the right way. (And it's always fun flipping a recruit from FSU, like we did last night 😎) I see that SD State and Hawai'i are both playing Week 0, August 26th. Interesting matchups for both teams, Ohio and Vandy... Otherwise, the PAC-12 still hasn't announced their new media deal... I'll let those of you who are better informed than I am dissect that but it doesn't look good. The ACC is also on thin ice with some of the bigger name members wanting out, it seems. Hot takes? Predictions? Lamentations?

It does mention three performance wheels… would be weird to say that without specifying that they’re virtual, if that were the case.

From last month but just saw this today: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/news/the-practice-notebooks-of-michael-brecker-now-available-from-sher-music/ I have a few other books I should probably read before I buy this, but thought some folks here might find it interesting. A peek into the mind of a master.

Yeah Sam, sounds great! It's awesome to see you excited about a project, especially one with less logistical concerns. The clips sound good, I think any of the nitpicking I might do would be easily attributed to first gig things as well as opener status. A couple more outings and a proper setup and soundcheck and I think you guys will sound fantastic. I agree about your rhythm section too, those guys can play. This would be a pretty easy format to track from home, too... Oh, and gear-wise, I wouldn't worry about a synth or anything, I'd just put a small pedalboard together and run the AP (or EP if you do it) through chorus, delay, OD/comp, etc.

I'd assume so on both counts, yes.

Luckily, I don't think either dude lifts their gear much. #TheGoodLife Not sure, but looks more like a small light to me...

Friend of friends who’s a guitar tech and woodworker did some re-housing of some Nords for on-stage use. Pretty cool stuff. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrWtdHvvY72/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsFCyH2sAVp/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

This will unfortunately only become more common with fire season increasing in both length and intensity.

New Carter & the Capitals single out today: Sad Inside Video coming soon...

You guys have set me straight plenty of times over the years, that's why I like this place Just gonna wait for Richie (or Bueller) to casually re-invent the action...

Well, that didn't go the way I was hoping.

The boys broke out in a big way last night, Jenny. 🙂 Game 3 tonight, hoping UF can become the first school to win multiple national titles in football, men’s basketball, and baseball.

Oh sure, here comes the engineering department, ruining the marketing department's fun again! Fair, Richie, thanks for your input. I must have mixed the two up. Is there a reason a simpler Rhodes-like action can't be used on a Wurly recreation? I texted my friend who's a self-taught piano tech to see what he thinks.

It's depressing Ed. Things I considered a matter of time 5-10 years ago are now probably out of reach. I gotta luck into a big royalty cut or something.

I mean that's kind of what I'm wondering Doc. It doesn't seem impossible considering the new Rhodes and VV both seemingly doing well. Don't know if the Valente has caught on but so much of the MI industry is focused on reissues and modern takes on classics anyway, whether it's studio gear or guitars or the synth clone explosion. Sub $2,500 might be pie in the sky thinking, but I'm ready for someone to try it.

Zarenbourg was cool but that's still digital, I'm talking a real electro-mechanical instrument. A one-trick pony, but the trick is timeless.

Before someone comes at me about the complexities of keyboards vs guitars and the economy of scale pumping out Squiers in Indonesia and China, I'm just spitballin' here... you can tell me I'm wrong and it'll never work, but be chill about it.

My thinking is that the Wurly is generally considered a simpler instrument than a Rhodes, unless I'm mistaken. Maybe a deluxe version with FX etc like the top-flight options the Mk 8 and VV offer would be in the cards too, but I really just want a simple, killer instrument. As a parallel to this, I was having a conversation with my bassist roommate recently and reflecting on the magic of the P/J basses and LP/Strat/Teles of the world. Simple, but timeless instruments that still define their entire world to this day. Just a couples pieces of wood, some strings and some magnets. That's what I want (for some situations, lol!)

Am I missing something or has no one brought a modern version of a Wurly to market? We've had a couple new iterations of the Rhodes, as well as new electric piano instruments like the VV or Valente, but to the best of my knowledge, I haven't seen anyone make a new (& perhaps improved) Wurlitzer. Maybe the market wasn't there in the past, with original units still selling for dirt cheap. I did a quick Svengle and a VSF thread from 2013 asking the same question got a response of "Hey, I just bought a real one for $30, why do I need a new more expensive one?" But from what I've seen, prices have skyrocketed in the last 4-5 years. Anyone here feel like taking my millionish-dollar idea and running with it? I'll be one of your first customers if you can put something together that's both reliable and sounds great under, say, $2,500.

I mean, completely different approach, but I've played blues trio gigs splitting my NS3C with the Fender Jazz sample into a real bass amp and people have been more than impressed.

Not to Sven you, Jerry, but there are several of these threads over the years! Some info may be out of date but I'd say the recommendations are mostly the same overall. I've typed out a bunch in prior instances. You'll have a great time regardless and will be lucky if you get to 10% of your plans. Incredible city.

This guy (Darrell Freeman) posts a lot of great bass covers, both synth and electric, on Instagram and YouTube. Crazy pocket. New Jack Swing has a lot of great synth bass too.

Bettman barely got booed... I'll hold my tongue. Happy for a few of the players, Zach Whitecloud, Laurent Brossoit, Phil Kessel. Marchessault winning the Conn Smythe is another victory for les Remparts. Any interest in a permanent general hockey thread? There've been threads here and there over the years but not always consistent traffic. We may have a few more regular contributors here now, and maybe if it's a permanent general thread, it'll help keep things rolling and open to more than just NHL posts.

I mostly turned my attention to the QMJHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup after Edmonton's elimination. I've watched some NHL games here and there, but as someone who cheers for a bunch of teams in a bunch of leagues, I tend to pivot away fairly quickly. Helps keep the mood light after tough losses to get excited about something else. So, shoutout to our guy Patrick Roy for capping off his time with les Remparts on a treble. Cte gars là, ctun gagnant. James Malatesta won the MVP for both the Q playoffs and the Mem Cup, incredible performance for him. CBJ may have found a fifth-round diamond in the rough there. William Rousseau was spectacular in net throughout and now joins his grandfather and great-uncle on the Memorial Cup. Success is short-lived in the junior ranks, however, as several players were dealt away within days and others will move on to the pros or Canadian university hockey. But winning is the goal, and winning is what they did, reeling off a two-month winning streak, only losing two games in the Q final to Halifax (who will be an absolute juggernaut next year) and a meaningless game to a desperate Peterborough team in the Mem round robin. Nevermind dominating Seattle, the media favourite, 5-0 in the final. To tie it back to the NHL, I was actually surprised at the consistency of reffing from the junior games I was watching. Much, much better and impartial than the NHL refs I've gotten used to. I might be worried about sounding like crybaby Oilers fan but I know pretty much every team feels the same way, and justifiably so. I have to think it starts at the top with Stephen Walkom, not sure we'll see much change in the standard (or lack thereof) until there's a change there. The players are the best in the world and the refs are supposed to be as well. It's baffling how bad they've been. And segue from there... The NHL has so many problems it doesn't know even where to start. I know many of the owners love Gary Bettman because he's made them a lot of money. I'm of course not in any place to tell billionaires how to think about making money, but they've struggled to compete in their most direct comparison. The NHL and NBA were more or less on equal footing during the Gretzky-Jordan years. Take a quick look at franchise valuations, player contracts, media deals, etc. The NBA now dwarfs the NHL. They run a very similar schedule, share many arenas, and yet the NBA's growth over the last two decades shows that David Stern and Adam Silver have lapped Gary Bettman in terms of fueling the growth of their sport both within their markets and internationally. There are all kinds of reasons for this, but I firmly believe that marketing (both league-wide and its media partners), cap structure, and the stubborness of Bettman, Bill Daly, Colin Campbell, and their soldiers play a much, much larger part than whether or not potential fans have experience playing the game. That's not to discount the idea that getting more kids playing will lead to more fans, that's obvious. But I think league leadership is a much bigger stumbling block to growing the game than whether or not someone knows what it feels like to line up for a draw and take a couple slashes to the back of the legs. Just my fiftieth of a loonie.

You’re making it sound like MPN is some sort of psychedelic experience, brother.