Mills Dude

Dude, me and my buddy were setting in the Beacon Theater, 1988 I think, seeing Zappa. Pretty much the same reaction when that horns started in with the guitar solo. Hysterical laughing at how ridiculous it was followed by the silence of OMFG.

The plural of 'Nord lead' is 'Nord lead'. Hence the winner by a margin -- Nord lead

Oh dude, Brussels sprouts rock. Toss 'em in oil, garlic, salt & pepper, add whatever else makes you happy and roast 'em in the oven. Yum.

I remember my old Yamaha KX-76 went from E-G. Could never figure out that one. What was the utility of that? C-E or A-C would have been far more useful. Despite that flaw, I loved that board, although by todays standards it would be way too heavy. The action was fantastic and I had no problem entering hex strings in the 2digit LED screen.

Yes, that's the one. Logitech MX Vertical Mouse -- https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/mx-vertical-ergonomic-mouse.910-005447.html. I don't use any kind of ergonomic desk. My keyboard and mouse are probably too high for proper ergonomic use. With the vertical mouse forcing a handshake grip, I don't have to force my hand to be on top of the mouse, eliminating some of the stress. I beef things up with good wrist rests and an a small cushion I use as an elbow rest for the mouse hand. It all keeps my mouse hand in a very normal, comfortable position and allows a smooth transition from the mouse to the keyboard when I need to type with my right hand. A year or so before I bought the vertical mouse, I bought the Logitech Ergo Trackball mouse. But I just couldn't get down with it. It's very comfortable but I don't dig using my thumb for scrolling. For cursor movement, I'm much more comfortable dragging the mouse along the pad. I also have a 20 year old Logitech Trackman Marble that still works well and I've managed to not lose the marble. I only used this for gaming with MAME to play old arcade games that use trackballs -- Centipede, etc. Since the marble is in the center its more conducive to using the fingertips instead of the thumb for movement. I've eschewed the gaming hardware. I don't need a more accurate mouse or a mechanical keyboard. I'm a professional coder and a lot of my colleagues have been using this stuff, especially mechanical keyboards. I'm not picky about keyboards and I prefer the cheapo spongy keys to the clicky mechanicals. If I'm playing a keyboard, my taste is completely opposite. I've been using the Logitech K800 for a while now because I need light up keys as I frequently work in less than optimal lighting conditions. I also picked up a Logitech MX Keys keyboard on a sale but it's in reserve waiting for the K800 to fail. Those logitech keyboards are not cheap, but I find I need light up keys and prefer wireless. When you venture out of the "gaming" world, there's not much choice in accessories hardware -- Logitech, Microsoft, Apple.

I feel your pain with the logitech mice but I've thrown my lot in with them. They're not perfect by any stretch but price/performance they're acceptable. I'm on my computer all day and my hand is on a mouse for almost as long. I don't have the most ergonomic setup but what I have works for me. I've experimented with various trackballs and trackpads over the years but the mouse still reigns supreme for me. 2 years ago, I started feeling some repetitive stress happening in the mouse hand. I dumped the bundled logitech mouse for the MX vertical mouse. It forces your hand into a vertical, handshake style position. That was a drastic improvement in comfort for me. Just a few weeks ago, that mouse was acting funny, left clicks not responding. Maybe it was under warranty, I don't know. I had to go plunk down another $100 to replace it. It's become a necessity for me.

That video was a bit of a train wreck. Those guys mixed like oil and water. Shaffer with his shmaltzy indifference and DF with his I'm too cool for "any" room vibe. Like 2 great tastes that "don't" taste great together. Alone they are both great, together, not so much. In the 90's, I worked right across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater for a few years. Paul Shaffer would be out and about on the side streets all the time at midday, going to the ATM, popping into a shop, etc. I'd run into a few times a year and he was always unpretentious and willing to participate in banter. If the topic was of interest to him, he'd stop and chat, answer questions and especially loved talking about gear. While I'm a bit of a dan-head and can love DF's music, I'm not sure he'd be as "friendly" unless of course you were well versed in beat era writers.

I've used one of these in the past. Its cheap Walmart crap but it folds up very flat. Walmart folding stool

I had never heard Amy Winehouse before hearing Lake Street Dive and Rachel Price. I used to accompany a very good female vocalist and I turned her onto this years ago, she brought up the Amy Winehouse influence, so you're definitely not alone.

Like dB, I've seen Lake Street Dive a bunch of times in the NYC area over the last decade or so. A real creative bunch and always a great show but she is definitely the star of the show. Not only does she have the voice but she also has a captivating presence in her delivery on the stage. She really should be a much bigger star than she is now.

Perhaps a career change, ala Lyle Mays becoming a software development manager, is in your future

Even with their horrible boxy sound for keys, they are pretty indestructible (well without loading it into a trebuchet). My KC350 replaced an 80s vintage Peavy KB-300 so the sound was on par. It served me well for self monitoring through many gigs before I knew better and I would mix out of the amp and take the line out through a direct box to FOH. After it's gig retirement it's lived a second life. My sister-in-law used to host backyard movie nights that she made me responsible for running the AV. The KC350 worked great to throw the movie audio out to the crowd, it can get pretty boomy on bass. My son uses it now as a monitor for his V-Drums kit if he gigs what that. It also served the purpose when some relative or friend, who doesn't understand sound reinforcement, ask you to borrow a mic. What they really mean is they want a whole PA, thinking the microphone itself will just magically create amplified audio into the air. Package up an SM-58, XLR cable, amp stand and that KC350. Voila, pretty idiot proof PA for a single mic and I wouldn't have minded so much if something happened to the amp, but it always came back perfectly fine.

I'm a Rockland boy, so Alto was always my go to retailer. I've known Jon Haber since he was a teenager working at the original Alto in Monsey. They've always been a super accommodating retailer and will work to get the sale. They moved the original location to Suffern but alas, they closed that store 2 years ago. They did open a location in Wappingers Falls (Dutchess County) a few years ago, I've never been but the pics seem like its a sizable location maybe a bit bigger than the Suffern store that closed. At least going to Dutchess would eliminate crossing the Hudson and paying yet another toll. The store in Middletown is huge and always had the largest keyboard section with a lot of surprising models out on the floor but I haven't been there in a few years. Never had a bad experience with Alto.

I had a pretty intense reaction to the first Shingles shot. Second shot, no reaction. People I've known who've had shingles all say the same thing . . . they would do anything to avoid it. A severe case won't kill you, but you'll wish you were dead. My 2nd dose of Shingrix back in September, knocked me down for a few days. 1st dose was just arm pain, 2nd dose was arm pain for a week, fever and chills for a few days. I had never had a reaction to any vaccine like that so when reports of Covid vaccine reactions started trickling in, I was expecting a similar reaction. However, 2nd Pfizer dose wasn't as bad as 2nd Shingrix dose. 2nd day had some chills, slight fever and general malaise which faded by the next day. I did space the Shingrix doses out a bit far, nearly a year as I had gotten the first dose in November 2019 but didn't feel comfortable getting the second dose after the Covid pandemic took hold. Last fall, Covid case rates were low in my area so I decided to get the 2nd Shingrix dose while the window was still open. Don't know if that contributed to the reaction.

In September, I decided to use my isolated lockdown time to lose some weight and get in better shape. I had a set of dumbbells and started using those and embellished with a set of cheap resistance bands. That worked out well along with a cheap recumbent bike I bought on Amazon to get some cardio in. Then around the new year, I saw a Total Gym XL7 on sale at BJ's for under $300 and decided to take the plunge. Yeah, it's that goofy thing from the informercials with Chuck Norris. But I've been using this thing now for 3 months and it's the real deal. You can do isolated as well as compound movements targeting all muscle groups. The thing came with a ton of attachments for pullups, chinups, pressups, dips and an ab-cruncher. The basic operation of the machine is cable system attached to a glide board where you pull your own body weight -- so instead of a weight stack, it's you. I can't say enough good things about it. That model is a scaled down version of the top of the line models but it's plenty good enough for me and far cheaper. I'm down 50lbs from September, mostly from diet, but the Total Gym has really made a difference in building muscle. I'm on it for about 45 minutes, 5 days a week. You can also get a circuit going with little rest between exercises to get the heart rate up. It's been a great value for me but like anything it only works if you work it.

Pat Metheny Group, at Pier 84 in NYC (next to the Intrepid), summer 1985. A year out of high school and really starting to dig down into fusion with Mahavishnu, Return to Forever, Bruford, etc. Although I'd heard the PMG (white) album, I had kind of discarded PMG as not really meaty enough for my taste. All that changed on that night. It was a beautiful summer evening out on Pier 84. We got there just as the show was starting (hit traffic in the tunnel) and they were playing Forward March. No assigned seating at that venue, so my buddy and I wandered close to the stage with a great view of Lyle. Next tune was Phase Dance and it was sublime and just set the whole mood for the evening. Playing was extraordinary, sound and lights were spectacular. Lyle was on fire, Pedro Aznar was killing it with his voice and percussion. Pat sounded exquisite, even when playing the Synclavier guitar. At some point early in the show, the doobies were being passed around and everything vibed just together. The sunset on the Hudson, the view of the Intrepid to the left, and the band onstage just blew me away. I became a big fan after that night and soaked up all the Pat & Lyle goodness I could. I've seen so many shows with so many great performances, but this one just ranks highest for total experience, right place, right time, right situation. That was such a great venue in the '80s. So many good experiences there. Pier 84, summer 1986, Chick Corea Electrik Band with Wayne Shorter. Another great show. Mitch Forman was playing keys with Wayne Shorter and was killing it for their set. Chick's band had a young Scott Henderson on guitar, who I thought was incredible. Also at Pier 84, I think it was Summer '88, saw Miles Davis for the first time. At the time I was still heavily into the fusion, and didn't think much about Miles (I was young and stupid). I remember trying to listen to Bitches Brew in college and I couldn't hack it. My buddy and I went to this show to see John McLaughlin open up for Miles. McLaughlin was playing a 'Shakti' set with Jonas Hellborg on bass. We had considered leaving before Miles went on but decided to stay for the heck of it. When Miles took the stage, he had such presence, like a caped super frog. Then he started playing and it became clear to me why he was considered one of the greats. Seeing Miles opened me up to digging into his music and catalog.

No you don't need a DI box. Connect them like you mention â that will work fine. Tell the sound man to expect a line level signal. Yes, technically, you don't a DI, but it may be beneficial to be prepared with one. I used to gig with an RD700SX with XLR outs. In some situations, FOH personnel were pros. Easy to just give them the heads up about the output being line level and they handled it just fine. In other situations with less skilled FOH personnel, those who don't really get the concept of gain structure, having an XLR at line level was very confusing. Sometimes, I could help them out and set the gain properly. Other times it wasn't possible. So swapping in a DI just made the problem go away. Having a Radial JDI Duplex in my bag saved me many times.

Yea, it's all one piece of molded plastic. The wrist rest extends about 2" from the bottom of the keys. I use a padded wrist rest below that, so it's no issue for me. My wrist never rests on the keyboard itself. I do see there's a Logitech MX Keys that's wireless with lighting. Looks a little more "professional" with no wrist rest and USB-C charging. I don't remember if I considered that when shopping a few months back, but I was probably put off by price as it's $100 vs the ~ $60 I paid, which I still thought was too much.

I went with a Logitech K800 a few months back. I'm actually not a fan of mechanical keybeds and all the other light-up keyboards where gamer oriented mechanicals with crazy colors. I just wanted wireless light-up with "squishy" keys that don't "clack". It feels pretty much like most of those business style keyboards from Logitech or MS. Backlight works great, it auto-detects when your hand comes close to the keys. The biggest downside with the K800 is it requires micro-USB charging about once a month, no AA batteries. I just pull the cable from my Anker wireless phone charger sitting next to the keyboard and charge it up when it barks. I use the Logitech dongle as opposed to bluetooth as I also use an MX vertical mouse also by Logitech, which charges via USB-C. Really not much choice for business style wireless keyboards with lighted keys. They're all for the gamers but I prefer the sleek slabs of squish as opposed to the blocks of clack.

Amen to that! I was channel surfing not too long ago and Bueller was on. Just had to stop and watch a while, especially her. Yeah, me too. I was rocking my DW-6000 at the time that I bought with some student loan surplus for $800. This little sh*t had a multi-thousand EII and couldn't play a lick and he was much better looking than me with a hotter girlfriend! Late 80's I spent a lot of time with an Emax. The church I was involved in at the time bought one of those for orchestral sounds and I was the primary operator. Swapping and loading 3.5" floppies in between measure breaks. I remember the brass being quite good, especially french horn, strings and woodwinds were fairly good. I remember the Hammond floppy had a sequence with a piece of that Argent song - Hold your Head Up. Hammond sounds were pretty good for the day, obviously no drawbars to push/pull, all presets and no leslie but the samples did sound good. Also used the pipe organ samples occasionally. I never got into sampling with it, strictly playing presets with the Emu supplied floppies. It was a pretty reliable machine, I never had it fail on me but I never took it to a club on a gig, strictly used it at church and home. The church eventually dumped it in the early '90s, they traded it for a Roland U220.

I was watching Bill Maher the other night and he had Willie Nelson on. They talked for a bit about indulging in the herb. Maher said he's not smoking these days, only the edibles, due to increased risk. Willie would have none of that and his habits haven't changed a bit but he's 86 and I doubt he's in the mood to change his lifestyle now.

Bucky Pizzarelli Obituary Bucky was a legend, famed studio musician and jazz great. He was a fixture of the metro NY scene. I had the honor of knowing Bucky and he was extremely funny, even into his 90's with a sharp wit. Condolences to his son, John, and the rest of his family.

Good thing there's no transpose button on a ventilator, or else ...

Yea, that record was amazing. I'd attribute a lot of that sound to John Leventhal, not to take anything away from Marc Cohn. Next 2 records were OK, but just didn't bring the same magic, probably a lot of reasons for that. I had read somewhere that in the mid-90s he was divorcing from his first wife and being primary care giver to his 2 kids. Then in mid-2000s after marrying Elizabeth Vargas, he was victim of a shooting and then marriage problems a few years later. Who knows what happened. Maybe those songs from the first record had accumulated over his early years and came from a different place that he never quite got back to. Maybe his drive waned a bit. Also, maybe he was a bit out of place for the times, harkening back to singer-songwriter 70's style. Similar to Bonnie Raitt, who also worked with Leventhal, in those early '90s records. They hit right before grunge took over the world. Reminds me a bit of how Bruce Hornsby caught lightning with that first record mid-80s. But different guys, Hornsby took things in a different direction and has been quite prolific after his big break and continued development in his own way. I put that first record back in rotation for a while sometime last year. It's really good, except maybe a bit too much DX7 and other digis in some places. It's the type of record that really wants organic sounding analog instruments. Couple of weak tunes, but doesn't every record have them.

Adrian Belew was pretty engaging and animated as a front man back in the 80s. Fripp as you mentioned was always a dour sort.