Halloween 2006 (part II)

We also had some pumpkin carving:

There was bobbing for apples:

Dead pirates were spotted in the kitchen with the Ass:

Uhhh...a toga woman?, cowgirl, Black Eyed P, French Maid and punk witch:


Here's the best part of my costume. (Value Village FTW!)

Halloween 2006 (part I)

Saturday night Mattias hosted a Halloween bash at his place. It was packed.

We did some eating:


And some drinking with Batman, Robin and a Smurf:


The Big Bad Wolf acosted Little Red Riding Hood:

The dirty old man perved on the French maid:

The Kissing Booth, She-Devil, Ass and Bride of Frankenstein posed for a pic:

I have no idea what's going on here:

(just kiddin' Chad - it's better than Ngaire's costume, I mean, what kind of assassin forgets their rifle?)

A New Addition

Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of the family...she's the sweetie in the middle of the couch between Laura's classical and my steel string. I bought her at a magical store in Soo Mich. for A THIRD of what they're going for on eBay! A THIRD!!! Shane picked up a beautiful 12 string too. We declared them both at customs and since they cost so little the guy didn't even make us pay duty! Laura was mad 'cause now she has to think of a new Christmas present for me but I just couldn't pass this deal up.

(like all pics on this site, click to enlarge)
It sounds pretty good. I'm still getting used to that high thin string being the top one instead of a fatty mcfat fat one and the fact of one less string. But I'm learning a ton of Sufjan Stevens songs now. Oh...watch this. It's beautiful:

"For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti":



Anyway, the Uke is from my sister Mary and the electrics you've been introduced to already. This post has brought to my attention the fact that none of my guit-boxes have names. Should I name them? Is that lame? I'm almost 30 now so my ability to determine cool from lame is in severe decline. (What ability?...you ask...haha ya gigbag!) What should I name them? I'll have to sleep on it and get back to you.

p.s. Big news coming up!

Bad Timing

You should always have a backup of your tunes on your computer, right? I cleared my ipod intending to create just such a backup. As soon as I cleared my ipod my computer crashed! Clockwork held it for a month. They couldn't get my music off it. So I lost 3,000 songs. Luckily I had 9,000 stored on an external drive and emusic lets you download as many times as you like bringing my total up to 11,000. But I did lose a lot of homemade songs transferred from tape to computer. Damn that took a long time to do. Ah well.

Anyway, by request here's another youtube video:





p.s. Clockwork's customer service sucks big floppy donkey dick.

Early Pumpkin Carving

Laura and I got an early start to the pumpkin carving this year:






p.s. And on a truly scary note: R.I.P. U.S.A.

The Speak Easy Review




The Woody Sims Trio kicked things off with a great set in front of a large crowd. The Trio can really pack 'em in and everyone seemed to be having a good time. It's good to see that Tim has found a perfect band for his guitar stylings. John, the singer, has a really good voice and the rest of the guys are a lot of fun to hang around and very tasteful musicians. They closed their set with a screaming rendition of "Amazing Grace" featuring Jeff Jack on the bagpips.



We played next under the name GDH. Playing gigs is always a ton of fun for me but this one seemed to be extra-super enjoyable. Our originals were all very well received.
The highlight for me was pulling off Neutral Milk Hotel's "Holland, 1945" after only one (real) jam. Shane was hilarious shouting "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" throughout the song, proud of having tamed the wild beast. We brought up some guests to help us out; Laura playing the trumpet and trombone lines and the Animal and Chad doubling on tambourine. This pic is a good visual representation of the song:



It was sort of like riding a shopping cart downhill - intense vibrations, chaotic direction, lots of screaming, could turn out to be a disaster but when the cart rolls safely to a stop you're left with a feeling of exhiliration and want to do it again. And we even got an encore! haha We played "Stupid Girl" - a Neil Young song (of course). Weirdest encore song ever!




The Road Rockets ended the night with a strong (albeit slightly intoxicated set). Playing last presents some challenges: some people don't stay the whole night and the free bar tab can be a tempting over-indulgence while you're waiting to go on. The RR's didn't disapoint though, filling the dance floor during their "Gypsy Queen", Wilco's "$1000 Car" and The Flaming Lips' "She Don't Use Jelly". Carl's guitars sounded really sweet.

Talk of another shared bill ended the night.


Totally unrelated:

I have one credit left on my audible.com account. What book should I download? Preferably life changing ficiton or continously surprising and interesting non-fiction please. Oh yeah and it must be at least 10 hours long. Thanks!

If you're a dog owner here's a survey the city has put out in regards to creating a Leash Free dog park. Fill it out. Please. Also stress that you (I) want the dog park COMPLETELY fenced in. Please.

http://www.city.sault-ste-marie.on.ca/webpostings/LeashFreeCommunityQuestionaire.pdf

Was this just an excuse to post a pic of Al and Rosa?

Nigel Tufnel's "Mr. Horsepower"

Words fail me:


p.s. Come out and see us at the Speak Easy Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th

Algoma University pub, the Speakeasy

GDH, Road Rockets and Tim's new band. (used to be called "Sideways Eight")

Come out and see us.