Jim Alfredson

Looking out across from the Leuven train station.

Enjoying the first (hopefully) annual Leuven Blues Festival. Great crowd for this inaugural music celebration.

Beer, frites, and a beautiful woman. What else do I need?

Alison's first Trappist. Yum!

Awesome!

I think the thing that's even more creepy than Ted Cruz himself is the fact that his wife looks like him. He married himself. Ick.

Off to Belgium from Canadia. Gonna be a fun trip!

The cherry tree is happy this spring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mve0UoSxTo

Clif Metcalf gettin' it at Moriarty's right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhLS_Nnwqfs

Seems like an internecine struggle to me. Wouldn't using the name Zappa Plays Zappa benefit everyone?

Zora's science fair project on the miniaturization of the transistor. The Commodore 64 and Xbox 360 illustrate Moore's Law and how many transistors fit on a single chip circa 1975 (when the 65xx chips were introduced by MOS Technologies) and 2005. The 6510 chip in the C64 has 3500 transistors. The Xenon chip in the Xbox has 164 million. The A8 chip in my iPhone 6 that I'm typing this on, released in 2015, has 1 billion transistors. Amazing.

Lounsberry Organ Grinder - Review & Demo by Jim Alfredson: https://t.co/q0RROpny4c via @YouTube

Pretty amazing.

I had a lot of fun and also learned a ton recording the MSU Jazz Orchestra 3 last night at MSU. First thing I learned: make sure you have the cardioid capsule on the acoustic bass mic instead of the omni capsule! Yikes... lots of bleed from the drums, guitar, piano, horns, that fly on the ceiling, the keggers on MAC Ave, and residual microwave background radiation from the Big Bang in that mic (ok I'm exaggerating on the last two). Thankfully it still sounds good, so no big deal. But a bit more isolation with a tighter polar pattern would've been better. Second thing I learned: the two channels I used for the room would've been better spent on spot mics for the soloists. And thirdly, stereo overheads on the drums is gratuitous and I should've used one mono overhead and the other mic on the snare.

But overall, it came out good and the students played really well. It will be enjoyable to mix.

Tonight I'm recording a big band. Going over my list, checking it twice, to make sure I don't forget anything. This should be fun.

The Cubase IC Pro app for the iPad is handy. Wireless DAW control from a touchscreen. What will they think of next?

Happy Birthday to my eldest daughter Zora who turns 12 today. 12!!!! She has been the most challenging and amazing child but in the last year she has settled into a very easy-going, responsible young lady... for the most part. And she can play a mean French Horn. Love you, Zora... and I'm immensely proud of you.

Looka me! I'ma walking stereotype!

Looka me! I'ma walking stereotype!

l

In case you missed it yesterday.

Tonight I finished writing lyrics on the last of the new songs for my next THEO release. This one was giving me fits; the music has been done for months but I just couldn't figure out how to tell the story. But it finally came together.

I feel a huge weight off my shoulders.

Bowie, George Martin, Maurice White, Emerson, Glen Frey, Haggard, and now Prince? Criminey. This has been a rough year for our musical legends. Prince was the funkiest of them all in the 80s... nobody funkier or more trailblazing. Wow.