Jim Alfredson

Hey Jim, how far away from the Leslie are those top and bottom mics?

If it works, yep. That's the real deal.

That was a great game. Miami came out hard, but the Pistons are simply a better "team". They don't have a superstar like Wade or Shaq. Even so, Tim Legler in the Daily Dime on ESPN.com is a fool thinking that the Heat will win the East, especially after last night. He claims that Detroit can't stop Shaq. So what? They don't need to. Firstly, Shaq stops himself because he's almost 34 and he gets dog tired by the fourth quarter. And secondly, Shaq could score all game long and the Heat would still not be able to beat the Pistons because one player cannot beat that team. The Pistons just have too many options. Even if Wade and Shaq both have great games (which they did last night... Shaq had 26 points and Wade had 33) they will still lose in a seven game series because Shaq will get tired and nobody else can carry the load.

The cheapest alternative to a B3 that you're going to find would probably be an M3. It uses the same theory of operation (tonewheels) but just less of them. It doesn't really have a bass octave except for an octave of small pedals (much smaller than real B3 pedals). That's what I learned on, though. It has drawbars, the percussion feature, chorus/vibrato, etc. I used to put a synth on top and play left hand bass lines on that using a very simple patch that emulated the B3's bass. They are usually very cheap. Under $400 and as little as $150 sometimes. They have a built-in speaker so you don't even need an amp or Leslie. An M100 is another good alternative, almost the same as an M3.

So let me get this straight: A bunch of people got a bunch of music for free (in violation of a whole slew of copyright issues, I'm sure) and are pissed off because they don't know what the tracks are? Mind if I call the whaaaaaa-bulence?

Your best bet, in my opinion, is to use printable CDRs and not labels. The Epson R220 printer is about $90 at most stores. With that and some printable CDRs (available in both silver and white) you can get some really beautiful results. The R220 prints nice pictures as well. I've been using non-OEM ink off ebay for mine with no problems, which is handy since it costs 1/6th the price of Epson's ink. Labels that stick on the CDs can come off, which is death to any slot-loading CD player, like in your car. I've had it happen.

My back problems are from stupidly moving the B3 by myself, yes. I pulled my back very badly in May and it has just gotten worse as time passes. Like I said, the chiropractor seemed to be helping, but I've only seen her once in the past three weeks. I just have to get back into the regular rotation and I think I'll be fine. The funny thing is, she tells me not to lift anything. That's pretty much impossible with a 20 month old child running around and being a musician. Even with my small rig, the synths weigh 50 lbs or more a piece.

Dude, it's totally legit. Stop being so cynical.

I didn't realize this was the American Idol guy until clicking around on the site. Honestly, the audio was not what I was expecting... it's pretty good, musically. I guess that's what you get when you hire the top LA studio cats. Next up, Justin backed by a greasy organ trio.

Yes, Conrad, you need to get to a doctor. Even the ER should take you seriously if you tell them you can't pee. Bruce, thanks for the advice. I just have to get back into the chiropractor. It was working very well. I have also been avoiding sitting on my couch, which has terrible back support. I've been taking 800mg ibuprofens just to be able to move normally lately. Not fun.

Dude, not being able to pee is NOT good. I would get to a doctor pronto. Of course, the ER is an option although they are slow as hell and sitting there for who-knows-how-long would be worse than just lying in bed... You have to find a doctor that is working. This is not good.

Last time I was pulled over was this fall when I was coming back from a gig in small-town Hillsdale. The bassist from Root Doctor was driving with me (who happens to be black) and this cop pulls us over because my license plate light is out. The strange thing was he asked for both our licenses, even though I was the one driving. No ticket, but not a good impression of Hillsdale, that's for sure.

My back has been killing me recently as well, so I "feel your pain". It goes into my leg and makes it hard to walk sometimes or even move. I've been seeing a chiropracter three times a week and that was helping a lot, but then she went out of town for two weeks and now with Christmas and New Year's, I've been in once since she's been back and it seems to have reverted. Is your leg numb? Tingly? If so, that is very bad. I wouldn't go to the emergency room because they won't do shit. Is there a friend you can call to help you? The shitty thing is that you'll probably just have to tough it out until after the holidays or find someone that has an "in" with a doctor. I can send you some vicadins!

Very good! Well done! First thing to do... it probably has some sort of Norton Anti-Virus on there (they all seem to these days). Either that or McAfee. Take that shit off there. Norton especially is a resource hog. Go to Control Panel ----> Add or Remove Software and find it in the list (there will probably be multiple Norton programs... start with the biggest). Once that is gone from your machine, go get AVG Free from Grisoft. It is free anti-virus software that is compact (unlike Norton), effective, and totally free (including updates... unlike Norton). I've been using it for at least five years on numerous computers and it works great. No more paying for virus definition updates! For spyware, I used to use Ad-Aware from Lavasoft. I think it is still free as well. I say "used to" because I don't really worry about spyware anymore, thanks to using Firefox as my browser. Hope that helps!!!

I can't believe anyone would pay that idiot $1 million a year, much less $100 million. It definitely doesn't help the common notion that we (the general American public) are stupid. Unless of course he tanks, and then the company will look mighty stupid.

Actually, there was one more thing, a Bear win over Green Bay! Perfect end to a weekend spent with friends and family. In my case, the Pistons whooped the Spurs, which was very nice!

I got some underwear and a sweater and spent a lovely day with the family. Can't ask for more.

Two best teams in the NBA going head to head.

:bwallace2:

I love Macs, but for $999 you get a dinky 12" screen, which is why I didn't buy one. For the very same bread, I got a 17" screen, twice the RAM, twice the harddrive, and a 64bit AMD. Like I said, I wanted a machine for portable recording, so screen realestate is very important. I gotta have enough room to see the tracks and the virtual mixer on the same screen. I'm very impressed with this HP. I was impressed with my sister's Toshiba as well. I seem to remember it is a Toshiba A75 series, like this one.

For laptops, I would go with name brands. Toshiba, HP, IBM, etc. Sony's are way overpriced. Compaqs seem cheaply made to me. I just bought a HP zv6130 (with the AMD 64bit processor) and I love it! It runs like a dream and is very powerful. But I needed a powerful machine to do multitrack audio recording. I would stay away from Celerons as well. They are just underpowered, even for simple things. That's why they are so inexpensive. For what you want to do, staying "behind the curve" is your best bet, since you don't need the latest and greatest. My sis has a Toshiba that is very nice (I do not remember the model unfortunately). It's a Pentium IV based machine. Something else... wait until a few days after Christmas. You'd be surprised at how many people return things and you can get some super deals at the major stores. My aforementioned sister's boyfriend got her exact machine, which she paid upwards of $1k for, for $500 at Best Buy as a return.

Uh.... hey Bruce... you might want to read the whole thread.

I don't know about that (and thank you for the compliments), but I've been in RD since 1998 and organissimo since 2000. It's not too hard when this is all you do. No day job for me (just taking care of the little one while momma works). I'm very proud of RD. For the longest time, we were just your (better than) average bar band and my main bread-winning job, but I think we've achieved something very special with this CD. The addition of Greg into the group has helped shift the focus (finally) to original tunes and highlighting Freddie's voice. I really think he is one of the best blues/soul singers I've ever heard. Period. I've done "jazz" gigs with him and he can sing standards, too. He's the real deal.

Mark, beautiful work as always! Thanks for sharing.

In all seriousness, we don't allow multiple aliases around here so I'd rather you just post as Johnny E. If you want me to change your name, I can do that.