Matthew

Think Peace Piece would sound pretty cool done with hand-bells.

Yeah, well, I love the vibes and I refuse to give in on my hands. Soooo, through the wringer I must go... Cannot live without the vibes. However, I made adjustments and am still making adjustments in my playing. I've always basically been a two mallet player (learning some four mallet so I can comp, but that is all, no extravagant four mallet soling and exhibitions). Try not to use the very top end of the vibes unless I am at a point of extreme intensity in the musical piece and it needs to be stressed. Mostly rolls on a single note foar emphasis and expression, prevents the very disturbing ringing I get in my ears (and it is quite satisfactory too). So I do what I got to do... My hands have healed (four trigger finger operations and arthritis) and my vibe bars were retuned this year so I am okay. Need to improve my playing, that's all. Playing Eddie Costa style!

I've been spending the day catching up on all things XTC through the internet, and I came across Andy Partridge's, (of XTC fame) experience with Tinnitus -- Yikes! It started with being TOO BLOODY LOUD on stage at gigs and wearing no ear protection,yeah,tougher than those wussy metal bands eh? Those years skimmed off all of my highs pretty much.Then in 93, I got an ear infection which blew out my right eardrum.This eventually healed but left another dent in the old shell likes.On the final day of mixing MONSTRANCE this year,a well meaning,but clumsy engineer,hit a wrong button.Unfortunately I was checking in headphones to see if we'd succesfully removed some buzz ,which through his earlier clumsiness ,had gotten recorded on a whole days session,and the headphones were at FULL volume on the desk.I was basically checking the silence.The button he pressed sent the sound of a sidestick sample[3 quick beats } into my ears,and KAPOW!massive further damage and worst of all,very very LOUD tinnitus in both ears.24 hours a day.Well,to bring you up to date,I've been doing hyperbaric oxygen treatment for the last 5 months and the noise was becoming bareable,down from 80% to a non crazymaking 35%,then I did something foolish last Sunday.Our smoke alarm went off as dinner was being cooked and like an unthinking idiot,I rushed up and wrestled with it for about 20 seconds to get it to stop.What the fuck was I doing standing one foot away from a screeching alarm with tinnitus.Yep,you guessed it,I've been put back virtually to square 1 and both ears are screaming away at around 65%.I cried like a baby for hours,I was inconsolable. Needless to say I'm depressed as shit about it,and after further tests,my poor old creamhorns are rather deaf indeed.Its not going to stop me making a solo album though!Watch out for your precious ears in those studios Jeff.OO,nearly forgot,right ear slighly worse than left and ,no I dont have a phone amplifier.....yet. AP

I think....think ...that I may have stumbled into a good deal over at Amazon Canada yesterday and snagged the Consecration box for a darned nice price -- CDN$ 12.72 ($11 US?? ). With an $8 shipping charge my guess is that it's the 8-disc box. Is this possible??? Have received a confirmation notice so we'll see what happens. Sounds like a great deal if everything holds together. I'm saving money for a big splurge in January to get the Last Waltz/Consecration/Secret Sessions sets. I'm not sure about the Complete Fantasy, I'm wondering if the sound is any good on those cds; whether to go for Japanese K-2 imports for the individual sessions; wait to see if Concord puts the box on sale during another blow-out sale; or wait for whatever else they have in mind regarding the Evans catalog. Decisions, decisions.....

Bill Evans: You Must Believe In Spring New Jazz Conceptions (K-2) Undercurrent

I have a NAD C 420 that's pretty good, but honestly, FM radio is so bad, I use the tuner about twice a month. The quality of FM radio is very bad right now. How I miss the days of free-form radio.

Matthew, believe it or not HoRam, as he was called in Atlanta, has good stuff. When he is on, he looks like the next Tom Glavine. But, he is forever injured. If he is healty next year, he will win 12-15 games, honest! And as for Soriano, we heard reports that he only is hitting 91 in winter ball..... I'm always leery of pitchers who are "forever injured," they never seem to get well enough to pitch a full year. Case in point: Dan Driefort.

I'm mighty pissed-off that the Mariners have done nothing this winter, plus, it looks like Felix Hernandez is just sitting around getting fat. Not a good feeling for 2007.

As God is my witness.... I thought turkeys could fly!

Mmmmm................ Bailey............. Never thought Loni Anderson was sexy, but I had a teen-age crush of Bailey Quarters! Edit: New picture, old one disappeared.

It's being noised about that WKRP, sans original music, is going to be released next year. I'll still get the set even without the music.

!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

Aggie is the 'Tree man in these parts.

Fat Tire Ale. Didn't make me sit up and take notice. Not too bad, not too good....

Payment sent. Thanks, I've been looking for some of the the Evans' XRCDs.

2006 has been the year of the listening to these four musicians: Porcupine Tree Bob Dylan Bill Evans John Coltrane

PM sent on the Bill Evans!

Happy Birthday Ghost!!!

Even though he's in his mid-sixties, Mr. Dylan still doesn't need a weatherman to tell him which way the wind is blowing...

Anyone know of a program I can download that will convert 24bit PCM files for Window Media Player? Late PS: Don't bother answering. It took me a couple of hours to realize that I'm burning the information to a cd so I don't need to play it off my computer... Duh!

Wish I could go to Vegas and find out what Drew's over/under for games played would be (100 games?). I'd definitely bet the under line.

3. Simon and Garfunkel - 2003-12-20 SBD 4,498 Simon and Garfunkel??!!?? What-the-heck.

XTC: Fuzzy Warbles vol. 7 & 8, plus box and extra cd. Cost me over $70.00 off their website. Being an XTC fan is a sickness.

WHOA!!! Holy crap! More flat-out kick-ass stuff!

Got back from my business trip last night and this was waiting for me, and it did have rust on it, Darn! might try to get it off. This thing is a monster of a set, but everything is in great shape; now I just have to start playing the music.