Wow, it's been a long time since I have updated my blog. Lots of stuff happening,written several stories and sent them out to publishers, doing some landscaping around the house, big job. But for this post I thought I toss out a few pictures of the MIM.
Officially the MIM just opened today, the date of this post, but they invited a bunch people to a pre-opening event to check it out. I moved rather quickly through it and it still took almost 4 hours. Lot's of fascinating videos from far off lands showing traditional and modern instruments in use. Most every country is represented.
A very cool place. Large building, state of the art museum, lots of instruments from all over the world and from very long ago. Some common place,
and some not so common place, like this "horn" amplified instrument. Can't believed it was used up until 1950.
Polka more than Beer and Brats!!
One of Dick Dales amps, I wonder if anyone took a bacteria culture from this? Strangely enough amps that look like this are often the ones that are the most magical.
Dick Dale's reverb unit, without this surf music would never have been the same.
The conservatory, where old instruments get care and feeding,
They even had a couple of Fender amplifiers that I had a hand in the design of. Here I am in front of a second generation Cyber-Twin.
So if you find yourself in Phoenix with a few hours to kill this is a recommended stop.
Wow, I just finished watching the first episode of Girl Number 9. Really nicely done. This is a direct to web, streaming drama with 5 minute episodes. It was funded by some the individuals involved with the production.
It is really cool to see that a group of talented people can completely bypass the "normal" television and movie process and produce something of this quality, hats off to those involved.
The quality is as good as anything you'd see from best TV production.
I'd give you the link to the trailer, but when the episode is only 5 minutes why not just go watch it.
Please, spend the next 5 minutes doing something good for yourself and go to Girl Number 9's website
and watch the first episode. All of the details and info can be found there.
It's been a little while since I have written anything, a testament to working too hard and not playing enough. But I did mange to have some fun this past weekend.
First, Sharktoberfest, a yearly gathering of Porsche 928 owners in Anaheim California. A few hours drive from Phoenix to Anaheim and to my horror it was actually hotter in California than it had been in Arizona. Really not cool, especially after an Arizona summer. You just want to go somewhere and freeze for awhile.
It's always a bit of a gamble to take a nearly 20 year old high strung super car out on the open highway and cross the desert between here and there. But once again the 928 performed flawlessly, traversing the distance in seemingly a fraction of the normal time. Of coarse it actually took the normal time, because taking less than the normal time would be illegal and wrong. So it only seemed like less than the normal time...something like 4.5 hours instead of the normal 6, funny how the mind plays tricks on you.
Friday night out of town'ers stayed at the Diamond Bar Holiday Inn, where copious drinking and eating were had. I spent a few hours at the bar/ restaurant and met a few fellow 928 owners that I had not met before, it was fun.
Saturday had a slightly lighter than normal turn out, 928 International hosted a lunch, good as usual. Lot of interesting cars to see and folks to chat with. Mark Kibort was there stripping all of the good part off and out of his wrecked 928 race car and replacing them into a new body. For those who don't know, his old car was the 1987 land speed record holder for a production vehicle at Bonniville. Mark has been racing it for a few years and had an unplanned merger with another car at high speed. Now the former land speed record holder is just a big pile of crap. Although there is some hope that it will be restored. More on that in a future blog.
Here are a few pics, if you click on any of the below pics you'll get a larger version for your viewing pleasure.
My Car at Sharktoberfest baking in the sun.
Custom Convertable 928. Nice body work. Not sure that the interior colors are what I'd want to live with, but hey, you pays the dough, you get what you want.
Saturday night dinner was at the Amazon Brazilian restaurant in Fullerton. This place rocks if you like your meat. They start you off with the usual meats, steak, pork and so on and just keep bring more out until you beg them to stop. This usually happens about the time they bringing alligator, chicken hearts and quail.
Sunday there was a fun run which I choose to skip this year in favor of finding cooler weather. So I drove down to the Pacific coast highway and made my way towards San Diego. A bit foggy and 65 degrees along the coast, thank you.
Arriving in San Diego I looked out across the bay and noticed the Navy vessels. I was reminded that the aircraft carrier Midway was now on display so I aimlessly wondered about until I found it. Not really hard to miss.
I was aboard for about 3 hours and barely scratched the surface of what there was to see. This thing is really big. Seats 4500 comfortably, 212,000 horsepower, 1000ft long, 258 feet wide, difficult to park.
928 parked at Midway
Midway Hanger deck
Midway Flight Deck from bow
Midway Flight Deck from stern
I really enjoyed the tour, interesting presentations were given by men who served on board this and other ships. Surprisingly the ship still smelled of kerosene, big time in places. I sat in one of the aircraft cockpits and for the rest of the day my butt smelled like jet fuel, yeah baby, I must go back and see more.
The trip back to Phoenix was uneventful and again seemed faster than it should have been. It had been a few years since I drove the I-8 route between San Diego and Phoenix. I was really surprised by all of the border patrol activity. Much higher than I had seen before. There were a couple of check points were they brought you to a complete stop to ask questions. Are you a US citizen? If a east bound 928 leaves San Diego at 3PM how long should it take to reach the Arizona border? Stuff like that. One check point has dogs sniffing about, not sure if they were trained to sniff for drugs or for Mexicans stashed in wheel wells. I was just glad the smell of kerosene was there to cover up anything the dog might be interested in.
My oldest son (17) found this today while we were in the back yard doing a little cleaning. I'm at a loss to say much about it as it speaks for itself. Just the outer shells are left, presumably they shed their old skin during the act. Maybe someone can explain how this is even possible, or convenient.
"Moon". When I first heard of it (from a twitter post) I thought it was the Twilight sequel "New Moon", but no, thankfully Moon is really quite different and has been playing now for a few weeks. Until then I had not heard of it nor seen any press, ad's, reviews or the like. Saw it this afternoon.
My wife is not a big sci-fi fan, she mostly puts up with it because I am. But she agreed to venture out this afternoon in the 100 plus degree afternoon to see Moon anyway. I think she feared the worst, some alien exploding out of someone's chest...again. Thankfully it wasn't like that. She liked it , really liked it, and so did I.
Moon being an Indie film just isn't getting the kind of ad and big time Hollywood promotion that it should get. Too bad because it's good. Directed by Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie), starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, written by Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker. Moon takes place in the near future on the far side of the moon. You can see the trailer here.
Moon took 33 days to shoot on a modest budget and was shown at Cannes and the Sundance festival were it received great reviews. It has a limited release at this time and therefore is hard to find, heck, I live in the 5th largest metro area in the US and only 3...wait now down to 2 screens were showing it, and then only at a few limited times. Thank god for Dan Harkins and his chain of theaters. Dan is in the business for more than popcorn sales, he loves great movies and in this area his chain is the only place were 3.5 million people can go see it. Happy to say that the theater was nearly full.
I am not going say what Moon is about, because you should just go see it, even if it requires packing up the truck and driving to the big city for the afternoon. Go see it.
I have a point to make about fiction writing, and I'll get to that point toward the end of this blog. But before I do I need to setup the event that leads me to my point.
This year Mike Yamano and James Jamerson were inducted into the Hall of Fame. I want to focus on the induction ceremony for James Jamerson to Fender's Hall of Fame.
If you don't know who James is then you will certainly know his Motown work. James was a bassist and a remarkable one at that. He is reported to have played on something like 95% of the Motown recordings between 1962 and 1968. A few examples are, "My Girl" by The Temptations, "For Once in my Life" by Stevie Wonder, "What's Going On" , "I heard it through the Grape Vine" by Marvin Gay, and earlier by Gladys Knight and the Pips. He also had a post Motown career playing on a number of hits in the seventies, eventually his bass playing was heard on more than 30 number 1 pop hit records.
The induction ceremony for James Jamerson was a moving and thought provoking presentation. It included a video featuring the likes of Grammy award winning bassist Marcus Miller (Luther Vandross / Miles Davis / David Sanborn), vocalist / bassist Geddy Lee (Rush), and others. They spoke from the heart about how James Jamerson influenced their work, and how James labored in obscurity through his life.
In those days little credit was given to studio musicians and for more than a decade James worked every day in anonymity. Eventually, in 1971 his name was printed on the sleeve of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Years later, after he passed away more and more people became aware of the contributions to the music community he made.
Bob Babbitt was at the induction ceremonies today, Bob himself has played on over 200 top 40 records including Inner City Blues and Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye, Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight, Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson and much more.
Bob took the stage to talk about Mr. Jamerson's playing and the way James influenced generations of new bass players. During his talk, Bob would pause, perhaps being overcome by emotion. The house with hundreds in attendance would go completely silent.
At the beginning of this blog post I said it was a thought provoking event. The thoughts provoked don't have much to do with Fender or the inductees or the Hall of Fame event. But they do have a lot to do with the quality of storytelling and dramatic writing/acting that we are exposed to everyday.
We all have occasion to see a well done movie or television or theatre from time to time. But for me, after today it all just looks concocted and flat. Because today we were treated to the real thing. Real drama, real people , real events, real emotion. I'm not talking about "drama queen" drama. You know,, the daily BS that some people like to roll around in. I'm talking about the real thing.
It was Bob Babbitts talk regarding James Jamerson. As far as I know Bob's not an actor, nor does he play one on TV. He's just a regular guy who is speaking from the heart about a colleague. Bob's talk today makes the best movie drama you have ever seen look pale and dull and lifeless. Like comparing a real woman to a blow-up doll. It makes the best modern drams of today look like the worst dramas of the 30's and 40's.
When Bob first took the stage he mentioned he had thought about writing down what he was going to say. But when it came time to talk he just spoke from the heart. Words came out that no writer would or could write. They flowed in a way that no actor could fake. The words were well measured and slowly metered out in a way no director concerned with moving the story forward would allow. The professionalism of the writers, actors, and directors would just get in the way. You might say, "Bullshit, I have seen emotionally moving scenes in movies". Yeah, we all have. But it is a matter of degree.
This was a huge reality check for a budding fiction writer (me). When Bob would get to the parts of his talk that were especially emotional or difficult he would pause, the tension in the room was real, hundreds of people wanting him to go on, hoping we would pull it together, no one knowing what to. As an audience member, I wondered, should we start some applause to give him some strength? I looked toward the band on the stage, were they thinking "should we start playing to break the silence? " Was the MC thinking "should I help?" The pause continues, the steady drone of the almost silent microphone buzz, moments passing, more moments. Bob is at the mic he backs away and takes a breath, steps forward again, then more silence, the quiet of the massive room.
Forget about cutting the tension with a knife, you'd need power tools.
Somebody thinks I'm brilliant! Well actually several other people and I share the brilliance. So it's more like I am one sixth brilliant.
Oh, and it's the UK government that thinks I'm brilliant, not really sure what multiplication factor that adds. Just received conformation of Grant of Patent for something I was part of, one sixth part of, a few years ago.
I think this must be the fifth or sixth patent with my name on it. So if you add up all of the little bits and pieces that were contributed by me, I am right around (1.34 * Brilliant).
It's confirmed, technically I am brilliant, now I just wish someone would find my writing brilliant, or even one sixth brilliant.
In the yard weeding and managing the flood irrigation this late afternoon. That's a challenge in 110 plus degree heat. If you don't know what flood irrigation is, Flood irrigation is an efficient way to keep a large yard green in 110 degree heat. It is exactly what it sounds like. You open an eight inch irrigation valve and flood your yard. Seriously, a foot or more deep in some spots. In the summer heat the water is gone in a day or two and your repeat every two weeks. Here's a couple of pictures. My back yard being flooded
While waiting at the valve to shut off the water, I captured the sunset.
Anyway back to the story. The combination of the rising irrigation water level and the heat reminded me of the summers I spent in Phoenix as a youngster.
With school out there wasn't much to do all day. During summer recess, the schools would flood irrigate the playgrounds and sports fields every two weeks or so. A kid could take a plank of wood over to the elementary school and boogie board, sort of. Otherwise, if your family didn't have a swimming pool, you were trapped inside by the extreme heat of day. That meant you watched a lot of TV, way too much TV and if you were a kid, that meant only one thing, Wallace and Ladmo.
Who or what the heck are Wallace and Ladmo?
The Wallace and Ladmo show was one of the longest running programs in television history. It ran non-stop for 35 years. Ten's of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of kids grew up watching these guys. Literally multiple generations.
Counted in the ranks of kids who grew up on Wallace and Ladmo are Steven Spielberg and Alice Cooper, in fact Alice Cooper played on Wallace and Ladmo show in his earlier band, Alice Cooper and the Earwigs. See photos.
Years later Cooper was in the Wallace and Ladmo audience were he received the coveted "Ladmo Bag".
Steven Spielberg called Wallace and Ladmo "Very hip" and "the Saturday Night Live before there was a Saturday Night Live"
Here is a clip is from about 10 years ago and was part of the Ladmo tribute show that was done when Ladamir pasted away. It includes Spielberg's comments.
The show ran from 1954 until 1989. I am way to young too have seen when it started, but I remember its heyday. In those days Phoenix was still a small town, and still the wild west. It was a time when you could strap on a handgun and go for a walk downtown. It was a time when you could have a kids show that was watched by kids as well as the grown-ups down at the corner bar.
Bill Thompson and Ladimir Kwiatkowski played the parts of Wallace and Ladmo and the things that they did I have not seen replicated since. The most important thing they did is treat the kids with respect, they did not talk down to their audience. As kids we knew it and appreciated it. The comedy sketches and skits seemed like they were designed for kids but usually would go horribly off of the rails at some point sometimes leading squarely into adult land. If the kids didn't get the joke the cast and crew did and you would often hear off camera laughter from the camera men.
Wallace and Ladmo had a host of other characters, Captain Super, Gerald the brat, Marshall Good, Boffo the Clown, Aunt Maud and others. Most of these characters were played by Pat McMahon.
The characters were always more than just the superficial name and costume. Marshall Good was an old time Hollywood actor who found himself in bad times and always looking for a way to scam a buck. Boffo the clown was downright mean and probably not safe around your mother. Sweet Aunt Maud would read children stories that often went very very wrong.
Below are YouTube video clips of an Aunt Maud Christmas story, Santa gets plowed under at an office party, gets into a fight and ends up in a drunk tank. Another Aunt Maud story is of a child's mother who wins a trip to Las Vegas from her neighbor Vito down the street, but never returns. Just precious
In both of these clips Aunt Maude is joined by Ladmo. Ladmo is doing his best to make this kid friendly by acting like a kid himself, but he knows whats coming and we all knew from the look on his face where this was going.
This all may sound horrible but you absolutely must understand that as a five year old I knew I was "in" on the joke, Wallace and Ladmo were my friends and we were just having some fun.
My family moved to southern California in the late sixties and although it was great place to live with good weather and great lifestyle, California kid shows were just a big huge pile of steaming dog shit by comparison. The kids shows in LA were sanitized and approved for viewing by responsible adults, and complete crap.
That's was OK because skateboarding was a new thing in SoCal, so were mini-bikes, spent my time mini-bike riding on the foothills outside of LA. But still there were days that I missed just sitting in front of Wallace and Ladmo.
One day, as I was switching through the channels of crap on daytime TV I happened across the local public station, weird music came out of the TV, a shaky gray image of a wooden box about the size of a phone booth and a grumpy old man who called himself The Doctor was on.
Doctor Who
Finally, another kids show that knew how to respect its audience and it too is one of the longest running shows in television history.
"The Soul of Tone - Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps" by Tom Wheeler, published by Hal Leonard.
If you have any interest in guitars this book is a must have. Tom Wheeler, who spent 14 years at Guitar Player Magazine is an amazing writer and historian and has done a terrific job on this book. Over 500 pages and crammed with pictures and history. It's a great reference, only today I was flipping through it looking for some obscure bit of Fender history.
I met Tom on one one or two occasions, the first being on our "Tone Quest" trip to New York during the development of the award winning Cyber-Twin. Here is a picture I took while working at the secret underground Manhattan location of "Tone Quest". This picture is not in the book.
That's Jimmy Vivino from Conan O'Brian's Tonight Show band on guitar in the center. Tom is holding up the metal column in the background.
What's even cooler is that there is a picture of me in the book, yes little insignificant me is in a book whose forward was written by Keith Richards.
They say I am part of the brain trust. Maybe. There always has been a lot of brainy people at Fender, I am more like one of the synapses, an annoying one that flashes for no apparent reason.
Tom's book does a very good job of covering Fender Amp history over the last 60 years all the way up to some of the latest models with a ton of insight into how things got to be the way they are.
You can find it in most good bookstores or at Amazon.
My wife and I started watching the first disk of "Mad Men" last night. We were up till 1:30AM, could not stop. The feel of the thing is very good. I am old enough to remember those times as a young child, not old enough to have drank hard, smoked like a barbecue, and womanized. If you are up for a very realistic look at a very different world you might check it out. Created, produced and written by Mathew Weiner. One guys vision, probably why it rocks. MadMen Site
New X-pipe installl After 6 months of just sitting in the garage I've finally got around to having the 928 repaired and upgraded. Water pump was out and I found it all to easy to ignore this winter. I was going to fix it myself but finally broke down and had my mechanic do the work. Probably the better way to go since he's the best. Also had him install a new X-PIPE. It rocks. Just in time for the 110 to 115 degree weather. Short video of the 112-113 degree drive to the Scottsdale car show this weekend
While waiting for the new JJ Abrams version of Star Trek I spent a little time creating something I had wanted ever since I was kid. A Phaser/Laser that would actually do more than nothing. Nothing is what most lasers do, this one's a bit more than nothing.
Worked for many years in the US broadcast industry both "on the air" and behind the scenes. Always had a knack for gadgets and such.
Now I am Director of Technology at Fender Musical Instruments where I help to create great tools for musicians.
While at Fender I have had the privilege of helping to produce several award winning products.
I have always had a desire to write great stories but never did until about a year ago. I have written four, two more in progress and don't see any end to the ideas.
See "My Blogs" below for more.
