Chicago, new CD's and a pair of snares

Welcome to my blog. Hello Jeff. Hi Rob. Greeting people from the planet Xeri. Weel i am typing this again because i just found out the nasty way that my battery back up does NOT work. Fun. Joy. a blast if you will. Soooooooo, as i have already heard me say, Rob, Craig and his brother Curt went to the Chicago Auto Show. all in all, a fairly dull show. a couple of good things but a can't say that it was the most memorable time that i have ever had. Maybe next year we will hit up Detroit instead. I think that the 2 things that i liked the best were the Toyota FJ Cruiser and the new Jeep 4 door Wrangler. still not in love with thier looks but the more of them i see, they are growing on me. I still love the GTI's but i really miss 4 wheel drive.
Okay, for my birthday, from family, i got lots of gift cards and i got some to Best Buy and i got on there web site to do a little pregame shopping. happened to find the John Mayer Trio (yeah yeah yeah, i am gay. ha ha ha) Found it for $7.99 and free shipping. sent to my door for around 8 and a 1/2 bucks. thats a good buy.This is a great CD. This i the kind of band that i want to be in. 1 amazing guitar / vocalsist, one insane bassist, and one of the finest drummers. it is a live CD which i am always a big fan of. this is just really great stuff. another Hendrix cover that to me isn't as solid as Axis but still very good. Hard blues rock with a great feel. good stuff. i give it a 4 1/2 out of 5. Contiuum i would give a 4 out of 5. i can't say that everyone would love it, but it worth a listen. another gift card hooked me up with the Beatles: LOVE cd. this is the show going on in Vegas that was on when Jeff and i were out there, but we weren't spending the $185 on a ticket to see it. we should have, but we didn't. the cd is a good Beatles CD for people who are not really Beatles fans. is covers the basis of Beatles songs, never in there original length though. most of the songs are combined with another song. it is good. easy to put in the CD player and just let go. i can't say that it will get a lot of time in the car unless i need a fix. good for work. someone will always come by and tell you a Beatles story. all in all, i give it a 3 1/2 out of 5.
Next topic, snare drums. i am in the process of building my second snare. My first one was a cobalt blue 4.5" x 13" maple whip cracker nicknamed Blue Balls. this thing has bite, but unfortunatly it has one really good purpose. to be tuned up so tight, that it breaks through all noise at ear peircing volume and frequency. that is fun and all but i wanted to have something that i could call my workhorse. so i am making the all purpose 6 1/2" x 14" maple snare. i just got in my 8 tube lugs and last weekend i predrlled my holes for those. i only go halfway through so i don't have to cork them for the spray painting process. I will use the Metallic Brass color with chrome fixtures. i still need to order strainer and the butt plate (huh huh) before i can paint. While i was working on that, i got a call from Doug saying he needed me for the review of a snare that he has built and wants to produce for sales at Guitar Centers. it is a acrylic snare, 7" x 13" clear. This is a NICE snare. i was thrilled that he asked me. i gave my rave review. this is a snare that i would order in a heartbeat. looks great and sounds even better. i will look forward to helping out in everyway possible to get this snare up and running for him. start the assembly line folks. this could do very well. When Doug sits me down and tune this snare he adjust the strainer and makes the snare work perfectly for 3 settings. big rock to funk. it's amazing what an ear he has. Luke, he is my father. he is a watch and learn kind of guy. most grateful to have him around.

My newest listening adictions

Well folks, if you know me, you know that i am one of those poeple that once i like a song, i can still listen to that 1 song for eight hours straight and listen to it again. i do NOT burn out on good songs. right now i have 2 full albums that i can't get enough of.

Album number one is John Mayer, Continuum. this just won a grammy for Best Male Pop Artist. the song on there that i just can't stop listening to is track 9, a Hendrix song, Bold as Love.

The second album that i can't get enough of is the Foo Fighters, Skin and Bones. This also has a great DVD but he really needs a language filter on it. the DVD has 5 extra songs and all the extra bantor which is definatly nice however (see previous statement) the songs on that that are really attracting me are tracks 4-5 which are Marigold and My Hero, track 9 that Taylor sings called "Cold Day in the Sun" and the last track that is Everlong. Well, thats it for now.

Bronson Davis, 1976-2007

Okay, well he didn't actually die. He did however move on from Kropf Ind. He took a position with a competitor and so he was let go immediately. So i will be training my second engineer and filling in for our engineering dept. while still pulling my normal duties as purchasing agent. Nice part is i can tell Roger, who i replaced at purchasing, to cover for a week or so and it will be like old times. Things will go on. I wish him well and am sure that i will still see him during golf season. thats all for now. i'm sure i will have more later.

The lastest blog on my site, until the next one.

Well, lets see...seems like everything is happening right now but i honestly can't think of to much to report. Vegas....a great trip. Jeff and I got there Thursday evening. Stayed at Bally's. We walked all the way to New York, New York. That was most of Thursday. Friday we got up, breakfast buffet at the Mirage, Dinner at the Stratisphere. We then walked around until about 2:30 am (which is 5:30 IN time). Saturday i think that we got up and ate at ESPN Zone and walked around that side of Bally's and did dinner at the huge Rio buffet. Sunday bright and early we were headed back home. i know that doesn't sound all that interesting but it was very cool. we went to and into to Bally's, Bellagio, Aladin, New York, New York, Venitian, Mirage, Luxor, Hooters, Excaliber, Wynn, Paris, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Flamingo and i think that we cut throught the corner of Treasure, Island and cabbie'd it out to the Stratisphere. Good stuff. Everyone should go at least once, even if they don't gamble. i am not a gambler at all but it is an amazing town.

All my bands are coming along well. GCC kids band is a no problem band. show up and play. boom. done. Jeff's and my band More Than Song is coming along. we auditioned another guitar guy that is very good. he is not a definate but i think that he would be a great addition to add to this solid christian rock band. my third band, which was Liquid Reason is now in the process of looking for a new name. we canned one guy and are still building our set list. i think that once this band gets up and running it will be a contender for a top area band. If anyone has a suggestion for a 70's to modern day alternative rock band, we'll take a listen to your ideas.

Last but not least, Elizabeth is doing good. we had our ultrasound and it is 90% sure that she is cooking another girl. If that is the case, she will be named Marley Elane. Well, i think that does it for now. we will chat to you later.

VEGAS BABY!

Jeff and I have seen the sights. what a great time we had. Honestly i can't say that i have one memorable experience that stands apat from the others, but it was just a awsome time in a very cool city. All that i can say in a short amount of time is that i think that we saw just about all of the big casinos. it was very good times and Jeff is a fine tour guide. we will all miss him when he moves out there.

Here is the latest in the band situation: the More than Song band played a really good show last Sunday to what seemed to be a fairly interested crowd of about 50. no major flaws. things went pretty well. the Liquid Reason band pulled it's opening oppritunity with Blammo because the club that we were playing at is shutting down (again). From what i am told, and stay with me here, the White House has been bought again by a friend of the dad of a guy in Blammo so they are doing like 5 shows in February out there, so i think that we might try out there. When Blank Slate was alive and KICKING ASS we played 3 nights up there (and they even called us for 2 of them!) so it was under major renovations then so i guess it is leaps and bounds ahead of were it was at then now so we'll just have to wait and see. as you can tell the picture above is finally the Green Gretsch that Doug has on a loaner program for me. i took so pics of that car amp that want to sell to try and buy it. it has a great sound to it so i really want to get it and at $500 it is really a good investment. Tonight i have the Notre Dame game to go to with Jeff. they are playing Alabama who is ranked 4th / 5th. Should be a blow out but i think that ND has played well latley so you never know. I tend to make the Irish lose so i mould still put my bet on the Fighting Elephants of Bama. ROLL TIDE! It has snowed like crazy today and it is a 9:00 start time so that kind of sucks but it should dtill be a good outing. Sometime this weekend i will probably get over to Mom and Dad's to get there treadmill. i ran Tuesday after work and went a full 2.25 miles with no stops but on ice and snow, you have to really take your time and watch your step. looking forward to going before work again. i feel so much more tuned in. well....i suppose Yoder is probably looking for someone to yell at. i guess i should go volunteer. later!