Here we go again...

Hello to all my fans. i hope things are well. I am reporting on the latest news and developments in my surrounding area. Just so everyone knows, yes we fired the singer. Goodnight Milwaukee!

Hello again...hello (sing it)

Good morning. it has been a little while since my last post and we have some things to report. First off... the baby. we were to be doing the C-section on May 21 only to find out that the doctor is out of town that day so it has been pushed back to May 22, which is also my nephew Evan's birthday.

Second, my new band 4play is opening for Blammo this Saturday at Gubi's! i am so excited to be back out on the "curcuit", if i may call it that. this is the only thing that is scheduled at this point but with the kid coming, i think that will do it for a little while.

Third, i took my snare to Doug for a fine tuning and review. Doug was very impressed and deemed it a $500 snare. he seemed very impressed and gave me some ideas that he thought would only improve it with head changes. it was nice to have someone else play it (that is a drummer) and be able to hear it from out front. it really shocked me how good it sounded. it instatly became the best snare that i own. the heads that he recommended i change to are the same heads that i have on Peanut Butter. as Doug was talking about the finish he said that it looked like a roll of Pennies so it has been named "Penny" for that reason.

Next, the invites are aired out today for Rob's bachelor party. they went out via e-amil for the May 12th Robapalooza. the Rob Lastinger Freedom Festival, good times to be had. the wedding is the 2nd of June which brings me to my next perk....

June 2nd Rob and i are going to run in the Sunburst Festival in a 5k that ends in Notre Dame Stadium. then we will go get him hitched. this is going to be done with my friend / vendor Jon Helmuth from Genesis Products. We are dressing up so we will have to get our thoughts together for what we will be dressing as. this is going to rock.

Till next time.....B.

The weekend...

Well, to start off, i feel like poo. i am a winey sick man. anywho... E. had to work Saturday and mom and dad took Layla so i ran over to Doug's. this always ends good. so i get there. we dial in a variation of his Gretsch's. the normal 20x20 kick and then the 8", 10" and 12" toms. yes... a 12" as a floor but it is hanging. it was great sounding. we messed around and he listened to a CD that i brought him, the John Mayer Trio. he liked it so much, he had to stop listening. yep. it's that good. then as we are talking and i was getting a couple small parts, snare wire strings, etc. i notice a couple shells that i was asking about. i saw one shell that just looked cool. yes. the shell came home with me as mine. to the best of my research, it is a 1956-1959 Slingerland Concert Hall snare. 8x15! the finish is a unbelievable Gold Sparkle. the real glass type. it is a powerful finish. this snare needs love. one of the reinforcement hoops is loose so i need to glue and clamp that. it has 8 lugs so i need another 8. i already have a 15" hoop so i do need to get a 15" snare hoops. Doug still wanted the strainer and butt plate. they were pretty rusty so i figured i would fix them up for him since he is always so good to me. the shell is a beautiful mahogany. it woul dbe a fairly cheap snare to get up and running. it has such a nice finish that if i never did anything, it will be a wall piece. i will get picks up ASAP. This is what it would look like aside from color and depth. add another 1.5" in between lugs and think gold sparkle.

I had band practice Sunday, and that went great. we are to hear this week about opening for Blammo at Gubi's on the 21st of April. man i hope we get to. we get really rocking. we get really loud to. i thought that Blank Slate got loud. this is a loud band. well, until next time. ohhhhh!!!!!!

Wet sanding....i did. and did. and did. then i was tired so i stopped. it looks really good. it needs more but with this cold rocking my world, the fumes won. i will get to it. i don't have practice again until the 9th so i would like to have it done by then. Now...later!

The last box arrived for the snare!!!!!!

Well I got home and there was a sexy little package with my name on it. I opened it up and the first thing I saw…REMO 13” POWERSTROKE 3 head. WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!? I was steaming. I rip that out of the box (thinking, “Man, that was light”) and see an Evans box for a 14” Hazy 300 snare side (that’s right) and then a Evans head but it’s not in a box. Just a loose head that says Power Center Rev. Dot (that’s right) so I checked the REMO box…empty. Just filler. I also got my hoops, double checking that they are 14” but 8 lug not 10 and they were right. I see that they sent me all 16 tension rods and I had forgotten but I got an air hole that actually works! Woooo hoooo! i did take 2 plyers to see about opening the old airhole up and i got it. it is not cross threaded, just bad machine job. i could probably tap and drill again and clean out the grooves but the pliers didn't really damage anything so i think that if i put them on the Pearl kick drum, that will work fine. that evening i started to sand the snare shell. i got it just about completely smooth. there are a couple areas that i need to hit again and then i can start to wet sand this weekend. i will start with 600 wet and love to assemble it this weekend but i don't know that it will go that smooth or that i will have that much time or arm strength to get all done. the one last thing that i have to work on is the badge. Jeff was in to my work today to drop off something actually WORK RELATED and then we got to business. i showed him the stuff that Rob designed that is very cool. some great ideas. i will finish the snare and just add these whenever i get around to them. well i think that is it for now. hope everyone has a good weekend. till next time.........

Thee order hath been placed. 2 hoops, Evans G1 Power Center Reverse Dot head, 1 Evans Hazy 300 snare side head, 16 1-3/8" tension rods and they are sending me a new 1/2 air holes at no charge. i do not have to send the other one back so i might see if i can get it into my Pearl kick to make it look nicer again. after i tore off the old red covers, i never put airholes back in so this would be nice to have. if not, no biggie. it can live another 14 years with out an air hole. the specks that you see in the picture are metal fleck. not dust. please click on the picture for a larger view. she is very nice. mind you, this has not been sanded yet. my best recolection it is 10 coats of paint, and 15 coats of clear.
Okay, the picture here is just to post a good color pic of the Green Giant's 13" tom. These are not museum condition but i love these things. i got 20 minutes to play on saturday and remembered quickly why i bought them. i do need to detune the 13" for my liking but i have it set up for a very jazzy kit. it is very clear and really rings. the pearls however, well, they need love. As you can see the velvetis coming off of the shell. now it has always had a little bit of that, but after may gigs and sitting in very humid rooms for long periods of time, it has only gotten worse. For only the price of 7500 cups of coffee, you too could adopt this kit. it would send you letters and show you exclusive pictures of the new kit that would be replaceing it. Don't let this kit die. Wood. it lives. it breathes. it loves.

New day, new post.

Hello all. Good weekends were had at the Kattau household. Saturday E. and i ditched the kid and went to South Bend to do a little shopping. Picked up a Primus DVD (interesting, but not what i was looking for. 2 stars) and another Jonny Lang CD, still impressive stuff, 3.5 stars. Went a couple other places, but no great things happened. That evening E. and i met Bronson and his mad scientist girlfriend for dinner at Olive Garden (the Steak Gorganzolla Alfredo is just wonderful) and then we went to go see Wild Hogs. Good movie. not GREAT but good entertainment.

Sunday i picked up Layla and we got to play outside. she loves it out and i couldn't be happier....except i really get tired of pushing a swing, however, i know one day i will really miss pushing a swing so i have to tell myself to take it while i can get it. Then Layla and i were out for a bike ride, which last year she didn't really like, but this year we did about 5 miles and she was mad when we were headed home. Rob was coming over so he joined us (again, at the swing) and he got to see the new snare shell in the light of the sun. after he left and the family ate lunch, i took each drum out in to the sun and took digital photos. as you can see on the sidebar that i loaded each of them. i am missing a couple. my Hand Hammered steel pearl shell is missing cause it is still at practice, i will get that this week and for some reason this pctured Luwig 1960-63 10x14 snare wouldn't load. but it will in this page. i also took a picture of both of my 13" toms from both kits. i will get those up shortly. the above snare is the best candidate for a makeover. i am still planning on finishing the Brass one which should be done by the end of April. i will place my last order today and i need to get one piece replaced. the air hole they sent to me, looks great but Rob discovered that it won't unscrew so it must be cross threaded. good eye Robbie! Well i think that is it for now. i will be back later today after i get things ordered.