Shoes (nope, I only order my high heels in person)
Books (possibly)...or is it..
My New Custom In Ear Monitors from Ultimate Ears?
WOOT!! Finally got'em!
For those who have been following this thread, and them whats haven't, when we last left our hero, he had failed to get some from a local Australian supplier who yelled at him when he asked if they'd be ready in time for Tamworth last year.
Your hero (and mine) graciously declined to use the platform of his own blog to name the supplier and add some choice @%^# suggestions of his own. However, your hero better stop talking about himself in the third person as he hates that. oh no. did it again.
Rather than get mad and write something defamatory...and also just in case it was ME being the @^&#@##...I canceled the order and waited almost a full year to finally sort out a new pair from an alternate supplier. Don't get mad, vote with your chequebook.
I am kinda glad I did. the price on these was lower than from the 'other' supplier and I got more Drivers (the little gizmos inside the things that make with the noises). Still, these were not cheap. Factoring in Ear Molds and Postage, they still came in at over $500 which is still pretty flipping expensive, but in testing so far, they are doing a terrific job of keeping sound out.
Aha! I hear you say, keeping sound out? I thought these were so you could hear better?
Well yes, Dear Reader, but one of the ways to hear 'better' is to reduce the outside noise (guitars and drums etc) coming in.
These little things have a filter on the side to allow some 'ambient' noise in (ie: the rest of the band/reality) or you can send the band through the PA to your headset transmitter (depends on how you set it up), but by blocking unwanted external noise you can turn your own 'monitors' down and thus preserve your hearing a little longer.
I have had a heck of a time over the last year using the default earplugs that come with the wireless set, or trying to combine them with other customized earpieces I already had. It's worked very well to get the sound of singing/harmonica to me without the need for monitor speakers, but keeping excess stage noise out has been problematic.
Finally, I have a complete solution and I will post some results from some testing after I use them in live gig environment.
So far, for any readers thinking about in ear monitors, I am PRO the concept, I think they're great. The custom earpieces are $$$ but are necessary if you want to truly control what you are hearing.
FYI I am using a SHURE PSM200, not top of the line but a very decent unit and a very practical one. it has two inputs which are direct pass throughs - that means you can monitor the sound from the front of the device, before it goes to the PA. This also allows you to rock up to a gig and insert your monitor system into stage gear without messing with the PA/soundo, who might say 'WTF' and look at you like you've grown an extra head cos you don't want to use the loud stage monitors competing with all the other sound.
There, rant over.
Oh yeah, you can tell when you've spent some $$, lookit the box:
OOOH!! Matte Black!
I'll post my results after we do our next rehearsal or gig.
The hits just keep on coming with news out of Canada - Hired Guns scored a spot on The Blues Underground Network's Top 10 Not Necessarily The Blues Albums (Worldwide) 2012
The category of NNTB (Not Necessarily The Blues), is designated to Albums which are an assortment of other genres, which may or may not include the Blues.
WOW! Since I posted the 'Free express post ' in the newsletter, the Cd's have been flying out of the door, I have boxes of the little suckers to send out tomorrow! WOOT!
Now I was originally just thinking, hmm, if someone wants it before Christmas, we'd better get a hustle on it, and as we were doing the newsletter I figured what the heck, lets just pay for express post shipping.
It's GNEIUS!
I mean GENUSI!
I mean...
LOL, this is the same music as it was last week but with EXPRESS POST SHIPPING in big letters suddenly its moving like hot cakes.
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the music, it just shows that when you think through peoples problems and provide a solution they want hey presto. ho Ho Ho indeed!
A suitable way to conclude our gigs for 2012 with a trip to The Entrance and a gig at the Royal Hotel, Bondi.
I managed to fill up my camera the other day at the allphones arena gig (HA! I managed to sneak a reference in again, see how I did that? LIKE A BOSS!) so mid way through last nights gig I was trying to take some vids and then the phone bleeped about being full and in an effort to quickly make some space I may have deleted the vids I took the night before at the Lakes.
ARGH!
Anyway, I salvaged what I could.
And now for a Community Service Announcement.
On our way up to the lakes, Single Bill found out that the new Police License Plate Scanner is fully operational as he was pulled up by a Mad Max Fan flashing his lights and holding the butt of his Large Gun as he gave Single Bill a ticket for an unregistered car - Bill had let his rego lapse by a few days and bang, it's Christmas Revenue time. Now that the RTA or whatever the heck they are called now have decided you don't need to affix a sticker to your window, there is one less reminder that you haven't done your registration, so watch out. It's your personal responsibility to make sure your car is registered and the fine is $540. Gotta abide by the laws, the technology is snooping on you and the fines are not cool.
Despite such minor legal wrangling, Single Bill managed to get there by the 2nd set having found a late night mechanic to pink slip his car and an online rego service. So I guess the technology also works for you.
Friday was Tony Boyds first night deputised to the drummer seat and it must have gone well based on the dancing. Cheers to Jacko and Rowena, Steve, Gina, Sharn, Jay, Andy, Billy and all the folks up at the Lakes. We'll be back there soon, due to public demand :-)
Our final gig for 2012 was at the Royal Hotel Bondi at it built from a quiet start to a frantic last set with non stop dancing.
Mr Wizard Made some new friends.
Here are the President and Secretary of the Swedish Chapter of the Mr Wizard Fan Club.
We love playing the Royal for the fabulous cosmopolitan mix of people who hang out there, from backpackers and travelers to dyed-in-the-wool Bondi residents, Sydney-siders out for a night, Christmas Party goers, the usual.
Last night was huge. People came up and talked to me during the song, high fives, quite some hugging and a few tears (and that was just the band) LOL...heh. I could explain all that but frankly I like the mystery and if you want to see what it's like, come to a gig :-)
(UPDATE - just reviewd this vid and watch out, some random says a rude word at the end)
The dude with the feather through his nose won 'most committed to national party costume' :-)
John Mc and Frank popped in for the first few sets and John was kind enough to come and mess with our PA. It's not every day you have one of Australia's most bad ass sound engineers tweak your stuff :-) Thanks John, sounded great. We were trialing a Bass Bin and some speakers last night and were a little unfamiliar with the buttons. John got it sounding very sweet indeed. I should also send a shout out to the guys at DJ Warehouse who sorted us out so nicely all year for our lights and random stuff we have tried. Cheers to Gerry and the guys.
Also a big thank you to Double Bill Williams for some solid Bass work and general all round good guy-ness. We have been blessed by some fantastic musicians choosing to come hang out with us, like Noodles, Double Bill and the T-Bird. (BTW if you want to know what's with all the nick names, we have a constant doubling up of first names related to this band, with up to 4 michaels, 2 carls, 2 bills, and so on...the nick names help to sort your Bill V from your Bill W :-)
Shout outs from last night to Suzie K, Claudette, Heather, Alan, Kevin, our Swedish House Mafia and all the folks enjoying the end of year festivities.
That was our third gig for the week and an auspicious way to close out a big year for us.
Thank you, Dear Reader, for sharing your time reading our blogs. The events of the past few days are a reminder of how precious that time is and we're honored to be included in how you spend yours.
We're back on deck in early Jan at the Bald Rock on the 5th and the Kent on the 6th, but we'll be working through the holiday season doing some videos and suchlike, so stay tuned for more stuff as we get ready for 2013, that is unless the Mayan Apocalypse/Zombie Apocalypse arrives, in which case we'll review our future bookings :-)