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Yappy Hew Near!

You know what we mean.

Our first gig of 2013 is this coming Saturday at the Bald Rock hotel in Rozelle, which should give you enough time to recover from your new years celebrations!

See ya there.

Oka-ayyy – it’s been a while between blogs …

So this photo showed up in my huntings around the interwebs and is worth sharing. One thing that I dig are “meeting of minds” photos. You know: the ones where well known folks have been snapped together and you think “wow … and all in one room”. So here’s one (thank you to the Delta Blues Facebook page):

On a different topic ... a story:

When MJEB and I were in high school we had to watch a BBC series called Edge of Darkness, for English (I think that was the class). Great series. For me the significant thing was the soundtrack. It’s a piece of music composed by Eric Clapton with the late Michael Kamen. I dug it but I forgot about it. Years later I started a quest to get hold of a copy only to find it had been released and quickly deleted – ruling out getting a new copy and sending me scouring through second-hand shops and stalls. The hunt went on for about a decade (no kidding).

One day I was at Glebe markets rummaging through a record stall when the guy next to me pulled a copy out of the box. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There it was (that’s good) … and in someone else’s hands (that’s bad). I managed not to hyperventilate (that’s good). He put it back (even better) … and it was mine all mine! It was as good as I remembered. Eric had also released a live version with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Michael Kamen, which was even better. It really is a great piece of music. For a while MJEB and I used to play part of it as an intro to one of our early blues songs.

Why am I mentioning this? I’ve been watching Joe Bonamassa Live from the Royal Albert Hall. Joe is is very open about the influence and inspiration of Eric Clapton, and at the end of Sloe Gin he plays the main theme from Edge of Darkness. Very, very cool.

Here’s the link to Clapton playing it from the 24 Nights version – enjoy:

Cheers,

Rosie

Howdy Folks, it's that time of year when we realise that it's...that time of year.

Seasons greetings to you and thanks for stopping by and reading our blogs in 2012.

We hope you and yours have a safe and enjoyable festive season and look forward to enjoying your company again into 2013.

From everyone here in the Stormcellar.

A parcel, a parcel, ooh there's a parcel..

What could it be?

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  

http://www.bluesundergroundnetwork.com/Top10Albums2012.html

WOOT!