Ten Inch Tom

A while ago I found a 10" Sonor Force 2000 tom in the garbage on a bike ride home from work. I took it home and cleaned it up (it smelt moldy...so I sanded the bearing edges and wiped the rest of the interior and exterior down with vinegar). Lubed the lugs (old style Sonor). Yesterday I got in new heads and a clamp and installed it and it sounds great and fits into my kit configuration fairly well. I'm hanging it off a boom cymbal stand. It sounds great.

The clamp I bought is a Pearl Ax-25 Adapter 2 Hole Revolving and it is kind of awesome. I think I probably could have gotten the Sound Percussion version of this for a couple less dollars or this weird  Mapex AC903 Multi-Purpose Clamp , but it was really hard to tell from the photos online how things work. I'm really happy with the Pearl thing...it is exactly what I needed. I wish I could hang it off my straight stand instead (it is more sturdy and I prefer the straight stand on my left) but it seems to work the way I set it up. 

It makes the hi hat position a little tricky, but I really like having a tom in that position. It surprised me. I was reading an article in some drum magazine about someone moving their toms to the left because they had trouble getting around the kit. This struck me as out-and-out cheating at the time...but it IS shocking how much one can accomplish on the left side there and how much more comfortable it is.

FW 6/22/2013 and 6/24/2013

FW played two shows this "weekend"...one at a house party on Saturday and one at GRC on Monday.  Both were hot as hell. We are under-rehearsed, but I'm at least starting to retain the tunes a bit.  There was pleasant enjoyment by the audiences it seemed. Good enough.

Also, it turns out that total physical exhaustion prevents one from getting nervous for a show. Or even really caring what happens.

CJ Acoustic,Froth House, 6/13/2013

It was a beautiful early summer night outside in the Froth House's back yard. Melissa Simonson opened with inspirational songs to lift our spirits. We promptly took the stage just after and screamed about incest.

A nice little crowd of a dozen or so (filled the seats) of friends and fans and friend-fans. Everything fell into place in a glorious way and there was hilarious spontaneous banter and everyone had a grand time. I was relaxed and it may have in fact been the best I've ever played.  CT might have worried we were a tad too casual and hammy, but the venue lent itself to such.  As RS said in the post-gig post-mortum email "I love us."

We made $35 plus food and drink.

I recall once again that, when we set out to play acoustic, I thought I'd never be able to do it...I didn't think I could project with voice or bass.  In hindsight, I should never think such things.

Setlist:
Nimrod's Son
Dead
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Letter to Memphis
Dig for Fire
Bone Machine
La La Love You
Bird Dream
Lovely Day
Here Comes Your Man
Gigantic
Wave UK
Cactus
Gouge Away
Where Is My Mind?

Cut for time:
The Holiday Song
Debaser

The Central Issue

I've often said, as many people have, that being in a band is like being in a group marriage. All the same issues come up minus sex...hopes, dreams, values, money, time management, personalities, communication styles.

I've also come to believe in recent years that all conflict rises out of fear. Deep seated fears about keeping what we have and about our self-worth...all the us and them stuff...it all gets down to fear. Fear feeds sadness and anger and pretty much everything else. But no one likes to admit that they are afraid...and many people don't even realize that they are afraid.

I'm insecure about my musical abilities...which makes me fear rejection. I also often feel that people don't understand my communication style...which makes me fear they will not understand me and reject me. And these things lead to conflict often. I, at least, am aware of my "stuff"...it is frustrating when other people...who all have their own stuff...aren't aware that they have stuff. Then they just think you are crazy.

Music is such a hard thing to share with other people because it is so personal. It is attached to feelings. Maybe there are folks who play music out of a mechanical exercise with no emotional investment, but I've yet to meet those people. Mostly...we're invested. And when you are invested, there is a fear in there somewhere.

Overlay on top of this the fact that music is a language essentially...but it is a language that everyone speaks differently. Imagine two people who both know English. But one person can only write it and one person can only speak it. Or one person can read while the other can only learn new words by hearing them. Drop on top of that a regional dialect...words that person A knows are words that person B has never heard and doesn't know the meaning of. Drop on top of THAT...maybe one person went to Yale and got a PhD in English while the other person never finished high school. Yet...person A is totally invested in their way as the only way and can't imagine reality not matching their experience. Person B feels the same way about THEIR experience.

So you end up with two people...who in theory both know English...but who can't communicate with each other. And this makes them question themselves (whether they realize it or not)...and get angry or frustrated with the other person...or any of the other fear based reactions one might have.

In an ideal world, we'd all just be curious how interesting it is that we are all the same and yet so different. We'd want to learn more about that. Instead, we tend to dig our heels in and defend our own position.

I keep thinking that I can get over these issues and learn to communicate better and to be more open and to not feel threatened and to not let my fear take over. And yet, the same problems come up again and again.

The life thing...the people thing...it is hard.

SVFD 6/9/2013 Inferno

We played the SheShe showcase on a Sunday afternoon. The plan for the afternoon (times and setlist) changed no less than 4 times.  My new policy is to never expect anything to turn out as planned. The food was good. I guess we were on the radio (internet radio anyway). A dozen or so people showed up, mostly our friends. We made $40. I played pretty well...the usual random brain farts. Lost Again went really well for me and the wood floor with my Chucks worked well to facilitate dancing. I played the new KiD-inspired bass and it did well (though the metal pickguard tends to reflect and blind people a bit). Overall it feels like it is quieter than my others, but cuts through pretty well, especially on high notes.

Setlist? Maybe.

Found

So I recently started biking to work again. I'd forgotten that a side effect of biking is trash picking. On my way home from work the other day I found what appeared to be a perfectly functional white gloss 10" Sonor Force 2000 tom drum. The ever-helpful Sonor Museum tells me that Force 2000 was a nice mid-line drum line with German made 9-ply poplar shells. The mounting system is old-school tube, so it doesn't match my kit (or the GRC kit that is looking for a tom replacement), but I can mount it from a cymbal stand. The thing is detoxing in my basement in case there are any visitors on it, but this weekend I'll probably take it apart and clean it up and evaluate. And then there will be yet another 2 head purchase in my future...and a mounting bracket. I should buy stock in Musician's Friend.

Injury

Just a note that I seem to have a strain of my interphalangel thumb joint...like I hyper-extended it. Flexing is weak and extension painful. There is mild swelling. Could be arthritis I guess, but seems like it came on suddenly. I'm reminded that my technique for holding my drum sticks involves more extension than I'd like and that I hold my pick too tightly.