That Disgusting Thing at Her Feet

So I've not really talked about the whole "new Kim" thing here. And I'm not gonna get into it now.

But a while ago the "new Kim" posted this photo online:

Which is this horrible thing:

And looks like this on stage:

Anyway, it implies that future live Pixies shows will feature bass effects either on old or new songs or both. I like to think that I'm open-minded, but in some things I guess I'm a purist, and one of the things that I like best about the Pixies is the simple, un-affected bass lines.

Plus, this fucker costs TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS.

The boys can go any direction they want and go with god. But I don't think I'm ever going to want to play this thing and I hope no one asks me to.

Wrapping Cables

This weekend a boss-sort-type-of-person-of-mine-but-not-really said "If you don't know how to properly wrap a cable, ask D or another staffer" Me being D. The funny thing is, I know there is a proper way to wrap a cable...but I've never done it before in my life. And I'm 99.9% certain that none of the other staffers had any idea the proper way to wrap a cable. I watched a video about it once and got thoroughly confused and gave up. Since then I've done the..."I'll be careful and neat but I know this is still wrong" route.  Being called out as the expert...I did some research today and came up with a simple, short video that gets it right. I tried it and it isn't as hard as I'd thought. But it IS totally different than I've done it in the past and I've never seen another staffer do it correctly.



 It's nice that my boss has faith in us...but probably better if she verified that we know what we're doing before asking us to teach others.

Princeton Chorus Amp & the Red Bass through Tubes

I manage gear for a girls music camp. Most of what gets donated to us is entry level gear or very old semi-functional gear of no real value.  We do have one decent drum kit and a collection of very nice mics.  This year someone gave us a Princeton Chorus amp...which I was pretty excited about...but then it turned out to have an intermittent problem. A pro guitar player amongst us suggested that the inputs on those amps go bad, so we sent it for repair. It came back and now seems to be working, though I find it a little buzzy. Last night I played through it for a while cause it is sitting at my house waiting to return to storage.

It certainly is better than most amps we own, but I gotta say that I still prefer the teeny-tiny little Vox amp. That thing kicks ass.

The red bass, I think I said earlier this week, sounded better through a tube amp. Someone also told me that the Squires are notorious for shitty wiring and that I could easily upgrade the whole thing. I'm not sure it is worth it. The whole raison-d'etre for having the red bass is Pixies aesthetics. That, of course, becomes sort of ridiculous what with the makeup of the band changing. And who knows how many more years we'll even keep the schitck up? I'm reminded that '62 reissue replacement pickups are $70-90 if I ever want to try and upgrade.

SVFD, Reedsburg, 10/5/13

We played 3 sets at the Touchdown Tavern in Reedsburg. We made $200 plus food/drinks. I didn't have anything to drink. It was a typical small town bar with the kind of crowd you'd expect, but they were nice to us. I think we were kind of a weird match for the venue. There was an incident with the bar owner borrowing M's guitar and breaking a string and us not having a replacement, but our sound guy came to the rescue. We stretched all the songs with solos twice as long as normal which worked pretty well even though unrehearsed. Half way through 3rd set we were ready to quit early and head home but two guys from Chicago ran into the bar and skanked their butts off, so instead we replayed all the fast songs we'd already played and it really seemed to raise everyone's spirits.

It was nice to get out of town.

We played everything we know and a few things we didn't. Some things twice.

CJ Dragonfly 10/11

We played after a poetry reading and a Pavement tribute act.  It was dark on stage.We were under-rehearsed and made lots of mistakes but several in the crowd said we were "tight". I started Tame in E instead of D...I think because of the light I just went to the wrong fret...didn't get it resolved until just after "cookie I think you're tame." I don't know why it took me so long to correct because I knew what I'd done right away but I somehow got out of synch with the chord progression trying to switch to correct key. Ironically 2 people later told me we "nailed" Tame and that it was amazing. It is so hard for me to believe anything an audience member ever says. I know they probably really believe whatever it is that they say...but even when I'm not being unreasonable hard on myself I rarely agree with their assessments. I have, at least, learned to just say "thank you" and not argue with them or make excuses.

RS went straight into Something About You after Broken Face without calling it and it took me a second to remember what song that is, but I figured it out in time. We should go back to testing ourselves like that.

Drinks were had but were not a factor in my performance. I'd been sober a week prior to show. I regret breaking the streak. I think we took home $35. I borrowed Pavement guy's rig, which was a tube amp head played through an Ampeg 4 x 10 I think. The red bass sounded better played through that than it normally does, maybe that's the key.

Setlist:
Wave UK
Nimrod
Here Comes
Bone
River
Space
Subbacultcha
Debaser
Holiday Song
Isla
Crackity
Dead
Monkey
Dig
Motorway
Bird Dream
Hey
Gigantic
Gouge
Tame
Vamos
Where is My Mind

encore by request:
Broken Face

2nd encore cause RS felt bad he messed up lyrics to Broken Face:
Something Against You

SVFD, 9/7/2013 private party

We played for B's wedding reception party thing.  We played almost everything we know (no setlist provided here cause we just called songs).  About 5 or 6 tunes into the set, the cops showed up. We were playing amplified outdoors in the middle of a residential neighborhood starting at 9pm...so really it was warranted.  They waited for us to finish Je's ska arrangement of "I Will Survive" and then asked us to go acoustic or go inside. So inside we went.  We regrouped and played until 11pm. I was shocked that the small crowd stuck around, stood in the house with us, and danced their asses off.

Only blip of the night for me was that I thought we were playing "Spiderwebs" for the encore, but the bride apparently yelled "Came Out of a Lady" right before we started to play and the front line called an audible without consultation. Unfortunately I am a lynch pin in the start of the song and wasn't ready. I should have just gone with it, but instead tried to get my bandmates to start over, which of course they didn't because they are professionals and know how to roll with the punches. I regret not being able to go with the flow and not have a reaction disproportionate to the confusion in the moment. But I can't really control a reflex so I should get over it. Still, it bothers me that I couldn't just jump into it without hesitation, and further, that I made a big deal out of it. Alas.

The calling of the cops was fun though, and we all clucked about it on the internet for hours after the show was over.

SSW, Mr Roberts, 9/5/2013

w/ Meat Faucet and Dirty Nigel & the Strap Ons.

We played so freaking late. Lots of beer was drunken unfortunately. There was no rehearsal. I have the muscle memory still, even after a year of nearly no rehearsals...but my endurance is completely gone. The performance was completely adequate, though each time we play without rehearsals things get marginally worse. A small but supportive crowd. We took home $60, which seems like way more than we were likely owed, but I think the bartender likes us. Had new heads on the kit...but I played with ear plugs in so I really have no idea how they sounded.

Setlist
Part Time Punks
Bosocobel Breakout
Mr Suit
Teenaged Kicks
We Are the One
Political Song for MJ
New Rose
Helicopter (nearly forgot how to play this AGAIN)
Dance 4x
One Track Mind
Too Drunk to Fuck
I Am a Cliche
Suspect Device
You Drive Me Ape
Warsaw
I've Been So Mad Lately
Fucked Up and Wasted