Free VST Plugins

I’m always on the lookout for freebies but feel free to donate to

Daniel aka The Interruptor at The Dub Scrolls website here;

http://www.interruptor.ch/vst_overview.shtml

My Life In Show Business

In some peoples lives music is inconsequential. Take my father for instance, he’s tone deaf and so to him music is mostly about the words and the story. As a child I was always amused at him singing in church in his flat baritone. Even my wife, although she likes music she would much rather engross herself in the latest episode of ‘House’ or some such medical drama. For her, music is something you listen to at parties or in the car. I am the opposite of that. Music to me is what I think about the most. It is kind of my default thought pattern. I have lots of other interests but the passion level is not even in the same ball park or is it conservatorium.

If I were a single man I would think that I would be somewhat hermit like, living in some isolated shack. There wouldn’t be a phone and there wouldn’t be a television. There would just be music all of the time….and beer. I would go out into my garage and teach myself to build guitars out of exotic woods and inlay them with mother of pearl that I scavenged off of faraway beaches. I would paint oil portraits of my favorite musicians all the while listening to more music. These paintings would be so brilliant that I could sell them at exorbitant prices to fund my newly imagined lifestyle. Mmmmmm…I digress.

The music industry would seem to be a perfect match for someone with my passion but not so, or at least not in anyway that I’ve been able to ascertain. Apparently the music industry was worth 24 billion dollars in 2008 so you’d think there would be room for someone like me. Or not, you see at my age I’ve come to the realization that one important pre-requisite for such a career is unfortunately a modicum or talent. Something that I’m a little light on. Now I can bang out a tune or two on the old geetar but like my father I’m somewhat tone deaf. Not as bad mind you but tone deaf none the less.

My attempts to crack into show biz over the years have included several forays into the world of busking. One time with my son, in toe and a belly full of bravery I asked a busker if I could jam with him – he wisely and politely declined. In disgust, I set up camp on the other side of the road in direct competition – me singing on the guitar and young Ben doing the ‘robot’.  As we went through the repertoire Benny would keep a running commentary on when the opposition had pulled a quid. My lad fondly remembers we blitzed him on that night and we made enough money to buy his next video game. Unfortunately as it turns out you need a license to busk and it’s illegal to exploit your children but that’s another story.

When your tone deaf it’s a handicap to sing but there are two methods that I use to keep myself on song. The first is the instrument you accompany yourself with – I know that it’s accurate so I try to follow as closely as I can. The other tell-tale sign that you’re off key is the funny looks that your audience gives to each other. I know that look well and when I see it I refer back to method one. Some nights I sing OK and on others I bomb. It doesn’t really matter much to me because I like music and I like to sing. There is something therapeutic about singing, like your releasing all your frustrations with each breath and each note. It’s good for the soul.

Now I’m never going to be rich from my musical endeavors but I’m told that artistic types have to suffer for their art; they have to pay their dues. I must be on track then and I’ll be content with that.

Ultimate Guitar

The Baghead Signature (concept) model

When you were a kid, did you draw cars and motorbikes all over your school books? Or maybe it was ponies or band names. For me it was surfboards and tubes (boy was that a long time ago). Well anyway this big kid drools over guitars nowadays and Fender have come up with a little app just for people like me. Here before you I present my ultimate pin up girl complete with Floyd Rose bridge and 70’s headstock. Ain’t she a beaut? I might call her ‘Blackie’……nah Eric Clapton has already used that one – he’s also got a ‘Brownie’ and Neil Young’s got an ‘Old Black’. Stevie Ray had ‘Number One’ and of course there is ‘Lucille’ (the most famous reindeer guitar of all). So if your feeling a little frivolous then head on over and design your own masterpiece;

http://www.fender.com/en-GB/community/guitarbuilder/

Pick Of The Punch

Why didn't I think of that

A punch (it looks like a stapler), that you can recycle old credit cards and things into picks. Brilliant 🙂

http://www.pickpunch.com/

Free Backing Tracks

Made in Korea and built like a tank

Guitar Center – King Of The Blues is a guitar competition that has downloadable backing tracks which are absolutely killer. If you haven’t heard about it before then do yourself a favour and head over to their website and check them out. “50’s Rock N’ Roll” is my favourite and reminds me of Ron Wood when he was in the Faces. They are all great tracks to fool around with and if you can find it “Stone Blues” from a previous competition is well worth chasing down too.   Try the link below; 😛

 http://gc.guitarcenter.com/kingoftheblues/tracks/

The Zen Of Laughter

Q: What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back? A: a stick

I don’t have a brother but I do have an uncle less than a year older than me which is a great substitute. In my childhood I would often go around to his house and he and his dad would be watching some old re-run on television and wetting their pants with laughter. I couldn’t see what was so funny about the lame jokes and one liners – to me they were predictable and the laughter canned. The memory and the lesson though have stayed with me after all these years; father and son were receptive to laughter and thus were bonded all the more so from that process. Now before I get myself into trouble here I should explain that my own father and I have our fair share of mirth although we were wired differently and our humor was quite different. I also used to have a high old time with my great grandmother watching midget wrestling although she didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Latvian.

 Worldwide most people would know of Dr. Hunter Adams from the “Patch Adams”  movie with Robin Williams. The good doctor sure understood the link between wellbeing and laughter, he established the Gesundheit! Institute in 1971 and in 1995 Indian physician Madan Kataria launched the first “Laughter Club” which has become a phenomenon in its own right. The cult of laughter is catching on but for me the revelation could be traced back to my childhood.

 

Now my own perspective is somewhat rudementary but I do know two important things; (1) that you have to be actively receptive to a good laugh and (2) that you have to nurture it in your relationships. I’ve certainly done that with my wife and I’m sure it’s one of the reasons that our marriage has survived. Its probably the key to any successful relationship. As for our own heir apparent, instilling the joys of laughter into his upbringing as been a wonderful experience. However he did  have to have the lesson that it was a fine line between having a good laugh at school and being the ‘class clown’.

 

I would really like to finish my little homely with a really fantastic joke but…..you guessed it, I can’t think of one off the top of my head. Anyway that would be contrived and it has to be more natural than that. Instead I think that I’ll sign off with a plea and a challenge. I would ask that you start your day a little more receptive to a good laugh and run with it. As for the challenge; see if you can bring someone’s mood up a few notches with humor, I’m sure your day will be more enriched for it.

Limericks

My Dad recites poetry to me and its the limericks that I usually like the most. Since I like the form, I thought that I would give it a crack.

Kaboomba!

 There once was a soldier from Adelaide,

who juggled for fun with his hand grenade,

He thought he was good,

More so than he should

and ended his life like a carronade.

There once was a thinker most odd,

Who denied the existence of God

and upon his death bed,

I’ve heard that its said,

He came back, in the form of a frog…………….ribbett

I Love The Sixties

Quality of music comes and goes and in my opinion contemporary music is in a bit of a rut. I never agree with the Rolling Stones 500 best albums or NME’s polls either for that matter. Who are these industry pundits that choose anyway, aren’t they listening to the same musical masterpeices that I do?  –  Philistines.  –  Here’s a list of my 50 alltime faves for the perusal of these music industry heavyweights.

1. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced

2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland

3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis Bold As Love

4. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

5. The Beatles – Abbey Road

 6. The Beatles – Let It Be

7. The Beatles – Rubber Soul

8. The Beatles – White Album

9. The Beatles – Revolver

10. The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (Let it Bleed/Let It Be? Mmmmm!)

11. The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

12.The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main St.

13. The Rolling Stones – Some Girls

14. The Doors – self titled

15. The Doors – Morrison Hotel

16. The Doors – L.A. Woman

17. The Doors – Strange Days

18. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cosmos Factory

19. Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon

20.  Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here

21.  Pink Floyd – The Wall

22. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Deja Vu

23. Crosby, Stills & Nash – self titled

24. Neil Young – Harvest

25. Neil Young – On The Beach

26. Neil Young – Hawks & Doves

27. The Easybeats – Easy

28. The Easybeats – Its 2 Easy

29. The Easybeats – Volume 3

30. Cream – Disraeli Gears

31. Led Zeppelin – 1

32. Led Zeppelin – 2

33. Led Zeppelin – 3

34. Led Zeppelin – Houses Of The Holy

35. Led Zeppelin – Sticks album

36. Inside Deep Note – Music of 1970’s Adult Cinema

37. Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti

38. Led Zeppelin – In Through The Outdoor

39. Fleetwood Mac – The Pious Bird Of Good Omen

40. Fleetwood Mac – Mr. Wonderful

41. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

42. Janis Joplin – Cheap Thrills

43. Janis Joplin – Pearl

44. Janis Joplin – 18 Essential Songs

45. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown – self titled

46. Joe Cocker – Mad Dogs & Englishmen

47. The Kinks – You Really Got Me

48. Georgie Fame – Get away With

49. Jimi Hendrix – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun

50. Jimi Hendrix – South Saturn Delta

I hope you read this Rolling Stone & NME pundits as I have now done the hard yards for you and I expect your next poll to be suitably enlightened.

Fandom

My favourite peaceniks

I consider myself to be a reasonably rational person but as anyone who knows me well, would tell you; that is just a front. Behind the well honed, facade lurks an hysterical fan of sixties pop. I have often pondered why this might be so as it appears to be quite irrational. I was in nappies when most of my idols ruled the airwaves or at least not far from it. In fact many of my idols are dead and yet the allure of the music and the intrigue of the history is for me eternally fresh. Collecting the catalogues of my favourite musicians is a most enjoyable quest which has long since departed from anything that would be considered normal.

 

No doubt I will persevere until I die and then my wife will have to deal with my hoardings and dismantle my shrines. For my family, my behaviour is normal in an eccentric sort of way and although they don’t share my passion they have learn’t to live with it. Indeed I have somehow drawn them into my delusion as every birthday I receive some sort of offering to my sixties world which is housed in  a special room – my inner sanctum.

 

Although I am an orphan in my real life persuits of all things sixties, online I am but one of a great army – many of whom make me look relatively sane. This for me is both vindication of my behaviour and a great source of nourishment for my hobby.

 

One of my obsessions for many years was collecting photos on the net of Jimi Hendrix and then dating them by what he was wearing or by what guitar he was playing. I would then cross reference them with Johnny Black’s most excellent book “Eyewitness Hendrix”.

 

This brings me to my next point; obsession. Admitting that your behaviour is a tad obsessive suggests a mental condition. Well I’m certainly quite mental and probably somewhat compulsive but I function pretty well in the rest of my life, at least in public. I don’t harm anybody and most importantly, I enjoy myself. I guess I’m the kind of guy who dances on the inside – I would like to let out  my inner freak but he’s probably best left in his “special room”.

Growing Old

There was a popular television show in Australia called “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader”, to which I took a casual interest in, having a ten year old son at the time. The shows premise was a quiz show pitting bright young kids against various adults foolish enough to fall for the trap and the ensuing public humiliation.

The afore-mentioned show has long dropped off the radar but has continued to haunt me since it aired. I don’t consider myself to be overly smart or authorative on any particular subject but being a father I assume the role of surrogate teacher and mentor outside of school hours for my youngster. My boy who has not yet entered the teenage “know-all” phase continually amazes me with his natural intuitiveness which seems to juxtapose against my increasingly crusty behaviour.

The other day I was trying to demonstrate my artistic flair by designing a t-shirt motif which was printed via bubble jet printer onto special paper and then ironed on. Simple enough for someone who used to enjoy screen printing, except my progeny pointed out with great enthusiasm that I had neglected to print the negative for a readable end product. Doh! Unfortunately this is one instance of many and although I’m proud of the little bloke for his clarity the relish in which he illuminates my latest folly only seems to undermine my self esteem and authority.

In moments like these I can only take solace in the fact that I can whip his arse at indoor wrestling. Still the writing is on the wall. Indeed I can remember when my own father could back a trailer through the eye of a needle and yet these days his car seems to be permanently in the panel beaters after his latest altercation with a supermarket carpark.

In recent times my wife and I have taken a keen interest in our garden. I would never have believed that would be the case a few years ago. I guess you can’t stop the inevitable but I only hope I can grow old with an element of coolness or is that an oxymoron? :-)

 

As a Post Script to this story; I washed the said T-shirt for the first time whislt at the same time giving the offspring a lesson at my mastery of the washing machine. Problem was that the dial that I thought for the last 10 years said 90 minutes actually read 90 degrees. Doh! again. The result was a shrivelled up and faded T-shirt motif a little hurt pride and an even more cheeky 11 year old.