Show coming up, this Saturday at the annual FREAKER'S BALL!

While you wait, do you want to see what happens when Van Halen's crew plays back the synthesizer part to 'Jump' at the wrong bitrate (48k vs. 44.1k), causing an atonal musical disaster and resulting in Eddie wildly transposing in a futile (and failed) attempt to make the song work? Yeah. You do.

For more analysis and a good argument against this being a simple guitar tuning problem, go here. And see you Saturday!

posted 10.21.07

Newsflash: got a show coming up. I know, what are the odds? I'll be making my sort-of-annual appearance at Freaker's Ball, live at Cain's Ballroom. It'll be a set semi-filled with great new stuff you haven't heard me play yet, unless you've been spying on me (and you really should knock that off, because it's annoying the cats). Check out the Cain's site or this one for details. See you thereish.

Also, here is something that excites me more than you can possibly imagine:

posted 10.13.07

As most folks have probably heard by now, Tom Snyder died earlier this week. I was probably too young when his old "Tomorrow Show" was on in the 70s either to see it or to appreciate it if I did, but I was a big fan of his CNBC and NBC shows in the 90s. He had an interview style no one else has ever quite matched, and you could always tell he was just having a blast doing his job every day.

For years, his show and Conan O'Brien's were the only ones I stayed up late to watch. On his last few CNBC shows, instead of booking guests, it was just Tom and the camera, as he just sat and told stories from his decades in the TV biz. It was such an anomaly to see something like that, especially on a cable network where everything seemed to move at top speed all the time. I won't do it justice by repeating it here, but the story of how he got fired from a local station in the 70s for flipping off the floor director - on the air - was priceless. The guy kept motioning him to scoot further & further near the edge of a studio platform, then just as he was about to roll his chair off of it, motioned him back - so Tom gave the natural reaction - right as the director dissolved to that camera. He got suspended, then fired, by a general manager who he hated working for anyway. I think Tom did OK for himself after losing that job.

CNBC actually dug up a clip of the 'finger incident' and aired it on Tom's last show there. I haven't been able to find that online anywhere, but there's a whole bunch of great clips of Tom's shows on, where else, YouTube. Lots there worth checking out, so fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air. Thanks for the memories, Tom.

I finally posted a few new X-Rays tonight. I'm as surprised as you are.

posted 8.1.07

This just in: Berlin now has a Frank Zappa Street, which, if you ask me, which you didn't, is pretty dang cool. Also cool is Mike Keneally's "Guitar Therapy Live" album, which is the soundtrack to tonight's site update, which continues below.

In other news, work continues on the new Acoustic Ross album, which now has a title, which I'm keeping secret. This week I'm finally starting to update a few things around here, including the links pages, and finally posting some new X-Rays after a more than 2-year delay, which was kind of a long time to wait, which was unavoidable, which is a total lie.

Tonight's homework assignment: diagram all the sentences above.

posted 7.31.07

Hey folks, we've got some shows happening around here these days. Last night -- just hours after buying an old Peavey mixer for seven American dollars -- I was honored to play a private function for a bunch of people I know, which was awkward and fun. On the horizon, Math Lab has no fewer than THREE shows lined up in July so far, and more to come in August.

As for me, I've been invited to join in the Under the Mooch 1st Anniversary BBQ on Saturday June 30th. It's a really big show - live music from noon until midnight, inside and outside - and celebrating Tulsa's best little record store. Here's the flyer and the lineup. See you there??

posted 6.23.07

Mayfest was fun, thanks to everyone who came out. The weather was gorgeous, the food was good, and my set wasn't terrible, so hopefully they'll have be back another time. Lots of great stuff on the bill this year.

Work continues on the reissue of the first CD and the recording of the new one. The new one should be out around September if all goes according to plan, with the reissue not long afterward. Meantime I'm working on booking some more shows, going to several weddings, reviving the zine, watching the new Venture Brothers DVD set, and mowing the lawn, so it'll be a busy summer all around. Stick around.

posted 5.19.07

This Just In:
I'm playing at Mayfest! Somehow the planets were aligned - and someone better apparently cancelled - and I'm on the bill. Better still, I'm the lunchtime show on the first day (Noon on Thursday May 17th), so you and the rest of the unwashed masses can come out early, then spend the rest of the weekend extolling my virtues or forgetting you saw me. (Your pick.) Bring a lunch or trade your money for that Mayfest Money stuff - just come on out. I'll do the good stuff and probably very little of the stuff you hate sitting through. Except that one you hate that I still like. Nyah. Anyway, go here or here for the details.

Progress As Promised:
The new Acoustic Ross album is in pre-production, has a nearly-complete track list, and Jennings Robards II (the new studio) is 95% ready to accept the recording process. And the remastering of the first album continues unabated. It's gonna be a busy year, trust me.

posted 5.6.07

toothpastefordinner.com

What a year.

If nothing else, at least 2006 is over. My year was 800 kinds of chaos and really wasn't what I went in expecting it to be.

December alone was all over the map. I saw a half-dozen shows, played a fun Math Lab show on Christmas-Eve-eve, and road trips to OKC (to see Ad Astra Per Aspera) and St. Louis (to see the amazing Zappa Plays Zappa) geared me up for a whirlwind trip home to Ohio for Christmas. In between, I took a new job, leaving KOTV after 10+ years for a higher position at a competing station in town, KJRH. Now I work closer to home - walking distance - and manage a department of about 20 people. The day after leaving KOTV, I spent much of the day at KJRH (though my 'real' start date was the following week) - and that day recently-retired KOTV chief meteorologist and all-around great human being Jim Giles passed away. After the Christmas trip, I started the new job for real, and on my first day I got a call from my landlady telling me they're selling the house and I'm going to have to move out soon. So much for the aforementioned walking distance.

2007 should be fun. New job means no more "Gimme the Mike" for me, which means a lot more free time and a lot less stress between March and August. I had fun executive-producing three seasons of that show, but it's a lot of work and I'm glad I'm done with it. The lax publishing pace of my nearly 16-year-old zine News From Around The Bend (4 issues in the last 2 years) has really gotten to me, and I'm shooting for at least 5 or 6 issues this year. For those of you who follow the X-Rays section of the site (Jennifer Logan, eyes front), those will be returning from their early grave too. The first Acoustic Ross record, originally released in 2002, is about to be remastered & rereleased, with a brand-new Acoustic Ross album hot on its heels, new house notwithstanding. In case you haven't noticed, Math Lab has been working hard lately too. We just passed our 2nd birthday and we're really happy with the direction our music is taking. We've got a few shows lined up for 2007 - our first was last night, after a cancellation due to last week's ice storm - and there might just be a new Math Lab record later this year too.

Whew, that's quite a list of expectations. And we're already 3 weeks in. Guess I'd better go get started.

I don't really have the energy to put together a fancy Top 10 list again this year, but here, in no particular order, are 10 or so examples of the best stuff I heard in 2006. At least I had the energy to link these up.

Ad Astra Per Aspera - Catapult Calypso
Built to Spill - You in Reverse
Mike Keneally - Guitar Therapy Live
The Pretenders - Pirate Radio box set; also the 2-disc reissues of their first & second albums
Wire - 1977-1979 box set (their first 3 albums, remastered, plus two new live CDs from 1977 & 1978)
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll (brash & punky, in fact this sounds a lot like early Wire)
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (the hype is true, this is fantastic)
NoMeansNo - All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt
Quasi - When the Going Gets Dark
The Black Keys - Magic Potion

posted 1.21.07

"Acoustic Ross" & "News From Around The Bend" © 2002-3001 Northcraft Entertainment Organization. All content not otherwise specified is also © 2002-3001 Northcraft Entertainment Organization. While we're at it, "Northcraft Entertainment Organization" is also © 2002-3001 Northcraft Entertainment Organization.