Dr. Milo T. Pinkerton III

Gadzooks, I have a clone!

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:35:26 GMT

As many of you know, I keep a Facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/Dr.Milo.T.Pinkerton.III

But this morning when I checked it, what should I find but a copy of myself, staring back at me!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1108467285&ref=ts

What is this?!?? A pale imitation to be DISPOSED of immediately, or an opportunity to get TWICE as much work done in the lab...? Or perhaps even an occasional BREAK from my laborious labors?

Hmmm, now THERE's a thought... I could name him 'Sir Vile Clone', and reward him with toffee bon bons for each major patent he registers...

NO! What am I thinking? There's something going on here... my Pinker-senses are all-a-tingle! (or perhaps it's this open bottle of Vicks Vapor Rub...) This MUST be some kind of PLOT!

But WHAT kind of plot? Certainly not one I authored... PONDER PONDER PONDER...

Whew...

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:14:49 GMT

...exhausted getting ready! What a week... and the following week promises to be stress city as I attempt to get everything ready for the show at Babelcon next weekend. Exhausting but rewarding! I'm attempting to redo ALL of our show video, which is projected behind us when we perform; a daunting task that has been long anticipated - and put off for a couple years. But it's a chance for me to really freshen up the visual impact of the show with my video editing chops, and simultaneously utilize favorite sequences from favorite movies. I'm just finishing up 'Blinded by Science' right now (which looks absolutely great with video instead of stills on all the inventions). Many more left to do, but the results are killer so far and confidence is high!

Taking a little break from that, tonight I checked out the new science fiction movie 'Moon' which just opened at Canal Place Cinema. If you're into serious SF, check this movie out... it gives you plenty to think about, and investigates territory previously explored by some other favorites of mine, including Blade Runner, Alien, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This film was written and directed by David Bowie's son. Highly recommended!

Aside from that, there's been work on posters for upcoming shows and booking some stuff into August... they say there's no rest for the wicked, but I think it's time for me to collapse for the night.

Midnight movie schedule for the Prytania Theater

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:14:46 GMT

July 31st & Aug 1st - The Shining
August 7th & 7th - Rocky Horror Picture Show
August 14th & 15th - Clockwork Orange
August 21st & 22nd - Pee Wee's Big Adventure
August 28th & 29th - 'Evil Dead 2'

Wow... between my tastes and Jeannine's, we'll have to catch almost every one... (wonder if they're open to suggestions for further showings? I've certainly got some recommendations...)

As usual, LOTS going on means no time to post!

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:52:24 GMT

Well, just as usual, a plethora of posts are followed by a drought. It always happens when I get terrifically busy, which usually happens right around the point when I suddenly realize "OH CRAP I've got a show coming up!" But this is when advances are made. I spent much of Friday's day off embroiled in this kind of work, including more upgrades to the lights, which will be readily apparent at our next show, and of course working on the new back-screen computer, which will be a subtle but substantial improvement as well (but is taking up most of my free time, having to redo 13 years of video work!)

Mind you, it hasn't been ALL work... there's been some time out for fun too. July 4th was spent with family in the afternoon, cooling off and enjoying some great barbecue. That evening we took Dr. Rachnid up on an offer to hang out at he and Nicole's place and shoot some fireworks - he's only a couple blocks away. We took him up on that and after goofing off with 'Rock Band', we shot off some spectacular shells (and some not so spectacular things such as 'Chicken Laying Eggs' - always good for a laugh) then retired inside to watch Repo: The Genetic Opera (which I hadn't even seen until then!) in Blu-Ray HD on Rach's classy home theater. I enjoyed the film immensely and fully see why so many C.O.G. fans have been urging me to get into it (Rach didn't even know what he had rented was a musical until he noticed that every line was being sung! Silly spider...)

Sunday Jeannine and I went to the Prytania theater for the latest in their summer classic film series, and took in 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' starring James Cagney. We were delighted to hear that the film series was being extended indefinitely and that Mr. Brunet was taking requests! (Lab Girl, I'm talkin' to YOU here...) Another positive development was their announcement of a midnight movie series coming in August/September, including Rocky Horror Picture Show, A Clockwork Orange, and Evil Dead II, with showings on Friday and Saturday nights! Man, the Prytania rocks. I'll be at many of those for sure.

A slight pall was cast over the evening by Ronnie 'Numbers' Rona's official email to me that we were being turned down for the Bingo tent at Voodoo Music Fest. As depressing as this was, I had to remind myself that it is based not on merit, but on 'politics as usual' - in this case, hipster band politics. I admit to being quite slow in playing that game, but if you see any of the Bingo guys, please let them know they screwed the pooch with this decision...

???

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:34:17 GMT

Anybody out there have any old Sifl & Olly episodes on tape?

Wow, Spinal Tap rocked Wembley last night...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:45:42 GMT

Damn but I wish they were taking this on the road. Perhaps they'll change their tune when they tally the receipts!

Highlights from last night are up all over YouTube.

Lots of good fan bootlegs of Stonehenge up on YouTube from last night, of varying quality...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMfgsHVWwNw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auvl-gVWZEo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wPGaig3MPk

OMG they had Keith freakin Emerson on keyboards!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQC3C_lw0Cc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5BrYAbsONo

Gimme Some Money (hi quality):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00J9fIhEYM4

Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxfGoKqEd7o

Big Bottom (feat. Justin Hawkins of The Darkness):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DglpTQVHxPI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fWDumg3qeQ

All the Way Home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH4lpdUcHrc

Here's some interviews with fans outside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB2O6NuBrTI

According to their official website, Tap is running a contest to make a music video of material from their new album. Hmmmm....

Past recedes in rearview mirror as I drive into the future...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:16:37 GMT

Well, yesterday I finally did it; I finally sold the old Flying Car. Which is fine, as the new owner has promised instant access to the thing should we ever need to do any filming with it. I hope he enjoys it as much as I did... I'll sure miss the standard transmission though. 8^{

Meanwhile, another detail from my past has surfaced, amusingly enough. The house that Jeannine and I used to rent a decade ago is around the horseshoe-shaped cul-de-sac from where I live now, and I frequently drive past it on the way to work. When I moved out of there, or should I say "evacuated", a decade ago, the place was in need of major renovation. A leak in the old ceramic tile roof had leached water down into the back bedroom, and the ceiling was starting to cave in. Water from the May 1995 flood had also done its share of damage throughout. Yikes! Well, they dealt with that in short order once we left, and began leasing the place to new tenants within a couple months. I noticed the place had gotten a new front door within this last year as well. But I wondered when they'd give the place a complete overhaul... I knew that whenever they got into the attic, in particular, they'd probably be pixelated to find the stash of "put off for later" projects I had squirreled away up there - old computers, VCR's, tape machines, etc. The attic itself was largely inaccessible; its only entryway was a 2' bolted-shut trap door in the ceiling of the back bedroom closet. It was only approachable via an 8' ladder, and access was only possible with the closet cleaned out. So, a decade went by apparently without any discovery of the curious trove of electronic trash-ure I left up there.

Until, apparently, last week. This morning on my drive into the office, what should I see in front of that house, but the pile of old tape decks, VCR's, and over-the-hill computers I had left up in there so many years ago! I pulled a couple Atari ST's off the pile and continued on to work...

Last few days have been devoted to more work on the C.O.G. stage show, of course; I'm trying to upgrade it again in time for the next few lectures. Last night I devoted a few minutes to lighting; I need to make the lighting on the band members as visible as possible even when the old C.O.G. lighting is absent, broken, or just the victim of inadequate breakers, as was the case at our last show. I'm doing this by adding a floor level LED can for each band member. Now if I can just keep my colleagues from griping about the light in their eyes...

Last but certainly not least, our alternate-universe alter egos in Houston, the Black Math Experiment, are reuniting later this year. Well, that was even faster than I thought it would happen! Good news for the long delayed Houston show... I'll let you know what happens, but I'm aiming for late August/early September at this point. A tour of Florida is also in the works, spearheaded by Dr. Wissenschaft over in Tallahassee... stay tuned!

HOT weekend...

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:02:20 GMT

Record high temperatures do NOT make for a pleasant time when you have to spend so much time outside... nevertheless, I'm on a mission to get my old pickup shipshape for sale, as I've got a buyer who needs it in a hurry! The tailgate and the front hood needed repainting, and I also gave some attention to the cargo area, cleaning the cab, etc. Once I change the oil & filter tomorrow, it'll be ready to go! Best thing about this deal is an assurance that it'll still be available for filming should we ever need it...

EDIT: Oil and filter are now changed. Ye olde flying car's now ready to fly off the lot (except that I had to remove the large jet engine in order to work on the truckbed, so sadly, no actual 'flying' for the new owner.)

Work continues on show material for out next couple lectures. Also really need to make up something to take credit for all these celebrity deaths lately...

Improvements

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:48:16 GMT

So far so good... I haven't yet mounted the laptop computer in its new rack home, but I've already gotten enough done on it to merit bringing it to the next few gigs. I've already gotten several songs done with the new system, including 'Placebo', 'I Scream', and 'Mallet of Metal', and I have some really good ideas for many more, as time permits. Hopefully we'll be all the way up to speed by the fall... (it's like making up a whole music video for every song, so it's a serious effort! On the plus side, anything we already have a music video of can be converted easily.)

Incidentally, the next live C.O.G. lecture is at Babelcon in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 9pm Saturday July 18th. For those of you on the fence about attending this show, here's some things to consider:

It's ALL-AGES and early enough in the evening to not cause problems.
There is NO opening act to wait for. We will appear at 9pm sharp and play two generous sets.
Unlike last year, there will be a cash bar, so bring your I.D. if you want to drink.
If you don't have a Babelcon membership, no problem. Admission to the concert only is only $5!!!

Now that THAT's all clear, back to my weekly rundown. Like I said, I've been working on the long awaited new video setup for much of the week. Also worked a bit on Capt. Mickey's demo last night, with him dubbing bass guitar and some vocals onto the tracks. They're sounding pretty good! Catchy material too; it keeps running around in my head at random moments of the day.

Earlier in the week, I finally got to meet with the local space rock band Alias:Orion before their rehearsal. I found out that they were connected with Tony, ex-guitarist from 'Six Demon Bag', a band with whom I had shared rehearsal space a long, long time ago, in a nearby galaxy named 'Kenner'... (that guitarist has since left Alias:Orion and their sound has streamlined greatly as a result.) But wow, small universe!

Other cool tidbits... C.O.G. friend and fellow troublemaker Beth Patterson is working on a film score for Mike Judge. Anybody who knows her knows this is a match made in hell! I'm currently doing a camera rental for a project of Clint Maedgen's, lending my digital 8 camera to transfer some old Hi-8 tapes he had. I'm still pulling for C.O.G.'s inclusion in the Bingo! tent at this year's VoodooFest, and hopefully this gesture will help keep him warmed up to the idea, though there's still no indication just yet... fingers are crossed though.

And now for the 'guitar tech' side of the post... non-techies will want to tune out now...

Monday I spent some time working on Dr. A Rachnid's sound, which had become increasingly degraded in the last few months, despite his equipment not changing. Rachnid and I got together and focused exclusively on solving this problem. Rachnid was about fed up with his POD XT digital processor; it had become really stringy and 'digital' sounding. Now, this processor, albeit a few years old, is still considered very high quality and is the choice of a lot of professional touring acts. So we started messing with the settings and discovered rather quickly that it was simply out of headroom - over the last few years, settings kept getting turned up and up until there was literally NO MORE VOLUME LEFT. This caused the sound to get smashed together, resulting in a mangled signal with no room left for even a solo boost. The solution of course was to lower some of the gain levels internally and on the C.O.G. Main Computer sequencer (which commands the POD during the show), and just turn up the volume on the amp. Problem destroyed! The sound became much smoother and now there's plenty of headroom left, sufficient to produce PAIN if that is what's called for! I now have to go through our entire song list and reduce all guitar volumes by 30, a small price to pay for excellent sound.

Another problem we discovered was the increasingly loud hum that has been coming from Rachnid's rig. Through swapping cables, we discovered that the hum was coming from his rack tuner, a Korg DTR-1. We'd already tried a cheater plug on the three prong power supply to this thing. Rachnid suspected the output jack, and sure enough when the cable to the POD was plugged into the output jack of the tuner, we got hum even with nothing plugged into the input. An open and shut case, right? Welll... I took the entire tuner apart, heated up the soldering iron, and swapped the output jack with an unused one... and the hum was still there. Hmmm. Checking the internet, it looked like LOTS of people were having problems with this venerable (but first-generation) stage tuner. Acting on a hunch, I put an ohm meter between the input jack on the front of the unit and the output jack on the rear. Over an ohm difference! Wow, no wonder there's a hum - the thing was manufactured with dodgy grounds, provided by this gimpy little push on connector between the front and back circuit boards. I warmed up the soldering iron again and added a hard ground between the boards, which helped but didn't entirely cure the issue. There was still some low-level digital noise leakage from the micro into the guitar signal, which becomes annoying when the gain is turned way up for METAL CRUNCH. When it comes down to it, the thing just wasn't that well designed / constructed. A partial solution involved using the back input jack instead of the more convenient front input, but I'm suspecting that some day I'm gonna tear the unit apart and retrofit the necessary board shielding that Korg neglected to provide on this otherwise potentially spiffy (and useful) tuner.

Time for me to go work on a flyer for Babelcon...

Putting the C.O.G. show on a diet!

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:29:21 GMT

Well, that was a pretty successful weekend. Aside from the literal snoozefest that was Sunday afternoon (hey, I can't be 100% active all the time!) I got some great experiments working - the modern replacement for my venerable Amiga 3000 video computer, and a way of monitoring my guitar onstage via my in-ear monitor receiver (accomplished by a simple Y-cable.)

High on my attention right now is reducing the overall bulk & setup time required to perform a C.O.G. stage show, while simultaneously increasing the impact of the performance. I'm looking at this as a way of potentially being able to perform longer distances from home - we really need to cut down on the weight and complexity. Questions about us booking the band FAR from home get me thinking about how impractical it is to only be able to perform within driving distance. WHY should geniuses be constrained only to road trips?!?? This has got to change.

A lot of the problem, that is to say, the WEIGHT, is centered on the ultra-reliable but aging computers used to run the show. After all, the rest of it is mere costumes and instruments; amplifiers and drums (backline) can be rented or borrowed in any given destination. Stage lights can be computer controlled instead of us hauling around a heavy, complex, and underperforming light show. (That would allow me to ditch *sniff* the hidden, rackmounted Atari 400 (!) that manages control of 16 channels of my old stage lights.) And video projection is getting somewhat standardized at many venues.

Thanks to my efforts this weekend, C.O.G.'s 20 year old video backdrop machine now has a modern replacement, a donated P4 laptop with a broken screen (now removed to make it a headless 'keyboard computer'.) That's gonna be rack mounted on a pull out drawer, saving a bunch of space & poundage in the show rack case. Best thing is, I realized I could start using it immediately by genlocking its composite video output through the Amiga, and just using it on songs I've created new videos for, until every song has been converted to play through it. At that point I can put the A3000 out to pasture. *sniff* Well, it was great for its time, but its time is long past...

Replacing the huge & ultra-heavy main show computer is going to be more trouble; it relies on really arcane tech (ISA peripherals!) that will be a chore to substitute. (On the other hand, I COULD always just record its output onto a laptop, once a song's locked down and finished.) Hmmmm, lotta choices... but I intend to have the whole show operable off of garden variety laptops before the fall. I love the way the old Turtle Beach ISA sound card works and sounds - in a way, it's sound IS the sound of the C.O.G. But I need to start experimenting with other sample playback solutions. Long as I could run my favorite drum samples, a general midi palette (with an awesome piano), and maybe a software reverb, I'd be pretty happy. Any recommendations? I heard that Yamaha had a software midi playback solution... there's also the possibility of using a PCMCIA sound card. Hmmmm...

Later on today, I'm going by C&M Music Center to pick up a cheap DMX LED par light. I intend to hack it, either interfacing it with my existing homemade dimmer packs, or (better still) buying up arrays of cheap LED's and extending its built in complement of LED's to an array of cheapies... perhaps I can buy up some from the dollar store... hmmmm (gotta be a way of harvesting bright LED's for cheap!)

Oh, if you have time, check out this cool hack site. Even if you're not into making cool hacks, there's some great ideas here:

http://hackaday.com

Blur of a week...

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:06:25 GMT

Last week was such a blur I didn't even have time to post for days... just enough time right now to fix that before I jump back into the fray.

Wednesday we got together with Filbert Snodgrass and went over some material for the 'Crowbar' show in late July. Filbert's done a good job remembering the old songs he helped write and has picked up on a few new ones. We still have a great deal of work left to do fleshing out the 'show' parts of the event. After a quick rehearsal I went over to the practice space of space rock band Alias:Orion and hung out for a few hours to suss what they were doing. Very cool people whom I think we'll be working with very soon...

Thursday (and Friday) evenings I got together with Rachnid's old rhythm guitarist, police capt. Mickey, and began recording his demos. He's got two songs, one of which is a Johnny Cash type number and the other of which sounds like the Byrds. They're both catchy and fun to work on. We laid down a guitar guide track, then drums, then doubled 12 string rhythm parts on both with a pretty Yamaha acoustic 12 string. After that we did some vocals. Next thing will be Rachnid coming in and laying down bass parts and some backup vocals...

Friday morning I got a call back from MTV networks. Interesting! Perhaps they're not totally cold on my involvement with their weird superhero project (see my post a couple weeks back)... and I'd be only too happy to appear in-character on national TV, as long as the conditions were right. More on that if it develops...

Later on Friday I got an email from Dee Long, the writer of DeeSampler, saying that he'd solved the midi program change problem in his otherwise outstanding program. Excellent! With that hurdle removed, I can now integrate full streaming video playback into C.O.G.'s stage show. I settled on a laptop with a broken (and now removed) screen to do the actual work, donated by the very generous Petri Laihonen. It's a Dell 5150 3Ghz P4, and it does a fine job on video clips encoded in xvid. Hopefully next time we perform, our video will be a LOT more professional looking! It's also finally starting to push me into a more modern mindset that would make it possible to deploy a C.O.G. show from much less weighty equipment. The computer rack I've used for all these years has been a heavy albatross indeed... time to do something about it, methinks!

I now have to decide whether to stick with the old composite cable, or string a 50ft s-video cable to the projector. Does anybody have a Dell composite adapter that I can borrow? I would like to see how much better s-video would look. (50ft. of VGA, sadly, is out of the question!)

Friday afternoon, to make a good day even better, I got a nice gift in the mail... really nice footage of us performing in Pensacola. As usual, the sound isn't that good but the visuals are great - John Hand, the cameraman for Nightmare Theater, really knew what he was doing. Their invitation to appear on their show later this year was also very appealing. I think we'll be playing there again, as soon as it starts to cool off a bit.

Saturday I got together with longtime C.O.G. writer Hacksaw and one-time C.O.G. comic artist Ben Beamis, and hashed out plans for a new C.O.G. comic book/web comic. More on that as it develops!

Now it's time to get some BBQ and treat my dad to a well deserved Fathers Day...

Happy Spinal Tap day!

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:32:38 GMT

In commemoration of our great forebears Spinal Tap putting out a (mostly!) new album today, I dedicate this video of the Consortium of Genius performing Tap's epic classic 'Stonehenge'. This was taped September 19th at One Eyed Jacks club in New Orleans. Big thanks as always to Beth Patterson for her fairy-light touch on the Bouzouki. Enjoy...

Wot's next?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:44:45 GMT

Fun time Sat. night at the Hi Ho, albeit not without its little problems and idiosyncrasies (mostly due to breakers failing; strange, as we somehow avoided that problem last time we performed at the Hi Ho.) The owner was, as always, an extremely gracious and appreciative host. Summer heat and a 'Peaches' concert across town cut into our crowd a bit but on the other hand, we saw some faces we hadn't seen in a while, which is always good (such as Sean from Rock City Morgue, Chris from Supagroup, and Casey from the New Orleans Bingo Show.) Tommy from Alias:Orion was in the crowd too; I think a show with them would be a good thing...

Opening act 'Hairy Lamb' were loud, loud, loud! Just the way they like it! Dave Stocker, our fill-in soundman for the evening, had things sounding fantastic as usual all evening long; don't know where we would have been without him (I suspect 'unhappy' is where we would have been...) The mighty Cyberludite was an unflagging trooper with his roadie assistance (as well as this show's bit part as psycho killer Jason.) We sounded tight that evening and had fun onstage, although the vibe in the place was just a little off... don't know quite why, but it didn't spoil our fun. The new album by the almighty Spinal Tap, played before and after C.O.G. also made the time go by sweetly...

And now onto the next chapter! Babelcon is where we're playing next, July 18th in Baton Rouge. Quick poll: if you're going to see us at Babelcon, would you prefer a 'plot' based C.O.G. show, or just more music?

Got a bin of old computer parts?

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:33:48 GMT

??? If so, I'd appreciate you taking a look in it for me. I'm seeking an old PCI video card WITH A COMPOSITE OUTPUT on it as well as the VGA output. I'm talking about the yellow phono plug type. If you have one of these free, PLEASE let me know!

it's for something special...

Funny things happeninging...

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:01:44 GMT

Interesting day. Well, aside from work, which was its usual uninteresting self.

Late Tuesday evening, I was contacted by somebody from 'Superheroes Anonymous', which seems to be a league of Real Life Superheroes - and for those of you who haven't heard about this phenomenon yet, the term refers to a special breed of folks who actually condone and practice the habit of going out in public, dressed to the nines in their best spandex, etc., to help people, fight crime, rescue kittens, etc. While not actively denounced by police, these folks are generally forbidden to carry anything more powerful than a can of pepper spray. Most of them put themselves in more danger than the folks they're trying to protect.

OK, now that you have the background, here's the setup. One of the organizers of this league, Ben Goldman, wrote me on MySpace about getting involved with his project as a 'supervillain'. Ben and his crew had been shooting a documentary about their illustrious league, and apparently this project has since landed in the hands of MTV Networks, who are developing a reality TV show around the characters and concepts (apparently they believe they can do better than Stan Lee & Sci Fi Channel's 'Who Wants To Be A Superhero' from last year, and after suffering through viewing that show myself, I can give them the benefit of THAT doubt.) Anyway, 'supervillain' is a role that ol' Pinkerton can play with ease, and I'd almost always welcome the opportunity to get paid for some screen time promoting the band; however, a few unanswered questions remained.

Ben called me this morning to set up a conference call Wednesday afternoon. After assuring me that MTV had really changed a lot, wasn't out to screw anybody these days, and wanted a quality show, etc. he gave me the details and we signed off until the afternoon.

At 2pm, I got on the conference call and was introduced to the MTV producers (at no point did they ask me to keep mum or hold to a nondisclosure agreement, and so I'm blogging this!) They seemed the standard confused, condescending Hollywood types, and I played along with them for a while to scope out what they had to offer. At first they seemed intrigued by me... they clumsily explained that they wanted a villain to take down their superheroes (hmmm, another 'attrition' type reality show setup. Joy.) I asked them several times where the dividing line would be between reality and fantasy on this show, and they were pretty much unable to pin it down... apparently they themselves are confused about their show's structure at this point.

But I could hear crests falling as it slowly dawned on them that I wasn't 'living it' like so many of these costumed do-gooders; I explained that I was an entertainer, that my own group was contructed as a vehicle for music and comedy, and that my participation in this project would necessarily be without relinquishing any character rights (which Ben insisted was a baseline necessity of everybody else's participation too, BTW. Weird!) Oh, and my participation would also be contingent upon the ability to promote my music. It also came out that they had confused the Consortium of Genius with a bunch called the Consortium of Evil. Heh. Looks pretty humorous, but it couldn't be farther from what I'm doing (or at least it had better stay that way! I bet they ripped off our name after the 'Bad Horse' contest last fall.)

We got the pleasantries out of the way and they thanked me for talking with them, saying they'd be in touch. My impression of the whole thing - ridiculous, with the promise of more bad TV to come, and another peek inside the travesty that is the entertainment industry machine. There's something to be said about producers that just don't get the hot new property that they're attempting to exploit! I could dissect this six ways to Sunday, but when it comes down to it, I suspect that Ben and the rest of these well-meaning folks are going to end up a bunch of patsies embarrassing themselves in what was undoubtedly pitched as 'Jackass with a Cape'.

Uhhh... I think I'll pass.

It's who you know...

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:31:32 GMT

...around here. Well, I'm happy to say we made it through rehearsal tonight without police citation, arrest, or even neighborly complaints.

But I did some legwork first. Last night, Rachnid and I visited an old friend of his - in fact, the 2nd guitarist in the oldies band he was in, back in high school. The guy happens to be Captain in the local police force now. He'd actually attended a rehearsal a couple months back, and is recording a demo of songs that he wrote at the Secret Lab. His advice was to go into Harahan City Hall and see the mayor. Which is precisely what I did. (for those of you reading this outside of Louisiana, we're not based in New Orleans proper, but rather an incorporated suburb of the city near the riverbend. Hence the 'small town' politics.)

Mayor Paul Johnston turned out to be a really nice guy, and was quite willing to listen to my rebuttal to the accusations. After telling me that the noise ordinances don't really take effect before 10pm anyway, he tried to get the guy who wrote the letter on the phone, but that fellow was out 'enforcing codes'. So I invited him to stop by rehearsal and hear for himself whether we were in violation of any laws or statues.

Which to my knowledge he didn't, but I did take the opportunity to borrow an SPL meter from work and take some readings. Noise of traffic in front of my house: ~70db. Noise of dogs next door: ~82db. Sound level inside the Secret Lab during rehearsal: ~105db. Sound level outside the Secret Lab during rehearsal: ~76db.

Fingers crossed, but I think we're in the clear! More news on this IF it develops... but for now, my attention can go back to the show coming up this next weekend (and to my continuing research in replacing the 20 year old back-screen Amiga computer - almost got all the kinks worked out of the replacement software/hardware.)

My response to the previous...

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:43:29 GMT

Thanks for all the good wishes everyone! I'm not taking this lying down. Here's my response to the letter from the city (see previous post.)

Dear sirs,

Having read the letter of complaint dated June 2, 2009, I have the following comments:

I have never resisted when asked to lower the volume of music at my home. However, it has been three years since a policeman visited to request the cessation of noise. The insulation in my home and garage walls is sufficient to keep my immediate neighbors from being bothered (yes, I asked.) Additionally, I have not been practicing music on a 'weekend' as described in the letter. My rehearsals have been confined to Monday nights between 7:30pm and 9:30pm. Perhaps the radio by my right-hand neighbor's poolside, or the other band which sometimes rehearses further up Huntly St. led to this confusion. But weekend disturbances were not my doing, and I resent being scapegoated.

A 'maximum permissible sound level' is mentioned but not delineated. What is the maximum sound pressure level permitted for the 'receiving land use category in Table 1'? As an audio hobbyist, I am very aware of the scientific measurement of sound pressure levels and can easily keep within permissible limits - if they are specified.

Please furnish me with figures to help me to comply with your request in a reasonable manner. Flatly telling me that I cannot practice music in my own home is NOT reasonable! Zoning doesn't dictate what I can or cannot do in the privacy of my home, especially given that music is a hobby to me, not a business. However, I am sensitive to noise complaints, would like to be a 'good neighbor' and am certainly willing to comply with the limits of the law, if you furnish the proper information on those limits.

P.S.: I did not receive any 'letter dated May 8, 2009' regarding this matter. To which address was that letter sent?

Regards,

etc.

My brother-in-law, who is an attorney, has told me that the letter was proper and respectful, BUT to wait to mail it until he has a word with a couple people... more news on this as it develops...

What is this?!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:02:43 GMT

So, I pick up this certified mail from the post office today, and this is what it says:

No decibels cited, no sign of who lodged the complaint, a reference to a previous noise complaint that I never received... this is bullshit. I particularly love the part about my place not being zoned for a band to rehearse in. We don't even go past 10pm. And no police have come by to ask us to turn in down in over three years!

You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, and you DON'T tell Dr. Pinkerton "Silence"! In the immortal words of B. Bunny, "Of course you know, this means war..."

I have a confession to make... I love theme bands and I cannot lie!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:02:42 GMT

There, I've said it (you would have never guessed in a million years, right?) Just because I started The Consortium of Genius after having seen Boston-area band The Upper Crust and the sadly defunct Emergency Broadcast Network in 1995, you wouldn't think I was a sucker for theme bands, right? Hell, I've only seen the mighty GWAR 9 or 10 times now... but anyway, I've just been expressing my inner geek the only way I know how, right? I was 'nerdcore' before nerdcore was even invented, eh? Wrong!

Clicking through the MySpace links will lead you right down a virtual vortex of ridiculously-costumed theme band insanity. From the 50's sci-fi themed Phenomenauts of Oakland to the Japanese superheroes Peelander Z to the Dungeons and Dragons themed Goblet of NYC, to the Killer Robots of Orlando Florida, I thought I'd heard them all...

...until I found the BEST. Or, at very least, my current favorite... from Canada, The Laudronauts. How on Earth could a band whose entire oeuvre apparently consists of clothes-washing metaphors be so c0g-damned entertaining?!?? Listen and learn my friends...

Meanwhile, what's YOUR favorite theme band? (I mean, BESIDES DEVO of course!)

Yngwie Flattstein signature guitar strings now available!

Sun, 31 May 2009 01:22:27 GMT

Wow, they're finally out!

They're available at all C&M Music Center locations. Don't ask for them in Guitar Center or Best Buy - Yngwie's too cool for those places! Check out the inner fold for more pictures and facts about the famous Mr. Yngwie Flattstein.

Notice that these strings are 'acoustic' 12 gauge. Obviously somebody's pulling a prank of some kind on Mr. Flattstein - who was reportedly not amused, but was attempting to mount a Floyd Rose tremolo on an acoustic guitar just to show that he's nobody's fool!

At any rate, the strings are awesome! This is C.O.G.'s first commercial endorsement. We'll be having a 'string release party' late July to commemorate this blessed event... more on this later!

Meanwhile, go friend Mr. Flattstein on his official MySpace page and congratulate him on the strings!

What a life...

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:50:21 GMT

Wednesday night I got together with Filbert Snodgrass, and Dr. A Rachnid to discuss plans for the C&M String Release Party we're planning for July 25th. This will be a most unconventional event, promoting the new line of strings C&M Music is putting out, featuring none other than Yngwie Flattstein (along with a handful of other local guitar notables like Randy Jackson of Zebra, as well as a few national greats like Jennifer Batten of Michael Jackson and Jeff Beck's backing bands, and Roger Fisher of Heart's original lineup.)

A very welcome call from Matt Brunson came later... local metal legends Crowbar were set to join us for the string release party in July. Nice!

Last night, I was privileged to attend a meet 'n' greet with Jennifer Batten! It was held just around the corner from my office, at Magnolia Plantation, a reception hall. Jennifer was touring in support of her newest solo effort. She had a projection screen and soundtrack to play over, with backing videos done not only by herself but also by many of her friends. She had shed the huge hairdo she was wearing back in the old L.A. metal days, but still has the chops. Jennifer demonstrated a wide range of styles and moods, from industrial grooves with wild Robert Fripp-like guitar sounds, to four on the floor rockers in a Jeff Beck style, to acoustic jazz, to blues, to straight out shredding. It was all mesmerizing, but I have to admit I liked the one piece she did without backing tracks best of all. Of course, she played her signature piece, Flight of the Bumblebee (sans bees and huge hair!)...

During the event, I got several guitarists to contribute video shout-outs for the String Release Party. Jennifer herself was really cool about it and proved to be a gracious person with the same off kilter sense of humor I see in a lot of the best virtuosos (as a matter of fact, she reminded me a great deal of my friend Beth Patterson...)

I had only found out about the performance the day before, and had not had the chance to alert many of my musical friends. But there'll be another chance to see Jennifer perform in New Orleans, next Saturday June 6th at the Rock'n'Bowl. I HIGHLY recommend attending! And for those of you who live outside New Orleans, check out her website for her tour stops. Highly recommended, esp. if you love guitar music...

http://www.jenniferbatten.com

After the concert, Jeannine and I were alarmed to find the key was not turning correctly in her car ignition. A quick call to a locksmith friend revealed the secret to getting the thing to turn, but it's clear that the ignition tumbler will have to be replaced - a costly and unwelcome development. Good thing I currently have the two trucks. We finished the night at Hoshun restaurant on St. Charles. After all that, their cooking was amazing and welcome... out of this world sweet & sour...

This weekend I intend to see Pixar's new film 'Up' in 3D at the Prytania Theater. Yay! Not only do we now have a true 3D Digital theater in town, but a great small neighborhood theater like Prytania needs this kind of technology to maintain its toehold in a city dominated by AMC. Prytania is a cool place run by cool people (I made friends with owner Rene Brunet recently, in the process of shooting the 'Morgus' documentary) and now I have another good reason to make the trip uptown.

What a strange, cool, weird and wonderful life I have. And it's mostly due to having such amazing friends. Very thankful for it!

And now, as a form of reward for getting to this part of the blog, here are some rare and illustrious specimens of geek haiku. Enjoy!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/haiku/

We Have a Winner!

Wed, 27 May 2009 05:34:15 GMT

COG-GRATULATIONS go out to 'Sick Like Sinatra' for winning the sufficient vote to open for the Consortium of Genius at the Hi-Ho Lounge in New Orleans on the 13th of June!

Runners up 'Hairy Lamb' will receive a copy of the home game, a box of Rice-A-Roni, the San Fransisco treat, and the opportunity to open for us later in the summer. Thanks for playing!!!

Meanwhile, you can still check out music from both great bands HERE.

---

In other news, I had the total privilege of viewing Sam Raimi's new film 'Drag Me To Hell' earlier tonight. I've got to admit, the Sam Raimi we all knew and loved is BACK! There are several scenes of pure sick fun, including a memorable little sequence involving an anvil, that made me laugh out loud in a way I haven't laughed at horror in a long time. While this film never goes completely over the top in relentless psychotic-cartoon comedy the way the Evil Dead series did, it has plenty to offer aficionados. Aside from the subtle (and not so subtle) callbacks to his classic films, Drag Me To Hell is nicely self-contained and doesn't require a fore-knowledge of those films to enjoy. It's genuinely eerie in places, a feel that few modern horror films achieve - in many respects, it resembles a 70's Italian horror film, and I mean that as a high compliment. Sam Raimi goes more for the shock and startle factor than an out and out gorefest, and thereby keeps it somehow within the PG-13 rating - so unexpectedly, this becomes a film enjoyable by both experienced genre lovers AND younger teens who are ready to graduate from the 'Goosebumps' level (there were a bunch of them in the front rows of the screening earlier tonight, and their screams mixed really nicely with the soundtrack!)

I recommend it (just don't look for Bruce Campbell - sorry, but he's conspicuously absent from the proceedings. Ted Raimi is there but you'll have to be observant.) and I give it 4 out of 5 skulls.

Now if Sam Raimi could just persuade his friend Peter Jackson to follow suit, the world would be a happier place...

Vote for C.O.G.'s opening act June 13th

Tue, 26 May 2009 05:26:56 GMT

OK, it has come to my attention that you can't judge a band by NAME ALONE. Fair enough! To help everybody vote for the appropriate band to open for the Consortium of Genius on June 13th at the Hi Ho Lounge in New Orleans, here's three songs from each band to listen to. Please let me know your vote ASAP! We'll announce the winner on Tuesday evening.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Great little weekend

Mon, 25 May 2009 19:14:32 GMT

Aside from the usual domestic upkeep this weekend, I got some musical stuff done - starting with a little guitar recording on Friday with Dr. Rachnid, and then with an opportunity to scope out a new venue on Saturday. Saturday night I accompanied Filbert's band Love Zombie to the Howlin' Wolf Northshore to help them and check out the space. It's a good thing I had my GPS on me or we'd have never found the place! It was actually off the highway, on a residential street, opposite an old cemetary.

This is what the place looks like... unfortunately this isn't one of my photos!

The Northshore Howlin' Wolf is built in an old reception hall and looks a LOT like the old pre-K Howlin' Wolf location in miniature. The owners hung up wall decorations from the old location in an apparent effort to hammer that point home! The place is nice, if a bit small, and features a brand new sound system (which was just OK, as the room's acoustics are what you get in a ringy hall.) Their management was skittish about ANYBODY but the house soundman touching their all-digital Yamaha mixing console, so I contented myself with photographing the band while they performed (with guitarist Ed Cleaveanger's girlfriend's camera, so I don't have the pix.) Love Zombie played to a lukewarm crowd, which doubled by the time the headlining band Mothers Everlasting Soul took the stage. With their groove oriented funky rock, fantastic sax playing and female vocalist, they were able to get the crowd moving a bit better. Sadly, it seemed like there were more people hanging around outside the place smoking and talking, than enjoying the music inside. It seemed like a 'cover band' kind of audience; I don't know whether to bother trying to book over there. We might be a bit beyond their ken, unless we played 50/50 covers perhaps (or cajun music!) Is that really worth it without a guarantee?

Sunday afternoon Jeannine and I dropped by the Prytania theater for the first in their classic film series, "Singin' in the Rain". This film is an old favorite and the beautifully restored print looked great up on their big screen. The fact that they got the print from DVD didn't detract too much; it just looked a tad soft (unfortunately, there's no HD edition of this film in circulation yet.) The concept of showing classic films on a Sunday is a great one and needs to continue! There are many great films I'd love to see on that projection system (a Sony 4K as I understand it.) I also spoke to owner Rene Brunet about augmenting the vintage experience by adding pre-movie cartoons... (Sunday night we watched a bunch of classic Warner Bros. shorts to make up for the omission!)

Tonight is rehearsal with C.O.G. Hopefully, we'll be able to finally decide on a choice of opening act for the show on the 13th - the Appalachian rock of Hairy Lamb or the disco insanity of Sick Like Sinatra? Perhaps when Hairy Lamb deigns to supply some samples of their sound, an educated decision can be made!

Meanwhile, for those of you having Dr. Who withdrawals as a result of the distinct lack of episodes this season, there's (unfortunately) THIS and THIS to tide you over.

What's up doc?

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:12:47 GMT

Aside from my office job picking up pretty well these days, I've mostly been working on some videogames to sell... a Sega Star Trek and a Midway Super Pacman. The Super Pac will become another MAME machine and the Star Trek is destined for a very interested buyer in Houston, who wants it completely restored. Well, that's what I tend to do!

Dr. Z's recovery proceeds as well... after I leave here, I'm going to hitch up the C.O.G. trailer and help him get some surviving furniture from his house.

I leave you with this nice article on one of my favorite Warner Bros. animators, Tex Avery!