Lunch Report, Tuesday, April 20

Tuesday, back in Seattle and happy to be in my cozy little cubical. Sorry I wasn’t able to respond to yall’s posts yesterday but I was travelling, I’ll be able to chime in a few times today.

Lunch today will be leftover oven baked chicken, a handful of potato chips and some ice tea. I was born on the East Coast but spent a good portion of my adolescent years in the Midwest and like the south, ice tea is a pretty big deal down there. I shed the accent (except for the yalls) shorty after moving to the Pacific Northwest in the ‘80’s but still love me some perfectly steeped ice tea. When I’m at restaurants I tend to be a bit judgmental when it comes to their ice teas and won’t even order it at fast food places. Anyone else a snob for certain foods?

G&L content: Think we’ll stretch the G&L content into BBE content today. I’m in the process of rebuilding my pedal board as we speak and pedals are very much on my mind right now. I am the proud owner of three BBE pedals (Crusher distortion, Sonic Maximizer and a Boosta Grande) but I really only use the boost pedal on my board. The distortion pedal is handy with my small house amps that have weak gain and the Sonic Maximizer is kind of a candy pedal I use now and then to clean up my old Super Reverb. I just purchased a real deal ‘80’s TC Electronic chorus/flanger pedal to replace my old beat-to-hell Electra Harmonix Small Clone. I have wanted the TC since I first heard Eric Johnson almost 20 years ago and finally found one for a reasonable price. I also just dumped my Line 6 delay for a new TC Electronic Nova Delay system. Replacing these two pedals meant making room for them on my board and gave me an excuse to tear it all apart and try a new layout. More about that later this week once it’s finished.



I think BBE has a solid line of pedals and, like G&Ls, the bang for the buck is undeniable. Well made, good sounding and a relatively diverse line to choose from. They aren’t boutique but they certainly hold their own in the working man’s market. And those paint jobs – can we say enough about the loud an colorful designs on these things! I borrowed a BBE wah from my friend and it was really sweet sounding, think I may be getting one in the not too distant future.

So how about those BBE pedals? Who’s tried what? What are your opinions on their durability and performance? Which ones do you like the best? What would you like to see BBE offer that they don’t? Let’s see some pictures of your “boards” or whatever is at your feet.

Humor: In your opinion, what’s the funniest thing on TV these days? Any shows you find particularly hilarious besides Dancing With The Stars? A friend recently turned me on to Nurse Jackie and The United States Of Tara and now I’m hooked.

And while we’re on the subject of humor –



Hobbies: If you’re reading this you’re a guitar or bass player, we already know that and it’s not that special on this forum. And the majority of yall like G&L instruments? We already figured that out as well. What we really wanna know is what else do like to do when you’re not working or taking care of day-to-day responsibilities? What else do you do for fun? Give us a few lines of your other passions and post up some pictures.

I used to be very into SCUBA diving and I’m getting back into that this summer with my daughter but currently outside of music my main hobby is 4x4ing. Specifically I’m into old box Broncos. I have always been around 4x4 guys and spend a lot of time in the woods banging around trails but it took me a few years to save and find the Bronco I wanted that was already 75% built to my taste. I remember how excited I was the day I drove it home but at first it didn’t play out the way I had pictured it. You know those Navy commercials where they show the guys standing at attention on the deck of a massive carrier with the sun setting behind them and all the cool music and tough guy narrative? And that 18 year-old kid is sitting in his living room watching it thinking “Man, I should join the Navy because these guys look like they are seeing the world and living the ultimate adventure.” Then he signs up and 4 months later he sitting on a scaffolding hanging of the bow of a ship in 100 degree weather scraping barnacles wondering why it didn’t look like this in the commercial? My truck was the same way. I imagined myself bounding through the forest negotiating impossible terrain, climbing steep and narrow passes, sinking it in the mud to the running boards and the occasion fantasy of pulling out stuck Jeeps. But what owning a 40 year-old truck really meant was lying on my back in the driveway repairing one thing one evening so I could run it for one full day until the next thing broke. The first year that truck was not running a total of 48 days for 9 separate issues. Didn’t help that I chose to do most of the repairs myself to keep the costs to a minimum. It did however afford my hot little wife an opportunity to tease me quite a bit. I missed two big club runs because it was down for repairs and that first year it only saw about 5 real off road trips. But I’m happy to report that it’s been running fine for the past three months and I am hopeful it will make it through the summer before it’s next big breakdown. Here’s a shot of me trying to break an axel up in the Cascade Mountains last summer.



This Day in History: In 1961 FM stereo broadcasting was approved by the FCC, 1972 - Apollo 16 landed on the moon, in ’99 the Columbine High School tragedy, Dennis Leary and Carmen Electra share birthdays today.

Yesterday’s Mystery Guitarist: Robert Fripp of King Crimsom – looks like Elwood nailed it first.



Today’s Mystery Guitarist:



Born in Jersey, this jazz guitarist started performing at 14 years old with Charlie Barnet and Tony Pastor. He moved to New York and developed a serious drug habit in 1960 that landed him in a 2 and a half year recovery program at Synanon which he would name his next album after. In the mid 60’s he worked with Frank Sinatra, Louis Bellson, Joe Williams, Johnny Mathis and Sarah Vaughn. He moved to LA and worked the live TV circuit on The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show and The Steve Allen Show. In the mid 70’s his group The Trio won a Grammy. He recorded 4 albums with Ella Fitzgerald and towards the end of his career. Ibanez was the first to offer a signature model guitar named after him.

Thanks for tuning in

Hi Spot, just a heads up, I'm using the subsilver2 theme and I can't read your report ... yellow against grey. Yesterdays was fine.

Paul

btw the last pic if I'm not mistaken is Joe Pass, he had a very distinctive way of holding a guitar.

I think Southpaw nailed the mystery guitarist.

I have a BBE Mind Bender, Free Fuzz, and Main Squeeze, that share my small pedal board with my Dunlop Wah and DGTM. If I was only "entitled" to one pedal, it would undoubtedly be the DGTM. However, I do kick in the Mind Bender quite often and it, coupled with the DGTM and Main Squeeze, gets some very cool tones. The little flute riff in the Moody Blues' "Knights in White Satin" sounds very cool with the DGTM and Mind Bender either on Chorus or Vibrato setting.

I spend most of my other hobby time out windsurfing on the Pacific, just below the Ventura County line, at a place called Leo Carillo. It's the best place for windsurfing on this section of coast. I also surf without the help of a sail, but I'm finding out my nearly 53 year-old back and knees don't like it as much as they used to.

My buddy, Mitchell, has a website dedicated to we Secos (as Leo Carillo is commonly called) kids, on which he posts videos, etc. If you care to watch, I'm featured at around 2:12 on the video (link below), riding one of the larger set waves of the day. And yes, that's a man-eating rock that I barely made it around soon after the takeoff. There are some good sailors featured.



Nice Bronco, Spot. I had a friend who was really into those. I believe there's model called a "Stroub"(?) that's supposed to be one of "the ones".

http://www.youtube.com/user/secoswinds#p/a/u/0/U07V3xBQnVg

Nice Bronco Spot! There's one around town that is Yellow and white...clean as pin. Always liked those.

I'm not much into hobbies these days other than music. Most of time I'm chasing my 13 year old around to activities or working on the stinking house.

The only BBE I have at this point is a Green Screamer. I really, really like it. I is a nice 808 clone but it seems more transparent without bumping the mids too
much when you kick it on.

I agree that is likely Joe Pass....but small chance it could be Jim Hall as he played a 175 in those plaid suit days. Sure looks like Joe's grip and angle on the guitar.

Hobby:
My main hobby is Rickshaw:


I also have some bicycles. One needs a flat fixed, the small one below is in the shop, and the big one below is running:


26 inch tires on the Schwinn (standard size), 36 inch tires on the Coker Monster Cruiser.

The Rickshaw Blog: http://www.rickshawseason.com
The Coker: http://www.rickshawseason.com/coker-monster-cruiser/

-Brock

I used to ride to high school with a neighborhood friend who had one of those box Broncos. That would've been back in 1970-71 timeframe, so the Bronco looked just like yours. Of course it was nearly new, then so it was a pretty cool ride for a high school kid.

I always wondered why nobody spoofed on OJ's big chase in his White Bronco. Ford could've issued a signature edition. LOL

I do a liitle bike riding when I get the chance but I don't have a pictures of me doing it.

I also sort of collect old tube radios. I way sort of, because I really have kind of stopped. I have about 8 in my office at work, just for visual effect more than anything else.

I actually have 4 BBE pedals that I don't have hooked up because I usually dont run a pedal(s) when I play bass, but they sure are fun for guitar.
I have recieved three of these for doing Lunch Reports( Opto Stomp, Sonic Stomp x2) and the fourth is a Green Screamer that I won from another board member for another contest.
I like the Sonic Stomp for bass and I really am impressed with the quality of all of these BBE pedals. I think they are as good as anything on the market.
I haven't seen or played all of the high end stuff that some dedicated pedal users get into, but that is just my opinion from comparing BBE to Electro Hamonix and Boss pedals.

I have actually won a bunch of stuff for hanging around here and answering the right questions at the right time or just posting LRs once a year.

I saw Joe Pass live once and he was an incredible guitarist.

Nice job on the reports this week Spot.

I'll skip the BBE pedal discussion since I'm obviously biased and have a bunch of 'em.

Funniest thing on TV:

I don't find anything consistently funny. There are some good moments, though. I still like the old Seinfelds which get me sucked in and elicit a few chuckles. South Park also works for me as well: the Guitar Hero one was awesome, as was the World of Warcraft one.

Hobbies besides music:

I'm a motorhead. I get lots of magazines, all the general ones, as well as more specific ones like Car Craft and Excellence (Porsche). I've never had an American muscle car, but at some point I'll get around to that, just as I figure sometime I'll get around to playing with Porsches. I have a thing for BMWs, and the older I get, the older I like the bimmers. They've got to be modded for power and handling, though.

Over the past couple of years, a BMW shop (CMW in Huntington Beach) has been building a '91 325iC project. Think '80s era BMW convertible. It had been sitting in the shop and the car's owner didn't want to pay for the next repair. My wife used to have one of these and seeing this car tugged on the nostalgia vibe, so I bought it. This thing was clean but stock, so I figured I'd do a few upgrades. Right. It soon became yet another slippery slope project car for me, this one a full build-up. Anyway, it looks tame and tasteful but it's pretty pumped. The motor was built with a turbo system, water-to-air intercooler, running between 13-14 psi now. The suspension and brakes are derived from the '80s era BMW M3, though all that stuff is upgraded as well. It's an '80s style Euro hotrod. No power down low, but the when the turbo fully spools at about 3krpm, the thing hits pretty hard. It's just a silly chick car that's taken 'roids, but it's a lot of fun.

TV: You're right, Nurse Jackie is damn fine, though for my money I think the two funniest shows on television are South Park and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And The Daily Show is ingenius on a nightly basis.

Hobbies: I used to like to pick up chicks, but now I'm engaged so that's over. I also used to like to drink heavily, but severe, wanton alcoholism gets old after 15 years or so, so I gave that up too. Um...

My day job is my hobby, and my dogs, my music and my fiancee are my life! Yay for El Fug!!!