pedal board overview (john mayer)

pedal board dissection is a growing hobby of mine. Making your own pedal board satisfies your fix for creativity, construction, and fabrication with a musical ends. Anytime I go see a show, i'm mentally de-constructing the guitarists effects setup and how they use them. Style, setup, and functionality all play a role in how i'll finally set up my own gear. Right now its a home-made rig built off an old shelf. However, my gear is started to overflow and the time has come to decide how to continue. I'm starting by overviewing what I like and don't like about a few artists pedal boards.
First, John Mayer, because he was the topic of the last post and on my mind. Here are a few shots of JM's board:
John uses a very clean and minimalist approach, as he does with just about everything except his solos. He likes clean, organized, and open spaces for working, both in his apartment, websites, and stages. For starters, John has several rugs placing at least one on the front/center of stage and places his board and mic stand towards the front. John uses very few effects as well, but has been expanding just recently (he's picked up a hobby of making/soldering his own effects pedals). He plugs his fender array of guitars in a Teese RMC wah pedal, which goes into his Boss TU-2 Tuner (white), into the another white pedal (homemade, don't know what it is), into the small blue Boss BD-2 Blues Driver (mod), into the green pedal is a Ibanez Vintage Tube Screamer. He ties all these up with heavy-duty guage cables velcro'd down to an expensive prefabricated 3-tiered board. John likes his set-up clean and organized, but spares no expense for quality.

who did you think i was?

This is why I dig John Mayer. and no, its not because of the scarf. (altough, for the record, I've been a scarf-guy for 2 years now and caught my fair share of hell for it) Because this guy can freakin' SHRED his guitar(s). 'hey here's a pretty solid song; catchy... and HERE'S a freakin mind-numbing, finger-bleeding solo @ 2:30 into it!' For more John Mayer blues tracks, check out the JM3, the John Mayer Trio, and their live CD; Try! ***(as a sidenote; check HERE to see why I hate john mayer. 27 guitars! and thats just the electrics. my faves are the '59 strat, the JM signiture strat, and the grey/maroon custom strat)***

gamesgalore

Today's point of interest whilst killing downtime at work is computer games. The best, the worst, and what i'm looking forward to. First of all, I'm looking forward to being able to afford a new computer which will run games beyond pong v3.0 and having the time to play them. Until then, I can only drool over them. Here's a few i'm waiting for:
Prey: a fps (first-person-shooter): Prey tells the story of Tommy, a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation going nowhere. Abducted along with his people to a menacing mothership orbiting Earth, he sets out to save himself and his girlfriend and eventually his planet. In Prey, players enter a living spaceship which enslaves alien races and devours humans for lunch. A unique twist on the first person shooter genre, Prey features such innovations as the ability to walk on walls, manipulate gravity and perform a "spirit walk" by leaving your physical body behind. Designed by Human Head (under the direction of 3D Realms), Prey features full online support for up to eight players, utilizing the game's play innovations for unique multiplayer experiences. -IGN.com (click here for a screenshot)
...this game looks like it will feature the first original gameplay tricks in a while. A fast paced as well, judging from the trailers.
F.E.A.R.; exctraction point - (fps): This game is an expansion pack from an older game (F.E.A.R.) which was a very playable and smooth first-person shooter/thriller/suspense-type. This game was straight up scary, full with dead/sick girl corspes crawling at you like a crab on meth. dynamic lighting changes to really mess with you, and classic scripted moments like the old, hurt-partner-but-actually-an-ambush routine. This is a feel good mindless (but scary) shooter. Does involve a small amount of cannabilism, so not for the shy of heart.
The Ship - (first/third person role playing mystery): this game is a new twist on the classic 'who dunnit?" parlour game. Only now its on a ship, and theres no butler. This game uses the Half-Life 2 source engine, and started out as a HL2 mod. Looks interesting, at least.

thats Quack-tastic!

so what? I adopted a blogger duck. what of it? Lots of ducks are cool... The mighty ducks, darkwing duck, any duck from ducktales, and the crazy seagull from little mermaid. Any other nominations are currently being allowed and considered for further posting.

what we learned from office space

the last post started an interesting line of thought here in the home stretch today at work. the movie "Office Space" is pure and total genius. It was funny when I saw it in high school. Frighteningly accurate, as I now know all too well. However, certain lines and concepts have permeated the corporate and public world. Here is a short list of things that have been imbedded into pop culture:
--A Case of the Mondays: this saying is widely used by anyone who has the pleasure of working a 40hr/week job. after the weekend is over, monday seems like the longest and worst day of your life, with no hope in sight. the last thing you should do on a monday is ask someone if they're having a 'case of the mondays.' People get shot that way.
--PC Load Letter: this is a saying which easily replaces any other random error message spouted by any random piece of holier-than-thou office technology which only 1 person in the department can successfully operate. usually precedes, "what the FUCK does that mean?"
--TPS Reports: this is a general all-encompassing term which describes all forms of irrelevent and mindless tasks which anyone who works in a cubefarm will perform or process. Mine are called 'prints.' As in; 'did you recieve those prints? ...i'll just send you another print of that policy.' Yes, send me another print. I'll put it in the file with the first one you sent me.
--Federal pound-me-in-the-ass-prison: I think this is self explanitory. Not county jail. The other kind.
--The 'prairie dog' effect: this happens when an associate stands up just enough to rise head and shoulders above their cube and communicate with other prairie dogs/associates. Which, interestingly enough, causes more praire associate dogs to pop their heads up, to see what the commotion and merriment is about.
"a cubicle seeks to give a degree of privacy to the user while taking up minimal space in a large or medium sized room. " -wikipedia

what sucks

You know what sucks? not having any 'work' in your 'work queue.' I'm just gonna... hang out here and wait for some work. In my cube. You know what term i love and hate at the same time? CubeFarm. As in; 'Hello, I work at a cubefarm.' You'd think that getting paid to sit around on the internet would be a good thing, and it is. For about the first hour. Then the day begins to become very long. If this keeps up, this blog with kick ass in a week or so. I've got some fine tuning to take care of yet; Cleaning up the Archives on the sidebar (i don't like them and they take up too much space), the colors of the Blog title and border colors, and a few more additions/removals from the Sidebar. I'm thinking of added a 'featured music' spot, along with 'songs i'm playing' spot. any other ideas or suggestions would be great. i'm going to make a sidebar link to a mapquest trip or vacation i'll start planning soon. Upcoming blog topics: a day at work, review a CD, respond to a news story, random rants, etc. Stay Tuned

credits and debits

Seems like its always something. Why doesn't it surprise me that the very day I feel comfortable enough to splurge on an iPod, (I know, shut up, I bashed it for a long time) I also find out that I must spend almost as much to fix my car's tires. That lumina better fucking GLIDE like an angel when I get it back, that's all I have to say. I also recently purchased the new Of A Revolution album; I need to have the Love and Memory track and the lay down track is also rockin. A few good solos, they've come along way in just the few years (5) since I saw them as a freshman. I also got to have a listen to Towncrier's new album, coming out October 3rd. Really good stuff, and surprisingly well done, ie: production, layering, and dynamics throughout the CD. Several brand new songs, some tour-hardened tracks, and a few other cleaned up favorites. Looking forward to see how that turns out. And what the cover looks like. I vote for the 'desiree silhouette' idea, myself. You'd probably need a photographic assistant that day, and I call it. --Back to the iTunes pre-pod music library organization. Day Three.

the begining or the end

After an extremely long hiatus, blog/journal has yet again been reinvented. Reinvention seems to be the theme for this summer, as it appears to be happening all around me. And is it so bad? Nerve-racking, yes. Tiring, yes. But also exciting, surprising, and NEW. I recently finished school with decent grades and frustrating addiction to music among other things... I did what seemed to be the next step in the stereotypical (or necessary) process of growing up, getting a 'real job.' And coincidently, a haircut. After 8 hours of processing and 2 hours of commuting, I have become a very boring individual during the week. Therefore, I'm attempting to make the most of my weekends, which have been recently filled with Towncrier concerts (above), graduation parties, birthdays, baptisms, and weddings. The summer is just getting into a routine, but I'll be moving to Des Moines in August. Living with the older (wiser?) brother for the second time in my life. Granted, the last time we were roomies there were bunk beds involved, so suffice it to say that I'm not used to having roommates.
Cheers.