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| Redwood Highway |
Hi David -
Re Pismo Beach: I have fond memories of camping there (more like passing out there after a long drive) in the '70s; June and I visited in '90 and walked around a bit but we were both really hungry when we woke up and fixated on finding a mom and pop diner somewhere on the coast road; the early morning joint that day didn't help, and my recollections are hazy. But wait, no - my memories really are hazy: we actually visited and camped at Montana De Oro beach, somewhere to the south of Pismo, and Zuma beach I'd also visited on another trip these many years ago. All mythical California beaches with mystical names.
The "planter" cabinets you gave me (didn't those have a pair of old Altec 15s? - I would have liked to have met the home handyman that built those!) were mice ridden, and spent over a month outdoors, open to the sun and air. Never did get de-smelled, now they're in storage, still open and airing; maybe someday? They have an interesting combination quasi-labyrinth bass port and mechanical low pass filter design, and it would be fun to finally hear them in action. Actually, it was my initial idea to use those cabs as plinths for whatever sculptures or industrial art, as well as being massive sounding dual 15" sub-woofers to enhance a pair of JBL L19, but who knows when, if ever, they'll be smell free.
Speaking of Hi Fi stuff, yesterday I picked up an old Crown D-45 amp;
25W per channel, 70W bridged, nice shape, $30. It feels 1:1 like my old
Dyna ST-70, and soon I'll dig the big JBL D-123 cabs out of the gear
closet and find out.
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| JBL D-123 Cabinets |
Of course I remember the Jensen P8Q - the loudest 8" ever - that little sucker actually gave it up and went into feedback during our speaker shoot-out. Glad it found a home with your PrinceTone amp. The vintage Jensen C8N you gave me likewise found a good home, in Tayo's little Fender amp.
Tayo's now defunct acapella rap improv comedy vocal group Wakorn (soon to release their post-collapse album "Night of the Wakorning Dead", actually recorded after their breakup), has been contacted by a band in Boston who's offering them an opening slot for a show here sometime this summer. Will they get back together for that, or will they not? More details as they emerge, from detail-light teenagers.
You do Pandora or similar streaming internet audio - guess not mp3, but what sort of data compression scheme does it use? Most of the internet radio sites I listen to have mp3 streaming, although some have wav (or some other Windoze codec) which is disappearing, and some aac, which I can't tell the difference from mp3. Since the source audio playlists are different, no way to make a direct comparison. In any case, my initial point was that all streaming audio basically sucks compared with a good CD player, like your modded PlayStation.
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| Walking On Water |
Re "Walking On Water" - what are you holding in your hand in that picture? Before releasing that long awaited mythical Christian rock album, you might take another trip from to Pismo and do a photo shoot, get a picture of yourself with your arms spread out, like that giant Jesus statue in . And really, some obscure sucky Nashville record (what Nashville records are not sucky?) shouldn't keep you from using the name "Sand Dollar Millionaire" - there's only so many combinations of words, as typing monkeys may prove.
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| Sand Dollar Millionaire |
And penultimately, at least for this letter, vultures are just a fun concept - if they didn't already exist, somebody would invent them as a humorous plot enhancing device. And, for me, "going fishing" is more of a catch-all phrase that might encapsulate all my feelings about possibly being near the end of city life. It could just as easily be "Finding an old house in some random small town and fixing it up so slowly that I know I'll never finish it, having a garden, and going fishing whenever I can", but simply "going fishing" is easier to say.
But yeah - knowing I'll never complete some project does mean coming to grips with my own mortality, which I don't ever dwell on: I sleep well, and generally life is good except for mice in the silverware drawer and maybe dealing with certain sucky Lizard People. But mortality is always there. As one gets older, it wears less weird creepy stuff like black robes with a face hidden inside a big cowl, and more breezy summer outfits - Hawaiian shirt and shorts, or a nice tasteful long summer dress. Walking towards you, smiling, with two cool iced drinks in its tanned and well groomed hands.
Cheers,
---Jim A.