Rain

Wow - these are some fantastic recommendations! There's also a few I'd forgotten but was definitely interested in. I'll be updating my wishlist/playlist later tonight.

And thank you all for the well wishes.

When it comes to that stuff, even if I'm not necessarily a big fan of the music, it can be interesting to find out about the band, but I must admit that I like most of the artists you guys mentioned - or as is the case with The Who, I am trying to get it. 

Bit:  Rammstein is probably the band I play the most in the gym. First saw them as part of the infamous Family Values tour back in the late 90's, and I admit, I did not like them at all. But my opinion changed afterwards. Looking back at the poster for the tour, they are certainly my favorite on that line up.

17 hours ago, Wibbles said:

This is something I find myself doing, but more by accident than design.

A short time ago I found myself watching a documentary about Fleetwood Mac - a band that have never been on my radar. The two main things I took away from it were:

1. I didn't realise how many Fleetwood Mac songs I actually knew; and
2. Stevie Nicks is really, really, really annoying.

I had the same kind of experience when I subscribed to Apple music and started listening to their 70's Radio - Fleetwood Mac songs kept popping in my playlist and I could sing along to most of them. I don't think I'd ever voluntarily listened to them before, though. I can appreciate what they do, but I am not a fan - especially not of Mrs. Nick. 

Was sick yesterday so I spent the day in bed watching “rockumentaries”.  A lot of them. Among others, one about The Who (Sensation, the Story of Tommy), the other about The Police (Can’t Stand Losing You).

I chose these specifically because I don’t like either band, and I thought I needed to give them another try. That maybe, those documentary would help me see them in a different light, and that I would finally get what it is that I am missing. Well, I still don’t get them.

On paper, I should be a fan of The Who, but for some reason, I don’t like them. I can appreciate bits and pieces of their songs, but that’s it.

And I can appreciate The Police’s talent, I can even sing along to a lot of their songs, but it doesn’t really click.  If anything, I thought they came across as a rather unlikable bunch of people.

However, seeing that I hated Rush for decades after I first heard them and that they are now one of my favorite bands, I figure that I should never say never.

In the meantime, I had a lot of fun watching Gimme Danger about the Stooges.

Anything on anyone's list of must see? 

Anything you think would finally crack open the mystery of The Who for me?

Congrats, Shane!

It always seemed to surprise people down here when they learned that my wife and I had different last names. Back home, the practice has been abandonned progressively in the 70's-80's. 

A few short years before that, twoards the end of the 60's, my grandmother was still advertising her hair salon under her married name, that is her husband's first and last names but with Mrs. in front. 

8 hours ago, Amicus717 said:

Playoff hockey (...sometimes...but not this year)  

 

....maybe next year

This. Both my teams (Toronto and Boston) out in the first round.

I watched All or Nothing about the Leafs on Amazon a while ago (worth watching if depressing). As soon as the playoffs started, I could hear Will Arnett's opening line - "It happened again..." 

I tried to believe this year would be different, but it's not easy. To make it even worse, they lost to the one team in the NHL that I truly hate.

15 hours ago, kennywtelejazz said:

 Nice  one Rain ! nice to see you here buddy .😀 Was your black cat looking over your shoulder and keeping an eye on you today .

A lot of the great Blues Cats  frequently had their songs featuring lyrics and stories  about how the the other world and Occult played into their personal Mojo .

It didn't matter if the stories were true or not because they should have been true ....

Yeah I feel you Bro , I loveed riding that ride myself  😅 The only thing I remember is I keep trying to go back and ride the ride again ...

Every time I put up with all the BS it takes to find a new riding partner I get to the Gate they won't let me back in ...😅

Kenny

Thank you, man! 

Indeed, the idioms they use in their lyrics are fascinating. And not too easy to wrap your head around when you're a French speaking teenager from Canada. lol

Fortunately, I'd been listening to Led Zeppelin for a while when I started listening to the real thing. They had stolen so many of those idioms that I kind of knew what I was dealing with.

11 hours ago, 57Gregy said:

Took the grey cat to the vet to get clipped Friday. Not a good day for him.
Maybe he won't pee on my keyboard now.

I feel you.  At one point we had 11 cats and a small dog in the house.  My wife unilaterally decided to rescue a huge 75lbs Cane Corso. Needless to say, that broke the delicate balance.  And when one cat starts marking, it's like dominoes... Walked in on a crime scene almost every time I set foot out of the bedroom or my studio.

I think on the stove is the worst place I've dealt with. But keyboard is worse.

Cooking dinner at dawn while the sun slowly fills the kitchen (I live at night).

Grocery shopping at 7 on Sunday morning and having the whole store to myself, practically. 

Watching bats flying around when I go pick up my mail at sunset. 

Sitting in front of the TV with a bag of pistcahios for 30 minutes at the end of a long shift.

Listening to Apple 70's Radio channel while I'm doing my chores and re-disxovering songs I had not heard in ages.

Eating a piece of dark chocolate with a cup of Earl Grey during my break.

Sitting in the living room with a good book and a cat purring at my feet.

Watching a bit of a hockey game with a big glass of milk before bed.

Practicing karate. 

Any chance I get to take a nap.

That moment, 10-15 minutes after an exhausting workout when you're on top of the world.

Not re-stringing a guitar. Anytime I am not re-stringing a guitar is potentially a good time.

Indeed.

Seems I didn't get the update. This was last when I started typing and got sidetracked.

I could not not... 

These fellow Canadians... 

It was either this or Kermit's Right Where I Belong.

12 hours ago, 57Gregy said:

Were you a seventh son, too?

Luckily, I was spared that part. 

See, I was actually born on the 7th hour, on the 7th day, on the 7th month. Weighing 7lbs, too.

So...

I guess they had to get it out of their system. 

I've always been forgiving with Metallica because they were so important to me as a teenager, and I grew up and evolved with them. I could dig Load and Re-Load, even with their flaws.

But I remember trying to listen to St. Anger and not being able to get through it, even if it was just playing in the background while I was doing other things -  it wasn't even good enough to listen to while cleaning up toilets and scrubbing the shower. Felt like a bunch of riff ideas put together in Pro Tools. The issue wasn't even the snare, as awful as it was. With good material, I would have been able to get past that. G-d knows I've listened to my share of crappy sounding bootlegs in my life.

I've re-listened to it a few years ago. Some stuff I can dig, parts of it anyway. But ultimately, I guess it was necessary for them to make it but it's not really necessary for fans to listen to it.

I really liked Hardwired, though, even if it's a bit too long (like most records nowadays).

On 5/8/2022 at 10:47 PM, kennywtelejazz said:

                                                                      Is that a  miniature  Gibson Ace Frehley Signature Les Paul ?

                                                              

 

                                                                 If it is Milo wants me to get him one 😘

 

Kenny

First thing that came to mind when I read the OP.  

Of course, I am a fan...

Soundgarden - Face Pollution 

Was cleaning up the room last nigt and decided to plug them in. Well, they still work. And yeah, that did bring back a lot of memories. They really don't sound as bad as I thought they would, but it was amusing to listen to some of my newer mixes on them, too,

Oddly enough, I also stumbled upon the invoice for them.  I have no idea how it ended up following down here in Vegas when so much of my stuff and most of my papers are still in storage in Quebec. Not like I even intended to keep it, much less carry it with me down here. Oh well.

4 hours ago, craigb said:

😜

That's ususally how it feels when you get back on the guitar after a couple of weeks playing bass...

17 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

I still have my Fast Track Ultra. That was a great audio interface. Shockingly low latency. The rubbery knobs on it have turned to a tacky goo now but otherwise it's like new. I still have it in the original box with all the original paperwork. I think there's a big blue M-Audio sticker in the box too that came with it. The only reason I stopped using it was they refused to write a 64bit driver when XP reached the end of it's life and we had to upgrade Windows. I lost faith in them when they refused to release a driver for it and I stopped using their gear then. The vast majority of my music was done through this. I didn't switch over to new hardware until, well, my Amazon order history tells me March 8, 2016. That's when I got my Presonus Firewire Studio. But I've only done a handful of recordings since then. I'm kind of winding down on the whole recording thing. I never thought in my life I would ever say that. But, I replaced the Firewire with the Studio 1810c in January because I thought the Firewire died but it turned out it wasn't the problem. By the time I figured out it was still ok it was too late to return the Studio 1810c. But, that 1810c is an incredible unit. I absolutely love it. It has some quirks to setting it up but once I got it figured out it works flawlessly, when I do use it.

They had surpsingly low latency for their interfaces, even the inexpensive one. I had a uber cheap Fast Track for my travel rig and it worked surprisingly well, although purists would probably snear at the converters and such. I bought it as an alternative to my trusty old Delta 44 with its breakout box, but never got another computer with a PCI slot, so the 44 was history.

17 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

Hi Rain,

Good to see you around!  

I guess M-audio and Alesis were the working man's monitors for the longest time.

At that time Mackie and Adam were out of touch for me.  I bought a whole bunch of odd stuff to record besides  because I didn't really know anything about what I was doing. Not that the M-audio BX8s were bad monitors. They had their own sound I had to work around to get a decent mix. The BX8s were not  distinct compared to higher end monitors. Not bad but not wonderful either. I learned the hard way that 8" woofers really didn't work very well in a small studio. I now use a set of monitors that are 5" and I use ARC 3.  I am often getting my base mix on headphones with Sonarworks.

Similar to you maybe I hate to part with some of my history. 

 👍

I still have an old 88 key m-audio controller. I sometimes use it still to this day.

Great to hear from you as well, Tim.

I hear you on the Mackies and Adams - and serious gear in general. I was starting from scratch and completely broke, so a friend bought the M-Audio monitors and a little Samson mixer for me so that I could work on a gig that was coming my way, and I repaid him afterwards. This adds some value to them, too.

Funny you mention Alesis - I also keep a pair of inexpensive ones that I bought in NY when I needed something portable. Although they don't have the "sentimental value" of the old M-Audio, I figured I would keep them to play music downstairs. Since they're poewered and flexible in terms of connectivity, they still have their use for casual listening. 

10 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

I have a set of M audio BX8 monitors. One of the tweeters started making a tinny noise. Parts were unavailable for it, so I found a close match. I wouldn't use them as my main speakers any more. They are buried in my garage somewhere because I couldn't throw them away. Those are the only monitors I have ever attempted to repair. I guess companies such as Adam and Tannoy probably have parts available. I dunno.

I still have my old M-Audio Studiophiles which I got 21 years ago - quite a few notches cheaper thank yours, though.  But you got to start somehwere and these were my first monitors - quite an improvement from my previous setup, actually. I've not plugged them in in over 10 years, although I'm sure listening to music on them would bring back tons of memories. Even just the sound they made when I powered them on. I wrote so much music on them, I can't bring myself to get rid of them. I like to see them there, in the background, as part of my musical history I suppose. Fortunately, they're quite small.

I am still thankful for M-Audio - these guys made affordable, reliable gear. I think everything in my humble studio was made by them - interface, monitors, keyboard, drum pads, preamp... Heck, I still have the old lanyward, too.

So terribly sad.

Turning 50 in a few months myself so this hits closer to home.