Bass guitar this morning

I was asked to fill in at the South Campus this morning, and I said yes earlier the week, forgetting about Arnold's birthday today. So I was quite grumpy this morning, having to leave the family at home. But it all worked out well, in the end. Had a nice time playing. Tim was on sound, Nathan was on electric, and Wayne on drums. We had a ball. I recorded the set on my iPhone, so the quality isn't perfect. I reduced levels by -3dB, and it sounds good with headphones. Very difficult to mix out the recording equipment with an equaliser, so speakers are not recommended.

Here is a snippet - Hosanna.

These birds know music

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Via

United breaks guitars

After a year of no joy, Dave recorded a song...

Statement by Dave

And a second song is recorded

Line6 Variax 700 Bass guitar

I never mentioned my newest musical purchase - a four string Line6 Variax bass. Black, off eBay, a shopfloor model from over east. Had quite a bit of rust, and required a bit of TLC, but it only took me an hour or two to get it into reasonable shape. Still a bit of rust I have to continually monitor, but it was well worth the very low purchase price.

What makes Variax so special? Well, it is a modelling bass guitar. It uses Piezo pickups on the bridge, and modifies the sound to that of a number of classic models, e.g. Fender Jazz bass, Fender Fretless (a.k.a. Jaco Pastorius), Upright, 12 string, a few modern bass guitars, etc.

Works very well with my Line6 Bass POD Live, which can change Variax settings via MIDI when you selct a different Amp/effects channel. Way cool.

Pity the Variax bass never caught on more, and Line6 has stopped manufacturing them. One day I will own an electric 700 guitar, as well as a Variax acoustic, but all in good time. The list is growing, though. I now have the Lowdown 150 amp, the Pod, and the bass. I will stop now for a bit. 

Arnold's second birthday party

Heathcote Reserve, 3 Jan 2008. Jim the Entertainer was invited as well, and everyone had a lot of fun!

My debut album

Didn't know I had one, did you? Here is how it works:

1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random.The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3.The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. If you want to do this again, hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.
3 - Go to Flickr’s ‘explore the last seven days’:http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/.Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. Put it all together, that’s your debut album.

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School concert and dress-up

Dress-up a few weeks ago.

Last night's school concert. Katja is on the left.

Archery skills

Archery skills - Metacafe is a click away
Apologies for the ads at the end. But I agree with the judge, I have never seen anything like this before. Very impressive.

Christmas 2007

Two long days behind us. Katja was a sheep in the Christmas production at Riverview. Four services later, and tomorrow I have to do Cockburn Central. Since I have to leave early tomorrow, presents were opened tonight. Here are some pics from both events:

Unfortunately we had Arnold open his firefighting truck first. Sorry, Hanretti family, he came close, but never opened your present (though he loves his turtle pillow now).

But to make up for it, watch Katja's face with her present. Makes it all worth it. By the way, makeup still from the Christmas pageant as a sheep.

Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Acro - the concert

26 November 2007 - a day I will remember for a long time. My daughter has had previous concerts, previous stage performances. But this one was special. The whole mood was special. She did very well.

Here is a picture of the Junior tap group.

Support Footprintz Dance Academy. They did a great job ths year. Again.

School concert - pre primary class photos