It's my Boss' Birthday

Happy Birthday Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen; born September 23, 1949

Electronics...AmIright?!?!

I think my guitar amplifier is not long for this world.

I was in the middle of re-recording rhythm tracks for "Burn" on Saturday, when it started acting crazy. The tuner wouldn't read, the tones I had stored all went to strange places, and the bottom fell out of the sound.

Suffice to say I was beside myself.

I fiddled and prodded, tried to login to Line 6's online tool for problems...didn't work. Finally, I did a factory rest on both the amp and the footboard. The thing reset, the tuner was working again, and it seemed to be OK.

Except I'd lost about 6-7 years of stored guitar tones. I'm also still not convinced that all is right with the amp. It feels like the distortion settings are "breaking up" (more than they are supposed to) in high-gain situations. It doesn't sound like guitar distortion, it sounds like...a possible malfunction.

I'm gonna work with it some more. Hopefully, what I'm hearing is just the preset tones, after years of my settings, and not a real problem. Even if it is, I have to push through. The Hayoth work is coming along, I don't want to kill my momentum, and I don't have the $$ for a new amp right now.

Comic Review - SOUTHERN BASTARDS

I have spoken to friends about this Image comic, Southern Bastards by writer Jason Aaron and artist Jason Latour.

I described it as an awesome Lee Marvin/Charles Bronson picture. Sort of like Walking Tall, if Burford Pusser was 60+ years old. It was a book that really hooked me with that sort of macho ass-kicking that ends with our hero ordering a plate of ribs.

Well, issue #4 came out this week, ending the first arc of the book, "There Was a Man."

You all need to go seek out the first 3 issues, read them in order, and DO NOT SKIP AHEAD. Seriously, DO NOT do it. (Apparently a trade paperback will be out later this month). If you wait for that, DO NOT read spoilers.

Because this book just took a turn that floored me, and moved it in a whole new direction that will make it, I daresay, totally unique in it's genre. Because I don't see any sign of the book changing, but the rest of the game is gonna play totally different.

All this would be useless, of course, if the writing and art weren't top-notch. They are. Four issues in, I have no complaints, no qualms, and no criticisms. Aaron and Latour are, no other way to put it, KILLING IT.

I have been a bit sad at losing my beloved Jonah Hex, as All-Star Western rides into the sunset. This book will make a nice replacement.

Holy crap, it's good. In ways I never, ever expected it to be.

 

 

Stuck in My Head 9.4.2014 - Resist

Resist
by Rush

I can learn to resist
Anything but temptation
I can learn to coexist
With anything but pain

I can learn to compromise
Anything but my desires
I can learn to get along
With all the things I can't explain

I can learn to resist
Anything but frustration
I can learn to persist
With anything but aiming low

I can learn to close my eyes
To anything but injustice
I can learn to get along
With all the things I don't know

You can surrender
Without a prayer
But never really pray
Pray without surrender

You can fight
Without ever winning
But never ever win
Without a fight

I can learn to resist
Anything but temptation
I can learn to coexist
With anything but pain

I can learn to compromise
Anything but my desires
I can learn to get along
With all the things I can't explain