Session Drummer | Studio Drummer | Touring and Worship Drummer for Hire | Dale Baker | Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, NC

Finally in Blog Form!

My favorite music pundit/ critic/ analyst has finally put his thoughts down in Blog form.  Hallelujah!  Up until now, you've had to subscribe to his almost daily rants and critiques via email.  I think you can still do that, but now you have the added benefit of reading his wisdom via the web.  So check it out all you lovers of music industry and cultural critique:  Bob Lefsetz, with his very own blog!

Like a scanner only better!

My brother sent me this link. It tells you everything that's going on in the world (be sure to scroll down to see the details...)

Regardless of it's accuracy, you gotta admit it's pretty cool.

My family used to have a police scanner and my mom would sit and listen to it at night to hear what was going on in our town.  I liken this online tool to basically a scanner for the world.  Fascinating.

Throne Hack (kinda)

I was real proud of myself the other day.  I had to get a new seat for my throne and I'm not quite yet ready to throw out my old trusty Yamaha throne...I mean the stand is still in great shape, the seat unfortunately is barely hanging on by a thread.  So I measured the rod on my throne and thought it would fit a Rok N Sok seat, but when my round, and pristine seat showed up, alas it did not fit.

So I could have sent the seat back and just ordered a whole throne, but I really wanted this to work, so I unscrewed the mount on the bottom of the Yamaha throne (as well as the mount on the Rok N Sok throne) and mounted it on the bottom of the Rok N Sok.  So far so good.  If it holds up I might do the same for my other Yamaha throne.  But then again, I might just break down and buy a whole new throne just to be on the safe side, we'll see.

Thanks to Drum's On Sale for the quick shipping and reasonable price ( I can't believe they had what I wanted in stock!).

Church music galore!

The last couple of weeks have brought me a few opportunities to play locally. 

This past weekend I played at Hope Creek for their 3 services and then played at Emmaus Way Sunday evening with Karl Ruch and Wade Baynham.  The previous week I sat in for a couple songs at one of the Duke Youth Academy's evening worship sessions.  I especially enjoyed doing a hand drum accompaniment to the Scripture reading by Sarah Arthur.

HDTV contest...

This movie was pretty good.  It was released in, how do they say it? "limited release."  I'm a little biased 'cause I know the director and cinematographer and thought they did a pretty good job with this. 

The film is being released on DVD and there is a little promo contest going on and it involves winning an HDTV, which is something I'll probably never buy, but I wouldn't mind winning one in a contest.Sorry to have to do this, but my lust for a wide screen TV got the better of me.  I guess whoever gets the most referrals (?) will win...so here's me hoping for the best!  Click away!

Dave Finch Session

A couple of weekends ago I had an enjoyable time recording 10 songs for Dave Finch, a talented worship-leader who will be heading to Seattle (as soon as he sells his house).  He was the worship pastor at Hope Creek for the last 8-10 years (maybe more) and I initially came in contact with him through my friend (and his cousin) Randy Hayes.  Randy runs Cross-Eyed Studios down in Fuquay-Varina and that's where we did the drum tracking for Dave's tunes.  Randy sent me some photos from the session and I'll hopefully get them posted soon.

Peace via Michael Jackson

Of course, I should have thought of this a long time ago. 

To solve our disputes we don't need to resort to fighting, we need to dance.  Michael Jackson makes this philosophy perfectly clear in "Captain EO." 

Watch it and learn. 

We don't need to pick up our weapons, we just need to pick up our heels and grab our crotch, ala the "King of Pop" himself.  Just think what a better world this would be if we were able to dance with our enemies. 

I say, the next time someone challenges you to a fight, instead of fighting back -  challenge them to a dance!  If enough of us adopted this way of thinking we could truly start a  "Dance Dance Revolution."

Trains and Graffiti

I just read about this new rail line that opened up.  Sounds like a fun trip.

And also I found this great article on the history of Graffiti...cool stuff.

911 Conspiracy debunked?

So after hearing from some folks that they'd heard that most of the 911 Conspiracy stuff has been debunked, I began to search for some of that debunking on the trusty ye olde internet.  The best article I found was over at Popular Mechanics with the article "911 Debunking the Myths."  Though I'm not sure it's made me less of a conspiracy theorist...it's just given me more to think about.  I don't think the article answers enough of the questions raised by that Loose Change film (like where was the plane rubble in Pennsylvania?, how do you get cell phone reception on an airplane, what's up with the comparatively small hole in the Pentagon?).  So where do I stand?  I think we're not getting the whole story here and it bothers me a bit.  Again, I'm partial to the things I've read and seen recently like Robert Baer's book See No Evil and his guest spot on The Colbert Report as well as this interview I found elsewhere on the 'net.

Alternative Fuels baby!

Personally, my goal is to get a diesel car in the next few years and run it on Bio-Diesel, and I think that's still going to be my plan, even after seeing this site which promotes using ethanol:

The site speaks about E85 ethanol as an alternative and mentions a bunch of other nifty things about saving our environment and what not...

I like the idea of not being dependent on the big oil companies to power my car.  And it seems that we're at a time and place where it may be possible to not have to use regular gasoline, or at the very least, reduce our dependence on the stuff.  I also found this nifty tool that helps locate alternative fuel stations all across our great land...

Cowbell ala Line 6?

Yes, this is what we've all been waiting for: a cowbell simulator!

Following the advent of guitar and guitar amp modeling (similar to what Line 6 and many other companies do), apparently a new(?) company has sprung up called "Rad Monkey" and they've developed the first digitally modeled cowbell, the VLC800.  This is pretty funny stuff.  Click on the descriptions of the cowbells being modelled and listen to the cowbell sound.  All the cowbell models sound the same! (or similar enough...)

And if you're not ready for the digital model, you can always purchase their XLM 500 with its active pickup that provides "ear splitting power:"

"Nothing can be more disheartening for the modern cowbellist than to find the sound of his instrument drowned out by the overpowering volume of today's electric guitars and drums. That sweet tone -- crafted and refined through hard work -- is lost in the din before it ever reaches the audience.

Cowbellists around the world are turning to Rad Monkey™ Electric Cowbells to level the playing field. The Rad Monkey™ XLM500's active pickup provides ear-drum splitting power, allowing your cowbell to cut through any sonic onslaught. Anywhere. Anytime."

Thanks to Stephen and the Museum of Hoaxes for the info (apparently this has been around since last July...so I guess I'm a little late to the party.)

Thom Yorke Interview

"...its called The Eraser... i wrote and played it... it was fun and quick to do. inevitably it is more beats & electronics... no its not a radiohead record..."

Great and lengthy interview with Thom Yorke in The Guardian Unlimited.  Thanks to Kottke.org for the hot tip.

I online tools

I found out about this cool tool via the Earthlink Newsletter from a few weeks ago.  You can make your own candy pictures and (other pics as well) over at Acme Labs.

Keys Me

With all the press that You Tube has been getting lately, I thought I'd mention this:

You've got to admire her confidence.  But that's no excuse for completely butchering the song "Kiss Me."  I wouldn't have kept watching the video, except for the subtitles.  Some of those were pretty funny.

Glad to know that Lazy Sunday is easy to find again online.  Oh wait, I guess it isn't.  I thought for sure with the deal NBC made with You Tube, they'd agree to put Lazy Sunday back up.  Oh well.  You gotta wonder 'bout them fellas in da suits - "Imagination at Work" puh-leeze.

Steven Colbert - American Hero

If you didn't get a chance to see Steven Colbert talk at the White House Correspondents dinner...you missed out.  The video of him "roasting" the president was the best piece of comedy I've seen since Andy Kaufman and that wrestler were on Letterman, oh wait...maybe that's going back too far.  Okay, so it's the best piece of comedy I've seen since that Chronicles of Narnia ("Lazy Sunday") thing they did on SNL.

So on this Independence Day, I want to salute Steven Colbert for his brilliant wit and satire. 

If you would like to see a transcription of his speech and an article going into more detail about his appearance at the dinner, visit Democracy Now...they've got it all on their website.  An excerpt below:

"I stand by this man. I stand by this man, because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things, things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo-ops in the world."

You really need to hear it and thankfully you still can thanks to Google Video and iTunes.

Happy Fourth everyone!