Phonography

Did a gig last night with a group of people I know: we have formed a Phonographers Union. Improve performance with audio recordings. Was in a small cafe, after it had closed so the crowd was there to see us and the group that followed. 40 people in the audience and they seemed appreciative. Strange to be sitting in front of a crowd looking mostly at the laptop and thinking like mad to work out what I should cue up or play with what is currently playing. Lots of fun though.

Clean out or else

Newest acquisition - a vintage (old enough for me to have owned after I left my first stint at post secondary education) Peavey keyboard amp. This is for the theremin that will be finished one day soon.

Using the one in / one out rule I had to finally clear out some of my other gear. This is going well and today's purchaser, I've sold six things so far, set me thinking about the people I've met buying and selling in the last little while.

In no particular order:

• Guitarist for a punkabilly band who also plays horns in a neo-Balkan gypsy collective.
• Electrical engineering PhD student who was a keyboard player for a bunch of bands in the 80's and 90's, who just happens to run a software company that produces editors for hardware synths - includng the new M-Audio Venom.
• Museum curator, another PhD, who is a synth collector and noise artist, also responsible for the care of John Lennon's yellow Rolls Royce.
• Former TV producer - SCTV - who is now an online media consultant and part time 60's band guitarist.
• Bass player of an indie band who is teaching privately and doing a Masters in classical bass at the university.
• School janitor who plays hard rock on his Les Paul, looks the part of a late 70's rocker too.
• Guy who teaches guitar out of his sound and audio rental store.
• and a bunch of regular people who just like to make music

Kind of an interesting cross section of the population. Just reinforces that all of us, with our different lives and ways of looking at the world, like to make music.