Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Paulaner Hefewiezen

Beer sampler review #4, I think. Paulaner Hefewiezen. A hefewiezen is a wheat bear, unfiltered, almost always a lager. I liked this beer. Very yummy. Very strong wheat and yeast flavor. I found that the strong wheat flavor comes from the wheat being slightly malted first. It's very crisp. Many on the review panel noted banana and citrus flavor. I had never thought about it, as banana is not usually what I think of in beer. But they're right--it's in there! This would be a great summer beer, and, though full flavored, isn't a heavy beer. Quite reccomended.

To sum up: Total beers in the package Jim gave me: 8. Number consumed since December 7th: 4. Beers enjoyed: 3 (Bass Ale, Sam Smiths Taddy Porter, and this Paulaner). Beers I won't buy again: 1 (Warsteiner).

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

slow day @ the office

It's raining. Not much happening. Today at the office, I consumed an entire Terry's Chocolate Orange. Good, and yet, not good. A human should not eat that much chocolate in an afternoon.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Tama Rosewood snare

Great. Now that my drum budget is completely shot, what comes up on ebay? You guessed it: Frank Stalone. No, not really. It's a Tama Rosewood snare. If only it were the 6 1/2" instead of the 5 1/2". I'd still take it.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

For TU

I saw a post over at Totally-Useless. Rather than answer in his commnets section (rather too long for a comment), I thought I'd post it here.

1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
(TU) Yeah, um extremely religous. Rather silly really.
(Bill) What kind of argument is "rather silly." I think vegetarianism is silly. Does that make it not valid?

2. Left blank
(TU) WTF?? I won't go near this one, its way too weird.
(Bill) Graven images? You know, idols? The living God commands his followers not to bow down to rocks or trees or gold donkeys. Not so strange, I think.

3. "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain"
(TU) Umm, I got tired of waiting to be struck down for this one.
(Bill) Struck down by whom? The God you don’t believe in?

4. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God
(TU) Yeah, everyone breaks this one.
(Bill) Gross generalization. I know many people who don’t work on the Lord’s day. Also remember, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.

5. "Honour thy father and thy mother"
(TU) This is very very vague, but yeah I guess I honor them. It's a given and I think another to make an even 10.
(Bill) God’s concerned with symmetry so much that he adds extra rules to round them out? God’s number is 7. Why wouldn’t he use that?

6. "Thou shalt not kill."
(TU) Yeah, I killed alot of bugs. Eaten alot of animals in my non-veggie days.
(Bill) Ever committed murder? Ever taken an innocent life? Me either. We’re both spared from this one, I guess.

7. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
(TU) Oral Sex=Sodomy - and Sodomy=adultery. Oh yeah. We try to break this one a couple times a week.
(Bill) This is what prompted my whole post. Oral sex does not equal sodomy, and neither does sodomy constitute adultery. That’s just plain misleading. You can believe whatever you want. I’ve explained what I believe to you enough times. But to just say oral sex is sodomy, and then show nothing to back it up, is irresponsible at best.

8. "Thou shalt not steal."
(TU) Never stollen an item, a few mp3s count though
(Bill) You’re a better man than I am on this one. I’ve stolen candy when I was younger; Money from Mom’s purse; Renita Harrington’s Rubick’s Chain.

9. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
(TU) Just another silly one, probably added to make an even 10
(Bill) Lying. You’re right, just silly. Just hopin’ to get the page filled.

10. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house"
(TU) I covet my neighbors paintball gun and computer and house.... Many many of my neighbors covet my Sony WEGA TV.
(Bill) There’s a difference between coveting and wanting. I like your TV. I’d like to have a TV like yours. I don’t say "TU doesn’t deserve a TV that nice. It should be mine, ‘cause I’m worth it and he isn’t." That’s coveting.

Here’s the gist of the whole thing: You’re going to break the commandments. That’s the point! The Law of Moses was given to man to show us what God’s standards are. The big 10 are just as important as the other hundreds. If you’ve broken one law (like eating shrimp, for example), you are guilty of breaking the whole thing. Thus, the need for the Messiah.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Early Mornin' Postin'

Posting first thing in the AM, before the work day, even. Sue got an early start too: she went for a swim at the gym, and is now cleaning the kitchen.

So Brian Boru. I don't think I've ever played in a friendlier, more laid back, more band conscious place in my life. Here's the story. We pull into this giant parking lot behind the place, and go inside. A guy named Brian (not Boru--he died in like AD 170) says "There's a private party going on upstairs now, but you just go on up. After you get your stuff in, come back down, and help yourself to the bar and the kitchen--it's all on the house." Nice. So I ask him about parking in the back lot. Seems it's private, and we'll get towed. "Just park in the street with your hazards on, and when one of our spots opens up, we'll come get you." Super nice. So we each have some free dinner, and I have a Boddingtons Pub Ale on tap. (Great stuff. I've only ever had it from a can.) Only one for me. Remember, I'd been sick the last two days.

So after dinner, we're setting up upstairs, and the party is still going on. It's kinda crowded. Brian comes upstairs and tells me "They're not letting you have much room. If it takes you some extra time to set up, it's ok to start a little late." Super nice. I say hello to the bartender upstairs. I think his name was Jeff. "Do you use bar time?" I ask. He explains that all the clocks are 10 minutes fast. He then explains that we have to be out at 1:05 am. And he means "outta da buildin'." "So, if you need to end at 12am, that's fine. If it's 12:30, that's fine. You just have to bee out of here by 1:05. We like to be out of here at 1:15 (Maine's "No liquor on the table" law), and we don't like to be waiting around for the band.

I never wanna play another gig anywhere else. Brian Boru is the place to play.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Monday, February 25, 2002

I have nothing to post

I have nothing to post. Don't forget. 93.3. FM. Tonight.

Actually, remind me to post about this weekend's gig at Brian Boru.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Animal sex and Billy Rhythm? Woa!

I come up #1 on yahoo for animal sex search engine. Cool, yet gross. Hey, at least I'm number one. Or is it, "Help, how did I get number one?!"

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Saturday, February 23, 2002

What color am I?

Missed this over at Ron's site.

BLUE You give your love and friendship unconditionaly. You enjoy long, thoughful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive. Find out your color at Stvlive.com!

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Where have I been? And, new drum site.

I've been sick the last couple of days. Real sick for me on Thursday. Since Susan and I have been married (almost 8 years) I have been throw-up sick only twice. The last time was before Julia was born, and she'll be 4 in July. Man, it really is amazing how the human digestive track can work in reverse. (OT: Man, was I thirsty! I drank almost 2 litters of ginger ale on Thursday.) But, I'm kinda sore. Coughing hurts. So does yawning. But thanks to my buddies who covered for me at the office. Adam worked late for me last night so I could get some rest before a gig I had to play in Bangor.

Wanna see about a new drum site? See more...

Set this day by the hand of Billy Rhythm [Link] [Get More Here]

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

An update for Genova

I went to the Damricotta office today. While there, The Greasy Wop mentions I haven't posted since Monday. Well, I've been busy, dangit! The stick bag came in today. It's cool. But I should have called the worlds best music store first. Harv could've gotten me the same deal. In the future, before I buy anything, I'm callin' him.

Julia was sick last night. Threw up all over her bed. Whilst Susan cleaned her up, I took the linens down to the laundry. Since the pillow was all full of mostly digested tomatoes, I threw it in the wash, and let Julia use one of my pillows. Wow, was it hard to sleep without my back-up pillow. I'm going to have to invest in some pillow redundancy.

I wanna go! Then go cool!
I wanna bust! Then bust cool!

"Boy, boy, crazy boy.
Be cool, boy.
Got a rocket
In your pocket?
Be cool-ie cool, boy!"

Easy, Action!

Highlights from Cool
Leonard Bernstein, Steven Sondheim
West Side Story

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Monday, February 18, 2002

New WRFR-LP show

And hey, if you're in the Rockland area, don't forget to tune into WRFR, FM 93.3 tonight at 9pm. Billy Rhythm and Atlanta Jones will be doing a one hour Jazz show entitled "The Jazz Workshop." Check it out! It's been a while since I've been on the radio as a jock. I did it for a year back in '92, I believe. I've got so much I want to play, I already know I have too much material for tonight.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Sesame Quiz

I am OSCAR.
I'm a wild and crazy guy!


Which Sesame Street Character Are You?

Set this day by the hand of Billy Rhythm [Link] [Get More Here]

Sunday, February 17, 2002

Busy Weekend

It's been a busy weekend for Billy Rhythm. I played at Joshua's Tavern in Brunswick after work on Friday. Back into the office on Saturday (Where my Mac hard drive bit the dust again!). Saturday night, back to Joshua's. (A thanks to all my buds, most of The Quiet Storm team [less cracked5a of course--heck, we can't even to get him to post!].) Sunday morning, and I'm taking care of the Flower of Loveliness, Julia Valentine, as she's sick. I was able to get the dishes done, however. And, of course, a quick post.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Friday, February 15, 2002

Stick Bags and Catalogs

Today I ordered this really cool stick bag. I thought this was the coolest bag when it came out. I've never been a big fan of hanging sticks off your floor tom. Not so much from a sound reason, but because I want to protect the finish of the drums--you know, no zippers to rub against the shell kind of thing. Also, this bag gives you a place to put your keys. Really. Playing drums with your keys in your pockets can create problems. The bag first sold for about $75. Yeah. Way high. But on special, they can be had for $30. The little table top is cool, too. Now, you can have your brushes and mallets out and ready to go, in case you need them.

I also spoke with this guy who sells a CD Rom with scans of over 100 vintage drum catalogs on it. He checked out my page, and liked what he saw. You can see his page here.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Thursday, February 14, 2002

Canadian Warship?

Canadian Warship? Very funny. Stolen from Snake. (Yes, I have a friend we all call Snake. What of it?)

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Coffee, Northern Kindom, etc.

After much grooming, I've convinced The Greasy Wop over to my side of things. That's right, you read it right here: MLG is dricking his coffee black! Aight! Now if I could only get Sue and Julia to give up their sweet and creamy ways, the coffee drinking world would be complete, in my eyes. "What about JP?" you ask. Sorry--he's too far gone.

Remember a few posts back how I gave completely off the wall props to Northern Kingdom? This time, they hooked me up with some lights for my DJ business. I got 8 par-38's, 2 stands, and a dimmer pack. I paid about what you would pay for the two stands and a couple of cans. All I need is another dimmer and a control box, and I'll have 8 individually adjustable lights. Hip.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Valentine's Day

A happy valentine's day to all, but especially to my #1 valentine, my beloved wife Susan. And, also to my #2, the girl whose name bears reference to the importance of the day, my daughter Julia Valentine.

"This is my beloved, and this is my friend."
Song of Solomon

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

Cheese, baby!



*Take This Test!*

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Monday, February 11, 2002

More Ghost info

I wanna thank whomever left the note about The Ghost pedal. You see, when Bob Ramsey designed the pedal, he supposedly named it after the aircraft carrier he was on. I've never been able to find reference to the USS Ghost, however. Well, the USS Lexington is nicknamed "The Blue Ghost." She was supposedly sunk by the Japanesse 4 times, but she always turned up again. So Tokyo Rose named her the Blue Ghost. Perhaps that was the ship Mr. Ramsey was on. The ship is now a museum. I've contacted the curator about wether Mr. Ramsey was aboard that ship. One problem: 60,000 men and women served aboard the ship, and they don't have a complete crew roster from the Navy. But I'll keep didging.

Mad, crazy, sweaty, fun-lovin', groove totin', back-bone slippin' props to NKM. More later.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Friday, February 8, 2002

Running windows on my Mac

Yesterday, I helped a customer with his Mac. (Well, not really. By the time I got there, the phone company figured out his problem.) He's a very nice doctor, who specializes in cancer research. You know how some very rich and very smart people can be very haughty? He wasn't like that. He was a very pleasant gentleman. He gave me a Windows emulator for the Mac. So as I write this, I'm running Windows on my office mac! The only thing I haven't been able to get it to do is dial out over the modem. It's on the office network, peolple can get to the Mac's hard drive now, it's all pretty sweet.

Now, not wanting to start a war, and as one who is not a zelot of either camp, I do think it's cool that I can run another operating system within another operating system.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Thursday, February 7, 2002

Worst Gigi ever.

I've tried to saty away from posting about drums this week. This is about a bad gig, and the guy just happens to be a drummer. I LOLed. Really. I thought it was a riot.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Wednesday, February 6, 2002

Lost HTML gig

You know what stinks? I knew this guy who was designing a web page. He needed some expertise that Billy Rhythm has, but he doesn't. So I offered to help out ghost writing a little code for him. Now, my part is done. About 3 hours work. And this guy goes and gets fired. Great.

What is great though, is that I also know the new designer. I let him know I already had a page done, if he needed it. Who knows, maybe I'll put the work up here! I always thought what this place needed was an online order form!

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Tuesday, February 5, 2002

The Audio Gods Speak!

I was going to post this as a reply to a comment. But instead, I think everyone should see it, ant that way everyone could help me out. Post your advice for me:

"Oh, great audio master! Thank you for offering to help! Please if you would--what is the least expensive receiver you can find that has a phono stage, 2 tape loops, and a Dolby Digital Laserdisc RF decoder? I can't seem to find any for less than $2500. But I know with your superior audio wisdom, you'll be able to find something to suit my needs."

Would you do the same for speakers, too? Spend $3000, and get me 5 speakers and a sub with a significant improvment over my Definitive Technology BP-20s, BP-1 surrounds, C-1 center, and ProSub 80. What do you think would be the best for my needs--good sound for movies, but good sound for music is more important. (Note: BP-20s are no longer made. The BP-30s are the same speaker but with an aluminum tweeter. To be honest, I prefer the fabric dome in my 20s.)

Incidently, the Audio Review ratings for BP-20s are rated 4.4 out of 5, and my H/K AVR-55 got a 4.31 out of 5.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Yowza

Ouch! I wonder what mine would go for.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Early morning thoughts while shopping

I stepped into Shop and Save today. I didn't really need anything other than cash. You see, I needed to buy a single screw at the hardware store. A five cent purchase. I had nothing. So I went to buy a muffin, get some cash back, and buy a screw, as it were. (Are you blushing?)

So as I walk in, I overhear a cashier say "You've got to play the hand your delt." Well, you don't really. You can always fold.

So then, as I'm checking out, I see one of those papers proclaiming "3 Legged Skater Banned from Olympics." I mentioned to the cashier that I didn't think that was very fair. Doesn't it go against the Americans With Disabilities Act? How hard must it be to buy a pair of pants? I mean, other than those ones from SNL. The cashier remarked the skater could do a fairly good tripple lutz!

In the parking lot, a guy was cursing a shopping cart that blew into his van. (It was very windy. You know the kind of wind that's blowing so hard you can't catch your breath? We'll have to explore that later.) I mean, he's really cursing it. He's kicking the shopping cart, for crying out loud! And, he's swearing at it in Polish! What a way to start the day.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Monday, February 4, 2002

Billy Rhythm, your webmaster speaking...

Yet another little web master style update done by yours truly: the Kiwanis Club, Rockland Maine web site is my baby. I did a revision. See what you think.

Jim seems to think I spend too much time talking about drums, and not enough about what I had for lunch. Today for lunch, I had some leftover spaghetti and sausage from The Village Cafe in Portland. We went there on Saturday after Blues Clues. Sue had the Veal Parmigian. She didn't like it. Why? It was not breaded veal cuttlets. Instead, it was real, honest-to-goodness, milk fed baby cow, only driven on the weekends. I liked it. A lot. It was molto bene!

Oh, and I like hi-fi too. The only problem is, I have hit a bit of a ceiling. When I have to upgrade my next component, it's going to be a big investment. A receiver upgrade is going to cost me 2k to do what I need it to do. Speakers? Please. I'd need to drop 3-4k to get better than what I have. So, I should concentrate on software. You know, new vinyl. More later.

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Friday, February 1, 2002

snare's I need to get

Snares to Get! See! I only need 6 more snares, and my colllection will be complete!

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]