Entertaining weekend

When I say Entertaining weekend, I mean 'Holy Crap'!  Friday morning started early - farm chores, then rounding up goats and sheep to load on the truck and trailer destined for Quebec. It might have been easier if the livestock were all in one pen but we had to collect them from 5 separate pens. After an hour and a half of catching and carrying them to the truck, we were drenched in sweat and body-tired. But it was worth it, 18 animals traveled to new homes in Ontario and Quebec. Also in the trailer was all of our fibre inventory. The main cause of the trip east was the Festival Twist Fibre event where we had a booth assigned as a vendor to sell our precious cashmere, alpaca/cashmere blends and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep wool. My wife and a friend hopped in the fully loaded truck and headed off (later than expected). 
I was left to finish chores, then focus on my real job. 
That night was another excellent practice with LivingRoom Experience. Another new original hit the instruments and we were all very happy with the initial results. I am working on some double-bass technique now that I decided to take the plunge and buy a double pedal.
Saturday I was alone on the farm  and took care of the usual chores - just another day - EXCEPT... I had to milk a cow. Hmm, never done that before. Well, at the end of that routine I figured I did OK because both the cow and I were still alive. 'nuf said.
The rest of Saturday consisted of my 'real job', looking after a weekend project that should have been planned a little better by the client we were dealing with. As much as I would like to get that whole ordeal of my chest, I am just going to say 'Thank the drum gods for Saturday night'!

The annual party at the neighbours was the scene in the picture above. Dr Crane is playing as they have the last 2 years and doing an excellent job of entertaining and playing great tunes. Lance and I walked up to catch the band before they went on. Dave Campbell (drummer) provided some thoughts on drumming after I asked a few questions.
Phil: Are those shoes what you wear when drumming?
Dave:  I dunno...
Phil: I wear an old pair of Converse All-Stars because I like the flat sole.
Dave: I dunno... Well, I used to wear moccasins, but the guys in the band said 'Why do you wear moccasins?' . I said 'I dunno' and now I wear normal running shoes. It really doesn't make a difference.
Phil: Ya - I wore crappy sandals to practice once. I played for a bit and thought - 'Ya... I still suck"
Dave: I used to pour coke on my foot pedal boards, for better grip. The guys in the band said 'What are you doing that for? Don't they have enough grip?' I thought - ya. so I stopped doing that.
Phil: Are you going to add any items to your kit?
Dave: No, I would like to remove a few. 
Phil: I am adding my electronic pads for fun sounds.
Dave: I have an electronic kit I use for smaller gigs. Once we where playing on a cruise and there was so much beer on the floor that when the ship tipped in our direction the beer pool was so high it caused my kick and floor tom to stop working.
Phil: Shit, that's funny.  What size are the pads on your electronic kit? 
Dave: I dunno - 10"
Phil: I like 8" because I have short arms. I play like one of those dinosaurs... 'big head, short arms... arrgghh!'

The host of the event is in the picture as well and deserves a big Thank You for the great party - Pig roast, corn, cash bar and live band. It was an outstanding night weather wise, the neighbours always attend, friends that we haven't seen for years seem to show up out of the blue and everyone has a good time. Ego's and testosterone seem to be vacant from this event every year -  just a lot of great people having fun.  That was Saturday night!  Oh ya, I had to get on a couple of conference calls for work during the evening, but it was hard to hear :).

Anyway - I want to give a big shout out to Gord and Ash for a super evening. The Picture above is of the party barn taken from my farm. The Barn is bottom right, the night is everywhere.

Where did July go?

It's mid-August now and plenty has happened since the Canada Day gig. Several hay fields cut and baled, the hay mower finally packed it in, 2 bulls and several does went to new homes. Kids and lambs are being weaned (most of the screaming has now ceased), the kitchen sink is back in and the pigs have doubled in size.

 

I have also been practicing some new original songs with the band and trying to polish the current ones. It is always as much fun to try new things in practice and screw up as it is to play live and not screw up. Sometimes it takes a lot of trial-and-error to find the right sounds and rhythm, and sometimes it comes quick. In 'Friends', I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to play the bass pattern. The problem was that my foot couldn't do what I wanted it to. But after a few months of practice, I was able to play the three quick beats that gives it a bit of a funky blues feel. 

One of the things I like about working with Woody and Lance is the fact that I have some freedom and can take liberties in practice until I find the structure I want to use in the song. And the more sounds I can produce and space I can fill, the happier they are; the happier I am.