Save that Dollar!

Here's a couple ways I found to keep a few extra dollars in the piggy bank. They are simple techniques that I found to work very well:

- Use cash only. I think this is a mental thing. It's easy to swip a card; hard to hand somebody cash.

- Don't give the cashier change when paying cash. Bring it home and put it in a jar. I saved a few hundred dollars doing this. Cool thing is it's transparent.

- Buy an expresso machine! LOL Like most folks I need my fix. $8 dollars for a bag of expresso beans goes a long way! Much farther than a $3.50 cup of coffee.

- Live with in walking distance from a grocery store. This may be hard to arrange but I lucked out. With the store in walking distance I buy much less with more trips. It results in less waste. The business world says inventory is expensive...why not treat the kitchen the same way!

- Use the new Napster. It's legal now and the selection is huge! I love buying CD's and spend lots of money on them. But a lot of them I only listen to a few times and shelf them. With Napster I can download as much as I want and listen to them only from my computer. If I find myself enjoying a CD regularly I buy it. Today I bought "Farmhouse" from Phish as an example.

If you have an idea to add, please pop open a comment! I'd love to share.

Opps, did I say that?

Today I had to take a physical at the doctors office. When called up a very attractive and young lady took my basic vitals...height, weight, vision, blood pressure, etc. We had small talk and shared light humor. She mentioned something about a test (which i can't remember the medical term for). I asked what it was and the answer she gave me was along the lines, "it's when the doctor, ummm, puts his finger on the, ummmmm, yea...and ummmm then you cough." It was an innocent question but she seemed embarrased with the answer.

We were inside a room when she finished and handed me a gown to change into. She asked me to change into the gown without my pants or shirt.

While she was completing some forms, without thinking I asked, "So, would you like me to change AFTER you're gone?". She looked up with a big smile and started to blush. I didn't mean anything by it but it did come out funny.

Later on I was telling this story to my ex (btw - we are very open about things like this). She told me I was an idiot because I didn't get a number. I guess I was either way...LOL.

So What:

"So What" is a hip song based on modal jazz from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", my all time fav recording. It's based on Dm Dorian and Ebm Dorian scales in a AABA structure. Where A is 8 bars of Dm and B is 8 bars of Ebm.

I hear the bass lines in my head and pretty much do a bass improve to play the song. Tonight I was trying to figure out some guitar comps for the song. At first I was stuck using Dm7, Em7, and Dm11 chords for basic comps but felt limited.

After much experimentation I found that you can harmonize the Dm dorian scale to pull out some other chords that make great subsitutions for the A parts (1/2 step up for the B section):

Dm dorian scale = D E F G A B C
Dm dorian scale harmonized = Dm Em F G Am Bm C

The chords gave me a base and using the 9th and 11th extensions gave me a whole new pallet to work with. I was able to play partial melodies with the chords in addition to following the bass lines and comps. I can't wait to experiement in a group setting. Should be a blast!

If anyone reading this has a correction to the theory please post a comment. I really want to know this stuff for expanding my toolset =)

Blues, Brew, BBQ

Mercury Blues Band will be playing for the Hanford Blues, Brew, and BBQ on June 17. Free Admission. Food and Beverages will be available for sale. For more information contact the Hanford Conference & Visitor Agency at 582-5024.

Club Fred Grooves

Last night the Mercury Blues Band opened for Blue Haven at Club Fred. Club Fred is an awesome place to play. The stage has plenty of room and is covered with this groovy blue carpet. Made me feel like shagging baby! LOL.

Anyways we opened our set on a strong foot. We played "Blow Wind" with a reverse shuffle and I felt really tight with the drummer. For most of our set I felt like we played it better than ever before.

For some reason when we played "Waiting on Time" it just sounded wrong. I felt out of key but double checked and it was fine. It seemed like we were all playing a different song. So I just hammered down and hoped it was over soon.

The rest of the set went pretty well. There were a few songs where each one of us missed a break or two. We were all pretty nervous. There were a lot of musicans in the house and we were a bit tense. Seeing people grooving and dancing was encouraging. That kept me going through it all.

We finished the set and had time for a few more. We did "Born in Chicago" and I loved how it turned out. A little fast on the tempo but the groove was strong. Then Chris (the guitarist) called out "Thrill is Gone". This must have been the first blues song I ever heard. We kicked it into motion and from the first beat it just SUCKED! At that point, I couldn't find the groove. I had this cheezy mambo feeling thing going on and I couldn't escape it. The tempo was fast, the groove sucked, and the group was falling apart. We all buckled down and got through it, but it was aweful to end on it. I'm still bummed.

I heard a quote once from Stephane Grappelli that goes something like this:

As long as you start and finish the song right the middle won't matter.

Shall we go dutch?

Aymiee sent this over to me. It's a good read and had me rolling on the floor:


"When I did my taxes this year I found out that I spent over $14,000 on dates last year. Most of that was spent on dinner and drinks in Manhattan. Now don't get me wrong, I had some very good times, some great sex, some good conversations. Hell, I even made a good friend along the way, but mainly I came away from the date feeling extremely is appointed and with a lighter wallet. Date by date it's not THAT much money but it all adds up fast! ..."

[The Anonymous Blogger...to some]

Go on reading it...there's more!

Fresno Famous Podcast

Fresno Famous is a cool publication covering the art scene in Fresno. They recently setup a Podcast which I was listening to tonight. Cool show!

Grab your subscription here:

http://www.fresnofamous.com/blog/flow.php

Setlist for Club Fred

Last night at band practice we layed out our set list for the gig this friday at Club Fred. I pulled it strait from my Palm handheld along with my notes:

Club Fred - 5/20/05

1 - g jam
2 - blow wind: C, shuffle
3 - waiting on time: B, bouncy
4 - fish: C, stay on I for intro
5 - walking to my baby: G, mambo
6 - five long years: A, walking blues
7 - love business: A, r-5-7b-8
8 - little bit: A, blues quick change
9 - nasty habits: C, 3 tags at end
10 - let me in: G, shuffle
11 - backscratcher: F, r-5-7b

We'll have a sound man running the mixer at the club. I'm hoping I can get a recording out of it.

Bombs away!

Yesterday I went to the gym to do my laps and found a change. The gym I go to has an outdoor swimming pool and for the cold months they have a housing over it to keep it warm year round. This weekend was quite warm so they removed the housing.

As I walked out I could hear all the kids in the pool. "hmmmm this will be interesting...", I thought to myself. As I approach the pool it's packed with kids doing cannon balls and thier parents floating like mantees in the pool. I ponder if I should even try to swim my laps. The guy behind the counter who knows me suggested that I give it a try.

I start out swiming half laps but can't even go that far. Either kids these days have poor vision or they were having fun trying to see who can bomb the guy swimming laps. After a quick 30 mins I give up.

Thing is it was a warm and sunny day and the kids were excited to swim. Maybe next time!

+10 for the weather

This has been the most awesome season in all of my memories. I'm a huge weather fan and this spring has been the best.

Yesterday it was something like 85F and clear skies here in central california. This morning I wake up to rain clouds and sheets of rain. The afternoon cracks open the sky with white puffy clouds.

Needless to say...I love this type of weather pattern!!

Garden for 2005

Last few weekends I've been working on setting up my backyard/garden for the townhouse. It's coming along okay. Still need more plants but I want to get the big pieces in place first. In the ground right now I have bell peppers, eggplant, bok choi, spiniach, and broccoli.

Last weekend I went by my old house to take care of a few things for Chris (my ex). Many of my trees were twice the size since I lived there. The redwoods in front of the house hit a HUGE growth spurt. In the back those crazy mint plants have spread to fill the box I planted them in. It was cool to see how things have developed. Even though I don't live there any more my thoughts and ideas still do. As long as Chris still lives there I can still visit them.

Sentimental Journey

I stopped at the airport today to check out the B-17. It is "Sentimental Journey"!

http://www.milehighcaf.org/b17.asp

I took a brief tour of the plane but will be returning to grab a few pictures of it. It will be at Visalia Muni thru Monday. Before it leaves they will be giving rides in it. I overheard the cost...$395 for something like 30 minutes. If the captian would allow me to take the yoke for a turn or two I'm there!!!! LOL

If anything I'm going to rent the Cessna 150 and hang out in the pattern with the B-17!! Could you imagine!!!!

I'll grab some pictures of it...it's such a pretty bird!!

B-17 sighting at KVIS

Driving down the highway 99 yesterday I noticed a large piece of aluminum. After taking a couple of glances I confirmed it was a B-17 Flying Fortress! As a kid growing up I built many models of this plane. I was most facinated by its design.

I need to confirm this but I think it's "Sentimental Journey". I'll run by the airport and see if I can get a tail number from it.

Also Minter Field is having a warbirds airshow this weekend. I wonder if the appearace is linked to the event.

Indie comes to Visalia

Fresno Famous has a write up on a friend back from the gramar school days:

"Visalia's indie rock scene has been developing at a frenzied place. Aaron Gomes, perhaps known better by his singer-songwriter pen name Vernal Falls, has been an integral part of that development. Famous chats with Aaron about the ins-and-outs of being a rock star in Visalia."

[Fresno Famous]

Club Fred on the 20th

On the 20th of May we, the Mercury Blues Band, will be opening for Blue Haven at Club Fred in Fresno. I think the show starts at 8. Come on down and have a cool cold one while enjoying the blues!

SMS: 46645

Here's my SMS message:

TO: 46645
MESSAGE: HARU TULARE CA

Response:

Google Local:
Haru's Japanese Food
1537 Hillman St
Tulare, CA 93274
559-687-2136
1.4 mi, NE
May 7, 9:14 pm

Desktop Wallpaper

This site has some pretty cool and intricate patterns for your desktop....if you're into that kind of thing. enjoy!

[http://www.squidfingers.com/patterns/]

Did I say bull$h!t?

dealing with back pain over the last couple of days....but this really made my day:

http://www.chrisglass.com/movies/fiona/

Marvin Sewell

When I saw Cassandra Wilson play in NY she had a guiarist with her who sported a very unique style. His name was Marvin Sewell and his style captured me. It took me a while to remember his name since I was only able to pick it from a conversation from another table.

There's some samples on CDBaby. I think I'm going to have to add this one to my collection.