Stuff I Love

Not everything sucks. Here are some things that I love:

This is probably the coolest dressing room that I have ever been in. The club is in an old (circa 1900) Fire House- you can see the antique fire engine on the right. There's also a semi-naked musician in the background if you care for that sort of thing...



This is a closer look at the engine. Years ago, the building was a Fireman's Museum and I somehow wound up with the keys...we'd get loaded, sneak in after closing, climb on the engines and ring as many bells as we could. Unspeakable acts were committed on this priceless antique...oh, the shame of it all.
I think I could make a pretty cool bong out of that water tank...

Below we have what is known as a "technical difficulty". For some reason, the speaker pictured just didn't sound as good as it should have. No idea why.

This is the club's PA system. It's a strange hybrid of computers, semi-obsolete electronics, gears, winches and pulleys. It took a little getting used to , but by the end of the night I was rather fond of it. I like funky, rigged-up stuff that shouldn't work, but does. Empathy, ya know?

My finger is poised above the "SUCK" button. Beware!

This (below) is Deke Dickerson's guitar rig. With the exception of the digital tuner and a switchbox or two, almost everything pictured is at least as old as I am.
Sweet!


Deke had an awesome, authentic tone that today's digitally "enhanced" amplifiers can only dream about- seriously, they make oodles of fancy digital amplifiers that advertise themselves as having "legendary tube sound"...why not just use an old tube amp? Sheesh...

Deke and his band, The Ecco-Fonics, were excellent musicians and consumate showmen- I have heard his recordings but they don't even come close to doing justice to the high-spirited, fun-loving rock and roll energy that he puts off on stage. If you get a chance, go see him, even if you don't like rockabilly, you'll like Deke and the Ecco-Fonics. Go.

At one point, the drummer, Mr. Sugarballs, sat up front and played a guitar duet with Deke, using a beautiful double-necked guitar that Deke referred to as a "musical anvil" due to it's weight...they played a wonderful, note-for-note tandem guitar solo. I was impressed and I'm very hard to impress, me being all jaded and whatnot.

So enough rock and roll- let's go back in time a week or so...here's (below) something else I love: Strife.

Strife? WTF, dude?
Hold on..."Strife" is merely the name that Whim gave to this simple repast of Palestinian-style hummus served on Jewish donuts (or 'bagels' as they are sometimes called.) Palestinian (or East Bank Style) hummus usually calls for fermented goat's milk and olive oil in lieu of the more commonly used tahini...I was a little low on fermented goat milk so I used plain yogurt instead- the only thing missing was the traditional Middle Eastern garnish of concertina wire and landmines, but I think Whim's tie-dyed tablecloth was more pleasing to the eye...

Of course I can't write of eye-pleasing stuff that I love without mentioning Whim. The picture below doesn't do justice to this wonderful woman- she has the most exquistely beautiful smile that I have ever seen...sigh.

I miss her already.