incredibledisc

Over the holidays I finished Hunter S. Thomson's book on Hell's Angels which was good but not as good as I remember it the first time around. Also A Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street which I read in the run up to Christmas every year to get me in the mood. Also read, The Incredible Adam Spark by Alan Bissett (formerly of Arab Strab someone else here told me) which is quite funny and touching. The story is told by Adam who has a learning difficulty, works in a burger bar and loves Queen. After an accident he wakes up in hospital believing he has superpowers. It took about a chapter to get into it as its all written in Adam's stream of consciousness scots vernacular but once I got into it I could barely put it down. Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell was an entertaining read about a young Japanese man searching for his father in Tokyo. He has a very vivid imagination so its difficult at times to seperate his fantasies from real events. It was good but got a little bogged down by what I took to be an attempt to win extra "arty" points about midway through where the narrative is interrupted several times by extracts from a badly written (deliberately, one assumes) novel - it just slowed the story down for no good purpose. Waxwings by Jonathan Raban was suprisingly good. It contrasts the lives of a wealthy Hungarian/British writer living in the Seattle at the turn of the Millenium with that of a newly arrived Chinese illegal immigrant. Its one of those books where nothing much happens - no car chases, serial killers etc but the quality of the writing and vividness of the characters and their lives kind of draws you in. Currently working on "102 Minutes" a factual account of events inside the World Trade Centre on Sept 11th 2001 but being back at work has severely cut into my reading time. Still on my to do list: Lisey's Story by Stephen King Peter Kay the sound of Laughter by Peter Kay Thinks... by David Lodge How Mumb Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen Greetings from E-Street: The story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band by Robert Santelli At some point I keep promising myself that I'm going to sit down with the entire Dark Tower series and read them all straight through but I've yet to find the time!

I dozed off after going to see "Bad Leutenant" when I was pissed a few years ago - all I could remember was Harvey Keitel taking drugs and wanking over two girls he's pulled over in their car and a lot of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir on the soundtrack. Wasn't half as good when I saw it on video sober:down: To get back on topic - the summer blockbuster slate does seem to indicate a dearth of ideas from tinseltown but isn't that always the way? If you're prepared to scratch a little deeper beneath the surface there are lots of quality flicks out there. We, the audience are at least partly responsible for lining up in droves to see some of the pish that hollywood serves up thus convincing the studios we want more of the same. I would have to put myself in the "see it on the big screen" camp. I have a widescreen telly and all surround sound bits which is nice but still doesn't beat the thrill of seeing a film on a massive screen. As for food and drink prices... don't buy the overpriced shit, simple as that. If you really must eat and drink (personally I find the rustle of sweetie papers, slurping on yer mega cola and stink of nachos and hotdogs to be almost as annoying as mobile phone shenanigans!) then bring your own. If you go to Cineworld it don't take five minutes to nip into Asda and pick up some tasty treats:popcorn:

All depends on the weight. Have a look around at other people's auctions and see what they charge. most shops seem to go for 15-20 p&p for guitar and case sent by courier firm - think I was 20 when I bought my Rickenbacker from Peter Cook's. If the person buying isn't in a hurry Royal Mail standard parcel service is pretty reasonable and will get to most places in the UK within 3-5 day. I blagged an empty cardboard guitar box from Prosound to put the guitar and case in and it cost me something like 10 to send it.

Espedair Street Whit The Crow Road Complicity I've read a few of his Sci-fi books as well but I generally prefer his regular fiction efforts.

If you're looking for Mark & Lard audio try here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/radcliffe/audio_archive.shtml http://www.cix.co.uk/~lemoncurry/ http://www.biggedybong.com/

Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell Thinks... by David Lodge The Incredible Adam Spark by Alan Bissett How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen Waxwings by Jonathan Raban Picked them all up at ARI today for 10p each while I was in for an appointment:up: Even if they're shit I'm only out 50p!

Cheers for the help folks. Problem sorted now. Have sold my Sitar Swami pedal (interesting but not terribly practical) and think I'm about to off-load my Free Speech talk-box pedal soon too - all to fund more noise boxes!

I've just flogged a stomp box to someone in the USA - are there voltage issues with using it? Any help greatly appreciated.

I'm always on the lookout for unusual or creative effects to mess with my guitar sound. With that in mind I've been eyeing up the Danelectro DR-1 Reverse Delay pedal as it sounds like a groovy idea. Anyone here tried it out? Similarly I've been looking at getting a looper ever since I got into doing sound on sound stuff with my Reel Echo pedal. I've been looking at the Digitech Jamman although my fellow guitarist reckons I should get the Boss RC-2 once it arrives in the stores. Anyone else own a looping pedal and have an opinion? I've seen the Akai Headrush as well but it has a pretty short loop time for what I want. Thanks in advance.

I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. "I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs." "I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking." "Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!" Thank you Bill Hicks

Yep, not to do anyone in the armed forces a disservice as I'm their ranks harbour many, many highly intelligent people. But when it come to what's traditionally referred to as the "poor bloody infantry" the largest proportion of recruits are drawn from the socially and economically deprived sections of the population and therefore tend to have large numbers of those from non-academic backgrounds. This is hardly a new phenomenon - in Vietnam most soldiers were only educated to High School level as college students were exempt from the draft. As I recall, Kerry himself served in Vietnam and was either a highly decorated hero or a craven coward depending on who you listen to. But hey, it seems that criticism of the armed forces is un-American these days. To be contentious for a moment - regardless of your views on the reasons for being in Iraq and Afghanistan - does anyone else notice a slight irony in the recent news story that said the armed forces were struggling to get recruits as too many potential candidates were put off by the prospect of being killed in a war. Ditto serving soldiers complaining about having their lives endangered by being sent to war zones... <Rant mode on> - isn't that what you're being fucking paid for?! Did you really believe the recruitment adverts that made it look like the army was just a big fucking game? Your business is death! To blatantly steal from Bill Hicks for a second "Excuse me, but aren't you all a bunch of fucking hired killers? Shut up! You are thugs, and when we need you to go blow the fuck out of a nation of little brown people, we'll let you know. Until then " <rant mode off>

"Psychotic Reactions and Carburettor Dung" by Lester Bangs. Planning on following it up with Hunter S Thompson's "Hell's Angels" which I picked up cheap in Fopp on Tuesday.

<slaps forehead> - completely forgot the Cosby's! Was going to mention the Wonder Years but then got distracted ...honest! While I'm here - does anyone remember "Gilbert's Fridge" and "Your Mother Wouldn't Like It"? (although, I think we're getting into the nineties with those two)

Was Look & Read the one with the little blue animated man in it?

Was it maybe Chocky? and Chocky's Children? Had a weird Alien light thing in it?

Nope - good call, the theme tune was ace! also fondly remembered... BJ and the Bear - there's a concept I could dig, a man and his monkey ALF Family Ties Cheers - used to be the only thing on Channel 4 worth watching back in the day The Comic Strip Presents... (esp Bad News) The Fall Guy Think of a number The Great Egg Race The Adventure Game - talking aspidistra anyone?

At present time, most of the samples being used are non-rhythmic so click track not an issue.

Does anyone know of a good way of using pre-recorded samples on stage without actually using a sampler per se? To clarify, our band usually writes stuff on a pc based home studio using Cakewalk. This gives us the ability to multi-track, add midi and employ samples of flims, sound effects etc. However, replicating these recordings in a live environment is pretty near impossible using our current setup. I've been looking at various stomp boxes eg. Boss RC series and Digitech Jamman but am not really sure if these would do the trick. I want to be able to rip audio from a dvd/cd etc to pc and then load onto the pedal and then trigger the sample at the appropriate point during songs. Any ideas/suggestions?

Cheers for the offer - happy to report that the problem has been fixed - pot was fine - it was a dry joint which was sorted out with a quick dab from a soldering iron. Pots now working a-ok:up:

Easy if you have a soldering iron that is:laughing: I know that soldering is a pretty easy job I'm just a bit cack handed at stuff that requires a lighter touch.

Depends what you're looking for in a movie. Jersey Girl is a fairly inoffensive romantic drama - its a bit like an American version of that Richard E Grant film "Jack and Sarah". If you go into it with expectations of another dick and fart joke bonanza then it will disappoint. On the other hand I rented it for my in-laws to watch (pretty much Mr and Mrs mainstream when it comes to films - I choose very carefully to avoid more "challenging" films for them:up: ) and they both enjoyed it. Apart from the "bennifer" farrago surrounding its release it was probably pretty much doomed by fanboy expectations (makes me think of the scene at the end of Chasing Amy when the comic book geeks are all like "hey when are you gonna do more Bluntman and Chronic dude, they rocked that new shit you're doing is really gay!"). Personally, while I enjoyed Clerks II (my wife also pissed herself at the "Pillow Pants" bit) I do think Kevin Smith should really move on from Jay and Silent Bob and write something less "safe"

I'm not joking - he asked how attached I was to the guitar (at which point a vision of a Gibson 335 I once saw with a hole hacked in the back popped into my head o_O ) After reassuring me that he wasn't implying that I perform surgery on the guitar he then went on to make the ebay suggestion. He did also mention that Glasgow might be a better bet but reiterated that it was gonna be a sore one in terms of price. I'm a bit confused - after reading Britheguy's post it doesn't seem like that tough a job other than you need to do a bit of forward planning by attaching thread to the pots etc. The only bit that would put me off doing it myself would be the soldering as I haven't got a scooby how to do it.?(

Cool, will be in Tom's on Thursday night anyway so will ask then. Cheers for the tip:up:

Cheers for the advice mate - if I can pluck up the courage and get hold of some new pots I might be prepared to give it a go. I have to agree that the "sell yer guitar" advice from R&B was a bit of a shocker.