Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

As a human I celebrate how sweet it is to be wrong. I must admit that after the election I felt a glee equal to the dread realizing that our future was Bush, not once but twice. If you are up for an eerie grin, take a look at this spookily prophetic tongue and cheek article published January 17th, 2001. The day Bush took office:

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

Ah but then the earthy aspect of wondering how this regime change will effect me, my business and my world. I cringe as well as I believe that balance of power is fundamental to stability and ultimately happiness. Be it in a relationship, a company, a band or the houses of our government. The republicans in all three houses wreaked the havoc in which we now bask and democratic over-swing in the opposite direction concerns me as well. If only a happy medium could be found. But in the mean time, how about a visit to the happy medium of a Weezer show?

I have been so wrapped up and smothered in the business world of Rat Sound, I find myself forgetting and a trip to a rock show is refreshing. So much is going on. The economic crisis is crushing our credit lines, and launching us into defense mode. Good thing we have the experience of difficult times in our past help navigate.

I remember way back in Reagan era recession when economic issues washed through. I remember military expansion screeching into corporate downsizing and out of control interest rates and inflation. I remember the collapse of huge 70's rock tours and the counter-bloom of punk rock rebellion gaining traction and in turn becoming the tide which carried Rat Sound to new heights. Like the greenery upon the hills after a fire. The strong and positive will survive. In the mean time, much work is to be done to insure a positive outcome. And speaking of tides, this is what a short wander from my front door looked like right before I dived in to the chilly waters of Oxnard Shores with a smile and a surfboard:

I guess it is all just a matter of perspective,

Dave Rat

As we teeter on the verge of of what is presented as selection, an election. A tally of national opinion as check marks and button pushes are swept together into a theoretical pile upon which our future hinges. Ahh, the value of a vote where100's of hours of in-depth research and whimsical impulses driven by whom has better hair, are equally weighed. A vote for greed and a vote for humanity. A vote for hate and a vote hope.They are all as equally worthless as they are valuable. The great embrace of those that are willing to participate. I believe the system is flawed, I believe that just as we modern Americans gorge on junk food and television, we as Americans can not help but lemming our way into whatever we are least afraid of.

Dave Rat election prediction is McCain wins by a slim and controversial margin. Allegations of voter fraud, some founded, some not. The scales tilted by the an over estimation of the young actually voting and an underestimation of the primal fears and the true persuasive strength of the good 'ol boys.

Did I mention that I believe it is the balance of power that keeps things from spiraling off the deep end? Perhaps the republican 3 house trifecta with six years of total control guided our American ship to the depths of the rocky waters that our world now lays. Oh well, the world has seasons and perhaps a prolonged financial winter was inevitable. To observe the seasons does not mean I have the desire to change them.

Oh, this video is funny:

http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?nid=ln4DSfnE4lgGUqbDYQQAWzMxMzg3NDY-&referred_by=10991004-E01k8mx

Speaking of gullible humans, here is the sucker magnet of the week

Tubeolator http://web.archive.org/web/20010406053513/http://www.altmann.haan.de/tubeolator/default.htm

And a spew of senseless gibberish trying to appeal to simple minded logic:

http://www.mother-of-tone.com/speaker.htm

Whether it is political character assassination or snake oil salesmen, I find moments where in confusion I wish there was some sort of moderator. Some imposer of ramification to discredit and silence those that propagate untruths for personal gain. Then clarity returns and I realize that just as the unsuspecting rat is eaten by the snake camouflaged and hiding in the grass, the naive human whom allows themselves to be preyed upon by the deceptive, is just another aspect of the natural order.

Since my last dive into bloggery sharing, much has happened. First and foremost, we have lost a friend. Sound man down I am sad to say. Jim Douglas is someone whom I have held much respect for many years and I will hold his memory with a smile.

Another shocking and unexpected event hits home with some scary reality. A plane crash and Travis Barker is someone I have toured with and am honored to know and relieved to know he is doing well. Losing two of 'our people' and two of our plane flighty friends sends shudders deep. Good bye Little Homey.

And absorbing sadness, to mark a point to stand upon and launch ahead, lets slip back into the world of sound.

I did a couple of speaking gigs in early October. First was AES in San Francisco where I had the honor of sitting on a panel with

Phil Garfinkel from Audix, me, Richard Bataglia does Flecktones sound, Dan Healy ala Grateful Dead sound engineer and worked on the Wall of Sound, Mick Wheelan did sound forever for all kinds of cool bands and is now with Sennheiser, Dean Giavaras from Shure was the moderato and brought me on board and Mark Gilbert also from Shure.

The panel was about live mic techniques and how cool is that that I got to hang out with some industry heavy hitters? Oh, and I even got to chat with Dan Healy for a bit about the Wall of Sound and what I was doing with the double hung PA. It was definitely one of those moments I would never have ever guessed would exist.

Taking a wander about the AES trade show, easily the most curious thing was this speaker that looks like a fan:

The way it works is the blades quickly tilt back and forth and push or pull the air accordingly. They had a demo setup in a hotel room and it was quite an impressive sub woofer. The downside was that they needed a second hotel room to act as the speaker box. But talk about going low, this thing can all the way down to 0 hz! Yep, that would be DC or put another way, "wind!"

http://www.rotarywoofer.com/

Not much more did I see that excited me. I did like this Earthworks piano mic setup though:

It is nice to see simple clear solutions and I did end up getting to use one and I liked it.

Yet even in the seemingly safe and credible world of AES, do not under estimate the ability of people to come up with ways to weasel and scam. Check out this "you can definitely hear the difference" promo:

They are selling AC cords! Ok, lets think this through. AC power travels hundreds of miles on high power lines before hitting your local transformer somewhere a few blocks away. It then travels down power company wires before getting into your house or the venue where it travels some other lengthy distance down some old solid copper wire though numerous connections. Finally, you plug in this fancy shmancy power cord to bring the AC the last 6 feet and "wow! hey, that sounds great!" It just don't make no sense. Though a friend of mine often says "money will always revert to it's rightful owner." Hence I guess people dumb enough to buy into this deserve to to have their money fretted away.

Finally for today, my last adventure is another speaking gig but this time at Citrus College where I talked to a group of Japanese sound students.

Thank you Alan! That was really an interesting experience and I truly enjoyed it. It is really crazy talking through an interpreter. The new experiences just keep coming and I love it.

Rock on!

 

Dave Rat