Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

I tour well. Perhaps naturally nomadic or maybe just that I have spent much of my adult life traveling between hotel rooms. Either was, landing myself down in one place for more than a few months is an incredibly challenging process. First there was the hazy shock of solid ground, the realities of washing my own clothes and figuring out the proper food purchase to consumption ratio. The glory of a full fridge followed by the dread of tossing away piles of rotted food only to be followed by scouring the kitchen for something edible. Then sets in the dreaded weight of repetitive patterns. Drive to work, wash car, clean house, being at various places at certain times. All the while fighting the sensation of collapsing freedoms. I tell myself it will be ok once I get used to, I tell myself that tour looks so shiny from a stationary standpoint and try and keep the downsides in focus so I do not slip away into "grass is greener on the other side" envy.

As I navigate the doldrums and desirable aspects of the non roadie lifestyle, the bright spots of my days pull me like magnets past the trenches. One of those magnets is surfing so I would like to introduce you to a few friends that form the core crew. Meet Randy, John, Mac and Ray with whom I spend the crack of dawn surveying the waves before diving into the icy waters. I would like to thank John for the loaner of the rattle snake skin hat for the photo op.

And No Wave Dave who's ability to focus right in on what I call "poking the bear" is a constant source of smiles.

And Gene whom I hold I hold personally responsible for getting me hooked on surfing and spending my mornings hanging out with this motley crew.

Gene and Dave are not part of what they term the "goofy hat wearers." Clearly, I have no issue with it. Speaking of snakes, snaking is a term used to refer to the act of taking off on a wave in front of someone which you can see occurring to Gene in the photo below. You may also notice Gene entering "the bear pose," a clear indication that he is less than pleased with the maneuver.

And to better enjoy the adventure in wave, hey, why not make something a bit different and fun? Hmmmm, how about a custom Surfboard? Well, upon searching through my computer I seemed to have an abundance of a certain logo so.....

I sent out the graphics to Ray and had some silk printed and the Blinky (William Dennis) at Ventura Surf Shop made it up for me. Thank You, the board rocks!

Moving on to another source of smiles, here is a picture of a speaker I made with my mom on Christmas day. Together we worked in my garage just hanging out and though I am not a celebrator of corporate holidays, this was one the best Christmases ever. It is a 6 feet long polished aluminum tube with progressively dense filler and an open back. The tweeter is a bundle of 6 microphone capsules. The sound is amazingly clear and open.

Oh, and I have another way cool aluminum tube speaker coming. Just thinking about that zone and rhythm of building creations in the garage makes me happy.

First in line of the source of "making home being worth while though is being soccer coach for AYSO U12 girls team and going to softball games to watch shorty #1 and #2 rock out on their sports skills.

**** Sound Nerd Speak ****

MicroWedge 12 is out and about and in bloggery modern networking tradition, I even persuaded EAW to embrace an "Official MicroWedge Myspace Page."

http://www.myspace.com/microwedge

How many wedge's have their very own myspace site? Ha ha! Al in good fun and I made a little slide show as well.

Also the official EAW MicroWedge site is up as well.

http://www.eaw.com/products/microwedge

So I head out to EAW about once a month for all kinds of secret designing and such. The all new EAW MicroWedge 15 that is smaller and sexier than the old one, an EAW MicroWedge 8 and Shhhhh.... rumor has it, if I was to spread rumors, that a speaker box like you have never seen of the ultra cool EAW MicroSub 15 could very well be in the pipeline. I so wish I could share the MicroSub 15 prototype pics as it is a design I have been working on for a long long time and finally unraveled the answer to what I believe to be is the most useful and versatile stage sub ever. And it looks cool too!

**** End Sound Nerd Speak ****

Ok, I will try and pick up my bloggery pace a bit from once a month but no guarantees other than I will be back.

Rock On!

Dave Rat