What did YOU do today?

What did you guys do today?

Me, I went down to the Sabian garage sale in Massachussetts. Huge drive, but worth it. In addition to 60% off retail, they had some prototype cymbals they were selling off.

I *******LOVE******** prototype cymbals.

Drum geekery: to me, drum quality is important - but let's face it, a tom-tom is a tom-tom. You can play it soft or hard, at the edges or in the middle, put different heads on it, but fundamentally, the sound you get is "bom".

Cymbals on the other hand: it is phenomenal what you do with brass. Depending on the weight and the shape, the lathing and the materials - you either get a gong, a chime, a bell, a crash, a splash, or a ride cymbal. In other words, there's hella SHITLOADS of tone colors you can get with cymbals. When Avedis Zildjian figured out how to make a brass alloy that didn't sound like someone smacking a cookie sheet, it made a very very musical instrument possible. You get everything from "splish" to "bash" to "ping" to "gong".

And Sabian were saying "okay, for whatever reason, we're not gonna make these, but they were fun experiments."

I have four prototype cymbals. This means I have four cymbals that nobody else has or will ever have.

Like the sound of my Sabian 18" vault crash? No problem. Go to Guitar Center and get you one. Do you like the sound of my rust-colored, unlathed Paiste jazz ride? You're shit out of luck. I have the only one.

Today I found two cymbals I had to have. One was a splash-sized, half-china half-gong, lathed and hand hammered cymbal that makes the most interesting sound when hit. It starts with a splashy wash, and then morphs through a gonging note into a buzzing hum, kind of like a tuning fork, but the cymbal version.

The other is a bell (think just the cup part of a cymbal) with a red cunt hair sized rusty halo of unlathed brass.
The resulting sound is literally a cross between a chime and a bell. Think tinggggggggg, but with a warm projection. While I was auditioning this for myself, everyone was smashing various crashes and rides around me, but some dude across the room perked up and went "what the fuck WAS that?"

Made a point of coming over and telling me that he heard every tonal color of that hit across the room.

I also bought a really really heavy, really sonorous pinging 22" ride that cost me $20. It was made of a nickel/silver alloy and sounds like it came straight out of a Led Zeppelin recording. I stole that motherfucker, but there were a few there. If you were in MA, you could have bought one too.

On the way back I realised I was passing the Zildjian factory and pulled off the highway. Met a lovely middle aged lady who took my picture next to a montage of cymbals in progress, and let me see Ringo Starr's kit along with other cymbal paraphernalia, including an award the company won in the 1800s. Seeing a letter from Gene Krupa, and a handwritten one by Louie Bellson, made my day.

I did a whole lot of nothing. It was great fun!

Let's see.... First I ate dinner (I work 8 pm to 8 am), then while at work, I replaced a push-to-talk floor switch and a "multi-function control grip" (basically I rediculously expensive remote control) on one helicopter, then a seal on the rotor head of the same bird (the last one isn't my job, but I felt like doing one of them while the guy who does that actual job did another one) and then helped replace a bushing on a blade of another. All of it was Chinooks, I didn't touch a Blackhawk today. I just ate breakfast, which is really my dinner, and now I'm here. I also smoke almost a full pack of cigarettes again today. There was also a few spades games in there.

Yeah, nothing too wonderful, or at all fun.

considering it was a friday................I worked.........I made record time changing a gearbox seal on a Polar 90ce..........2 1/2 hours and I guessed the right seal to bring with me so I didn't have to go back to the shop.Of course though it's good for the customer it's not good for the company cause of less travel time and less billable hours, I used to milk it for 5 hours and two travels.........but oh well I've got so much work that there isn't time for that............
well, then I came home, went to the bank put my check in and updated my bankbook, I still have spending money from last week so I was able to leave my whole check in there..............then I came home sat by the fire outside for a bit, sat in the jacuzzi for a bit and then banged my girlfriend for about an hour and a half.................read a bit of a star wars book and that was it for the day.......

well, you asked

well, i just got up not too long ago so nothing yet but I did finally snag a copy of repo the genetic opera last night and watched that. very well done and it took me a minute to remember where i had seen anthony stewart head (the guy who plays the repoman) he played rupert giles on buffy so it was a double treat for me! lol. might go out later today. i bought some do rags so my head doesnt get sunburn cus there's nothing worse than getting sunburn on the top of your head lol dunno yet. still working on my second cup of eclair flavored coffee along with a honey cigar.

I sweat alot. It's getting too friggin' hot, too friggin' quick this year.

Playing the sax. I traded a bunch of musical equipment and books to get the cheeky little alto, and I've been playing it and its tenor older brother all day. Saxes should come with a warning: they, like drums, TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE.

I was standing outside in the humid breeze playing the intro to "The Pink Panther" and loving it.

Technically today at 12:00:01 AM i was still DJing at Ruin in Hollywood till into the wee morning hours. From then it was dancing like a fool in the main room. After that is was an impromptu 3:30am yummy mexican scramble at a friends house in Culver City followed by following crashing at the Black Cat Studios also in Culver City at around 5:00 am. 9:30am - 2:30pm was strolling around Venice - The beach and the innerds - then the long 2 hr drive back home only to come home to read I was invited to DJ at Bar Sinister tonight. Had to pass as had to pass out :)

Woke up just now but no way can I make it back into L.A. tonight on such short notice so it time to do wash instead :)

well im still up from last time so ive been kinda sitting arond with sharpie free hand doodling stripper clowns in a sketch book

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by malcolm

well im still up from last time so ive been kinda sitting arond with sharpie free hand doodling stripper clowns in a sketch book

---

Dd you see "Reaper" this past week?

i woke up. and im sick.

Olix: signed up for Soundcloud so you can hear stuff I'm working on.

Nice... You've got a PM. Cymbals are amazing. I remember a friend of mine, a promising drummer explaining me how you can play various notes on one of the cymbals. Then he played some simple melodies to me on it. Good ear can hear it and recognise them but most of the "listeners" have no idea of it.

Woke up at my mom's house after spending mother's day with her. Drove 2 1/2 hours back home. Took a nap. Now I'm getting ready to go see STAR TREK and then get some photo editing done :)

Oh and I have a bit of writing to do too......

Sex. Food. Work.

Questioned ethics

Not much so far. Had to call in sick to work yesterday, had a UTI. Yucky! Just watched a little of "Awakenings." Now I have to do some grading and making copied for the kids later in the week while I'm gone.

I made some videos from some behind the scenes footage I have from past photo shoots.

And I silk-screened mustaches on the front of some underwear I plan to sell at tattoo conventions this summer.

I wasted 5 minutes reading about cymbals.

touched up my hair, forgetting to put gloves on and scrubbing my hand free of its purple. trying to figure out what i need to do for a video shoot tomorrow and a contest at BaGG after that. putting aloe on my sunburn. writing to various models and begging them to model with me for my website-in-progress.
mostly nothing.
and bleeding out of my uterus.

oh and i just started researching adult film studios.
i'm going to try taking the pr0n road. :thumb:

I have a snotty nose and sore throat, so I will be spending the day in my jimmy jams

There is an ignore function, Rocky.

People come with an inbuilt one, even, but it's tricky to detect tediousness before information has been absorbed. No doubt we should know better, but even after a paragraph or two you half keep expecting to get to some redeeming point or twist.

Anyway, we spent the weekend on Izta's new hair; she's going dark green, which we've been preparing for for ages. Redreading, bleeching, dying, braiding, decorating. It's pretty awesome now though.

Today:
Went to school. Came home and got dressed to the 9's for a show I was gonna do. Showed up at the club (which is not in the best part of town) and waited for 25 min. No one showed up, so I left.

Now I'm sitting at home with my puppy dog getting ready to watch a movie :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bikerpunk

There is an ignore function, Rocky.

---

http://i41.tinypic.com/2vvp9ic.jpg