Late last year I went to a Virgil Donati clinic in Melbourne. Not that I do too much drumming these days, but it was a shot of nostalgia because I used to drive to Melbourne regularly in my younger days to see Virgil playing with various bands at the Grainstore on King St (now a strip bar ... or so I hear)
Apparently Virgil forgot to stop practising. The somewhat ironic thing I find is that the more technically proficient a musician becomes, and the more they push boundaries, the less accessible their music becomes. Which is to say, it is accessible, or understandable, to fewer people. Virgil has taken to this to such a level that I'm not sure he understands himself what the hell he's doing. I'm not too proud to admit that some of it sounded like complete bollocks to me. Anyone can make a drum solo sound like a crippled goat falling backwards down a spiral staircase - well, almost anyone - but it takes decades of unrelenting practice to do it on purpose ... and be specific about how many flights of stairs, the breed of goat, and a medical diagnosis of its disability.
At one point he was playing 5 beats with his left hand, 6 beats with his right foot, 7 beats with his left foot ... and folding a map with his right hand!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
What's with all the words?
I dropped my car off today for a service. During the short wait for the courtesy bus, I glanced below the T.V. to see a laminated sign upon one of the cabinet doors, which read "KIDS TOYS ENCLOSED".
Isn't that just a little too formal - and unnecessarily wordy.
Putting aside the missing apostrophe - and to be honest, I can't recall whether it really was missing, I'm just guessing it was because I've seen so many unnecessary apostrophes inserting themselves into plural word forms that I can only assume they've come from somewhere - as I was saying, putting aside the missing apostrophe, I would have assumed kid's toys. Adult toys is a term with a very specific meaning and not something I would expect to find within the waiting area.
Enclosed? Said toys were certainly not visible. The sign was on a cabinet door. Had I a desire to locate some toys to occupy and engage the mind, body and spirit of a youngling, I reckon I'd have fathomed the meaning without being beaten about the sensibilities by all this talk of enclosures.
Wouldn't "TOYS" have been, not only sufficient, but in some way more engaging?
Isn't that just a little too formal - and unnecessarily wordy.
Putting aside the missing apostrophe - and to be honest, I can't recall whether it really was missing, I'm just guessing it was because I've seen so many unnecessary apostrophes inserting themselves into plural word forms that I can only assume they've come from somewhere - as I was saying, putting aside the missing apostrophe, I would have assumed kid's toys. Adult toys is a term with a very specific meaning and not something I would expect to find within the waiting area.
Enclosed? Said toys were certainly not visible. The sign was on a cabinet door. Had I a desire to locate some toys to occupy and engage the mind, body and spirit of a youngling, I reckon I'd have fathomed the meaning without being beaten about the sensibilities by all this talk of enclosures.
Wouldn't "TOYS" have been, not only sufficient, but in some way more engaging?
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Jesamine's bed
I'm not known for finishing things. In fact I'm somewhat renowned for NOT finishing things. Nonetheless, yesterday I finished building Jesamine's bed. Re-building actually. I made Jesamine a four-poster bed about ten years ago (to match the cot that I made her when she was but a wee baby). The bed was made entirely from recycled timber - and just scrap packing timber at that!
Anyway, many months ago I pulled it apart to change it from a single to a double. This meant making it an eight-poster (because that was the easiest way to make it wider).
I did a quick 3D model in Blender to plan out how I was going to make it ...
My planning didn't avoid a couple of "challenges" along the way. I forgot that I'd originally made the bed head higher than the foot. I also found in putting it together that I'd originally (accidentally) made the side rails along the top 1 inch shorter than the bottom rails. Now I know why it had never gone together well as a single bed!
The biggest challenge was when I tried to assemble it all myself, resulting in falling and crashing and breaking and undoing of quite a bit of work.
This time around Jesamine helped me to assemble it (Jesamine also did most of the staining and lacquering of the new components).
And here it is - all finished ...
Anyway, many months ago I pulled it apart to change it from a single to a double. This meant making it an eight-poster (because that was the easiest way to make it wider).
I did a quick 3D model in Blender to plan out how I was going to make it ...
My planning didn't avoid a couple of "challenges" along the way. I forgot that I'd originally made the bed head higher than the foot. I also found in putting it together that I'd originally (accidentally) made the side rails along the top 1 inch shorter than the bottom rails. Now I know why it had never gone together well as a single bed!
The biggest challenge was when I tried to assemble it all myself, resulting in falling and crashing and breaking and undoing of quite a bit of work.
This time around Jesamine helped me to assemble it (Jesamine also did most of the staining and lacquering of the new components).
And here it is - all finished ...
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