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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 22:14:29 GMT -5
My brain can't handle open tunings. Like calculus. You play in Drop D, right? You realize that other tunings are only one or two more strings away from that and actually make things easier, not harder? When I was an active solo gigger, I used six different tunings (as I did on "Speechless") and plotted out my set lists so I never had to retune more than two strings between tunes. |
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 20:59:14 GMT -5
No. City Winery in Chicago. It was a music concert. Him and a band. OK, how was it? Were all his songs long and in G? |
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 19:15:34 GMT -5
I've listened to about a dozen of Jeff's songs now, and the more I hear, the more I'm impressed with his voice and his phrasing, and the more I think most of his songs are too long, and too in the key of G (sorry, Todd) and they all tend to be the same medium tempo, which in a show might get tedious, w/o a band.
Marshall, so you saw him in NYC? What was that show like, musically? (Forget the patter, which we know he excels at.)
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 18:31:17 GMT -5
Great patter, great lyrics, great singing, a little monotonous with the three-chord backing, but at least there's no quack.
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 18:06:39 GMT -5
Watch some Bonnie Raitt vids -- one of the cleanest slide players ever. YouTube has lots with closeups of her fingerings. So effortless, so melodically powerful. The power of restraint.
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 17:50:26 GMT -5
Got my first good bike ride on the road today and it went pretty well. I didn't mention it earlier but I had a heart attack six weeks ago and had to have a clot pulled out of one of the arteries (LAD). Kind of a mystery as I have normal coronary arteries. For the docs here my pacemaker history showed a run of VT at 300 so that might have been the cause. I lost some function and was pretty short of breath with even mild exertion at first but it feels like I am about 70% back. Upshot was I got a "free" helicopter ride to St Cloud. I have an echo this week so that will tell how much actual functional improvement there is. I was wondering how the ride would go but I did some hills and it was encouraging. Also got more Hostas transplanted and the garden watering system in. So glad your heart crisis went as well as it did, and I'm heartened by hearing that your activity level is back up there so soon. Is Rory little? He always looks large on TV -- I guess it's how he carries himself, and how he drives a golf ball. |
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 17:26:57 GMT -5
I wonder if Jeff would be interested in buying my Goodall. He'd forget about his dumb ol' Martin.  |
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 16:09:56 GMT -5
Rory McIlroy is chewing up the field at the Wells Fargo Open in Charlotte. When he's on his game, he's like a golfer from another universe.
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 13:40:13 GMT -5
Can you even imagine how unsafe the roads will become with all the safety doodads on all the vehicles thus equipped and a generation growing up with the expectation that they will always be there and always function? I would think that such a concern would be more than offset by the lives saved and injuries avoided by those devices working as designed. The only accidents I've read about where doodads failed were Teslas with auto-drive capability, which I find useless and dangerous as frick. |
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 13:22:20 GMT -5
Very interesting... I had the opportunity to drive a 4Runner last weekend when my brother rented one. It drove nicely. I am considering one for my next vehicle. They are kinda old school, which for Rob is ideal -- it has an actual FRAME, naturally aspirated V-6, creepy-crawly modes for rugged terrain, full-time 4WD, five-speed auto trans. Not great gas mileage, but Rob is usually driving less than a half-hour at low to moderate speeds, so not a big concern. The model they got is really set up for off-road use, which he needs, and the raft fits in the back just fine. But Dottir says it rides great on-road and has all the driver-safety doodads, like auto emergency braking, lane monitoring, etc. |
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 13:12:20 GMT -5
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 12:37:11 GMT -5
The Strib posted dozens of reader-submitted photos of the Northern Lights, in addition to staff images. This one from Boulder Lake near Duluth is a good example of the former.  |
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Post by billhammond on May 12, 2024 9:24:46 GMT -5
Good morning, beautiful day here, and as Marty said, we're headed for the 80s. I've fueled and washed the motorcar, filled my coffee mug with Speedway House Blend and picked up some essentials at Trader Joe's, which was packed with people scarfing up $20 floral bouquets. Most buyers appeared to be the moms of their families -- that's one way to be sure you get the flowers you want! Next on my list was GONNA be a beard trim at Great Clips, but they are closed for Mother's Day, which apparently is now a federal holiday. Oh, well. I'll motor over to Morelli's after they open at 11, need some vino and Cry Baby Craig's hot sauce. I got a nice long e-mail from Elderdottir today, in which among other things, she detailed the complicated process of acquiring a new vehicle for hubby Rob, who is a fly-fishing guide, and carts around a very cool raft for that livelihood: As a reminder, we've been looking for more affordable alternatives to a 4Runner, which is ultimately Rob's ideal work vehicle. Our research yielded that the model he wants would be about $55k and they don't tend to negotiate down from that because they're in such high demand. We've been looking at the Honda Pilot and Passport, Nissan Pathfinder, and Ford Bronco. Side note: Rob also drove a Land Rover Defender just for the hell of it. It was obviously very, very badass and predictably way out of our price range. We ruled out the Bronco (too expensive and the dealership didn't let us test drive one) and the Pathfinder (not capable enough in off-road environments).
Rob and I went back to the Honda dealership yesterday to test drive a Pilot and walked away because they weren't willing to wiggle on the price much ($55k sticker). There were a lot of things we liked about it, but Rob was concerned about its ground clearance and performance capacity in off-road environments. Rob pointed out to the saleswoman that, for that same price, he could get a 4Runner, which we know for a fact will meet his needs. She shrugged and wished us good luck.
We left and decided to go to the Toyota dealership to look at 4Runners just for shits and giggles. They surprised us by letting us take it for an almost 30-minute test drive up gravel roads to the Parkway (super mega fun!).
We came back assuming we'd have a similar conversation with sales to what we had at Honda. We were extremely pleasantly surprised when Rob was able to negotiate them down almost $8,000 from the sticker price. I'm sure it helped that the 2024s are the last of this platform's generation before shifting to the 4-cylinder turbo platform in 2025 (I apologize if I didn't use the correct lingo, I'm learning!). I'm sure they're in clearance mode for the 2024s at this point.
We worked out that, with a $10k down payment and the Crosstrek trade-in, we were eligible for a 7% interest rate for our financing.
We were not expecting to buy a vehicle yesterday but by 5 pm we were cruising up to Devil's Courthouse on the Parkway with the windows rolled down.
It's a 2024 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium. Rob's in loooove! Looka lika dees, color is called Underground, but I would call it "gray."  |
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Post by billhammond on May 11, 2024 14:25:13 GMT -5
Do you know when this letter was published? Today's Duluth News Tribune. |
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Post by billhammond on May 11, 2024 11:27:29 GMT -5
(Note: The guitarist is all-around good guy Scott Nygaard.)
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Post by billhammond on May 11, 2024 11:12:12 GMT -5
Letter to the editor in the Duluth paper:
It’s time for schools to make difficult decisions regarding cellphone use. As a graduating senior, I’ve watched how the influence of cellphones and social media has skyrocketed since COVID-19. Both of these forms of technology are still in their emergent phases, and long-term research of their impacts is not yet complete. Yet the short-term findings on the damaging effects on mental health, physical well-being, and developing brains are already deeply alarming. This is not something we can just let pan out, when the health of an entire generation is at stake. I am a part of that generation, and I can already see the toll it has taken on my peers. I even see how it is affecting me, and yet the addictive elements of cellphones and social media make it difficult to control.
Teenagers can’t fight this themselves; they need adults and leaders in power to help.
This past year, when the Duluth school district announced cellphones should be kept in students’ lockers at all times, I was hopeful of change. I hoped I might be able to have normal conversations during downtime, without everyone immediately retreating to their phones. I hoped I could give a presentation in class and people might actually pay attention. I hoped I myself might do better at school, unburdened by my phone.
Yet, to my disappointment, cellphone rules have hardly been enforced. In response to this, I ask administrators and teachers to do better. If that means enduring the grumbling of some angsty teenagers or helicopter parents, so be it. I ask them to step up and form a true plan of action for cellphones to combat the mental health epidemic and cellphone addiction from which teenagers are suffering.
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Post by billhammond on May 11, 2024 9:54:28 GMT -5
I saw a terrific headline this morning in the unlikeliest place -- an ad for Morelli's Market, known for its low prices on beer, wine and booze.
Above a row of brewski pictures was this gem:
BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEER HOLDER
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Post by billhammond on May 11, 2024 7:39:05 GMT -5
Good morning, everyone. Today's agenda is light. I'll do some weed control in the yard. Yesterday I made birria, a Mexican meat dish, for tonight's dinner, so this evening all I'll have to do is heat it up. Love the photo, Don. I love birria, too -- it's become all the rage at Mex eateries here. Do you have a dunking vessel of consomme on the side? |
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Post by billhammond on May 10, 2024 20:04:39 GMT -5
I nuked a hot dog and scarfed takeout coleslaw from Old Southern BBQ.
Elegant, n'est-ce pas?
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Post by billhammond on May 10, 2024 19:40:17 GMT -5
I enjoyed it, too, but let's be honest, it was an OK song, sung and played capably by a famous actor, and it earned a wild standing ovation. There are dozens on this forum who do much better stuff every week. I guess the lesson is, become a movie star first, then try songwriting.
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