skullguise

Happy Happy Birthday! 🙂

Happy Birthday!!

^^^ While watching him work to destroy the unit, for some reason I had Beavis & Butthead voices in my head 🤣

Just read about this, bummed me out quite a bit.... RIP to Brian Lumley, probably my favorite horror writer. https://locusmag.com/2024/01/brian-lumley-1937-2024/ His Necroscope series was a super-creative view on the source of vampires (and the source of my username!), and led me to several of his other (Fantasy & Horror mostly) series, as well as to F. Paul Wilson, one of my favorite all-time authors.

I just want advanced aliens to come (back? 😄) to Earth and send a massive "Kindness Ray" across the globe. Is that too much to ask?!

Karen and I saw her in the mid-to-late 90's, along with James Taylor. Such a lovely person she was, and she still had "it" IMO!

*** Mod's delete or move if this isn't the best place *** Shameless plug for Orchard Audio, and me. I really like their streamers and amps, great sound for relatively small $. As some know, I use multiples of their Pecan Pi (or + version) streamer/DAC. Leo @ Orchard is starting an affiliate program, you can get a bit off ($25) an order and I get a referral bonus. Referral Link: https://orchardaudio.com/tddsmst?nocache=1 Or, just use tddsmst as a discount code on checkout (may not work for sale items, not sure). They sell some boards so you can DIY, as well as finished products. Enjoy! Or ignore....

Very Happy Birthday Mike!!

Very Happy Birthday!!

My algorithms cause a lot of cat things to cross my FB feed. Rescues, funny pics/vids, and comics. This is one I hadn't seen before and like it a lot.

Amanda Palmer - New Zealand Survival Songs. She is borderline pretentious but I find I love her music, lyrics, and attitude!

Happy Birthday! And....why not both?

Very sorry to hear Brent, condolences to you and family.... RIP Jack, will raise a non-alcoholic toast as well.

Happy Birthday Dan!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Ric! May your birthday presents not be Xmas presents!

Happy Birthday Ken!

All of the above, for you and all folks potentially in the path!

Got to see Mary Fahl again last night, stunning show. Her latest 2 albums are winter/holiday music, and a covers album. Both were showcased, along with a nice dose of earlier stuff, including her time with October Project. Got to speak with her after the show, and she signed a rare CD I had (her husband said even she didn't have a copy of it). It got a "Wow...!" and a smile. No pics, but it was a small, intimate place right in my hometown!

SO freaking cute! Congrats to you and Yumi!

I'm a big fan of Orchard, have now several of the pecan Pi-based products and have had their GaN amps in the past, too. I have chatted with Leo a fair bit, even around his RCA to balanced converter. I thought there were pics of the board itself....at least partial that I had seen in his Facebook group if not on his web page. Yes, it wouldn't be a best-selling product, but there were several folks in the FB group that had use cases beyond turntables.... I have toyed with DAC HAT's quite a bit, including some great bang-for-the-buck ChiFi ones. Orchard's Pecan Pi (BB chips) and Plus (AKM chips) versions still kick butt on anything else I've heard. I have a Plus board with Pi board inside an all-in-one unit that has Purifi amp modules, as well as 3 other fully boxed streamers.... As for the Midgard: I got it in last weekend, have been playing around on a Sennheiser 660S2 as well as an Altiat Cal 1H (Altiat is Aumkar from Kaldas Research). One of the Pecan Pi boxed streamers is front-ending it. I'm hearing some great things with both phones, and the amp drives them easily even in low-gain mode. That said, the RCA outs on the Orchard feed a small Stax setup (252S and L500 Mk 2), and the mids sound more transparent on that. Not sure if it's the amp or phones. Need to listena nd maybe experiment more. But I think for < $250, this is a great amp to try and maybe use ongoing! It's making me think about getting some Focal Clear's/Mg's again.

I had watched a few episodes....the only one I actually remember is one where she cuts up her credit cards in a seemingly stoned-induced glee..... Beyond that, it's a blur....

Thanks all! Nice times were had, the day before and the day of. Met up with an audio acquaintance Tuesday for a nice BBQ lunch and a visit to a nearby store. Yesterday was a relaxing day reading, talking with a couple family/friends, then out for a nice dinner at a local fish place. they had dropped what was my standard birthday dinner item, but have added it back. Called (now) Bayou Cod, it is described as "Blackened cod, shrimp, andouille [sausage], cajun cream sauce, spinach, tomatoes, rice." They USED to use catfish, then changed to redfish (snapper). For a while they took it off completely, now it is back with cod. Our waitress was awesome, she had been there a long time and said MANY people were up in arms that this was dropped. She also gave us a free dessert for my bday. So as an old manager I had used to say: Fat, dumb, and happy!

Their longevity is amazing, almost like the Rolling Stones. All the above makes me remember when Gene Simmons was on the Howard Stern show. He readily admitted that everything Kiss did was carefully planned and crafted, and no amount of merchandising was too much. I seem to recall a phrase "Pennies and nickels, Howard....pennies and nickels" (meaning it ALL makes a difference and ALL adds up)..... But I still fondly remember my Kiss Alive cassette tape, and am still working out issues from having it stolen (by a counselor no less) at Summer camp back in 1977 😄.... And making out with a girl from the next year's camp after slow-dancing to Beth....

Binging....along with a shot of Jameson (last night).....