MexicanDragon

It's aboot bloody time. That was what, 2 months ago? Any good? **BRENT**

It was yesterday, but I was exhausted and went to bed. I went with the Mid-South Concert Band that I play alto sax in to a community band festival, of sorts. I got to listen to 3 other groups of varying levels. One were people of highschool age up through their 70s or 80s, and they did it for fun. Second group was the Vanderbilt Community Band, which really wasn't. It was comprised of students and professors. I figure it was something like their B or C concert band. They were good, but they were kinda "ringers". They played some pieces that were a bit esoteric and "new", which was probably performed well, but reminded me of some of the stuff that I saw John Sampen (classical saxophonist) do a year or so ago, and I, admittedly broadly, categorize it as more "noise" than "music." After that group we went to warm up and went on an hour later. We played about 8 pieces and had a really good performance. None of us were perfect, but i think we were all happy with it. Our group is comprised of former band directors/music majors/doctors/FedEx truck drivers/retired computer programmers/pastor's wife/former Navy band member/unemployed miscreants... largely, though, people who used to play and got back into it later in life. It's a decent group, run by a very good band director. We invite anyone who wants to play to come out, only requirement is being older than high school age, unless accompanied by a parent who is also a member. After that show, we had 15 minutes before the next group, the East Tennessee Community Band (or something like that). We put our horns up and came back for a listen. This group, however, doesn't let in just anyone. It is an audition-based band and it shows. These guys were incredibly professional and very very good. They even got to have fun with a piece and "props" were brought along. At the beginning of their closer the sound of a fly was written into the piece, and as it was distributed throughout the piece, various members of the band would stand up and swat at them with flyswatters they had snuck onto stage past the eyes of the husbands/wives/children and other band members which events like this tend to draw. It was quite interesting. I hope some of my pictures turned out. I was shooting ISO 3200 or 1600, so I'm not expecting wonderful results, but maybe I got something. It would be nice to play with a group like this, as the members tend to better understand "balance" and "dynamics" and many of the other things many of us were taught during our music careers, yet some (that are in our group, specifically) completely dismiss this in practice, and it has to be drilled repeatedly into the minds of adults who, really, should know better. Spending 4-5 hours on a bus with 50-80 year olds (with 3 younger people up front), however... not as much fun as the "band bus" of old. Heh. On the way back, though, we stopped off for dinner. We had an hour. Choices in walking distance were Jason's Deli, Moe's Southwest Grill and 5 Guys, that we knew about. I figured there had to be more, so I kept walking. I found a pizza buffet place, but kept going still. I walked up to Carrabba's and smiled. I got a seat at the pasta bar, had a chicken fettucini alfredo with a quartino of Italian sangria. I love a good burger, but I wanted dinner, ya know? It was an exhuasting day, and 3 hours of it was good. **BRENT**

But Mike isn't going to CJ, so it doesn't really matter... **BRENT**

Paranoid - Kanye West Paranoid - Black Sabbath Paranoid - Jonas Brothers Puff (The Magic Dragon) - Seal **BRENT**

MexicanDragon likes this. **BRENT**

They take paypal now... dew eet. Yes, I know that was just a hinderance for Dinny back in the day, but, I mean, "come on." **BRENT**

Heh. You're old. **BRENT**

Hope you get some new kicks for your b-day, my good man. Reebok Voltron Pack Insta Pump Fury - Red Tiger Edition **BRENT**

Covertly conspicuous up-skirt rig for parties? **BRENT**

Hold off a little bit and the Nexus One will be on Verizon. :whale: **BRENT**

Heh. That split is one exit from where I'm at. 8 hours, eh? Yeah, I don't blame you or him, that's a good bit of time for a 5 year old. Fitz was in the car for only 7 hours at DJ and you saw how cranky he was... **BRENT**

Heh. I'm pretty sure you passed through about 3-4 miles from where I live. Had I known we coulda met up for dinner or some nonsense like that. Alas. **BRENT**

**BRENT**

Don't have the pics of my actual gear, but the first "wow" moments I had came when I was around 14 and saved birthday money up to get this rig. with Sony D-465 + Koss PortaPro Jr. with a player with a 10 hour battery life. I remember getting 8$/pair Energizer Lithium AAs from camera stores to get 18-20 hours. That was great until my brother "borrowed" it then somehow wound up in police impound, and my awesome-at-the-time rig was torn apart. In 2001 I jumped to SR-80s, and I think that carried me into Head-Fi, and I've actually gone through quite a bit of gear since. First amp was a Xin Supermacro v1 w/switches which came around right before HF-1s came out, so I guess 4g iPod -> SM1 -> HF-1 was the first "kinda real" headphone rig I had. **BRENT**

Look, if it rhymes with "Fitz", it probably blows. Happy birthday, you filthy animal. **BRENT**

fanboi **BRENT**

Is anyone still on the fence about these? I figured people were either saving up or waiting for the right financial time to place the order. Or, possibly, waiting on JH13 v JH16 impressions. Other than that, I see little reason for anyone thinking about it to not just place the order. **BRENT**

Dusty approved? ThinkGeek :: Reveal Watch **BRENT**

First iPad ad premieres during the Oscars -- Engadget See it here! **BRENT**

Heh @ those dainty little glasses for those dainty little boys... and Gene. **BRENT**

n_maher logged off. [MexicanDragon] Happy Birthday, n8. [MexicanDragon] bah! **BRENT**

Heh, I love that the ad I get from Google ads is for the Nexus One. Back to reading... I saw a couple tweets about it from Topolsky, first chance I've had to read it. **BRENT**

:rollseyes: Ok, ladies... let's get this back on topic. **BRENT**

**BRENT**

H(belated)BD! I still need to find time to get down there to check 'em out, but don't know when that will be. **BRENT**