Voltron

Justin is a man of few words to begin with, but no words were needed here.

Ran out of batteries on plane and no adapter. Moar later.

VanJam! What a great idea, whoever it was that started it (JP?), and we were all set to make our way to CanJam in style by Friday morning. Well, the van was not all it was cracked up to be, but it sure was smokin' nonetheless. We managed to assemble the full crew at Grahame's apartment, although neilvg did his best to get us a shovel for being late, and we posed for a couple of quick pics. Just to set the record for posterity, I have annotated the full crew pic. Gathering steam, or in Matt's case apparently, rage. Stephen and Gene planning their In-N-Out orders. Ric's essentials Mostly loaded, just like the driver! Just kidding out there kids. The drinking didn't start before the first rest stop. Oddly enough. L>R Gene, Matt, Joanne, Grahame, Neil, Stephen and Colin (Stephen is holding Grahame's plastic-encased In-n-Out "secret menu") A shady bunch, if ever there was one. L>R Grahame, Colin, Al, Matt, Ric, Gene, Stephen, Neil After logging some miles, we stopped for a little bio break and I quaffed a nice Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale in the parking lot of McD's. Nobody was ready to break for lunch until we reached sacred ground. Stephen might be the most excited of all, proudly displaying his receipt for double-double animal style, animal fries, and vanilla shake. Anticipayaytion, it's making you wait... Luckily the wait wasn't long and the central valley heat wasn't too intense, so most sat outside. Behold, in all its glory! We got back on the road, now half way to CanJam. Captain Grahame took the wheel and I retreated to the back benches for some R&R with the boys. Grahame did the research and we learned that a high occupancy vehicle can have open containers if the driver cannot reach them from his or her seat. Given that Grahame doesn't drink anyway, this was perfect! Matt enjoying a tasty beverage. Here's Matt still smarting from one of my killer "your mom" retorts. You started it, bro, so if you can't take the heat get out of the VanJam! Speaking of heat... Just 10 miles from CanJam HQ, we were stuck in traffic on the 405 freeway. Although we were in the HOV lane, we and all the other lanes full of traffic were barely moving. Grahame was driving, Joanne was in the co-captain/navigator chair with white buds in () and Neil was sitting behind Joanne rockin' the Etys like he was in a trance. Well, most of this day he seemed to be in a trance, but especially now. All of the sudden, I looked forward and saw a LOT of SMOKE pouring out from under Joanne's seat. Neither she nor trance-boy noticed anything (not to mention Ric who was opposite Neil). There were two power inverters for AC power on the back of the seat and a battery underneath it. We assumed the battery was either smoking or burning but the reaction times were very slow and the piles of clothes and papers and crap around the floor made us even more worried that flames would follow the smoke. The one item plugged into the inverter was unplugged and the turned off. I shouted that Joanne should jump the heck out of that seat and she eventually did with her English decorum intact (mostly). Grahame managed to get across four lanes of slow-moving traffic and one very fast-moving exit lane to get us to the shoulder. We all bailed out and after reaching the shoulder in a dicey maneuver and the smoke dissipated after the van was turned off. The whole crew looked shell-shocked and I believe Ric has photographic proof of those harrowing moments. Undaunted, we piled back into the beast and Grahame fought back into traffic and we made it to CanJam intact. After checking in and changing undies , the chosen few scotch mavens made our way to the wonderful Glenrothes scotch tasting and talk that had been arranged by Augsburger and JP. We caused quite a ruckus upon entering -- sorry Glenrothes dude -- but slotted in after meeting making some long-anticipated acquaintances with Jacob, Stretch, 909 and many others, as well as seeing some other old friends. The scotch was great and the company was even better, as always. Good times. I guess this is the place to move on to the CanJam chapter covering the rest of the trip. From what I can remember, it was fun times but I didn't take that many pics. Some are posted, others are not, and for good reason.

Trying to consolidate meet pics and travelogue into one place, so excuse the few repeats at the beginning. First up, MOAR. Mayberry On Acid Revisited began Weds. when cetoole, Agile_One, NightWoundsTime and thrice arrived from various locations at various points throughout the day. I took no pics, but Gene posted some somewhere. Colin arrived first and tooled () around the city while I finished up some work, then we picked up Gene at SFO. We met JP at City Beer for some nice brews and then went to the Giants game at AT&T Park. Not a great game, but what the heck it is a beautiful park. We then went to Toronado for moar beers before picking up Stephen at SFO. Colin decided he didn't need some of the beer and food he consumed, so he returned it to the porcelain gods at Toronado. Because of some bitch-slap diet bet he was on, there was no In-N-Out stop Weds. night. We arrived at Mayberry around 12:30, so I guess that brings us to Thursday. Here is how the MOAR team was greeted on arrival: There was one more round of beers and then off to bed for the crew. I had to wake up at 5:30 for a work call and wasn't feeling my freshest on 4 hours sleep but it is all in the line of duty. While I was on a 4-hour conference call, Gene was clawing away at his laptop and then Stephen came down to join him for some coffee shandies: Ah, the breakfast of champions: Actually, Stephen and Gene whipped up a beautiful egg scramble for the three of us while the call was ongoing. They enjoyed the sunshine on the porch while I yammered on. Thursday really got going when we were all awake and the full MOAR team ran some last-minute pre-Jam errands and had a fantastic Thai lunch at my favorite Thai spot in Marin. Sated, we all returned to Mayberry for a quick change into city clothes and got ready to pick up The Van. Instead of the gleaming Sprinters gracing the rental site's pages, we were stuck with a steaming turd of a beat up old war horse. We knew it was trouble when the agent said he really preferred these older models because they have moar powr. Undaunted, we piled into the old beast and roared off for my house. The gang met my wife and daughter briefly and when they left, we set about to tasting some of my scotch. Somebody has pics of that moment but who knows where that is? We then picked up blessingx and headed to Toronado again for a little dinner and beers, of course. This time, my camera made it out of the bag, so here are the few shots I can offer. We had sausages from the fantastic place next door that does brisk beer-drinker business and is fabulous to boot. Note Colin's new favorite beer, Consecration from Russian River Brewing. Good stuff if you can find it. Although we were late, we met up with my wife, Grahame and his wife at the famous Fillmore Theater for The Sadies and Jenny Lewis. All of us but Colin, that is, who couldn't be bothered with going as a non-fan of Jenny and everything she represents. Instead, Colin wandered the streets again and spent an hour talking to a homeless guy who knew more about Colin's college than he did. Only in SF, baby. The concert was great and the Sadies really rocked way more than I had ever expected. Jenny was on her game in a big way and put on a great show. Where to afterward? Toronado, of course. Actually just got some Pliny to go and ate a slice of pizza but who's counting? Dropped Ric and headed back to Mayberry for a *little* sleep. Next installment will be the VanJam Chronicles, so stay tuned.

I really have to needledrop that one...

You are the shizz.

Ray Charles - Genius + Soul = Jazz (Original Impulse! issue via Rain Man Records needledrop sitting on an airplane)

I just remembered where doucheL got his inspiration for Point No. 1 on his shilling review: Plagiarist fucktard.

"I swear baby, that's just not my bag..." Your mom said she didn't mind being the penis pump at all. Already post-count whoring over here? We do have multi-quote here bitch!

Welcome Julian, aka TheCool, and have fun here. Not sure yet how you got the d-bag moniker but you're Cool in my book. See you at some more meets I hope. Cheers

Welcome to the madhouse, Wayne!

Shoot, I almost forgot to post this! Thanks 909!

Hell, I ended up with a Blue Hawaii, a balanced B22, an ES-2, Jades, and HE90s in addition to my own gear. People just get generous when the alternative is packing it onto an airplane.

Sonny Rollins -- Reel Life

That was a mere human who represented you. We are Voltronus, Decimator Of The Universe. Wow, I feel weak with geekness right now.

Slappa Newsletter deal on BulkHead 2:1 Laptop Trolley Bag for $39 instead of $119: The BulkHead PRO is a 2 in 1 laptop trolley bag, meaning it is 1 bag that can easily be separated to 2 very spacious bags. With a total of 3 storage areas, there is plenty of room for a laptop (up to 17") and DJ gear (Serato, small mixer, headphones, cords). Each compartment features foam padding, shoulder strap clips and industrial strength zippers. The bag is made from SLAPPA's pro-grade BuckBlast suede which is rainproof, puncture proof and extremely durable. Additional features include a telescopic trolley, 2 SLAPPA combination locks, a removable phone/MP3 case with stainless steel belt clip and a 3D molded rubber luggage I.D. tag. And don't forget the free gadget bag with each purchase!

Didn't hear it. Ask cetoole, he won all of it I think.

No.

Elvis Costello -- Secret, Profane and Sugarcane The years of hanging out at the SF Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and with his buddy T Bone Burnett have worn him down and now he has his own bluegrass album. Sounds good so far.

He uses the clamps for dual purposes: they hold the sign and they are headphone holders. Rather sleek, actually. You may not have noticed but I was assimilated after being Segwayed into a corner. You will be receiving Our demand letter shortly. Resistance is futile.

And here is the self-important douche's pointer on the Hoffman site to his conflict-of-interest-riddled remarks:

I guess I thought the c in c-pad was comfy. Like these options, or is the HD414 pad a whole different thing?

That's a cool report, Steve. I wish I had checked it out, and may take up Dan Lavry on the offer of a loaner. You should find an old jazz album with that serious separation left and right of horns vs. piano or similar and see how those narrowing settings work out. Dan said that such records were what he had in mind when attacking this problem. Interestingly, it was HeadFest 2007 in San Jose that got him thinking about the impact of balancing headphones and keeping your sources balanced because so many people were talking about it. He came up with the PiC idea as a result.

Moar burn in! I have never liked the sound of Grados with the c-pads. The current ones on headphile look like this, but I have not heard these specific ones: