stefkeB

I've started thinking lately to get up to grips with performing alone with more than simply a guitar. I have most of the hardware and software I need (I think), but to link it all together takes some planning.

One of the tricky things is the lack of hands you have when playing guitar. And the fact that even though you have two feet, you need at least one to stand up. So only a foot controller seems reasonable.

But I have too many buttons to push:

Last weekend, I played in the Sint-Joriskerk in Antwerpen, during the wedding-celebration of my wife's brother.

The first song was a new composition, titled "Silver Droplets". While practising, the couple was pleased with a fragment I was playing, dubbing it "bubbles". While "Soap Bubble" came to mind, this title was highly unfit to start a lasting marriage. So I proposed the droplets. Here you can listen to the re-recording.

After last two gigs were cancelled, the current line-up of Transport Aerian has been modified. I hope we will soon arise from our ashes.

Meanwhile, the Flemish-Brabant contest "Rockvonk" sent the reviews made during the selection phase of their contest to all participants. It was not too bad, but not good either.

I still wonder if we are not good enough (yet?) or simply not suited to the current music taste on the festivals and radio stations.

Musically, Hamlet asked me to participate more on the song writing, so chances are that we get some more stefkeB-like stuff in TA.

Last weekend, I borrowed a Digitech Jamman from a friend to use during the upcoming wedding celebration. Take a peek at http://www.digitech.com/products/Pedals/JamMan.php. It seems easier then to carry a laptop with Ableton Live and my keyboard on USB and the foot pedal mapped to the looper-plugin button.

Another note, I upgraded my laptop to Snow Leopard and the Line6 drivers and the Soundflowerbed extensions give problems. That's for updating too soon... Well, my iMac will stay a little longer on Leopard in that case, till I know the drivers work fine.

Yesterday, I played some pieces for my brother-in-law, who is getting married this month. He asked me to play some interludes on his wedding.

Well, after the busy first weekend with two gigs, next two gigs were a miss.

We arrived to play in Liège, only to pack our stuff back in before even doing a sound check. All because of a stupid argument with the owner of the place.

And the next gig to be in Leuven was cancelled because of disagreements about payment and the PA system.

I hope the next gig will go on because of the desire to play music. That is what matters.

Last weekend, the band I joined (http://www.myspace.com/transportaerian) performed twice.

The first gig was in Herne in "Het Muziekkot" (http://www.muziekkot.be) for, well, very few people. It was a recording of the show, which Hamlet will mix into a Live-album. Afterwards, The Black Ribbons (http://www.myspace.com/theblackribbons) played their set.

When my father-in-law was planning his retirement from the University where he was working, he asked us to play at his celebration.

I was to play the guitar, Marnix (the other son-in-law) also played guitar, my father played the piccolo and (originally) nephew Jan was to play the violin, but due to work obligations he was replaced by Hilde, who was a friend of the family.

After some thinking, we decided on three songs.

After about 15 (maybe 20?) years, I finally bought a new guitar amplifier. I was looking at a Fender Hot Rod Reverb and a Marshall JVM 215C. Both are combo amplifiers (amplifier and cabinet combined) but have a different goal:

Well, every music blog seems to talk about it...

http://www.ableton.com/cantwaitfor8

Live8 is announced and has a nice set of features. Read all the details on the Ableton Website and on numerous blogs, but for me it is huge:

• MAX/MSP/JITTER will be integrated as a (non-free) add-on later this year
• Akai has a dedicated controller for LIVE
• Live8 has several nice improvements, including a vocoder, cross-fading in arrangements, a looper and some updated plugins.