I can sing in key!

Hey, the gig at The Anchor Room went pretty well, in my humble.

Not only did a good number of people show up, which is a nice change. Also, my dear wife says my vocals sounded better, and we think it's all thanks to the Galaxy Hot Spot PA5X140.

Simply speaking, when you're performing on stage with amplifiers, you can't hear yourself very well. You can hear the echo off the back wall just as well as the original sounds from your amp. So you need an additional speaker pointing back at yourself so you can hear all of the music at the right time and the right key. A monitor helps a vocalist not go out of tune.

Thanks to everyone who showed up! Next gig on November 3.

433 photos in 45 seconds

My friend and coworker Steve Linsenmayer came over Saturday morning, and we went around the neighborhood, taking pictures of me. I needed some professional shots of myself for flyers and posters and stuff like that there.

Instead of picking a few photos and posting them here, I thought, why not show them all? But who has the time to look at 433 photos?

Well, you do! Here are the photos, all in less than a minute.



433 still photos as a 45-second video on Vimeo

Thanks to Steve for the great photos. Thanks to Apple's GarageBand for the groovy music loops. Thanks to Vimeo for hosting the video. (Fort Wayne native Zach Klein is one of the guys who created Vimeo.) And thanks to Scott Greider for, unbeknownst to him, giving me the idea to post video.

Also, you can click here and download a high-quality version!

Our trip to the zoo

I've been having some fun with Shutterfly, and here are some photos from our recent trip to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo.

To see our photos, just click on the alligator -- if you dare!

What is happening to me?

Honestly, this is what I brought home from the store tonight:

• 1 package Kikkoman instant tofu miso soup
• 2 Thai Kitchen rice noodle bowls
• 1 300ml bottle Aji-Mirin sweet cooking rice wine
• 1 bag Beneful dog food. The kind with salmon and rice

What kind of yuppie list is that?

P.S. I planned on posting some photos tonight, but instead my wife and I watched "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Because "that TV remote is a crack pipe!"

UPDATE: The Thai rice noodles were delicious!

Really rough 'River'

Well, I finally did it. I recorded a song with (shudder) vocals and have posted it online. So you can hear it.

You can go to my MySpace page to hear "River," my newest song. The lyrics are slightly rough in a couple of places, but you can hear the song with what I think is the right emotional timbre.

And don't forget my next gig, coming up at The Anchor Room. Get the details.

'Busco gig on Saturday

Come check out the new coffeehouse in Churubusco and hear me play and sing! La la!

It's called the Mountaintop Coffeehouse. I believe the mountaintop refers to the coffee, not to the location.

I'll begin at 6:30 p.m. Hope you can make it.