I don’t suppose I can blame anyone but myself for thinking that Monday would be a good day to target for new posts. I have, admittedly, stretched it a few times, posting so late Monday night that it was probably technically Tuesday. And I do try to keep an idea or two in the back of my head should words fail me. The Signal and Noise posting was one of those, an effort that was so dense and massive that it distorts passing light beams.
Today’s post is more pragmatic. It merely recounts some of the activities of the last couple of weeks, primarily for the benefit of one of my most faithful readers, namely, me.
Starting around Labor Day weekend, things had faded into a fog, memory-wise, so I decided to try to recall my activities, just as a mental exercise. Turns out it wasn’t that difficult, thanks to calendars and notes. By the way, if you notice that I have missed something important, feel free to ping me. I probably need to know about it.
Friday night before Labor Day, we drove to Columbus to see my family. Jayne cooked some of her classic specialties, I repaired the eye of a tree’s face (really; see photo
), and we mostly just visited, watching baseball and working crossword puzzles. Saturday night we drove back home to join our daughter in entertaining some out-of-town guests.
Sunday morning it was up bright and early in Lilburn, and seven of us headed up to the lake for a morning sail. The breeze cooperated, and the lake was not too crowded, considering that Labor Day is sort of the last big boating blowout weekend for the summer. We anchored in a cove while some of the younger folk swam, and the rest of us enjoyed the breeze and pleasant conversation.
We headed back to the marina just in time, as it seemed like the entire world had decided that Labor Day Sunday afternoon was the time to hit the water. While they were out battling for aquatic space, we were heading back to Lilburn for an afternoon of resting, cooking and eating. Side note: we found an interesting chicken marinade, Veri Veri Teriyaki, crafted by a Jewish and Asian couple who market their products under the company name “Soy Vay.” Yummy stuff.
Monday morning our guests departed, leaving us to wind down from the holiday weekend and prep for a merciful four-day workweek.
Fast forward to lunchtime last Friday, when I switched into bluegrass bass player mode (fortunately that doesn’t require a costume change for me) and headed up to a Dunwoody church to substitute in the Bitsyland String Band, playing for a Senior luncheon. As part of his schtick, the lead singer/emcee introduced his Native American wife, and explained that their small-town courtship went pretty well with one exception – whenever they went to a dance, it would rain. The Bitsyland players are fun people, and it was an enjoyable variation for me. After the gig, I returned and put in my afternoon’s work to close out the week, then my bride and I headed to another of Atlanta’s glitzy northern suburbs for appetizers and a couple’s massage, a relaxing gift from her.
Saturday after a rather luxurious sleep-in, I had to pay my dues for accumulating more music gear, tools, and electronics than I can possibly stash in my humble abode. I found a climate-controlled storage space just a little bit too convenient to my house for my own good, and spent most of Saturday moving, sorting, and, in a rare few cases, tossing out, stuff. The plan is to use the storage space as a staging spot for sorting and tossing. I’ll let you know how that works out, but I recommend that you not start holding your breath any time soon.
Sunday was a music and sound day. One Tree Hill played at the Forsyth Family Festival in Cumming, and (surprise!) volunteered the use of our sound system for the afternoon’s remaining seven musical acts. Since I understand the sound system better then anyone, I volunteered to drive.
In fact, it was quite an enjoyable experience for me. Since this is not my first rodeo, and I actually had several days notice, I came equipped with a tent, a table, a chair, and cooler with a big bottle of ice water, some leftover crudites, and the last piece of Soy Vay chicken from the refrigerator. And my wits. I actually remembered to bring them.
The schedule went something like this for each band:
- Jump up on stage while they are setting up, figure out what gear they have and how many singers, and assign the appropriate inputs and wires
- Spend the first song trying to remember who was plugged into what, and sometimes, why
- Spend the rest of their set actually mixing their sound (this is really the most fun part)
- Mute all the channels when they finish
- Repeat for next band
I really do enjoy all aspects of musical sound reinforcement, not just mixing sound for the audience, but also mixing the monitors so the band is happy on stage, solving the inevitable problems (Why can’t I hear the acoustic guitar?; Where’s that feedback coming from?), and even wrapping cords and loading the equipment in and out.
In fact, the only thing I would have rather been doing was tooling around Athens with my wife and daughter, who is visiting from Chicago. But we did get together at the end of the day for a nice meal at the Taqueria Los Hermanos to close out the weekend.
And to top it all off, it actually feeels like fall this morning! Mazel tov!