There is also an accompanying mini-doc that is great. Be sure to watch it. It will give you a little more insight into the situation in Burma, & the relevancy of the monks. These are the same monks I've written about in past blogs.
artist: ko khaing
great source for daily news on burma, thailand laos, southeast asia:
www.irrawaddy.org
"Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavor, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions." Aung San Suu Kyi
xoxo.
a brief schedule:
fri
1:00 - rock the earth panel, solar stage
4:00 - moe. acoustic set, solar stage
sat
4:00 - bonnaroo radio performance (will post broadcast info later)
midnite? - late night set!
meanwhile...
"Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavor, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions." Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
we worked on a little over 1 mi. of trail. clear rocks, blown down trees, put in some water bars for drainage & had a great morning. this was a section of single track on the mountain, that was in need of some work, as there were several sections that were unrideable until this work was done. thx again!
yours truly (w. the google logo in butt)
some of the group (others had hiked ahead)
we are planning on meeting @ 9:30am @ the fanny hill stage. we will have shuttle transportation, gloves & tools, as well as some basic refreshments. we'll be done no later than 1:30pm, but appreciate any time you can contribute. we'll be heading up to the government trail. with some luck, we may even get to see some bears.
thx again for your help. for those of you, not coming to snowmass, check in your local areas for national trails day events & help pitch in. our trails are a great resource & I'm thankful every time I cross a simple log bridge!
al
I'll be posting a lot more summercamp pics & vids as I get them together over the coming days. thx again for everything! see you in flagstaff...
I took almost 3 hrs. of video yesterday. plan to edit clips & post in the coming days. (see below for a quickie)
- buckethead was a monster, as usual. his backing band could barely keep up.
- junior brown made my day. perfect sunset set. the weather, music, friends - all perfect. (it would've been cool to see buckethead sit in)
- both darkstar sets were really good. I love this band. the acoustic 'let it grow', as well as the electric 'stranger' late night, were stellar.
- UM was great. the 1st set closer "believe the lie" was awesome. I LOVE this song. fwiw, they looked great too. JW is a great fit.
- along those lines, I'd like to thank yesterday's special guest LD. we had one of the industry's top lighting designers help out with yesterday's set. our thanks to mother nature ; ) (we'll have some other special guest LDs this weekend)
today, I'm more excited about my new amp! I'll always be a 13 yr. old in the guitar shop (except instead of lusting after flying V's, my tastes have changed - some. I still like V's - are you reading this Gibson? korina is esp. nice ; ) back to my 'new' amp!
LOOK!
This is an Oldfield Marquis 30 in a new custom bamboo cab. I'm a big fan of bamboo. it's a great alternative to hardwoods & it's sustainable. it's as durable as oak or maple (some say more so) & is less susceptible to water damage. it can also grow as much as 3 ft. in 1 day. (we've used it for all of our hardwood flooring @ home too).
Being a big fan of bamboo as a green alternative, I was particularly drawn to the speaker cab I'm currently using, which is made by Hard Truckers (the same guys who made all the cabs for the Dead). they offer a eco friendly version of their Fatty cab made out of hemp plywood w. a bamboo veneer. in addition to sounding as good, or better, than a typical birch or pine cab, it's also significantly lighter (that is, before I loaded it with vintage JBL D120f spkrs which weigh a ton). here's a pic of the back:
I started talking to Paul Gussler, owner, designer, & builder of Oldfield amps about rehousing my Marquis 30 combo (the dark green one you've seen on stage for the last few years) into a new bamboo head cab to match the Hard Truckers speaker cab. Paul & Glenn (from HT) spoke about some of the details, & we were off.
There were some initial tests to see if the bamboo would stand up to the rigors of traditional cabinetry (ie. dovetailing, splintering, etc.) & it did great. There was also the issue of taking my old amp chassis (which used it be in the rear facing up) & flipping it over to fit into the new head (now lower front panel facing fwd.). needless to say, paul did a 'spongeworthy' job!
the final piece involved working with Hard Truckers to develop a grille for my speaker cab that was also green (I'm a huge pain in the ass). they sent me samples of bamboo, hemp, & silk. ultimately, we opted for the unbleached hemp. it's actually very similar to the grille cloth used on Fender tweed amps from the early to mid '50s (TV front & wide panel tweeds).
Thanks so much to paul & glenn, & the girls @ HT, for hanging in there with me. clearly, one of the coolest amp rigs on tour...
Oldfield Tube Amps
Hard Truckers
sunset @ summer camp!
from the site: burmavj.com
"BURMA VJ – Reporting from a closed country
"This film BURMA VJ is comprised largely by material shot by undercover reporters in Burma. Some elements of the film have been reconstructed in close collaboration with the actual persons involved, just as some names, places, and other recognizable facts have been altered for security reasons and in order to protect individuals. ”
Armed with small handy cams undercover Video Journalists in Burma keep up the flow of news from their closed country. Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, acclaimed director Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. The Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages from the streets of Rangoon.
Their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been carefully put together and at once, they tell a much bigger story. ”Joshua”, age 27, is one of the young video journalists, who works undercover to counter the propaganda of the military regime. Foreign TV crews are suddenly banned from the country, so it’s left to Joshua and his crew to keep the revolution alive on TV screens all over.
With Joshua as the psychological lens, the Burmese condition is made tangible to a global audience so we can understand it, feel it, and smell it. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching. "
I just saw the new movie yesterday. in a word, awesome. I went with my sister (who used to watch the original series with me in the last century) & my son (who's never seen a single trek related movie, tv episode, etc). we all loved it. the theatre applauded when the film ended. it was tense. the character development was great. the FX were top notch. acting was great.
you don't have to be a trekkie to enjoy it, although getting some of the history probably adds to one's geeky enjoyment (like knowing what the "kobayashi maru" is). the story is a prequel to the original series & follows the coming together of the original crew, & even includes capt. pike (again, another geeky pleasure dating back to the pilot episode, but not nec.).
go see this. enjoy. live long & prosper.