From time to time, I've mentioned The Gomers in this blog.











Not nearly enough to give them credit for all this marvelous band does to enrich the lives of those of us who dwell in Madison. The Gomers host a live-band karaoke show 6 times a month at my place of employment. It's about the only gig I look forward to when I peddle down the Isthmus to sit in my spot at the nightclub entrance. Founder and old friend Biff has maintained a considerable web presence, so I'll not be a repetitive old fart with any of that. It's all here, and more!

Pal Gregory recently asked what selections singers are likely to bust out with on any given night. Here's a setlist from last Friday's happy hour show:

set 1
The Beatles - I Will
Led Zepplin - Ramble On
Bowie - Space Oddity
Derek & the Dominoes - Layla
U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Simon and Garfunkel - America
Allman Bros.- Midnight Rider
Arlo Guthrie - Coming Into Los Angeles
Led Zepplin - How Many More Times

set 2
Queen - We Will Rock You/We are the Champions
Frampton - Show Me the Way
Tom Petty - Breakdown
Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
Helen Reddy - I am Woman
The Beatles - The Ballad of John and Yoko
Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Waters
finale/band intros/thank yous with quotes from Yes and Van Halen

A representative sample of what the Gomes and singers get down with, and believe me it's entertaining as all get out. Good times!

listen:
My Bloody Valentine
XString Quartet
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Summvs
Richard Thompson - Amnesia

read:
China Miéville - The City and the City
Emulator 6400 manual

view:
Super 8
Dexter season 5

DIY DTV antenna

more DIYery - a cheap antenna built today, to finally recieve 'free' TV @home reliably:


























design from:

Makezine Blog post link


all the madison stations are now being recieved with clear stability, at least when the weather is is also clear.


listen: 92 The Mic

view: In the Line of Fire (Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich!), Law and Order. Arrested Development season 2

read: local papers (CT, Isthmus, Onion, Eastside News), Nat'l Geo, Smithsonian

deckscape 2 & dinner with Cliff

The storms passing through WI making for some interesting sky views from the deck this week.

































Hannah and her pop Cliff and I went out for a very tasty Chinese dinner last night before he flies off today for 3 weeks in Indonesia. We had a great meal and nice chat. After dropping her dad back at the family home, we took a walk around the hood admiring the gardens and unique homes and occasional sky views.






































Capped off the evening with snuggling, a dvd and more snuggling. Nice day!

view:
The Wild Blue Yonder (Herzog)

deckscape

listen:
Steve Tibbets - Natural Causes

view:
Dexter - Season 2
Shutter Island

Summer arrives!

Hereabouts it's just a flurry of activity. Changing weather (like hourly), getting out and enjoying nature's gifts a bit, and in general it's go, go, go! Taking care of a neighbor's yard. Housesitting coming up this weekend. Sprucing up the back deck.
Sunday evenings I have the privilege to explore the far reaches of the musical cosmos via playing recordings of artists on WORT, subbing Gregory's RTQE broadcast with the kind help of Alex who can jump in when I need a break. My girlfriend Hannah and I spend pretty much all our mutual free time together, what there is between our wacky schedules. It's really my wacky 'schedule' that screws up our time together. She's the apple of my eye and the beating of my heart. I'm lucky.

Drumming on a regular basis would be nice and it's up to me to make that happen it would seem. Also nice would be something to show for my hours spent at work besides sore muscles and a paycheck amount stuck in limbo. Work is steady at the bar although we're hitting that period where music lovin' folks have lotsa options and being indoors is not quite so attractive. Can't blame them and they'll be back after letting out a collective sigh that the crappy weather is finally over until the fall.

listen:
Alison Krause|Rober Plant - Raising Sand
Adrian Belew Power Trio - e

view:
Dexter (Showtime series) season 1

pics from April

the mulberry tree that used to shade (and shed on) my deck was taken down a few weeks ago :(

what's new?

The arrival of spring with all the special vivifyingness of nature and our midwestern demeanor in general.

And gigs, yes, gigs! Jon offered the news today that he is to secure a date at the coffeehouse and hopefully has also lured db back to these parts it's lookin like. Yeah! Wheels are in motion for a return to the Spark festival in Minneapolis, happening this year in September. Hoo!

The bar is doing about as much business as we can stand, which of course makes for a busy Tom. To offset this and as a way to also spend another (too rare) night with Hannah, I've stopped working the door on Wed. 2 nights of rocking will be fine. Dinners at home with good companionship are being enjoyed, yes!


And there are night's out on the town, not wearing heavy outerwear or hats and gloves.