December 31, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. New Years Eve show from behind the drumset. Starting from that show, each night we've played has felt like the last time. Tonight was another, and it may not be, but a last night playing there will come, and soon. I am sick of playing in this group. It's gotten old and boring, hopefully that's not saying something about me! It's not fun anymore, and that's the best reason to stop doing something. Anyway, once I get my citizenship, I'm hoping to spend a month in the U.S., which may be the time to make a clean break with the band.

After tonight's gig, the band leader mentioned things coming up. I tried to come across as uncommitted as possible.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Could We (Cat Power)
2. Andy Warhol (David Bowie)
3. The Employment Pages (Death Cab for Cutie)
4. 2nd of Feb (Engine Down)
5. Glory (Liz Phair)
6. Dewlaps (100 Watt Smile)
7. Stwisted (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
8. Magic Fingers (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
9. Asodaya Yunta (Natsukawa Rimi)
10. Cello Suite No. 2, V. Menuett (J.S. Bach)

Doraemon redux

January 3, 2008 - While I was back in the U.S., I found that I had $400 in my Paypal account, courtesy of Sadie selling my electric drumset in San Francisco. I used the $400 to buy a new Perry Yung shakuhachi (Japanese style bamboo flute).

I've bought Perry Yung shakuhachis before, and since he's based out of New York, I've had the honor of meeting him while picking up shakuhachis that I bought from him. And I do mean it was an honor meeting him. He's a wonderful person and true to his art, very good energy from him. At this point, I wouldn't buy any other shakuhachis except his.

He gave me this one for the $400 in my Paypal account, even though it was worth $600 on eBay. That's the kind of person he is. Likewise, a previous shakuhachi I won on eBay for $260, I gave him $300 for because I totally support him and felt it was worth that much.

I love this shakuhachi, it plays amazingly well. It's also a coveted root-end shakuhachi that I particularly like. And that's my beloved Doraemon that I don't suppose anyone remembers from my first post featuring my original lomo fisheye:



iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Web (Marillion)
2. To The Bone (The Kinks)
3. Pale Marble Movie (Seam)
4. Electric Blues ("Hair")
5. Glory of the 80s (Tori Amos)
6. Saturday Night (Suede)
7. Giant Steps (Gary Willis)
8. I Hate Him ("Carnival")
9. Pug (Smashing Pumpkins)
10. Paper (Talking Heads)

Ibanez Soundgear GSR200

August 15, 2007 - I bought a cheap Ibanez bass, but now I'm wondering why and what am I doing with it, so I might sell it if I don't hit the shed and get my chops back up to speed and join a band soon.

At least I speak the lingo, that's a start.

Kids are lucky these days. They can buy a really cheap bass and the quality is pretty good. It's easily a gigable bass. The kind of basses at this price when I was a kid were far inferior. They were like second-hand beginner basses. It's definitely a step down from my basses back home, but it would serve my purposes here.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Something Else (764-HERO)
2. Scuttle Buttin' (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
3. Funky Li'l Party (Paris)
4. Birthday Party (Phase II Steel Orchestra)
5. The Thin Line (Blondie)
6. Ejercicio #16 (Kinky)
7. She's a Bad Mamma Jamma (Ohio Players)
8. Squonk (Genesis)
9. Generator (Elastica)
10. Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon)

Player Rehearsal Studios

May 7, 2007 - Practice studio near my old school on Heping East Road. Pretty nice studios, half decent drum sets, some are even Yamahas - my favorite - albeit low end Yamaha Stage Customs. I'm not complaining - the U.S. doesn't have set ups like this anywhere. They have 4 small rooms just for drum practice, and they have rooms for other instruments, as well as several large rooms for band practice.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Prove My Love (Violent Femmes)
2. Miss Gradenko (The Police)
3. When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin)
4. Oh! Pretty Woman (Van Halen)
5. Mayonnaise (live acoustic) (Smashing Pumpkins)
6. Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her (XTC)
7. Too Much Heaven (The Bee Gees)
8. Down Yonder (Dejan's Olympia Brass Band)
9. It's Too Late (Carole King)
10. Jungle Princess (Princess Princess)

Going to school

Hm, maybe this is all pointless since my commute to school will completely change after I finish moving, maybe by the end of next week, which is coincidentally the end of the semester.

December 7, 2006 - But this is one of the streets, turning right off Heping East Road, that leads to school. It has more restaurants, so it was more interesting than the street which goes directly to school. I'm shooting into the southern late-morning sun since I have afternoon class, which I hope will change next term. I want either the late afternoon class, or the late morning class. The early afternoon class messed with my drum practice schedule.


Further down the street, shooting over my shoulder. Whenever I do this, I seem to be carrying around a shakuhachi which always gets in the way of the shot, although I could say I was shooting the shakuhachi and be happy.


At the end of the street, the crosswalk to get to campus is a few meters away at Fuxing South Road. On the right is the Taiwanese bicycle version of the "bitch seat". I can say that, can't I? I mean they said it on the Prime Time cartoon "King of the Hill". Remember when Hank Hill and his wife get touring motorcycles, and at one point Hank initially refuses to ride on the back of his wife's motorcycle? "Honey, I can't ride in back, it's called the 'bitch seat'". Hahaha! That's with a Texan accent, too.

Anyway, there are no seats involved here, so maybe not. And actually, it's a sweet deal for the rider on the back and a pain for the pedaler, because the rider does no work, towers over the pedaler, and can smack him if he's rides over a bump; and the pedaler has to contend with a hundred pounds, more or less, of extra weight! So maybe we can start saying the guys are in the bitch seat. I don't know how Taiwanese women would say, "Yo bitch, take it easy over those bumps!" *smack*

I have those things on my bike, but unfortunately, I don't have a . . . OK, I won't go there.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Calling All Stations (Genesis)
2. Drink Before the War (Sinead O'Connor)
3. Plump (Hole)
4. Tiptoe (live) (Ani DiFranco)
5. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (The Beatles)
6. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (Talking Heads)
7. Sanctus (P.D.Q. Bach)
8. Web in Front (live) (Archers of Loaf)
9. Come Back Margaret (Camera Obscura)
10. On the Other Side of Paradise (The Neville Brothers)

Hangin' Out in the Park

April 4, 2006 - Hanging out in Daan Park during a three day break we had at the beginning of April, with the Starship Enterprise docked next to a palm tree. Ah, I remember that day. I sat down and within minutes a spider was scrambling behind my glasses, ie, between my glasses and my eyeball. I hope the look of my huge eyeball staring at it scared as much fuck out of the spider as it did me. Fortunately, I've been training my fear of spiders and I screamed like a girl for only a few minutes and only did minor damage to my glasses trying to get the damn thing off.


Practicing shakuhachi in the park. I think I'm the only dork who does something like this. Seriously, I think people see me wheezing notes out of this thing in public and wonder what kind of dork I am.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Baby, Dream Your Dream ("Sweet Charity")
2. One Beat (Sleater-Kinney)
3. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (Lauryn Hill)
4. A Pillow of Winds (Pink Floyd)
5. Sabahiya (Sabahiya - "Passion" Sources)
6. Grey (Ani DiFranco)
7. Where the Sour Turns to Sweet (Genesis)
8. Wild Wild Life (Talking Heads)
9. Devil's Roof (Throwing Muses)
10. Go Ahead (Rilo Kiley)

Yamaha Beech Customs (redux)

Roll opening shot, frame 00. My rearranged set with two rack toms. Before I had it set up like John Bonham, with one rack tom and two floors. It was cooler before, but I realize now that my style of playing is better served by having all the toms closer together for faster fills.

Since taking this lomo, I set up the last piece that hadn't been set up, so now there are two crashes in front, and the ride is now lower and to the right more. You can barely see the China on the right in this shot. I have way to much stuff for the kind of drummer I am, but I swear I use everything.

I'm looking for something portable for when I go to Taiwan, and I'm vaguely thinking of looking for some paying gig playing drums there. How I'm able to think I'm good enough to get paid to do this is a little beyond me, but...it'll beat teaching English. I would love to get these puppies over there, but I'd only do it if I found something that paid to get them over there.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Star of the County Down (Béla Fleck & The Flecktones)
2. Roi (The Breeders)
3. In Your Eyes (live) (Peter Gabriel)
4. Breakerfall (Pearl Jam)
5. Twilight (Electric Light Orchestra)
6. Hair (Southern All-Stars)
7. Bring the Noise (Public Enemy)
8. Crack in the Union Jack (Suede)
9. The Man Who Sold the World (live) (Nirvana)
10. You Wonder How These Things Begin... ("The Fantasticks")

Who'da thunk I'd get so much mileage out of lomos I didn't post? (pt. 4)

October 19, 2005 - Maybe too many drum shots in recent days, oh well. I'm not ashamed of my Phil Collins "Phil's Choice" signature ride. Marshmallow-head that he became in later years, provoking even the ire of the South Park creators, he's still my fave drummer of all time. Jimmy Chamberlin may have changed my life when I really started playing regularly and thinking of myself as a drummer, but Phil Collins has been around a whole lot longer, and was blowing me away in those all-too-important high school years when I only wanted to be a drummer. It doesn't even matter that this ride sounds nothing like on Genesis records. If anything, it's from his 90's era big band experiment which went over like lead balloon. John Bonham would round out my top three fave drummers.


Suburban living at my parents' house. Hopefully for not too much longer.

10 songs shuffled on iTunes:
1. Murder Sounds (Enon)
2. Sally Simpson (The Who)
3. Mankind (Pearl Jam)
4. As Long As He Needs Me ("Oliver!")
5. I Don't Need Anything But You ("Annie")
6. Heading for the Light (The Traveling Wilburys)
7. Dazed and Confused (live) (Led Zeppelin)
8. Rebecca (Pete Johnson & Big Joe Truner)
9. Chan Chan (Eliades Ochoa - "Buena Vista Social Club")
10. You Were the Long Way Home (764-HERO)

Drums in black and white

September 23, 2005 - I went and looked at the first roll of lomo fisheye I shot, and noticed this one hadn't gotten posted. It's interesting that now I can go back and look at those black and whites and see what sort of lomographic characteristic comes out in them. Not sure if it's interesting enough to load up another roll of black and white. This is the third frame I shot with Bebe.

This is the second, also missed getting posted before, also September 23:

Mitsuwa Japanese grocery store, Edgewater, NJ.

current sounds:
1. State of Confusion (live) (The Kinks)
2. You Almost Feel Sad (J Church)
3. Flute Concerto in D Major (Vivaldi)
4. Sit On My Hands (Frente)
5. Do You Love Me Now? (The Breeders)
6. Pretty Noise (Soundgarden)
7. Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon)
8. After the Gold Rush (Michael Hedges)
9. Assassination on X-mas Eve (Archers of Loaf)
10. Day In, Day Out (Sakura)

Broken snare head

November 19, 2005 - I had this Aquarian Hi-Energy head on my snare for longer than any other type of snare head I've tried. The thing was indestructible. Almost. To its credit, it lasted years. I have photos of this same head from 2001, when I was playing in gigging band in San Francisco. Also, most heads break in the center, where it's struck, and when it breaks, you know it because your stick goes through it, and you go, "uh-oh".

This one broke on the edge, and there was still enough tension along the rest of the rim that it took me a few minutes to realize where it was broken. I noticed something funny about the sound and feel, but I didn't see a break and thought it sounded cool and just kept playing. Talk about reliable. If this thing broke during a gig, it might have even lasted out a set, whereas with other heads, I'd have to change heads, losing a song or two in the process, or would have to borrow a snare from another band. I had no qualms going out and buying the same head.

current soundtrack:
1. Isn't She Lovely? (Phase II Steel Band)
2. San Tropez (Pink Floyd) 3 in a row!
3. The Narrow Way, pt. 1 (Pink Floyd)
4. Dogs (Pink Floyd)
5. Follow You, Follow Me - remixed (Genesis)
6. Uncertain Smile (The The)
7. White Trash Heroes (live) (Archers of Loaf)
8. Sweet Valentine (Princess Princess)
9. Riders On the Storm (The Doors)
10. Blue Rondo a la Turk (Dave Brubeck Quartet)

not a ride lomo, but then...

October 24, 2005 - Self-portrait with Takamine #1. Yes, I have two Takamine's. Oy. This one I bought for $500 a long time ago, and it sounds better now than when I got it, so I don't want to let it go. My other Takamine I got for $800 used, and it has a very mellow sound. No one is impressed by how it sounds upon hearing it, but I've grown to love it.

Obligatory ride shots, consecutive frames from November 6:

Frame 3


Frame 4 - there were a lot of riders out that day because it was Sunday and relatively warm. I was trying to get a lomo of other riders, but even when they are close, Bebe makes them tiny.

current sounds:
1. Sunburned (Versus)
2. Two Step (Dave Matthews Band) - I don't care what people say, their first two albums were excellent.
3. Woman On the Bass (Neal and Massy Trinidad All-Stars) - steel orchestra
4. Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (New Radicals)
5. Hammer To Fall (Queen)
6. Y (Spitz)
7. Mars, the Bringer of War (Holst)
8. Blu-Bop (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
9. American Without Tears (Twilight Version) (Elvis Costello & the Attractions)
10. Helpless (live) (Neil Young)

Bass for your face, homes.

Spector NS-2000:

Thru-neck body, meaning the neck isn't bolted on, but is made from the same piece of wood as the body for better sustain. "Ergonomically" curved back, incredibly comfortable, but strictly speaking has nothing to do with ergonomics. Passive EMG-HZ pickups, but active electronics. Decent, but I prefer full active pickups and electronics.

Riverhead "Unicorn" headless bass:

I'm sure I can get a better picture of this freaky looking bass. It's called a "Unicorn" for a reason, but someone once refered to it as a "Squid" bass, and I liked that better, so that's what I call it. Semi-thru neck body, meaning it's still not a bolt-on neck, but the wood of the neck is extended and embedded into the body. Active pick-ups and electronics. Japanese made. The bass came with more than a full set of Allen wrenches to perform all the little adjustments required, and as such, must be one of the most poorly designed basses of all time!

I can swear I had a third bass around here someplace. Must've misplaced it.

current sounds (last 10 songs shuffled on iTunes):
1. Sugar Water (Cibo Matto)
2. Unauthorized Autobiography (Unwound)
3. VI. Denn wir haben hie (Ein Deutsches Requiem, Brahms)
4. Learo, You're a Hole (Archers of Loaf)
5. The Funky Avocado (Michael Hedges)
6. Angel (Echobelly)
7. Nothing Without You (Tery Bina) (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)
8. Mexican Seafood (Nirvana)
9. Sukiyaki (Sandii)
10. Usnisa Vijana Dharani (Mantras of the Sanskrit)(Imee Ooi)

Yamaha Beech Customs

Yamaha Beech Customs
Originally uploaded by keauxgeigh.

Testing out the "blog this" feature on flickr.

Eh, I don't like it.

mess

You know, it's really great when you go out shooting and you finish a roll, and you take the roll to a one hour photo place and you get the roll back and scan the negatives the same day. Boom, you have photos of the same day at your disposal.

For instance, today I went on a bike adventure to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, territory that was totally new to me since when I go to New York, I rarely get out of Manhattan. Got an untimely flat, too, but that's another story. Today's outing took preparation. Consideration. And when I do that, I make a pile:

- Pentax ZX-5n w/$18 28-80mm lens, loaded with XP2 Super black and white film
- red filter for the Pentax
- digital camera
- iPod
- shakuhachi (cemeteries are nice places to play)
- watch
- keys
- wallet
- coins
- phone
- 2 spare rolls of XP2 Super and 2 rolls of Fuji color

Two things that aren't in the shot:
- Lomo fisheye, for obvious reasons
- BIKE PUMP (more on that later)

But this entry is not about today's outing, because I'm still not done with the previous roll of film I shot. I didn't think I'd be finishing off rolls of lomo so quickly. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to segue into any previous shots.

Well, in my last posting, I mentioned the curved road sign that I stopped to shoot yesterday. Here it is in full Autumn glory:

November 2, 2005 - You can barely even see the sign. I thought I was much closer to the sign, but apparently not. I was much closer in the previous shot. Fisheye weirdness.

Well, now that I've posted a shot from yesterday's ride, here's another from yesterday's ride:

I had never seen these ruins before on the banks of the Hudson, but this is just a teaser. I have more shots that I'll post later. Sorry, this was a mess of a post :p

current sounds (last 10 songs shuffled on iTunes):
1. Please Do Not Go (Violent Femmes)
2. Good Good Feeling (Wes Cunningham)
3. Beautiful Night (Ani DiFranco)
4. Stand In Traffic (Skip Holiday)
5. I Saw 3 (Tara Jane O'Neil)
6. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) (Marvin Gaye)
7. My Name (Oliver!)
8. Oceanbound (764-HERO)
9. The Kill (Fugazi)
10. Roxanne (live) (The Police)