Posts

Posted on

A good explanation of what happened

As in, what happened with all the bad mortgages, and how that affected the financial markets. The drawings are crude, shall we say, and so is the language, but it makes the point. Not suitable for work, maybe, and don’t look at it if you are easily offended. I saw this a while back but thought it worth posting in case you didn’t see it. I think it pretty much sums it up.

You’ll need to view this in full screen mode to read it, which is the little icon that looks like a projection screen at the bottom of the slide viewer. The show has no audio, so you might want to put some music on first by clicking on the Ovi player. This piece, Infinity’s Edge is from the live planetarium recordings featuring Craig Padilla I have been running the past few days, and is about 10 minutes long.

Subprime Primer

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: subprime mortgages)

Posted on

Cheap gas, film at 11

Cheap gas in reddingRedding gas prices
I ran across this intrepid reporter getting video of the cheap $2.12 gas at Arco yesterday. Never thought I’d see that again. Later I went by there after he’d gone, and they had dropped it again to $1.99. That news video didn’t last long! Send out the reporter again.
This tune titled Indian Spirits is another piece from our live series at the Schreder Planetarium, as promised yesterday. It features Craig singing. Here’s the lyric sheet: “Ahhhhhh.” Hee. Well maybe it’s Uhhh, not exactly sure about that, it’s been a long time. Anyway I enjoyed hearing it again today, and I hope you like it too.

Posted on

What might Hilltop look like without palm trees?

Fall colors in redding
There was a lot of controversy when date palms were planted on Hilltop Drive for beautification. Personally I don’t have a problem with palms. I think they look fine, and Redding has a long history of palm trees. Maybe they are taken care of by tree service near me, they look very well kept so possibly. That’s readily evident when you look through old photos. But if there was a second choice, these trees on Shasta View near Lema Ranch surely would make a fine alternative. They are simply stunning.
Fall colored trees near Lema Ranch
Lovely vistas greet the eye at every turn in the Fall
Shasta View in Redding

Posted on

Fall comes to town

Fall in redding
Right after Veterans Day in Redding we can expect a frost. Not yet, so far, but soon.
The musical excerpt Lithium is from Craig and my CD Planetary Elements Vol 2, released on the Space for Music label. It was recorded live at the Schreder Planetarium on Magnolia Street in Redding around 2004. Here’s the story of the music. We played as a duo under the dome, while Brian Grigsby ran the planetarium visuals. It seats 64 people. We’d played there before but this time we decided to play improvisationally. We planned to play floaty synthesizer textures and ambient soundscapes. We deliberately didn’t play much beforehand, except to setup, so we wouldn’t know what each other was going to play. Here’s the kicker: playing in the planetarium is done in total darkness. We even had to cover the the LED displays on the synthesizers so their dim light wouldn’t bleed onto the dome. So here we were as usual, playing improvised music in total darkness.
About 10 minutes in, I started up a sequence texture that had a mildly rhythmic bass drum in 4/4 time. I figured Craig wasn’t going to like it much actually, so I thought I’d fade it up and then back down. To my surprise, Craig launches into a full-on lead synth line over the texture. Now, it’s going somewhere. At some point based on Craig’s stellar lead, I transpose the sequence, and follow along.
I guess the piece stands on it’s own, and would be otherwise unremarkable beyond that, except to us. Both of us were thinking, where the hell did that come from? It sounds planned. It wasn’t.
One of those weird moments you get after playing music with somebody of like mind for a decade or so. In the dark. It still weirds me out to hear it. Where does music come from?
Fall leaves in redding
Photos by Skip on Northpoint in Redding, Fall 2008

Posted on

My Great Great Grandfather, Civil War Vet

John Rodney Civil War Vet
This is John Rodney in his later years, wearing the Union uniform he wore fighting for Vermont in the Civil War. We’re told he never really recovered from the war, in terms of his health, but we see him here looking proud, about 120 years ago. Happy Veterans Day John. We salute you. John Rodney was the great grandfather to my favorite veteran, my dad.

My dad George, received 3 Bronze Stars in Korea. He was in the Army then, and he noticed the Navy guys seemed to have a better gig, so he joined the Navy reserves after getting out of the Army. I don’t know many who served in two branches of the military. My dad is a pretty special guy.

Last week I took him to have cataract surgery here in Redding at Shasta Eye on Butte Street (thanks!), and he is really grateful about being able to see so well now. Except when he looked in a mirror. Who is that old guy? I know the feeling! Probably John Rodney felt the same about his photograph.

Posted on

Odds n ends

Yesterday, I ran into one of Erin’s young friends, Sarah. She said to me “Hey, how about Tuesday, huh?” I was taken aback. Most of Erin’s 20-something friends seem very unconnected to politics. I found it hopeful that this young woman was excited enough about how the presidential election played out to even mention it to a geezer like me. It will be good if Obama’s success has captured the attention of young people, and got them thinking about the importance of elections. BTW Even though Sarah and her husband are still in their early 20s, they have their own small business. How cool is that? Shasta Pizza on Lake Blvd has the most delicious Garlic Chicken Bacon pizza, call 244 9999. Yum.
Day Lilly in Redding CA
Even though it’s November, we still have one Day Lilly blooming. Global warming? Maybe it’s just confused. Photo by Skip.

Secondly, local Realtor Brad Garbutt has a blog. He’s written some excellent information regarding “home retention” scams on his blog. There are a large number of unscrupulous people trying to take advantage of the many people in mortgage trouble. You can read his blog HERE. The series started Nov.4. He did an excellent job of spelling out the mechanics of the latest fraud schemes. Fraudsters are everywhere. Beware.
If you are interested in local real estate issues, you might pop over and take a look now and again for his take on things. I read it.

Posted on

Emotional election night

I suspect there were few dry eyes in America last night. I know mine weren’t. We saw history, some of it ending, and some just beginning. I’ll leave the political commentary to the other bloggers, however. If you are near my age, you have seen many changes in the way we consider race in the U.S. Sometimes the changes are slow to come, and sometimes they arrive in an instant. Last night that paradigm shift moment arrived via TV for me, with Charlie Gibson stating “We are ready to predict the winner….” The winner was all of us.

I enjoyed the Onion’s take on things. Click HERE. Warning, link contains ironic humor.

The music in the player is by Craig Padilla. It’s an excerpt from the song titled Vast Emotions. It’s one of my favorites from the 1996 CD Eye of the Storm. My emotions were vast indeed. The music reminds me that Obama has big job ahead. Let’s all wish him luck, because we’ll all need it.

Obama campaigns

Posted on

A News Cafe Birthday party

A News Cafe Anniversary
We attended last night’s one-year Birthday Party for Food for Thought / A News Cafe. It was a blast. Lots of people I hadn’t seen in quite a while, and very well attended considering the rainy weather.
Doni Chamberlin
I did one of those “stick out your arm with the digicam and take us both” shots here with hostess with the mostest Doni Greenberg. Big fun!
Phil
Write-in candidate for City Council, Philbert Fountain performs his magic with a Sharpie.
Jim Dyar Band in Redding The Jim Dyar band was really perfect for the gig. I was happy to see Marvin Allen there, on the left. He’s one of my very favorite Redding musicians. Truly a talent. I wish I could have spent more time just enjoying the band, but good food from Andrea of the Bakers Love blog, and lively conversation filled the room. I also wished I had brought a better camera.
A really fun moment for the night was meeting Craig and Erin Friedman of the Still Married band and blog, and realizing Craig and I knew one another from way back when. I’d been to their blog, but didn’t recognize him. Also I didn’t realize until the party that I knew Ann from Infinite Designs from years ago. It’s a small world. A world with excellent birthday parties, too.

Posted on

Beyond the Portal artwork arrives

Beyond the Portal cover
We received preliminary cover art for our new CD collaboration project on the Lotuspike label “Beyond the Portal“. I think it looks pretty fabulous. Very exciting! I can’t wait to have the production CD in hand. I have to share this artwork with you.
<Beyond the Portal Text
This is the follow up release to the earlier Path of Least Resistance by Craig Padilla and Zero Ohms. Here are 3 short snips from that project:
Craig and Zero were kind enough to invite me to participate on this next project, whose artwork you see here, due out soon. Stay tuned!