Archive for September, 2006
9/2/2006
I spent the day super-cool-awesome girl. Why is she super-cool-awesome? Because she just is. We spent the afternoon together and did all sorts of awesome stuff, such as:
Going to a beach in St. Petersburg (it’s true, Florida’s beaches really do feel like swimming in bathwater - it’s unbelievable)
Catching dinner at The Pier (a nice place overlooking the ocean, the food was good!)
Showing me around St. Pete (Andrea is a great tour guide)
And on A’s insistence, I now have a pair of real shorts, as in not jean-shorts. She is turning me into a Floridian, and it’s working. She is also on a mission to get me a tan. Knowing her, she just might do it. ;-)
This is me. It’s the first time I’ve been comfortable enough to post a picture of myself on my web site again, as in one that’s not just avatar sized. Andrea took the shot.
Here’s some more shots from today. St. Pete is gorgeous.
I am literally beaming ear to ear. Today was just a great day.
And tomorrow I’m off to Ohio for a week. Life right now is pretty darned good. :-D
– Edit 3/16/2008 –
I originally had a pic of the girl I was with that day on this post. She requested it be removed, so I did, but now I’m putting it back. Why? Because I can. :P
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9/4/2006
Note: Mantua is pronounced “man-too-ay”.
Rich here from Mantua, Ohio. So far a few songs are almost in the can and things are going well. Been hanging out with Brent and I’m 100% certain the album will be completed and will be on schedule for the upcoming release.
Lots of photos have been taken and I’ll be sure to include a few here on my blog.
My internet access is limited around these parts so if you e-mail me, I may not be able to get to it immediately - just letting everyone know.
Take it easy everyone, I’ll be back in Florida soon.
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9/4/2006
Above: Brent and Jeff shooting hoops.
Recording has been going well but every now and then we need to get out of the studio and have a break. This is one of those breaks.
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9/7/2006
This is the longest thing I’ve ever written - so it’s an extended entry. Clicky away and enjoy - if you can muddle thru it all. :-)
Me and Brent at the local Sheetz after a week of recording Seven of Nine.
Your oh-so-standard “take a shot out the window of the 737 photo. Tampa Int’l Airport.
Brent and I doing some recording for Seven of Nine.
Me plick-placking away on Brent’s Roland Fantom. Envious? :-)
—
Thursday, September 7th 2006. I arrive a little after eleven o’clock in the morning at Tampa International Airport. Just a few hours earlier I left Cleveland Ohio. It’s good to be back home, but I’m dead tired.
As I debark from the Continental Boeing 737, I realize I’m home again, but not quite - I still have to find my truck because I totally forgot where I parked it. I think it’s something like Row 9 or Row 10 in the outside economy parking lot at TPA.
As I walk around I soon see signs to grab a shuttle that will lead back to the terminal. I grab the first monorail.
In the terminal I’m wondering Okay.. first I gotta get out of this place.. wait a sec, I gotta piss.
Find a loo. Pit stop.
A few minutes later. End pit stop.
Okay, where was I. Oh yeah, I gotta find a way out of here.
I see an Information booth. No one is manning the booth. Lovely.
I walk around the terminal a little more. There’s another Information booth - and someone is manning it.
Where do I get a shuttle bus back to the parking lot?
Info lady with heavy hispanic accent tells me where it is. Okee. You go down da escalator, then to da left. Go out da door. Is right there.
Thank you! I say cheerily. Down the escalator and to the left I go.
Outside I ask one of the security guys where the shuttle bus for the parking lot is.
Go straight to the end of the sidewalk, you’ll see a bus stop there.
He was right.
I grab a shuttle bus minutes later and head out to the parking lot. I was right - I was very close to Row 9.
I unlock the truck and get in. Florida weather has, as usual, turned the interior into a sauna - but that’s okay. I turn the engine, crank the A/C, plug in my GPS then do a quick check. Yep. Everything’s here. Truck was not broken into (and in TPA it’s extremely unlikely anyway but I check regardless).
I look to the passenger seat. There’s sand on it from a pretty girl that I took to the beach last week. Wow, do I miss her. I’ll call her later but I’m too tired right now.
On to Interstate 275 I go, exit 50, a turn here, a turn there, and I’m on my way back home.
I remember I have to call that pretty girl later to get my fish back. She’s been fish-sitting Bob V for me.
In my apartment, I find that everything is as I left it. Very comforting.
I’m home.
—
Where to begin.. sheesh. I’ll start with the flights.
TPA to CLE
Tampa Int’l Airport is officially the most awesome airport ever. Almost no lines, extremely friendly and courteous staff (almost to the point of shock), wide aisles, big signs. Everything is super-duper easy.
On the flight I get an entire row (three seats) on the 737 to myself. How cool is that. The plane hardly has anyone on it. I munch on pretzels and Sprite when it’s served as the in-flight snack.
Very good trip.
When I left Tampa, it was 82° F outside. In Cleveland, 62° and rainy.
CLE to TPA
One word: Sucked.
And here’s why it sucked.
CLE is loud, obnoxious and outright confusing to find where the heck it is you’re supposed to go, however, since I did not have any bags to check, a lady walked by and said (in shouter voice) IS THERE ANYONE WITH E-TICKETS THAT IS NOT CHECKING LUGGAGE? She literally has to yell else she will not be heard.
I raise my hand.
She points me to the e-ticket desk. I got to skip a line of at least fifty people.
That was cool.
The flight itself was miserable.
Even though I was fortunate enough to get a window seat, two young parents, a barely-a-man and barely-a-woman sat in front of me with their shit-storm toddler. This cute little bundle of joy stunk - and stunk bad. She stunk so bad that when the flight attendant came by, he scrunched his nose in disgust and said politely..
You know, there is a baby changing station in the restroom.
Her response?
Hehe! I know!
Yeah. For real. She actually said that.
THIRTY MINUTES go by and I’m literally GAGGING from the stench of this little girl.
After that, the mother FINALLY gets up and heads to the back of the plane to change Little Ms. Shit-Storm. This only worked for for about one hour. Then Ms. Shit-Storm started to stink AGAIN.
In addition, Shit-Storm cried every fifteen minutes. But wait, there’s more. FOUR OTHER KIDS on the place also either did the following:
Cried (WAAAAaaaAaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHH UHH UHH UHH (SOB SOB SOB) WAaaAAAAAaAAaAAAAAAHHH)
Made grunting noises for no reason (GUH! UHH! UHhhhhHHHHhhhHHhHHH! UHH! UHH! UHH!)
Squealed like pigs (AIIIYYYEEEEEEEEEE (giggle giggle) AIIYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
This flight was not the worst two hours of my life - but darn close.
Jeff
After arriving in Cleveland, Jeff was there to pick me up at the airport. Brent was not able to do so because he had obligations to attend to at work. Jeff is a cool guy. Artist extreme and the company he works for does outstanding work also.
Brent
After touring the GoMedia office I get to meet up with Brent. The guy is real easy to get along with and I know the recording sessions for Seven of Nine will go well (and they did).
Look out for the Mantua fuzz
One of the days of recording (I don’t remember which day) at two o’clock in the morning we decide it’s time to go check some e-mail since the studio doesn’t have internet access in it. Brent has his PSP with him which has the capability to grab wireless internet whereever it’s open.
So Brent and I are walking around Mantua at two in the morning looking for a wi-fi signal. A local cop pulls over, gets out of his car, lights up a cigarette and shoots the breeze with us for about twenty minutes. The guy had no idea we were attempting to “borrow” internet.
Nice cop, however. After that he headed out.
It was just kind of funny. The cop basically had nothing better to do. And the guy was all right. No typical cop attitudes or anything.
Drunk attempts to invade the studio
During the recording sessions for “Alone With You” which involves an acoustic guitar, I’m playing the song and a knock knock knock is heard from the front door.
Brent answers.
Some dude is holding a can of beer and says some gibberish to the effect of..
Oh, wow man.. I thought you guys were listening to a stereo. That’s some cool acoustic music. Hey, yeah man I want to record an album too. By the way, if you hear any noise from me downstairs, it’s just me killing my kids.
Yes, he really said that.
To the best of our knowledge his children are still alive.
Hayletts are ever’where
Everyone knows the Dan Haylett from the Space Camp song. But as I discovered, Mantua has Hayletts everywhere. They’re all over the place. Big family.
BrentMobile
Brent’s ride is a 1997 Jeep Wrangler. It’s been rolled twice and still kickin’. This Jeep has definitely seen better days, but, it is a true testament as to how tough Jeeps truly are - because this one has had the snot beaten out of it and thensome.
Brent does live interview on Canadian television
Although this hasn’t been mentioned on Nerd Punk yet, I did actually witness Brent conduct a live, as in on-tv-live, interview on Sun TV via webcam. Sun TV really has their act together and it was a well-done interview. I’m hoping they’ll post a link to it or something.
“Famous producer” Rich Menga
A running gag (but maybe not any longer) is that both Jeff and Brent refer to me as “famous producer” Rich Menga whenever introducing me to anyone. And I mean anyone. I guess the title may stick? Who knows. I think it’s funny.
Seven of Nine
Okay, so why is the album called Seven of Nine? Is it a Star Trek reference? Sort of. Brent had nine songs to get finished - but due to time constraints (it was only a week after all) we only got seven done, hence “seven of nine”.
But not to worry, I left Brent with enough studio knowledge (which he sponged in very well) to complete the other two unfinished songs.
And in case you’re all wondering, YES, the album is done. As in truly done. No “we’re working on it” stuff. It is 100% finished.
HOWEVER..
(Yeah you knew there was a catch, but it’s not a catch.. read on)
The audio is finished but there are other things that need to take place, such as cover design, compact disc distribution (as there are more than a few out there who want to buy it) and other things besides that.
Samples will appear soon on the nerdpunk.com web site. And it’s good. I’m not just saying that because I produced it. It really, truly, is good. The album came out better than I ever hoped it would. Brent is a fine musician and we worked well in getting done the task I went to Ohio for in the first place.
I’m tired
I’m dead tired right now. I was going to do some laundry, but fuggit. I’ve been up for over twelve hours.
And I’m supposed to go into work tomorrow to do up a review on the Olympus SP-320 on video.
Hopefully the bags under my eyes won’t be too obvious. :-)
And by the way, if anyone wants to comment on this article, just sign up for a message board account.
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9/8/2006
Title of this entry is a phrase that got its beginnings in the 1800’s, but it still reigns true today.
—
I finally got all my laundry done. And I mean all of it. Even the socks are folded (Rich folds socks?) I had absolutely zero clothes to wear other than what I had on me so it had to be done.
Normally I head up to my Pop’s place in Inverness to do the laundry but I did all of it here in Tampa instead. Contrary to what most would think, I don’t prefer to do laundry at Pop’s because it’s free. I do it because I have the luxury of using newer machines that do the job better (and they do).
—
Bob V is back home and is very happy to be here. In less than two hours after putting him back in the fishbowl he calls home, he made a huge bubble nest. Big time.
—
That’s it for now. Bed time.
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9/8/2006
Title of this entry comes from a cartoon that rocked.
I’m emotionally drained right now. Actually, “exhausted” would probably be the better term. And why is this? Well (ahem)…
Physically, I’ve traveled almost 2000 miles in less than a week (to Ohio and back). It’s just a cool-and-weird-at-the-same-time feeling to say “At 9am I was in Ohio. At 11am I’m in Florida” and have it be accurate. Kinda puts your head in a spin because the world seems so much smaller at times like that.
Emotionally I’m getting back on track. Before arriving back in Florida I was happy as a clam, but then got shot down in grand fashion (for reasons too personal to mention here) so.. a few days rest will cure that ill.
Small side note: Much love to my New Englander girlfriends. You all kick ass and know exactly what to say to me (without asking) when I’m feeling blue. Thank you thank you.
Right now I’m in Inverness visiting Pop. His lawn has turned into a forest, so a lawn mowing will be in order tomorrow.
Oh, I almost forgot - there is a slim possibility that I might still get to check out the Atlantis shuttle launch that’s been delayed about ump-teen-million times. Hey, it could happen. :-)
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9/9/2006
Gotta love Ben Franklin. The guy was a genius.
—
Pop’s lawn now looks respectable. As a matter of fact, from what I notice it’s just about the best lawn in the neighborhood. Maybe that’s because I take the time and effort to do it properly. Someday soon when I get my own house I will take very good care of the property. Personally I think the way your house and property looks says something about you as a person. And honestly speaking it does not take a lot of effort to do basic upkeep. You just have to do it. My father took great pains back in Connecticut at the old house in Killingly to make the property be a feast for the eyes. And in truth it was. I’m happy to repay the favor by mowing Pop’s lawn and performing upkeep as necessary.
I have so so so many ideas for home improvement. You have no idea. I could add $15,000 (or more) to the price tag of a house just by putting in less than $500 of yard work alone - never mind the inside. :-) All it takes is a little bit of plant research and about one to two weekend’s worth of work. Then you’ve got “curbside appeal” to die for.
—
More old Connecticut friends have found me on my MySpace page. Even as much as I loathe MS, it does amaze me the vast amount of people that use it - so much so that old friends do find me.
Neato.
—
And in music news - I might actually try “singing”. I put that in quotes because since I know how to modify my voice with a vocoder filter - I’ll actually be on key. :-)
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9/10/2006
Something different about Florida is this stuff hanging from the trees. I don’t know what it is - however, I do know to stay away from it because of little tiny “jig” bugs. Whether it’s pretty or ugly I really can’t tell. Can’t make a decision either way.
I liked this because it appears the tree is floating in the water.
Hillsborough river (I think).
This house is for sale and I want it really, really bad. If I check the price tag it will probably send me into depression.. :-)
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9/11/2006
Today is the five-year anniversary of our generation’s version of Pearl Harbor.
The first thing that springs to mind is It’s been five years? Yep. Seems like it happened much more recently, but it hasn’t.
While in Inverness watching television, I noticed all the news channels are trying to keep their cool about it, but most of them are failing and promoting (yes, I said promoting) the bejeezus out of it. After all, it is a news story that can’t really compare to anything else short of aliens landing and saying “What’s up?”
Some believe 9/11 should be a holiday. I disagree, because that means that 12/7 (that’s Pearl Harbor) and 11/22 would also have to be holidays - which they aren’t.
Most people I know would completely forget about today if I didn’t mention it here. I suppose it’s something you don’t necessarily think about all the time. This isn’t to lessen the importance of the day whatsoever - but I think the USA as a whole is finally coming to terms with the fact that life must go on.
And to all you 9/11 conspiracy theory freaks out there - leave your opinions at bay. Just for today. Thanks.
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9/11/2006
“TBC” by the way are the guys who write and produce Homestar Runner.
So the Space Camp song 35-second preview (yes, preview, not the full song) was released on Brent’s MySpace page today. A lot of people liked it, but of course the haters who think they know everything there is to know about audio and recording decided to chime in. And to note there are a lot more likers than haters. Just so you know. :-)
My opinion? It’s all good. I knew there was going to be some backlash to the “polished” version of the song. More on that in a moment.
Here’s what I find interesting:
People who have recorded with me and listen to my own works know I do a decent job. I don’t claim to be a master audio guy by any means, but at the end of the day what I produce does sounds at least above average. At least I think so. That’s my opinion and I’m stickin’ to it. :-)
The haters said things like:
“Reverb = Gay”
Obviously stated by someone who put a lot of thought into the comment (can you detect my sarcasm there?) The funny thing that there isn’t any reverberation anywhere in the song.
“Voice sounds stacked and edited”
Well, no shit. It’s a studio recording. Of course it’s stacked and edited. What did you expect, a vocal recorded through a paper towel roll?
“FUBAR”
A tried-and-true reference to the famous Tango & Cash line “Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition”. The guy hated the song. Really hated it. But then said he wasn’t “trying to be a hater” (literally, that’s what he said a few comments later).
Of course, I made a comment, which included:
I love these “not what I expected comments”. All of ‘em. I guess these guys prefer crappy camcorder audio and being washed down by YouTube compression over a clean recording?
I referenced to TBC at the start of this. This is because I remember when they released Strong Bad Sings. It was panned. I mean, really panned. A lot of people hated this for the same reason the haters made comments on Brent’s preview, that being “it sounds too good”.
But yet it sold. And continues to sell.
Methinks that says it all. :-)
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