"Ride Captain Ride"

One topic that generated a lot of traffic years ago on the Combo Organ mailing list was the identity of the synth-sounding keyboard used on "Ride Captain Ride". It comes in during the intro to play some bassy backing to the Rhodes, then reappears throughout the song playing higher sustained notes behind the vocals. Guesses ranged from Moogs to a Chamberlin to the infamous Guitar-Organ, but no conclusion was ever reached. And so the thread sat in the archives ...

This evening I realized that on the "internet", people use "email" and have "websites". So I did some googling, and there was a website for Mike Pinera - guitarist/vocalist for The Blues Image, and co-writer of this song. I sent an email asking about the identity of the instrument and got a quick response:

The instument that your asking about was a special organ, I believe was called a Gulbranson. The intro we tried to make it sound like a ship's horn and on the counter melodies we went for a flute/recorder sound.

Gulbransen made some spinets in the 50s and 60s, including the first transistorized tone generator organ (Model B). The discussion will probably turn now to figuring out exactly which model they used, and what settings/voices they used for the track. At some point I'll probably take on the irrational but inevitable quest of tracking one down for the collection.

Speaking of, "Ride Captain Ride" probably has one of the wider ranges of interpretations I've read about (everything from Scientology boat trips to the attack of the USS Pueblo). Here is an interesting anecdote that should clear that up as well:

"The producer came in and said, "Do you have any more songs, because if you don't, this is your last day in the studio,"' Pinera says. "So I said, "Oh, I have a song,' which I didn't. So I went into the bathroom, and I shut the door, and I just meditated. I calmed my mind, and I started hearing music. I went out and sat at the piano, which was a Rhodes Model No. 73, which had 73 keys. So I say, "Okay, I need a first word.' And what came into my head was 73. I liked the rhythm, and I went, "73 men sailed in, from the San Francisco Bay. ... The song sort of just wrote itself."

Cleaning the Baldwin harpsichord

Some people's Saturday night consisted of fine dining, socializing, or maybe a wild night of partying and drinking. Mine, on the other hand, consisted of vacuuming a harpsichord. The Baldwin arrived last week and was pretty filthy - dust cakes, grimy keys, German 10 pfenning coin in the strings (you know you have too much gear when this doesn't even phase you). So the first order of business was to give it an initial scrubbing.

The easiest place to start was the plexiglass. The music stand and soundboard cover are held on by a few thumbscrews. I removed these and separated the music stand rail from the backing. Everything was scrubbed with all-purpose Windex and set aside (if you look at last week's pics, the plexiglass was definitely contributing some of the filthy appearance).

Next up were the grimy keys. I again took the all-purpose Windex, plus a box of Q-tips, and went to work one key at a time. Each key looked like someone had vomited on it (and maybe this was the case - old gear has such an air of mystery). I didn't feel like removing the keybed, so I just got around all sides of the keys as best I could. The result looks practically brand new and was definitely worth the effort.


At this point I went over all the body (which is metal with some kind of textured black paint) with Windex and paper towels. I even got the Q-tips back out and cleaned the layer of dust behind the tuning pins (you'll notice the 10 pfenning piece is now removed). Finally, I went over the legs with Old English scratch cover / polish. Here is a picture of the Baldwin tonight, looking much cleaner than when it arrived:

Baldwin Combo Harpsichord arrives

Last weekend was another early Christmas in our household (there are lots of these when you're a gearhog). The Baldwin Combo Harpsichord arrived Friday afternoon and was waiting in the garage, packed on a palette along with the Baldwin Professional amp. I drove home giggling like a little girl and immediately tore into the packaging. After three of us wrestled it upstairs, we assembled it and took the pictures in this post.

I found the Baldwin by combing Craigslist nationwide, using a site like this. Alas it was in New York and was listed at $3000 (which is actually current eBay market value). I went ahead and mailed the seller the usual questions - are the plectra present, do the pickups work, etc. He responded that the plectra weren't there and that the electronics didn't work either - so I could have the entire lot (harpsichord, pedals, and amp) for free if I could pick it up. He also mentioned that he's the original owner, it's been sitting in his studio for 40 years, and he recorded an album with it in 1970 with his group 'The Open Window'.


Thus began my adventure of finding a company that would pickup, pack, and ship this thing. We finally found this in Navis Pack & Ship. They were close to the pickup location and could do everything for a few hundred bucks (better than a few grand indeed). While waiting for it to arrive, I actually found the record the seller made with the Baldwin. It is a bunch of psychedelic stuff with orchestral backing, also featuring great Wurlitzer EP, Farfisa Compact, and grand piano.


The overall condition is great (esp. considering the price): It's dusty and needs a good scrubbing; the pickups work, but the output jack doesn't; and the amp is pretty filthy. The plectra are actually all present, but almost every jack has the same issue - the mechanism to push the tongue into place is worn out. On normal harpsichords this is done with a little bristle spring; the Baldwin just uses arched pieces of plastic that push against the tongues. Anyway, I'm confident we can improvise some way to fix these.

Music room progress

Having the attention span of a fruit fly, I hadn't made a whole lot of progress on the music room until the past two weeks. During this time I was moving my desk all around the room and trying different layouts for my gear. I also got around to buying a three-tier A-frame stand (locally off Craigslist), and a bag full of String Swing wall hangers (Strait Music).

The A-frame style of stands are great when you have a lot of gear and you want to go vertically. I intended to fit all of my synths and drum machines onto this baby, so I also bought some shelves from Home Depot for $15. These help the aesthetics, while also allowing for several pieces of gear per tier. The only trick with these stands is that the whole system depends on you 1) getting all the arms locked together correctly, and 2) applying mega-torque to each connection. I didn't intend to find out, but I presume you would have a messy synthesizer landslide if you half-assed these steps.

Hanging the String Swings was pretty straightforward - each hanger mounts into a stud with the two included screws. This is only frustrating if you have two anal-retentive engineers trying to get the spacing and levelness perfect.

Here is a picture of the A-frame setup and String Swings once we were done. The synth-related gear shown is as follows (top to bottom): Moog Sonic Six, Roland CR-78 drum machine, Electro-Harmonix Mini-Synth (on top of the CR-78), Moog Minimoog D, SCI Prophet 5, Moog Taurus I pedals. Hanging on the wall is a random nylon-string guitar, Fender banjo, reissue Hofner violin bass, '76 Rickenbacker 4001 bass, and '62 reissue Fender P-bass. Amps below are Roland KC-500 and '65 Ampeg B-15N.


Here is a picture of the "organ district". Featured are Hammond M-102, Leslie 147, and Lowrey TBO-1 (back wall), Vox Continental (Italian), silver sparkle Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, Farfisa Compact Duo (effects version), Farfisa Combo Compact, and Gibson G-101.


Finally is the electromechanical section of the room. Here you'll find (starting at the back) Hohner Pianet N, Fender Rhodes Suitcase 73, Hohner Clavinet D6, and Wurlitzer 200A.


Next steps are to make room for a Baldwin Combo Harpsichord (arriving next week), get some shelving for the CDs/books/etc, and start working on a wiring design. I'll close by letting George Carlin remind you about people and their stuff:

A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff.

That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!

Lake Tawakoni spiderwebs

During a trip to Lake Fork over Labor Day weekend, we decided to make the short trip to Lake Tawakoni State Park - home of the spiderwebs that have been in the news lately. This was somewhat of an illogical move on my part, since I am terrified of the kinds of things that get caught in spiderwebs.

Anyway, there had been a lot of rain and wind at the time, so the webs were actually not as glorious as in the newscasts. But they were still covering everything in sight, and you get a slightly uneasy feeling walking into their lair (kind of like that dream where you're rolling the big donut, and there's a snake in a vest).


Park rangers were standing by with photos of the webs and info about the spiders. There was a very foul stench from all the decaying bugs caught in the webs. On a side note, this provides an excellent scapegoat in case you decide to do some 'crop dusting'.


We decided to split after walking through the web area, but managed to catch an awe-inspiring glimpse of nature on the way out. This horse was going through the throes of defecation, evidenced by his other-wordly gaze (and raised tail):


The Texas Parks & Wildlife site has some good pics of the webs at their prime - click here.

'The Ring' mirror prop

When I'm not driving cross-country to pick up obscure organs or working in the corporate machine, one side hobby I have is collecting movie props. 'The Ring' was a 2002 remake of the Japanese mystery/horror movie 'Ringu'. The gist of the story is that watching a certain video tape will cause you to expire seven days later; the video is watched in the beginning, and the rest of the movie is spent unraveling its meaning (and unfortunately some of the viewers' interest). Anyway, the tape is still the stuff of nightmares and can be found all over the internet.

One of the creepier / more memorable images in the video is the reflection of a woman (who is nowhere to be seen) brushing her hair in an oval-shaped wall mirror. This mirror is seen several times throughout the movie (incl. when the real mirror is discovered), and is sort of a main symbol for the spooky goings-on in 'The Ring'.

After the movie was released, many of the screen-used props were auctioned off on eBay. At the time I decided I would bid on the mirror, since it was creepy and I needed a mirror in the bathroom anyway. Alas, the cheapskate in me took over and I backed out of the bidding once it hit a few hundred bucks. I got a second chance when someone (presumably the guy who won it the first time) decided to auction the mirror again. This time I won it, and it hung in my bathroom for several years (much hair was brushed in that mirror with horrific results).

The picture above is the mirror as it hangs on the gameroom wall today. Below are a couple screen captures from the movie for comparison (note: since I don't have a special effects crew to edit me out, I had to take the picture from the side .. so that's why it looks slightly narrower than the screencaps):


One final note - I think there were two mirrors auctioned off originally. Not sure where each one was used (hero and backup?), but they did some work to make the mirror look old and creepy (e.g. "aging" the silver around the perimeter behind the glass). At one point I compared some of the characteristics of my mirror with the screencaps and they all seemed to match (incl. the silver patterns, which I presumed would be somewhat unique). So I believe mine is atleast the mirror in the second screencap, and possibly even in both.

Anyone out there have the second mirror and some more details?

Crawfish boil '07

One of the joys of living in the South (besides our outrageous accent) is eating pound after pound of crawfish when spring rolls around. For lazy Thibadeauxs, this is usually achieved by going to crawfish festivals or dropping by one of the many local cajun restaurants. But in an effort to christen the new house, we decided to do a good old-fashioned boil on the back porch (also doubling as a bribe to get weekend visitors).

To start things off, we took the appropriate first step of going to Chuy's for chips and creamy jalapeno dip. We then dropped by Quality Seafood and picked up a ~20 lb sack of live crawfish and a few boxes of Zatarain's seafood boil seasoning. Final stop was at the grocery store for salt, potatoes, corn cobs, onions, lemons, garlic, and whatever else we wanted to throw in .

Once we get home, the crawfish are put in a salt-water bath to purge them of "mud" (you don't want to know why those quotes are there). At the same time, the chefs begin slicing up everything while the cooker gets a rolling boil of water going. When the boil is ready, everything is dumped in with the seasoning bags and allowed to stew for awhile (note: a brief euphoria can be had by cracking the lid to smell this boiling mixture). Here are a few pics of the tormented crawfish and the chefs at work:


Much like the rest of the country, our beagles are wondering what the heck we are up to:


After the goodies have boiled for a little while, the crawfish are ready to take their turn. Here they are going in, coming out, and getting seasoned:


At this point we got completely swarmed by flies (they apparently have good taste, despite the whole fecal fetish). We tried a few tricks to get rid of them, including the hanging water bag, with minimal success. After a couple hours we had demolished most of the crawfish, diverting some portion of the flies to our trash box. To wrap things up, we peeled and saved a couple pounds of leftovers and had them later that night in poboys and etouffee (with sides of hush puppies and fried garlic).

Lie-La-Lie .. POW!

There comes a time in one's life when you start asking the questions that really matter - like how did they do that giant gunshot of a drum fill on "The Boxer"? Hal Blaine, session drum player for everything under the sun back then (and part of Phil Spector's "Wrecking Crew"), answers this in a Spectropop interview:

"Roy Halee would walk around clapping his hands looking for kind of an echo effect. And we were at Columbia in New York on the sixth floor I believe it was, and from the studio you kind of walked out and down and it went around almost like a ramp to the elevator. And he found a spot right in front of the elevator that had a tremendous echo and he loved it! This was a Sunday and we were doing 'The Boxer' and they had me set up... I set up two giant tom-toms right in front of the elevator where Ray had found the great echo. And of course there was a line coming out for my headset, so I was obviously the only one who could hear the music... (singing) lie la lie POW! lie la lie la lie la lie lie la lie POW! And at one point my hands came down to hit that smack and the elevator door opened and there was an elderly gentleman in a security guard uniform. And I guess he thought that he just got shot! It was like a shotgun, POW!"

Here are a couple similar stories about their improvised percussion sounds:

"We were mostly doing live tracks, maybe overdub a few things, and then put vocals on. But we'd experiment, too. Like on “Summer in the City” that explosion is from putting a mic in a garbage can that we had in the studio and banging it." - Roy Halee interview

This is presumably the faux-snare crash at the beginning of the song.

"That was just a matter of percussion sounds, coming up with different sounds. I remember playing my snow tire chains on "Bridge Over Troubled Water."" - Hal Blaine interview

It remains to be seen how one plays drums with snow tire chains, but other interviews describe them being beaten onto the floor of a storage closet. In any case, the result comes in towards the end of the song, and sounds like cannon fire.

The Jamerson Bass Rig

James Jamerson was the session acoustic/electric bass player for most of the Motown hits during their peak years. He started out primarily an upright bass player, but eventually switched to a 1962 Fender Precision bass (dubbed "The Funk Machine"). This was played sometimes into an Ampeg B-15N Portaflex amp, and other times directly into the mixer. Regardless of the instrument, his technique was pretty much always the same - index finger only ("The Hook"). Give this a try next time you're air bassing to "I Was Made to Love Her" or "Reach Out"; after you fail miserably, go rent a copy of "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" to learn more about James and the Funk Brothers.

Being a fan of Motown, a gearhog, and a bass player, it was just a matter of time before I acquired the same rig for myself. Here's a pic of my Ampeg B-15N and '62 reissue Precision bass:

The original basses came with a foamy strip that adhered under the bridge plate to prevent excessive ringing/sustain. This is probably the most important thing you can do if you want the Jamerson sound; I just cut a piece off my Sobakawa foam pillow and stuffed it under the plate. After this, adjust the amp to minimal treble, trim your nails to the quick (gross but worth it), put on flatwound strings, and be in awe with your new 60s/70s bass sound*.

* This assumes you're not going for the west coast / Carol Kaye bass sound, which requires a pick and funny eyeglasses.

Noodling on the Roland CR-78

A few years back I got into another analog synth/drum machine phase and decided to pick up a CR-78. This is a drum machine released by Roland in 1978 with all analog voices (read: perfect recipe for cheese). A more thorough description can be found at the Wikipedia article here.

Surprisingly, a number of late 70s / early 80s artists made use of the CR-78. The main survivor of these is Phil Collins with "In the Air Tonight" (also featuring smooth Prophet 5 synth pads and those gated reverb drums at the climax). Hall and Oates had a few hits using the CR-78 as well, like "Kiss On My List" (for some reason they decided this would make a great opener for the song before the real drums enter .. I guess that works in 80s rationale).

In an effort to start using this roomful of gear I've collected, I uploaded a video of me noodling around on the CR-78 (note to self: shell out the bucks for a camcorder interface cable). This includes a brief tour of the rhythms, automatic fills, voice cancelling, etc; as well as programming up the rhythms for the songs mentioned above. In case anyone's interested (yeah right!), "In the Air Tonight" uses the "Disco-2" (A) rhythm with snare cancelled out; "Kiss On My List" uses "Rock-1" (A) with automatic fill 7.



If you listen to the original version of "In the Air Tonight", the bass drum is doing its own thing on every other repeat. You can select multiple rhythms at once on the CR-78, but I haven't found any permutation that gives this bass drum pattern. The only way I could replicate this (and maybe it's the way Phil did it as well) was to program a custom bass drum rhythm and have this play on top of the preset rhythm. This is clearly an important matter that warrants further investigation ..

Update: I decided to splurge for a $7.99 Firewire cable so I could re-record this video in a little higher quality. Who can argue with high quality analog Bossa Nova beats?

Garage epoxy paint

In our old house I had wanted to put down epoxy flooring in the garage for awhile. My '66 Beetle likes to mark its territory (as they all do), so we were getting a good oil spot collection going. Epoxy also looks more inviting, thus encouraging you to waste time in the garage instead of other rooms. Alas, this is a difficult task when you have a garage full of crap and nowhere to stash it for a couple weeks. So once we decided to move to Round Rock, we made sure to do this before moving said crap over.

Once I priced professional epoxy jobs (and picked my jaw up off the floor), the cheapskate in me decided we would use the do-it-yourself Rustoleum epoxy kits instead. It was clear after reading misc garage forums (note: the Latin language is rolling in its grave) that the most important step in this job is the preparation. So we decided to do the following as part of our preparation:

• Initial cleaning with stiff broom and gas blower
• Use crack filler on a few minor spots
• Scrape off old paint and other crud
  
• Power wash with concrete detergent
• Acid wash, scrub, squeegee
• Let concrete air dry for a week (naturally it was raining and super humid at this point .. you should only need a few days)
  
• Final cleaning with stiff broom

This picture shows the garage after all this had been completed (fyi - shelling out for the rubber boots was a great ROI). Each kit can handle around 250 sq ft, so we picked up three kits for our 700 sq ft garage. Per normal painting conventions, we mixed the three base cans together to avoid color mismatches.

After mixing the first kit thoroughly, Kelly began doing the actual painting whilst I took on the more difficult task of spreading the chips. Besides nerding out and dividing up the chips in equal parts, I just imitated the old lady from the instructional tape. In hindsight I've decided the old lady's technique is a sham, and that spreading the chips evenly is impossible (BTW - Kelly nerded out as well by marking off the entire garage in 4' x 4' sections).

Here are a few pics of our work along the way:

Overall this turned out well and was an inexpensive ($250 vs $3000) way to get a floor that looks nice and cleans easily. Four months later, we haven't had any issues with tire peeling or streaking. The only complaint so far is with the color chips. Besides almost running out at the end, they didn't all stick well to the paint. So for awhile after application, your feet and driveway are covered with chips that have blown off. In any case, it's still better than having plain concrete.

Signing on

Hello world! This post represents my first foray into blogging. The whole idea of using a blog to post my personal thoughts and feelings still seems a little silly (esp. considering the possbility that no one may even read this). So instead I'm planning to focus on things I find interesting, such as ..

• Music - How to use grandma's Lowrey organ to play "Baba O'Riley" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
• Clothes - Mostly limited to discussions about the decline of monocles, and at what station in life one should begin wearing vests
• Electronics - Nothing comes between a girl and her multivibrator circuit
  
• Food - Jambalaya, crawfish pie, and a file gumbo

To start things off, here is a pic of our QA inspectors at the last crawfish boil: