From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V11 #26 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Monday, January 30 2006 Volume 11 : Number 026 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: I was SO at the HOB show in spirit last night--OOB at the HOB!! ;^) ["Kara R. Laidlaw" ] Re: Alloy: I was SO at the HOB show in spirit last night--OOB at the HOB!! ;^) [Patrick McMillan ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 0:32:33 -0600 From: "Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: Alloy: I was SO at the HOB show in spirit last night--OOB at the HOB!! ;^) Good eeeevening, and welcome to this episode of "The Crazy World Inside Kara's Kranium!" ;^) Our first topic is "somewhat obscure acronyms", and the Acronym of the Day is "OOB", which is short for "Out of Body (Experience]", which is how the spirit of someone whose body is stuck in Winnipeg might end up with the corporal entities of Alloyites at concerts. ;^) Didn't work for me personally, but nonetheless, I had me a real little Dolby-fest last night, just me 'n my trusty CD player--I don't know how long the various performances went on, but 'round about 12:30 A.M. here, I wanted to post to let all you lucky show-attending Alloyites know that I was partyin' right along wit'cha, but I couldn't get into my Webmail account--routine maintenance or something. So I betook myself to bed, and had pleasant dreams. :^) But anyhoo, I accessed my mail account the next morning, and was mystified to see no new messages. I'm like, "what the hey?!?" but I assumed that all you lucky concert-attendees were still floating six inches off the ground after a naturally fantastic Dolby appearance, or still partyin', or whatever. Or, yeah, still smooching the stage. Ahhhh, I'm just teasin'. :^) :^) :^) Later, I found Keith's post, and I thought, oh good, things went pretty well! Yay! :^) Then I found Patrick's post later, and thought, oh no. I'll be the first to admit that I have kind of a volatile personality at times, although I'm generally good-natured, but the suggestion of incompetence will set me off every time. So when poor Patrick's ears practically bled from the overly-bombastic bass, I thought that the concert had been a sonic disaster, through NO fault of Thomas' or the two bands', of course. But, yep, there are a variety of sides to every story, and I'd been anxiously awaiting any word on just how the performances were, so I guess I might've jumped the gun a little...but, man, I take music appreciation very seriously, so that is my defense, if I ever need one! ;^) The defense rests. Motion to dismiss, Your Honor. (insert sound of gavel banging--or maybe it's my head...) ;^) [snicker, snicker, snicker] Love and a burning desire to explain what the heck I was thinking, ;^) Krazy Kara! :^) [coo-coo, coo-coo] p.s. It's strange how many people have said to me, "You're *funny*!" I'm just Nature's Own Jester, I guess! %<:^) It's All About the Music. :^) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 23:55:59 -0800 From: Patrick McMillan Subject: Re: Alloy: House of Blew it? Oh GOOD! Thanks for writing! What a relief! I was hoping that you guys at least got a good show. And congratulations on meeting "HIM" and immortalizing the moment with a camera. What luck! Fantastic photos! Thanks Keith. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of people. You so deserve it and I'm so pleased!!!! (I got to shake his hand and thank "HIM" at the Red Devil when he popped upstairs to check out Notorious. He signed a napkin for my lovely wife.) The magic of that night will be hard to top. Heck, the magic of "HIS" return to music will be hard to top. I feel he's been writing the soundtrack to all of our lives but the last 10 years are missing. I cannot wait for the next album!!!! More shows! More shows! More shows! What welcome news! Now if we can only convince him to travel with his own sound crew or build a catwalk to the mixing board like Prince does so he can listen to what it sounds like to the audience. I fear that most people in that venue had no idea what they were hearing. Can you imagine Thomas without chords? Just melodies and thuds. The upper registers were weak and the midrange was entirely missing!!! The bass was distorted and without texture. I even pulled the wads of paper out of my ears to see if they were muffling it. I was incensed and feeling defensive. The soundman must have learned music appreciation locked in a trunk with one of those obscenely loud car stereos. He probably reasoned..'ooh...electric music...trance...more bass..oooh...". Such ignorance and anything but professionalism. I'm going downstairs now to play the chords of Airwaves on that sheet music you sent me to get over it. You keep coming to my rescue man! Alloy is awesome. You all rock. Patrick McMillan On Jan 28, 2006, at 6:41 PM, Keith Stansell wrote: > > Hey Patrick, > Sorry you had trouble finding us. We were kissing the stage right. > > Up front with ear plugs in I thought the sound was ok. > > No one in the group stayed late enough to see Thomas playing with the > English Beat. > > He did come back out. The reason I know is because I asked him > myself when > we flagged him down outside of HOB tonight durring dinner. We were > Myself, > Elain, Russel Miller and spouses were eating on the patio when we > noticed > Thomas step out to make a call. As he walked back we waved and said > "Thomas - It's Alloy!" So he came to over and sat down with us. > He said > he was enjoying doing the shows and yes - more are on the way. > > We got some pictures and let him go > http://www.flickr.com/photos/sole_i > > Also- he informed us that English Beat would be playing before > Dramarama > (yeah) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 0:53 -0800 From: Keith Stansell Subject: [none] Just a quick roundup of tonights show. Thomas played the same set as other shows. He seemed to be having even more fun than last night (if possible) and did a great job. No mic problems tonight. Thomas came out during English Beat's set and played New Toy with the band. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sole_i ___ Sent with SnapperMail www.snappermail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 14:28:15 -0800 From: Patrick McMillan Subject: Re: Alloy: I was SO at the HOB show in spirit last night--OOB at the HOB!! ;^) Yeah Kara, You're right (and very sweet to come to my defense, sight unseen). And though I couldn't meet up with the others I know I felt the presence of Alloy wherever they all may be....'through the Airwaves, of course' :) There are many sides to a story. Art, music, & performances are very subjective. I look forward to the other posts too. I could be completely washed up here. I remember once I was playing drums at a rehearsal studio in North Hollywood and the sound guy who was setting up the mics kept saying into the microphone "Chair", "Chhhaaaaaiiiiiiiirrrrrrr", "Chair". I asked him why and he said that he was instead saying "check" and that I must have damaged my high frequency hearing being a drummer. Incredulous, I explained that I always use earplugs when I play and most of the time on a rubber pad....so he may have been messing with my head, or completely right and the damage was already done. But we did leave after Thomas left the stage to keep our internal organs from hemorrhaging. They were all buzzing too. Hope everyone makes it back home safely, and that we'll have many more opportunities to meet! On Jan 28, 2006, at 10:32 PM, Kara R. Laidlaw wrote: > > Good eeeevening, and welcome to this episode of "The Crazy World > Inside Kara's Kranium!" ;^) > > Our first topic is "somewhat obscure acronyms", and the Acronym of > the Day is "OOB", which is short for "Out of Body (Experience]", > which is how the spirit of someone whose body is stuck in Winnipeg > might end up with the corporal entities of Alloyites at > concerts. ;^) Didn't work for me personally, but nonetheless, I had > me a real little Dolby-fest last night, just me 'n my trusty CD > player--I don't know how long the various performances went on, but > 'round about 12:30 A.M. here, I wanted to post to let all you lucky > show-attending Alloyites know that I was partyin' right along > wit'cha, but I couldn't get into my Webmail account--routine > maintenance or something. So I betook myself to bed, and had > pleasant dreams. :^) > > But anyhoo, I accessed my mail account the next morning, and was > mystified to see no new messages. I'm like, "what the hey?!?" but I > assumed that all you lucky concert-attendees were still floating > six inches off the ground after a naturally fantastic Dolby > appearance, or still partyin', or whatever. Or, yeah, still > smooching the stage. Ahhhh, I'm just teasin'. :^) :^) :^) > > Later, I found Keith's post, and I thought, oh good, things went > pretty well! Yay! :^) > > Then I found Patrick's post later, and thought, oh no. I'll be the > first to admit that I have kind of a volatile personality at times, > although I'm generally good-natured, but the suggestion of > incompetence will set me off every time. So when poor Patrick's > ears practically bled from the overly-bombastic bass, I thought > that the concert had been a sonic disaster, through NO fault of > Thomas' or the two bands', of course. But, yep, there are a variety > of sides to every story, and I'd been anxiously awaiting any word > on just how the performances were, so I guess I might've jumped the > gun a little...but, man, I take music appreciation very seriously, > so that is my defense, if I ever need one! ;^) The defense rests. > Motion to dismiss, Your Honor. (insert sound of gavel banging--or > maybe it's my head...) ;^) [snicker, snicker, snicker] > > Love and a burning desire to explain what the heck I was thinking, ;^) > Krazy Kara! :^) [coo-coo, coo-coo] > > p.s. It's strange how many people have said to me, "You're > *funny*!" I'm just > Nature's Own Jester, I guess! %<:^) > > It's All About the Music. :^) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:15:59 -0600 From: "Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: Alloy: More concert dates, Thomas? Pretty please... :^) ...With chocolate sauce and a cherry on top! Oh heck, give the man the whole JAR of cherries if he wants!! ;^) Hmmm, why do cherries make me think of that movie "9 1/2 Weeks"? Oh well, I have all sorts of weird associations (but no scorpions, fortunately) breeding in my cranium. ;^) Yup, Patrick and the rest of you lot ;^), there've apparently been a couple of audio glitches during Thomas' shows, but I'm sure that as he gets used to aweing (is that a word? ;^)) us all up on stage again, these little gremlin-y things will go buh-bye. More power to ya, Thomas!! Show those electronics who's the boss!!! Just threaten to take them apart if they give you attitude. ;^) Love and acute boosterism, Kooky Kara! :^) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:51:07 -0700 From: John McJunkin Subject: Re: Alloy: House of Blew it? Patrick--as a professional audio engineer myself, I must concur. I could have mixed the show better with ice-picks in my ears. Did you see the Anaheim show? WAAAYY better. Also, TMDR was having some serious microphone-connector problems, which may have been the source of the troubles with his vocoder. I am going to attempt to provide a technical overview of what I saw at both shows for anyone else who's as gonzo over the tekkie stuff as I am. Still have goosebumps on Sunday night. John On Jan 28, 2006, at 5:54 PM, Patrick McMillan wrote: > > Gosh! What a thrill to see Thomas again. > > My plane was delayed so we didn't get to the restaurant until 7ish. I > tried to find you all, but to no avail. > > What upset me about last night's concert was the stone-deaf sound man > who must have had dog-poop epoxyed to his already senseless ear-drums. > The richness of Thomas' music was lost behind the vibration rattle > caused by the over driven bass. Pictures shook on the wall. I stuffed > cocktail napkins in my > The folks in SF has this nailed. During the show we wandered from > behind the mixing board, to in front of it, to the bar. The balance > was terrible. > We then tried to get to where we presumed all of the Alloyites were > (kissing the stage, I presume?) the crowd was dense and we didn't > want to be impolite. > I hope at least you got a good show, out of direct firing line of the > stadium speakers. > We left after the encore. (Did Thomas pop out later with Dave > Wakeling, as hinted?) > > If the House of Blues is listening: Restaurant, food, staff, > management and Jennifer in reservations : A++ > Lounge: Bar A+ > Light show: A++ > Sound Man: Find a new line of work (and get a hearing aid) > > Patrick McMillan > > We tried to find you all, but that's impossible. I walked around and > sheepishly asked about the alloyites. Too bad I didn't find any of > you. > Have tremendous fun tonight. I won't be making it. > I'll be flying North. With my headphones! And the Thomas I love. > Elaine: I owe you for the flowers. Paypal? Check? Lemme know. ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V11 #26 ***************************