I hope that I can find a way to amplify and repeat the signal to all involved.

I've done panels and concerts before, but Conflikt 6 was the first geek event to use me for a "name". In this instance I was the Toastmaster, or in this case with my cooking skills "Burnt Toastmaster." I had a fantastic weekend at a fabulously well organized con. (especially considering it was a "first year" at a new hotel)

Thanks to everyone who believed I could follow in the footsteps of Callie Hills, Frank Hayes, Andrew Ross, Mark Osier, and Brooke Lunderville as a master of ceremonies and greeter. 

Thanks to Jeff and Jeri Lynn, besides running a tight registration desk, you both know that you made my survival possible this past year and I love you both for it. It's always great hanging out with you, and I had a wonderful time this weekend. 

Deep thanks to Beth Runnerwolf, JenK, and Shawna for all the prep emails and info, reminders for getting in songbook submissions, CD recordings, connecting with artists for introductions, creatively "herding" me to events that I needed to attend and still keeping my schedule light enough that I could enjoy each day (no burnout until the small hours of Sunday Night... amazing) while burning the candle at both ends yourselves, and plenty of love and support.

Thanks to Beth for that fabulous intro to my concert (that I missed half of because I was nervously doing last minute "dialing in" on the one man band rig that refused to be "dialed in").

Thanks to Shawna for all of the programming, and for getting me into a fun panel and suggesting my presence at some great song themes.

Thanks to John Seghers, and the rest of the crew and volunteers for the tireless sound and video work over all three days. All of you rock.

Big thanks to SaladofDoom Dave for preparing and providing delicious food at the con suite. There is nothing nicer than having the option of a sandwich with home-made bread or butter chicken and marsala vegetables with brown rice as a meal when I there were only quick breaks between events. Thank you for being such a generous host. 

Thank you to Cheshire Moon, Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps, Interfilk guests Bob and Sue Etsy, GOHs Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff, Cat & Barigato, Ship of Dreams, and Gary Ehlrich, along with several assists from Betsy Tinney, Sunny Larsen, Tony & Vixy, and Dr. Mary Crowell. (and if I forgot anyone, which is likely, I'll probably curl up in a ball from embarrassment) for giving outstanding concerts.

To Juliana and Douglas, and the Interfilk crew for running the auction, along with an especially entertaining verbal auction with Steve MacDonald and the auction wenches.

To the Hilton staff, for demonstrating perfect customer service at every step of the weekend to me. 

And to all the guests who I chatted with, came to me for sharing hugs, surprised me with their presence (SMAC and Kathy [Steve, you were the GOH at the first big event I attended and you were so kind to me then and now. Your presence was a very special surprise], Seanan [though we didn't get to chat, hope that you had a great relaxicon weekend] Vixy and Tony [knew you wouldn't miss seeing Jeff and Maya but weren't sure if you'd appear at the con proper. Loved your addition to the Jeff and Maya show] Callie, love every opportunity to add flute to some songs that I play) Great conversations or exchanges with Jeri, Connie and Bill, Andrew, Frank, a few new folks. Ack, too many more to list. All of you: I know that I can't always express it outward, and sometimes my self-deprecating  sense of humor is poorly communicated, but I have great love for the filk family and I know you give it back to me.

I pass the Toastmaster baton to Sunny knowing that she'll do it ten times better than I did next year at C7. Thank you Conflikt!

There was the annual Nintendo of America garage sale recently. Ten years or so since seeing my last one, and things were roughly the same... nearly picked through by the time I got there. But someone was draggin out a box... It was a bunch of Gamecubes in boxes and static wrap. I completely missed both Gamecube and Wii, and thought of a few games in particular for that system that I still night want to play, I imagined now they would be dirt cheap. 

"How much?" I asked. $4.

It was just the Cube... ah, try to even find a power supply... "No," the friendly person said, "here you go." There was the power supply. "You will need to buy controllers though," and she hands me two of the nice Wavebird wireless ones. $1 each, still not bad at all. Then I realize that I need the AV adapter to plug into my computer monitor... Oh look they have some over there. 1$. Still not bad. 

There were a few games, but none that I was remotely interested in... So about 7 bucks in at this point. 

I get home and survey my RCA connectors and realize that I don't have the adaptors that I need to plug into my computer speakers after all. Well, I was heading to Fry's for presents anyway... My mistake was going to the audio section, finding similar but not quite right connectors and (I know, I know) asking one of the sales staff for "help". So after going around the store for nothing, I went on my own to the area by the hard drives that is similar to what Radio Shack used to be like (back in the old days where you could buy useful parts at Radio Shack and you didn't need to give your *&^% name and information to buy a #$%^ battery... they would even give you one for free every month. [/getoffmylawn]) So I find what I need on my own right away. About $6.

I thought about how cheap Gamecube games used to be at pawnshops etc., So the first thing I did was look up Zelda: the Wind Waker on ebay. about 40 bucks. Super Smash Brothers: Melee, about 40 bucks; oh look, someone has an unopened one for $200... Oy vey. 

The weekend comes and I visit Sky, Judy, and Anthony in Bellingham. I relate the story. Sky runs out and hands me four games, including Wind Waker at the top and says they're mine to borrow. Yay!

OK, Now I'm ready to play a game. Oh wait... Nintendo made an AV adaptor that was the same for SNES, and for N64, and the Gamecube, but they changed the plug for the Wii. I bought a Wii adaptor. The next day at work, I look at the employee store, of course what little hardware they have is only for the latest and greatest stuff. Mountains of cool knickknacks there , though. Soooo... where? Gamestop? *sigh*. Multi-adaptor, $14. 

At this point it's not about fun anymore. It's I-have-put-more-time-effort-and-money-into-thisIamgonnaplaythisgamedammit time. I start up Wind Waker. "I don't detect a memory card, Dave." 

%^&*&! &%^&! Right, the stupid memory card! Also, it turns out, a rarity in todays times. I start to realize that rather than being frugal in waiting a decade to play this game, I am the gamer equivalent of a new "classic car" owner. 

I find a Mom and Pop game store in Kirkland that does vintage games. Memory card $13. Plus, I find a game that I want for 15 bucks.. yeah, OK. 

Finally all the parts are in place, I have an evening to myself... and I find out that the (proprietary) disc drive in the $4 Gamecube is broken. 

Addendum: Cost for repair? $50.

Guitar geekery alert:

Just last night, my friend Paul Spitalny, who has been doing my amp repairs lately, was out at the Jam and asked "how are the amps holding up?"

"Everything is great," I said.

Today I pulled my small amp out of its padded cover, and all three of the little throw switches on it were completely sheared off.

Let me side step a second before I go further. The (highly regarded and rightfully so) man who built this amplifier back in the 90's has a small potential of seeing me vent here, so before I go further: a lot can happen to an amp in twenty years or so, all tube amps need regular maintenance, even the best quality controlled lines can sometimes put out a lemon, and for this specific problem today: all of these "Dumble and Dumble-ish" type amplifiers feature these little tiny throw switches.

But...

This little amp that I traded a mountain of my gear to get, is an eff'n money pit. This is intolerable enough as considering I've been somewhere between "suffering artist", "indigent", and "homeless charity case" the past four years. But the real heartbreak of that realization is that two of the things I traded to get it, a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue and a Hermida Zendrive, in my hands did everything this thing can do and did it much more consistently and reliably.

The reason I'm frustrated today is that I have a fairly decent padded cover for this amp, I'm just moving it around in the back of a station wagon, not going on the tour of doom and this will be the second time that I've had broken switches on this thing. They're just three bits of metal, barely wider than a needle sticking way out from the front of the cabinet just waiting to be snapped off.

On the flip side, from my Frankenstein "Vibro" amp made from what was originally a Bandmaster Reverb head and probably the only surviving parts that are original are the chassis and the switches. Y'know the "bright" switch on the front is one of those boring rectangular slider switches but the sucker is probably older than me. It still works and it's not gonna get busted off.

Why is this a big deal? Those special little switches were an extra week or so of waiting time during the last time it was in the shop for repairs, if'n I remember correctly.

And this doesn't even get into the other breakdowns I've had. I don't know how to rectify this problem without taking a bath; I need a small combo but I think I'm basically done with this one.

I had a great sit in gig with Mary McPage, Patrick McDanel, and Rick J Bowen today at the Life Care Center of Kirkland and I enjoyed a one day break from work... which is good because the entire rest of the day is FIRED!!

I went to three different locations that advertised a room for rent, one whom I set an appointment and one that I previously was a tenant at (and on one occasion, saved it from burning down), none of them had anyone at the office when I got there to view a room. Just as well from what I saw of the outside (Do I really wanna live in the international district?)

Plus, one of my amplifiers that I really want to love has become a money pit. This is one day after I told my friend that I had do amp repairs on it recently that "everything is great". I'll save the guitar geekery for another post.

Trying to find an apartment that I can afford within commuting distance of work has been rough. (last month $40 just thrown down a hole for "application fees") I'm doing better than average, after every ad I've replied to, yesterday was my first and so far, only blatant Craigslist scam.

Should I be mad that they think I'm that stupid, or sad that there will be people with enough combination of foolishness and desperation to fall for that kind of thing?

Big month of performances for CD and the band:

8/4 CD is hosting a jam with Paul Carlson at the Electric City Bar & Grill!
8/9 CD, Mike Fish, and Tommy Cook host the Jam at the Oxford Saloon in Snohomish. My first Thursday night jam hosting at the Ox in over two years!
8/10 CD, sitting in w/Mary McPage at a private gig.
8/11 CD Woodbury Band at the Twin Dragon in Duvall.
8/15 CD Woodbury Band at the Central Club in Kirkland
8/17 CD Woodbury Band at Yuppie Tavern
8/18 CD Woodbury Band at Engels in Edmonds
8/23 CD, Mike Fish, and Don Montana host the Thursday Night jam at the Oxford.
8/24 & 25 CD Woodbury Band at the Oxford Saloon.
8/26 CD is the guest at The Raging River jam w/Tommy Wall and Andrew Cloutier in Fall City.
Labor day Weekend:
8/31 CD Woodbury Band at OVP in Edmonds.
9/1 CD Woodbury Band at the Electric City Grill in Electric City WA.
9/2 CD Woodbury Band at the Central Club in Kirkland.

Also note: My associate, Wide Willie Washburn is in the Solo/Duo Finals for the Washington Blues Society's IBC event at the Taste of Snohomish.

X-post Kickstarter update: 100% of $7,500 pledged!

 - I have to admit, a week ago I was beginning to plot "Plan B" if this first adventure in crowdsourcing had not been successful. Now I've taken a moment to let out a sigh, relax a second, and now realize that the real hard work begins. We now must make and deliver the best CD we possibly can!

Backers, there was no way this album could be made without you. And I am amazed and humbled at the strong core of friends and fans that we as a band have. This was my first real look at what Kickstarter was about and I had thought that there would be a lot of people putting up a few dollars. Instead, our average contribution was over $100. Plus, we are at this point due to many of you spreading the word to people who are not familiar with this new model. On behalf of the band, I can't say thank you enough times. For those of you new to the band, thank you for supporting new music.

We're making an album!

For those of you following, but not yet in, there is still time to get tracks of this album before anyone else, to be among the first to get the album, or to get your name in the liner... but there's only one day left.

CD Woodbury