Blog Hits

Water, no water, water

bigmike — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:33:11 GMT

Living up here in the mountains, I've learned that maintaining a well and pump system for domestic water is an expensive and time-consuming effort. My pumps have a way of failing when it is least convenient, like during a party when I'm too intoxicated to assess or repair the problem. So yesterday was no surprise when water was no longer available in the house. I was extremely busy getting ready for Harry's memorial service. I was to provide music for ~300 people at Red White and Blue Beach, and was scrambling to prepare for that when the water quit. I couldn't do much, so I called Capitola Pump and arranged an appointment for this morning. The memorial was beautiful, as the weather was balmy and there was very little wind. Beaver gave us permission to have a fire, so some of us stayed until after dark. This morning I met Tom. He looked at my well, took some measurements and then declared, "Oh, the pump's deadheading." What this means is that the well is dry, there's no water to pump. The drought has caught up with me and my family. Tom told me that there's about 300 people on the summit that have the same problem, and they are buying water from a water trucking company. I called the the water truckers and learned it will cost about $250 for 3800 gallons of water. I can only use about 2500 gallons with my current setup, but it will cost the same. I'll have to wait until the rains return to raise the aquifer, although I may be able to survive with strict conservation. No more irrigation or car-washing, and low-flow toilets where we haven't placed them yet, ignoring our reverse-osmosis water filter and buying filtered water in town. Accupop predicts we may get .89" of precipitation during this weekend's rain. That might not help with my aquifer, but it may mean that we can still have fire at the Fall Frolic without having to water down the entire campsite like we did in September. My prayer to Nature: Oh, let it rain! Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain...

Funk 'n Disco Tonight!

bigmike — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:20:17 GMT

Tonight I'm guest DJing at the Blue Lagoon in Santa Cruz for their weekly Funk and Disco Dance. Come on down and have some fun with us.

Harry Cournoyer

bigmike — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:10:04 GMT

My dear friend Harry was killed while riding his motorcycle near his home last Friday. Harry and I have been buddies for over 15 years. He used to visit Red White and Blue beach, and this picture was taken at a recent New Year's Party at my house. He was a custom motorcycle builder and had some of his creations were featured on American Chopper. I love you, Harry. I'll miss you.

Beats 'n Boats Tonight

bigmike — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:28:19 GMT

Watch the sailboats, shake the playa dust off yourselves to some groovy tunes, and share your Burning Man stories this Wed. the 3rd @ 5:30 @ the end of 3rd Ave in Seabright - Santa Cruz DJ's Big Mike - RWB The Captain - Ambient Mafia Bring your own beverages & cups (be discrete with booze), we'll have a cooler w/ ice.

OmGardens Fundraiser Aug 1-3

bigmike — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:54:21 GMT

Our good friend Rhadiante is raising funds to start a non-profit retreat. To that end, I've volunteered to help out with a weekend campout from Aug 1 to 3 in Boulder Creek, so I'm bring my sound gear. I'm so excited about the lineup. My sound system must feel like Dorothy and friends before meeting the Wizard of Oz. There's limited space, so you want to buy a $30 presale ticket at http://omgardens.org Rkidz - Lawgiverz Little John - Raindance Majitope - LowPro Seventh Swami - Ambient Mafia Influence - Strategik Mozaic - Nexus/Raindance Mimosa - Cyphertown Actual Rafiq - Ambient Mafia Dirt - Omniscient Records Fkir - Bad Unkla Sista SatsiSonik - AMMO/Raindance Evinrude - Stimulus Mycho Cocoa - Fringe Nissus - Nexus Mr. Rogers - Ooze System Dabis - Word of Mouth Spektrum Aaron Jae - Evil Breaks MiHKAL - Cyphertown Big Mike - RWB Beach Bertzerker Lokesh Rai - Traansatma and More TBA

Free daytime dance in Santa Cruz

bigmike — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:11:16 GMT

Just a few days to go. We are so excited about this Saturday. We've got a great lineup of DJs, a beautiful spot with sunshine and redwoods, and the weather is looking very favorable for dancing and picnicking. Come join us and bring your comforts, food, beer, and dancing shoes. Here's a map from which you can get directions: http://tinyurl.com/3rtjdp

RWB Renegade CANCELLED

bigmike — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:09:25 GMT

The tide is too high, the beach is under water. We went to the beach on Thursday morning and noticed some very high tide activity had occurred. So, we went home and looked up the tide tables and decided to return for last night's 10:54 high tide. The beach in all directions was under water. We weren't able to walk on the beach until 2am. Tonight's high tide is scheduled for 11:45 at +6.2. The beach will be under water until 3am. I'm all packed up and revved to do this, but unfortunately, this beach ain't gonna be our spot tonight. I'm sorry, but tonight's party can't happen on my favorite beach. I am willing to host a smaller party here at my place near Scotts Valley. Does that interest anybody?

RWB Renegade Deets

bigmike — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:55:50 GMT

We're revving up for a big night on a beach north of Santa Cruz on July 4th. Come on out and celebrate your independence. The spot is just south of Red White and Blue Beach. Map: http://tinyurl.com/4batpj Park on Hwy 1 south of Scaroni Rd on the ocean side of the highway. Hike across the field towards the ocean. Please be respectful and stay out of the brussels sprouts field and stay on the dirt roads. Please DON'T drive down Scaroni Rd, or cut through the Red White and Blue Campground. Parking is legal here, but we still don't want the attention of authorities. So please come after 10pm, be discreet with alcohol, and please don't bring fireworks. The ignition of fireworks is likely to get the attention of authorities, and they'll have plenty to do elsewhere if we don't encourage them to visit us. DJs include: Cool Hand Luke Ouija Arwin Beetjunkey Big Mike

Stilldream Ticket

bigmike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:00:20 GMT

My companion bailed out on going to Stilldream up in the high sierra this weekend (music, trails, swimming hole, etc.) so I have an extra ticket and a ride. I plan to leave Santa Cruz on Friday and return Sunday night. The ticket cost me $53, and I have space for one in my pickup. Anybody wanna go? http://stilldream.org/

Evergreen Dance Party July 26

bigmike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:48:52 GMT

Evergreen - Saturday July 26 - Harvey West Park - Santa Cruz That's right, we're setting up in Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz for a day of musical treats. Come dance in the sunshine and redwoods with DJs such as Rick Preston, wona, Lucho, The Architect, Ouija, Big Mike, Brion and Kat. We'll be ragin' from 11am until 8pm with a variety of musical genres. Bring your picnic baskets and make a day of it with friendly folks. Here's a map to the part of Harvey West Park where we'll be: http://tinyurl.com/3rtjdp

Free! 19" Monitor

bigmike — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:18:29 GMT

It works great, but we don't need it anymore. Ya gotta come and get it. Viewsonic 19" CRT computer monitor

The inches that count

bigmike — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:09:12 GMT

Holy raindrops, the banana slugs and bracken ferns are lovin' life! I love living in the redwood rainforest. We've had 20.77 inches of rain since January 3rd, and we're expecting another 3" in the Santa Cruz Mountains this weekend. If that happens, that'll mean we've had TWO FEET of water in a month. I like dramatize that by stacking my hands vertically, about two feet apart. We got 35.9" in 2005-2006 rain season, and 26.46" in 2006-2007, and we've already gotten over 30" this season.

Gullywasher

bigmike — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:19:42 GMT

Wow. That was quite a storm we just rode through. We lost power on Thursday, and finally had it restored last night. We received over 10" of rain, had gusts over 60 mph, and a tree fell that broke the water line and power cable from our well to our fresh-water holding tank. I love these storms, but they can be frightening when one's in the midst of tall trees.

Ableton Lives

bigmike — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:58:25 GMT

I've been trying to bring up my game when it comes to DJing. I noticed that many of the top acts I see bring a laptop and use Ableton Live to arrange their show. It sounds great, often better than vinyl. When combined with a MIDI controller, it seems to be extremely powerful. I was encouraged by my friends Satsi and Lorin to spend time learning this program, and even the last two times I've seen Lolo he was using a laptop. I've had so much to learn. It feels like it's taking forever. I learned beatmatching using turntables and CDJs, and even a few different ways to mix tracks together. Ableton can make this part easy, if you prepare it to understand the tracks by warping them. Just the same, I haven't been satisfied with the mixes I've prepared. I set out to find out why. There's a concept called harmonic mixing. It works by determining the key a track is in, say D#, and then figuring out the keys of tracks that are compatible. So, not only do I match BPMs, I match the keys. This was tough to work out, because I couldn't seem to remember that D# was compatible with Cm, A#, and G#, much less any of the other 23 keys that a song might be. Then I found this Camelot Easymix System, which assigns keycodes such as 5B to a key, which is compatible with any adjacent keycode such as 5A, 4B, and 6B. Now I can view the song's keycode, and instantly know what matches, or even bring the key of the song up or down a semitone (by adding or subtracting 7), and therefore knowing it matches 12B, 12A, 11B, and 1B. It all makes sense if you look at the little wheel Camelot designed. The mixes sound so much better to me now once I found Rapid Evolution (http://www.mixshare.com ), a tool for determining song key, and put this knowledge to use. But I'm still having difficulty using Ableton Live. Ableton organizes songs by a thing it calls clips. When one clicks on a clip, the display on the bottom either shows the waveform, warp, and loop markers, or it shows the effects applied. When I want to time starting one track based upon where another track is playing, I haven't figured out a way to see both track's waveforms so I can manipulate the sound, or how to switch quickly between the effects rack and the waveform display. That's not much different than using vinyl or CDs, but Live doesn't really have a way I've found to nudge the track a beat or two to line things up on the bars. Ugh. I've tried various quantization settings, and that helps, but if I use too high a value, it will sometimes require me to pause while I wait for an action to trigger when I might prefer to perform or setup another. If I use too low a value, it's easier to miss the cue a little bit. Another area I'm studying is trying to get my MIDI control surface to control Ableton Live. It's easy enough to program keys to launch clips, or adjust fader position or track levels. It's quite another to get it to initiate interesting transitions and sweeps. For example, I haven't figured out a way to get the MIDI controller to alter the bass level of only the highlighted track. Once I assign a knob to the bass level on a track, it stays that way. Since I only have eight knobs, that kind of limits my options, especially if I wish to use more than two tracks. Sometimes, I'll add in an effect, and it will assume control of one of the knobs I've assigned elsewhere, other times it doesn't. Baffles the hell out me, I'll tell you that. Looking around on online forums can be helpful, but few people seem to really describe how they use Ableton Live, or if they do, they use terms that are way beyond my understanding (like I've prolly done to some of you, here). Then one day, I found a video on YouTube by PhatConductor that described how he set up a template for a particular MIDI controller and was able to do cool effects and juggle clips. And from that I was able to find lots of other videos. Sometimes the topic was dry or uninteresting, but I still got to peak at how they used Ableton Live, the type of controllers they have, and what kind of expectations I should have regarding what I can accomplish. The ableton.com site is simply frustrating to me, because I find that when they repeatedly describe every action as "simple", when it is far from that for me, it just sets me off. I've spent weeks studying all these topics, and I have made some progress. I promised myself that I would make a long mix on Friday, Dec 14, and I still intend to do this. But I'm still not sure that it's a mix I will feel truly represents all the power of the program or of my musical expression. I feel like I still have a great more to learn, and a little success would go a long ways toward fueling that effort. Here's hoping for success tomorrow.

Woo Hoo!

bigmike — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:08:43 GMT

Wow, that was a shaker!!!

Genarlow Wilson freed by Georgia Supreme Court

bigmike — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:51:56 GMT

Finally! I've been following this poor fellow's story for some time, and even sent a couple hundred bucks to his defense fund. It exemplified everything that is wrong with American justice. What amazes me is that President Bush didn't pardon this young man last year, and that he spent two years in jail just working his case through the courts. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/26/wilson.freed/?iref=mpstoryview

Big Mike Needs

bigmike — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:40:38 GMT

I went to Google and typed (with the quotes) "Big Mike Needs". Here's the top 10 that Google and the universe have set up for me. 1) Big Mike needs to get some money. Well, who doesn't? 2) Big Mike needs more than a little lipo. Again, who doesn't? Of course, my moniker is a bit suggestive. 3) Big Mike needs his own Sirius Radio station. Damn right! What some people don't know about me is that I earned an FCC broadcaster's license in 1975 that would allow me to be a radio personality. So my long-lost dream could be revived. 4) Big Mike needs a big shlong in his cornhole! Since I'm hosting a poly/bi-friendly party in a couple of weeks, this could send the wrong message. 5) Big Mike needs to be watching the building in case there’s any trouble. Trouble? There's never trouble when Big Mike is on the scene. Does it bother you when Big Mike speaks in the third person? 6) Big Mike needs to learn to log off before he leaves the studio. True. I'm tired of Bassnectar stealing all of my best chops. 7) Big Mike needs two porno stars of his choosing to wash thee royal penis before every show. Well, finally someone understands me. 8) Big Mike needs a job. I looked this up and I don't see any. I guess I'll throw another party, instead. 9) Big Mike needs to be stopped. Oh, yeah? And just how do they think this will happen? 10) Big Mike needs to wear an iron hat. Actually, my aluminum-foil hat is quite effective.

Obligations...

bigmike — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 20:10:25 GMT

So now I have to post this obligatory meme. :-) Post to my blog, and: 1. I’ll respond with something random about you. 2. I’ll challenge you to try something. 3. I’ll pick a color that I associate with you. 4. I’ll tell you something I like about you. 5. I’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you. 6. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of. 7. I’ll ask you something I’ve always wanted to ask you. 8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours. I will post the answers to this blog unless you ask me not to.

One abecedarian

bigmike — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 23:51:45 GMT

I want to try this. Now's my chance. Does it allow me to hide or privatize some entries? Does it allow me to restrict comments from others on a particular topic? Can I delete comments? Will it automagically correct my spelling and grammatical erors?