02011-04-20 | Uncategorized
Which song from the upcoming album do you want me to make available as a download? The one that gets the most votes will become this Friday download. Write the title of your selection in a comment. Here is the tracklist:
01. Barcelona Nights
02. Isla del Sol
03. 2 the Night
04. Dancing Under the Moon
05. Heart Still/Beating
06. Reaching Out 2 U
07. Santa Fe
08. Borrasca
09. Turkish Night
10. La Rosa Negra
11. Havana Club
12. Snakecharmer
13. Morning Arrival in Goa
We are still on track to have the new CD available during the May tour. And if you can’t make it to one of the concerts, Somerset will release their version (jewel case, different design) of the album sometime in June. It will be available in Target stores, like the 2009 release Spanish Sun.
02011-04-20 | Photos
Visited Diablo Canyon today, for the first time since the second photo below was taken in 1995.
02011-04-15 | Photos
A well-packed van. Freiburg, Germany, photo by Jaren.
02011-04-15 | Uncategorized
I love the diameters of the new D’Addario Flamenco strings – set EJ25B. This G string is neither unusually thick like the nylon G, nor is it brittle and low in tension like the composite (brown) G. I also like the retro black look and remember a lot of Flamenco guitars having black strings in the Sixties and Seventies.
All three bass strings are very nice and exactly the same tension as the Pro Art Composite Normal tension set.
The treble strings, however, are equal to the hard tension composite set. Exactly the same tension, down to the tenth. Bass strings = normal tension and treble strings = hard tension. Why?
Well, and therein lies the problem for me. I don’t like hard tension strings. They offer less tonal variety. They also make my Blanca even brighter, and it is bright enough… They always sound as if one is plucking them near the bridge. The lower tension set, on the other hand, allows for many different tones and sounds, depending on whether I play them over the sound hole or near the bridge.
So, I replaced the “Flamenco” trebles with the regular composite trebles (I prefer the regular nylon string that is too thick over the brown composite one) and immediately enjoyed the larger tonal range.
Shredders might enjoy the brightness and the quick snap of the Flamenco set, but if you like a lot of different color from your strings this set isn’t for you.
By the way, after the first show in Riga we stopped using the Shure KSM141 on the guitar, and started using the KSM137. According to Jaren the specs are exactly the same, but the 137 has only one single cardioid polar pattern while the KSM141 is switchable between a consistent cardioid or true omnidirectional polar pattern. It seemed to him that the 141s we were carrying were stuck in omni-mode, because they were picking up everything on stage. We have been using these mics for years and they have endured a lot of travel, so perhaps that is possible. In any case, the 137 is a little smaller, does ONLY the pattern we need (tight and focused on the guitar), and sounds great.
At around $280, the price of the Shure KSM137 is also over $100 less than the KSM141. Disclosure: we endorse Shure and get these microphones for free. I will add that we would also use Shure if we had to pay for it, as their gear sounds great and, most importantly, survives touring.
02011-04-15 | Uncategorized
YouTube – Ariannariel33’s Channel
Ottmar Liebert @ Teatro Socjale – Piangipane – 8 aprile 2011
Last song of the concert, last performance of the tour. We look a little tired there…
YouTube – It Gets Better
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the process of creating a classic hourglass (video)
Ricky Gervais – Speakeasy – WSJ
An (Atheist) Easter Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m An Excellent Christian
MSNBC – PhotoBlog
Endangered sea turtles dying in high numbers along Mississippi Gulf shore
Boing Boing
Why People Think Cell Phones Cause Cancer
YouTube – Mel’s Hidden Talent!!!
Animal Impressions
BBC – Earth News – Humpback whale song spreads to other whales
Recordings of male humpback whales have shown that their haunting songs spread through the ocean to other whales.
Researchers in Australia listened to hundreds of hours of recordings gathered over more than a decade.
These revealed how a specific song pattern, which originated in Eastern Australia, had passed “like Chinese whispers” to whale populations up to 6,000km away in French Polynesia.
