September 20th, 2009



This was created the same day as the LGW Blues recording. A lot of what comes out of my amp is just off the cuff - kind of let it fly attitude. And this is what flew. You will also hear one of my Flangers at work here also. It is the Electro Harmonix one, Something I have had with me since about the 4th year of Playing Guitar.

September 19th. 2009



This has been something that I have been after for a very long time. For one reason or another, it never took place. That now thankfully is in the past.

I recorded this on the 18th of September. This was on the second day of jamming after about a 3 year hiatus from the Guitar, It wasn't that I didn't want to play, it just kept getting placed on the back burner. The Guitar that I am using is an Ibanez, which is about 5 years old. It hasn't been played nearly enough, but hopefully that will change.

The other Electric guitar I have is A Royal Artist. This Ibanez weighs easily twice as much as the Royal artist, but the royal artist is a semi hollow body, where the Ibanez is a solid body Guitar. The Solid body is like a totally different beast in so many ways, but mainly the rigidity of the guitar is what I find is the biggest difference, The hollow body flexes some what in the relationship with the neck of the guitar as your playing and adds a whole different element to the guitar and what you can do with it as you play. I haven't ever tried to manipulate the neck on this one. I don't think it would do me much good.

I hijack this blog for my own self serving interest, ok, ... maybe I haven't done it in a while But this is something I need to work out - Tripods.




As you may or may not know I have a photoblog. And as such, I take a lot of Images. Some good, some great, but some are an amazing disappointment. I shall show some examples and try to figure out why what happened happened.


These first four images are taken at night or late dusk. I used a tripod on them as I did the last image that went wrong. I was careful with all the shots, took my time, double and triple checked my settings, carefully pushed the shutter, and with some very little cropping - success:










This is not the result I was hoping for - Blurry, almost out of focus. Something was moving when this photo was shot - But what? I set the tripod on top of my car, parked. The tripod appeared to be still. I took my time, set up the shot very carefully slowly pushed the shutter button - But this was the end result:



What was the difference?

The tripod. I used the round black tripod on the first four shots. A small, but extremely stable tripod that allowed for some freedom as far as moving the camera into the angle I wanted. It was really the first time I had used it. It used to belong to my mother. In fact all 3 of these I inherited from her. The problem with the last shot I do believe is I used the black very adjustable 3 legged tripod. It is basically a flexible wire setup and very easy to get the camera to the angle I need for the shot, but I believe the end result screams at me - lose the tripod. I'll hang onto it for day shots, maybe, but no more night shots with that puppy. (by the way, there were 4 other shots taken with that same flexible tripod I had to literally throw away. They were much worse than what I displayed here.)

August 8th, 2008

This was a interesting start to another grave yard shift at this crazy AM-PM Store I worked at a while back. As I walked in the store, there were 3 sheriff's that were very excited and a Cashier that was besides herself with excitement. I clocked in and started asking questions.

The cashier started to fill me in. She had been robbed, probably 45 minutes before I got there. There were 3 guys and each of them had ran out with two "suitcases" of beer under each arm. I think it contained 24 cans of beer in each "suitcase".





Needless to say, it was a lot of beer going out the front door with out being paid for. The Store manager showed up about then. Luckily, the store didn't have any customers right then.

One of the guys had jumped over the retaining wall to the parking lot next door.





About then the Store Manager and one of the cops needed to talk to the cashier. I had a few brief customers and then had a chance to talk to the Cashier's Husband, who was waiting to give his wife a ride home.

Hopefully, the images show how on one side of the wall, facing the AM - PM is about two feet high. At the Time, the other side of the wall was about 6 feet high. The parking lot on the opposite side has been regraded and is only about four feet tall now. But then it was quite a difference in height.

So this one thief decided to take a short cut jumping over the wall with about 20 extra lbs of liquid in two large, hard to handle, cases of beer. He then apparently landed entirely wrong on the other side of the wall with the 6 foot drop and broke the thigh bone in one of his legs. The other two guys jumped in their get away car and sped off, leaving their partner in crime writhing in pain, of course after picking up his stolen beer as well.

The husband had jumped over the wall in chase and saw the whole thing go down. He said he had never seen such happy cops as they loaded the guy in an ambulance and hauled him off. The thief had asked the husband to help him get away before the cops showed up. He had to inform the thief that he had just robbed his wife and that He wasn't going to do anything till the cops showed up. The husband was also able to give the license plate of the getaway car.

June 19th, 2008

My wife went and picked Up our grandson at my daughters house.

On the ride back, with my 2 year old grandson secured in the back seat and my wife the only other person in the car, he started to ask questions, sort of.

Gwama - This meant he wanted to ask my wife something, her being Gwama.

Ky-yole - That was him asking about where my son was. She told him he was at work.

PaPa - That was him asking about me. She told him I was at home.

Jammers - This is the cat that has kind of adopted us and lives outside. My wife feeds him and The grandson loves this cat. She told him that Jammers was at home.

I'm glad to see I rate above Jammers the cat.

June 18th, 2008


A pretty unique Idea, I thought.



This is Isiah and Bridgette. I was really pleased with the intensity in these young folks eyes in this shot. Taken at Night.

That I am going to attempt to highlight some of the Great Businesses around Bakersfield that Make Bakersfield a rather unique location in California. I'm going to shoot for a weekly feature and see how it goes. (Click on an Image to see a bigger version.)
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The first One Is Rosemary's Creamery:






Rosemary's Family Creamery
2733 "F" Street
Bakersfield, CA 93301
(661) 395-0555






Frank and Rosemary DeMarco Started this little slice of Ice Cream Heaven in November, 1984. Along the way, Roseanne, sister Katy and grandson Patrick Took over the reins of the operation.





This family run business is open 11 AM to 10:30 PM Sunday thru Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, they open at 11 am and close about 11:30 or Midnight.



All right now we get to the main course: the food. Yep, it's not just Ice Cream and Sherbet made on the premises, but there is also Chocolate Sauce, Pineapple sauce cooked right there, Caramel Sauce and marshmallow sauce all made on site. They also make a lot of their bake goods, such as the Brownies and Blondies. There is also Chocolate Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, and Shortbread baked there as well.




There is also a wide array of sandwiches and a selection of salads. All of this feast is prepared either to eat in or for take out. They also have a Patio Area that allows for outdoor enjoyment. There is a Good Value Special that Offers savings on their regular price.




There is currently 26 Employees and they do not as of yet have a presence on the Internet. I am told that they are working on getting a web site running.






On A side Note, the smells that add to the atmosphere are at times just incredible, especially when they start serving banana Splits with Strawberry sauce over the top.


I just wanted to thank Roseanne again for taking the time out to let a blogger come in and interview her and take some photos. I didn't know what to expect when I walked in and was greeted quite warmly and allowed great freedom Photo wise. Thanks.

That I am starting and this is just a hint as to what it will be:

I joined up this group that allows for me to post something every day for the next year. I truly doubt it will be here, more likely the Photo blog, but we'll see.

In a way, I am sad to see this year go bye bye, but as it is ending (me being unemployed) I am definitely looking forward to the coming year. I should be getting a new SLR camera here very soon, A Fujifilm s700, which will allow for a much broader range of photography than my previous point and shoot, which actually has been broken for the last few months, but luckily still takes pictures (the screen has been toast). So that will be nice.



My eldest son should be moving into his new house (the house isn't, but it is new to him). So a lot going on. Here comes the New Year, ready or Not.