Month: December 2006

Ruckus Gig a success!

My band’s last gig, (see previous post) was somewhat of an experiment. We’ve played at Ruckus Pizza for 4 years, and during those 4 years, we’ve always used our own mixer. (Our bass player at the time, Stewart, owned a rather complex PA.) Last Friday, for the first time, we used Ruckus’ PA, and for the first time both guitar amps were plugged directly into the PA using their speaker-voiced line out connections. The result? That gig was the best sounding gig EVAR. The crowd reported that they could hear everything clearly, and just as important, the band could hear themselves.

The gig was a blast. Thanks to everyone that showed up!

My Band Plays This Friday!

My band, High Fidelity has a gig this Friday at Ruckus Pizza on Avent Ferry Rd. We should start playing by 10:30. Come out and have some fun with us!

Verizon Can’t Do Math

My friend Bill found this on Digg probably and posted it on his blog. It’s such a perfect example of corporate stupidity that I had to post it too.

Basically, the story goes that this poor guy, before crossing over into Canada, asked Verizon what their data plan rates were. He was quoted .002 cents per kilobyte. Suspicious of such a low rate, he asked the Verizon rep to verify it, and put it in his account’s notes. She did so, and he went about his merry way into Canada and used his data plan. When he got his bill later, he was charged $.02 a kilobyte and had a bill of over $70. He tried to explain the situation to Verizon’s billing department, and wackiness ensued. Read the transcript HERE.

You’d think that people would realize by now that if a computer geek tells you your math is wrong, you might want to believe him.

I miss Jennifer Nettles

Years ago, my friend April Morgan and I on a regular basis would drive to Ashville, NC from central NC to see one our favorite bands, Soul Miner’s Daughter. SMD was a southeastern-based regional band, playing a exciting mix of rock, soul, gospel, blues, and country. I really can’t explain their sound better than that. You really need to hear their albums to understand their sound. It doesn’t really fit into those record company-forced categories. Their musicianship was superb, and the vocal stylings of Jennifer Nettles and Cory Jones were haunting. Going to their shows was always a blast. I’d leave from my apartment in Cary, drive to Greensboro to join up with April, and then we’d start our 3 hour drive to Ashville. After a while, we went to enough shows that Jennifer would recognize us, and chat with us at our table for a while before each show. It was a lot of fun. SMD released 2 albums, The Sarced and Profane, and Hallelujah. Both are excellent albums, but I tend to like Hallelujah more because is has a more mature sound, and better production.

Time passed, and eventually Cory and Jennifer had a falling out. (From what I’ve heard it was quite explosive, but I never bothered to dig any deeper than that because it seemed to be a sensitive subject.) Anyway, Cory and Jen split ways, and Soul Miners Daughter was no more… in name anyway. Essentially, the band continued (sans Corey) with a new name, The Jennifer Nettles Band. With Jennifer now the sole front person, the new songs were written around her vocal style and used her lyrics. The songs were still very reminiscent of the SMD sound, but with Jen as the focus, the lyrics were very deep, and very personal. (A couple of the songs were obviously about Corey and the SMD breakup.) The JNB released 3 albums, The Story of Your Bones, Rewind (which were redos of SMD songs), and Gravity : Drag Me Down. All 3 are great albums, with Jennifer’s lean toward country hinted at in “Gravity : Drag Me Down.” This is where the next chapter in Jennifer’s musical stylings begin.

In 2003, Jennifer was approached by Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush, to join their project, a country band called, Sugarland. Jennifer joined the band, and Sugarland has become very popular. (They’ve won awards, Jen’s done a track with Bon Jovi, it’s pretty cool.) Now, that being said, I’m not a country fan. At all. Bluegrass I can stand, but country – no. So, I was pretty disappointed to hear that Jennifer was doing country now. I had lost one of my favorite artists. (I actually like Sugarland’s first album okay, but the second one is just too country for me.) But, you know what? That’s okay. She’s doing great, is very successful, and she deserves it. I just miss the rockin Jennifer Nettles. The jazzy Jennifer Nettles. The, soul-gospel-blues Jennifer Nettles.

Oh well. I guess I’ll always have Ashville.