Two weeks of blessings and heat

But now I'm back in Detroit! under the "heat dome". Kind of like the Thunder Dome but without the fun sports angle.

Before I left and Aislinn arrived and the tree fell over a friend from SF who's traveling around the US on a secret project dropped in and we shared some beers, BBQ and a Giants game! He saw them in Chicago (almost going to Zeros rehab start - he doesn't like him to put it mildly) and then came here and we saw them play a crazy game against the Tigers. Both are leading their divisions so that could be a very interesting World series, at least for me ;~)

OK you non baseball fans can wake up again.

So it's not all head and depression. About 5 min away in Grosse Pointe there is a concert in the square every Thur. evening.

This was a jazz orchestra that was in the area for a festival so they booked them for the night.

Eastern Market today

Carrots and Tomatoes $1 a basket

Plums (the over flow from the other bag), Cherry peppers (YES they are back - I already have them pickling) and limes. $3 for the peppers and the limes - the plums come later.

Blackberries, they pushed them on me $1 a basket.

Romaine lettuce and celery, I think $1 each?

OK this is a bit of a ringer. Aislinn wanted Ricotta and none of the cheese vendors had any so I went to R. Hirt Jr. Co.
They are part of the Eastern Market just not part of the Farmers market.

More peppers, Bell and Poblano, some Roma tomatoes and a few Peaches.

And Plums. The guy was selling them for $2 a flat. The flats were about 2 feet by one foot by three or four plums deep. A Jamaican guy and I were looking knowing we couldn't use that many so we decided to split the flat. So all the plums here and above were $1.

Going back in time a bit.

HHDL - DC

It was scorching outside and freezing in the venue. We were in the Verizon Center and it was close enough to walk from the house, which I did quite a bit.

First day there, carpet is going in and the stage is still under construction.

The Front Of House guys. Mixer on the left and lighting on the right.

The control room for video and projections (JumboTron etc.)
In the back left next to the mixing board is where the streaming was being done. The public talks and teachings were streamed live in English, Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Some portions were also uploaded to YouTube.

If you were at the event you could get headsets and have your choice of nine different translations.

What they are looking at. A bunch of cameras and a computer feed for display announcements, schedules etc.

My little corner, actually a room off the control room. Depending on what was going on I'm recording up to 12 tracks including the three streamed translations.

People liked the shoes ;~)

One of the more difficult parts of the adventure was that His holiness is an early riser and no mater what time the schedule says he starts when he wants and ends when he's done. So it's all very flexible. Most of the time our call was 6am but then he started coming earlier. One day the mixers came really early so they could tune some things and when they arrived at 5am HHDL and a bunch of monks were already in place chanting!

But all worked out and it was nice working with consummate professionals. Sometimes you show up and the guys you have to interface with are doing it because they got the short straw and while they are often nice they really don't know anything about sound. These guys were pros who were very good and VERY easy to work with. I only really deal with sound but from what I heard every one was very impressed with the skills of the crew.

Flying back to Detroit. Wow I live in the midwest!? But hey we are eastern time so maybe that is mideast.

I have a video clip of the house with the audience in, packed to the rafters. If I can figure out how to link it up I will.

Later dayz...

Cheers
SK

HHDL and DC

So I'm hanging in the house behind the Masonic temple. I hear it features prominently (the temple not the house) in the second sequel to the da Vinci Code (Lost Symbol).

thats the view, the front is more impressive.

This is not a new disaster but the 4th fireworks as seen (and photoed badly by the phone) from the roof patio of this very cool house I'm staying in.

The phone cant deal with the contrast so it looks a bit like a pre vis of what some folks would like DC to look like.

THis is actually painted trim.

you can tell in this next shot

The kitchen has only one drawback. That huge refrigerator/ freezer in the center sounds as industrial as it looks. The stove burners are like a bunch of turkey friers. Those things get HOT FAST.

Next some shots from the venue

A meassage from on high?

So to start with the latest. I will be doing some catching up because this is
unfortunately our big old Maple tree. Now it's fire wood for some time. That is bad but not as bad as our poor neighbor whose house it landed on.

One branch went right threw his laundry room and the rest ripped off the back of his roof and crushed the deck and kind of wiped the the balcony.

Apparently a lot of people new the tree was rotten and going to fall. Wish this had gotten passed along!

Monty is the only one who really likes the new situation. He can tromp next door and play with the dogs and get treats.

Luckily our neighbor has a good sense of humor.

The storm only lasted a few hours but was a bit too close to a hurricane. Lots of downed trees and 100,000+ with out power. Some places just got the wind and they ended up with fires from the downed power lines. We had so much water so fast that fire wasn't an option, but flooding was. So the tree through your roof is a bigger deal when you also getting a few inches of rain in an hour.

In other news...

For those who remember the studio in it's last colorful stage...

It now looks like IKEA got ahold of it. The floors look great but... It saddens me. Some of those shelves have been with me since the 80's. It was wood and real. Now they looks like some cheap prefab pressboard cookie cutter IKEA junk.
If I had know they would be embarrassed like this I would have taken them down and given them a demise with dignity. I hate it when wood is made to look like Vinyl siding.

OK I'm over it. I knew there would be things like this, there always are. When I was much younger, as in second grade, we moved from one house to the one I mostly grew up in. After it was sold we went back to pick up ? something. Anyway my room was all knotty pine, not the washed down kind that I had later but just the polished wood. So we go in and the new owners are rolling that awful blue green that was everywhere for awhile. Aquamarine puke. All that beautiful wood was going to look like a cheap tract house. Which ever parent was with me must have kicked me to keep me from screaming at them. So this isn't that bad, wasn't great wood but still?

Now in the new disaster home one thing we have planned (big Irony) is removing the white pain that some misguided real-estate agent painted over the 100 year old polished oak trim.

Ah well so it goes.

My internet is dodgy here in DC, but that is another post.