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Like Russell, I'm also a strong believer in supporting local / domestic businesses. I get my Elixir's at a local, independently-owned music store for about $15 CDN per set. Since I can usually get 3 months out of a set, $5 per month is pretty cheap for strings. I waste a lot more than that on Tim Horton's coffee!

That's good info, Doug ... always preferable to hear from someone "in the biz". I certainly want to reduce the weight of my amp, but don't want to sacrifice sound quality. What I've been reading and sound-sampling on-line so far is very favorable. My amp also has the option of a switch to change from 16-ohm to 8-ohm if need be. That opens up a few options. Been also seeing some good comments about the Eminence neo's.

I see what you're saying, Graham. When you're on the road, you've got to use what's provided. I believe bassist Geddy Lee (Rush) runs his bass through his board of tricks on stage, and then mics it into the house PA system. No amps to frig with ... sounds like an efficient idea, and he also sounds very good.

Marillion   "Quartz"   Cardogan Hall, 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8BC5Sjmsxs

This creative piece features some cool percussion at the start (xylophone, glockenspiel, and blocks) and finishes with an emotional guitar solo from Steve Rothery. His style is quite similar to David Gilmour's, with more emphasis on "feel" than just flashy speed. He deservedly gets a standing ovation from the audience at the end. If I were a performer, I'd love to play in front of a crowd that's this involved.

Hope y'all enjoy it!

Badeye ... great Nova Scotia weather today, eh? We knew winter had to come eventually, but it's as unwelcome as ever.

It's enough to give a person the blues!

Just watched some YouTube entries featuring your Alesis, Russell, and I gotta say how impressed I am with the sound of it. There are a lot of very cheezie sounding drum machines out there, but yours has some very authentic tone. Nice rig!

Here in Canada, we celebrate what we call "Remembrance Day" in honour of our war veterans, living and passed on. For those who came back with terrible nightmares and such, the war continues to be fought in their minds. The rest of us enjoy so many comforts and freedoms because of what they sacrificed, that we should be grateful EVERY day. Which brings me to my next thing:

Last Monday, I drove by some middle-aged hippies in a town near here. There were a dozen or so of them, and they were displaying anti-war signs by the roadside. The biggest one read: "No Poppies! War is nothing to celebrate!" I didn't stop, because my temper would have got the best of me. How dare anyone use their blood-bought freedom-of-expression to spit in the faces of our beloved veterans! It's a week later, and I'm still fuming about it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ...

Yep! Seems like they've got everything routed through flangers for this one.

Yes   "Close to the Edge"   Amsterdam, 2002

Part 1    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOrdEcJZyt0

Part 2   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvAa-RtwIhI

Yes' 1972 album "Close to the Edge" built further upon their album "Fragile", show-casing both their musicianship and composition abilities. The title track became an iconic piece for the Prog Rock genre, and even today's PR aficionados will typically mention CTTE as one of the top contributions to PR of all time. The song is lush with beautiful imagery, unusual time signatures, high-level musicianship, and multi-layered harmonies and counterpoint structures. The tight playing of guitarist Steve Howe and bassist Chris Squire is just plain clever, and the addition of the enthusiastic European Festival Orchestra is the icing on the cake.

Of particular note is keyboardist Tom Brislin. Yes' regular man (Rick Wakeman) was supposed to accompany them on this tour, but had scheduling conflicts due to other commitments. As a result, Brislin had less than a month to learn the entire repertoire before the tour! I know most of us are guitar players, but Brislin certainly deserves an "Atta boy!" for this effort.

This is a long one (+20 minutes) which is often a criticism of Prog Rock, i.e., it asks a lot of the listener. I find that a big mug of tea and some of my wife's home-made peanut butter cookies are ideal to enjoy with this. I hope you find this piece worth the effort.

I'm not one who "dickers" as I used to own a clothing store (sold it almost 7 years ago), and got exasperated when people were trying to chisel me. I kept my profit margins as tight as I possibly could to be fair to my customers, but it didn't seem to matter. There's another philosophy where the merchant puts a higher price on something, to leave room for discounting. I always thought that was chintzy, and dishonest to the customers who didn't ask for discounts. After shopping around and price comparing, I simply buy something if I think it's fair value for the money. I do watch for specials and offers, but that's as far as I go.

That's just my own way, and I suspect that many feel differently. I do know that retail profit margins are nowhere near where many think they are, due to competitive pressures. There are so many options for people to buy things, and no one lasts long if they're not competitive.

That's a great looking arsenal, Russell.

Great to have everything hung up to admire, and to keep them safe. My wife calls my collection "The Wall of Noise". Some people just have no appreciation for dive bombing at high volumes (LOL).

No different here in Canada. The greatest enemy to true democracy is the party system. It requires the elected folks to vote the "party line" rather than actually voting for what their constituents want. Our politicos in Canada often lament that we typically get about a 40% turnout for Federal elections. The point they're missing is that 60% of the electorate are saying "None of the above."