Classic Rock

posted by Womble692 at 15:30

Hurrah!!! Van Halen have reformed....sort of. Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Wolfgang Van Halen. Eddies son has taken over bass duties from Michael Anthony but the fact that Dave and Ed can be in the same room as each other is awesome. I have always had a soft spot for Van Halen, i have eclectic tastes in music which range from metal to blues, to jazz to country and mixing in a little bit of pop and rap. But i adore music which people probably find cheesy.
Van Halen is one of those bands, this year has seen some great reunions, Crowded house, Van Halen, Rage against the machine to name but a few and now i hear that there are talks amongst Led Zeppelin reforming with JohnBonhams son on drums!!!! How super excellent would that be? ROCK ON!!!
Also Del Amitri's singer, Justin Currie, has a solo album out this year called Waht is love for, he is possibly one of the greatest lyricists of all time with a truly innate ability to find a simple truth which strikes a chord with so many different people on so many different levels. And i am still yet to see the reformed Police at twickenham as well as Ryan Adams and The Cardinals!! Good year for music this one. Just thought i would share as im excited!!!

Keep watching the salad shredding machines of doom


D

Living above our means?

posted by Womble692 at 14:23

Well i got my new motorbike. One word...AWESOME!!!! very very fast and smooth. Weather hasnt been too kind and Suzuki's are not renowned for the ability to handle bad weather (rust and fall apart) so not wanting my £8K bike to rot before my eyes i have only been out on it on Sunday morning. Desperate for some good weather.

Tonight i am having a test drive in an Alfa romeo Brera. I wanted to get a new car for while and due to my current Celica starting to develop some issues (i call the car not unlocking for an hour and issue!!!) and the clutch starting to slip i decided it might be time to do something about it. Now here comes the rub...rather than buying a Focus or Astra or something cheap and sensible i start looking at Mercedes Alfas Audis BMW's etc. I think i am a brand whore! Trouble is i just used most of my savings buying my motorbike...so got to think carefully, always said i would never buy a brand new car on finance, so im looking at Alfa Brera ex demo, still more expensive than i wanted but you only live once and all that. Will post my thoughts on the Brera and my decision when i have worked out what i do. Im sure that the Sales guy will do his best to make sure i drive away in the car.

In the meantime check out the Cold Roses T shirts, my bands logo, looks awesome on the brown t shirt. Can we get a dark blue one as well?

Laters alligators

Signing off, your ninja robot battling star gazing superfreak

D

Bugger...The amp blew up!

posted by Womble692 at 11:38

Well the new band, Cold Roses, had its third gig on saturday. Easing into the first set, crowd (more than 10 people so i call them a crowd) were appreciative and then Snap, Crackle and Pop and all i can get from the guitar amplifier is a loud feedback. O dear. Somehow get through the next 2 songs by switching it on and off for the parts i need to play and then have to stop the gig for 5 minutes whilst we get Keith (second guitarist) to give me his amp and he sends his signal from his processor unit to the PA. At the halfway interval i survey the damage to the amp and its blown the valves again, only just had it repaired so a call to the company to sort that, however its the second time its done it so new amp time......not what the wallet wanted, however the lure of amp shopping makes me smile again. Soldier on through the second half of the gig and im not happy at all with the overall sound or performance but people seemed to like it and i always maintain if you can play a gig without getting bottles thrown at you then you have done fine. Few things to sort out in the coming rehearsals like getting the rest of the band to turn down but it will be fine.

Been a long time since i last posted here, mainly because i forgot my login details. Few things to report, got a new job, IT Operations Manager for a roofing and cladding company, second week in and there is lots to do! Lot of systems and processes need overhauling, more challenging than that is the company culture, that will take time to change.

Purchased a new motorbike which i pick up on August 11th. Its a Suzuki GSXR 750 K7 Phantom (limites edition of 200). Nice!!!! Going to be a bit of a power hike from my last motorbike which was a Suzuki SV650S. K purchased a new bike as well, a new pointy SV650S and should get that this week. I had already chosen my number plate but when she decided to buy a new bike she arranged to get matching number plates, only one letter different.......hmm how cheesy is that going to look when we are out together?

What else to say...O yes we made our wedding rings!! K and I went to Cornwall and hired out a jewellery workshop to make our wedding rings. K makes silver jewellery in her own workshop and i have also had a bash at it but apparently platinum is harder to work with and requires "special techniques" (i later found out this meant heavier hammers and hotter blow torches!)
K went for a plain 3mm platinum band which i made, turned out rather well if i say so myself and I went for a 9mm platinum band in a brushed effect. K had great issues getting mine to solder and stay in shape properly, took 5 attempts and 2 jewllery makes and 2 massive gas blow torches to get it right but in the end we are happy with it which is good as it worked out more expensive than buying them. However we did make them ourselves which is special to us.

Well that is it for this post, apologies for the length and time between. just checked out the RTDL2 store and seen a few shirts i fancy.

Laters

D

Bands And Tracks

posted by Jaitu at 21:35

Last night ElDiablo and I met up with TechMaster and a few other friends to see Womble692's new band play at a local venue. We all had a good time and I took a couple of hundred photos, many of which fall into the category of 'artistic' by which I mean blurry. I'll let Womble692 go into more detail of the evening from the stage-front perspective if he wishes to. Suffice to say it constantly amazes me how he manages to make such wonderful sounds from what is really nothing more than a plank and some elastic bands.
Before heading out to the gig ElDiablo and I thrashed a couple of Aston Martin DB9s around the famous or maybe infamous Nordschleife circuit at the Nurburgring. Needless to say this was done from the comfort of a sofa and made possible by Forza Motorsport on the XBox. Anyway that little story, truth though it is, was really only an excuse to embed this clip. Imagine our racing skills to be like this only stretched over 24 miles.

I dont have a Wii

posted by Womble692 at 16:57

I don't have a Wii.
I cant give a review but it looks awesome and i really wanted one for Christmas. Alas it wasn't to be, i was disappointed again, not as disappointed as when i didn't receive an Optimus Prime back in the 80's and cried all Christmas day and tried to kick my parents in the shins for daring to buy some other piece of crap! (I was a lovely child really)
I do understand why K wouldn't get me one, i already have an Xbox that never gets used and a PC that doesn't get switched on and a whole host of other gadgets that after the initial weeks enthusiasm i get bored with and leave in a drawer. The problem you see is i am a "must have". You know the type, they must have that computer game, then play it and get bored after a couple of days, they must have that new cd then never listen to it, they must have that new mp3 player and then leave it in a cupboard. I have spent so much money on gadgets you would have thought i would have learnt my lesson yet i watched and drooled at the new Iphone and will no doubt buy one and leave it in a drawer after a week.

I am going climbing tonight for the first time in about 2 years, tomorrow i will be aching and walking like John Wayne. I am a fairly fit guy and go to the gym a lot but climbing is a different sort of exercise, your arms feel like they are on fire after 10 minutes and your legs and feet are wobbly at the end of a hard climb. The problem i have is i am an ex fatty, we are worse than ex smokers. We exercise too much and watch what we eat 99% of the time. The other 1% of the time we try to cram as much crap and unhealthy food into our mouths as the time allows, there is only so much rice and chicken or steak and pasta you can eat! I am addicted to the feeling you get after exercise and also im quite lucky i go to a David Lloyd where there are lots of Mums who have good bodies that i can look at in between sets, they bounce in a very fake way on the treadmills!

I hope to update a bit about my hobbies (music, guitar, sports, films) and bitch about my work and stuff that annoys me. In the mean time im signing off...

To recap, im an Ex fattie must have who is a binge eater and a binge drinker and likes watching women bounce on the treadmill whilst working out.