Leaderboard

All right, I will try to make this as brief as possible... So, the two night theater concert we do each year brought a fellow and his movie team to do some filming. This was 2 years ago. This man Steve is a real Neil Diamond fan. So, he decided to make a movie based on the long hard road for Diamond tribute artists (singers)... He traveled the world attending shows by many of these Neil Diamond 'impersonators' getting footage for the movie along with interviews etc. That took a YEAR to do. Well, he liked our band so much, he RETURNED this past August to see us again and conclude all the needed footage for the movie. At the end of our second night at the theater, our fans were asking us if we were going to see the movie in Vegas when it is released. Some of my bandmates were going including our leader Kenny and his wife Trish. I decided I could not afford to go and had to decline... That was that.. About three days later, we got a call from the movie producer! Kenny informed us that WE were selected to be the band for ALL the tribute singers in a full fledged concert with the Vegas Gospel choir, a children's chorus and selected guest soloists!! We are talking all expenses paid for all 9 of us ! The producer hand picked the setlist for us, and we have been learning more Neil tunes adding to our already 60 plus roster of songs we play. The setlist came in a spreadsheet format no less with all the production notes for the sound and lighting crew and the schedule of the stage show and how it will be sequenced . As the weeks pass, there has been close communications with the powers that be. We have been sent a 3 page letter from them on how important this show will be and not anything like we have done before. Yes, there will be dancers too! The pressure is mounting! There will be cameras everywhere, as we were told it will be recorded. OK, lastly and still a developing situation... We will have some of Neil Diamond's very own musicians on stage with us! King on percussion, Neil's drummer will be sitting in. BOTH keyboardists are said to be in attendance and possibly his backing singers too!! Will Neil be there? We don't know. This is a HUGE deal so I can only imagine he would not want to miss it, especially with most of his band there .. With the singer of 'Super Diamond' (California based tribute band who has had Neil Diamond on THEIR stage) performing with us, you never know.... A THEME song for the movie has been written by Luka Bloom and recorded by Denny which we have included in our setlist from last season. Diamond Mountain is the name of the movie and the music theme. Here is the version we will be playing.............https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJZXWfdZRQ0 Here is the official website for the Diamond Festival.........http://www.diamondfest2016.com/ We have our plane tickets and this all goes down at the 'Sun Coast' where we will stay AND perform..... My first time in Vegas........we take off April 20th and then the rehearsals being Now, if this goes well, we have been offered to take the show to the UK in October !!! Then Florida in Nov. Never thought I would be doing this at my age amazing stuff ! Thanks for reading... Enjoy your day everyone... .......Gary

Coffee done but feeling like a third cup Overcast and warm here. The "Heels" won the ACC tourney Had a sushi feast at the Bento Box last night.....very tasty. And as Forrest would say "that's about all I got to say about that". Cheers Ladies and Gents

Way to go Gary!

As Bill said....WOW! Congrats Gary.....I will be waiting to hear more as time moves on. Very happy for you guys

Morning/afternoon gang.... Yup it's Sunday going up tp mom's this afternoon. Coffee just about done.... might brew a pot later today... I go with de-caff in the afternoon...... My project for the day..... I have to put all new locks on the doors at moms house. My daughter informed us last week that mom is getting out of the house. Mom was sleeping in her chair and my daughter jumped in the shower for a quick wash. When she got out mom was not in the house. She found mom in the back seat of her van. Mom could not get out of the van cuz the child locks were on. Mom was upset....took her awhile to calm her down. So today I'll be installing new dead bolts with keys on the inside. We also got a heavy duty gate to keep her out of the basement.... Check-in later.....good day to all.... MKP :-)

Good Sunday everyone ......... ! Ok, I decided that BEFORE I head out to the lawns to put away all my LED Christmas lighting (yesterday was about 400' of extension cables!!) I would sit down and FINALLY report the rest of that story I started.. So, that will be in the next post.. .......wait for it..................................................

Chuck….sounds like a great day….congrats.

Good Morning! DD flowing pretty good this morning, getting ready for cup #2.

Your almost exactly like me only completely opposite

A little, butterflies are distracting when trying to hold the pinkie finger up while drinking tea, not a problem with coffee.

I'm not really a junk food kind of person... I really don't eat candies, cookies and cakes.... don't drink alcohol or smoke.....I think I live a healthy life style for the most part.... I work out, drinks lots of H2O and try not do do things in excess....Now I'm no heath nut cuz I'll go to the steak house, stop by my local spot for a killer cheesesteak sub and fries and a caffeine free diet Pepsi.... Yea I drink caffeine free diet Pepsi.. I like the taste of it.. But I do have issues with chocolate.....But it's gotta be milk chocolate.... there could be a pile of dark chocolate in front of me and I wouldn't touch it....... like I'll go on a binges with chocolate.... I'll have to blame it on my wife... cuz she gets it for me..... But this last time I will blame on my Uncle Mick that just came over from England to visit us. He bought over with 10 packs of these Cadbury Flake bars.... They are the best..... I'll try to eat two a night but I end up eating a pack.... there's 4 in a pack.... I have to tell my wife to hide them from me. I did good last night I only had two... Now my wife will get me Wilbur Chocolate. It's the closest thing I have found to the Cadbury milk chocolate. She'll place a order a few times a year and get me a 5Lb box of these Wilbur Buds.... oh my they are the bomb..... they are not quite a "sweet" as the Cadbury.... So the wife will get me these treats and I'll go to town on these things... At the end of the day we'll be in bed and I'll start eating my Wilbur Buds. I'll eat so many the wife will end up taking them from me.... saying "that's enough"...... I can't help it...... I'm like a addict with these Buds....One night I was hittin a 5Lb box hard.... man it was on .... The wife took em......Then she feel asleep..... ahhhhhh I wanted more .... I got back into the box eating those damn Buds.....Well I feel asleep with the box on me.....woke up in the morning with Wilbur buds melted in the bed ....they were in my chest hair..... it was nasty.... The wife was P.O. ed with me big time ... yelling "I'm never buying those for you again".... it was not good... I was like "honey I just wanted a couple more I didn't mean to fall asleep.... it won't happen again.... "yea right show me the Buds" So yea I like chocolate...... Oh and chocolate ice cream..... yea baby What do you guys have a weakness for? I can't be the only one with issues..... MKP :-)

Yea good luck. I have my own business and have to create the work, it takes quite a bit of time with meetings, proposals, scheduling etc.

good luck finding some business jason.

Sorry i have not been around much. Been trying to drum up some business so i can make it to Hope in May. Picked up a bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee cause i had a buckoff coupon, kind of bitter for my taste but i will swill it down anyways. Back to the old 8 O clock next time around i guess. Happy Sunday to everyone.

Congratulations Gary "at your age", why not ? Have a good time, relax and enjoy it, and take many pics.

Thanks so much for those kind words I will keep you all informed with everything as it goes... you can count on it

WOW….that is fantastic Gary! It's an incredible achievement, you should be proud. I'll bet you're on a cloud about right now. Congrats…..Bill

PINS and NEEDLES!

A N T I C I P A T I O N

Glad ya made it out alive BSM..... I tell ya when we go down to Baltimore..... I got eye's in the back of head..... Then ya spend good money on some food that is supposed "good" ..... yea what a bummer..... I feel ya my man.... MKP :-) Hey MKP If you know downtown Baltimore and I'm talkin' DOWNTOWN Baltimore you might know the area around 25th and Greenmount. For years I had a customer tucked in there and yes, eyes on the back of your head was a requirement. A very depressed area that, trust me on this, was not a place to leave with confidence when I would have to spend a little more time than planned and would leave in the evening, either headed to the hotel or BWI. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Well that sucks, but looking at there website i can see some of the problem is, there is about 5x more lettuce and BS than meat exactly my complaint. like my brother said, “they also should have attractive women working there, not grouchy old men"

A little, butterflies are distracting when trying to hold the pinkie finger up while drinking tea, not a problem with coffee. As Bart Simpson says, no one suspects the butterfly...

It's all in the body language and karma.

Well that sucks, but looking at there website i can see some of the problem is, there is about 5x more lettuce and BS than meat, to me i want some beef or whatever it should be. There probably just going on an old reputation ? Glad you made it out alive, a courteous gang banger is unusual I would think ? But then your from Oakland and kind of bad *** looking so you probably intimidated him a little.

For real....... MKP :-)

I love almonds.... I like milk chocolate.... love them together. Those Hershey Almond Nuggets can be addicting! I do however, wish they had an extra almond version.... I prefer a higher ratio of nuts to the chocolate.

Let me clarify a bit just to save confusion. The Marantz line of tube amps top to bottom are very special in many ways and Sonic quality is indeed one them for sure..the 8B is the entry level in the Marantz tube world. It was the answer to the Dynamo ST70 and other cheaper options of the time. It literally trounced everything in that power range and class. But it was never cheap in comparison. I just no from experience the performance can easily be reproduced today for less if the right iron and circuit is properly put in place. So paying some super collector pricing unless you plan to collect just doesn't make sense to me.

Awesome story Mark. My name is Bill, and I have a problem with CHOCOLATE!!! I've never had the brand of chocolate you mentioned, I'd like to try it. One of my favorites are Reece cups, especially the dark ones. I also like the English Toffee milk chocolate Hershey Nuggets. Do you ever crave potato chips and chocolate at the same time? There's something about the salt and the sugar.

True, more beef in both departments. For $28 you would expect an amazing burger, you could grind up 2 rib eyes as the beef for that price.

Born in Hershey. The darker the better for me.

Do we have here, another member of Raider Nation! mkane?

Glad ya made it out alive BSM..... I tell ya when we go down to Baltimore..... I got eye's in the back of head..... Then ya spend good money on some food that is supposed "good" ..... yea what a bummer..... I feel ya my man.... MKP :-)

Coffee is whole bean. Peerless is family owned. Only one outlet' Oak St in Oakland, CA. My birthplace. Coffee's good, fantastic actually otherwise we would have stuck with Peet's. http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/about/

Good shape and $150.00, absolutely. Time and tank of fuel equals about $50.00 =/- total $200.00. Still a deal. Bill

I agree totally. Creamier like the Cadbury bars. Bill

I'm hooked on the Symphony bars, tastes much better (to me) than the standard Hershey bar.

http://www.amazon.com/Cadbury-Flake-Bar-Case-24/dp/B000E73MW2 jerol

It's still early. I expect MSU to take control and cruise to the win and a national #1 seed. +++ Edit: Sparty hangs on at the end to win by 4. I never tire of being wrong. Edit Edit: And of course they got a #2 seed. I'm also consistent, not in the good way.

OK, just this morning I toed them more out per Mark's advice ^^^ about 50% from the previous 45 degree position. I could not believe the difference in sound stage! The improvement was dramatic. Before, I could hear each speaker when playing, instead of just hearing sound. Now the speakers have disappeared and the entire front wall is the speaker, with no loss of dynamics. This is exactly the kind of sound I was looking for. Don't stop moving them around just yet. If you can move them deeper into the corners and actually toe them out (for kicks) see what happens, and then start slowly toeing them in until you find the sound you are looking for. And Mookie has great advise, go buy a bunch of the most expensive monitoring gear you can find and use it. Then put it in the closet or sell it and go back to what your ears tell you. You shouldn't get away with not spending a LOT of $$$. And as a group we can help you spend some serious amounts of coin. :D BTW, if you like the looks of grills, I have a source for them, it would be a nice way to start spending the money you didn't pay for the speakers. To help you spend some more money, I can tell you the source for a "small" finders fee Anything to help you out Mark

That is totally unacceptable. You don't get to find the answer that easily and without spending money. Toe them back in and buy something. Hopefully something expensive.

Your Oak will never match the walnut, the grain is very different for starters but you could maybe get the color similar with some stain testing on a scrap piece of Oak. + or - a few % of the cabinet volume will make little difference. Your easiest way to change the motorboard horn section would to be to first measure if the horns will fit turned 90 degrees. If they do remove everything from the cabinet and trace a known to fit square pattern. Cut out the horn section of the motorboard with your circular saw by plunging your blade on the inside of your pattern. Measure twice and cut once, there will be no second chance. After your plunge cuts are complete just use a handsaw to remove what stock is left. Take your old motorboard section and make a copy of it with some new stock, router is best but any method will work. Cut out your horn mounting pattern. Screw some scrap wood to the motorboard overlapping the cutout in areas in 3 or 4 places where they won't get in the way. Glut the snot out of it with PL Premimum x3 and install the new horn section to your cutout motorboard arranged how you want it. Screw the new horn section of the motorboard to your scrap wood you installed, one screw is enough to hold it in place while the glue dries. After a few hours scrape away your ezcess glue and let dry for a day. Bondo and paint the motorboard so it looks like it was never tampered with, you can remove the installed screws if you like beforehand. Install your old parts. You should be able to reuse the grille with this method as well depending on what you need to cut out.

Matthews and Mustang Guy thanks for the ideas. I need to rethink my plan of attack on these cabinets due to the flaking issue. It is worse than I thought and will not provide a good base to paint over.

Watched the Raiders in the 70's. Not these day's.

I took a speaker in to Sherwin Williams and they helped me pick a durable one coat finish. I prepped the speakers with a scotch pad and ammonia, removed drivers and horns, masked parts I didn't want painted, spray painted the screws stuck in cardboard separately and rolled the finish on the cabinets with a roller they recommended. All together, I restored 50 speakers using this method. The metal grilles got scotch pad, de-greased and spray painted. Note: This method will cover wood grain. The speakers I restored were KPT's.

No not really, it is best to have a good matching system and set up a nice blending of all the speakers. THX specifies 80hz as a crossover point, personally on my system I have found 60hz works best for my front speakers and I am using 70hz on my surrounds since I can adjust the crossover at each of my speakers, however some receivers may have only one crossover setting. Lower frequencies start to become unlocalized to the human ear so you cannot tell from which direction or which speaker the sound is coming from, this probably varies among people but for me I like frequencies below 80hz to come from my speakers not just my subwoofer if capable, this is why I use my 60hz and 70hz rather than the THX 80hz. I think it is best to spend a little time to experiment with different crossover points based on your systems capabilities and listen for what sounds best to you.

Women who bring home chocolate

One question does it sound like there is any sound as if there is a hole in the center ? I wouldn't think or you would have tried it on the short wall already. I know it's a pain to disconnect everything to try it on the short wall but if you had some extra speaker wire you could just splice it and just move the speakers, just to try and see how it sounds. .

Steve, glad that wasn't an incident, you just never know what can happen. Will you give the Apple Pan another shot? It sounds like you probably won't. No...unless i had company visiting and they were dead set that they wanted to go there. so many better places to eat.

you know Gary-- i RARELY eat a hamburger, and after this one--i sure don’t miss them.

Good evening friends, just stopping by to check in..... Steve, that story was seeming like a 'close call' but turned out ok outside of the disappointing burg... Back to healthy veggie California burgers ... Stop by RTM and say hello tonight? I am starting with that Gershwin on BluRay from Naxos.... Enjoy your evening everyone.. ............Gary