skonopa Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Okay, here is a long one! First and formost, I want to say thanks to everybody at Klipsch for an awesome time this past weekend was. Also want to say thanks for all those that took the time (and money - after all, flights and hotels are not exactly "cheap" these days) to come out and attend this thing to make it the big success that it was. After all, if it wasn't for Klipsch, we would not have these things, and if it was not for us to come and attend, than what is the point in having them in the first place? Well, I left Fredericksburg on Friday in the morning and took the train up to Reagan National, where I caught the flight out to Pittsburgh, where I had an hour layover before catching another flight on to Indy. While in Pittsburgh, I was tempted to engage in a little mischief there at the Brookstone store in the airport. There was one of those little "slim-line" shelf systems right near the entrance, that was just blasting away some type of latino "mariachi" type music. I was so tempted to stick in one of these Dream Theater or Nightwish CD's I had in my luggage with me. I guess better judgement came of it and I decided to just let things be and go wait for my flight to Indy. I finally arrived in Indy around 1ish or so. I grabbed some lunch right there in the airport (I love that Mexican place right there in the food court!). I then got my rental car, a Nissan Sentra. It seemed that everybody else that I saw that also rented car also had Nissan Sentras! I wonder if the car rental places get those things by the 12-pack. When I arrived at the Comfort Inn, I was told my room was not ready, so I went to kill some time by walking over to the Holiday Inn and seeing if I can a) find the place where the Klipsch gathering was taking place, and see if I can find anybody else I may recognize. Well, I did find the place where the gathering is to take place, but did not find anybody else. I then huffed it back to the Comfort Inn, to find my room was now ready. I stayed at the Comfort Inn instead of the Holiday Inn simply because it was cheaper, plus I was staying through Sunday. That extra day can add up, but thankfully, the Comfort Inn let me stay at the discounted "Klipsch rate" for the extra day. After checking in, I decided to hit the pool, mainly to kill time. It was friggan hot out, but I did not particularly want to just sit around the room and watch the stupid TV. I then took my MP3 player outside and chilled out by the pool, soaking up both some sun and some tunes. After a little while, I saw some guy come out with a book. I did not really pay much attention to him, as he was not somebody I recognized. Plus, I figured I did not want to disturb him while reading his book, plus I was quite happy just checking out this new Asia album that I ripped to MP3 so I can listen to it "on the road". And that friggan heat! I thought I'd get to escape the heat and humidy when I left Virginia! Nooooo! It was just as friggan hot in Indy as it was in Virginia! I was told when I got back that here in Fredericksburg, it hit nearly 100 on Saturday and Sunday. Well, after a little while, I got tired of just sitting around, and decided to take a quick little stroll around the pool, as well as a dip. While walking buy where this guy was standing in the water, while reading the book on the deck, I happen to get a glimps of the page that he was reading. The diagram on that page looked awefully familier, so I asked the guy if that happened to be PWK's book! Well, this guy turned out to be 'tkdamerica' (David) Turned out 'tkdamerica' stands for 'Tae Kwon Do America', which seems to be a DoJo/Training facility that David operates. Well, for the next several hours, we just sat there and shot the breeze. A really cool guy that I was very pleased to meet and befriended. After a little while, we decided to head in. As I was getting pretty darn hungry, I asked if he wanted to go grab dinner with me. He must've already had dinner or something. I did not realize that there was a group having dinner over at the Texas Road House right there. I went up the highway and ended up grabbing something to eat at the Appleby's. The riblets and steak combo was quite good, although alot of food, though. Much more meat than I'd normally eat in a meal. Anyway, after dinner, I headed on over to the Holiday Inn to see if I can find any of the group. There were a few folks there already, as this was around 7:30ish or so. The LaScalas and other gear was already setup and already playing some Jazz number. It was awesome throughout the night to get re-quainted with many old friends as well as finally get to meet some of the folks on here that I've never meeted before. It was a nice feeling to have 'Picky' tell me how excited he was to finally get to meet me. Also was cool to get to meet DrWho, a fellow Nightish and Dream Theater fan! I was hoping to get a chance to play a few of my own tracks, but I did managed to get a Nightwish track on, though. Overall, it was a fun time - something I looked forward to as much as the Klipsch tour itself. Around mid-night, the festivities in the room itself wound down and several people moved on to 'NOSValve' (Craig)'s room. Me and a handful of others stuck around in the room and we just shot the breeze for a little while more. The hotel staff left the food as well as several cans/bottles of beer and pop. I wonder if the "midnight" deadline only applied to the bartender and playing the stereo equipment. The hotel staff pretty much let us just hangout in that room, while still munching on the food that was left there. Anyway, probably around 2ish or so, me and David decided to head back to the Comfort Inn, as I was dogged *** tired (been up since around 5:30 that morning) and wanted to get some sleep. Well, got Saturday Morning and got ready to head over to the Klipsch building that morning. Ran into David ('tkdamerica'), while in the lobby. I was just going to shoe-leather express it over, as it is not that far, but David offered me a ride in his rented Nissan Sentra (same damn thing I had as a rental). I figured, what the heck, save the Walk, plus it was already getting pretty darn warm out there by that time. Arrived at Klipsch HQ, to find they had a nice breakfast setup for us, complete with coffee, orange juice, begals/cream cheese, and other breakfast pastries, a fresh fruit salad, and so forth. It was a very nice touch to get the day started. Nice that the find folks at Klipsch went that little bit of extra mile to make this a pleasent time. Throughout, there are a lot of nice little, unexpected touches to really make this a truly special event for us. Anyway, got into the tours, which I will not go into detail, as they have been pretty much covered before. Although this is the third time I've been here, I've always been fascinated with the whole thing. I would not mind working for Klipsch myself. I wonder if they have a need for a software engineer with some 12 years of experience in various languages and platforms. It was truly awesome get get to be one of the first of the "general public" to get to hear some new product that is coming out. Also, I found the product design room to be fascinating, as that is much the same type of thing I go through when designing new software, especially user interfaces. I use the same old "brainstorm, mock-up, prototype, feedback" type cycle as well, thus I can relate to exactly what they go through when developing new product. About halfway through the day, broke for a realy nice deli type lunch. That turkey sandwich I had was quite tasty, and it was fun to BS alittle bit. It seems that 'Gil' McDermott had some homemade horns in his van that he was showing out in the parking lot, so curiosity got the better part of us to go out and see what was up. At first, I though somebody had gotten those Klipschorns that somebody put the fake cabinet fronts on. Pretty neat, though. Anyway, back to the tour, which ran until around 4ish or so. One thing that I thought was really cool was that AniMusic DVD that was shown in the THX/RSx-54 room. Being the computer geek/software engineer type, I just throught that was one of the coolest things I've seen, next to the old classic "Minds Eye" videos. Well, I went to that AniMusic website and ordered the first DVD and eagerly awaiting the second one (which the video we saw was a preview of the second one). I cannot friggan wait to see how that thing will look and sound on my own setup! Also, that Heritage based HT they had setup was friggan awesome! It is nearly the same type of thing that Roger/'IndyKlipschFan' will have setup in his basement. I am looking forward to next year to see that setup, if Roger is willing to. I think he is just as excited about getting to show it off as I am excited to get to see it! After the tour was over, was treated to a nice little prize package. If I recall, 'Boomac' was the 40th one that signed up, and got some extra cool little goodies. I want one of those mobiles myself! That thing would be cool to hang in my office at work. One really nice touch and pleasant surprise are those little wooden Klipsch plagues made from the scrap wood by the fine folks down in Hope, AK. A really unique gift that could've only been had by attending one of these things. I plan on painting mine a gloss black, and then paint the letter insets with copper to match my RF-7s. A very nice touch, and much thanks to the crafts(wo)men/woodworkers down in Hope for making those things for us. Once I get it painted up, and put one of those "sawtooth" picture hangers on back, I'll be proud to display it in my living room/HT. After all the festivities were over, me and David went back to the hotel, where I chilled out by the pool some more and he went to (I presume) to grab a nap. Around 5:30ish or so, we headed on out to the Jazz Kitchen. We got there to find most of the group was there, and they were getting ready to serve dinner. Also to find a nice little three-some ensemble playing some number up on stage there. A good, tight sounding ensemble that I found enjoyable to listen to. I may not be a huge jazz fan, but I can certainly appreciate a well executed performance. Also, the food was friggan awesome! I definitly ate my fill! Oh, that pasta was to die for! Kinda reminds of of a chicken alfredo, but (pardon the pun) jazzed up a bit. Plus, I could definitly eat my fill of those chocolate covered strawberries! It was wonderful time and much thanks goes to the fine staff of the Jazz Kitchen for this one. After the dinner and fun at the Jazz Kitchen, me and David headed on back to the hotel. On the way back, we stopped in a liquor store to grab a six-pack of some brewskis. We then went out to the pool to down a few cold ones and to just shoot the breeze. The night was actually quite pleasant with a nice breeze going on. I could've stayed out all night (hell, maybe next year, I may consider camping!) Eventully, the security guard kicked us out to close up the pool. It seemed that as far as she was concerned, we could've stayed out there all night, but she had her orders by "the management" to make people leave and close up the pool. Don't blame her one bit, though, in this day-n-age of litigation and such. After that, it was time to call it a day and hit the sack. I slept in much later that I probably should've. I did not get up until friggan noon on Sunday. I guess I was just that tired from the previous two days. Did the usual morning ritual and headed out to grab some lunch. I encountered David on the way out. We chatted briefly in the parking lot and said our goodbyes. He gave me one of his cards. I hope to see him again, at least next year. David/'tkdamerica' - Thanks for an awesome time. It was fun to get to hang out with ya. He departed on his way back to the airport and onward to Texas (and a brief stop at the art museum as he had a later flight). I went over to that O'Charley's place and grabbed a burger. I then went back to the hotel and tried to raise some of the family on the cell phone. Never did get ahold of my older brother. Must've been out of town. Never did get ahold of my aunt and uncle up in Anderson. Primarily, because I forgot to program thier number in the damn cell phone. I tried to call my other aunt and uncle, up in Frankfort, but nobody's home. I decided to go visit the zoo instead, expecially since I wanted to check out that new dolphin exhibit. After a couple hours checking out the zoo, I get a call! It is Aunt Ann and Uncle Tony up in Frankfort! They invited me up for dinner later that afternoon. I went and check out a couple more exhibits at the zoo, then headed up I-65. It only took about an hour from the zoo to get up there. It was also pretty cool to see my uncle's new pet shop, Nature's Wonders. That place is pretty large, one of the largest in that area, with an awesome array of inventory. That one blue and yellow McCaw (sp) parrot he has there was friggan gorgeous! I'd hate to think how much money Uncle Tony sunk into this place. Always a nice touch to get to visit family. Monday, since the flight was not to leave until around 3:15, I decided to kill some time by taking a dip in the pool and to chill out listening to MP3s again. I headed back to the airport around 1:00 or so. Checked in, and grabbed lunch at the Mexican place in the food court. Of course, the f'ing flight was delayed and I did not get to leave until around 4:30 or so. As a result, the flight did not return to Reagan National until after 7:00, thus causing me to miss the last train back to Fredericksburg. I ended up taking the subway as far south as it'll go and then having to get one of my friends to come drive up to get me. I was friggan so pissed off about that! I was really hoping and praying that this flight was going to be on time. Go figure! I really hate to inconvience my friends like that, but there was really no other way. Next time, I am just going to f' the train and just drive up to the friggan airport. Overall, it was an awesome time, and I hope there will be a next year. I would imagine there will be. If at all possible, I plan on going, barring no major catastrophies or other unforseen circumstances. Thank you Klipsch, Jazz Kitchen, Indianopolis Zoo, Aunt Ann, Uncle Tony, my cousin Mark, and most importantly, all of you, my friends, right here on this forum, for a truly unforgettable experience this weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Steve you nailed it, man! A pleasure meeting with you and talking Friday night after midnight and at lunch on the tour...the Heritage HT was AWESOME! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Which Dream Theater cd did you have with you? I'd love to hear them on the speakers up there. Oh yeah, I'm another fellow DT fan. Im obsessed hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted June 29, 2005 Author Share Posted June 29, 2005 ---------------- On 6/29/2005 12:31:23 AM Rdmarsiii wrote: Which Dream Theater cd did you have with you? I'd love to hear them on the speakers up there. Oh yeah, I'm another fellow DT fan. Im obsessed hehe ---------------- Nearly all of them, namely, Images and Words, Awake, and thier new one, Octavarium! I wanted to hear "Space Dye Vest" from the Awake CD on that system. Also wanted to check out a couple tracks from thier new one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Space Dye Vest has some killer bass. IMO its a pretty difficult song to reporduce. I would also love to hear Octavarium, the song, on there. Nice to see other DT fans on here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholtl Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Wow. Longest post ever, Steve! Yeah, next year, Dave (rdmarsiii) and I hope to both make it up to the pilgrimage. Then you'll have 2 more fellow DT/Nightwish fans! With the 3 of us, plus Dr. Who, us 4 can take over the Klipsch systems and BLAST whatever we please! And nobody can do a damn thing about it! Muahahahahaha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 ---------------- On 6/29/2005 1:19:37 AM nicholtl wrote: Wow. Longest post ever, Steve! Yeah, next year, Dave (rdmarsiii) and I hope to both make it up to the pilgrimage. Then you'll have 2 more fellow DT/Nightwish fans! With the 3 of us, plus Dr. Who, us 4 can take over the Klipsch systems and BLAST whatever we please! And nobody can do a damn thing about it! Muahahahahaha! ---------------- Hehe And make good use of, erm, prescriptions Just think, TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUUUUUUUM at 120 db Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted June 29, 2005 Author Share Posted June 29, 2005 ---------------- On 6/29/2005 1:19:37 AM nicholtl wrote: Wow. Longest post ever, Steve! Yeah, next year, Dave (rdmarsiii) and I hope to both make it up to the pilgrimage. Then you'll have 2 more fellow DT/Nightwish fans! With the 3 of us, plus Dr. Who, us 4 can take over the Klipsch systems and BLAST whatever we please! And nobody can do a damn thing about it! Muahahahahaha! ---------------- Yeah, that was a long post, but I wanted to convey all the details of just how much fun I had during the weekend. I hope you guys do come out next year! I'd love to meet you! And with a couple of backers, I can finally get my chance to play some more of the stuff I wanted to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markmaple Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Some buddies at work and myself just ordered 5 copies of the Animusic disc. They had a buy 4, get one free with free shipping, so it only cost $12 per disc. Hopefully, it was be as cool as the Animusic 2 demo that we saw. I'm sure that I will order that when it comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 ...from Circuit City or from the card??? Where did you order.? Thanks, Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markmaple Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 You can order from their website (animusic.com). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Amy Posted June 29, 2005 Moderators Share Posted June 29, 2005 It's so funny because I'd never hear of Animusic until Saturday. Then Monday as I was walking to the mailbox, two pre-teen boys were riding their bikes past me on the sidewalk, and one of them was saying something about his Animusic, and the other boy made some expression like "wow" or "cool." Guess I'm out of it as usual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 I emailed Gary Brashear, the guy on the Animusic business card we got and he emailed me right back. Any who, he said the track that we saw at Klipsch with the robots was on 'Animusic 2' which will be released in August (according to him). 'Animusic 1' is available now. Each DVD #1 or #2 is $20 plus shipping. (I think he said $6.95 for shipping. ) I have the exact info at the house. He takes credit cards. I asked him what was in #1 and he hasn't emailed me back yet. I saw, by visiting the web site (www.animusic.com), that everything I wanted to know about the two DVDs is explained. There are also demo clips to download and play. The website has #1 reduced to $14.95. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonecj Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Fry's has it playing somewhere in the store every time I walk in. It can be bought on their website for $14.99 Animusic at Outpost.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted June 29, 2005 Author Share Posted June 29, 2005 ---------------- On 6/29/2005 10:23:53 AM picky wrote: Any who, he said the track that we saw at Klipsch with the robots was on 'Animusic 2' which will be released in August (according to him). 'Animusic 1' is available now. Each DVD #1 or #2 is $20 plus shipping. (I think he said $6.95 for shipping. ) I have the exact info at the house. He takes credit cards. I asked him what was in #1 and he hasn't emailed me back yet. ---------------- I managed to order a copy of #1 off the Animusic website at about $15 plus free shipping. They had some kind of "summer sale" going on until the 30th of June. I definitly plan on getting #2 when it comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Amy, Steve Phillips and I ran accross it at CEDIA. We took a copy to Klipsch which immediately put it on their system to play.. and they did all day. Not so sure who to thank more between the two of us, all I know people just dropped their jaws and smiled when they saw it. Home run 4 Klipsch Demos!!! If you really take the time to look at it.. Amazing just how "dead on" creativity wise, all the robots play each and every note played visually too. Sometimes, I feel my own mind races when I am busy multi tasking! Kinda fun to see it visually. Now, that played on the system upstairs.. You would of had to pry me from my seat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 cyclonecj, Fryes...that was it...yes...#1 is available now and #2 in August...thanks all.Picky...dug out the card...thanks there too...Just ordered from the website with free shipping...$14.95 for the DVD. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 My Animusic DVD arrived today! I am amazed at how fast they got that thing out to me! I only ordered it something like Tuesday, and did not expect it until at least this next week, after the holiday here in the US. The thing is friggan amazing! It sounds awesome on my setup, plus some really cool visuals. My favorite one is the first piece, "Future-Retro". Also, some cool bass in the last one, "Harmonic Voltage". Very interesting that it is the music that drives the animation, not the other way around. The music is basically MIDI tracks that is fed into some specialized software, which, in turn, drives the animation. I'd love to see that programming behind that one! Listening to the Director commentary was very interesting. I cannot wait until this next one comes out. DVD was well worth the $15! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Traveler Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Hey Steve--Great synopsis of the experience! I appreciate the kind words and it was nice finally meeting you. I look forward to seeing you next year if Klipsch will have us again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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