Traveling Gear - small, light, neat, fast setup

News Blog

Saturday, 26 January 2008 23:00

I am working on new year's resolutions today (one of which is updating the website after a somewhat long pause). Last year, in order to reduce the space needed to setup our band, Tom Powell built a music lecturn or 'front' that houses all our equipment. The design allows us the option to add separate instrument amplifiers as needed (guitar and bass. The arrangement makes for a very clean stage, see the picture above from "The Seasons". Just outside the picture on the left is a single speaker, resting on a compact sub-woofer taking up about 2 sq ft. The sound has not been compromised in any way, this is the same gear but better organized! The total space required for the duo is about 18 sq ft. The design also reduces our equipment setup and tear down time; there are less trips to the car and less to hookup prior to playing.

OK, so the resolution is now for me to build a similar, if not exactly the same, setup for my gear. Typical for an engineer, I have over-complicated the assignment by designing my gear to use component tri-amplified speakers instead of self-contained units as Tom has. My intent to use my existing amplifier and speaker equipment, and to be able to 'scale up' when we play larger rooms. The design has adjustment for room acoustics, and the ability to use 19" rack gear, which is nice. Honestly, it is very hard to improve on the JBL EON speaker and the unique sub-woofer Tom selected for his design. Stay tuned!

Trainwreck Gigs - We need a regular place

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Saturday, 05 January 2008 23:00

Trainwreck (the band) did not play at the Sherwood Country Club Hacker's Pub last night. My hope is that we do find a regular place for The Trainwreck Band to play. I really enjoy where the music has gone with band; fun, participative music, with a more recent focus on three part harmonies. The Hacker's Pub at the CC is also very nice place (sounds good too) and I highly recommend it. There is always a good local crowd and they have a plenty to do. The bar is non-smoking so the atmosphere is not choked with smoke. We look forward to playing there again and I will post the dates when we know the plans. I will have a picture of the band from this gig on the site shortly (gotta get Joe to send it to me!) Here is a map link on the website above.

Gigs for Bergstrom Automotive

News Blog

Thursday, 03 January 2008 23:00

The duo and trio bands have had the opportunity to to be part of the Bergstrom Automotive Group customer appreciation events and dealership openings last year. We definitely Appreciate that. I became an entertainer and a participant in their most recent customer appreciation night for the newly opened Bergstrom Subaru dealership in Oshkosh. I played solo for a group of Subaru owners, myself being one of them! A fun part about this job was listening multiple owners bragging or otherwise voicing praise for the Subaru's they drive. My Subaru is certainly my favorite car. I have only purchased two new cars in my life, my WRX wagon being one of them. I can put all kinds of music gear in this car, and it goes crazy..any kind of weather! When I replaced the original tires, I bought two sets of tires - a set for summer and a set for winter. I have never felt more confident driving through snow in this car (but not ice, one can't expect miracles!). If you ever get an invite to a Bergstrom event, plan to attend. All events are top notch and you will have a good time.

New Year's Resolutions

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Monday, 31 December 2007 23:00

Here we are again, Time for new year's resolutions! Tom, Roger, and I regret to say we did not play New Year's eve at the Seasons. Not that we don't enjoy it! We have played every New Year's Eve for the last 8 years. Maybe even longer for Roger. This year, we decided to take a break and enjoy the evening with the families. Happy new year to all and wee look forward to seeing you in the coming year.

Trainwreck Gigs at Sherwood Forest Country Club

News Blog

Saturday, 05 May 2007 23:00

Trainwreck (the band) played at the Sherwood Country Club. at Hacker's Pub last night. This is a nice place and I highly recommend it. There is always a good local crowd and they have a plenty to do. The bar is non-smoking so the atmosphere is not choked with smoke. We look forward to playing there again and I will post the dates when we know the plans. There is a location map on the website link.

Newsletters Anyone?

News Blog

Thursday, 11 January 2007 23:00

Anyone interested in getting an email 'push' of a music newsletter? Send me your email or jot it down at the gig. This will be a monthly newsletter and I will provide gig dates as well as other informaton. I don't like a lot of email myself but I find it handy to get 'reminders' on a reqular basis. FYI, I will protect the mailing list as confidential, you may signup or 'unsubscribe' by emailing me.