RATTLEBRAINED

Had some fun making a few Rattlebrained Firefox Personas.

These, if you don’t know, “let you personalize the look of your Firefox browser!” I think you need Firefox 3.6 for this as well as installing a little add on extension. It’s cool and there are more to come so check back soon.

Not much info about these guy besides that it’s a Grateful Dead tune… And that there is absolutely great washboard playing by Paul Wolf!

I’m off this weekend to visit some family and take advantage of the Bluegrass festival that takes place each year in the town where they live… (http://web.mac.com/christopherhw/LRBGF/Welcome.html). We went last year and I was browsing through a selection of old lp’s at the market and asked if they had any bluegrass bands with washboard players. “Washboard, bluegrass? Y’a pas de washboard dans le bluegrass.” (It’s in France so it was French: “no washboard playing in bluegrass”)
Sure wish I had this video underhand to show him! :P

Swamp Train’s first concert (a marriage party) is later to day so I’ve been getting ready for it, as well as spend time helping friend Bill build speakers – more about that soon – two reasons among others the bogging has been slow… Hope everyone’s enjoying their summer…

St. Gingolph


Cloudy Alps


Menu Dame Du Lac


Château de Chillon


Montreux

A few picture from yesterday's boat ride around the east - upper lac - side of the Lac Léman (lake Geneva). We were invited for a birthday lunch on La Suisse, a hundred year old steam boat for this most touristic tour.

After three weeks of sun and heat it was nice that a sudden change of weather brought cooler air and even a few drops of much needed rain.

It’s been a while since we’ve all played together so it was nice to have what was supposed to be a relaxed informal outdoor lake side café gig to get things going again at the King Du Lac. And it was pretty much that if you remove “relaxed” from the list since there was a storm wind blowing Wednesday evening that threatened gobs of rain which didn’t come – fortunately – but which did make it very hard to set up the sound an actually hear what we were playing. Before you knew it the music was blown away over the waters never to return leaving me, for one, struggling to hear the little that was left. I’ve probably gotten too used to playing in a cellar in which my little drum set is far to loud too; fireworks! Outdoors it’s like a cheap little firecracker, pthiip…, did you hear something? Not sure, can you turn up the guitar?

And then the wind would change and I’d only hear the bass or the harmonica, just bizarre… and not the best to all be together now…

Dave set up a little camcorder as was possible, on a ledge above one of the bar’s windows, which only got three of us, Denis being too far to the left to be included. At least at first since each time a strong gust of wind blew, the tarp above the whole joint vibrated, hitting the cam and turning it somewhat. At the end of the first set, which was all we recorded, only Dave was left in the image! :-)

Poney Blues, by the Crawfish Blues Band during yet another sketchy night.