February 6, 2008 - Getting Back on Track

Man! Things just haven't slowed down! I thought that after NAMM, things smooth out a bit. WRONG ANSWER!! Thank you for playing and Carol has some lovely parting gifts for you back stage.

Less than a week after NAMM, I was back up in Mundelein for meetings and strategy sessions. This is the time of year that we map out what we HOPE I'll concentrate on for at least the next six months or so. So, I'm trying twice as hard to get back to level. If I'm lucky, I'll be there by next Monday.

Before I go on, let's take a look at a few more pictures from NAMM.

How many bass players does it take to take a picture?

Uriah Duffy and Francesco DiCosmo grinning like kids at Christmas with their new basses.

 

Juan (Snow Owl) Garcia-Herreros and Francesco traded basses and riffs in the sound room.

New endorser Joe Sanchez hangs with Ariane Cap.

 

The Bass Player Magazine party is always a fun hang. This year, we were invaded by Margarita Girls.

More jamming at the booth. This time it's Uriah, Snow Owl and Joe.

A Two for One Special, as I attempt to play along.

With Brother Uriah.

As I said two weeks ago, this year, the hang was just amazing. It's always cool to see my brothers and sisters face to face, but this year was special. We're all still talking about it.

Now... in other news, I've been working a lot of extra hours on Deeper Blues stuff. We recently put up a new promo video to coincide with the release of Dig the Hole. This one features new drummer James Jones, son of guitarist Gary. We're now working like crazy to finalize the tech rider and such for promoters. We're fortunate to have several folks interested in booking the band so I need to get hopping on that.

Speaking of the CD, you can get a copy here, or download a copy (or individual songs) here. We're getting extremely positive response from everyone who's heard it. My brother Snow Owl told us it's now his favorite Blues CD. Turns out he listened to it six times on his trip back to Austria after the NAMM show. I gotta say, it sure makes me a feel a whole lot better to know that folks are enjoying it all.

So, pretty busy, right? No time for anything else, right? Well, it should be right, but it isn't. To commemorate the release of the CD, we're producing a benefit for the local food pantry. Of course, we're playing, but so are three other acts, and we're handling all the fundraising through our management company, MidWest Management. More details on this next week.

What else? Got out of Mundelein about an hour before the snow hit. Raced it all the way home, and won! LOL... Then hid out for two days. Then got the flu!

Dang it!

Am just now getting over it, and getting back on track. Man, I hate being sick.

That's about it for now. I'll be back next week with more. Until then,

Keep Thumpin!

Lane on Bass...

---

February 13, 2008 - The Benefit of Giving

You may have noticed the announcement or news article about this, but since this is supposed to be a blog on what's going in my world, I'm going to talk more about it here. I'm extremely excited that my band Deeper Blues, along with its management and production companies, are producing Danville Foodstock '08. See the Events Section for time and date and all that.

Click on the banner above to visit Danville Foodstock.

This event grew out of our commitment to be actively involved in our community and our desire to take Blues back to its beginning. See, Blues began as a way for a person to deal with their pain so they could let it go. Yes, it can hurt to fully experience that pain, but letting it go offers an incredible sense of renewal. It wasn't long before listeners found they could enjoy some of that release and renewal. Further, the shared pain, and more importantly, the shared solution, brought the community together so they could all survive in the face of despair.

That's Deeper Blues... that's Blues the way it was meant to be felt.

When we released our CD, Dig the Hole (buy here - download here), we wanted to do something special to commemorate the event. And we decided we'd rather mount a benefit than a CD Release Party. We looked around and came to believe that no one in Danville needed help more than those who couldn't feed their children. And, so, Danville Foodstock was born.

Now, we're not just playing the concert, we're producing the entire event, and handling all fundraising and sponsorship activities. And we've got to get it all done by March 1.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Like my life isn't busy enough, right? Thing is, it's been a blast putting this all together. I've long believed that we earn our greatest sense of fulfillment through helping others, and this is just such a case. And it seems that everyone involved agrees. And speaking of "everyone involved", let me mention a few names:

Danville Area Community College -- We're holding the event at the Bremer Center on the DACC campus, and they aren't charging us a dime!

KISS Country and KOOL Oldies -- We're honored that radio station owner Larry Weatherford and his wife are Deeper Blues fans. When we asked Larry to MC the show he jumped at the chance. Then, he offered to run numerous interview and ad spots on both stations. Man, you can't beat that!

US Music Corporation -- Yep! Eden's parent company is helping out by collecting food throughout the month of February and providing backline for the event. (more on this later)

Speedy's Quickprint -- printing hundreds of posters and thousands of flyers to help get the word out.

MB Music & Sound -- this is the store where Gary teaches guitar. It's also run by our close friend and UberTech Alan Wait. And they have a killer sound system for us to use... and it's only three times bigger than necessary. (BIG GRIN)

Days Inn -- provding the banquet room and food for 50, for a private party featuring Deeper Blues. This will be auctioned during the event.

Then there's about forty-twelve local businesses who are donating items for gift baskets to be raffled, food, beverages, the whole nine yards. Virtually every business we've contacted has said YES, and jumped right in.

Check out Danville Foodstock for more info on all of this, as well as for info on the Danville Area Food Pantry.

Now, about that backline. My partner, guitarist Gary Jones has been an Eden endorser for a couple of years now. (He uses the WT550 and EM5 monitors in his studio, and takes the 550 and a D610XLT out on gigs when he's playing bass. Well, as of a week or so ago, he's also endorsing Randall Amplifiers and Washburn Guitars. Gary's been seriously interested in Randall ever since he first heard my MTS combo. He also owns a Washburn D-11 acoustic guitar and a J-3 jazz box.

For almost a decade, Gary's main amp has been a custom rig he fine tuned with the help of a childhood friend. Unfortunately, it's very "iffy" to rely on an amp like that on the road. Now, after more than a year of experimentation, he's found his new rig -- a pair of RM-50HB heads, running a pair of R412CB cabinets with 30W Celestions. Now, one of the really cool things about the MTS series is that you can swap out preamp modules to customize your sound. Gary will be using the Plexi and JTM modules for most stuff, and the Blackface and Deluxe modules for the jazz box. In both situations, he'll run two separate tones, both mic'd up and raging.

And how does it sound? Well, when we wired up the rehearsal rig (each head powering two 12s), it was incredible. Smiles and high fives all around. Tone to die for and sustain for days. We can't wait to get the full rig running on stage.

Now, you might ask, "Lane, how do expect to keep up with that?" And a good question it is. But I've got the answer. In fact, I have an extra 1200 answers (RMS). See, for the first time, I'll be running the full Double Thunder rig. My normal stage irig is a WT1205 powering a D610XLT cabinet. Doubling up adds another 610, powered by a WT1250 power amp.

Yes. It ROCKS. It slays. It's bad to the ... you get the idea.

Gary Jones and Lane throw down live.

Lane with a wall of Eden gear.

Anyhoo... that's enough for today, I think. I'll have more on the event as the date approaches. And for those who'd like to help out, you can make a donation through PayPal on the Danville Foodstock site. Thanks in advance to all those who help us help those in Danville who need us most!

Until next time,

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass...

---

February 20, 2008 - Coffee - Breakfast of Champions

I've got to laugh. Every week, I read through all the stuff that comes in for the web site, do editing where necessary, and other editor-stype stuff. And Sean O'Bryan Smith cracks me up because he's as much a coffee adict as I am!

When you're working 14-16 hour days every day of the week, you need something to keep your eyes open. And my preferred wake me up is a breve (BREV-ay) made according to my Super-Secret Family Recipe.

Well... OK... MY recipe, then.

Less than twelve feet from me, I have my own little coffee shop. Bean grinder, espresso machine, filtered water, half and half, the whole she-bang. And believe me when I tell you it's the second most used piece of equipment I own. (Computer is first, but not by much!)

Coffee has become integral to Deeper Blues, as well. We're known all over town for our coffee-ups. Not a meeting goes by without some strong brown liquid, and not a road trip is taken without gallons of gas-stop beanage. I swear, if I could get Folger's to do an espresso roast, I'd go for an endorsement deal.

Deeper Flavor. Deeper Aroma. Deeper coffee for Deeper Blues.

Hey, it could happen! Although I don't know how many home makers would be impressed.

Anyhoo... back to the real world. We're all still working like mad on the Danville Foodstock benefit, and have made great progress. Lots of local businesses are signing up to participate, and the advertising is going very well. We now have PSAs running on all local radio stations, and several TV outlets. The interviews are being played on the two stations right here in Danville. And tomorrow I go for an interview with one of the local papers.

Next week, we begin picking up gift baskets for the raffle and getting everything ready for the big day. It's going to be a really long day come March 1, but I feel certain it will all be worth it in the end.

Until next time,

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass...

---

February 27, 2008 - Almost There!

Man, I'm tired! I'm beginning to believe I'll spend the rest of my life tired. My bad, though, as this is what happens when you hold the candle over a bonfire. None of that "burn at both ends" stuff. Just hang the whole thing over one big flame and watch it melt.

Before I get to the benefit, there have been other things going on as well. For starters, I'm working on a new training manual and companion Power Point presentation. I'm on a deadline as David (as in Nordschow. Big Guy. Glasses. Bass Guru. Boss.) has to take it with him when he heads to Australia next month. So, once David is satsified with the outline, I get to attempt to transfer the whole thing to computer. That should be fun and interesting. I'm hoping it will prove that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.

Once I get done with that, I'll be putting time in on operations manuals again. There are still a few that need updating, and also some new products that are just screaming for manuals. To help with this, I've got a stack of notes culled from conversations on the forum. Folks have noticed some spelling issues and such, and have let us know where we can add some info here and there to make the manuals even more useful.

Today, we put up a new Repair Center listing. As part of our efforts to continue improving our Customer Service, we are realigning our list, and focusing on about two dozen Elite Service Centers. Every one of them has demonstrated time and again their proficiency and professionalism. Basically, they fix the problem right the first time, and don't take two months to do it.

See, the thing is, as we looked back over the stats from last year, we saw that the vast majority of times that an amp required a second service trip, it was due to other staff at other locations not getting the job done right the first time. We also saw that the longest wait times were not caused by in-house technical staff. We sat down with representatives from each department involved and put our heads together. We agreed that by focusing on a small group of highly competent service centers, we could address repair issues in a much more effective manner.

So, starting now, the CS reps will first recommend sending the affected unit back to us. Our techs know the amps inside and out, and will do the best job. If a person doesn't want to ship to us, we'll offer the closest Elite center as the best alternative. For those who really, really want their local center to handle the issue, we'll still work with them to try to find a local facility.

We'll all be closely monitoring this whole thing, keeping an eye on timeliness and effectiveness of the repairs.

In other news, we received Gary's second Randall 412CB cabinet Monday. Whoa, Nellie!! Now, I know that Players of Skinny Strings aren't quite the same as bass players, but there are similarities. (Besides, Gary plays bass, too, so he's not your normal guitar player anyway. Come to think of it, he's not really normal at all. Forget I wrote this.) Anyhoo... sure, we rehearse in a basement. Obviously, we don't have to be too loud. Of course, there's not a lot of room. So, ABSOLUTELY, we plugged that puppy in and let the entire double half stack rig loose.

Oh. My. DOG!!!!!

To review, Gary's new rig consists of a pair of RM50 amps, one running the Plexi module, the other running the JTM module. Each head feeds a 412 cab with 30W Celestion speakers. And it just kills! Holy Moly! Geez Louise! Wil.....maaaaaaaaa!

We had fun all night long; nothing but big wide grins throughout the rehearsal. But the best part was the intro to a new song. For this one, Gary drops the low E to D and plays slide. As the name of the song is Freedom Train, we wanted to create that old steam engine kind of feel. The chugchugchugchug as it starts up and gets moving. So, Gary starts the intro, which is basically a drop-D chug on the eighth notes. And, man, as soon as he started, James and I looked at each other with dropped jaws that quickly broke into huge grins. You'da though the 5:15 was steaming through the room.

So. Loud. Proud. Well endowed. Everything a killer guitar rig should be. BUT! (You knew there was going to be a "but", right? There always is.) I'm not skeered. My Thunder Rig (WT1205/D610XLT) kept up no problem. And for the gig, I'm doubling up! I got your double half stack right here, pal! LOL....

Actually, I'm currently using someone else's 1205. Eric, a good buddy from the forum recently sent his unit in for Gain mods. The last time we did this, the shipping company (we'll call them OOPS!) bounced the box HARD. This sometimes happens when you throw a box twenty or thirty feet and the guy on the other end doesn't catch it. Anyhoo... Eric asked me to personally test this unit before sending it back to him. I was all "are you sure?" And he was all "yeah, beat it up! If it can make through you, I know it'll work forever!" Ok, then. Begin Acid Test. Heh. Heh.

Eric is pleased to know I've pounded it twice now... gotten it all heated up and humming. (Yes, the fan works.) Used both channels, checked all the buttons and knobs and stuff. And player it REALLY LOUD. (See above.) We've got another rehearsal tonight, then the gig on Saturday. (I'm getting there. Hold on!) The last step will be to take it with me when I go up to Mundelein again next week. There it will be signed by the Bass Guru hisownself, then reboxed and sent to somewhere on the Left Coast to its new home.

OK. So... Foodstock '08. Deeper Blues releases CD. Decides to commemorate event with a benefit for local food pantry. Secured a hall free of charge. Then PA. Then three other bands. And a couple dozen gift baskets to raffle. Press releases sent. Interviews. PSA recording sessions. LOTS of meetings. And calls. And visits to businesses. And on and on and on... Then, my main coproducer gets hit with Jury Duty! Great. We're in the final stretch where we're picking up all the gift baskets, buying (out of our own pockets) the cups and plates and ice and hot dogs and buns and eleventy-twelve other things that need doing... and she's in Jury Duty!

NOTE: Bang head on desk until pain goes away.

But I'm OK! lolol....

Seriously, it's been a blast putting this together. And it's been great to see the community get behind it. If you'd like to be involved, we'd sure appreciate a donation. You can give money through the Donate button on every page of the Danville Foodstock web site. The PayPal account to which you're sending payment is controlled by the Danville Area Food Pantry. All donations go straight to them with no intermediary. As this will be an annual event, we felt it only made sense to raise funds throughout the year. So, click here, and thank you VERY much for participating.

OK. I'm outta here. I've got a TON of gift baskets to pick up today. Hopefully, I'll have pictures of the event next week. Until then,

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass...

---

March 5, 2008 - Foodstock '08: Epilogue

We made it through alive. Tired as all get-out, and drained to the core, but boy, oh, boy, was it ever worth it. Foodstock '08 was a success, I'm pleased and relieved to say! For those that don't know, this was a benefit concert Deeper Blues and its team produced to commemorate the release of our first CD, Dig the Hole. So far, we've brought in about $5,000 in food and cash, with more coming. I still have to make it up to Mundelein to pick up the collection box that David has been overseeing. (We're not sure why or how the Cheetos keep disappearing, but we think it may be a software tech. They LIVE for the things, almost as much as they do discovering a new computer virus. Anyway... never mind.)

In addition to the "take" from the event, a couple of businesses have signed on to make monthly food donations, and at least one church has committed to a monthly food drive. Of course, the web site is now a permanent fixture, and we're accepting donations to the Danville Area Food Bank account. That way, the money goes directly to them and there's never a question.

Even better, however, is the fact that the community took notice. Part of the mission was to spread the message that by working together, each person doing a little, a LOT can get done. And it seems we got that across. One local politician went so far as to say the event, "restored my faith in humanity, and reminded me of the need for community in the true sense."

Best of all, we've already been approached by several pillars of the community about producing an outdoor one-day festival event in the largest park in town. Numerous folks are offering to help with logistics and phone calls and all those things that take so much time. Right now, we're still in Shell Shock Mode, but I've got a feeling we'll be doing a Foodstock '08-1/2.

Below are a ton of pictures from the event, with captions. I'm still getting more files from the photographers, but what we've seen so far has been REALLY good. Of course, Jeremy and Kristie Sparling of image i ALWAYS do a great job, which is why they're the Official Photographers for Deeper Blues. We still have shots from two more photographers, and hopefully, we'll have those by next week. For now, here's a photographic overiew of the day.

This is the truck we filled. Back to the camera is Chuck Brooks, director of the Danville Area Food Bank, with two unidentified volunteers.

Chris Wells (right), coproducer of the event and Deeper Blues' First Fan, with unidentified volunteer at the main sales table. This is in the foyer of Bremer Center, on the Danville Area Community College campus.

The band provided two gift baskets for the raffle, with a bunch of band-related swag and two free dinners at Charlotte's on any night we play. Charlotte's is where the band got its start, and will always be considered HOME.

Pastor Melissa Forman of New Kingdom Christian Church gave the opening prayer.

Erin (Big E) Forman and local luminary Larry Weatherford MC-ed the event. Larry was also an immense help in promoting the event, and Big E performed with his Youth Ministry band.

The Root Canals, the area's most popular Jazz band opened the show.

Alan Wait, bassist for the Root Canals is an avid Eden user, as well as our Second Fan and guitar tech.

Introducing Chris to the audience.

Introducing Executive Producer Jill Jones to the crowd. Without Jill, we'd never have brought this while thing off.

Big E and his band Phaze II take the stage. On bass is James Jones, Deeper Blues' drummer. James is also an outstanding electric and classical guitarist.

Big John, of Phaze II. John works at the local music store with Alan Wait.

Egging the crowd on to dig deep and give a little more. My favorite phrase of the day was "we're feeding babies!"

The New Kingdom Christian Church Choir was next up. Adults and children all sing together, fronted by Pastor Forman and backed by James on bass and Gary on guitar.

Pastor Forman sings God's praise. And, man! Can she SING!! I was NOT looking forward to following her with my voice!

Chuck and a young volunteer show some of the many items in one of the largest gift baskets of the day -- over $250 in tools!

Gary's new Randall rig -- a pair of RM50 heads, each driving a 412 cab with Vintage 30s. The guitarist's version of the Double Thunder Rig. And, yes, the air movement knocked the sign down. By the time that happened, however, everyone knew we weren't kidding.

The Double Thunder Rig in all its glory. Loud, proud and well-endowed. 'Nuff said.

...And this is your tone on Eden. Sometimes, it just takes my breath away, you know?

Digging deep..

Almost home...

Thank you SO much, and we'll see you next year!

How 'bout my band?!?! Giving props to James and Gary for an outstanding performance.

So, there's proof. As we say on the forum: No pictures means it doesn't exist! We had a BLAST, especially since it was the first opportunity to bring both doubled-up rigs. And, let me tell you brother, it was FUN lighting those babies up. True, we didn't have ANY need to run through the FOH system, but took special care dialing in at sound check to make sure we didn't overdrive the room. Too much, anyway. (big grin) This was James' first "concert" performance, where you worry about things like timing and intro cadenzas and such, and he pulled it off like a pro. Gary dug down so deep I thought he was going to end up in China or something. Like always, I just hung on and kept thinking, "man, I love playing with these guys!" And, "I hope I remember the third verse." Stuff like that there.

One other cool thing was that our Web Guru, Bill Henshell came down for the day. Brought a big ol' sack of food with him, too! And a video camera, which means we got a third perspective, so to speak, as we had both of ours running as well. Many thanks to him for making the drive!

Now, on the Eden side of things, I was supposed to go up to Mundelein this evening, for a few days of training and planning sessions. However, because of the snow, I'm waiting until tomorrow afternoon. I'll still be up there for two days, so will get everything done. And I'll still be home for the weekend, at which time I will continue to catch up on sleep. (I got about ten hours from Tuesday through Friday night.) While I'm up there, I'm going to corral David and see if I can't talk him into letting me release some info on a few new items we should be seeing soon. So far, it's been all "you tell 'em, I'll kill ya." So, obviously, I'm keeping my mouth shut. He does have a mean left hook, you know. (David's own joke. Don't blame me!)

It's about sunset here, so I'm going to take a break, have a cup of coffee and watch the sun go down. Then, it's back to the computer to finish up a report or two, answer as many emails as I can and figure out how I'm going to manage to write several new manuals and edit all the current ones before the summer. Odds are 50/50 on whether or not I get it done. Until next time...

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass

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