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Really Good News, In One Way

A family friend and coworker got back into our hometown today, and headed out to check the McCown Family homes for us — and all is well. My parents' pool enclosure screen was torn in a couple of places, and that was all. My sister's house looked like nothing had touched it. Our house has some limbs gathered between our garage and house, and there was a shingle in the driveway — but our guy said he thinks it's from the neighbor's house.

Thank the Maker!

Power is still out in most of the city though, and so is the sewer. We're now praying and hoping those will get fixed ASAP so we can get Dad back home and into his own house (he's in the middle chemo treatments and not doing as well as we'd like). We also pray and hope our company gets power and internet ASAP so that we can get up and running without having to work from Bastrop. And another issue is that Dad's scheduled for his 4th chemo cycle this coming Thursday — and he has to be there. He may also have to stay overnight — so we just need some grace to let all these schedules and repairs fall into place so nothing ends up lacking.

We are getting reports from the Mayor at 10am, 2pm and 6pm daily — and I'm calling our houses and business every so often to see if an answering machine will pick up. Hopefully we'll hear some great news, soon and very soon.

Posted at 4:58pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another Evacuee Update

More good news: all of our homes are in great condition, supposedly, and so is our company's main office. We have some insiders that remained behind, and they reported that all seems well — so now we just have to hope some crazy leak wasn't sprung somewhere. BUT, the main thing is that we are lucky enough to have a home to go back to. I fear that some of they guys and gals I work with will not have homes, literally. That will be horrible — but at least our company is intact, so there'll be no time without pay to help them out.

Intermittent power will begin to flick about the city tomorrow and Monday, and there's a good chance the city will start letting people come home. HOWEVER, full power won't come online for a week or two — and a lot of stores will NOT be open. We're playing it by ear, as we don't want to head home without full sewer, electricity, and water due to my Dad's health. We're working on a couple of leads to try and get closer to home, though.

One of the local churches lost its steeple, which then fell through the stained glass of the main worship area. Hopefully there wasn't too much water damage.

My cigars have been getting warmer and warmer since Friday evening. It'll stink to lose $300 worth of stogies if they all get ruined...

Posted at 9:50pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hurricane Ike Update

Ike has passed through my home town and its nearby cities, and we seem to have fared quite well, considering. Power went out on Friday at either 6:40pm or 8:30pm (which was before the bad weather even started). Brazosport High School's sign was torn off its brick foundation, street lights and power lines are down all around Freeport, Clute and Lake Jackson, the County Courthouse lost part of its roof (but its subroof kept it from sustaining water damage), etc.

So it seems that the brunt of the damage really was sustained mostly by the coastal and inlet towns. We have no flooding in Lake Jackson or Clute, which is a relief. I only hope our windows stayed intact, and that the 4 trees in our front yard are still firmly rooted in the ground — and not in my house.

So we wait some more, and hope power gets restored in our area soon — because if we don't have power, we can't run the company and get payroll for our satellite offices. That will mean we will have to stay here in Bastrop rather go back to our homes — and that totally sucks. But, at least we seem to have fared well, and that's an answer to prayer.

More later...

Posted at 9:05am CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Watching and Waiting

What a load of hooey hurricanes are. Every time hurricane season rolls around, I ask myself why in Hades do I live at the Gulf Coast — the veritable Valhalla of hurricanes. Ugh.

So now it looks more and more like hurricane Ike will, literally, pass right over my little home town (population 27,000 +/-). That's a nice thought. Our family left town before the mandatory evacuation was called (and that was called at 10:00pm last night) because we didn't want to get stuck in traffic with my Dad (who's undergoing chemo treatments) and baby nephew. We had smooth sailing to Bastrop, and here we site at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort.

Tomorrow we will have a hurricane party, and as my brother-in-law said, if we see Geraldo Herrera in our neighborhood, we know it's going to be bad. I hope that we don't see or hear anything bad about our wonderful little town. I can't imagine what it would be like to come home to a ruined house. My parents, sister, and I all live right around the same area (we're all within quick walking distance of one another), so I guess if our house goes, we still have 2 others — and vice versa. I guess the statistical probability of The Family losing all our homes is on our side.

I had to carry a lot of work-related hardware, so all I made out with was my main Mac system, my photography gear, my brand new Gretsch, and my 88 Les Paul. This means I still have all my amps and the rest of my guitars at home, which totally sucks. But, I just had to remind myself that this is why I buy insurance, and even though it'll be a hassle, I have to risk leaving some stuff behind. I normally always bring my Taylor K-14c acoustic, but I just didn't have room. I also have a decent amount effects building inventory in my shop, but it should be okay.

The other thought that totally sucks is that we have wood floors in 90% of our house, the remainder being tile. It would be pure crap to have to replace flooring — but I'd rather do that than not have a house at all.

I'm also concerned with our company's office, which is a 2-story metal building in Clute, TX — just a few miles from the beach. I totally do NOT want to have to relocate or commute.

And finally, I'm mildly concerned with our church — but the way it's built and how it's situated in its locale makes it pretty sturdy. We may lose our sign and lettering, and we could easily flood — but hopefully not.

So now we watch and wait and pray and hope. I would hate for my Dad, in his health condition, to have to go home to a ruined — or partially ruined — home. I don't want Ike to hit our town and destroy half of it — nor do I want it to do that to any other town. So, I pray that God would somehow see fit to make the storm weak, and that He would send cool waters to the Gulf that would keep it from intensifying. I pray that Nature would take the hurricane to an unpopulated are with little industry or population mass, and as I always do in these times, I pray that death, injury, and damage would be minimal or nonexistent.

There are people all over the globe in far worse situations that ours, but no one wants what we have coming. So feel free to say some prayers and send positive vibes to the Gulf Coast — because as it stand right now, a lot of us are going to need them.

Oh, and if you loot my house, I'll hunt you down like the dog you are. I promise. No — seriously.

Posted at 1:54pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (10)

Hey, Ike!

MORTAAAAALLLLL KOMBAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT!!!!111!1!

Posted at 5:28pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Metallica: Death Magnetic Review

I'll start of this post and admit that I'm a pretty hardcore Metallica fanboy. These were the guys that really got me into playing the guitar, and they're the ones that got me interested in aggressive rock and metal as a guitarist. Couple that with their guitar arrangements and awesome hooks, and I can pretty much enjoy any Metallica song on some level. That said, like most people, I was disappointed with St. Anger — but I don't have as much disdain for it as some people. I should also say, too, that I'm not such a fanboy as to think Metallica is the be all, end all — I just really like what they do, just like I enjoy Soundgarden, etc. I also don't feel Lars and Hammett are the best in the industry like some MetHeads do.

So, with the above stated, I thought I'd give my 2 cents on Metallica's newest album, Death Magnetic, which will be in stores this Friday (you can pre-order from Amazon for only $8.99)...

The whole album clocks-in at just under 1 hour and 15 minutes, and it sports 10 songs — the longest being the instrumental at 9 min 58 secs. Out of the ten, there's only one I don't really like, but we'll get to that later.

"That Was Just Your Life." This song reminds me of "Jump in the Fire" from Kill 'Em All, mainly because of the guitar riff. I'm somewhat impressed that Hetfield's 45 year old voice can still hit the notes he hits in this song. It's not my favorite track, but a decent first song.

"The End of the Line." This has major ...And Justice For All and Master of Puppets throwbacks for me. This is my favorite track on the album, and I think it does a great job of being "classic" Metallica with awesome guitar hooks and rhythm changes. I'm also enjoying the guitar tone they use on this track, as it's more open and thin as opposed to a deep, metal sound you'd expect. I like the bridge breakdowns and solo section a lot.

"Broken, Beat & Scarred." I'm not a fan of this intro, and I wish they would have just started at 40 seconds. That said, all is forgiven (temporarily) when the main riff begins at 1:00. SWEET! But, I kind of get tired of the song after a while — mainly because of the progression right before (and at the end of) the chorus, and I get tired of the monotonous double-bass. However, the verse guitar/vocal pair is awesome. Still, I can imagine myself skipping this song from time to time.

"The Day That Never Comes." I have mixed feelings about this song, but overall, I think I like it — I just hope it doesn't get overplayed. This track is a great example of a Metallica "ballad," and as formulaic as it is, the melody keeps things really interesting to me. Like many others, I'm no fan of the cliché "love is a four-letter word..." section before the solo, but oh well. The bridge and solo section sort of make up for it, though (think "One") — and it'll be a great section in the live show. I don't think I would have made this one of the singles to garner interest, however.

"All Nightmare Long." This is my third favorite song on the album, and I can't find much fault in it anywhere. I have fond Kill 'Em All flashbacks with this song, and the main rhythm is just fantastic. More classic Metallica — and the chorus is just awesome. This should have been one of the singles, in my opinion. GREAT SONG, all around. If I had to nitpick, I'd say that I'm not a huge fan of the guitar tone on this track, but that's a total nitpick.

"Cyanide." I just really don't like this song. I want to like it, but I just can't get over the cheesy vocals. The music isn't too great in my opinion, either. I DEFINITELY would have kept this under wraps and out of circulation. It's like they thought they had to write a song about death, and this is all they could come up with. Ugh. Skip.

"The Unforgiven III." I was scared to death when I saw this, because I feared it would be too much like the original, or "Unforgiven II." Thankfully, it wasn't. The intro is great (piano, strings, and horns), and sets the mood of the song perfectly. This is one of the better tracks on the album for me, and it has massive Black Album mojo. I particularly like the vocal melody, and how the strings support everything without being cheesy. I also like how they did the build-up to the solo section, which is anticipated based on the previous Unforgiven tracks. Hammett kills this solo, too — a perfect fit for the song.

"The Judas Kiss." This is another cool song. It's more repetitive than most of the tracks, and pretty basic — but the chorus is pretty cool, and reminds me of "Master of Puppets" and little of something you'd hear back in the Ride the Lightning days. I find my enjoyment of this song increases exponentially as I increase my stereo's volume — and it's a great driving song.

"Suicide & Redemption." The much anticipated instrumental, and it delivers to a degree. I hear a lot of Ride the Lightning in this track, and it sports a pretty catchy hook that'll get stuck in your head. There's not as much variety as I'd like, but it makes me curious so see what they'll do with this live — which is exactly what they want me to think. I like how it mellows like the mid section of "Orion," and it even has the harmonized lead-lines I was expecting to hear kick in. I'm not a fan of Hetfield's guitar tone in this track, and I think they could have easily cut some of the repeats to have the track give "more bang for the buck." I have a feeling this will be a great song live, and that it'll be twice as long — but I'm not a total fan of this track, personally.

"My Apocalypse." Another single, and a good choice at that. This is another classic Metallica song, and it's another favorite. The pre-chorus and chorus are great, and feel like Kill 'Em All and Master of Puppets. The bridge breakdown is dadgum AWESOME, and jumps into ...And Justice for All territory for a bit. All in all, this just an awesome song, and my second favorite. Plenty of guitar hooks, the vocals match perfectly, plenty of "aggression" in the mix. Rhythm twists only Metallica would come up with.

So there's my brief 2 cents on the new album, which I have a feeling will probably become one of my all-time favorite Metallica releases. Quirks? I liked both Load and ReLoad, and I was surprised that I didn't hear any influence from either album on Death Magnetic. I also didn't hear as much Black Album vibe as I expected, which is neither good nor bad. I think what I like so much about this release, is that it's just good old fashioned in-your-face Metallica. Almost every song is a punch in the face, kidney, or throat — and that's what Metallica meant when they said they were going back to their roots with this release.

Not too many albums come out that actually make me want to go see the band live, but this release has me counting down the days to the November show — and I have a feeling this tour will be one of the best (even though the guys average out to be 44.5 years old). Now go and pre-order this puppy.

Posted at 12:28pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (5)

Yes, Another TUA Clip

Guitar: Les Paul, bridge pickup, tone at 50%. The TUA's settings are as follows: Presence 8 o'clock, Bass 3 o'clock, Mid 11 o'clock, Treble 12 o'clock, Gain 1 o'clock. This is an example of getting a really fat, chunky, rich distortion.

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/RHFX-TUA-Sample-02.mp3

Posted at 10:11pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another TUA Clip

Here's another clip of my metalcore distortion effect, the RAILhead Effects TUA (Total, Utter Annihilation). This clip is with the TUA set to be pretty dadgum nasty: my Les Paul's tone is at 50%, and the TUA's controls are set to Presence at 11 o'clock, the Bass around 5 o'clock, Mid around 11 o'clock, Treble around 1 o'clock, and Gain at just 2 o'clock. After recording, I realized I had moved the mic — so there's more bass in the mix than I'd prefer, but you'll get the idea...

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/RHFX-TUA-002.mp3

Aren't you glad you never had to play drums to this little song, Jim?

Posted at 6:41pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

TUA Sound Snippet

I made an über-dirty sound sample of my metalcore distortion effect, the RAILhead Effects TUA (Total, Utter Annihilation) this morning, so I thought I'd share. This was recorded with my Les Paul, and I have its tone really thin because I wanted some nice twang on the open notes. I have the TUA set really nice and fat, with the Presence at 12 o'clock, the Bass around 3 o'clock, Mid around 12 o'clock, Treble around 2 o'clock, and Gain at just 2 o'clock. JUST 2 O'CLOCK! Here it is...

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/RHFX-TUA-001.mp3

Posted at 8:26am CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)