The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

OK, this should be interesting....

Biggest gear mistake you made (selling and/or modifying)?

Easy....the hole I made in the cavity of the Telecaster to accommodate the battery for EMG's. I slipped and ended up going out the back of the body. Its been filled in with wood putty and has held all these years. But every time I look at it I know what regret feels like.

What piece of gear of mine do you covet?

The Deluxe.....you sent me that pic the first time and I just about started shaking.

Do you fear at all that Gibson will grow up to be a drummer?

Not just a drummer....but the kind of drummer that I loathe to deal with.

Which blues artist (dead or alive) do you wish you could see live?

I would of loved to have seen Albert King.

Do you know what happened to that bass that Uncle Paul had that we appropriated so many years ago?

I traded it for a skateboard.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

You get to have one piece of music played at your funeral. Name it.

I've always said "For The Love Of God" but I think my life has changed somewhat since I made that declaration.

I'm going to have to go with "Misguided Angel" by the Cowboy Junkies from "The Trinity Sessions" album.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Time to get serious:

Describe some of the things you discovered about yourself upon becoming a father. What are the most surprising of those things?

- Keith

 

[dukeplaysbass]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

This'll be a nice transition after you get through telling us all the great lessons you've learned as a father....

Were our parents oblivious to our frequent drunkeness, or simply choosing to ignore it? (I mean the underage part where we'd come in bombed and stagger and stammer around then go to bed -- the stuff later when we were of age and they'd find us face down on the carpet was clearly hard to ignore....) And do have any proof of either theory?

Which car was more fun to bomb around in: the Leopard or the MG?

How surprised were you when I showed up on your doorstep that Christmas Eve at 11:30p with a bottle of vodka, asking for a place to crash?

If you could play bass for ANY band, who would it be and why?

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Time to get serious:

Describe some of the things you discovered about yourself upon becoming a father. What are the most surprising of those things?

- Keith

I think that overall I was wound alot tighter than I could sustain throughout my life. I just came to a point where I realized that if things remained as they were I was going to die as a result of it.

Kids don't care how perfect anything is. There's a certain amount of unconditional love and trust that they have for you and doing your best is enough for them; running yourself into the ground trying to do more and be more for them doesn't make you any better of a Father or make them love you more.

The most important thing you can do is spend time with them and be involved in their lives in the capacity which they want you to be.

I think what surprised me was that I suddenly found life to be much more rewarding once I was able to do that. Once I stopped going between fearing screwing up constantly to killing myself from trying to do everything a sense of calm just started to arise.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

This'll be a nice transition after you get through telling us all the great lessons you've learned as a father....

Were our parents oblivious to our frequent drunkeness, or simply choosing to ignore it? (I mean the underage part where we'd come in bombed and stagger and stammer around then go to bed -- the stuff later when we were of age and they'd find us face down on the carpet was clearly hard to ignore....) And do have any proof of either theory?

I think they knew in some capacity but were smart enough to know that by attempting to do something about it they only likely would make us ratchet things up all the more.

The only thing I have to support this theory is when Dad told me not to drink the good beer.

Which car was more fun to bomb around in: the Leopard or the MG?

The MG was great on the highway....but around town I always felt like something would detonate on it at any given second.

The Leopard....god love the weird beast that it was...was perfect for the town and backroads because no one would even think of pulling out in front of you.

How surprised were you when I showed up on your doorstep that Christmas Eve at 11:30p with a bottle of vodka, asking for a place to crash?

Ya know, not terribly....but I think you scared the heck out of the illustrious Takafumi Larson. He didn't know what to make of us alot of times. He'd had a good indoctrination by fire from the times we had the "Martinis For A Dozen", the "Great American Smoke Up", and getting loaded and making D&D character sheets one night (I had a +1 to parallel parking BTW).

Keep in mind that earlier that night I'd fed him some Egg Nog and Kahlua and he looked at it like I was trying to kill him. Had I not cooked dinner a bunch of times I think he would have politely refused the concoction. But at that point I think he realized that the full-on alcoholic assault was unlikely to change for the duration of that Winter Break.

If you could play bass for ANY band, who would it be and why?

The Sisters Of Mercy.

Why?

The Sisters are bigger than life, and consistently have re-defined themselves within the Genre and different influences. "First Last And Always" is a total landmark in the Goth movement. "Floodland" was euro-dancefloor all the way and "Vision Thing" is what happens when you toss The Cure's "Disintegration" The Rolling Stones "Exile On Main Street" and The Stooges "Raw Power" onto the CD changer and leave it on for years on end.

You walk out there and it's just like clearing house; great songs, huge beats, massive guitars and an incredible sense of timing and intellect that pays homage to everyone from Dylan to Leonard Cohen.

They'll never go down in history as great as they actually are or were. But almost 20 years after discovering them I still count them as one of my favorites.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Is there something you once read on this forum that has stuck with you for a long time (or that you expect will stick with you for a long time)?

 

[dukeplaysbass]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Favorite HST quote?

And, related to that, have you ever fired a handgun?

Place you'd live if you could just up and move and money were no object?

Growing up, which of the kids on out block annoyed you most?

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Favorite HST quote?

"We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark -- the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

And, related to that, have you ever fired a handgun?

Nope.

Place you'd live if you could just up and move and money were no object?

Probably somewhere in the Old City in Montreal.

Growing up, which of the kids on out block annoyed you most?

Dan Baker sticks in my mind as the most worthless kind of entitled little kid that would only inflict events like date rape, asking "Is it hot enough for ya?" and a bad fake Southie tough-guy accent upon the world.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Is there something you once read on this forum that has stuck with you for a long time (or that you expect will stick with you for a long time)?

The day Virtual Kevorkian posted that I should be an Admin.

I still smile at that...

 

[LesStrat]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

"Superpower?" The ability to arrive at my own leisure and have it be considered "on time."

BROTHER! Where have you been? I missed you. Did you miss me?

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Take this time to brag a little about yourself.

Tell us about something (or things) you're intrinsically good at, and give an example or three of how you exhibited that talent. Maybe there's a story you'd like to share, maybe it's something you do on a daily basis.

For example -- and these are examples only -- are you very good at chess? Do you have a knack for not just composing but arranging music? Do you kick butt at anagrams? Do you have good instincts about people based on first impressions?

That kinda thing.

Everyone's got at least a few such talents. What are yours?

- Keith

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

It's not often that I see someone post up an interest in both The Sisters of Mercy and Eric Johnson. Are there any other acts/genres you like that we wouldn't expect?

What are the best and worst songs you've played onstage?

Any hilarious onstage mishaps to relate?

Farting: loud and proud, silent but violent or squishy and problematic sounding?

Ever get into My Bloody Valentine's 'loveless'?

American beer is like making love in a canoe: f*cking close to water. Discuss.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Take this time to brag a little about yourself.

Tell us about something (or things) you're intrinsically good at, and give an example or three of how you exhibited that talent. Maybe there's a story you'd like to share, maybe it's something you do on a daily basis.

For example -- and these are examples only -- are you very good at chess? Do you have a knack for not just composing but arranging music? Do you kick butt at anagrams? Do you have good instincts about people based on first impressions?

That kinda thing.

Everyone's got at least a few such talents. What are yours?

- Keith

I'm decent at a good number of things, enough so that if I put some work in that I'm able to get something accomplished pretty effectively.

Some of it is just an intrinsic sense of logic like arranging music; I've been in bands that required that we gut songs and progressions for simplicity or because we didn't have the firepower to be able to pull off a certain section. I have always been able to get a good sense of this and be able to take something and make something out of it that made sense.

I always joked that I have two real talents in life; I can parallel park and I can pick up strippers.

One of these has served me pretty well. I proved it time and time again when I drive an 18 passenger van and would have to find spots on the street to stash it for whatever reason. It wasn't something I really worked at, I just kind of had a good sense of where the vehicles exist and where I needed it to go and stay out of.

....the picking up strippers thing usually got interrupted by friends that comprehended that the most direct line between then and serious troulbe was allowing me to continue on the course I was on.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

It's not often that I see someone post up an interest in both The Sisters of Mercy and Eric Johnson. Are there any other acts/genres you like that we wouldn't expect?

I have a knack for liking some CD's for the production or a song for a single device in it that propels it.

A track like Enton John's 'Runaway Train" or Melissa Etheridge's "Dance Without Sleeping" is a good example of this. Both of those have something in the whole composition that manages to move the song in a direction that I wouldn't have expected and turns it into something that I'm just totally unable to turn off.

I've been latching onto Darkwave bands like Lycia and Black Tape For A Blue Girl. I like the sonic landscapes and how they create a solid mood and can realy build and make it move and work. To me that's a total artform when done successfully, and they bring it to a level that's near perfection.

The other would just be listening to heavier music and trying to keep up. There's so much fantastic metal being made right now that I feel like I only get to hear a fraction of it. I'm constantly in awe of what they're doing, how they're doing it and how amazingly good it is. I look at someone like Virtual Kevorkian with a total sense of envy of his ears and talent in regards to this; he knows the wheat from the chaff and can play it just as well as them to boot.

What are the best and worst songs you've played onstage?

The best was a song we used to do with my old band. It was an original we started writing on September 11th when we rehearsed because we couldn't bear to sit around and watch.

The opening riff was done with a 7 string and had this really great Dave Navarro meets Tony Iommi groove to it. The chorus was something to the effect of "So close your eyes and go to sleep...and remember how it used to be."

We never did get a chance to record it. It was heavier than hell and it got named "Fevered Egos" after a Bill Hicks reference.

It was a very emotional song for me; it was a huge outlet for my anger and disillusionment at the world. More than once I'd wake up the next morning with bruises on my picking hand from hitting as hard as I did.

The worst was an aborted attempt at the Beastie Boys "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" on acoustic. Thankfully very few folks remember that.

Any hilarious onstage mishaps to relate?

I went to step up onto a stage monitor to a PA speaker and was standing on my cable. I just about landed on my face.

Farting: loud and proud, silent but violent or squishy and problematic sounding?

I tend to be loud and proud, especially on nice hardwood or plastic surfaces where I can get it to reasonate so much that folks sitting near me are physically made uncomfortable for a few seconds by it.

Ever get into My Bloody Valentine's 'loveless'?

Never did. I only know of them from the "Lost in Translation: soundtrack. Any good?

American beer is like making love in a canoe: f*cking close to water. Discuss.

Ya gotta love the Brits...the had an empire so long that they can't be told anything.

Sure, they make good beer. But let's be fair, if they were so concerned about a fair assessment of such things they would bow down towards Germany as if it were Mecca several times a day.

We can and do make phenomenal beer. And mostly we don't send it to them. I don't have the audacity to believe they send us anything all that spectacular; instead I enjoy the recipes from them made domestically.

Cigars are one of the few things that I honestly believe that there's something so intrinsic in the make up of it that it just can't be duplicated elsewhere.

We have plenty of good beer....and were keeping it all for ourselves.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Excellent and interesting Well.
Crab Cakes-Best in Boston?(or is that Maryland?)
Boston Cream Pie... do they really make the best Boston Cream Pies in Boston?
Ever heard "Mountains" (Leslie West) 'Nantucket Sleighride'?
Ever Been to Marthas Vineyard?
How far of a drive timewise is it from Boston to New York City? Ever been to N.Y.C?
Any poisinous snakes in Mass.?
Im always interested in Northerners. Ive never been to the original 13 Colonies, and someday hope to have a lenghty long vacation to explore that great part of our Nations heritage.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

I haven't read all of this, so I apologize if this has already been asked. Tell us about your dog man. I assume that's it in your avatar. And are those socks on his ears? lol

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

Excellent and interesting Well.
Crab Cakes-Best in Boston?(or is that Maryland?)

That's Maryland...and they're quite good!

Boston Cream Pie... do they really make the best Boston Cream Pies in Boston?

Not that I've ever been aware of.

Ever heard "Mountains" (Leslie West) 'Nantucket Sleighride'?

Yep.....I just finished reading a book that chronicled the tragedy of The Essex and they talked about how frightening the real thing was.

Nowadays we do the same thing but with Kayaks, a fly-line and False Albacore...

Ever Been to Marthas Vineyard?

I go out there every year for a tournament. It's about 60 hour stretch of time where we clock 5 hours of sleep total and it just doesn't feel like a complete trip unless we swear we've cited James Taylor.

How far of a drive timewise is it from Boston to New York City? Ever been to N.Y.C?

It's about 4 horus or so if you stand on it. I prefer to take the train; the scenery is nice and it just kind of lulls me to sleep.

I've been a handfull of time. Great place...I never leave there well-rested and not hungover.

Any poisinous snakes in Mass.?

None....kinda neat that way.

Im always interested in Northerners. Ive never been to the original 13 Colonies, and someday hope to have a lenghty long vacation to explore that great part of our Nations heritage.

It's an interesting place. It can be miserable in the Winter but the other three seasons are alot of fun.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

I haven't read all of this, so I apologize if this has already been asked. Tell us about your dog man. I assume that's it in your avatar. And are those socks on his ears? lol

Well, here's the full story....

A few years ago a client of my Fathers (he's a Veterenarian) was standing in line at Staples talking about her dog with a friend when a man behind her asked her if she would be interested in getting another dog.

This was in late July during a pretty brutal heat wave. The woman kind of sensed something was up and went to check out the pups, which the guy had left in a box in the back of his van.

There were two of them, mutts, and were about 5 or 6 weeks old, way too young to have been seperated from their Mom.

The guy wanted $100 for each but agreed to that for both of them. The woman basically knew that if the dogs stayed in the van they likely wouldn't live to the end of the day.

The two dogs went home with the woman where her husband said that they couldn't keep them. In his defense, they already had tow dogs so it's hard not to see his reasoning. The next day they were brought to the animal hospital where my Father practices to be put up for adoption.

At that point in time my wife and I had owned a house for a few months. most of our impetus for buying was so that we could get a dog. I grew up with dogs, she didn't, and by living vicariously through me for a few years when I would look after my folks' dogs she had the Jones pretty bad for one.

We checked the shelters but didn't find what we were looking for. Most of the animals there were older or had some major problems. The MSPCA does a stellar job of getting animals in homes and although we left without a dog I gladly donated to their cause while there.

My folks called me and my wife to come down and check the pups out. We weren't in the market for a puppy as we both had full-time jobs and keeping a pup cooped up like that just isn't right. They have needs and if you can't be there, well, then you shouldn't have them.

Of course my folks knew full well that if you put a puppy in front of someone with the option of taking it home the odds are that's what is going to happen. The first time we went to see the pups we played outside for an hour and then came in and they fell asleep in our laps.

We were sold.

The deal was that the pups would be raised by the hospital. They'd get to be socialized, be around people, interact and have all their needs met. On weekends they went home with someone or with us. They had very active lives as one of the Techs in the hospital was attending college at the time and would bring one of the pups to class almost everyday.

We toyed with the idea of taking both of them for awhile but came to our senses and chose one.....the calmer of the two...and "calm" being a relative term.

We named him "FlapJack" as the result of just randomly tossing out some words. My sister-in-law used to call the cat "Muffin" as a nickname and the breakfast theme lead to that. His name does suit him though.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: The Well XX - The Well Is Hell / I'm A Rebel So I Rebel

He's a mutt; likely part boxer, possibly part pit-bull, and lord knows whatever else. He has the guardian instinct unlike any other animal I have known. Despite the fact that we have worked to get him to NOT bark at the door or be standoffish with anyone coming in the house he still gets that way. Those that know him know he's just a big goober and you can walk right in without issue. Those that don't, well, he can cuase quite a scare.

One incident in particular stands out where a drummer that would drop by for load-out met him and later told me that I should get rid of the dog before my wife and I have our first child. I told him I appreciated his input but that if anyone was going to go in the scenario it would likely be him. I haven't spoken to him in a few years now.

Nine months into Jacks life he had his first seizure. My wife was going to bed and the dog was asleep in the living room. He tried to get up and I knew something was wrong right away. What followed was one of those events that scared me unlike anything I've ever witnessed. The post-seizure event lead him to run blindly around the house growling and snapping at anything in front of him. I saw him heading towards the stairs that lead down to the basement and I grabbed him to re-direct and was bit twice.

We got him caled down and my hand wrapped up and headed to the emergency clinic. It wasn't until we were there a few hours that I agreed to go to the Emergency Room and get my hand looked at. The bite was so deep the Doc was amazed that it hadn't severed a tendon.

Within five months he had a handfull of other seizures while we were tweaking his meds. Its been several years since he has had one and is doing great.

He has calmed down alot and I refer to him as the laziest dog I've ever known. With his instincts being what they are no one that walks in will believe me. They think he's this wacked-out hyper canine. That impression makes me laugh just knowing who he is.

The incident with the socks (immortailized in my avatar) was just some random weekend morning. He's such a docile animal when hes calm that you can do things like that with him and it doesn't bother him at all. The picture always made me laugh and I kind of chose it on a lark as my avatar. its kind of stuck.

I think if either LesStrat or myself were to change avatars the world might come crashing down.

So, now you know the story about the dog with socks on his ears.