It’s all about the links this week…

Links

Managed to get out for a sail on Sunday. I was single-handing, lazy and didn’t bother with a headsail–could have used it against the current though. I spent the better part of an hour trying to round a buoy (it’s good to have goals), then gave up when Rockaway Point YC’s race was bearing down on me.

Another good jam Friday. I left Sunday Papers off the list this week, but the band insisted we play it. So, it was the encore. It may forever occupy the last slot on the set list. Ziggy Stardust is coming into the rotation next week, so I spent some time on a rainy Saturday messing around with it. I’ve heard it a million times, and used to be able to stumble though it on a 6-string, but never appreciated Trevor Bolder’s, nice bass line. I hope to do it some justice come Friday.

Links

The block party is a summer tradition. Ours was on Saturday. While there was no bouncy castle, a staple of the Brooklyn block party, there were several other festivities. We just hung out on the stoop for a while and enjoyed chatting with the neighbors. We talked about lobbying for some more music programming at our end of the block next year. Maybe even a live show! I was also trying to recruit a couple people for the Friday jam sessions. I didn’t get a firm “yes” from anyone, but they didn’t say no–I’ll continue to work on them…

Speaking of the jams, this week’s wasn’t bad. We hammered through the playlist I sent out earlier in the week. The playlist keeps us on track and I hope that by rotating our growing repertoire through it that we don’t get bored by playing the same things too much or rusty by not playing some songs enough. I’m also loving the two client setup on with Jamulus. Just need to get our guitar/vocalist to do the same.

Bitter & Esters, Brooklyn’s homebrewing center of gravity at 700 Washington Avenue will be closing in October. While I don’t brew often, when I do, the ingredients and supplies come from these guys. They will be missed by many.

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Photo of a white squirrel digging in some leaves in a wooded area of Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

White squirrel sighting! I would have easily run right by this one if not for the two women that had stopped to take a picture. I saw one earlier in the summer as well.

Thanks to Kenny, I saw Bikini Kill and Sweeping Promises at the Brooklyn Paramount. Both put on rocking shows. The remodeled Brooklyn Paramount theater is amazing!

We don’t own a car, I think it would be electric if we did. However, listening to Dave talk the effort that goes into finding charging stations and the confrontations at those stations gives me second thoughts.

This week, a former President announced on live, national television, during a debate that “They’re eating the dogs!” Perhaps more appalling, that was but one out of 33 lies he spewed during that debate. How anyone can be an undecided voter at this point is beyond me.

I watched Greg Palast’s Vigilantes Inc. (link to the stream below). The voter suppression in Georgia and elsewhere in the country is very concerning. While everyone’s attention is on this wingnut’s antics, thousands of voters are quietly being taken off the rolls. There are people trying to combat this, even in the face of strong arm tactics including arrests and charges carrying lengthy prison sentences. Check out the movie, it’s eye opening. I’d also like to mention that I have no relation to the Pam Reardon interviewed in this film.


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I don’t often get the Sunday Blues. But, this Labor Day evening? Serious Monday Blues. Something about the cooler weather and a premonition that this week was going to be a shit show on several fronts reminded me of the dread I always felt the evening before the first day of school. Though, as with school, this week wasn’t all that bad.

The highlight of the week (it’s good to have low expectations sometimes): I finally figured out how to run two Jamulus clients on my Mac. Hundreds of others have managed to do this without much effort, but it was a challenge for me. We tested the new setup on a Thursday jam–thumbs up all around. There’s a step-by-step guide here: How To Run Multiple Jamulus Clients on a Mac. I wrote it mostly for one of my fellow jam mates; why not put it out there for others?

Links