Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, & Friends

I’d like to emphasize the “& Friends” part of that title.

This was a benefit concert to benefit Cliff Cultreri, the Relativity and A&M Exec who discovered Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and many others. Many friends came to support the cause.

As usual, I took my camera phone, and the pictures can be seen here.

I must say this was one of the very best performances I have been to.

Not only was the stage in this small venue graced with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai playing their favorite instruments and favorite songs (including oldies we have not heard in a long time), they had a seemingly never ending list of special guest stars to the stage.

You’ve heard of G3? This was like G8. Let’s see if I can remember the big 8:

Paul Gilbert (his site, Wikipedia site) (pictured to right) was one player of note. At 6’4” tall, he was easily the giant on the stage. And this man can really shred, when given the opportunity for his long solos. Aside from Vai and Satch, I think he amazed us the most. He also sang and I was very impressed!

Steve Lukather (his site, Wikipedia site) (pictured to right) also played his heart out. He played “Always With Me, Always With You” with Satch, and did some truly remarkable things with it. I get the feeling he’s played a ballad before… This is the guitarist from the band Toto.

Dweezil Zappa (Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa) (his site) played a couple of songs, and was obviously very familiar with being on stage.

Scott Henderson (his site) also performed, but stayed so far off to the side that we could not see him!

Johnny Hiland (his site) (pictured below) is one man who can shred like mad. He came out for a song with Steve Vai, then came out with Satriani, and then came out again with the entire crew.

Johnny A (his site) (pictured below) also wowed us with his performance. Very professional delivery from this guy!

Steve Vai’s (his site) (pictured above and below) guitar work was incredible as always. His facial expressions are unforgettable and very signature. Every time I see him, he has a new trick to playing even more stuff with just his left hand. This is one of only two times I’ve seen him play where he didn’t whip out a two- or three-necked guitar. He played Flo and Evo (and swapped out between the two several times), his DNA guitar, and an interesting guitar with bright blue lights up and down the neck.

Billy Sheehan (his site) (pictured below) played a two necked bass, and Vai only played single necked guitars. At one point, Vai comes up behind Billy and reaches around and plays his bass, while Billy reaches back and plays Vai’s guitar. Later they face each other and play each other’s instruments again.

Joe Satriani (his site) (pictured above) is still playing with Dave Larue (his site) which is a good thing. Not that I don’t miss Matt Bissonnette or Stuart Hamm – I miss them both greatly. I’m just saying that Joe switched to another expert bass player - Dave is very talented. I still love his rendition of Cool #9! This is the second time I've seen him play it, and it's great!

Joe did his normal amazing job. I can’t say enough about his skill at the guitar. His skill is flawless, and his technique great as ever.

His current rhythm guitarist (does anyone know his name?) is top notch, although I do miss Eric Cordeaux and others he has played with before.

They played 7 or 8 songs after the normal Vai and Satch sets, including Little Wing, a couple of Hendrix tunes, at least one ZZ Top tune, and “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mother,” a favorite Zappa tune.

Between Vai’s set and Satch’s beginning, a DJ came up to MC an auction for a bunch of gear and mementoes, including signed gold press albums, signed posters, signed album artwork, and several guitars. Joe’s shiny guitar began its auction life at $2,000, and was immediately raised to $5,000 by someone who obviously wanted that particular trophy. No one upped him, and he got it. It was also announced he’d receive a free lesson from Joe. Several other guitars went for $1,000 to $2,500, and many mementoes for $125 to $850 or so.

Weeks before the concert, as part of the fundraising event, Steve Vai donated his prototype DNA guitar. A couple from Italy won the auction on eBay for $26,000 (I believe that’s what Vai said as he made the announcement) and flew out to pick up the guitar. He brought them on stage and introduced them and gave them the guitar. He mentioned that only 300 of the DNA guitars was made, and that they used his blood in the paint for the guitars. Creepy, but cool in an odd Vai sort of way!

This was definitely one of the best concert performances I have ever had the honor to attend. I would definitely repeat this event.

Javelin + Foot = Ow

Link to the story

That must hurt. I wonder if that job normally gets some kind of hazard pay. This person is a line judge at a javelin contest!

Rude Parkers

For my expanding line of rude people posts, we come to people who park rudely.

There's two forms of doing this - the unmindful or oblivious way, and the deliberate way.

The unmindful way is a person completely oblivious to the existence of other people, and parks in the way that requires the least amount of effort on their part. They will often be a few inches over the line, making it difficult for you to park in the spot next to them.

The unmindful parker isn’t doing this intentionally to keep you away from their car. In fact, this kind of parking actually increases your chance of someone door-dinging you on accident or on purpose. They are doing this because they can’t be bothered to think about how their performance of the job of parking their car is going to affect another person. You and I don’t exist in their eyes. Why should they bother to park carefully?

The deliberate way is the way Mr. Corvette does in the pictures here. He (I’m assuming it’s a he) wants you to know that ye doesn’t want you near his car. He’s taking two spaces, because he (and his car) are as important as two other people (and their cars), and you aren’t allowed to park close enough to his car to accidentally ding his doors.



I can respect that someone wants to keep their car in as perfect condition as possible, but I don’t think that parking directly between two spots (or even four, like I’ve seen elsewhere) is appropriate.

Now, in Mr. Corvette’s defense, the parking lot was not especially crowded, and he did not do this within the first 5 or 8 parking spots from the door. However, I don’t think that there’s a “right” time to park rudely and a “wrong” time to park rudely.

If you want to keep your car from suffering door dings and other calamity, I offer this advice:

• Park as far away from other cars as is reasonable. The extra walk to your destination will only be good for your health. (If you’re parking in handicapped zones, ignore this advice…)
• Park next to an island. This way only one car can park next to you, instead of one car on either side of you.
• Park close to the island, so that you give as much room on the other side as possible.
• Park so that the island is on your right. This way a car can only park to your left. The door facing your car will only open if there is a passenger. This drastically decreases the chance that a door facing your car will open.
• Park so that your car is visible to the public, employees of wherever you are, the street. This reduces the chance of someone breaking in to your car.

In short, there are ways to park wisely and politely simultaneously. Please exercise them.

24 on DVD / Pictures on DVD title screen

So I am watching season 3 of 24 which I bought on DVD.

** Mild spoiler incoming -- do not read if you want to be surprised in Season 3, and didn't buy the DVDs... **
I'm moving on to the 9th episode, which means I'm moving from disc 2 to disc 3. When I put in disc 3, the title screen on the menu has a picture of Sarah Clarke. Therefore I know Nina Myers is going to be in one of the episodes on the disc.

I am watching an episode where Jack and the Salazars are going to buy the virus from the Ukranians, and the broker tells Jack that there's another buyer, and they have to bid on the virus. I do some deductive reasoning and figure out that Nina Myers must be the other buyer. A truck drives up, and who should step out of the truck? It's Nina Myers! Am I surprised? No! But I should be!

I'm sorry that I saw the title screen with her picture, because I would have preferred to be surprised when I saw her come on the screen.

** Added 9/24/06
I also saw a picture on the title screen of another disc of Ryan Chappelle holding a gun to his own head. I was therefore not surprised when the terrorist told the president to kill him, and that Jack would eventually put Ryan in a position to die. I made the not-necessarily-so-brilliant deduction that Ryan would die in one of the episodes on the disc, based solely on seeing him holding a gun to his own head. And guess what? He did. Again, my surprise and suspense was ruined by the inconsiderate title screens.

Publishing errors in books

So I am re-reading the Riftwar saga (and the following books) by Raymond E. Feist.

As I am reading each book, I am finding numerous errors in the books. I can't blame Raymond Feist - with 600ish pages per book, and 15 books in the series, he's really a creative force. He has at least one editor who goes over these things, and these books have been in print for over 22 years. Certainly by now someone has found these errors and can have done something about it. Yet books I have bought this year have these errors.

Examples:
Book "Prince of the Blood," ISBN 0-76783-0045

Pg 100, Last paragraph, starts with "The lady you road with..." And it should be, "The lady you rode with..."

Pg 189, first paragraph (continued from Pg. 188), referring to a sword someone is carrying. "...and across his back was a leather sheath, containing what appeared to be a half-and-a-half-, or bastard-sword."
I've read a lot of fantasy novels, and have studied military weaponry of earth's past. I know this to be a "hand-and-a-half-sword," not a "half-and-a-half..." Also, later in the book, it is referred to as a "hand-and-a-half" sword.

Pg 199, 2nd paragraph. "Borric and his companions put heels to their mounts and galloped to keep up with the chariots." Borric isn't involved in this scene. It's his brother Earland. At this point in time, Borric is lost in the desert, and Earland and James think he is dead. On Page 197, it is detailing Borric's attempted journey to reach Earland, and it will take him 4-6 weeks of traveling to do so - he is probably hundreds of miles away.

Pg 253, 8th paragraph. "He might know the back allies of Durbin, but he knows nothing else." This person knows the back ALLEYS of Durbin, not the back ALLIES of Durbin...

I have found four other errors in this book alone. I have found 4-6 errors in each of the other books in this series (there are 7 books I have read this year in this series).

I have written to the publisher and asked who to report the mistakes to. No response.
I have written to the printing company – they have a link that says that we can report errors, but have received no response from them either.
I am willing to bet that other people have reported these errors to Doubleday and Bantam Dell in the last 22 years, but they have been ignored, just like they are ignoring me.

When I finally publish books, I hope I have an editor who catches these little errors.

Update 10/16/2006 - Found an error in the book called "The King's Buccaneer," ISBN 0-553-56373-4
On page 382, "Across the room, a number of men and women entered between large curtains to the rear of a high dias." It should be "dais" not "dias," unless they mean Bartolomeu Dias, the Portugese navigator who went around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

Update 11/1/2006 - Found several instances in the book called "Shadow of a Dark Queen," ISBN 0-380-72086-8
Several times, they refer to a "poll-arm" when the correct term is undoubtedly "pole-arm."
On page 240, first sentence, "But if a liar and a cheat could said to be trusted..." I believe it should either read, "But if a liar and a cheat could *be* said to be trusted..." or, "But if one could say that a liar and a thief could be trusted..."
Update 11/7/2006
On page 357, last paragraph, "...while Calis and other other new mercenary companies were to the south." The word "other" is repeated twice in a row in one sentence.
Page 366, last sentence. "Vaja said, 'There're are ample fords nearby.'" "There're" seems like a contraction of "There are," so without the contraction that sentence would read, "There are are ample fords nearby."

Spiders in Simi

Yesterday near work in Simi Valley, CA, we found an interesting spider, quite large, too.

I pulled out my camera and snapped a few shots.

See the whole album.

Example image:

Black hole sun

The fires in Ventura County continue very strong. The smoke blows in a direct line almost directly over our city many days. On our drive to work (Chatsworth to Simi Valley) we can often see ash falling. Several co workers show up with ash on their cars.



I saw this sun filtered through the clouds, casting everything a red glow that faded back and forth with an orange overcast. When viewed through my PDA camera, I got an awesome lens flare, and the sun appeared to have a black hole.

Ranked 624th on scorehero.com

Almost two weeks ago, I got what I thought was an impressive score in Guitar Hero. (I'm warming up for Guitar Hero II).
http://cheeop.blogspot.com/2006/09/new-note-streak-in-guitar-hero.html

624 may not sound too impressive to you, but consider that the first 50 scored 100% accuracy.

Smoke On The Water 624th 150,498 (5.1) 96% 384 Sep. 15, 2006, 7:44PM N/A

A total of 813 scores have been submitted. I plan on scoring higher tonight!

Do you have anything in extra-medium?

Link to the comic page

This is so true. I have gone shopping for shirts, for shorts/pants, and for shoes. I am shocked at how often stores allow themselves to run out of Large and Medium sizes.

I go shopping for shirts. I find a great sale on some shirts, oh boy, and look, they have S, XXL, XXXL sizes, and nothing else. For every color of that shirt, all 17 of them.

I go shopping for shoes. I talk to the salesperson and let them talk me in to a few shoes. They have none of them available in size 11.5. I have to settle on the 5th best choice, because I can't even try on the other shoes.

This happens regularly. I'm sure this is not a new occurrence. How can the stores not be prepared by now?

Anonymous Rude Shopping Cart People

Another type of rude people is the Anonymous Rude Shopping Cart People.

What makes them rude is the same quality that makes other people rude. They think they are the only people in this world, or that other people in this world are lesser beings than them and must clean up after them.

This describes people who litter, people who don't refill the (coffee machine / copy machine / paper towel dispenser, whatever), and today it describes people who are rude with shopping carts.

There are two kinds of rudeness that I see people perform with these very useful tools.

One breach of implied shopping cart etiquette is performed while actively using the cart. I refer to the time when you park the cart in preparation of piling sundry items into the cart.

People do not park their carts with other people in mind, and sometimes not even themselves. They are pushing the cart down the aisle, thinking whatever random thoughts pile into their minds, and they spot something they like. “Oh look, chocolate coated crunchy puffs!” Their cart stops immediately wherever it is, so the unaware shopper can inspect this box of death closer .

Usually their cart was in the direct middle of the aisle (where most people push their carts), and they are now standing to the side of it. There’s no way you can push your cart around them. You stand there, feebly trying to get their attention without being rude to them, and eventually give up and either nudge their cart with yours, or ask them to move for you.

Fifteen feet later, you have to ask someone else to move, and ten feet later, two other people are staring each other down, unwilling to move their carts.

I try to set a good example when I shop. I try to be aware of other shoppers around me, and to push my cart to one side as I pick out my goods – and give people enough room to move around me without having to ask me to move.

Other shoppers ask me to move perhaps once every visit to the store, and I have to ask people to move for me upwards of ten or fifteen times.

The second kind of rudeness is what people do with their carts when they are done. They do all manner of things with them to discard them for the least effort, even if it means making someone else have to move it in order to get in to their car, or move their car away.

Someone left their shopping cart directly behind our car. There’s no way we can get into our car and drive away without pushing their cart somewhere. Where, exactly? Behind someone else’s car, so they can move it? How about into the shopping cart return area? Sure! Since I’m probably going to push my own shopping cart there anyhow, why don’t I also push this arrogant jerk’s cart there also? That makes great sense.

I have to wonder what is going through that person’s mind as he’s putting his cart behind some unknown person’s car, and drives off. I bet his only thought is, “I hope the owner of this car doesn’t see me doing this.”

Anonymous Rude Trash People

I'm finding that every time I encounter the "leavings" of anonymous rude people, I like them less and less. Actually, I think I've passed over the zero-point boundary, and instead of liking them less, I hate them more.

I'm going to talk about the rude trash-people we "didn't" encounter today, but who's refuse (literally and figuratively) negatively affect other people, who's faces they probably won't have to look in.

We have two trash bins at our apartment complex. Each trash bin has two flip-up covers on top of them. Someone flips the right side of one trash bin up, and people begin to fill that side. When it fills up, do you suspect that the next person who goes out there flips up the left side of that same trash bin, to begin filling the empty side of that bin?

Nope! They keep over filling the filled side, until they are putting things on top of the left lid! This is not the act of one inconsiderate person, but multiple people who continue to pile trash in this rude way.

Now when I go out to throw my trash away, it is not a simple matter for me to flip open the left lid - I would have to find some way to throw away all of the trash that other people have piled on top of the left lid. I would have to do the work that they were too lazy to do. And I would have to do it with two disadvantages:

• Several people's trash is on top of the lid
• I'm carrying all of my trash, too

As you can imagine, this is not a cool position to be in. I go around to the other trash bin, prop the top partway open with trash I'm carrying, and throw all of my trash in to that side. When I consider the task of picking up after other people, and my girlfriend waiting with the car idling, I decide to not clean up after several rude . But at least I threw out my trash in a way that does not make it more difficult for the next folks who show up.

24 Season 2

I just finished Season 2 of 24 (and am partway through Season 3 on the same day, heh...)

I must say that watching a series on DVD at your own schedule is far more fulfilling than watching it on TV.

Season 2, much like Season 1, had many surprises in it. It's to be expected. You start to really like a character, and they are taken from the show.

** Mild spoilers incoming **

For instance, I had really liked Mike, the President's advisor, throughout Season 1, but somehow I suspected that he was going to turn out to be dirty somehow. What he did in Season 2 wasn't the worst conceivable thing - in a way, he was just trying to do the right thing. But he is now out of the show.
And Michelle Forbes' character, Lynne Kresge, I was hoping to see her character in Season 3, but I guess not.
I still can't get over Terri at the end of Season 1.

And the twist with putting the character played by Penny Johnson (Sisko's girlfriend in DS9) in the entire first season, and then only the half of the second season, and then only the half of the third season... That is interesting. For some reason, her character is the character I love to hate.

I find it funny that Michelle Forbes and Penny Johnson (who played Lieutenant Ro Laren and Captain Kasidy Yates in Star Trek) play opposite each other through the last half of Season 2 of 24. Their characters never met in Star Trek (at least in the TV show, they met in the books...)

Still like the show, will definitely see it through Season 4 and see when 5 comes out on DVD.

I'm still waiting for November when the final season of MASH comes out on DVD!

Can I borrow your phone?

Anyone seen this? It's an x-ray of a prisoner in El Salvador. Apparently this is how prisoners there smuggle in their cell phones and keep them from guards finding them.

Brings to mind that scene in Pulp Fiction where Christopher Walken is talking about how the kid's father and he hid the watch from the guards.

Can you imagine talking on that thing though, after it's been there? Or needing to borrow someone's phone? You gotta really need to make a call if you're saying, "Hey buddy, can I borrow your phone?"

Link to Yahoo News Photo story from AP

24 (the TV show)

So I've been hooked on 24 lately. I blame Howie and Justin.

Season 1 was pretty hot, but the last 45 seconds of the last episode really blew me away. Not as much as it did Terri Bauer, but it still rocked me. I couldn't fathom how season 2 was going to be!

I'm halfway through season 2 now, and like it lots. I hope Netflix gets here soon, the last half of it are on their way. I already bought Seasons 3 and 4 (mainly so I don't have to try to time Netflix correctly for my addiction to this show).

A lot of this show is filmed right down the street from here - at Lassen and Owensmouth. Before my company moved from Chatsworth to Simi Valley, I drove past the office every day.

I might have a 24 marathon this weekend.

Munch Box - but when?

Does anyone know what time Munch Box opens?

I meet up with friends there at about ten minutes to noon today, and it is closed up. We hang out for about 30 minutes, and many people drive up and ask us what's going on. All we can do is tell them - sorry, they don't appear to be open. We're waiting for them, too.

New note streak in Guitar Hero!

I started a new Guitar Hero Career game on Hard, and achieved this score on Smoke on the Water: 384 Note Streak, 150498 score, and 96% notes hit. I'm glad the game gave me 5 stars for that. On the next song, I only got a 173 note streak and 91% notes hit, so it only gave me 4 stars!