Some of the users of the Blackberry 9530 have reported that their screens do not wake up after dimming when upgrading to Blackberry Device Software 5.0.  This is a known issue and I experienced this myself.  I’ve tried wiping the device and reloading the software to know avail.  If your Blackberry experiences this problem, revert back to 4.7 and contact Verizon for a replacement phone.

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB19984

like-a-bird-1-edit-7-export-1

http://www.mts.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/like-a-bird-1-edit-6-export-1.mp3

In standard tuning, here’s a rendition of Steve Vai playing “I’m Like a Bird” with Nelly Furtado at the Grammys in 2002.  This is just the intro but it’s so fun to noodle to….

This one gave me goosebumps!
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Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

– Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, Bantam, NY, p 174 (1988)

“If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character…Would you slow down? Or speed up?”  Chuck Palahniuk

The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.—Frances Willard

Here’s something I whipped up in Photoshop this AM.  Click on the image thumbnail below and then right click > set as background.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I spent the better part of Saturday working on a backing track to John Mayer’s tune called “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.”  There are only two back tracks for John Mayer that I could find, so I thought it would be nice to contribute to the community in this area.

It was written in Propellerhead Reason 4.0 using the Redrum Computer from drums, NN-XT for bass, and NN-19 for choir (to emulate the backing vocals during the chorus).

I posted it to my Sounds page.  If you like it or use it, feel free to contact me.

Enjoy!

-Brent

I recently decided to to purchase the van den Hul Integration hybrid cable from Mark Stoddard.  This cable would replace the connection to my TR mod Bassman amp to the TR 2 x 12″ cabinet.  I won’t mention any other brands in this post, but I thought I had a decent cable for this connection before upgrading.  I can’t believe how wrong I was on this assumption.

Let me just say that Mark Stoddard of Lava Cable has been nothing but a pleasure to deal with.  He’s quick to respond to email requests, even faster in the turn-around and shipping department, and all around good guy.  After doing some research, I found that he’s a 24 year Veteran in the Army and is currently stationed in Fort Bragg, NC.  Not only is he a guitar player, but he can terminate one hell of a cable!  I can’t believe what an improvement this cable was over my previous cable choice.  I just purchased five more van den Hul cables to replace the cables I’m currently using from Mark.

I wish nothing but the best for Mark Stoddard and Lava Cable.  If you’re in the market to improve your signal and tone, do your research and then give Mark at http://www.lavacable.com a call.  – He’ll hook you up like no other.

-Brent

PS – Here’s a picture of the cable I’m now using to connect my amp to the cabinet.

After reviewing all the videos from the Masterclass, this was my favorite.  This will have to hold me over until the next tour.

A couple of notes – It looks like he’s using the True Temperament fret system on Flo III.  I (and many) others asked Steve about this and he’s such a perfectionist that this system allows his intonation to be true on all notes on the fretboard.

Anyway – here’s a clip from Metallizer85 of Steve playing Giant Balls of Gold at the Masterclass.