![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Label those some weird days; Wednesday we went to see if we could get an amp and a mic and maybe a pedal from a music equipment store. Rockin' Robin had the kind of cheap but indestructible mic I wanted, and possibly the pedal, too, but we kept looking for an amp. We went to Evans Music city, where they only sell Rolands, and ran into a guy who was noodling around on one of the keyboards, waiting for his son to finish lessons. He introduced himself as Ray, struck up a conversation, and it turns out he's played with Smokey Robinson, Toto, Stevie Wonder, Dave Brubeck, and various other impressive people, but he's almost aggressively friendly. He gave us a multitude of recommendations about what keyboard would do what I want, and what sound setup. It was useful, and he wrote down his number and his site, rayleelive.com, on a piece of scrap paper my mom had, and said if I called he'd bring anything by for me to try it since he has access to nearly everything one could think of.
And lo, I called him yesterday to let him know his site's contact java is blank and there's no email anywhere, and he volunteered to stop by my house with his setup and let me play with it. And so he did. MAudio Sono 88Pro is a really decent semiweighted keyboard that weighs about 15 pounds and has very, very good sound. And I'm kind of sold on his Bose rig. He stayed ALL AFTERNOON and we played with the rig (he plugged in his laptop, which adds all kinds of capability to the keyboard since it's a direct line) and traded musical background, and he seemed impressed with my fairly sparse collection of nonclassical recordings.
So, yeah, I'm really jumping into this whole other ocean of musical paradigms. I've never had a paying gig that wasn't classical, and the expectations are entirely different. I may go see Ray play at one of the myriad of clubs or bars he plays around Houston, and he seemed enthusiastic about keeping in touch and calling me for various vocal needs he might have.
Meanwhile, back in more accustomed real life, Dan's a/c broke and so everybody came over here to work last night; Joodles and Jared, plus Bryan, nearly all during the time when Ray was here. Dan didn't have any work for me, so once Ray left I watched annoyingly over people's shoulders and bothered them asking questions. Jared clocked out way early, so Dan suggested a movie (he can't concentrate in the quiet). Joodles was pretty much done by then, so I pushed and poked him into a reasonably comfortable semblance of a pillow and we all watched The Men Who Stare at Goats and Julie/Julia and ate ice cream. It was kind of ideal.
And lo, I called him yesterday to let him know his site's contact java is blank and there's no email anywhere, and he volunteered to stop by my house with his setup and let me play with it. And so he did. MAudio Sono 88Pro is a really decent semiweighted keyboard that weighs about 15 pounds and has very, very good sound. And I'm kind of sold on his Bose rig. He stayed ALL AFTERNOON and we played with the rig (he plugged in his laptop, which adds all kinds of capability to the keyboard since it's a direct line) and traded musical background, and he seemed impressed with my fairly sparse collection of nonclassical recordings.
So, yeah, I'm really jumping into this whole other ocean of musical paradigms. I've never had a paying gig that wasn't classical, and the expectations are entirely different. I may go see Ray play at one of the myriad of clubs or bars he plays around Houston, and he seemed enthusiastic about keeping in touch and calling me for various vocal needs he might have.
Meanwhile, back in more accustomed real life, Dan's a/c broke and so everybody came over here to work last night; Joodles and Jared, plus Bryan, nearly all during the time when Ray was here. Dan didn't have any work for me, so once Ray left I watched annoyingly over people's shoulders and bothered them asking questions. Jared clocked out way early, so Dan suggested a movie (he can't concentrate in the quiet). Joodles was pretty much done by then, so I pushed and poked him into a reasonably comfortable semblance of a pillow and we all watched The Men Who Stare at Goats and Julie/Julia and ate ice cream. It was kind of ideal.