Waving Bye-Bye

We finally got through it. The winter is gone. To be honest, I can’t really complain about the winter this year. We only had one week with snow in January. This week the temperatures will rise up to 18° Celsius. Hurrah! Spring is my favourite season of the year. I love to see everything coming back alive in the nature.
I’m also happy to report I’m back walking after some mild physical discomfort although I still need physiotherapy the next two months. But having an espresso in the afternoon outside cheers me up a lot.

Jimi is back in a good condition. He had a bladder infection for the third time in one year. He was checked thoroughly and found in an excellent health. The problem seems to be he’s having acute stress attacks the last months which are probably the cause of the infections. A lot happened in my house recently; the AC installation, the solar panels installation and some other small works inside. So fingers crossed he stays calm the next months…

One more thing… I rediscovered the Shazam app lately. Shazam is a useful application that can identify music based on a short sample played using the microphone on your phone. I had a few returning songs on my playlist of which I thought were from an American artist. After using Shazam I found out the songs are from Sarah Dawn Finer, a Swedish singer/songwriter and the Hindley Street Country Club, an Australian band. Life can be full of surprises.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Bomb-disposal expert. Defusing a potentially dangerous situation.

Inspired by Destination Moon, The Adventures of Tintin.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Casino

Let’s talk about music. But first, let’s talk about something else. I had some busy weeks lately with lot’s of meetings, getting a COVID booster and flu shot, a medical check up, a minor medical issue with Jimi (no worries)… But we’re all doing well.

I had to join my best friend for a meeting with a notary. My friend who owned a publicity agency retired this month and decided to shut down his company. I’ve been a shareholder of the company for many years so I was needed to sign a lot of documents. Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant and had a celebration with delicious pancakes and wine. Later that evening while we were having coffee at his home, my friend showed up with a big box and he said ‘Take it… for services rendered.’ I immediately recognised my favourite dream guitar by the size of the box. What a big surprise!

I’ve been a Beatles fan as long as I can remember. My older sister and brother bought all their albums and I grew up with their music. Last year I watched the Peter Jackson documentary series The Beatles: Get Back 3 times. Get Back received critical acclaim for its coverage of the group’s creative process but I was intrigued by John Lennon’s Epiphone Casino guitar. I immediately started a search to find one but it was almost impossible because this guitar was suddenly hipper and more successful than ever before. After 6 months I gave up the search but my friend kept searching secretly and found one in mint condition on the second hand market. This is the most beautiful gift ever!

Maybe the most iconic image of Lennon’s Casino, and perhaps of Lennon himself, is from The Beatles’ legendary rooftop concert on their Apple Corps office building in London. This was also to be the last public performance of The Beatles.
Jimi took a look at the box but decided that the Casino guitar was more interesting.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Almost 3 Years

A special day. Tomorrow it’s 3 years ago when Jimi moved into my house. I enjoyed every day and I’m still surprised by the little changes in Jimi’s character, in a positive way. He also became more passionate about his job as a studio technician. And as you probably know, that’s a very heavy task.

I finally bought a Neumann microphone. I wanted one for years but for some reason I never got my hands on one. Accidentally, I found a TLM 103 mic in a shop a few minutes from my home.

As promised in my comments in the previous post, here’s an update on Jos. The little guy has recovered completely and enjoys his outdoor adventures again. Jos doesn’t seems to suffer from his tailless life, thank goodness.

Meanwhile the days are getting shorter. And colder. I’m not happy about this. Spring is my favourite season and I wish I could move to the other side of the globe for the next 6 months. I’m also still very concerned about the situation in Ukraine and that unpredictable irrational madman in Moscow. I’m afraid history doesn’t offer much hope for a happy ending.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

The Gentle Art

The gentle art of making music. My studio technician Jimi wanted a new computer because the current 8-year-old Intel iMac was too slow and couldn’t run the recent music apps and heavy sample libraries smoothly. So with some reluctance I went shopping at the Apple Store and bought a Mac Studio (Max) computer and a 27″ Studio Display. Getting everything back to work took a long time, almost 20 h. After using the Migration Assistant app, checking and updating a lot of stuff and solving some compatibility issues, I was back in business.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Jimi a few days ago. After ignoring Mr. Bowie’s cat bed for almost 3 years, he finally decided it was time to sleep in this comfortable king size luxurious bed. It seems everybody is very happy right now.

I’ve just started reading The Gentle Art of Tramping by Stephen Graham, originally published in 1926. Stephen Graham was a British journalist, travel-writer, essayist and novelist. The Gentle Art of Tramping is a guide for anyone who has dreamed of taking to the road with nothing more than a bag full of essentials and big ideas. It gives guidance on walking, being open to discovery and being kind – advice as relevant now as it was then. ‘The adventure is not the getting there, it is the on-the-way. It is not the expected; it is the surprise; not the fulfilment of prophecy but the providence of something better than prophesied.’ Tramping is a way of approach, to nature, to your fellow-man, to a nation, to beauty, to life itself.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Stratocaster

Keep on rockin’ in the free world. Despite living in a world of electronic music with synthesizers, samplers, computers, trying out new things, tweaking knobs and pushing buttons on vintage analog machinery and high-tech equipment, I have always dreamed of owning a real Fender Stratocaster guitar one day. Just bought an almost 50 year old vintage 70’s USA Mocha Brown Maple Fender Stratocaster! The guitar belonged to a good friend and member of the LNE collective, a group of musicians, singers, artists and one comeback electronic musician.

Jimi H (the cat) wonders if he can set the guitar on fire to honour the historic night when Jimi Hendrix sets his Fender Stratocaster guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967). The burned guitar would later sell for more than $380,000 at an auction. It was definitely time to show Jimi the way out to the garden. And let’s all unite to kick the barbaric and inhuman Russian army out of Ukraine.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Fixing a Hole

Wild is the wind. I just realised I didn’t write a post this month. Shame on me… So here’s a quick note. I’m ok, and Jimi’s ok. We’re both enjoying the first warm sunny days in spring. Unfortunately, snow is predicted for tomorrow and it’s no April Fool’s joke.

“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in. And stops my mind from wandering. Where it will go…” – The Beatles

In February two storms passed over Europe, Eunice and Franklin. I had some minor damage on the roof and a few weeks ago a team of experienced roofers came to fix the problem. Thank goodness we had a devoted supervisor on the site.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Sunday Evening Somewhere in Outer Space

Slow Sunday. As the search for alien life heats up, Jimi’s still looking for signals from alien cats in outer space. Unfortunately with no luck. Maybe alien cats are taking a break from their everyday life and folding space during the week.

Meanwhile I’m waiting to get my Star Trek transporter device back from the repair shop. I bought it some time ago on eBay, but it never worked. It looks like they conned me or is this a conspiracy from the alien cats?

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding. 

Daytime Job of a Cat

More rainy days. The summer of 2021 is already the wettest summer ever recorded in this part of the world. And it looks like it’s also one of the coolest. It makes me think about all the heatwaves in the previous summers and the ice cream we enjoyed in the garden. What is going wrong with the weather lately? All these extreme changes in weather conditions…

I’m spending more time in the studio because of all the heavy rainfall. Sir Jimi, the studio technician, keeps me company but always falls asleep on the job, just like my previous technician, Mr. Bowie. But there’s one big difference; Jimi stays in the studio while Mr. Bowie always left the building due to his ear problems and the effect of very high-frequency sounds of synths. Or maybe he just didn’t like my music.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Snow On a Tuesday

And you may ask yourself, “Where is that beautiful spring?” Last week I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I was drinking coffee outside in the garden. Today I’m wearing winter clothes. It’s cold. It’s snowing. O Spring where art thou?

Jimi keeps checking out all the special places in the garden, just like Mr. Bowie did. While walking on this high gabion wall he can spy on the neighbours.

Meanwhile, I declared war on those pesky blackbirds. Each morning, they keep destroying our catnip plantation. Jimi’s also kind of in a foul mood. We need to take some action asap…

A few days ago I came across this remarkable phenomena of nature. This tree fungus is called Tonderzwam Fomes fomentarius. According to a specialised website this is lethal for the birch in a long term. I’m always enjoying my daily walks in the nature. There are always new things to discover. While walking is the most underrated form of exercise, it improves fitness, cardiac health, alleviates depression and fatigue, improves mood, creates less stress on joints and reduces pain. And when you get back home there’s always chocolate and an espresso waiting for you…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

One Fine Day

Letting the days go by. It’s been a while since a wrote a post. I’m still busy with getting everything about my Dad’s passing officially in order. I was shocked to see all those papers required by the government. But it seems I’m almost at the end of an unpleasant task.

Last week I had one, no, a few fine days. I watched the latest Spike Lee film, David Byrne’s American Utopia, a concert film from a critically acclaimed Broadway performance. The film includes several songs from Talking Heads and David Byrne’s solo career. David Byrne is joined by 11 musicians, singers and dancers from around the globe. I also enjoyed the brief monologues from David Byrne when he addresses various sociopolitical topics from police brutality, immigration and climate change. After watching a few songs you want to jump up, dance and sing with the musicians on your TV. This concert film makes me feel good, every time. David Byrne’s American Utopia calls on all of us to think, connect and dance. The musical masterpiece is thought provoking and gives us exactly what we need today. Something to celebrate life.

And you may ask yourself, “Where is that beautiful cat?” Well, Jimi’s doing fine and enjoys his walks in the garden. Last year he always seemed to be anxious outside. But recently, it seems he got used to the environment. And I love the moments in the morning, when he jumps up the table and asks to play with him.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Flore

How to warm you up on cold winter days. After a few days of hesitation, Jimi decided it was time to go outside and check out the garden covered in snow. Much to my surprise, he was enjoying his walks and soon he was following the tracks of the sparrows and blackbirds in the snow. As you probably know, I don’t like the winter but I do enjoy my daily walks in the snow.

Thank goodness I found a good recipe for these cold days. I just bought the latest CD from Gabriel Rios, ‘Flore’. Gabriel Rios (born 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican-Belgian singer songwriter currently residing in Belgium and New York. It’s his 5th studio album and a pecan to the music of Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s a Latin album made in isolation and exile, not only because it was birthed during last year’s pandemic, but because it finds Rios looking back from afar, maybe for the first time, to what remains of his past and his roots. More specifically, these are songs that go back to both his father and grandfather’s youth; songs they would have loved to hear him sing. Feel free to check out this warm album of a great musician. (Info from Sony Music)

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

A New Routine

‘What if I fall? Oh but my darling: what if you fly?’ – Erin Hanson

Life goes on. I feel that I am ready picking up where we left off then. My Dad passed away about a month ago. We had an intimate ceremony with only 15 people, due to the Covid-19 measures. But I received a lot of messages, phone calls, postcards of people paying respect to my Dad. He was loved by so many people… I still feel an emptiness in my life without him. And pain. Sorrow… But life goes on as normal, but quieter and greyer than usual.

I want to thank you with all my heart. All your heartwarming comments made me feel better and helped me get through these empty and sad days. I sincerely apologise for not replying to your comments. I guess I also missed some of your posts on your blogs. But I will try to catch up…

Jimi helped me to get through the dark days of January. Every day he took a few minutes to sit down by the photograph of my Dad. It made me feel good. But one day, Jimi was very disappointed because there were only vegetables and no shrimps (for him) on my sandwich.

There were also some good days last month. After waiting for 3 months, finally, a big box arrived from the U.S. of A. containing a Sequential Prophet-5 synthesizer. Just like I mentioned in an older post about the ARP 2600 synth, the Prophet-5 synth was also very high on my bucket list and I didn’t expect to get one. Sequential introduced new versions of the old model in 2020. The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer designed in 1978 by Dave Smith and John Bowen and was the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer.

So yes, life goes on, it’s a cliché and it sounds trite. I will find a new routine and get used to it. But it will take some time. Please stay safe and healthy.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

‘Count your blessings. And if life is difficult, count them louder.’ – Roger Scruton

Ice Ice Jimi

Looking for ice cream. A cat making eye contact can mean anything from “You don’t exist to me” to “I want food, human!”. What is the most intelligent way of responding to a cat who won’t stop giving you the mean Clint ‘Dirty Harry’ Eastwood stare? What is the best way to look confident and relaxed? Saying “no” is one thing, but getting the cat to listen is another. Just give your cat what he wants… and join him for ice cream. Even if it’s a dark and winter day.

I feel the ice cream move under my paws
I feel the sky tumbling down
I feel my heart start to trembling
Whenever ice cream’s around

“I Feel the Earth Move” – Carole King

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

A Big, Big Box

Another odyssey. I went to Antwerp to pick up a big, very big box that contained an ARP 2600 synthesizer. Finally, after waiting for 8 months the synth arrived.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jimi’s Odyssey, the ARP 2600 was the last synth on my bucket list I really wanted to have in my studio set-up. The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer, designed by Dennis Colin for Alan R Pearlman, and manufactured by his company, ARP Instruments, Inc. in 1972. Unfortunately, the company was declared bankruptcy in May 1981. In 2015, some ARP instruments were revived by Korg. On January 10, 2020, Korg Inc. of Japan reissued a one-time-only limited production run of the ARP 2600 as the ARP 2600 FS, a faithful reproduction of the original 1972 gray version. With a little luck and a lot of patience I was able to buy one.

Jimi (and especially his shadow) seemed to be interested in the big flight case that came with the synth. Maybe he can use it to build a fortified castle. It looks like we both will have a lot of fun the next days…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

PS: I hate hate hate the new WP Block editor!

This Is Not My Beautiful House!

Jimi’s check-up visit. Medical care is as essential for your cat as it is for you. It’s a good idea to get a checkup for your cat once a year. Jimi was due for his first annual checkup today. All went well. Jimi is in top condition – though the vet told me I got to keep an eye on his weight.

For many cats, a veterinary visit is a stressful experience. Mr. Bowie was always relaxed and enjoyed the car rides. But Jimi was so stressed, the poor boy. He was so happy to be back home.

And you may find yourself
In another part of the world
And you may find yourself
Behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may ask yourself, well
How did I get here?

“Once In A Lifetime” – Talking Heads

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Oh Summer

Oh Summer, Where Art Thou? All the rain showers are making me sleepy.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Lifeline

A way of getting help. Jimi throws me a lifeline to save me from these troubled times. He wants my company for a nap in the afternoon. So live and let live in love.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

SETI Part 2

Jimi’s preliminary conclusion. Only about 0.0000000000000000000042 percent of the universe contains any matter. The universe is a pretty empty place! Empty like the little pot of yoghurt from the human…

Planet Earth is blue. And there’s nothing I can do.

“Space Oddity” – David Bowie

 

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Jimi’s Odyssey

New toys! I had a secret “bucket list” for buying synthesizers I really wanted. Recently I could finish off the list with placing orders for the ARP 2600 and the ARP Odyssey. ARP Instruments, Inc. was an American manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. Unfortunately, the company was declared bankruptcy in May 1981. In 2015, some ARP instruments were revived by Korg. 

The ARP Odyssey, an analog synthesizer introduced in 1972, arrived today at my home. There were several versions of the Odyssey over the years, and it was reissued by Korg in early 2015, in cooperation with the original designer and ARP co-founder, David Friend. As always, Jimi was very interested to see what was in the box. But he preferred to go for a walk outside in the garden and to the bedroom for a nap afterwards.

And introducing in the photograph, the new guardian of my electronic devices, a retro tin robot from a Berlin shop. I call him Metal Pete, in analogy to the classic John Foxx song ‘Metal Beat’ from his legendary 1980 album ‘Metamatic’. Metal Pete is very terrifying, he doesn’t feel anything, especially not mercy. It looks like nothing can stop Pete, except rust, perhaps.

Meanwhile, Jimi was grounded for a long time. He found several ways to break out of the garden (via espaliers, the roof of my pavilion, and various trees). The cat-friendly fence doesn’t seems to be working for him. Jimi managed to get back in my garden after wandering around in the gardens of my neighbours. Unfortunately, one day I got a call from one of my neighbours. Jimi was stuck in their garden and I had to catch him quick because they have 2 dogs; one is a mean big dog, from the breed that likes to hunt terrorists. This is such a shame. Mr. Bowie never tried to get out of the garden in 10 years time and was happy with the area he had to wander around. It shows that all cats are different. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to explain this new situation to Jimi (the adventurer & acrobat) and he doesn’t seems to be happy after going outside for 5 weeks. It was so great spending time outside with Mr. Bowie all those years. I’m afraid it’s going to be very difficult and unpleasant to do this without Jimi.

Oh, stop whining, you human! There are worse things in life; like queues for food in democratic and civilised countries, recurring police brutality and crazy lying politicians all over the world. Snap out of it, get yourself another espresso and watch some clips of the amazing Sarah Cooper! It’s a mad world out there…

Update: I’m letting Jimi out again with a new strategy. He can go for a walk in the morning (around 7 AM) before he gets his breakfast. After a while he comes back inside because he’s hungry. The rest of the day he has to stay inside. He seems to accept the new situation. Thank goodness.

I want to thank you with all my heart. All your heartwarming comments in the Teared Up A Little Bit post made me feel better and helped me get through this empty and sad day. I sincerely apologise for not replying to your comments.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Watching the Detective

What’s up, Doc? Cats seems to sense when something is wrong. Jimi noticed strange sounding noises in the neighbourhood and went outside to check it out. It appeared to be my neighbours working in their vegetable garden so everything was safe. Thank goodness there were no idiots, even some morons carrying heavy armer, outside protesting against COVID-19 measures like in other parts of the world.

We’re almost 2 months in lockdown modus. Up to last week my family and friends were all safe and healthy. Unfortunately, recently some friends got sick due to the Corona virus. And an elderly couple in my circle of friends passed away both, in one week time. This is hard and confrontational.

That night, to my surprise, I heard a certain idiot in the U.S. of A. saying his country is doing great compared with some countries in Europe, especially Belgium. Well here are some other facts. Public healthcare in Belgium scores well thanks to its combination of health insurance and social security contributions. Belgium didn’t need to deploy a 1,000-bed hospital ship or set up field hospitals in parks or convention centers. Even during the highest peak almost 50% of the hospital beds with respiratory equipment in the COVID-19 IC units were still available. Why is Belgiums death toll so high? According to Belgian authorities, that’s because the country has chosen a reporting system that differs from pretty much every other country’s method of counting.

Okay, sorry for talking politics. Next post will be about cats and a dead fish. And now if you’ll excuse me, I need an espresso and chocolate. Stay safe and healthy!

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Delta Echo Foxtrot

What’s in the box? Yes! After searching for years to buy a vintage Roland RE-201 Space Echo I finally found one in absolute perfect, near mint condition. The RE-201 Space Echo is an iconic audio effects unit that produces delay and reverb effects and inspired a generation of musicians. It was produced by the Roland Corporation from 1974 to 1990. I used to own one decades ago but sold the unit to buy a digital delay and reverb. Nowadays, a lot of musicians miss the real analog, moody, warm, gritty and unique sound of the Space Echo and they call it “the holy grail piece of equipment”.

I’m so happy that I found this iconic Roland Space Echo at a company in Antwerp, specialised in pro audio equipment and instruments. Anyone with even a passing interest in music production must surely have heard of the Space Echo at some point. Even Jimi was very interested. So I’m a happy musician and Jimi is a happy cat.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Tough Times Part 3

Easter 2020. Well, this is the most weird Easter celebration of my life. All family celebrations and gatherings are canceled. We are now 4 weeks in lock down modus and everyone’s convinced the measures will be extended next week by the National Security Council. But hey, there are also some benefits: empty streets, no traffic jams, no chemtrails, the pandemic has cleaned the polluted skies.

I’m spending a lot of time in the studio during the day and in the evening I’m catching up some series and movies. I recently watched 10 seasons of Larry David’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’. Larry David stars as a fictionalised version of himself in one of the funniest comedy series ever. He also created the television series ‘Seinfeld’, together with Jerry Seinfeld.

Today was a big disappointment. The Easter Bunny, a folkloric figure in this part of the world, didn’t show up to bring me chocolate Easter eggs. I don’t know if it’s related with the Covid-19 situation or Jimi who’s on guard in the garden. After staying inside for months he can now check out the garden. So far, he seems to like it out there and thank goodness, zero escape attempts.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Blue Cat

Feeling blue. Blue Cat Audio is a privately held company based in Paris (France). They develop audio software for musicians and audio professionals. They create real time audio processing plug-ins for computers. I’m using their plug-ins on a regular base. And they also sell beautiful t-shirts too…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.