A few photos over the last few days

Here are a few photos from President's Day weekend, 2-18-12 to 2-20-12

Cell phone shots, not what anybody would call high quality but it does say something ... what is says I don't know.

Lemon Scallops from Frontier Wok in Burbank

A few photos - 2-18-12 evening

It has been said the a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Thank you Gabriela Maria Gutierrez for the use of your cellphone which has flash so I could augment some of my own cell shots.

Ask Mike Franceschini

Ask Mike Franceschini your guitar amp questions.  Just contact him on facebook at http://facebook.com/mike.franceschini1 or from his email noted at the end of this piece.

Who the heck is Mike Franceschini?

Classic Amp is Mike Franceschini. When I count the top amp techs on the planet on one hand Mike is one of those folks.  Mike Franceshini is the guy at the top of my list.  

If I were to list a fraction of the players rigs he takes care of this page would be way too long to display unless you have a 6mb internet connection.  A few of the amp companies Mike has been with are; GT (Groove Tubes), Rivera, VHT, Bogner, Diezel / Salwender,  CAE (Custom Audio Electronics) and is currently the head tech brain trust over at 65amps.

Mike does the repair work for folks like SIR, The Amp Shop, Vintage Gear in Hollywood, Lon Cohen, History For Hire (check out their Vox Book, Mike was deeply involved in the technical aspects of the book), and this is another list that would also go on and on and on.

Mike does repair work, mods, consulting, tour support and just about anything else you can think of when it comes to guitar and bass amps.  (Did I mention that he is THE SVT master?)

You can contact Mike at ampservice@yahoo.com

The slide show below are a few of the shots I have taken over at the shop of some of the amps I found interesting that Mike was working on.  This slide show will be updated on a regular basis.  Click on "more" for the show.

A day at the shop

Many of my friends know that my own shop is in the complex that is known as 65 Amps.  I am one of the folks that are in this tone haven that is not only where 65 Amps produces their amps but is also the home of Colossal Cable ( http://www.colossalcable.com/ ) and a development home for folks like Simon Higgs (pretty amazing pedals and designs).  Mike Franceschini is the head tech over at 65 Amps during the day and his own shop, Classic Amp is within walking distance down the street.  As a side note, Mike has worked for more amp companies than I can begin to list ... Rivera, VHT, Bogner .... the list goes on and on.  He is a personal tech to many big names, a player himself and maintains the classic collections of folks like Lon Cohen Studio Rentals, History for Hire, SIR, Center Staging and others.  Yeah ... he is my favorite tech.

The complex changes for the most part every day.  Different folks come in and out and the compliment of equipment is always in flux.  There are always some great classic amps and guitars around as Dan Boul brings pieces from his personal vintage collection into the shop on a rotating basis.  I think his newest amp is from 1971 as a side note.

Having my own shop in the 65 Amps complex and acting as a consultant for them allows me to see what is going on and watch the development of new products.  From time to time I take a few minutes and take some snapshots of the activities over at the shop.  These shots are generally sent in real time to facebook, twitter, google buzz, diggit, stumble upon and about 30 other places as one touch of the send button on my phone is all it takes.

So .... here are some of the shots that I took today that I have in their own flickr album so I could have this little slideshow below.  It all started today when I was pleased to see the sound booth where amps go through their final QA testing back in place after the booth spent time at 2012 Winter NAMM.

Click on "read more" for the show.

Things we said (did) today

For some reason, when I started to think about the subject of this post a song that was always a favorite of mine by The Beatles became the title of this post.  The text below is from one of my flickr albums:

My friend Kerri is a professional product photographer. Kerri photographs things like furniture, light fixtures, and shoots food photos for some food publications. She has a studio in Toluca Lake California. She is also one heck of a chef. Kerri and I share a number of friends and some of the folks reading this are friends and colleagues with her on various social media sites or work with her. 

Kerri has an office manager / assistant, Gabriela. Gabriela is also a photographer, graphic artist and is involved a bit in the fashion industry (yet does not complain about my lack of fashion sense). 

We share some activities at times and since I typically write about or photograph via my cell many activities I was asked by Gabriela to put some of this in one place. I guess this will be the place. I will also have this set up as an ongoing and updated slide show in a blog post as I already have a lot of info there. 

The order of this may initially be out of sequence but I will try to arrange things properly with the most recent activity first when time permits.


Click on "read more" for the slideshow.

Tamales to Microphones. Legal Antics to Art

The day in photos and commentary.

From tamales to classic microphones. From legal antics to art. Thanks to Clyde Beswick at CB1 gallery, Kerri Cambell, my son Jack, the folks at Mezz, Gabriela, Keith, the folks in all the bands during the evening and everybody in the sessions last night.

The day started early as I had to have my son at jury duty at 8:30am.  I planned to only spend part of the day with him but as my interest grew in the antics of the court system I deceided to stay the remainder of the day.

About 9:30am there was a break so we had something for breakfast.  This photo is deceptive.  These tamales are about a foot long.

Many more photos below with a bit of dialogue

It's Casual-The Red Line

Combining music with thoughts about L.A. traffic. This is one area where heavy rock and metal are a total match.

New Year's Eve Dinner

A little late on the post but here is dinner from New Year's Eve.

Thanks to Natalie for the dinner.  Thanks to my son for the shots during dinner as his cellphone has a flash and mine does not.

Jack at the range 1-8-12

Jack at the range 1-8-12, originally uploaded by myles111us.
What has been happening over the last week or so?  Feel free to click on the photo for more information.

Great way to start 2012

Great way to start 2012, originally uploaded by myles111us.

What has been happening the last week or so