Autobots, Deploy!

From the death of Lan Daotian springs new life, a new project with Jeff Orcutt on guitar and Jon Kelly on bass. These guys are great musicians and we're experimenting with some new sounds and ideas. I've been jamming with them weekly at Tuesday Open Mic for many months now, though the three of us have only just begun practicing together. The result has been awesome.

Our crowning achievement thus far has been mastering Iambic 9 Poetry, by Squarepusher. Here's the original for your reference, so you can fully appreciate how awesome we are.

Our band name for now is Autobots, Deploy!. That's a Transformers reference, i've been told. I once had an Optimus Prime action figure as a child, and i'm pretty sure it was great, until i broke it's arm off. I moved on from Transformers and never looked back, so the reference is a little lost on me. However, the Chinese have gone nuts for the new Transformers movie, so maybe the name was a smart marketing move.

We have our first gig coming up at What Bar next week. Milan Alex, one of my friends in Shanghai, heard about it and asked me . Here is our conversation in its entirety, with only minor changes and spelling corrections.

milankalex: which bar?

me: why?

milankalex: i'm asking what's the name of the bar

me: yeah, it is.

milankalex: no tell me the name of the bar

me: what bar

milankalex: the bar you're going to saturday

me: correct

milankalex: (this is actually pretty good)

me: what is the name of the bar.

milankalex: what is the street name

me: no, what is the bars name.

milankalex: i'm asking you!

tell me what's the name of the bar, so I can go

me: ok, we'll be at what bar!

milankalex: i hate you!

me: (clap clap clap!)

milankalex: and end!

me: rah rah rah!

milankalex: nice work

me: bravo indeed, that was delightful

milankalex: people are looking at me funny in the office

for laughing at my screen

me: hehehe

I actually started crying from laughter about halfway through.

~Kev

Update: ... and the gig got cancelled. Then rescheduled. Then we cancelled because i'll be in Dalian for a tournament!

Lan Daotian's Last Show

Lan Daotian played it's last show recently, although none of us knew it at the time. It was my third show with them, and our second straight show at Mao Livehouse. I've had a great time getting on stage and playing shows again. I really miss it from my time in Boulder. And my friends came out in big numbers for this one, even though it was late and on a Wednesday. It was also Lincoln's last night in town so once i convinced him to come after his goodbye dinner, he brought 15 others in tow.

The show itself was pretty enjoyable for me. I played well and was rewarded with a few impromptu drum solos. Once we were done and the lights came on, my friends refused to accept the show was over. They made noise and demanded another drum solo. A bit reluctantly, i sat back down and worked up another performance for them. They, in turn, worked up a performance for me too.

Presenting, My Rediculous Friends.

-featuring Jim, Joe, Jeff, Lincoln, Tao, Ace and Alica.

WARNING: There is partial nudity in this video. Jeff's breasts are not for the faint of heart.

That. Was. Awesome.

Oh, and the band broke up the next day because the bassist/leader was no longer feeling it so he wrote us all an e-mail saying the band was through and thanks for playing but our services were no longer needed.

Oh well, i guess i have my Saturday's free again!

~Kev

Happy Campers

Our first experience with guiding a camping expedition was an overwhelmingly positive one. It was actually pretty easy, as Ken prepared the food, the schedule, collected the money, and prepped all the gear we would need. Joe and I just sherpa'd (?) that stuff up the mountain and put all that gear to use once at camp. The guides are responsible for carrying up all the cooking supplies, food, tents, water for cooking, etc. Therese was a huge help as she offered to share some of the load. Both our packs were quite full, while some of the campers had nothing but a simple book bag with a few bottles of water in it, probably no more than 7 pounds. Joe and i each had around 45 pounds, certainly more than i had ever carried.

The trek up was not as bad as i expected. I was in front and joe was trailing the group, so i had to set a pace for everyone to follow. Oddly enough, it was a pretty easy hike for me. Being in front, i had the luxury of stopping whenever i wanted. My most comfortable pace is usually rather quick, regardless of the load i'm carrying, and i balance that with frequent, short stops. I'm more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, and slow and steady takes more energy than quick bursts. I always climb stairs two or three at a time, and find it very difficult to walk them.

We were blessed with beautiful weather and easy-going campers. Our group of 11 included four frisbee friends (ace, joe, and margaret), a group of five from Germany plus one chinese girlfriend, and one guy from England. We were lucky everyone was so cool. The seven of them didn't even sleep in the tents we brought up, they just spent the night outside. For many of them, it was their first experience with s'mores as well.

For me and ace, this trip was much needed. We had to get out of Beijing, if only for a night. Reentering nature makes us realize how much we miss Boulder at times, but for me, it also reminds me how beautiful Beijing is inside and beyond the big city.

~Kev