Live Music: Quincy and Steve Reynolds

January 18, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Last night I finally rid myself of a month long absense from live music, heading out to the Hotel Cafe in order to see Steve Reynolds. I don't know if it's just that I'm starting to go on heavier nights, but each time I go to the Hotel it seems like its more and more crowded. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing -- the Hotel's an amazing place and it's great to see it doing so well -- but the crowd does make things a little less convenient. Kathy and I showed up around 10, and the doorman was having to not let anyone more in until some of the crowd from Coby Brown cleared out. It was packed for Quincy, and then we managed to get seats at a table for Steve's set. Moral of the story? Go early, stake a claim, and enjoy a full night of music.

But on to the music...

Steve was on at 11, so we got there in time for the 10pm, which was Quincy. I knew it was going to be a good night when I saw that Cisco DeLuna was playing with her. I first saw Cisco playing with Steve a couple years ago, and his lap steel has mesmerized me ever since. Quincy has a powerful voice and a sharp stage presence. The clips available off her site give a pretty good feel for what the live show sounds like. I especially enjoyed Afraid. Quincy would do this lateral head move a lot that I thought was pretty hot. When I was a freshman we called the corresponding front-to-back motion the pigeon. I guess hers would qualify as a sideways-pigeon.

Steve Reynolds played at 11, and it was a little bit of a throw-back show. Cisco (along with the drummer and bassist from Quincy's band) stayed up to play. That was definitely cool, since it'd been a while since I'd seen Steve and Cisco together. Steve's vibrating leg was back in high gear, which it hadn't been the last few times I saw him. And then, to top it all off, he played an instrumental Passport of a Minstrel at the end. When Steve plays instrumental, I go into shock. He and Rodney Branigan are the two guitarists I've ever seen that just make me sit there shaking my head in awe.

Friday I'm planning to head back to the Hotel to catch Jim Bianco and Pedestrian.

new screenshot

January 16, 2004 by Eric Richardson

It's almost been a year since I last put up a screenshot, so I figured it was about time for me to get on top of things. This one's pretty scaled down... full size it was 12800x1024. Click on the image of just head over to /linux/.

that reminds me of a joke...

January 15, 2004 by Eric Richardson

ESPN's top story image caption after our upset of Arizona:

Wow. That line's so bad, yet so funny, that it reminds me of one of my favorite jokes:

A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel attached to his crotch. The bartender looks at him and says, "Hey... Did you know you've got a steering wheel attached to your crotch?"

The pirate looks at him in that pirate way and says, "Arrrr! It's drivin' me nuts!"

completed

January 15, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I took the long way between classes today. I wanted to see people I knew, and the more people I walk past, the more chance I have to run into them. I'd say it's chilly out, but really it's about 65, so I don't think that would fly. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt, I wished for a half-sleeve.

I feel like a student this semester. I'm a week in, and I haven't skipped a class. You would think that's not an accomplishment, but then you wouldn't know me.

the fickle crowds

January 15, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I'm sitting at the Annenberg patio, just enjoying the weather and getting a little work done. A girl across the way is talking on her cell phone. "Do you want to go to the basketball game? It's the number seven team." She probably hasn't been to another game this year. Maybe she'll come again when we play Stanford, and to the UCLA game. That would probably be about it.

USC is a football school, obviously. You would like to think, though, that a football school would still be able to garner a decent amount of support for its basketball team. That's not the case here. Sure, USC's team has struggled this year and last, and the students I talk to are definitely aware of that. Beyond, though, they know very little. They care very little. We're not good so they're not going.

At the last game before Christmas break someone got pissed at D4 and me for standing during the game. In the student section. That's ridiculous. Show some pride, people. If you're going to go to a game, show some support. Otherwise, don't come, and I won't miss you.

no free publicity

January 15, 2004 by Eric Richardson

So yesterday I spent a couple hours hanging out on campups, signing people up for the waterski/wakeboard club. Someone from the Daily Trojan came by and took my picture, so I figured there was a fair chance of getting in today's issue. How odd to instead take a look and find that they used a picture of D4, my roomate.

never an end...

January 15, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I noticed the other day that all of a sudden a lot of spam (6-8 messages per day) was getting through SpamAssassin and getting to me. I get a lot of spam, but usually SA does a really good job in filtering it out and keeping it from my eyes.

The spam that's been getting through appears to be part of one campaign that's intent on tricking SA's HABEAS_SWE check. I had never heard of that, so I looked into it. Apparently Habeas is a company that gives their headers to companies that warrant their email is legitimate. They're well aware that someone has been forging their mark.

I'm upgrading SA to 2.6.1, which should be able to check Habeas's blacklist before believing their mark, so hopefully that'll put a stop to this, at least where I'm concerned.

more on the computer front

January 14, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I'm still working on getting things back up to speed on the new drive. I haven't gotten anywhere with data recovery, but it is nice to have up-to-date versions of all the libs.

Last night I got Evolution syncing with my phone via MultiSync (which I've mentioned before). In Evolution I can manage todos, calendar info, and my contacts, and then sync them all to the phone via Bluetooth. It's very slick stuff.

Right now I'm working on getting my soundcard working under ALSA. I've used the OpenSound drivers forever, but now that ALSA's the sound standard in 2.6 it's time to make the change.

welcome to 9am

January 14, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Sitting in 9am discussion for REL131. We have a Dr. for a TA, which is a change of pace. He's the Episcopalian chaplain on campus, and is TA'ing the course because apparently the Religion department has a lack of doctorate students at the moment.

Right now we're talking about plagarism. I've got a little experience with that... USC likes to talk about how it can be plagarism even if you're copying yourself. I've always found that funny.

ah, the days of being a freshman

January 13, 2004 by Eric Richardson

This semester I'm making up a few gen-ed classes I passed up when I first started here at USC. I really didn't want to take them the first time through -- so I didn't -- and I really don't desire all too much to take them now.

GE classes aren't like other classes. They think you're a Freshman, so they're strict. Strict attendance policies, mandatory discussion sections, pop quizes... GEs have them all.

I'm in Religions of Asia right now (both for the semester, and as I write this). If you follow that link and click through to the requirements, you'll find that they "tolerate" one discussion section absense. Well isn't that generous...

I used to tolerate being a student. It was one of those things I had to do -- and I guess it still is -- but now I'm just ready to be done. I want to get out into the world, to do something cool.

How am I supposed to do anything cool when I'm stuck in a room on a Wednesday morning with a bunch of freshman talking about the stuff that we've already gone over in the lecture?

mmmm wireless

January 13, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Sitting waiting for class to start... This class is BISC 230: Brain, Mind, and Machines. Hopefully this will go short so that I can go get some food. I loved not starting until 12:30 today. I got up around 9:30, read about 30 pages in Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. I'm on page 300 or so at this point, so I won't write anything about it until I finish. At about 915 pages, that could be a little while. So I read a little, messed around on the computer for a while, and then got ready around 11:45. All in all a relaxing morning.

make to the routine

January 13, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Classes start today. I basically have just Tuesday/Thursday classes again this semester (minus one discussion on Wednesday morning), and today I don't start until 12:30. Granted my day today does run until 10pm, though. My classes today: Brain, Mind, and Machine: Topics in Neuroscience, Writing 340 (Advanced Writing for Social Science), Religions of Asia, and History of the American Film, 1977-Present. You know, actually that's all of my classes.

I need to figure out a new routine for having my laptop battery charged up going into my 6pm class. I either need to not use it much in the classes before, or find an outlet during one of my classes. My only real break today is 5:30 - 6, and that's not going to be enough for anything more than a bite to eat.

I'm trying to figure out if Toshiba even sells a second battery for the Satellite A10. I can't seem to find one. They sell the primary battery for $100, though, so that might not be a bad idea to pick that up and just carry a spare to swap in.