Drums, Flutes, Expensive Chairs and Shiny Floors

sorry been a bit slow at updating the blog, been busy working hard and then for the last two days chilling on the beach, (oh its a hard life). anyway i will do a bit of a catch up.

the days heading up to the trip out to Hawaii were spent preparing all of the instruments and doing up the house.



we cut the wooden shells that i talked about in the other blog to make the drum frames then beveled and sanded the edges. then had to cut the drum skins from a really foul smelling elk hide. i hope he wasn't this smelly when he was alive or he would really not have any luck with the lady elk's, i don't think even a whole can of Lynx could make this guys funk bearable. then after punching the whole and threading through the sinew it has to be tighten and left to dry. you can see what the finished product looks like in the pictures.



finished off loads of flutes, and packed them all up.




another project was to work on sorting out Guillermo's front room. we filled in the gaps in the floor boards with this really toxic putty that stunk the whole place out and makes you real light headed. reading the back of the tin after we had finished it said the fumes can lead to brain damage, probably lost a few brain cells. lucky i got my first already.
we got in this industrial sander and professional wood sealer and finish looks pretty sweet. also went to this massive lumberyard warehouse and chose some wood for the molding, they had a pretty impressive array of hardwoods, however i'm not sure how ethically they are sourced.





here is the finished thing after the last coat of finish.



Guillermo got a really pimped out chair for fathers day which cost $2500. its a vintage design which I'm informed is so good its in a museum in Paris. he was so happy with it but was very cautious in letting anyone else sit in it.




just quickly here is a couple of random pics. some funky old school tools and a cow foot, looks tasty, yum yum hoofy. oh and sad news the one eyed pirate chicken(rooster face) didn't look so good so he was executed, even after i offered to make him an eye patch. we got a new rooster but he is getting bossed about by the old hens. he really needs to man up and show them who's boss.




that's it for now i will add in the Hawaii stuff later.

Drum frames, Tree Warrior and Crosbys

Took a trip to Anderson International to pick up some shells to make drum frames from. Anderson's sell the shells to Kellar who make all the shells for Gretsh, Tama, and most of the big drum kit manufactures. the warehouse was massive and they do cool colored Plexiglas shells which would look great with lights inside (hint hint ed!!!)




The next day was pretty cloudy which i was informed is the first time this has happened in months, however it all of a sudden didn't seem to different from the weather in postbridge. we went down to Home Depot which is like a turbo B@Q where you feel like a dwarf walking through these massive shelves of power tools, everything in America is so big, i think they must be compensating for some insecurities. anyway we picked up this nasty looking pole saw which should be labeled 'The Devastator' and i got up on the roof to cut back the trees. i was like some kind of tree surgeon ninja, no tree was safe from my Leafal attack.




after we had finished off making the flute stands, headed off to Santa Ana to this place that i had been wanting to go to in ages, its a small restaurant/bar/bookshop/art gallery called Crosby's run by the guy behind the band 'Free the Robots' and a couple of his friends, inside they have loads of beaten up old ghetto blasters on the walls and some funky artwork. saw a couple of DJ's their the first one was wicked, playing all kinds of eclectic stuff, then some rude boy got on and was playing some really gash rap songs and didn't have a clue how to mix them. leading to some very awkward silences.

anyway got to get back to work, if i get a chance later i will give you a tour of 'The Shire' before i head out to Hawaii.

First 48 Hours

Here's a few pics of the trip 48 hours in



Exeter Bus Station at 1am, packed and ready to go.



how cool is this. you can play poker and space invaders on the plane as well as watch some really bad American sitcoms, the script writers seemed to miss out the comedy thought.



First meal in the US, in the George Bush Airport in Texas



the mega hardcore one eyed rooster that fought off a raccoon a day before i arrived



Elliot, the world's coolest dog




Guillermo the master at work, we spent the day making flute stands in preparation for flying out to Hawaii for a sales show. before heading down to Laguna beach to swim in some massive waves.

The Quest Begins.......

America Hell Yeah!!!!
been traveling for 20 hours now got as far as Texas and the hideously named George Bush airport.very sleep deprived and not really sure how I'm stealing internet from the "technical operations" wifi channel at the airport.

i heard a new joke from a newly wed american couple on the plane, i think he regretted telling me it because it sparked a bad joke off and i gave him a verbal smack down as they say over here 'he got served' anyway here it is.

Q: what is the favorite meal of a British nuclear power technician?

A: Fusion Chips

they had cool touchscreen monitors in the seats with movies and games on and i played a lot of space invaders on the 10 hour flight. sadly their film choice was a bit dire no sign of 'snakes on a plane', 'final destination' or 'con-air'.

i will do another post with some pics soon, this internet is to dodgy to upload at the moment.

cheers Leafy