STANDARD DEVIATION at EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY 9/26/09

We played at Eastern Oregon University on Saturday September 26 for a pre-game "tailgater" party. Pictured above is our new banner. When we play at smaller venues, it will hang from my keyboard. Thanks to Sally Gregory for all these photos!

It was a pretty warm day. It might have only been about 85, but out on the concrete and with no shade, it got pretty darned warm!

Snave rips into some gnarly riffs.

Joel keeps the beat.

Joel and John keep an eye on guitarist Jon, who is off to the right somewhere, undoubtedly laying into a nasty guitar solo!

L to R: Mike Gregory on bass, John Snave Evans on keyboards and singing, Joel Goldstein on drums and singing, and Jon White on guitar!

Hmmm, my brain cells must be a-goin'. I have to have that music stand with the songbook in front of me in order to remember the words to songs, even if I've sung them a thousand times... sigh... Now what did I say my name was? 8-)>

Jon contributes in a major way to what I think is becoming our band's signature sound. He is loads of fun to have in the band! Except for when his solos are so good that the rest of us forget what we're doing! 8-)>

Mike gets better and better on the bass all the time. I don't know if he is aware of how much he has improved since he took up the instrument about five years ago. (Has it really been that long?) He can play pretty much anything he tries nowadays.

This may be one of those songs where I tend to want to speed up. I like being placed right by Joel, because it helps me with the tempo!

Joel is "the rock" of Standard Deviation

This was such a good picture I put it in here twice.

Growlin' and snarlin'

Thumpin' away in grand style

Mike and John

Hmmm, now what kind of guitar is Jon playing? That's right, you don't know, because you have never seen one before! It's one of a kind, created by Jon's brother Dan! And Jon makes it sounds really, really great!

A splendid time was had by all! There aren't any shots of the crowd, which would have been behind Sally and to the right in this picture. I'd guess about 60-90 people were there, enjoying good food and conversation prior to the football game against University of Montana-Northern (which the EOU Mountaineers won 45-14, by the way!)

We will play for another of these pre-game functions on Saturday, October 17.

We are working on some new material, including some original songs by yours truly. Those will be fun! Other songs you might know of that we're working on include "Green Onions" by Booker T. and the MG's, and "I've Got a Line on You" by Spirit.

After the Oct. 17 tailgater, our next job is Thursday December 3 at Ten Depot Street in La Grande. If you live around this area, come on out and hear us sometime!

THIS BLOG MUST DIE (AT LEAST IN ITS PRESENT FORM)

This blog won't actually die, but it won't be about politics or religion any more. If there is something that makes my blood boil, you won't be too likely to read about it here.

Given the current amounts of stress I have going on with job issues and family life, I don't need to add to things. And given what happened with the last post, which has since been taken down at the request of an individual who very correctly complained in a comment about it, I'm a bit more stressed than usual.

My apologies to any of you who like to come here for political rants, diatribes about fundamentalism, etc. Because I want this to be a place I like coming to, I would also like it to be a relaxing place. No arguing, no overwhelming negativity.

Thus, you will be seeing more posts about the band I'm in, about my cats, some things about my family, reviews of books or movies I like, some sports talk, some personal observations. And if you find you have to argue with me about those things, that's fine. I only ask that you just leave the politics and religion out of it. Because I will be doing my best on that front.

Within the next week or so, I will have expunged many of my 1,558 posts which represent things I no longer wish to view on my blog, or which might represent copyright infringement in any way, shape or form. If you want to go back through the archives, there probably won't be much left! But there will still be enjoyable things in there, should you decide to look.

But that's o.k.

It's o.k. because there are so many things in life to celebrate, so many things to treasure! I can stay politically active by doing the things that really matter: e-mailing or phoning my elected representatives, participating in my local Democratic Party's activities, writing an occasional letter to the editor... Those are things that will have a more immediate effect on things than this blog ever would have, given its limited readership.

I love all of you, and I thank those of you who have been faithful readers. I will still be here, but I've simply decided to slow down, take a deep breath, and... relax!

And I'll continue to show up at your blogs, and I will probably rant once in a while!

Cheers,

Snave

The next post here will be of some pictures from our band's performance at an Eastern Oregon Univeristy football game "tailgater" party today. It was hot and sunny, and everyone had a great time!

A BOOK, A CD AND A MOVIE

For those of you unfamiliar with Aaron Elkins' books, he has written 15 featuring Gideon Oliver, also known as "The Skeleton Detective". Gideon solves mysteries using his forensic anthropology skills, often with the help of his wife Julie and/or his friend John Lau. Each book takes the reader to an interesting locale. "Uneasy Relations" takes place in Gibraltar, as Gideon stumbles into yet another sticky situation. How is the murder mystery solved? By looking at skeletons, of course! Elkins' books have enough scientific information in them to make them a lot more than fluff. The books tend to have substance, the dialogue is witty, and the stories are well-plotted. "Uneasy Relations" is simply another good entry in an excellent series. Being a big Elkins fan, I'd rate this one at 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Speaking of excellent, I am thoroughly enjoying the new Yo La Tengo release, "Popular Songs". YLT may be an acquired musical taste for many, but this listener believes they do little wrong. Like on their previous release (the wonderfully-titled "I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass"), YLT serves up all kinds of music. Some numbers are stark and minimally arranged, some are ambient, some contain elements of Motown, some have strings, some are uptempo and some are down. In the first nine trackes, the band veers from pop to rock to soul to other things altogether. The last three numbers are 9, 11 and 15 minutes long and are more like background music than the first nine. I liked their previous CD a bit better, but this one is also good and continues their tradition of making creative sounds. I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars, but that's just me. Nonetheless, this one was still in Amazon.com's top 100 bestsellers last I looked, so maybe I am not alone when it comes to YLT.

And speaking of creative... heh... Mrs. Snave and I went to see "Inglourious Basterds" yesterday. It was a very interesting movie. There were several scenes which seemed to last forever but were captivating due to their intensity. One involved a Nazi officer looking for Jews in the French countryside, and another was a barroom scene with undercover agents trying to avoid blowing their cover. The grand finale is "alternate history" of sorts, and probably represents a way in which many people around the world would have loved seeing the Third Reich come to an end. As with most Quentin Tarantion films, the violence is frequent and it is graphic. Leave your kids at home for this one. Also, following moments of seriousness there are sudden comic outbursts including silly graphics or in one instance, Brad Pitt trying to speak Italian in his Tennessee accent. I'd give it 3.5 or 4 stars out of 5.

THE TUXEDO TWINS

Phinney and Neko