Houston – Page 27 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Cruising with Vista

Notice: Undefined index: image in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbnail in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: altdesc in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: captiontext in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbid in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: image in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbnail in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: altdesc in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: captiontext in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbid in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

So I fielded my first Windows Vista Q&A for my Helpline Blog over at the Houston Chronicle.

It’s pretty lightweight but still, it marks a new era in my computer support time-line. I’m sure it’s the first of many, many more to come.

You can read it here if you’re so inclined.

Those who enjoy vintage American automobiles or know about my Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme should be sure to click the link at the very end of the article.

The Harry Rags – Kinks tribute band

Chase Hamblin

Derek Dunivan

After leaving Notsuoh I headed over to the Continental Club. On the bill for the evening were Von Hindenburg, a Led Zepplin tribute band and another band called The Harry Rags, a Kinks tribute band.

I had seen Von Hindenburg before and was not overly enthused, but I was intrigued by The Harry Rags. As it turns out the two bands have some band members in common, most notably Steve Candaleri who drums for both bands and Derik Dunivan (Willie “punkdaddy” Dunican’s kid) who plays keyboard, guitar and sings for The Harry Rags and is the singer (aka Robert Plant) for Von Hindenburg.

I must say, I was rather impressed by the performance of The Harry Rags. They not only performed all the classics like “Lola” and “You Really Got Me” but they also dug deep into the Kinks repertoire and pulled out some rather obtuse songs like the one that obviously inspired the band name.

It was a great show and only at two points did I experience any distress.

The first twinge was brought on when I was discussing with a friend the fact that the members of this tribute band (with the possible exception of Steve Candelari) were not even born when these songs were written.

The second twinge was brought on when they started playing “Picture Book” and a young woman in the audience declared that they were playing that song from that cool HP commercial…

Best shot of the show is this one of Derek Dunivan:

Click for full size!

Many more in the gallery

Orange Is In

Amy Price

—

Found my way to Notsuoh to catch Orange Is In. My friends Amy Price and Jeff Balke are members.

I thought it would be a larf to catch some pics of Jeff but, as luck would have it, he was standing in the one spot on the stage that was not well illuminated. Ah, well….such are the vagaries of concert photography.

The above photo of Amy is my favorite of the evening. Here are two of the front man, George Kovacik, that came out pretty well.

The Bald Heretic

Jay Lee - The Bald Heretic

Click for full size

Cynthia and I were having lunch at the original Star Pizza and we were discussion wide angle lenses. I handed her my camera with the Sigma 20mm 1.8 to show her how close you can get with a good wide angle. She snapped a shot and, well…I like it so I’m posting it.

The El Orbits

Click to see full size image

The El Orbits line-up has changed for 2007.

David Beebe has taken a hiatus from the band to have surgery on his throat and will be spending the next few months recuperating. After that he’s off to Marfa, TX to work on another project.

Thomas Escalante, front man for Clouseaux and lead singer for the Houston based ska phenomenon, The Suspects, has stepped into the role.

Other changes include guitar sensation Jim Henkel (The Musical Find of the 90’s) hanging up his ax and moving into the role of keyboardist while Allen “King of the Oldies” Hill picks up the bass and Allison Fisher take over as lead guitarist and also lends her unique vocal stylings to the mix.

Steve Begnoche and Eric Hughes stay in their role of alternating drummers and I’m not sure where Landis Armstrong fits into this new mix. Probably still the pickup guitarist when the band plays Austin and other outlying areas.

The El Orbits have always been one of my favorite bands. Beyond that, they have been Cynthia’s all time favorite local band. She even likes them more than MY band, The Flying Fish Sailors!

Cynthia had not seen the new El Orbits and therefore had not rendered a verdict on the new line-up. That changed a few Fridays back when the band played a rare Friday night public gig at The Big Top. I say rare because The El Orbits are a wedding and private party machine, only breaking this pattern every Monday night at the Continental Club from 9-Midnight and I we’re just not a go out on Monday night kinda couple.

The show was really good. Even though the band had not played in public very many times in this configuration, you could hardly tell it by the way it sounded. This new incarnation of the band is strong, stong, STRONG.

If you’re a get out on Monday night kinda person, I strongly recommend checking ’em out!

Experimentation

I’m processing several hundred images. I’m not nearly done but while I was going through my shots of The Aqua Velva, one picture in particular caught my attention and I started tweaking it in Photoshop:

Click image for full size

I didn’t do much. The motion blur and contrast was pre-existing and I simply expanded upon that. I used a noise filter to clean up some of the roughness and give it an smoother overall texture and amped up the color just a little.

Brrrrr

Yea, I know. We Texans don’t really know the meaning of the word “COLD” down here. Still, temperatures hovering near freezing with a goodly amount of precipitation and we’re practically crippled. It’s not even a beautiful winter wonderland or anything. Just cold and wet and partially frozen.

Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I am home and warm. Drinking some Ethiopian Sidamo coffee freshly ground from the local Starbucks as I telecommute to work today via Citrix.

Took the camera into the yard to shoot a few pics, so that’s a plus.

Sony Alpha 100
Lens: Sony 50mm 1.4

Click any image to see the full size version.

Elementary penguin singing Hare Khrishna

There’s something about Beetle that compels me to shoot them in black and white. You can always see them in color each Thursday night at the Houston Continental Club during happy hour from 7-10pm.

I’m really enjoying the fast wide angle lens.

Beetle
Sony Alpha 100
Lens: Sigma 20mm f/1.8

click for larger image