Yongi.org is going dark shortly to protest the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation.

If you don’t know what the heck this is all about about, watch this video from Fight For The Future that explains PIPA quite well.

There’s lots more information at Wikipedia, too. Or just enjoy this Downfall redub which is actually quite educational.

You can also view this infographic from Stop American Censorship, which might be a little simplistic, but it covers the key things you need to know.

We’ll be back on Thursday, assuming blogging isn’t illegal by then.

That ought to keep you warm over the holidays. Get it? Insulation? Warm? Ha! I kill me!

Then, in about 2003 the bug bit me anew and I started making music again. Partly this was because Apple introduced Garageband, which meant affordable technology had finally caught up with me and I could write and record at home, easily and on the cheap, without having to drag myself through the aggravation and disappointment of dealing with other people. And so the lloyd-tones^* were born. But why insist on acting like there was a band when there wasn’t? Why not just release stuff under my own name (a la Tom Waits or Bruce Springsteen, etc.)? It’s mostly because I’m an old Minutemen-style punk rocker at heart and not a screaming egotist, I reckon. There are probably other reasons, but that’s likely the key one.

This nomenclature decision also informs my approach to making music. What that really means is that, though I’ve theoretically got an infinite sonic palette available to me through the wonders of technology, I have (and will continue to) approach writing and recording as through I possessed only a (reasonably) limited suite of instruments, amplifiers and effects. The outcome of this should be that any given album produced by “the lloyd-tones” will sound like it was made by an actual, honest-to-goodness band and not some jerk in a studio who doesn’t care about the possibility of ever needing to reproduce the music live. This is, of course, a personal taste issue (kind of like how I prefer Rubber Soul ad Revolver to Sgt. Pepper ) and not a grand insight into the world of music. But it works for me.

Unfortunately, since it really is just lil’ ol’ me doing everything (and reporting to no one), the pace of production can be painfully slow. Witness the fact that there’s really just one six-song EP and a handful of “singles” available. But hey, genius moves at its own pace. So, it turns out, does sub-genius.

^*“But why the lloyd-tones?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s a funny story with a lot of variables. But let’s leave it at the fact that “Lloyd” means “grey-haired” in Welsh and this is my “old man band.”

The one connection I still feel like I maintain with Kerouac is our mutual love of rich & imaginary baseball worlds. I alluded to this earlier (in the post on baseball proper, not the one on imaginary baseball). If you’re not familiar with Kerouac’s baseball game (and the obsessive records he kept of it), you should probably google it. It’s absolutely riveting stuff (if you’re the sort to be riveted by such things) and tells more about the author than – possibly – anything he ever wrote or was written about him.

Actually, I’m lying. There’s one other connection I still share w/ Jack. I, too, love cats. I just don’t have any anymore because I live with birds. No offense to the birds, but I do miss having a cat around.

Then I remembered Ibanez. Historically, they haven’t produced the type of axe that interested me (too flashy & metal! & aggrofunky), but my first guitarist had an Ibanez strat-equivalent that seemed solid (and affordable, for the 80s, anyway). So I figured I’d check them out. By sheerest coincidence (or perhaps due to cosmic intelligence intervention?) I started looking just as Ibanez launched the Jetking II.

The Jetking I had come out a year earlier and was generally well regarded, but it was not quite right for me (somewhat junky tuners, basswood body, thin neck). The JTKII on the other hand, is perfect. It’s got a solid mahogany body, a nice & thick one-piece neck, and solid tuners. Both models feature dual humbuckers that can be coil-tapped to act like single-coil pickups, giving me solid sonic versatility (fender sound, check. gibson sound, check). It’s a highly functional, solidly-built, axe that a ham-handed bassist like me can use without struggling. And I love it. The looks are sharp, too. It’s a great sunburst with miles of tortoise shell pickguard for that extra classy touch.

I did wind up picking up a used JTKI as well, in the cool (and somewhat rare) blue color. It called to me from eBay, and though I’m far from being a guitar collector, I really felt I needed to own an original Jetking, too. Call me a sucker if you must.

After the original run of the JTKII Ibanez started mucking with perfection, first by going to lame colors and then by dropping the coil-tapping. In other words, as my friend Gary would say, “They ruint it!” But that doesn’t matter at all to me. My Jetkings are, quite possibly, the only guitars I’ll ever need. Unless someone wants to buy me a Jazzmaster or a Gibson Firebird…

^*This is where I note that I am actually – by training, trade and disposition – a bassist first and foremost. And no object in the world is more precious to me than my beloved P-Bass (more on her a little later on). But dayum, this guitar is awesome.