Strange Things Are Happening by Richard Norris

 So, I just recently finished this book by Richard Norris called "Strange Things are Happening."

I first learned of Richard after I bought the album "Evolver" by his band The Grid (sometimes just posted as Grid).

After reading the liner notes I had a bit of a "huh?" moment. The two names (Dave Ball from Soft Cell) on this CD were the same names on another project I had been listening to, Jack The Tab.

Which was a UK acid house project formed by Genesis P-Orridge (s/he is her/e).

This is a really great book about Richard's journey through life and music, and transformation on reflection and healing.

What I really thought was amazing is the fact that almost every band/musician he mentions, was friends with, or worked with were artists I liked or was already listening to without knowing he was in the mix until reading this book. Every chapter, for me, had a "well I'll be..." moment at least once.

First, it starts off with him meeting up with Bill Drummond who is famous for the group KLF/JAMs, etc. Which was a group I was big into from maybe 1990. 

From that first chapter I knew I was in for good read.

You can find the book on Amazon, listen to Richard read in on Audible, or even get the signed Book/CD edition from his Bandcamp.

I'm not good at writing reviews, but trust me, if you grew up through the late 70's into 80's listening to punk music and Zine culture then through the 90's getting into dance music and raves then this is the book for you.

As of the end of this post I am currently listening to "Waffle Stomp" by Joe Walsh from the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" soundtrack. Available from Amazon.

TB-303 Acid Shoes...

 So, back in August 2010 I got the idea to design a tribute shoe for the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer.
Shortly after designing these I posted them on Twitter & Facebook. Later, the Synth blog Matrixsynth contacted me about getting him pics and he'd do a post about them, here's his post.

I bought one of these silver acid boxes back in 1997, got to use it for just over a year and then it quit on me. I still have it laying around just in case I find soembody worthy of looking at it / fixing it. Oh yeah, then there's coming up with money to fix it. I could prolly sell it to soembody and they could pay to get it fixed, maybe do soem crazy Devil Fish mods to it.
I currently have it up for auction on Ebay.

In 1998 I bought a 303 clone and Novation Super Bass Station and was able to emulate the 303 pretty damn well, but nothing will ever replace the sounds it produced.
One album that uses the 303 to its fullest, or may well abuse it, is "TB Resuscitation" by Hardfloor.
A fine example of Acid Techno.

These shoes are available at Zazzle and have been a big hit in places like Belgium, UK, Italy, Germany, and France.
I've only sold two pair in the USA... SF & NOLA.

As of the end of this post I am currently listening to "Hard To Survive" by Zoetrope from the album "A Life Of Crime" released in 1987. A metal band from Chicago.