|
Click on any image to see the full version. |  |
The cat:Kinder
Yes, she now has a name! She was one of the stray cats around the apartment complex where I used to live and one night in late September 1997 she decided to follow me home and adopt me. By the time it was clear that nobody else was going to claim her, I was already used to calling her Cat and any "real" name didn't seem right. But then I met Bev, who decided this just wouldn't do, so she came up with the name Kinder and it seems this one just may stick.
 |
  |
 |
| Marvin Marvin came to live with me in late August 1999 when his previous owner couldn't keep him. He's a wonderfully behaved dog and gets along with Kinder very well. Unfortunately I couldn't keep him more than a few months, so he's now back with his sister Blondie, happy as ever. |
  |
Some friends
| Me with my wonderful fiancé, Bev |  |
| Me, Kinder, Bev, Marvin |  |
| James, Tom, Pish, Rich, and Chris, brought together through the miracle of technology. The picture was taken in Sequoia National Park (California) and Grey Rock (Colorado). |  |
| Standing: Steve, me, Todd, Edward Van Halen, (Todd's friend?), Brandon,
Gary Cherone, (Steve's girlfriend), Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen Kneeling: Karen (my sister) Thanks to Bill O'Neill for taking the top picture (Click here to see more of his photos). Thanks to Brad Starks of The Official Van Halen website for the middle picture. The bottom picture was our official Meet 'N' Greet photo. Taken at Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion, Devore, California, July 4, 1998. |
   |
| Me talking with my good buddy Edward Van Halen at the
|
 |
Other pages where you might find me with some friends:
- VHML CON '98 Elevator Escapades
- VHML Bay Area Get-Together 4/Poker Party
- VHML Bay Area Get-Together 5
- VHML LA Trip
February 9, 1997 around 2:30 am. My roommate and I were coming back home from seeing the Star Wars reissue with another friend and were approaching the last stoplight, about 1/2 mile from our apartment. I slowed down, preparing to stop, when the light turned green. So I eased back onto the accelerator, entered the intersection, and BAM! suddenly the vehicle was spinning out of control, airbags deployed, basically complete chaos. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
It turns out some jerk in a brand new Mitsubishi Montero was drunk and on his way home from Taco Bell when he deemed it not necessary to stop for his red light. So in a split second, my beautiful 9-month-old 4Runner was history. Thankfully, my insurance company took care of everything promptly and within a week I was driving a nearly identical 1997 4Runner.
This one looks a little nicer, doesn't it?
As you can see, I'm one of the very few sport utility owners who aren't afraid to leave pavement.
The FrankenRunner
For the October 2 and 3, 1998 Van Halen shows at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, I decided to stripe my 4Runner as I would be driving there. What can I say, it's a Van Halen thing...
|
|
|
The '97 4Runner Lays Down
Click here to see damage done to my second 4Runner on November 26, 2005. Not as bad as the '96, but still scary...
My home studio
Over the past few years since I got out of school, I've managed to spend a good deal of my spare income on building a modest home studio. When I get the time (not very often these days), I enjoy using my toys to create music, some of which you can listen to here.
The list of equipment includes:
- Peavey EVH Wolfgang guitar
Ernie Ball Music Man Edward Van Halen signature guitar with EVH D-Tuna installed.- Peavey Predator guitar (custom "Frankenstrat" paint job by me)
- Fender Squire Stratocaster guitar signed by all four members of Van Halen
- Washburn acoustic guitar
- Johnson Millennium Stereo One-Fifty guitar amp with
- Johnson J-Station amp simulator
- Peavey Stereo Chorus 212 guitar amp (retired and used as a second cabinet for the Johnson)
- Alesis Quadrasynth Plus keyboard
- Roland SC-88 MIDI tone module
- Mackie MS1402-VLZ 14-channel mixer
- Tascam DA-20 mkII DAT machine
- Apple Power Macintosh 7600 / 352 MHz G3 / 112MB ram / 11.2GB disk
Mark of the Unicorn Digital Performer software- Iomega 1GB Jaz drive
- Eizo FlexScan L360 flat-panel LCD monitor
- Furman PM-PRO power conditioner/monitor
The pictures below were taken in 1998 and are horribly outdated, as I've moved 4 times since then. But the basic idea remains the same.
Stepping into the room and looking to the left, you see the main console area of the studio. It includes the PC (not used for anything music related), the Mac (on the floor in the corner, obscured by the desk), the computer screen with Digital Performer running, below it the power conditioner to which everything is plugged in, the Roland tone module, and the Mackie 14-channel mixer to its right. The mixer now sits atop the DAT machine, which was acquired after this photo was taken. You'll also notice the "boombox" which, aside from headphones, is the only way I can listen to things. A decent set of monitors is pretty high on my wish list.
Turning to the right reveals the Alesis keyboard along the back wall of the room (for some perspective, notice some keys in the lower right corner of the "main console area" photo above). It's just a quick slide and turn of the chair away from the main work area.
Turning right again to face the wall opposite the console area, you'll see the land of the six strings (again for perspective, notice the very right end of the keyboard obscuring part of the acoustic guitar). The Johnson Millennium to the left is my main amplifier, with its two speakers both hooked up to its "left" outputs. The two speakers of the Peavey amp are hooked up directly to the Millennium's "right" outputs (the Peavey isn't even plugged in, its speakers are powered completely by the Millennium). This allows for a great stereo guitar sound.
 |
In May of 1996 I decided to take apart my black Peavey Predator guitar and paint it to look like Edward Van Halen's early Kramer guitars. This is the result. Not bad for someone with no artistic ability, huh? |
 |
The Wolfgang is my latest purchase. This closeup shows the great flamed pattern on the guitar, but really doesn't do it justice. You should see it in person. |
I don't have a closeup of my Ernie Ball Music Man guitar because its purple finish looks very dark in most lighting conditions. I guess it's just camera shy or something. The above picture of all of the guitars is the only one I have where it doesn't look almost black (I've got several where it does).
The audio outputs of every piece of gear that makes noise are ultimately connected to the inputs of the mixer, which combines them according to how I have set the level sliders and EQ knobs for each channel. This output can then be monitored using my headphones or the boombox speakers, or any combination of channels may be alternately routed to the audio input on the Mac, where they will be digitally recorded using Digital Performer.
The keyboard, tone module, and amplifier are also connected to the Mac via MIDI (yes, the amp also responds to MIDI control for program changes and effects parameter changes, a great feature). They can be controlled by the keyboard and/or the Digital Performer software on the Mac.
The guitar amp can be recorded in two ways. The first is the traditional method for recording guitar amps, by placing a microphone (or two) in front of the speakers and recording what they pick up. This amp also has direct XLR outputs which can be hooked up directly to the mixer, bypassing the speakers and microphones. Since the speaker is a very important part of a guitar amp's tone, the amp's software provides speaker emulation for this method of recording. So you still get a nice tone instead of the typical very thin, buzzy sound you get from most amps when going direct without speakers.
Everything is ultimately recorded by Digital Performer on the Mac, either in digital audio or MIDI form. Once a project is basically completed, I mix everything down to DAT. When I get a mix that I'm happy with, I then transfer it digitally from the DAT back to the Mac using a SP/DIF connection. Any final post production and edits are done on the Mac before the song is ready to be burned to CD.
You can listen to some samples of my music.
I recently attended the Van Halen Mailing List 1998 Convention in Las Vegas (and had a blast). Several prizes were given away in a drawing, including a Peavey bass autographed by Michael Anthony and a Fender guitar autographed by the whole band. I was very lucky that day and won the autographed bass. But the guy who won the autographed guitar is a bass player, so we ended up trading our prizes and now I have the guitar. It's a very low-end guitar, so I'm just keeping it as a piece of memorabilia to enjoy, not to play.
These are pictures of Gary Cherone, Edward Van Halen, and Michael Anthony signing the guitar. Unfortunately I got the guitar after it was signed, so I wasn't there to witness it. But these pictures prove its authenticity.
Many thanks to Bill O'Neill who generously donated this guitar for the Convention giveaway!
Van Halen: Phoenix, AZ, July 1, 1998
I was fortunate enough to get a 4th row seat to this show, so I decided to try to sneak in a disposable camera to get some pictures. I thought about asking security if cameras were allowed (security seemed very lax at this venue) so I could possibly bring my good camera in. But I figured if the answer was "no" and I came back to the gate with a small bulge in my pocket (the disposable camera), it might look suspicious. So I just went in with the disposable in my pocket and had no trouble at all. They're not as good as the pictures you'll find at the official Van Halen website, but they came out fairly well considering it was a throw-away camera and it was rather dark.
| Gary and Mike toward the beginning of the show |  |
| Gary and Mike during |
 |
| Edward, Gary and Mike |  |
| Edward playing a solo |  |
| Edward playing the intro to |
 |
| Gary hanging on the lighting apparatus with Mike looking on |  |
| The lighting apparatus that hung over the stage |  |
| Edward at the piano, playing |
 |
| Playing "Jump" during the encore |  |
Las Vegas
On a recent (Sept 1999) trip to Las Vegas, I decided to try to get some nice night shots of some of the sights.
| Bellagio is one of the nicest hotels in Vegas. It is very beautiful inside and outside, with a large body of water in front of the hotel as you see here. I've heard there is a small, free water show done periodically throughout the day, but we didn't get a chance to see it on this trip. The lower picture shows a nice view of part of the strip reflecting on the water. |   |
| Here is a nice shot of the strip, looking south from The Mirage. To get the lower picture, I accidentally applied a filter to the image in GIMP, but liked the result well enough to keep a copy. |   |
| We stayed two nights at The Venetian. I cannot recommend it too highly. The entire hotel is very beautiful, and the rooms are superb. |    |
| Back | Last modified Sep 14, 1999 by Mike Heasley |