Nearly Moving

August 29, 2007, Mount Shasta, CA: It won't be long before the Bloggard will be moving to the new home.

I have purchased a house here in Northern California, and the property had adequate space, and so it happened that, thanks to the goodness of the Benevolent Universe, a new shop is being constructed there. Mobius Megatar, where I make wonderful musical instruments, has outgrown it's space at the Secret Megatar Laboratory, and soon will have this new and larger factory shop.

The construction has trampled the once-lavish grounds, but soon our team of avid gardeners will be back on the job. In the meantime, here are some pictures --

(a) The house (left) and new shop (right):



(b) The house (left) and new shop (right):



(c) The view out the windows:



If you'd like to see more photos of the shop construction project, on our Mobius Megatar website, in the News section, open up the MegaBlog, and choose "Factory" to find lottso photos from bare ground up through the current state.

It won't be long before we move our equipment into the new shop, and create even more Megatars for a world thirsty for easy-to-play music.

Mick Jagger's Secret

San Francisco, 1977. Disco was in full sway, as the Men's Club -- myself, Richard W., Derek S., and Phil Groves -- drove to dinner. Somebody was complaining about something.

"You don't have to do it! Oh, noooo!" I sang, mimicking BeeGees. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Derek had wrangled tickets to the upcoming Stones concert. We were jovial. We were on top of the world.

Earlier that day, I'd visited City Hall. A business license, as I recall. Oddly, there was a San Francisco streetcar sitting on the sidewalk in the square across from City Hall, one of those fake streetcars that run on tires. And a TV crew loitered about.

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A Tiny Miracle on Napa Street

Napa Street, Berkeley, 1977: In Christine's room, Richard W. and I were yakking about nothing in the late morning. The windows were open; the day would be warm. A fat fly buzzed lazily around Richard where he lounged on the floor beneath the window.

The talk turned to magic and miracles. He'd seen some; I'd seen some. I was relating a strange experience in England. How magic can happen in an instant, with no sense of effort, and as though something else is acting through you. I'd felt it before. It feels natural, more natural than most days' living; and it's hard to describe.

"It was as if, suddenly, there's a kind of a wave, and you're being carried along. You're caught up," I said, trying to capture it. He looked dubious. "It's like this," I said. I pointed to the fly. "Suppose I said to that fly, 'Come here.'"

The fly flew across the room, and landed on my finger.

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A White Sport Coat, and Rocket Fuel

Henrietta, Texas, Easter Sunday, 1958: I have Easter finery, and it is a white sport coat. At age twelve, this seems especially neato to me, because the Marty Robbins song about the Pink Carnation is still on the radio.

Usually, on school days, like my friends, I wear Levis or Lee Riders with a sport shirt. Because it is so cool to do so, I wear black loafers with white socks. Bobby M. has explained this to me, and he is a great fashion plate.

Bobby, Eddy Frank, Billy Ray, and several others are studying rocketry, and building rockets from aluminum tubes, hacksaws, wood, and gunpowder. Most of these rockets do not work, but we're not giving up!

Today, however, I'm wearing Easter finery and sitting in my room, bored, because I'm dressed and ready for church, and the rest of my family is still getting dressed.

So that's why I was fiddling with the rocket fuel.

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Charlie Bullard from Snyder, Texas

Summer 1959, Rome: When I was growing up in Henrietta, Texas, John Bragg was the pharmacist at Henrietta Drugstore, and he was a running-buddy of my stepfather, Dr. Strickland. (For those unfamiliar with this term, it means a friend with whom you frequently hang out.) My mother was married to Dr. Strickland, and her brother was our town's other doctor, Dr. Hurn. And before she'd married Dr. Strickland, she'd been a nurse, working in the office of her brother, Dr. Hurn.

Got all that?

OK, good, because it has very little to do with this story, which is about Charlie Bullard, who was from Snyder, Texas.

Here's how it happened ...

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Bloggard on YouTube!

YouTube, August 7, 2007: Today the Bloggard has completed the first video of the "Easy Touch-Style Method" series for Mobius Megatar. As perhaps you know, the Bloggard (using his stage name of Traktor Topaz) along with reclusive musician Henri DuPont have written a series of method books which makes learning to play music very easy.

These books are called "The Easy Touch-Style Method." The purpose of the video series is to provide a demo of how easy it can be to learn two-handed touch-style play using this streamlined learning method.

The first video -- viewable today -- is an introduction which simply explains what touch-style is, and provides a demo of how one can play by touch. It then shows why having more strings makes playing easier, and shows how clear it is when both hands can move exactly the same. Then, using four simple chords, the Bloggard demonstrates --

• How to arpeggiate chords in both hands using only nine notes


• How to then change that to play roots and harmony notes with your two hands


• How to use those bass roots to play left hand chords


• How to use those harmony notes while playing walking bass inside the nine notes


• How to play dual melody in both hands.


• How to play chords and improvise


• How to play chords and melody.

And so, for your elucidation and entertainment, The Adventures of Bloggard presents --



PS: If you are wondering, the instrument used in the demo is a Mobius Megatar TrueTapper Eclipse. The audio recording was done entirely in Guitar Rig 2 with minimal effects. As you can see, the demo was filmed in the Mobius Megatar Space Station engine room. (Warp Drives were offline for an oil change. Otherwise, it would have been too noisy.)

Posted by bloggard at 19:54:57 [Link] -