Singing with Super Desserts at Comfest, Part 2

I finally have time to post the photos from Super Desserts related fun at Comfest last weekend. It was an incredible experience and I think I know now at least one of the reasons why musicians do it. It is fantastically exhilarating and even though my role up on stage as part of the guest choir was quite insignificant compared to the rest of the band, I still got to feel the rush of people smiling and dancing and bopping their heads to what you're producing for them on stage.

In a way it brings the past 2 years of my life full circle. I got to participate in the back end of seeing what it takes to record, mix, master, create album artwork for and release a record. I got to see what the touring process looks like - booking the venues, trying to publicize shows, trying to get people to review the music, sending music out to radio stations and building a fan-base. But, I never really had any idea what it was like to be on stage actually performing (again, terribly insignificant role with the Super Desserts, but still a small taste of what it's like).

Here are a few photos from the second practice at the Conservatory of Music at Capital University with the Super Desserts and a few of the first photos taken with the new Bronica ETRS at the actual Performance.


Here are the Obviouslies, they recruited some members of the Super Desserts to sing with them during their performance on Friday of Comfest.



Here are most of the Super Desserts and some of the guest choir practicing.


Here the Super Desserts are performing at Comfest


Here we are, the guest choir.. Eric, Curtis, Lisa, me, Joe and Cory


Eve and the some of the ladies of Super Desserts


The guest choir


More updates soon including Columbus' first Dance Dance Party Party and my trip to Birmingham (which is happening right now, actually and has been super fun so far!).

My Grandpa

My Grandpa passed away a year ago today. He was a really cool dude and I miss him a lot. My aunt recently found this post written about him in February. It appeared in the proceedings of The Board of Trustees at Ohio State. He rode his horse 200 miles to go to college!

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE

ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINTH

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Columbus, Ohio, February 4 and 5, 2010

Fairfax E. Watkins

The Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University expresses its sorrow upon the death on June 25, 2009, of Fairfax E. Watkins, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science.

In 1930 Fairfax Watkins rode his horse some 200 miles westward to the mountain town of Blacksburg, Virginia, where he began his studies of mechanical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. After graduating with a M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1937, he received an offer from Professor Thomas French for a faculty position at The Ohio State University. Professor Watkins taught at Ohio State from 1937-42.

In 1942 Professor Watkins took leave from OSU to serve in the United States Army during World War II. While serving in the military, he managed engineering operations of the barrage balloon protection of the Panama Canal, for which he was decorated with the Legion of Merit Medal of Honor.

Professor Watkins was transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1943, where he served as a professor of military science. A year later, while still in the U.S. Army, he served his country by investigating the background of scientists working on the Manhattan Project.

When WW II ended, Professor Watkins took a civilian job with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation where he designed traffic interchanges for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. These interchanges, then called clover leafs, were among the first to be built in the world.

Professor Watkins returned to Ohio State in 1946, joining the former Department of Engineering Graphics where he taught courses in engineering graphics and engineering mechanics. He retired from OSU in 1974.

On behalf of the University community, the Board of Trustees expresses to the family of Professor Emeritus Fairfax E. Watkins its deepest sympathy and sense of understanding of their loss. It is directed that this resolution be inscribed upon the minutes of the Board of Trustees and that a copy be tendered to his family as an expression of the Board’s heartfelt sympathy.

My maternal grandparents, Fairfax and Olga.

Urban Gardening

I have built the second tier to the Urban Planter. Only one more tier to go until it's complete.

I should have my vegetable plants, which have nearly outgrown their current containers, into their new homes by the end of the weekend.

Today I listened into an NPR program on Urban Gardening which featured a guest called The Cheap Vegetable Gardener. After investigating this chap on the internets, I found out about a nifty little contest he's got going on to win a responsible gardening kit from Garden Safe. I'm all about it. The buggies have got to go!

The cutest thing about the NPR interview was the tip regarding how to deal with bunnies, squirrels and birds. You just gotta grow enough to feed yourself and all the little critters as they have as much right to the land as you do!

Lepidopterology

This weekend I got a brand new (to me) camera that I'm very excited about. More on that later...

In the mean time, here are some iphone photos from my trip to the conservatory of a few butterflies that were around. There weren't as many as were out in years past, but I think that's due to the fact that I have not ever gone this late in the conservatory butterfly season.



One landed on my hand

Women's Cycling Conversation Forum

My girl Meredith Joy and founder of Yay Bikes! is organizing a forum to discuss biking for females in Columbus. She wants to know how woman feel about cycling in Columbus; what it means to us and what we would hope for cycling in the future. The info gathered from this forum will be used to create an agenda for women's cycling in Columbus to be carried out in 2011. The forum will be held Wednesday, June 30th at 6:30PM at the University Area Enrichment Association building on campus. It'll be a super low key (multiple, small) round table discussion Let's get riding ladies!!



Women's Cycling Conversation Forum facebook event

Singing with Super Desserts at Comfest

Justin Riley of the Super Desserts invited me and a few other folks to perform with the band as part of a choir for Comfest on the main stage (Bozo) next Saturday afternoon.

This is one of the songs I'll be singing with them next Saturday:

Super Desserts - On Sunday from Ohio Sessions on Vimeo.

We had our first practice session last night at the Conservatory of Music at Capital University and it was a total blast! Justin and his group of musicians are so fun to sing with. Some of the songs we'll be singing may include: Funeral, Ibiza, I Only Love You Because You Can Play Guitar, and On Sundays. The set is only an hour long so I don't know which ones they'll have us all sing on. Last night we practiced 8 songs over three hours.

Notes for Wicker Chair:


Here's Justin and another guest choir member, Curtis