Untitled

La pineta di Castiglioncello

Published
Categorized as Photoblog

Untitled

Had a great time last night in Montecarlo with our dear friend Brigitte ❤️

Published
Categorized as Photoblog

Untitled

The oldest portion of the building has no foundation. We’re remedying that by pouring one underneath the existing walls. To do this, sections are excavated and a footer is poured down to a depth of 1.2 meters or more. The sections are joined by rebar.

After the footer is poured, there remains a gap between it and the wall. That has to be filled by first cutting and hammering pieces of brick to fit the gap tightly: mortar will recede and leave a gap, but brick will not. After the bricks are hammered into place they are mortared to hold them.

Untitled

The happiest of all possible birthdays to my the one and only @vanessa_peters. You rock, Pete. Well-played.

Untitled

A throwback to #vptour2015 when we went on tour for 3 months and I almost died of pertussis a big shout out to @daniele__fiaschi, @joereyesmusic, @mchansenoninstagram, @jacobchano, and @nikolajwolf for being part of the fun and of course the wonderful doctors, medics, and pharmacists that put Humpty Dumpty back together after his great fall.

“Tocca le palle” means “touch the balls” which is what we say in Toscana when going through some serious shizz and you need good luck to pull you through. We learned it from our promoter who told us “dobbiamo toccare le palle” and then turned to @joereyesmusic (who had no idea what any of us were talking about) and said in all seriousness “you have to touch the balls.” And so the tour earned its name.

Wish you had one of these kick ass shirts? If enough of y’all hit that [link in profile] we’ll do another run of them.

Untitled

Had a good time spending a few days with my old partner in crime and adventure @brenthawthorne + Heather & Noel ♥️♥️♥️♥️ good times y’all!

Untitled

Happy 27th anniversary to @whittington_jeff & @i_love_pie (@thegoodluckvan) ♥️♥️ a beautiful and amazing pair of delightfully hoopy froods.

Untitled

Took the first of hopefully many bike rides into the hills today with @vanessa_peters. I think I might have overestimated our readiness for hill-climbing but we survived and had a great time. I’m grateful to have a friend that’s always up for an adventure.

Untitled

It’s been a satisfying two weeks! We met up with @matteopanzironiguitarist to play a trio show in Cremona then a full band show in Livigno at the top of the Swiss/Italian border. Beautiful. Then & ‍♀️ were on our way to Utrecht for a great coffee at @thevillagecoffee & a couple of duo concerts in the Netherlands. We then drove to Germany to reunite with @ciancaguitar @andrea_colicchia and @trappeo_mattone for a run of three more band shows all to excellent crowds. It was a gratifying end to the release of Flying on Instruments.

#livemusic #FlyingOnInstruments #vptour2024 #

Untitled

Here’s some random weirdness for your viewing pleasure. We kicked off the #FlyingOnInstruments tour Thursday when the band showed up for a rehearsal, then we played a “live rehearsal” that night in the rehearsal room.

Last night after a visit to the Batcave we played to an enthusiastic packed house at the Doghouse in Grosetto. @vanessa peters and the #Electrofonics killed it. Great way to kick off #vptour2024!

Untitled

Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend

Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again

When the demon is at your door

In the morning it won’t be there no more

Any major dude will tell you

#steelydan

Untitled

2023 was the year of making do. An in-between year, neither here nor there nor anywhere else. A bookmark year placed between the past and the future. As a result I didn’t post a lot.

As usual I’m glad to have my best girl by my side, glad to be able to keep making music, glad to be pushing forward with new projects.

Here’s to 2024 and doing a bunch of main character shit. Don’t be afraid to be awesome.

Untitled

I’m selling my Yamaha PM-2000. Please check the link in my bio for more information. This is the console used for the 20th Anniversary edition of the @old97s classic “Hitchhike to Rhome” as well as albums by artists like @the_deathray_davies and ofc @vanessa_peters.

This console is in good working condition with a few minor issues typical of a board this age. This is a very complete package that comes with a custom (semi)matching pedestal, 2 channels of custom EQ built by the legendary collector/builder Jack Rock, and a road case of 3 spare strips (channel, master, and aux). The console and its power supply will ship in hard-sided flight cases.

This is the OG “Japa-Neve” that’s built to an incredible spec. Each channel features discrete preamps based around 48V Jensen 990-style opamps and tamura transformers on every input and output. This console features 2 channels customized by Jack Rock, a vintage gear collector and a particular fan of the PM-2000. Besides sounding really smooth (I love the HF shelf) these EQs double the number of EQ frequencies from 5 per knob to 10. Other than these channels the board is unmodified. The sound is punchy, heavy, clean, and forward. Noise floor is incredibly low.

This is an overall very clean PM-2000. I purchased this console from a live audio company in Phoenix where it was used for several decades as “the big board” reserved for only the largest touring acts. As a result it spent most of its life in its flight case in a climate controlled warehouse. You would be hard-pressed to find any PM-2000 with faders this smooth. Zero scratchy pots. No fader dropouts. The rosewood is, sadly, fairly scratched and the corners dented, but the leatherette cushion is unscathed. No missing knob caps or faders. It still looks very good for a mixer this age and better than most PM-2000s.

The package also includes a pedestal that matches the console in color and gives it a very cool look.

#yamahapm2000 #pm2000 #recordingstudio #mixingboard #pm2k #vintage #audio

Untitled

12 years ago today: @vanessa_peters and I came to #Lucca to scout out a possible Italian base of operations. She was getting booked for enough European shows that it made sense to try to find an apartment where we could stash some backline and hang out part of the year, and maybe use VRBO (AirBnb didn’t yet exist) to help recoup some of the costs.

Life always comes at you sideways, though, and you have to be open to what appears in front of you. So when we got the opportunity to take on several apartments, we were like, yeah. And the rest is history.

This photo really takes me back. Here I’m riding a vintage bike with practically no brakes and a seat that fell off at the slightest provocation. If you had asked me then if I could imagine that one day I’d have sold my place in Dallas and relocated here permanently I’d have been like yeah right whatever. Crazy huh.

Untitled

I hope you’ll preorder “Flying on Instruments” (digital, CD, or limited edition blue vinyl) and get an immediate download of “Flood Zone” which won’t be otherwise available until later next spring.

This album was co-produced with @joereyesmusic and features @vanessa_peters’s Italian band @ciancaguitar (e gtr), @andrea_colicchia (bass), and @trappeo_mattone (piano). Additional strings were recorded by @buffij and her ace quartet. Mastering by @mcsnare.

It’s a beautiful folk/soft-rock album with a little extra nuance and space. As always Vanessa is in top form both in her songwriting and performances. There’s a lot of spontaneity which you can hear in the performances. Most of these were tracked live with minimal overdubs and no doubling or layering of instruments for a very honest and direct sound that puts Vanessa front and center. Special shout-out to @stagermicrophones which feature heavily in the drum and electric guitar tone.

Please visit the link in my bio to pre-order!

Untitled

Happy Birthday to my extremely talented (and cute) @vanessa_peters. ❤️

A real sweetie too.