Adam Brucker Online

Anyone remember enough probability theory to figure this one out?

The Black Keys / My Morning Jacket @ Red Rocks - Thursday, 8/21/08

Me: Row 25, Seat 44. Happened to be my birthday.
Guy next to me: Row 25, Seat 45. Happened to be his birthday.

Red Rocks Capacity: 9,450

Crazy…

http://www.adambrucker.com/what-are-the-odds/

Thanks to my friend Herb for the invitation to join him for a long weekend at his place in Telluride, probably my favorite town in Colorado at this point.

Managed to hike or drive to (Herb had a very cool new jeep 4×4 to get us around) the base of three of the four main waterfalls in the area and snapped a few good shots along the way. Most of the “nature” shots are from an easy 5 mile roundtrip hike up to the base of Bear Creek Falls.

25 more pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrucker/

{the third one flew away before I could snap the picture}

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{Colorado State Flower:  Rocky Mountain Columbine}

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{not sure what this mean looking flower is called}

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{very cool sunset on the ride into Telluride}

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{family having lunch on a big rock looking back down the 3 mile canyon from the base of Bear Creek Falls into Telluride}

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http://www.adambrucker.com/quick-trip-to-telluride-this-past-weekend/

Cause dreams they seem to cost money
But money costs some dreams

“Yeah Sapphire” -The Hold Steady

http://www.adambrucker.com/the-best-song-lyrics-of-2008/

Jennie and I have been on the heavy summer wedding circuit as of late and we’ve been lucky enough to have seen a bunch of great toasts at the past couple of parties. Unfortunately, this is not always the case…

I got thinking about the common elements that make up a good toast on the plane ride home this morning and, in an effort to relieve a little stress for the people who get nervous about getting up in front of a group (at weddings or otherwise), I thought I would float a quick template that covers enough of the bases to have even the most shy person looking good.

1: Get your “speaking legs” under you by briefly introducing yourself and thanking the hosts of the event.

Hi everyone, my name is _____. I’m a friend of _____’s from _____ and I’ve had the distinct pleasure of getting to know  _____,  over the past _____ years.

Let me begin by thanking the _____’s and the _____’s for hosting such a wonderful event. This has been an amazing weekend so far and I know that everyone here appreciates your generosity and wishes we could be a part of something as great as this more often.

2: Share a humorous, yet innocuous & tasteful, anecdote that ultimately paints the couple in a positive light.

Before I offer a toast to the couple, I’d like to share a quick story about… {insert your best 45 second story here}

3: Say something heartfelt about the couple and, most importantly, raise your glass and offer an actual toast.

But seriously, all kidding aside, I want to thank you both for including me in your special day and I’d like to invite everyone here to raise their glass and join me in congratulating _____ and _____ on their beautiful wedding and wishing them _____ for many years to come.

To _____ and _____, cheers!

Additionally:

1: BE BRIEF: Seriously, 1 or 2 minutes max. Avoid the temptation to do the ever-so-common chronological recap of year-by-year inside jokes that nervous, unfunny people seem to always default back to.

2: STAY WITHIN YOUR LIMITS: Don’t try to hit a comedy home run unless you can really pull it off. If you just can’t resist, try out your stand-up material the night before at the rehearsal dinner.

3: BE RESPECTFUL & MAKE IT ABOUT THE COUPLE: It’s their day, not yours, so don’t say anything to embarrass them beyond the “very-mildly blushing” stage. Trust me, their grandparents don’t “get” your sense of humor and the bride’s dad definitely doesn’t want to hear about that “one night in Mexico.”

4: PREPARE & PRACTICE IN ADVANCE: Write your toast down and say it out loud to yourself at least a day or two before the wedding. I guarantee that the people who give great toasts and look like they are “winging it” have practiced a lot more than they will ever let on.

5: HAVE THAT TEQUILA SHOT AFTER YOU’RE DONE. Nice job, you’ve earned it…

http://www.adambrucker.com/give-a-great-wedding-toast-in-3-easy-steps/

I helped my friend Stephanie set up a quick site this afternoon to help some of her friends with the medical expenses for their son.

If you’re in the Bay Area on August 16th, sign up and roll some bocce ball for a good cause: http://rollformagglio.wordpress.com/

Nels Cline is an alien flowerpot, or so says the front page of his website, but, I actually think that may be too generous a description of his normalness…

“What a workout” was the only review I could muster after the hourlong sonic assault from this towering figure of guitar (and guitar effects) mayhem.

To be fair, there were a few moments where the band locked in to a tight, driving heavy metal type groove, and a few slower songs that teased the occasional melody, but for the most part, this was “out there” stuff that was borderline accessible.

The FAQ on his site is a great window into what you can expect from a night with Nels Cline, answering such questions as:

• IS IT HARD FOR A JAZZ/EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC WHORE TO PLAY REAL SONGS IN A REAL BAND LIKE WILCO?
• WHY DO YOU USE ALL THOSE EFFECTS PEDALS - DON’T THEY DEGRADE YOUR SOUND?
• YOU’RE LEFT-HANDED BUT YOU PLAY WITH YOUR RIGHT. WHY??

Overall I liked the performance, and this guy is certainly onto something, but it certainly took a lot out of me.

Next up, Charlie Hunter, also often (coincidentally?) described as an alien, opened his set with a couple of jazz/funk/slightly experimental tunes that, comparatively speaking, seemed like a night of straight ahead standards at the local lounge.

He was still awesome to watch (I’ve seen him play at least once a year since the mid-90’s), and it’s certainly humbling to see him play two instruments at once better than I can play either one separately, but overall, his set seemed a little flat compared to the opener.

Also noticed that his new drummer, Tony Mason, had a big rock / funk sound that didn’t leave as much room musically for Charlie to shine. Compared to Hunter’s last couple of drummers, Adam Cruz & Simon Lott, who both played with smaller, stripped down kits, Tony dominated the overall sound of the band quite a bit. Not a bad thing, just different.

But anyway, enough with the nitpicking - it’s Charlie Hunter! - the guy kills it. Already excited to check him out again next time he comes around around.

After a fun night visiting a friend from MA up in Breckenridge, Jennie and I cruised down through the San Luis Valley for our second trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Camped right at the base of the dunes in the park and had a great time. Also hiked to a mountain waterfall and climbed the dunes in the dark on Saturday night.

More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambrucker

Made a quick modification to the car camping set-up for this latest trip by adding a slide out platform to bridge the 18 inches of open space that appears when the front seats are folded forward.

Screwed the carpet to the wood platform (instead of stapling it) and created two channels for the pieces of 2′ x 4′ pegboard to slide into. Then hung two bungee cords around the headrests to support each piece.

This results in 6 feet of solid support and leaves enough room for two full size camping pads - much more comfortable than having our feet hanging over the shortened edge.

Very comfortable, easy to set-up, and still tons of room underneath for the coolers and all the gear. Click the thumbnails for bigger pictures of this very exciting project:

Wow - whitewater rafting is exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Jennie and I found out first hand on Sunday thanks to an invitation from our friend, and river guide, Jason.

(this wasn’t our boat but it’s the same stretch of river)

Some quick observations:

• Beautiful couple of days in a very scenic area - the Poudre (poo-der) River canyon stretches all the way from Rocky Mountain National Park to just short of Ft. Collins and is about a two hour drive North from Boulder.
• Our rental wetsuits, helmets, and other gear was some of the most unflattering equipment that I’ve ever had the pleasure of wearing. Our unique sense of style was further compounded by the fact that we were rafting with 3 former pro river guides who, in addition to owning their own boats, had the latest rafting gear and came off as somewhat fashionable and cool looking. This didn’t matter though as soon as we got into the 38 degree water and quickly became too scared to worry too much about how we looked.
• Rafting is hard work and the consequences of not giving it 100%, mainly falling out of the boat and getting trashed by the rapids, are an excellent motivator. I paddled on the front left and was happy to be across from our friend Brian who is an experienced rafter. He saved me no less than 3 times by grabbing the back of my life-jacket as I was headed into the drink and I was happy to return the favor by saving him once at the very end of our 9 mile trip.
• Jason was a great guide and handled our group of friends in a professional, safety conscious way, while still keeping things fun. Hearing him scream “dig in, dig, in, all front, all front!” at the top of his lungs as we made our way through some of the tougher rapids was certainly a unique perspective on a friend.
• Sean, the owner and guide of the second boat that we rafted with, gave a very funny and very frightening”safety talk” that covered a number of important topics ranging from which hand to drink beer with while holding a paddle to how to get yourself out from underneath a capsized boat trapped in a rapid. Scary, but strangely reassuring - if you’ve ever seen the skydiving scene in the movie “Fandango,” you’ll know what I’m talking about. Good hard arches all around…
• I loved the rafting lingo and the names of some of the rapids. For instance, when someone falls out of the boat and needs to be rescued (or ends up fighting their way through the rapid to the shore) that’s somewhat euphemistically referred to as “taking a swim.” The one rapid name that stuck in my mind was called “death by dismemberment” and was a nice way to get back in the groove about 200 yards from where we got back in the water again after lunch.
• The river was flowing on the high side at “4 and a quarter” whatever that means, and Jason told me that most of what we did was class three with a few “four minus” sections thrown in. At this point I would be terrified to step it up much further than that, but I suppose that like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get.
• We had one friend kayak alongside the two boats for the length of the trip and it looked like a lot of fun. Seemed like you had more control of your own destiny and were more connected to the river. I would like to give that a try one of these days too.
• Having your guide yell “Lookout! Front Back! Left Right!,” which is a confusing, nonsensical, panic-inducing command, is actually a pretty funny way to end the trip.

Packing this afternoon to do some camping / rafting up near Ft. Collins this weekend and just got this message from my friend who is organizing the trip:

Mark says better camping further down Pingree Pk road - so we may not be at last year’s spot.  Just keep driving until you see a cone or, in the event I don’t find my cone, something else.

Hope he finds that cone…

Here’s the GoogleEarth view of where we’re headed:

Full report on Monday, enjoy the weekend…

One more thing that I’m better than the President at…

http://www.adambrucker.com/audio/rubik.mp4

Nonprofits need to capitalize on opportunities for growth too…

Thanks to my friend Niles for the invitation to present at Volunteer Connection’s quarterly board meeting.

A good time was had by all.

My recent foray into the MySpace world has turned up some bad news: there are already a dozen bands named Golden Brown, including a pretty popular one right here in Boulder.

I was really hoping to hold onto that name for my yet-to-be-formed experimental / indie / classic rock outfit, but it looks like I’m a little late to the party.

I guess the overwhelming popularity of the name validates it as a good choice, but I already knew that - who doesn’t like something that’s golden brown? It’s a name with exclusively positive connotations as far as I can tell.

Oh well…

MySpace has always been intriguing to me, but the combination of their seizure inducing page layouts and the potential stigma of being a 30 something guy on what started as a network for teenagers to connect with each other has held me back from joining.

Well, now that every band in the free world uses the platform to keep in touch with their fans, I’ve decided to give it a go.

So far, so great.

What I like:

• Dynamic updates from the bands I like, in real time, once I’ve become “friends” with them.
• Access to everything in one place - news, tour dates, new tunes, etc…
• The personalized calendar to keep track of upcoming shows - and the ability to search for shows in my area.
• The ability to find new bands to check out by looking at the friends of my friends.

What I don’t like:

• Slow. Terrible user interface. Slow. Stuff seems to be broken all the time. Slow.
• The CAPTCHA’s that they make you solve when sending a friend invite are sometimes IMPOSSIBLE to solve. Combine this with their very slow interface and it gets old really quick when you can’t get two or three of them in a row.

It’s also an interesting lesson about the relative importance of a good UI. If the content is good enough and there are enough compelling reasons to use the site, it just doesn’t matter as much.

In a band? Let’s be friends…

A few screen-shots from those malicious arbiters of cool over at Pitchfork:

4.7? … Out of 10? … Really?

C’mon guys, lighten up a little bit.

These albums aren’t exactly Abbey Road, but they are both pretty fun to listen to and there’s no way someone without some sort of axe to grind could give them both a 4.7 out of 10.

I appreciate the precision of the ratings though - a piece of art like a full length record album certainly lends itself to a level of scrutiny down to a tenth of a point… Ugh.

Part of me thinks that they do things like this just to get a rise out of people, create a little controversy and reap the publicity like any edgy marketer would do. I’m enough of a sucker to have linked to them, right?

The other part of me worries that they’re serious and are poisoning anyone gullible to believe what they write with their humorless, depressing take on the music industry.

Who knows, maybe I’m just getting old…

For what it’s worth, I think that both of these albums deserve a listen and would make a fine addition to the musical rotation at your next summer bbq.

I’m as guilty as the next guy of dropping the occasional corporate buzzword du jour, but there are a few words that I just won’t use in a business setting without apologizing first.

Robust, paradigm, synergy, etc. - you know the usual suspects.

I’m happy to report that the number one offender in my book, pronouncing the word “niche” as “neesh” with the long “e” sound, is an affectation on the wane.

Now, I know that Webster’s concedes that it’s acceptable to say it this way, but c’mon, no-one ever said “neesh” before the skinny guys in the black shirts and the hipster dot-com glasses started to really run with it in the late 90’s.

Well, ten years later it seems that people are finally coming to their senses. The last 3 mentions of “niche” that I have heard have all been delivered with the more pedestrian, but so much better, pronunciation that had fallen out of favor for so long.

Welcome back, I say.

Now, if the people who spent a semester abroad in London during college would just stop closing their emails with “cheers” we’d have the battle won…