tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:15:16 +0000Bluesman Doctor Oakroot speaks out on blues, experimental music, oddball instruments, life, death, politics, and just about anything else that crosses his mind.http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/noreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)Blogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-9197598735060049888Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:06:00 +00002009-08-22T23:15:16.740-04:00I've been playing RuneScape off and on for a few years. It's a very nicely designed massive multiplayer role playing game, with very well written storylines in its quests. I have a lot of fun there.So they're having a machinima (videos made in a game engine environment) contest at RuneScape and I thought I'd try doing a video for my recent remake of "Put the Question to the Night". And here it ishttp://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/08/put-question-to-night-machinima-musicnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-4955103872983433719Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:15:00 +00002009-08-03T15:26:56.338-04:00At my most recent riding lesson, Tonka showed how tricky he could be... I haven't learned cantering yet and the gait makes me feel like I'm about to fall off. Tonka figured this out, so we'd start trotting, he'd veer away from the rail, I'd correct him to bring him back to the rail, and he'd start cantering... knowing that the next thing I'd do is stop him... and he'd get to stand still for a http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/08/horses-are-tricksynoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-8292459578652821966Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:55:00 +00002009-07-25T17:03:37.486-04:00Not long ago, I wrote about my first time riding a horse. Today I had my third lesson. It's going pretty well. Today we did figure 8s, two point, trotting, and, accidentally, a little cantering.That's me and Tonka in the picture. We (Tonka and I) had a lesson-long discussion about whether or not he was going to stay next to the rail like he's supposed to and by the end of the lesson, I mostly hadhttp://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/07/riding-lessonsnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-6564182174173597600Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:05:00 +00002009-07-25T09:21:34.514-04:00horsefree musicequineponysongbluesruralAt my show, Thursday, I introduced Bust Through the Fence in the usual way:We have horses... retired from Heads Up! Therapeutic Riding and since we got them, I've learned three things about horses:Everything near a horse gets filthy and has to be cleaned or discarded.Everything a horse touches gets broken and has to be fixed or replaced.Every dollar you earn goes to take care of the horse.Well, http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/07/bust-through-fence-againnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-5212237222901531073Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:41:00 +00002009-07-18T19:43:11.527-04:00cigarbox guitarspaceship3D animationHere's a little video segment I've been working on to learn 3D animation. The music was played mostly on the Cyclops CBG.http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/07/falling-starnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-3332490791625323938Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:19:00 +00002009-06-21T16:20:31.546-04:00Here's a trial run of my new electric cigar box kazoo and banshee mask. It's actually just a low quality microphone made with a piezo disk attached to a plastic diaphragm. Mounts on a mic stand. Offers some cool possibilities on stage. http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/06/electric-banshee-kazoo-masknoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-7853800284964776354Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:08:00 +00002009-06-21T07:42:18.013-04:00So, I've been working with horses for while at Heads Up! Therapeutic Riding and we own three ponies - two retired from Heads Up! (yeah, I'm a soft hearted sucker, lol) and one an ill thought-out gift to (step-daughter) Rachel from her dad... but had never riden a horse - for one thing, all the ponies I know are too small to carry my 287 lbs. - until yesterday.Recently, Heads Up! acquired some newhttp://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/06/first-time-on-horsenoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-7502407543456099445Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:23:00 +00002009-06-07T14:28:10.597-04:00hand-wound pickupcigarbox guitarblues jammusicRecently, I've been attending the biweekly blues jam at the Broad Street Cafe in Durham, NC. I've been playing bass on the Kickin' Bass - which works out fine, and also acting as band leader while playing guitar on the Cyclops and singing...That's led to a few problems:First, and most shocking, I found that some of the other players don't know much about blues before about 1970... so when I http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/06/blues-jam-special-no-13noreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-1278153616448065983Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:39:00 +00002009-06-07T07:40:41.619-04:00Living without faith is like driving in the fog...Living with faith is like driving in the fog... and knowing it's OK.http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/06/faithnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-3595303498330870070Sat, 16 May 2009 20:53:00 +00002009-05-16T17:01:00.120-04:00Habitat for Humanity is organizing a Memorial Day shindig in Pittsboro, NC... and I've agreed to play a set of cigar box guitar music...And teach a workshop on building cigar box guitars.But, whoops... I'm pretty much out of cigar boxes.So Rebekah and I headed off today and found our way to K&S Tobacco on NC-55 in Cary, NC and lo and behold, they had a bunch of cigar boxes.I picked out the 17 in http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/05/what-haulnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-7166258051227841807Sat, 09 May 2009 19:49:00 +00002009-05-09T15:57:58.615-04:00cigar box cigarbox harp rubberband musicI was at a show the other night and got to talking to an elementary school art teacher there. She was interested in how she might apply what I was doing with instrument building to a project for her class.So, I suggested wrapping 5 rubber bands around a cardboard cigarbox and sliding a pencil under them for a bridge. Putting the pencil at an angle gives each rubber band "string" a different http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/05/simple-cigarbox-harpnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-7051201304226992223Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:19:00 +00002009-04-28T09:24:58.328-04:00war crimetorturesituational moralitySo this guy got caught shoplifting... but was released without charge when he offered this defense: "Sure, it's illegal, but look at all the great stuff I got!"Wait! No! I got that wrong...It wasn't shoplifting... He got caught torturing prisoners! Guess that defense works for war crimes.Wasn't he the same guy who was criticizing liberals for situational morality?http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/04/at-risk-of-being-called-snarkynoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-1757879028153602513Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:12:00 +00002009-04-25T17:23:41.828-04:00Yeah, I heard on the BBC a few days ago that most people tie their shoes wrong... The basic issue is whether you're tying a granny knot bow (wrong) or a square knot bow (right). Click here for the BBC report.Now, I learned to tie my shoes when I was 5 years old... I learned the difference between a square knot and a granny knot when I was a teenager. So I didn't get it right at 5 and been tying http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/04/been-tying-my-shoe-laces-wrong-yikesnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-2417790851158321902Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:59:00 +00002009-04-22T11:14:21.208-04:00You know, that old story about the itinerant beggar who filled a kettle with water, put a stone in it, and started cooking "stone soup".I heard this story again on WUNC - my local NPR station - the other day as a lead-in to a review of some cooking books.Of course, the story continues with everyone in the village contributing something they had been hoarding and there was enough soup for http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/04/stone-soupnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-715053214325820349Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:10:00 +00002009-04-16T13:53:12.226-04:00mp3p2pfile sharingValerie is a mother who is concerned about her son illegally sharing music files online. Here's her question: I have a teenage son who tells me his pirating music is no big deal. Since he is a musician himself, I point out to him that someday that’s going to be his money people are stealing. But he remains unphased. He tells me the record sales make money for the record label, not the http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/04/to-mother-concerned-about-file-sharing_16noreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-2614191925695825819Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:00:00 +00002009-04-05T09:56:01.630-04:00What? A wall painting? What's Oakroot on about now?Ever look at an Egyptian painting? Looks like it was drawn by a 4 year old... All the figures are in profile, but their eyes look straight out at you. It's just not realistic.The Egyptian artist drew each part of a figure from the point of view that showed it best, without respect to realistic perspective. He presented fragmented features of the http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/04/blues-is-like-and-egyptian-wallnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-2184277844424890049Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:01:00 +00002009-04-04T09:01:57.367-04:00Yes, Satchmo played cigarbox guitar.From Jet Magazine July 9, 1981:July 4, 1990 - Not unlike jazz itself, Daniel Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong was born in a back-of-town part of New Orleans. His musical ability became evident early. As boy he took time out from fighting in the streets and swimming in the Mississippi to sing for pennies and to form part of a strolling quartet in which he played http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/04/did-satchmo-play-cigarbox-guitarnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-1809290549906463701Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:43:00 +00002009-04-01T16:03:21.846-04:00Star Trek, Star Wars, Star Gate, E.E. Smith's Lensmen, Ensign Flandry... All require faster than light travel for the stories to work. (Sometimes it's moving FTL, sometimes a worm hole or other extra-dimensional path, but it all amounts to FTL).But, modern physics seems to really be confirming that moving faster than light is not only impossible, but the idea actually doesn't even mean anything. http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/04/faster-than-lightnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-1712325217999139877Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:02:00 +00002009-03-28T14:25:10.541-04:00So, I've spent the morning building a drum set out of found objects and homemade instruments... but I'm not building it physically. I'm building it inside the computer as a .sfz file.Then the .sfz file is loaded into the Dimension LE program that came with my new sound interface and, voila, instant found objects drum set.Here's a sample: Download Drum Sample So what's making those sounds? Most ofhttp://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/03/virtual-drums-from-junknoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-2706076515312639236Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:55:00 +00002009-03-20T10:04:42.063-04:00OK, so I've been using a lot of found object - or junk - musical instruments to support my cigar box guitars recently. (You can hear examples of this on my page at Cigarbox Nation.)So, I went looking for other junk music out there... found stuff like this - a lesson plan for K-3rd graders on making music with found objects. Now, it's very cool that someone might be teaching youngsters to express http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2009/03/junk-musicnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-5312572170582630333Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:21:00 +00002008-10-03T13:21:30.874-04:00 On the way up to Oneonta NY yesterday, we stopped in York PA to pick up a cigar box guitar I bought from Shane Speal - as you can see, Shane is alive and well and gainfully employed (That's his work place behind us.)So there we are with the guitar I bought, and one string bass by Gerry Thompson that Shane gave me, a bag full of Uncle Enos mags to sell at the Fingerlakes Fest, and Shane is http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2008/10/meanwhile-on-way-to-oneontanoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-300056975132681020Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:13:00 +00002008-10-03T13:13:47.406-04:00 So the tour continues. Yesterday, we drove up to Oneonta where I'm playing tonight at the Autumn Cafe on Main St.On the way we spotted a beautiful rainbow covering the sky over the mountains. That inspired the Mountain Rainbow cigar box guitar - the giveaway for tonight's show.http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2008/10/somewhere-over-rainbownoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-7541724905878490249Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:07:00 +00002008-10-03T13:07:52.936-04:00 So we (Doctor Oakroot and Rebekah) set out on tour Tuesday... it was a long winding journey to DC. Seemed to be going really slow - like a turtle.Also we kept seeing turtles on the road - unlike the turtle in "Odie's Turtle Moan", still alive.Well, that inspired me . For the giveaway guitar for the New Deal Cafe show in Greenbelt MD, I drew this "Punk Turtle."The show went great - I'm sure I'll http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2008/10/punk-turtlenoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-6157358318231127253Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:36:00 +00002008-09-09T20:00:32.892-04:00half spike lutecigarbox guitarcigar box guitargriotHere are the Jack of Diamonds and the Ace of Spades cigar box guitars. They will be the give-away guitars for the Sept 13 show at the Cave in Chapel Hill and the Sept 28 Carrboro Music Fest.These cigar box guitars are half spike lutes - similar in general design to many African lutes, including those played by the Griot. The neck runs part of the way through the body with the bridge (to which thehttp://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2008/09/black-jack-cbgsnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8696695.post-6562205422694132627Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:05:00 +00002008-09-08T12:08:55.815-04:00NYcigarbox guitarcigar box guitarbluesCBG Fest, Canandaigua NY, Oct 3-4, 2008. Be there!http://doctoroakroot.com/bluesandbeyond/2008/09/fingerlakes-cbg-festnoreply@blogger.com (Doctor Oakroot)0