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Posts posted by Horus
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Righto Sall,
I will have to wait till my daughter is around with her new iphone that takes a great video, then I will bump this thread with it in a week or 2.
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The Stratocaster a personal history.
It all started in 1970, with my first record, RCA's supercharged hits of 1970, I was 10 years old. Track 1 side 1, American Woman by the Guess Who ,with a still iconic guitar solo, strong defiant wailing notes played by Randy Bachman on a Fender Stratocaster. The greatest thing I'd ever heard, played hundreds times, etched into my young mind.
Then came Richie Blackmore and Jimi Hendrix, using sound as a sonic force, expressing energy as never before as they waved their Strats in front of Marshall Monoliths.
Of course Jimi Page distracted and tempted us with his Gibsons, as did others, but those instruments did not have the "wild flexibility" of the Stratocaster.
Makoto Kawabata has been my Strat Champion for many years, never afraid of a 20 minute solo, and my happiness was momentous when Helios Creed changed from Gibsons to a Standard sunburst Strat with Maple Neck, (the same as my 1996 50th anniversary model) a few years ago.
As soon as my apprenticeship allowed me to save enough money, at 19, I went into Palings Music Sydney to buy my first Strat. A 1979 Antiqua with Maple Neck. This rare model with its Grey/green to white sunburst finish is now a desirable collectors item. A great regret in my life that I sold it, ive never seen another in the flesh.
I had a old school Fender 100w twin reverb amplifier. Soon to come were drum and Bass machines, synths and echo units and wah wah to create a wall of sound for the Strat to sing and scream over. There has never been a thought of becoming an act or going public, it was just about the act and joy of improvisation and creation, using this almighty expression tool from the Fender Corporation.
I jammed in my music room till 1986, when another American design icon and symbol of the 60's started overwhelming my desires. Id convinced myself that all this shoegazing soloing was antisocial, I needed to get out there, in the world with all the people and cars…. so I sold my Strat and gear……and bought my first Harley Davidson.
I still had beautiful Martin acoustics and banjos and stuff, I would go acoustic, and join the world.
Dec 5 1987 a woman did a right hand turn in front of me on my bike, I gazed at the mangled chrome icon as I lay dying in the gutter from multiple trauma ,wiggling the toes of my un-smashed leg to see if I was paraplegic. Undeterred and informed by a Post Traumatic Stress delusion that I was "hard to kill",
I commissioned a custom "shovelhead" electra glide, joined an old school outlaw club, and let my Daemons run amok.
Thankfully that period came to an end in a few years, and it was time to get my life back on track……first thing required was a Stratocaster!
I wish Id saved the cash as my other regret is trading a 1927 Martin Parlor for a Strat, but it had to be done.
Sentimentality drew me back to the Palings City store for a Black Standard Strat with maple neck.
Not long after I was robbed by 2 junkies, the Strat among other precious possessions including 2 Tibetan skulls and a ridiculously rare vintage tenor guitar were stolen.
That event was the trigger for leaving Sydney and moving to the Central Coast. With the insurance money I bought the 1996 Anniversary Strat, a Yamaha acoustic
and a Roland Groovebox (a multi instrument sequencer)….and never looked back.
The big life changer was Roland looping technology. It became possible to multi track record and overdub in real time.
Switching loops backwards and all the stuff Id dreamed of.
Improvising with yourself just went stellar !
Now I have a RC300 where there are 4 tracks to do multiple recordings, its easy to get 12 Stratocasters layered with pure digital sound.
Stratocaster soup, just delicious.
In addition, us consumers have benefited from a reverb/echo unit pissing contest from a few of the boutique players.
My Blackhole space is like the echo deck at the end of time. Vibrating a Strat has never been more blissful or mind-blowing.
Now as I become a "grumpy old man" my Stratocentric thinking is becoming quite evident.
There was a period and genres of music that still continue, that think it is hip to leave guitar out completely, deliberately! Seeing it as some pretentious dinosaur tool.
DJ's and the like. Im not going to leave a house full of beautiful instruments, to attend a music event with no instruments!
Most of the reason for the effort/expense to go to gigs is to see instruments and how they sound and are used.
Not the same rig with different ipads.
Id prefer going to a music store and look at the stock, rather than some knob twiddling festival smoke and mirrors hoo ha.
So, that’s just me, I know, this essay is how I conditioned myself into this blissfully judgmental state, wallowing in my narrow minded view of music's "evolution".
(a healthy appreciation for classical music has contributed to this as well)
So back to Strats. Im quite social nowadays, attending lots of Ceremonies and meeting lovely people of all ages.
The medicines purged those wild Daemons years ago, and Im well respected. Experienced.....some even say nice.
Young folk seek my sage advise and as you can see, I have no option but to say………
"your wasting this incarnation if you don’t play a Stratocaster". Hmmmm, my tongue slightly in cheek.
But I can tell you this, when im alone with the vine flowing thru my veins, she loves to put down a multi layer Strat drone and vibrate thru the guitar and me,
the 3 of us as one, in post modern icaro mash up bliss.
My vine is sure as hell not wasting its incarnation and loves to play my Fender Stratocaster thru me.
I know, cause its unique to what Id play otherwise.
Stratocentric thinking…..its a thing…….probably a curse…….but this essay announces that Im owning my issues. My rationale by default says
many of you have missed this opportunity, wasted your lives, but of course I don’t think that, we are all equal with different perspectives and talents ………
this is just a heads up for next incarnation.
The Stratocaster is so well designed, it will be around to play the fuck out of, for a few more lifetimes.
The root cause
1979 Antigua Stratocaster, the most polarizing finish of all strats, love it or hate it, it sends collectors wild. I wonder who is playing mine now ?
Be worth 10 times what i paid, bugger!
1996 50th Anniversary strat,Boss multi effects. Boss RC 300 looper, space echo, job done, no limits.
Always needs to be a skull somewhere.
Set the controls beyond the heart of the Sun !
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Hey Communacacian,
Photos of my 4 plants, 14mths on.
Im 6ft tall.
Growing well in lower Hunter Valley NSW.
Stems finally thickening up, though some support required.
My only question is , should I prune the tops to thicken things up?
Yeah I know the answer is "do one and compare the result"
But I wanted an excuse to share these pics, and thank you again for your good work,
producing nice healthy plants for our community.
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Kenta knows how to loop. Nice showcase for Martin Guitars.
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SPK- seminal Sydney industrial band from early 80's
Used to show autopsy films, and have a lot of abattoir waste.
Attacked the audience with chains etc. Fucking legendary live show.
Seen them wreck the Trade union club one night.
Nobody in security game enough to stop the show.
Anyhow, the front man went on to be one of the most successful Hollywood film score moguls.
Lives in a Gothic Mansion in Beverly Hills.
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" I know it's a hike for the newy/central coast crew, but d00ds offer is pretty solid and generous. It's not often we get to go to a member's garden for a meet."
Yeah, agree with all of the above. But if I could bum a lift with Change.......well that Changes things to a very pleasant outing. Good work Dood, nice offer.
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Well it's been 13 years, and I finally made 500 posts.
So to celebrate, I will do a bit of sharing.
Thanks to this forum my gardens flourish with many varieties of plants, lots gifts from much loved members.
And those staunch people are the humans I most like hanging with.
Great times, as well as learning, teaching and developing with each other.
Now that my gothic garden on the Coast is overflowing,
I now have an amazing property to start afresh, to really live the dreaming.
So here are some shots from around the place.
Maybe in another 13 years I can get to 1000 posts...............but I could be too busy in the gardens.
A bit of Banjo Raga for the new garden
My teacher
Members at a recent invite only meet.
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Thats a good relationship with your vine to intuit to do that .
More than meets the eye going on there, wonderful to "see".
Woah, thats my 500th post cheers bro.
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Great work, with the collection and its home.
I find the ride on mower so meditative, brilliant to have a grid staked out by Cactus to mow.
Check em all out while cruisin along.
Fuck,there is just zillions of cactus between all us members now!!
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Im very proud of my GF who works with the fearless healers at "the church of Ubuntu"
They were recently raided by the cops ,who took some plants and said "sorry".
Nobody was charged.
Amazing community support instantly, people are leaving plants at the front door, and they have had many ounces donated !!
Now everyone from Womans Weekly,who will take the child epilepsy heartstrings story, to 60 minutes is banging on the door.
Even the Sydney legal community have done a story on it, which is an interesting take.
http://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/police-raid-newcastle-medical-marijuana-dispensary/
The Ubuntu community recently featured a ripper Documentary, that I recommend you watch the trailer.
Listen to Dr Katelaros get stuck into them in this link.
http://www.churchofubuntu.org/church-of-ubuntu-busted/
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Yeah, I dont see many topics that inspire me to respond, or have been hashed over before, but that is only the surface of the forum.
All the marvelous trades are still thriving, and meetings, socializing and networking certainly keeps me busy.
And yes, Mr Responsible , there are some fucking special gardens out there that are keeping the staunch well occupied.
Im seeing the amount of cactus in the world grow exponentially annually, with these efforts.
The forum ebbs and flows, and whilst the surface may seem still, a strong current flows underneath.
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Yes........plants to swap would help get the conversation among strangers flowing, it can sometimes be awkward, especially when substances are involved.
Nice to see you and meet some new.
Thats a seriously authentically cool machine Tony,every detail classy, yet sublime,
well worth the epic decision process,
Thanks for the nice weather universe x
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Weather looks ok, see yez there.
Coffee shop 10-10:30
map back in this thread
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Good luck with your search, its a great plan.
Look forward to having you as a neighbor soon,and sharing and exploring the secrets and wonders of Yengo.
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Old mate who you refer to Flux has asked me off line and he is welcome.
Its a general meeting in a public place, any plant heads who can be vouched for are cool.
The forum gives us a chance to suss people out, but any plant people sussed in other ways are cool.
And I vouch for you,and have met your crew.
We want to make our network strong and active, which is the basis of this meet.
This is going to be a funky outing.
Great work with the taxi thing CrayZ, are you right with the numbers, or do you need some back up ?
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On 8/24/2016 at 5:50 PM, Horus said:That way people who are late, can find us.
There is a great cafe in the Cemetery, good Italian coffee.
Meet there between 10:00 an 10:30
its on Memorial ave,at the Barker st entrance.
Move to the exhibition,which is off Hawthorne ave
11:30 relocate to the old Gothic tombs along Cohen ave for a picnic lunch.
1:00 relocate to the Crematorium sunken gardens and Rose Maze.
here is a map on the cafe website.
http://www.rookwoodcemetery.com.au/services/venues/reflections-cafe
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Top spot G,
Lovely post, with an important message as well.
SAB team are always looking for camping spots, is there anywhere to stay there?
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That valley is truly epic man.
How good to be sitting under the shade of them looking at the creek in 5 yrs !
It will be a place of pilgrimage for acacia lovers, our Sydney /Newcastle crew might book in for a roadtrip meet then. : )
Full credit to Communacacian for his work getting these plants up and out there,
I only have 4 of his Courtii, powering out of winter, and they are highly cherished.
Much respect Spooge, thats a manifestation if I ever saw one.
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Now thats what I call "on topic"
And thats why I love this forum, brilliant ant jizz porn waterboy !
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Hey Glaukus,
Ant Jizz is the bizz,
to help your cactus grow.
So get those roots a soakin,
in that wholesome anty blow.
Hey Doublebenno ,
Im too old to remember all the species.
I will take a better pic on the weekend, there are a few showy pieces, and a big Icaro, a cherished gift from Toast.
Some san-pedro from a peruvian shaman my bro trained with.
And thyme,oregano, mint etc along the front to flow over, and soften the edges.
There is a benchmark though that relates to this story.
I had a whole bunch of cuttings from a plant, that according to legend, came over 80 years ago on the container full of cactus,aloe and succulents that have become some of the standards in Australian gardens. This Bridgie is huge, Ive used it Ceremonially for the last 4 yrs with literally 100's of punters and have witnessed amazing healing and journeys.
Anyhow a bunch of tip cuttings all the same, were planted at the same time, but in different parts of the garden.
The ones on the ant hill are thriving the best.
Yeah,aerated soil and nitrogen, sounds like the answer. Its a thing !
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Thanks for that warning Halcyon.
ive not ID'd them, I just generically call them that cause they are red and burn like crazy when they bite.
Its pristine bush, so I doubt they are some introduced nasty.
I will take a good look next weekend.
Cheers.
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At the front entrance of our new farm cottage there is a hill with some lovely feature rocks, that at first sight I visualised as a cactus terrace.
I planted out the ground level to see how the plants coped with the winter frost. All good.
When I went to do the upper level, the underneath of the first rock I moved was fully covered in Fire ants, their attack trained frontline defensive troops, little buggers started flooding out from the hill.
so I spent 6 mths contemplating things and meditating upon interacting with the fearsome biters.
Finally the day came to attempt excavating the hill, in the least disruptive fashion, and minimal ant casualties.
The fucking hill was an ant Metropolis, Fire ants and their helper minions, it was full on.
But I was not bitten , so that was a good omen. I put the "guardians" rock back over the main entrance and made things nice for the guys.
Then I planted cactus on the ant metropolis and they are thriving!
Whatever ant piss or Jism the Cactus roots have grown into, they apparently love it.
The fire ants are probably having a cactus circle every full moon, cause everything is very happy.
Ants and cacti could be "a thing".
These pics are a few months old, the terrace has now come out of another winter powering, very healthy plants, I will update with current pics soon.
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The Stratocaster,a personal history.
in Chill Space
Posted
Love you d00d,
thanks for sharing, precious objects are major dots in your life that connect you to time and place, but special musical instruments take those connections to much deeper and wider levels................because you can create magic with them !!