Keytar Photos

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Thanks to Gary Brown for these photos from our half time show for Disney’s High School Musical. I ham it up by playing a Roland Keytar through a JP8000 synth. The best part is at intermission when the kids come down to the pit to see all the musicians. On some shows I’ve let the kids each take turns playing my Keytar. They start by asking “What’s that?” and I say “It’s a keytar!” – then they say “What’s a keytar?” and I say “It’s a keyboard that wants to be a guitar!” – and the great thing about kids is: That’s a perfect reasonable explanation to them and they accept that. I’m sure it makes it more fun for them to watch the half time show after they’ve seen the keytar up close and played it themselves.

Audiences have been really fantastic for this run. They are very enthusiastic to jam with the band by clapping and singing along to our jams. Each show’s jam is a little bit different – and I know each night how much the crowd enjoyed it by their lion-like screams and yells when we’re done. Life is good.

The keytar I use is the Roland AX-1 – I used this for a couple shows when I toured with Freddy Fender but he didn’t care for it much – “Dude, why do you have to play so many notes?” – I don’t think he ever heard of Keith Emerson.

It was really fun to dust off my keytar for this show. Disneys High School Musical is very “bubble-gummy” – and the keytar came to mind as the perfect complement to the show. Opening night I picked it up out of storage and we worked up a jam with the band.

I predict the keytar will be the new secret weapon of the Vikings when they regroup and once again being their world domination.

HISTORY OF THE KEYTAR

A keytar is a keyboard or synthesizer worn around the neck and shoulders, similar to a guitar. The word “keytar” is a portmanteau of “keyboard” and “guitar”. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement, compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stands.

Originally the creation of guitarist Steve Masakowski, the keytar was commercially introduced in 1978 as the Moog Liberation. The first Liberation owner (#1001) was Spyro Gyra keyboardist Tom Schuman (with numbers 1002, 1003, and 1004 owned by the band Devo).

Perhaps one of the earliest printed use of the term “Keytar” was circa 1980 in an interview of Jeffrey Abbott (owner of Moog Liberation #1005) by Tom Lounges of Illianabeat magazine (now Midwest BEAT Magazine)

The keytar was made popular in the 1980s by hair bands, as well as synthpop and New Wave groups. Changing trends in music diminished the keytar’s popularity shortly thereafter. The keytar has enjoyed new visibility due in part to software innovations from companies like Musiclab (RealGuitar), UltimateSoundBank (PlugSound) and the Williams (Keytar V-1).

THE ROLAND AX-1

The Roland AX-1 is a keytar (a shoulder-held clavier keyboard worn like a guitar) that does not produce its own sounds but controls other devices (such as keyboards, sound modules, and samplers) via MIDI.

Henrik Klingenberg of metal band Sonata Arctica played an AX-1 before upgrading to a Roland AX-7.

More recently, Jake Hallman, pianist for Eric Lee Beddingfield and County Line was seen playing an AX-1 at several live shows, a rarity in country/Southern rock music.French Maestro Jean-Michel Jarre has used the AX-1 Both a Black(with customised lower Octave having reversed colour keys)and also the Red Version during his Europe in concert tour back in 1993

Imogen Heap formerly of British pop duo Frou Frou sported an AX-1 while touring with Frou Frou and on her solo tours.

ALTERNATE NAMES FOR A KEYTAR

* keyboard guitar
* Synth-Axe
* remote keyboard
* portable keyboard
* belly-synth
* synth guitar (not to be confused with MIDI Guitar)
* master keyboard (as most were used as MIDI controllers)
* electroponce
* Schmidtkeytar
* Kaytar
* Piano guitar (in french Canada)

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Peter Bridgman – Bass Guitar

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Oscar De La Rosa – Percussion

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Luke Hansen – Guitar

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David Bridgman – Drums

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More pics of Conrad with his Keytar

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Brianne Weaver – Keyboards

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Apple Calls It Quits After Four Decades

APPLE CALLS IT QUITS AFTER FOUR DECADES
========================================
Computer Icon Goes Under But Brand Will Continue

San Francisco April 1st, 2017

In a surprise announcement by Apple Computer’s Board of Directors, Apple offices and warehouses will begin liquidation as part of its chapter eleven bankruptcy application. The Macintosh computer brand which briefly dominated the 1980’s and revolutionized the home computer industry will continue under a private labeling deal with Microsoft. The rival company has owned 12% of Apple since the year 2000.

Apple shares began a sharp decline after their cash cow products, the iPod and iPhone, lost traction to Verizon’s “Fug-Fone,” a cellular device pre-loaded with the combined catalogs of the three major record companies, as well as Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft with their $10 a month subscription services. “Loss of market share and the litigation by music publishing concerns has put us in an untenable position,” said the Board.

Apple will be holding close-outs of its12 remaining stores this weekend. Extra police will be on hand in response to Mac-loyalists who threatened to blockade and reside in the stores in protest.

Left over inventory will be donated to, AppleCares, a non-profit Foundation who will distribute the goods to underdeveloped nations in need of iPod accessories.

Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs has been in seclusion and could not be reached for comment.

APRIL FOOLS!!!

Pit Band Musician Photos – High School Musical

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Exceedingly rare and vintage pit band photos of the musicians for Disney’s High School Musical presentation at McIntyre Hall 2007. These musicians were VERY fun and intense to work with. When we get a tight groove going on it feels more like we’re cruising down the street with the subs cranking.

UPDATE – MORE BAND PHOTOS HERE!

Most of the musicians I’ve worked with before on other productions and they are all my first choice players to work with right now. They consistently rise to the occasion and raise the bar where most others would have folded and settled for “just ok”.

These photos are courtesy of Gary Brown at Stage Images – he’s doing a lot of photography for live shows now and prints are available online. Gary is kind enough to spend a little time taking pictures of the musicians which they REALLY appreciate. Pit orchestras are usually overlooked when it comes to photo opportunities, so players rarely have pictures of themselves playing their instruments.

But Gary, I think I should point out that all of these musicians are devlishly handsome except for me. I think you accidentally hit the “ugly” button when you took my photos. Does anyone know a good photoshop airbrush artist?

UPDATE 04/07 – Gary took some new pics of me and I really like them. Check out the KEYTAR PHOTOS – Thank you Gary!

HIGH SCHOOL MUSIC BY DISNEY – PIT BAND PHOTOS

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Oscar De La Rosa – Percussion
Oscar is the “mojo” of our group

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Luke Hansen – Guitar
Luke grows guitar amps in his backyard

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Kyle McInnis – Guitar and Saxophone
Plays the best “Mario Brothers Theme”
this side of the Mississippi

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In the Orchestra Pit
Throw a flank steak into the pit – we’ll keep playing

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David Bridgman – Drums

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with Peter Bridgman – Bass

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Conrad Askland – Conductor and Keyboards
Five keyboard rig for fast changes

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Conrad warms up the crowd for Act II
with his “Keytar” – a keyboard that wishes
it was a guitar

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View from the Drums looking up at the Balcony
in McIntyre Hall – Skagit College Campus

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The Band is Focused and Intense

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Brianne Weaver – Keyboards

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PHPBB Mysql Error Fix

If you get error notices on mysql using phpbb – view the database structure in PHPMYADMIN and see if all tables are listed. If you only get a partial listing with an error message for a particular table, here’s how to fix it.

In PHPMYADMIN with your specific database called up click “SQL” – this will open up an SQL query window where you can insert a repair command for the particular table malfunction. If the table error is “phpbb_search_wordmatch” then you can enter this in the MYSQL Query window:
REPAIR TABLE phpbb_search_wordmatch

Then click “go” – on larger databases the process may take a while. My experience has been that usually only one table will be corrupted in a database at a time – and usually occurs after a server reboot.

***************

Sample error message for above fix:

Error in deleting post

DEBUG MODE

SQL Error : 1034 Incorrect key file for table: ‘phpbb_search_wordmatch’. Try to repair it

DELETE FROM phpbb_search_wordmatch WHERE post_id IN (172970)

Line : 419
File : functions_search.php