journal.pittmans.net: The Pittman Family Journal

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Tue
29
Dec '09

FBass fretted AC6

I have a lot of work to do. I’m going to completely revamp pittmans.net, including journal.pittmans.net, and redo Nicky’s craft website, bluebrit.com, as well. The projects are long overdue though.

Meanwhile, I got a new bass and wanted to post a sample up for you to check out.

Here is what it looks like:

And here is what it sounds like:

FBass fretted AC6 Demo 01a.

In one ear, you hear me playing chords on the bass, and in the other ear I’m groping for solo and melody ideas to use over the chord progression. About a minute into the song, I favor the magnetic pickup on the solo line so as to give the bass more of a jazz tone.

By the way, here is my favorite photo of the bass:

This is the bass before it wash shipped from its builder, George Furlanetto of Fbass.

The player is a very prominent and amazing bassist by the name Alain Caron. Apparently he came in to check it out before the bass shipped.

The bass is called an Fbass fretted AC6… and the “AC” is for Alain Caron. This is his signature bass, but it is extremely rare for one to be made with frets, which is why he went in to check it out. In fact, I’m pretty sure my bass was the first ever fretted AC6.

Cool, huh?

Fri
30
Oct '09

Bass Clips

Here is a quick sample of the basses in the photo below. To help give you an idea how each bass sounds, in one ear you hear a familiar slap riff, and in the other ear is a fingerstyle riff.

5 Bass Samples.

Wed
30
Sep '09

Emily sings early version of Freeway Flirting

Click the play button to check out Emily Pittman singing an early version of “Freeway Flirting,” a song written by her father, Tom Pittman, and his friend Elton Luz.

By the way, this song was written to be sung by a male, but 12-year old Emily is who we had on hand at the time, so she stepped in to do the first ever vocal track.

Also, this is a very rough draft of the song; it is not a final draft by any means. I post it because Emily wants her friends to check out her recording. :-)

Freeway Flirting (c) (version 4f) featuring Emily Pittman on vocals
Wed
25
Mar '09

Obama deserves the same smack down Gordon Brown got! (And perhaps YOU do to!)

You HAVE to see this video; it is the most amazing and articulate statement of why the strategy the UK and the US have been trying to employ to end the recession is brazen idiocy.

There are a lot of incorrect assessments out there of how this recession occurred; most of them fathered by people with deep roots in either the Democratic or Republican parties: the holders of the bi-opoly of power in our country. However, if you misdiagnose the problem, then not only will the treatment not work, but it could cause another serious problem.

The problem is not liquidity of banks, or job creation, or the collapse of Freddie and Fannie… the problem is and always has been debt. Personal debt in modern society is so high, and savings so low, that almost no household, business, or government entity can weather a storm such as a cyclical drop in real estate values. Those resulting foreclosures merely started the dominoes falling, dominoes laid out by decades of unwise practices and policies of leaders of government, businesses and homes.

Had the US and UK saved money for a rainy day during the prosperous years of the Clinton and Bush eras, THEN maybe spending money to stimulate the economy would make sense. However, that isn’t the case. In reality, we are borrowing money in order to stimulate an economy dangerously overburdened already by debt.

“You cannot borrow your way out of debt!” What about that statement is so hard for politicians and VOTERS to understand?!

I heard a member of congress today say that Obama’s proposed budget incurs more debt than the combined budgets of every president of the United States from George Washington to George W. Bush.

Remember, Rome wasn’t conquered by an outside power; it collapsed under the ineptness of the leadership of its own leaders. It was a financial collapse that ended the empire.

At any rate, here is the must see video.

Wed
11
Feb '09

Club Fbass (as posted on Talkbass)

CLUB FBASS ROSTER
(Updated 07 February 2010)

  1. George_Furlanet (Number assigned by club vote)
  2. Tombowlus – BN4, BN5, VF5
  3. Puff_father – BN5
  4. Debassed – BNF5
  5. ThumbyAche – BN5, GFC
  6. brandonwong – BN6, BN6 custom, AC6, BNF5, BNF5(2), BN5 custom
  7. Tom7 – AC6, BN5, BN6, VF5, fretted AC6
  8. Erick Lam – Vintage Fretless 5
  9. knarleybass – BN5, BN6
  10. Reefer – BN5, BN4?
  11. VinceLovesF – BN5, AC5
  12. T._Brookins – BN5
  13. DKB – BN5
  14. Speyer – BN6 (b)
  15. jmilky – BN5
  16. edel – BN5
  17. administrator – BN5
  18. Dave Hill – BN5, (b)
  19. FbassDave – BN5, BNF5
  20. Vic – VF5
  21. Georges_Abitbol – BN5 (b) (c)
  22. xav_paris – BN5(b)
  23. Munjibunga – BN5
  24. Toolmybass – ?
  25. Modny – Studio5, Prototype
  26. mikoespanol – AC5
  27. Ron_Plichta – BN5
  28. Gbarchus – BNF5
  29. nuwavedc – BN5
  30. JerryJ – BN5, BN6, AC5
  31. yansdgr – BNF5
  32. firebass – AC5, AC6
  33. <reserved for the return of choad42>
  34. donstrenz – Vintage 4 (stolen)
  35. Gilsonite – Studio6
  36. Tjluke – BN6, AC6
  37. cabooke – BNF5
  38. Brad Johnson – Studio5
  39. MHemmber – BN4
  40. FortressOne – BN5
  41. dreamwood – BN6
  42. wolfbass1025 – BN6, AC5, 2
  43. funkydanbass – AC6
  44. Phillip Jordan – BN5
  45. Halftooth – BN5
  46. thndrstk6 – BN6
  47. funkifiedsoul – Vintage4
  48. Trapeze Fan – BN5
  49. Poppsyche – BN6
  50. Groovy Bastard – BN6
  51. Kemet09 – Vintage4
  52. ModulusAcacia – AC5
  53. bassjam – BN5
  54. Bassconbeatz – BN6
  55. Basses55 -
  56. Kevin Woods – BNF6
  57. pierreganseman – BN5
  58. DiDi G – BN6
  59. Greggles – BN4
  60. kotzman – AC5
  61. Alphaman – BN6
  62. remigioremigio – BN5
  63. JensWest – BN5
  64. eduardxtb – BN6
  65. dveeus1 – BNF5, BN5
  66. paulvienneau – BN6, AC6
  67. bdgotoh – BN4
  68. rabster – VF5, AC5
  69. funkygeos – BN5
  70. fusoid – AC6, BN6
  71. WovenGraphite – BN6 (b), AC6 (b)
  72. rnlytton – AC6, AC6-LW, BN5 (piccolo), 3 BN6s!
  73. bardlute – AC5
  74. chrisloe – BN6
  75. Iposavad – BNF5
  76. yinghock – BN5
  77. pocketmonster – BN5
  78. bassment bn5 – BN5
  79. hairman – BN6, BNF5,
  80. JOEP054 – AC5, BN5
  81. p0k – VF5
  82. jmilkey – BN5
  83. Bass Junkie – AC4, (with a VF4 being built!)
  84. narud – VF5, VF5
  85. BIg O – Studio 5, Passive 6, BN5, more photos
  86. felicidade – BNF5
  87. Drone80 – BN5
  88. steve f – BN5
  89. Fbassed – BN5, AC5
  90. rick1906 – BN5
  91. KJung – VF5
  92. Romu – BN5
  93. Bajosintrastos – BNF5
  94. jimc – BN5
  95. cfequa – BN5
  96. mrbassman_de – AC5
  97. <Your name could be here!>

Former Fbass owners:
GRoberts, AJ Brown, JRB, jmondick, ursus, Freddy-G, Adrian Garcia, Yvon, dean82, smperryRyan_L, rodneyat, 123eranoid, Gordon of Eden, choad42, black.rose1402, blen dem, Jonno1707 – AC5, Quadzilla – BN4, BN5, ?, RoboChrist – BN4, blen dem – BN5, BassBoss – AC5,

Thu
13
Nov '08

Marriage: What Gay Advocates Don’t Seem to Understand

Since California’s Proposition 8 passed, gay advocates have accused Christian groups of hate, hypocrisy, intolerance, misinformation, violating equal rights, and of not supporting the separation of church and state.

It seems the pot is calling the kettle black.

This YouTube.com video clip shows gay advocates berating and intimidating an elderly lady in Palm Springs, California, peacefully bearing a cross. This YouTube video clip shows an outrageous scene at the LDS Temple in West Hollywood, California.

The disappointment of anti-Proposition 8ers is understandable, after all it was a hard fought and emotionally charged issue.  However, it’s also safe to say that gay rights advocates have definitively and irreversibly forfeited any pretense of tolerance, rightness, and moral superiority on this issue.

The great philosopher, anonymous, once said, “What you say about others says something about yourself as well.

In fact, perhaps nothing is as revealing of a person’s character as how they respond to setbacks; that’s when people’s true colors show through.

The Mormon Church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in particular has been the target of vicious retaliation by enraged gay rights advocates. In addition to condemning LDS Church members in the media, over the Internet, and face to face, all over the country LDS buildings are being vandalized, and white powder is being mailed to places like the Salt Lake Temple in Utah, and the Los Angeles Temple in California, and at least 1 white powder mailing, earlier this year to FBI offices Salt Lake City, included hate letters.

Prior to the passing of Proposition 8, LDS Church leaders took great care to instruct its believers to treat others with civility and respect. Likewise, after the passing of Proposition 8, the LDS Church issued the following statement:

“Most likely, the election results for these constitutional amendments will not mean an end to the debate over same-sex marriage in this country.

“We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position.   No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information.”

Curiously, the popular search engine, Google, does not include lds.org in its search results for this quote, even though it is clearly and prominately posted on lds.org. Google instead only lists several news agencies that carried the quote. Yahoo’s search engine, by the way, with the same search criteria, lists lds.org no problem. That is especially interesting given that Google’s founders are famously liberal Californians who personally donated six-figure contritutions to the effort to defeat Proposition 8. Likewise, Google’s  executives and employees are overwhelmingly Democrat-leaning, with  98% of their political contributions during the last campaign going to one party. Additionally, Google has a controversial history of purging conservative leaning websites from search results. Likewise, conservative groups have complained that Google censors their advertisements as well.  Google, of course, has no problem serving up other “constitutionally protected free speech” such as pornography, liberal ideologies, or how to make a bomb for that matter.

The whole world knows that had California’s proposition 8 failed, LDS Church leaders would not have organized protests in front of gay bars, nor would they have resorted to the acrimony, labeling and hate-mongering that we are seeing from those who did lose.

And while gay rights advocates may yet vilify, bully and manipulate their way into overturning proposition 8, they cannot change the unimpeachable fact that marriage is not theirs to define.

What shockingly few people seem to understand is that marriage is not a right, nor is it a government entitlement. Marriage is a religious practice. It always has been.

Secular doctrine teaches that mankind evolved from animals, some of which mate for life but none of which marry. It is RELIGIOUS doctrine that conceived of marriage.

Religion, including the institution of marriage, seriously predates the founding of this country and its constitution. Marriage is by no means a U.S. government institution, nevertheless, it has long been the object of a hostile takeover.

The nation George Washington governed recognized Martha as his wife, but their marriage would be illegal in the nation George Bush governs!

When our nation was born, marriage was a religious rite that didn’t concern the government. Then, in the 1800s, states began passing laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Eventually, they allowed interracial marriage, but only with a government issued license, hence the birth of the American marriage license.

That’s right. Ironically, from the very beginning, the reason government was involved in marriage at all was as a means to discriminate against some people.

For untold centuries, marriage survived without controversy as a religious institution. It was the secular hijacking of marriage by the United States government that started our current conflict.

The Federal Uniform Marriage and Marriage License Act of 1923 prompted every state in the Union to adopt marriage license laws, perhaps the largest invasion of religious rights by “the state” in the history of the United States.

During the Great Depression, the U.S. Government became intensely interested in taxing incomes, and income taxes differentiated between single Americans and married couples. Likewise, the Norris Laguardia Act of 1932 gave power to organized labor, leading to employer’s benefits which likewise treated married people differently. Little by little, for monetary reasons (the root of all evil?), the Federal Government co-opted marriage from religion.

And as the great philosopher, Ringo Starr, once said, “Everything the government touches turns to crap.”

But while the United States may have tied taxes and other things to marital status, constitutional constraints forbid the government from annexing religion and its practices as its own. To do so would violate the First Amendment of the Constitution reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Like it or not, marriage is and always has been a religious practice, not a government program, entitlement or right, therefore it is not a voter’s prerogative to define it.

This is not a matter of homophobia, hate, intolerance, hypocrisy, or any of the other labels the spin doctors are using. It is simply a matter of fact.

Marriage is and has always been, since long before the United States was born, a religious rite, not a constitutional right.

Consequently, what gay advocates are demanding with marriage is that government elections should be used to tell religions what their doctrines and practices should be. Could there be a more blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution?

The fact that so many people could with such brashness and indignation insist that government seize for its own the free exercise of religion is a testament to just how powerful the forces against religion in this country really are.

Civil unions may well be a protected right of all people, but marriage certainly is not.

In fact, to insist otherwise is, to borrow the labels and rhetoric of the opponents of Proposition 8, blatant “bigotry and intolerance” … of the rights of religious peoples.

But if the day ever comes when the free exercise of religion falls victim to populist political pressures, I seriously doubt you will see the LDS Prophet, the Catholic Pope and Protestant Clergy on Google’s YouTube website berating and intimidating little old ladies in front of gay bars… further illustrating that, in more ways than one, gay rights advocates are just flat wrong on this issue.

Sun
14
Sep '08

Josh and Caleb: Homecoming 2008

Here are some photos of Josh and Caleb with their dates and friends. They just finished with dinner and were headed out to the homecoming dance.

To cycle through the photos, find the gold coloured arrows at the bottom, right-hand corner of the photobox.

Click Next Photo to see the next photo in the album.Click Previous Photo to see the previous photo in the album.

Click Play to view all the photos as an automatic slide show (photo changes every 5 seconds).


Thu
4
Sep '08

Palin Outs Obama as a Poser

I have been astounded by the subtle and not so subtle disparagement of Sarah Palin in the national press. If Sarah really was unworthy of the office of Vice President of the United States, then why is she worthy of so much effort to try and convince us all of that?

The democrats have been making the rounds in an obviously choreographed effort to make people think Palin was shrill in her acceptance speech. But as an independent who saw her speech last night, and who has been following the coverage of the Palin speech since, the only shrillness I hear comes from the left.

And speaking of the left, is this the best they can do? No wonder democrats like to use the word “desperate” a lot.

Can you imagine that a POSER like Barack Obama, with his make believe presidential seal, could be 60 days away from the presidency, much less a heartbeat?

If Obama has so much political experience, then why is America much more aware of his speeches than his portfolio of reforms? Apparently Obama measures experience by the number of words spoken, not the number of actions taken.

What has Obama done for the state of Illinois? And what has he done since becoming a US Senator, other than promote himself?

Obama’s circular logic had him on TV the other day claiming he was qualified to be president, because he’s run a presidential campaign.

Uh, okay. And what exactly does Obama “campaign manager” David Plouffe do again? Bring his Poser-ness his morning coffee?

Barack Obama is a self absorbed narcissist, who has written more about himself than he has for his constituents in Illinois.

Obama is a made for TV candidate in the age of American Idol. And obviously, American Idol has a lot of fans.

Not only is Barack Obama not qualified to lead this country, he’s not even qualified to claim to know “what the American people want.

Exactly when did Obama qualify himself to be so in touch with Americans?

Was it his $4 million income last year from writing books about himself that gives him his gift with the common person?

Was it his underage drinking in high school?

Was it his marijuana and cocaine use as an adult?

Is it his Harvard law degree that makes Obama think he is so in touch with what Americans want?

Or is it the $1.65 million house he lives in, purchased in league with a campaign campaign contributor who at the time was “under scrutiny for alleged political corruption.”

Barack Obama is a self absorbed narcissist who does more for the advancement of his career than for those he was elected to serve.

Obama supporters should be embarrassed, and find themselves a real candidate instead of the Harvard Law cardboard cut out.

Palin exposed just what a poser Barack Obama really is in her speech last night, and Joe Biden is next.

If you weren’t excited about McCain, at least Palin is someone you can genuinely be excited about, assuming you aren’t too proud to admit you were wrong about Obama.

Fri
29
Aug '08

Sarah Palin will DESTROY Joe Biden in Debates

While the rest of the United States scrambles to figure out who on earth Sarah Palin is, Joe Biden is about to find out what us Alaskans have known for years:

Sarah Palin chews up and spits out good ole boys (like Senator Biden) like last year’s moose jerky.

Sarah Palin handily defeated an incumbent governor in the primaries, Frank Murkowski. Remember, Murkowski, like Joe Biden, was a US Senator, but he couldn’t come close to standing up to Sarah.

Sarah’s appointment is certainly a great moment for women in politics, as it is for Alaskans, whose congregational delegation is a whopping 3 people, but whether or not America has figured it out, the Republicans finally have a Reagan Republican on the ticket: cut spending, cut waste, strong military, energy indepence, etc., plus she is environmentally friendly.

The only way this could be better would be if she was at the TOP of the ticket!

Sun
11
May '08

Happy Mother’s Day, Jessica Johnson!

Jessica gave birth to twin girls at 3:09 a.m. this morning, Mother’s Day (11 May 08).

On Wednesday, May 7, 2008, the day of her baby shower (and the day after Karl and Jessica’s 3rd anniversary), Jessica went into labor. The next several days were spent in relative boredom at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, trying to avoid giving birth at just 30 weeks.

But Jess got sick, and Saturday night her coughing may have triggered things because her water broke. Before long, a foot appeared!

Both babies were breech, so a “c-section” was performed, and at 3:09 (then again at 3:10 a.m.), Karl and Jess were parents.

Camille was born first (3:09 a.m.). She weighed 3 lbs., 8 oz (1605 grams), and was 16 inches long (40 cm).

Shaylee was born second (3:10 a.m.). She weighed 3 lbs., 4 oz (1480 grams), and was 16.5 inches long (42 cm).

Mom is fine but very tired.

The twins are in intensive care right now. They are so skinny but are doing well.

At a time like this, it is hard not to be so grateful for our Heavenly Father’s goodness to us. What a blessing to live in a time and place where our granddaughters can have such assistance as they start off their new lives here on earth. They were born 11 weeks early.

That makes May a busy party month for the Johnsons: Karl’s birthday, their anniversary, Mother’s Day, and now the twins’ birthday.

Thanks to everyone worldwide for your prayers and kind words.

I’m not saying Tom was excited, but he wore two signs (one in the front, one in the back) all through church.

To cycle through the photos, find the gold coloured arrows at the bottom, right-hand corner of the photobox.

Click Next Photo to see the next photo in the album.Click Previous Photo to see the previous photo in the album.

Click Play to view all the photos as an automatic slide show (photo changes every 5 seconds).