Guess Who's Back?

It's about time. Punk/electronica/indie badass Brad Turcott, the frontman (also the onlyman) of the band Brad Sucks, is back. His latest record, Guess Who's a Mess, maintains the electronic vibe of his sophomore effort Out of It. I, for one, kind of miss the raw punk intensity of his first work. Sure, the high-gain distorted guitars gave me a headache when played from my car speakers, but it was worth it. Even though the album lacks the raw guitars Brad Sucks first had, Guess Who's a Mess still rocks. Brad's lyrics are, as usual, the main focus. Sardonic wit and sweet grooves fill the album. Enough talk. It's free, so download it already.

Royalty-free music for professional licensing

Absence explained

It's been a while since I've posted anything, and I believe I owe all of you an explanation. Here it is.

I've been rather busy lately completing my Eagle project and filling out pile after pile of paperwork. Today, however, marks the beginning of the end. My paperwork is complete and has been sent off to be reviewed. I put the last four nails and four screws in my project to hold up the plaques you see here. The next step for me is to schedule a board of review, plan my court of honor, and receive the rank of Eagle scout. It's all smooth sailing from here.

For my Eagle project, I remodeled a community bulletin board and installed a rock garden for the Tracyton Community Library. The existing bulletin board had no form of weather protection, causing everything posted on it to fade from exposure to the elements. Also, the board itself had a hard surface that was extremely difficult to put papers on. I added a layer of cork to make it easier to use, as well as a weatherproof frame. As for the rock garden, I installed it to replace a planter box filled completely with overgrown vines and weeds. The project took a combined 165 hours of labor and about $290, but I must say it looks fantastic! I have plenty of other pictures of before, during, and after the project which might interest you.

Here's how the garden looked before the project. Simply put, the Tracyton Community Library just didn't have the time needed to maintain it. Those weeds did NOT come out easily!

Here's the bulletin board. It was actually someone else's Eagle project, but it was in need of some upgrading which I was happy to provide.

Here's a closeup shot of the bulletin board. Let me tell you, those staples were a royal pain to remove. Not only were there staples, we even found that nails had been used to put up flyers. Nails!

The actual construction of the wood and acrylic frame used to renovate the bulletin board took place in my garage. My dad and I both killed our knees working on it, but it was worth it in the end.

This was taken on December 29th, project day. Here we have people removing the existing plants from the planter box.

On the day of the project, I had more volunteers than I knew what to do with. In addition to filling every inch of available space in this photo, there is also a group of scouts around the corner of the building who weren't even doing anything because we had more people than jobs. It was amazing. This picture was of scouts moving the rock into the garden itself.

Too many friggin' staples. This group of scouts was tasked with removing anything sharp from the board so we could put a layer of cork up. It was tedious work.

Here we have way more people than were actually needed helping to attach the wood and acrylic frame to the existing bulletin board. By this point, we had already put up the cork.

Here I am next to the completed project. We finished far faster than I had anticipated. As a result, I didn't even need to provide lunch.

So many volunteers!

Thanks for indulging me as I rambled on and on about the project. It's just kind of hard to stop myself when I get started! XD

Oh, and I should have a music related post up before the end of the month.

...and now, a word of sponsorship.

Man, it's been a while since I've posted something besides free music. Anyways, the order of business today is greeting cards. Now, you may have already purchased cards to send to your families, friends, coworkers and the like. I understand that I'm posting this a bit too late for this holiday season, but I'd still like to get this out there. I'm writing this to support Guatemala Greetings, a maker of handmade greeting cards based in the town of Magdalena, Guatemala. Magdalena has a very special place in my heart. I've gone on two mission trips there already and am currently fundraising for a third. I work in the field of micro-finance there, and Guatemala Greetings is a program which we work with. By purchasing greeting cards from Guatemala Greetings, you are supporting families in one of my favorite towns on earth, providing employment to women from low income households as well as funding a pediatric clinic. The cards are somewhat expensive, but in my opinion the benefits far outweigh the price.

This is what charity looks like.

Please visit their website at here. The link will open in a new window.

Guitarman out.


PS: If you're curious about the work the Students International micro-finance team does in the town of Magdalena, head over to the site leader's blog for more information. Again, the link opens in a new window. There's even pictures of me on there.

I'm baaaaaaaaack. With free stuff. Again.

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything. Life has kept me pretty busy lately, what with school projects, teaching myself Japanese for no legitimate reason, working on my eagle project, and fundraising for my third mission trip to Guatemala. Needless to say, I'm glad that school is canceled today as a result of heavy snow. I now actually have time to post more stuff. Huzzah. Anyways, on with the free stuff:



This is without a doubt one of the greatest free album I have ever encountered. That's saying something, because I sift through quite a lot of the stuff. Hailing from Sweden, Machinae Supremacy incorporates a SidStation into heavy metal music. A SidStation is a type of musical synthesizer sound module which uses SID chips from the ancient Commodore 64 computer's sound system. Basically, it's a device for making chiptune music. This seems like an oddball choice for a metal band, but it fits in seamlessly with the band's sound. Machinae Supremacy's latest work, Rise of a Digital Nation, was featured by the band on The Pirate Bay. For those of you who don't know, The Pirate Bay is a controversial Swedish website which is a notorious den of internet piracy. That's a rather bold move, to officially release your latest album on one of the most well-known centers of illegal activity on the internet. Whatever floats their boat, I suppose. Anyways, head over to The Pirate Bay to pick up this album. And while you're there, PLEASE don't pirate anything. I don't want to condone that sort of behavior, and don't want to be dragged into a court of law over something like that. Don't get me in trouble people! XD

Anyways, here's the album webpage: http://www.riseofadigitalnation.com/
Here's the band's webpage: http://machinaesupremacy.com/
Here's the webpage for SidStations: http://www.elektron.se/products/sidstation

I'll post again soon this time. I promise.

Guitarman, out.


PS: I have no idea how to embed a Soundcloud player that starts automatically, so I've left up the previous Radio of the Guitarman album. Sorry about that, but it shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.