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[razgueado]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

Do you have a different group for church and events bands?

I have three different church teams, and two separate bands.

[razgueado]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

[Travellin Dave]

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday.  ( not sure why that song popped into my head.

[razgueado]

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday.  ( not sure why that song popped into my head.

Charcoal burning everywhere...

[Travellin Dave]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

Yea, I used to direct-inject myself back in the day...

[A Friend of Charlie]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

Sounds impressive but you lost me at direct-inject.

[A Friend of Charlie]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

Yea, I used to direct-inject myself back in the day...

Braggart!

[A Friend of Charlie]

Direct inject lull?

[razgueado]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

Sounds impressive but you lost me at direct-inject.

Rather than putting a microphone in front of a guitar amp, I run a cable from my processor directly to FOH (front-of-house mixer). The processor models hundreds of amps, effects, and microphones. So I can make it sound like I'm cranking a Marshall stack, without deafening the audience.

[A Friend of Charlie]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

Sounds impressive but you lost me at direct-inject.

Rather than putting a microphone in front of a guitar amp, I run a cable from my processor directly to FOH (front-of-house mixer). The processor models hundreds of amps, effects, and microphones. So I can make it sound like I'm cranking a Marshall stack, without deafening the audience.

How did it go?

[razgueado]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

Sounds impressive but you lost me at direct-inject.

Rather than putting a microphone in front of a guitar amp, I run a cable from my processor directly to FOH (front-of-house mixer). The processor models hundreds of amps, effects, and microphones. So I can make it sound like I'm cranking a Marshall stack, without deafening the audience.

How did it go?

It went well. But it was complicated by a security threat. An apparently profoundly schizophrenic guy showed up and caused a ruckus in the parking lot before the service. The police were called in. Then he decided to come to church. We have an armed security team, that I train, so we were on high alert. We managed to get through the service without incident, and without most of the congregation knowing and being distracted by it. But I had four people watching him closely, and one positioned in a seat behind him, and two of us onstage were armed and ready to react.

This is church in the modern age. If you're going to serve the community, you also have to be alert to protect it.

[razgueado]

And in the two hours since the service ended, we have worked up an extensive profile on the guy. He posts prolifically on Facebook, and a lot of it is really disturbing. One of my guys has a mother who is schizophrenic, and he said Kirt's posts resemble what his mother writes.

But now we all know him by name. My dad gave him some money, and a bunch of us introduced ourselves. We try to engage these people as best we can. But we watch them carefully.

[A Friend of Charlie]

Morning, muchachos.

Good morning, Bret. Ready for your sermon?

Not preaching. I only do that a coupla times a year. But I've got the Telecaster sounding great, and the band sounding pretty good.

I thought everyone else was on vacation? In any case, don't turn the amp up too high. You'll blow them all away.

That's in the hands of the sound tech. I don't use an amp at church, I direct-inject a Fractal Audio FM3 processor to the PA to make all the guitar noise.

Sounds impressive but you lost me at direct-inject.

Rather than putting a microphone in front of a guitar amp, I run a cable from my processor directly to FOH (front-of-house mixer). The processor models hundreds of amps, effects, and microphones. So I can make it sound like I'm cranking a Marshall stack, without deafening the audience.

How did it go?

It went well. But it was complicated by a security threat. An apparently profoundly schizophrenic guy showed up and caused a ruckus in the parking lot before the service. The police were called in. Then he decided to come to church. We have an armed security team, that I train, so we were on high alert. We managed to get through the service without incident, and without most of the congregation knowing and being distracted by it. But I had four people watching him closely, and one positioned in a seat behind him, and two of us onstage were armed and ready to react.

This is church in the modern age. If you're going to serve the community, you also have to be alert to protect it.

You've mentioned the security part of this before. Glad you didn't have any incident but were well prepared.

[A Friend of Charlie]

It's after 6:pm here and still 97° out. Sheesh.

[razgueado]

Enumclaw, the little town I live in, is about 40 miles south and east of Seattle, about 20 miles east of Tacoma. Historically, it's a one-horse town, a logging town and a dairy town, and then, since the 1960s, a bedroom community for airline pilots. Logging is pretty much dead. We still have dairies. But it's been gentrifying over the past ten years, such that now we actually have some destination restaurants...including Il Siciliano.

An Italian/Sicilian restaurant on the west coast, you ask doubtfully? Yes. Owned and managed by real Sicilian, first generation immigrants, cooking, they claim, from grandma's recipes. It's pretty amazing, which is saying a lot because until they came to town, my favorite Italian restaurant was in Binghamton NY.



#1 son and I decided to have a late lunch there today. Pizza and beer. Not Italian beer, a local pilsner that went with pizza really well. And the pizza was amazing.

And no, that's not pineapple on the Margherita. It's chunks of Mozzarell'.