LATEST UPDATES
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13-Aug-2014It's "Back To School" time for an academically confused PACKRAT!
10-Jul-2014My band THE ROYAL DIN just released a new 5-song EP today! Check out the band website and order up a copy for only $5!
9-Jul-2014As this month's PACKRAT COMIC helps illustrate, absolute keyboarding corrupts absolutely.
15-Jun-2014If you see similar shapes when playing chords on a piano or keyboard, as seen in this month's PACKRAT COMIC, shoot me a messages over the the Facebook Packrat page; I'd love to find out I'm not the only one! :-|
15-May-2014People who can afford synthesizers probably don't have the blues, as this month's PACKRAT COMIC illustrates.
21-Apr-2014I know the economy is bad, but expecting bands or any other form of (presumed professional) entertainment to provide a free service is a pretty awful trend, and I address it in this month's PACKRAT COMIC. I have always hated the concept of "providing exposure to a band" as an ample enough reason to "let" them play on your stage. Everybody needs everybody equally; it's not much of a stage without somebody performing on it, after all. Granted, lesser-experienced bands might jump at the chance to get some exposure, work for tips, etc., but this is really just busking. And the fastest way to kill a music scene is to strangle its market. If you've only got lesser-quality, unpaid people purveying their art in a given area, it ain't much of a scene. Rant over! :-)
27-Mar-2014I know a lot of musicians, and every one of them is "working on a new project," or "thinking about getting something going," etc. Even musicians already enjoying bread-and-butter projects are like this. There's just this nagging need to keep coming up with new ideas and new concepts, and this month's PACKRAT COMIC touches on that.
13-Feb-2014At what point will synthesizers become infinitely expensive? This is the kind of thing that troubles THE PACKRAT!
6-Feb-2014Hey, here's a BLOG POST I wrote for Keyboard Magazine about my recent experience at the NAMM SHOW in Anaheim, CA. It's the biggest expo in the world for musical instrument manufacturers, buyers, distributors, and (of course), the artists who use them. I met a lot of cool, famous people and felt generally swanky the whole last weekend of January. Check the article out if you have a few minutes to vicariously visit the show through my virgin eyes.
12-Jan-2014This month's PACKRAT COMIC explores why online purchases might not necessarily be a sure thing just because the seller arranges a local pickup.
15-Dec-2013Check out this month's eye-popping PACKRAT COMIC!
5-Dec-2013Here's an extra PACKRAT COMIC done for Kiwitechnics, which just released a super-ballistic upgrade for the Juno-106, called Kiwi-106.  It transmogrifies your humble old Juno into an utter MONSTERSYNTH.  The Juno-106 was my very first keyboard, bought new in 1984, and since March of this year it has been getting completely refurbished (down to the very last solder contact!).  W