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Van ramps (for moving set-up vibes)

I went shopping for a van ramp this morning for my Hammond organ. Although I haven't made a purchase yet, I wanted to share a little bit of what I learned.

Past threads have discussed moving the vibes assembled (my preference) versus assembling/dissembling the instrument every time. To move the vibes already assembled, you need a van of some kind, so this is for those of you who own a minivan and might be interested in this topic.

Vibe Diary - Sept. 19, 2011 - The Power of the Comment

Thanks to Nicofarr for posting his video of his new VanderPlas Baelio. I posted a comment with his audio jam and that comment has helped me a ton. I told him to use the pedal more and get more ringing. So I put my stuff out there and kept thinking about it. I started listening to Gary Burton last night and checking him out playing solo. I thought man, that's why he's the cat. Look at how he blends the ringing with the melody. He's got control of that instrument. Ed's another cat who has tamed the vibraphone!

Vibe Diary - Sept. 14, 2011

Didn't do SH** today. And that pisses me off big time. Any other pros get pissed at how much BS we have to do. I'm a struggling musician that still has to do 1-3 hours of office work every frickin' day. Add to it, running the site, teaching and buying my son dinner because he's broke and some days I want to kick and punch something or preferably someone... anyone.

So today I hate being a vibes player.

9-11

It seems to me that 9/11 had a profound effect on the music business. I've never heard that talked about. As I remember it was after 9/11 that all the New York gigs fell apart. No one was going outside. All the clubs started doing the door for musicians. I heard of one club where you had to tell the guy at the door you were here to see the band or the money would not go to the band!!

Grad School Treasure Hunt

I feel like i've been on a treasure hunt lately. I've been looking for grad schools to apply to for Jazz Vibraphone (graduate level). Im not finding a big list here, and was hoping some of you guys would have a better idea as to wear i could consider applying?
So far i know of: Manhattan (locke), UArts (miceli), Queens (rafalides).
Know of any others?

Conflicting Interests, Rehearsal

When you come into rehearsals what do you expect to happen? Do you have order to your rehearsals? Is there a leader, or does everyone just work together?
For me personally, i prefer to walk in with a set idea of what to do. Whether its running through tunes we as a group are all familiar with, or running through an arrangement idea someone had.

Replacing Bar Posts

My Deagan 580 bar posts are eye bolts. That means that I cannot remove my bars for transportation.

I recently lost a bid for a nice Deagan 582 on eBay, which had the more modern posts that allow removing the bars.

I put in my maximum bid and let eBay automatically increment the bid. I was watching the countdown timer on eBay. I had the highest bid. 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3, I am getting really excited..., 2, then the bid changes. Someone obviously wanted it more than I did. Oh well. I already had a vibraphone, but it would have been nice.