Burundanga Coffee Cup

Laid off!

A couple of us just got the boot from Global Rail Systems Inc. but we left on a really good note.  They just couldn't handle the downturn in the economy.  My brother is still there but at a 40% pay cut.  So what to do?  I'm thinking that I should use the time (and savings and unemployment) wisely AND since I just got my studio fully up and running with a new computer and Ableton Live... maybe it is time for the butterfly to turn into a full fledged musician?  What say you? 

Here's what I got, guitars, a bass, an amp, M-Audio's Trigger Finger, a high quality Behringer microphone, a GNX4 effects pedal and MIDI interface, Ableton Live 7.0 for recording and mixing, and Ableton Live's full library of intruments, effects, and Drumtracks - the drum library, and a few old-school foot pedals.  I have found that Ableton Live is VERY easy to use and works like a dream to lay tracks, create realistic drum programming and beats, mixing, and producing songs - week after week after week.  I'm not saying I can produce a song a day but maybe a song a week seems more realistic and in one year that'd be three to four CD's of material and my knowledge of mixing and recording would jump into the professional realm in no time. 

Long time readers also know that I am already a professional illustrator/graphic designer so I can also do work for bands on their CD's.  I did a lot of graphic design/website work for Global Rail including working up ads for print.  I also have a full-fledged graphic arts studio complete with Metacreations Painter 5.0, scanner, digital camera setup, and Carrara 3.0 and Poser to create realistic 3D models.  If you know any bands let them know I'm available for freelance work (I also know HTML, a bit of Javascript, and CSS) and they can click around my website or this blog and see the various works of art that I am capable of.  I got my training at the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design!

So that's the plan, go fulltime on art and music and use the time wisely.  Again, what say you?  What would you do if you were living in tiny little Marlin, Texas with no car, no driver's license, advanced arthritis in the knees and hips, and leftover damage from a brain tumor?  If you know anyone looking for what I can deliver don't hesitate to spread a good word or two and let's hope that Global Rail can get up and running again.  This entire nation needs to get this bad economy off our backs and start holding politicians and "banksters" responsible.  Put them in prison for stealing through the back door of the Federal Reserve and all these communist bailouts.  It is not about the false left/right paradigm.  Socialism is the wrong road for a nation wanting to be free.  So says me!

Me as a Vulcan, no big surprise

Duma KEY

I just finished reading Stephen King's Duma Key.  It is a novel about a recovering artist who encounters the supernatural after a tremendous head injury.  There are truths in this book that artists such as myself know to be true.  They are truths that concern reality. 

I am an artist who is recovering.  I am recovering from a very slow-growing brain tumor that was removed from my head.  Ever since I was little I have been able to see bits and pieces from the future.  When I was a small child I had an accident in which I got hung from a cord.  I was quite blue when my grandmother burst into the room and saved me.  Much of my youth was filled with dreams of being with the dead.  Many of these dreams were nightmares of escaping death, of drawing another future. 

The drawing below was finished in 1995 when I was a student at The Savannah College of Art and Design.  I have always seen bits and pieces of the future.  I learned two years ago that I had a brain tumor, whose origins have been traced back to a time before art school when I was in the Marines.  We know this from the very unique symptoms of my particular disease.  Acromegaly it is called.  It is a very slow-growing brain tumor, something that starts small and grows bigger and bigger, like a stack of dominoes waiting to cause problems. 

The Stephen King book, although it held truths, also ended up missing the mark.  Hit and miss, Stephen's work is like that.  Sometimes you get an "IT" or something like "The Stand" or a work of genius like "The Dark Tower Series" and other times you get... "The Tommyknockers."  I'm not saying the book is a total wash, it may have missed it's mark but it still hit some pretty high points.

Anyways, after reading Duma Key I have definitely made the decision to continue to be an artist.  Duma Key is not going to stop me --- "Be brave.  Don't be afraid to draw the secret things." --- Stephen King.  I am an artist.  I am fearless.  I am illuminated. 

I feel the "itch" to draw but I am content for the moment to put my thoughts down in sketch form and save them for my "Act Three."  You should see a doozy of a sketch I have in mind.  Still up in the noodle.  I'm going to call it Persephone, or maybe...   "Persephone Unbottled."  Yes.  Much better title, given that it fits Artist Ken D. Webber so fucking well.  I'm sure Stephen King would understand.  Do you?

"Crazy Man" copyright 1995 by Ken D. Webber; All Rights Reserved.

Just finished some new art

Read all about the new design I just posted on my home page.  Post your comments about my guitar line or the artwork here on my blog. 

Chickenfoot

A name as retarded as that you know it can only be about the fun.

http://www.chickenfoot.us/

ASIO and Ableton Live fun

I am posting this particular blog for the benefit of the people behind me.  The story began about a year and a half ago. 

I wanted to begin creating beats so I bought M-Audio's Trigger Finger.  I discovered that it is a trigger for MIDI only, it doesn't come with its own sounds.  Without digital drums it is an expensive paper weight.  So I bought Native Instruments Battery 3 digital drums and discovered that it would NOT install properly nor run at all.  I logged online and learned that hundreds of other people also had the same problem.  All of us were out our $250.00.  Within two weeks Battery 3, which had been a brand new program, was selling for $100.00.  Don't buy it as it is full of bugs and NI is very corrupt and evil for continuing to sell a dead dog that won't run.  So I turned my eyes and ears to Ableton Live 7.0.  I had previously discovered that my emachine would NOT cut it for digital recording as it does not come with ASIO drivers on its sound card.  What I needed was a completely new computer solely for recording and performing music.  So starting with a creative labs sound card with ASIO drivers (reduces latency) I am going to build an entirely new computer for music only.  It is going to run on Windows XP because the word going around is that VISTA doesn't work so well in music with ASIO drivers, Ableton, and such.  Who knows what's going to happen when XP disappears off the market!  Get XP now.  I am ordering small parts now through www.tigerdirect.com and will continue to order parts and a bare bones unit that my brother, Mike, is going to assemble for me.  Looks like summer is when I'll finally have all the pieces of my musical recording career in place. 

Work progresses on TRUTH

Take a look at this pic below. 

This is the start of something really great.  I'm going to have an engineer create a Solid Edge CAD drawing from the above then it's off to the aluminum casting company.  I'm going to create a thin aluminum frame in anodized yellow that will hold a clear acrylic body, complete with LED's to light it up on stage.  The guitar is designed from a study of sacred geometry, the Flower of Life, and the Tree's of Life and Death; Kabbalah.  The first limited edition is going to use chrome hardware and white DiMarzio pickups, a EVO 2 in the bridge and a FRED in the neck.  It'll have my own HORUS Customizable Headstock System TM along with custom inlays in the neck and a Floyd Rose Speedloader Tremolo.  My goal is not to create just any guitar but a guitar with the best possible sound and quality parts.  By using an aluminum frame and bolt on wood neck I should be able to get fantastic sustain and sound that acrylic alone cannot deliver and should be lighter in weight.  If you're into guitars then you've probably seen Steve Vai's clear acrylic JEM model guitar from Ibanez.  My goal is to blow that guitar out of the way in terms of quality, parts, sound, visuals, aesthetics, design... and price.  Mr. Vai's Ibanez is currently selling for $5,300.00.  When everything comes together, I see TRUTH completely destroying the competition.  Read the whole story as it develops at this URL:  http://www.kendwebber.com/music.html

Sticker Robot comes through

TRUTH Stickers arrive, Sticker Robot Rocks!

02/12/09 - HIGHLY Recommended screenprinters deliver the goods.  Got my stickers in today from Sticker Robot.  Take a look.

They are screenprinted on VERY durable white vinyl.  This is the second sticker I've ordered from these guys and I am extremely pleased with their quality and speed.  One of the best companies on the Internet!  The guitar pictured in the sticker is slowly coming together piece by piece.  Clear acrylic, multi-colored LED's, DiMarzio pickups, so freakin' hot!  Read more about it by clicking here.  

DENIED!

Latest news is that I received my claim information back from the VA and it was denied on all levels.  Using words so twisted and reasons so fraudulent that a devil would have a hard time owning up to this piece of work, the VA have outdone themselves and sunk to a new low.  I will of course appeal and I expect to prevail.  In the meantime I await my income tax return which will buy Ableton Live version 8.0.  Rock Star by the summer.  And I have better health than three months ago so all is not lost!  At least the VA came through on that one!

The Invaluable Robert McKee

This is the man whose book STORY has dramatically improved my screenwriting art.  I am currently writing Burundanda Becomes You and expect to be finished by summer.  Enjoy this great interview.

HORUS Eye jack plate

I just posted my new HORUS Eye jack plate in my Master Volume section on my website. It was created for my TRUTH Line of Signature Guitars and it has a bit of a story to it. The entire guitar is crammed full of hidden knowledge and secrets, the Egyptian Tree of Life, the Jewish Kabbalah, mysticism, and Egyptian folklore.

Horus and Set battle constantly for supremacy. Horus represents the day, Set is night. In one of their battles Set gouges out Horus' left eye. The gods are shocked, with some demanding that Set be thrown out of the assembly of gods. But Horus takes his medicine like a man and publicly announces that he's so powerful he really doesn't need that eye, and in fact, he's already replaced it with a serpent. The serpent in Egyptian mythology represents "wisdom." Horus gains power and defeats Set. Day follows night, night follows day, over and over throughout eternity the battle continues between dark and light.

So... going along with the story I decided when I built my TRUTH guitar and my MAAT amplifier line that I would also incorporate this story into my design. I would place the eye of HORUS on my guitars and on my amp so that when the player sticks in the guitar cord they are reliving the drama as the guitar cord obviously represents the serpent of wisdom.

Nahash to those who know the TRUTH.

Mr. Angry

I was sent this incredible illusion through one of my myspace friends, thought it worthy of a repost.  Take a good close look at the image and remember which one is Mr. Angry and which one represents calm and serenity.  Is it the one on the left or the one on the right?  Now get up from your computer and stand back about eight to ten feet away and which one is which?  It is believed this illusion was created by Phillippe G. Schyns and Aude Oliva of the Univ. of Glasgow.  It is believed that all of reality and our perceptions may be like this illusion.  What do you think?

Does the FBI really investigate computer crime...

The following is a public posting of a letter filed with the FBI's computer crime division.

"I have contacted my website host, host excellence, about identity theft and they have done nothing. Someone who appears to be in Canada is currently using my email account: webmaster@kendwebber.com, to sell viagra and penis enlargement pills via SPAM. My name is being ruined by association with these spammers. They appear to operate out of canada but have clients in the United States. For instance, this is the address they list for the penis enlargement: Copyright 2008 ADCO Advertising LLC, Inc. All rights reserved. 208 Bay St, Ellisville, MS 39437..... BUT... the URL's included on the images go to http://krms.wapcodar.cn and http://uhyuth.wapcodar.cn and sometimes I get viagra offers straight from an Canadian online pharmacy. I don't know how many hits my website gets hundreds of thousands, millions, but lots of people visit my website and so I am going to BLOG this email just so the FBI won't sit on their ass. I'll BLOG your efforts just to let the public know how effective or ineffective you are at stopping Internet crime. So the spotlight's on you now."

How many of you readers can comment on the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of the FBI?  What are your thoughts on me being "Penis Enlargement and Viagra King" of the Internet!  Someone's making money on my name, sure isn't me.

Here's to Boners!

Hello,

I am back home after having brain surgery.  I thought I would share the experience and give you a little heads up on certain things.  You might benefit from this knowledge one day.  Surgery started 9 months ago with a "few" tests, just to go over things the previous hospital may have missed.  That led to last friday where I was laying naked on a table with a mask over my face, hoping I wouldn't fart in the operating room, hearing some guy saying that he was going to start now...

...and... there was no "AND"... I'm talking INSTANTLY, like being teleported on a Star Trek "beam-me-aboard-Scotty" machine, I find myself in another room, sitting up on a bed, with a crowd of people shaking me and telling me what a great success it was.  The last time something like this happened to me I was attacked by a secret society (who shall remain nameless) in Savannah, Georgia with what I believe was burundanga, a date rape drug. 

6.5 hours of my life GONE in the blink of an eye, and I must say, I hope I never recover those missing moments! 

Whoever said a hospital is for resting is a damn fool!  For the next 24 hours I am told to "relax" as nurses and doctors prod and poke me about three times per hour, taking blood, fixing things, delivering shots, medicines, etc.  No sleep at all and everytime I get good and rested the alarms for heart and breathing go off or so says the nurse who tells me to keep breathing.

The second night went better but guys, and I mean guys only, fellas..., we need to talk about the catheter.  It's a little thing I discovered after surgery, a sort of tube that is affixed to your penis so you don't have to get out of bed to pee.  Amazing!  How'd that get there?  What an amazing invention!  That is, until you finally drift off to sleep and begin dreaming of sex with all the hottie nurses and suddenly you wake NEAR SCREAMING from what feels like a knife cutting your scarified weiner to pieces!  Get this straight, burn it into your memory, ink it out into a tattoo, catheters and boners do NOT mix!  You have been warned!

The next delight was removing the cathetar.  I thought that was bad only because I had yet to have my nasal packing removed.  A little German doctor came in and explained to me that he was going to remove something from my nose, a big foam pad.  With a smile he added that the foam was much too big for the surrounding tissues.  His smile got bigger as he waited for recognition to flood my face and nodded as he slowly pulled a TOTAL RECALL on me.  I am not going to lie to you, I cried like a baby and even yelled out a "god" I don't even believe in!  With what looked like total sadistic glee he told me that tomorrow we get the other one.  They want to provide a bit of support to the other passageway, which was the one used to remove the brain tumor. 

I do not know how much of the tumor was removed, only that all the doctors seemed very well pleased.  I will get all the details in the upcoming days and weeks as I complete my follow up appointments.  And final word, is thank you to my brother Mike, my cousin Regina, my mom, and Aunt's Elsie and Lucy who came up from Dallas to surprise me.  I am going to get off the computers soon because the drugs are starting to sink in and I am going to sleep and dream and hopefully have a couple of good ole' fashioned boners.  Good night to all!

Balls to the breeze...

And cold it was.  I find it amusing that doctors and nurses hold rituals similar to football huddles.  The lead doctor asks for quiet and announces my name and my case to the room as I lay shivering and naked on the table waiting for the action to begin.  A nurse adds to the coldness in the room as she sponges me down with an orange alcohol solution.  I imagine this must be what a football fan feels like when being painted up with body paint for the big game.  The operation in question calls for sending a small camera up a vein in my groin to my heart where they poke around a bit, releasing dye as needed for the constantly moving X-ray machine.  They look for obstructions, which would require a full angioplasty and the possible use of metal stents to keep things propped up.  The actual surgery was not as painful as I thought, a couple of stinging shots, some mumbled conversations in doctorspeak, and about forty minutes later they began to close.  All in all, I checked out fine, no stents needed, though I'm a bit sore as I type these words now. 

Lite duty for five days and then five days after that I go in for what is going to be MY big game, the endoscopic transphenoidal hypophysectomy, a brain tumor operation - in peoplespeak.  Only ten days to go, let the countdown begin.  Game on!