Wes Yoder Is At It again With “Damn This Crooked Road”

My buddy Wes is back in the studio and recorded a cover of Damn This Crooked Road by Chris Knight. Some of you may remeber Wes from our video of “6th Avenue Heartache” by The Wall Flowers

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Maker Faire 2011 – The Future of Education Panel by Element14

The 2011 San Mateo Maker Faire was a great success! So many wide-eyed kids (and adults) visited the element14 booth to witness a live taping of The Ben Heck Show, to see Ben Innes and the official unveiling of his stunning art installation piece as well as to see the culmination of the Great Global Hackerspace Challenge. This panel Features Jeri Ellsworth, Ben Heckendorn, and Mitch Altman. The panel Moderator is Michelle Dobson.

Surviving Pink Floyd Members Reunite at Roger Waters Show in London

The surviving members of Pink Floyd reunited onstage tonight at London’s 02 Arena during a stop on Roger Waters’ Wall tour – marking only the second time that Nick Mason, David Gilmour and Waters had played together in the last 30 years. Waters and Gilmour performed “Comfortably Numb” as the crowd at the arena went absolutely insane, and during the finale of “Outside the Wall,” Gilmour returned to the stage alongside Mason, who played a tambourine.

As he did on the original 1980/81 tour, Gilmour played his epic solo on the top of the Wall. Last July, Waters promised that Gilmour would play the song during one show on the tour, but drummer Nick Mason’s involvement was kept a secret. They last performed together at Live 8 in 2005. Original keyboardist Richard Wright died in 2008.

via Pink Floyd Reunite at Roger Waters Show in London | Rolling Stone Music.

Paul Stanley of KISS On Hearing Loss

A medical condition impacting his ability to hear did not stop legendary entertainer Paul Stanley of KISS from pursuing his dreams. Stanley made it big and he says you can, too.

In the video at the link Stanley goes on to mention visiting http://soundrules.org for instructions and tips on how to save your hearing. As a lifelong musician that suffers from partial hearing losses I cant help but to wholeheartedly agree!

via Paul Stanley of KISS.

LM386 Altoids tin amp – Hack a Day

Hacker friend and cohort Dino Segovis is back again with the fifth installment in his “Hack a Week” series. This time around he has put together a 1/2 watt audio amplifier that would make for a great weekend project. He’s a big fan of the LM386 amplifier chip because it does so much in such a small package. Since it is so versatile, he used it as the centerpiece of his Altoids tin amplifier.

via LM386 Altoids tin amp – Hack a Day.

555 Contest Winners Announced!

Last night @ChrisGammell and @JeriEllsworth announced the 555 contest winners… Somehow I missed the live announcements but HERE is the link to the contests homepage where the recorded video announcement and the prize winners list may be found.

My congrats to all the winners but especially to everyone involved. There were lots of great entries. The judges were:

• Jeri Ellsworth
• Chris Gammel
• Adafruit Industries
• Phil Torrone
• Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
• Windell Oskay
• Forrest Mims III
  and finally as if that lineup is not exciting enough included the inventor of the 555 chip
• Hans Camenzind

The top prize “The Mims/Camenzind Prize” is a painting of a 555 chip donated by artist GnomeNCandle and it went to:

Tom Jenner for his – 555 Servo Controller

I personally did not have an entry due to month-long chinese parts shipment schedules combined with having to move 30 miles and a broken wrist. I was planning on entering a replica of the 1937 Hammond Novachord made completely and accurately out of 555 timer chips. I still am going to build this but at a much more leasurely pace than the month-long time limit of the contest. I will not profess that it will have near the depth and beauty of sounds and tones as the original but it should approximate it fairly closely with all of the same features. You may find details of this glorious instrument and its tale of reconstruction here!

Dead Flowers – Rolling Stones by Wes Yoder

 My friend Wes Yoder performs Dead Flowers by the Rolling Stones on acoustic guitar! Great job Wes! You can find Wes’s youtube channel at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/betterdays67