Pilgrimage to Madison Headquarters by Citrus

From Citrus' myspace blog

I made the Pilgrimage to Madison Headquarters again yesterday!

I headed out at about 10 am. Had some smooth sailing till I came upon a pretty ugly accident on the I-25 corridor. Didn't look like anybody got hurt, but they were obviously freaked OUT! I counted my blessings and moved on down the road. It's about 65 miles away from the house. I look forward to the drive because it takes you thru some really beautiful country. The last stretch goes along a killer razor back formation of rocks!

The place doesn't look like an amplifier factory at all...in fact the first time I went up there I went to the house first and not the shop! This time tho...I parked and went right to the shop's door. Ron came to the door and it was "oh HEY DUDE!!!" from the both of us! He took me into the depths of the shop! The last time I went up there I got a tour of the place and they were spread out all thru the building.
THIS time tho they were all holed up in one little section, by the wood burning stove. Eric and Ron were working on wedges while Andy was in his office. Ron took me to Andy but we headed right to the little work room where it's ALL going down. The spot is normally just for the speaker construction. The wood shop...so it's covered in sawdust. The wood-burning stove is fed the little scraps and unusable bits from the cabinets and wedges and heads.. All real wood here. I didn't ask a thousand questions...but my eyes were everywhere! There was no press board or crap of lesser amps. I was impressed by their obvious ingenuity and flexibility. They are getting the job done man!
Eric was skillfully building a wedge. He was all business the whole time...workin away. Andy and Ron and I sorta BS'd a bit about the Myspace and Distributors and the questions and suggestions that people are sending in to the Myspace page.

I asked Andy to blog a bit more cuz folks seem to really dig when he blogs...HE then took me to look at a bunch of Cabinets in his office.

"You wanna blog man? I got something for you Bog!" He showed me the covers that go on the corners of each cab. They were all filed to a sharp point where the pieces of wood actually meet. "That Fucker in there (Ron) Files these all down man...every one of them...cuz it just looks so much better!" In my world of Funk we say "If you have Funk. You have Style" These mother funkers got mad FUNK! I mean...I have always been drawn to the amps cuz of the way they look! Madison amps are some of the coolest looking rigs I have ever seen!

We headed back to the heart of it all and started talking about Distribution more and how hard it is to find the right folks to sell his stuff. I can't imagine what it's like breaking into this market at all! They need to get this gear into real stores in L.A. and Vegas and all over the world! Looks like things may pan out over seas in the near future...which I hope will help with the American market as well.


Ron and Andy went out to the main room of the shop and came back with the wedges that I had come to pick up. Andy then suggested that they mod them and add some capacitors to make the tone cooler. They get to opening them up....Andy says that he will help by just opening the one...but he ends up with a soldering iron in hand anyway..can't help himself. They do the mod and then Ron wraps them up with precision and care..you can tell that he takes a LOT of pride in his work..they all do! Some little inside jokes were going around about sawdust in the cabinets and other things....

We talked music...I couldn't believe that they claimed to not have much theoretical knowledge on the guitars...cuz these cats can SHRED!!...but they do it by ear and feel and emotion....I think they make their amps that way too...tons of Heart and Soul!

Last ’08 Denver show + Lincoln, NE on Sat!

Just want to let you know we'll be doing our last Denver gig for 2008 on Friday night, Nov 21: the Warren Miller after-party at the Paramount Cafe, 519 16th Street in downtown Denver. We'll hit around 10 p.m.

If you've ever gone to one of these Warren Miller events, well, we don't need to tell you--it's off the chain! If you're hankering for a helluva party, you should come by. It's your last chance to party with the Pipe in D-Town this year--let's go out with a bang!

On Saturday night, Nov 22, we'll be making our debut in Lincoln, Nebraska, so if you're out that way or have peeps, let 'em know we'll be at the Box Awesome, 815 O Street. We'll be playing with two awesome Lincoln-area bands: Son of 76 and Electric Soul Method.

They made a really cool poster for us, check it out:

Don't forget that you can now order United Sound Pipe online!

We'll also have CDs available at all our shows so we hope to see you soon!

Funk On,
U.S. Pipe
us-pipe.com reverbnation.com/uspipe myspace.com/uspipe uspipe.ning.com

My $250 Cigarette!!!! by Azma

From Azma's myspace blog

So saturday night My band, U.S PIPE Rocked a show up in winter park at the Winter Park Pub!!! Dope ass show!!! Those cats know how to get down on the good foot!!! It was our 2nd time up and they were jus' as wild as the 1st, Rocked wit' us from 10-2am. NON-STOP!!

Aiight, So the shows over, we load up our equipment, sign some cd's, drink some"danks", and roll out!!

Now I know that we have all been to hotels were they got signs up that say no smoking, right? Right. Otay!! And I'm sure that some people disregard these signs, like me!! Hahahaha!! This "BAD MUTHAFUCKA", (me) pulls a "SUPER STUPID", while I "ENJOY LIFE", and decides to smoke a muthafuckin' cigarette!!!! Tsk, tsk, tsk!!! Bad choice!!! In my state of Ignorant bliss...hahaha...I payed no attention to the sign that said, "No smoking in the rooms, violators will be subject to a $250 fine." Now keep in mind, I've smoked in most hotel rooms that had similar signs, but they never inforced them...Hell to tha naw...not this time!!!! apparently ALL of the rooms on the 2nd floor were jus' remodeled, new carpet, new paint, new furniture, new everything!!! Damnit!

And duh, I'm in winter park, where their only goal is to make scrilla!!

Ok, Sunday morning I roll out wit' the horn players and Everythang is coo', or so I Think!! Remember ignorant bliss? I get to denver, do what I gotta do for my day, go home and chill....Citrus texted me and says, "Winter park promoter called...great show...someone smoked in room 203...Owe best western $250...

DAMNIT!!! A brotha' shoulda used a "SMOKESCREEN"!!! oh yeah I'm on a roll!!! hahahahaha!! So now my dumb ass has to "WRITA' MAN" a $250 dolla' check! Ain't that a bitch! for a goddamn cigarette, thee most expensive muthafuckin' cigarette to touch my lips!! I should call em' and see if they still got the butt so I can put that shit in a gold case or some shit! So after my first reaction I laughed so muthafuckin' hard that I was cryin', my stomach is still sore from laughin so damn hard!!! If I can't laugh at myself, then who the fuck can I laugh at?

So the moral of the story is....fuck it ain't no damn moral, next time you wanna smoke, take yo' ass outside!!!

Maybe Hotels should start usin' a picture of my ass handin' over a $250 dolla' check to keep people from smokin' in their rooms!!! hahahaha! yeah laugh it up, jus' be glad it wasn't you!!

On the serious tip....My apologies to Jeff Williams, The Promoter for the pub, and to The best western....and especially my band!! My bad!!

Peace

Azmorphius.... the man who paid $250 for a cigarette!!

The Berf of my Baby! by Citrus

From Citrus' myspace blog

Good Grief...how many years in the making? Two I guess...really. We had started off with by recording an entire album that got shelved! Lot's of hard work and great guests are on it...we will slowly trickle that one down to the Pipe Posse. The Lost Album.. I won't go into the other names for it as it may offend some mugs! LOL
One year down the drain...but a HUGE learning period for my band and myself, setting the stage for the NEXT one!

Then after deciding to scrap it all Laura talked my good buddy C3 into giving us like 4 days...two to record and two to mix. We were hoping to at least get a real DEMO out on the table. When working with intelligent and talented mugs who have great toys in their houses(C3) you often find that time is as man made concept. He kept sayin...now GET OUT...it's gotta be DONE by (add any date here)!!!! but then we would somehow manage to schedule another session!
The Rhythm section did it's thing in a flash really. We got all the basic tracks done in a session and a half or so.

Then came the overdub period. Horns were laid up on there first. One Session and they were out. Then I came in and did my guitar overdubs...only one and a half hours! It was amazing. I laid down like some 20 tracks in that time. Hit it and quit it was in full effect!
Afta dat came Vox....we spent a goodly amount of time on them...going back again and again until they sounded just right...of course...most of our studio time was in the mornings at the start...and my vocalists were normally going to sleep at the time they were supposed to be trackin! But we got thru it...changed the schedule some and it all worked out!

Next up??? the MIXDOWN! Now the BIG problem with the LOST Album was that while I was away we had a body go in there and move stuff all around... I mean...cut copy and paste like mad...it got chopped into a lifeless bunch of samples IMHO....so with THIS one...we decided that we weren't going to splice solo's together...unless we had to...We kept it as LIVE and energetic as we could...leaving in the little bits of music that make it organic. We stayed as far away from triggering and sampling as we could...adding a few effects here and there for fun tho!
The process took a long time as we had short bursts of studio time in which to work...I suppose that if we had the duckets to PAY for our studio...we would have done it much faster in larger blocks of time...but as it was...we were on borrowed time and we took it when it came to us.

Afta DAT....we took the mixes to get Mastered...now this was something completely NEW to me. I had never sat in a mastering studio even...and here we go...to a grammy winning mug that really sprinkled some good juice on it!

Then of course...we had to deal with the tape..the RED tape...I have never had to go thru the whole copyright jammy in ernest. I was in bands that had somebody else handle it. The wifey and I went round and round trying to get it all just right with much help from our lawyer (Shoshana) and our producer(Billy Tee)!
Finally we had to send it off....and WAIT....
The wait is over...I have TEN beautiful boxes of CDs in my living room! True product...and a wonderful group of recordings if I do say so myself... I have listened to this thang enough to make me sick of it...but I am NOT sick of it...in fact...I keep hearing things that I didn't hear before we went to Master..
Morale of the story? This shyt ain't over...in fact..it's just begun!

The CDs are here and will be available for sale at our Moe's show!

The wait is over--U.S. Pipe's debut CDs are now here and ready for sale! United Sound Pipe has officially dropped.

We will have them at our shows this weekend: Denver @ Moe's BBQ Friday night, November 14 (formerly known as The Falcon and just a few doors down from The Gothic Theatre) and at Winter Park Pub Saturday night, November 15!

If you ordered your CD online, we will mail them out ASAP so you will be getting them by the end of next week (depending on where you live as some of you who pre-ordered are outside the States).

Official CD release parties will be announced so we can all celebrate. We will be selling these CDs in numerous spots online and will send out links as stores are in place.

And...you can buy them right now online at us-pipe.com/buypipe.cfm.

We hope to see you this weekend!

My brother.... by Azma

From Azma's myspace blog

Ok, alot of people have been askin' me why I don't have a song up in memory of my brother, who was killed in june....first of all like I've replied to most of you...tha's none of your business!!!! But it made me realize that I have been tyrin' to live my life like he is NOT gone! Denial sucks...It's been 5 months since my big brother was killed...the media and the police have put out THEIR story of what happened, but it's not even close to the truth!!! But I'm not about that right now...I'm about my fans who made me wake up and deal with my brothers death...It's been really hard for me to deal with this!!! I've seen alot of ya'll at shows, whether it was a Cadava show, or a United sound pipe show.

My brother was my best friend, and my biggest enemy...we were two giants in the same place, and that never worked well...AT ALL! My brother went through alot of bullshit bein' locked up at the age of 15, he taught me that the choices we make will either haunt us, or launch us to the platform of our dreams...(Media) "he was a thug, with a criminal record...) I have a fuckin' criminal record too!!! most young black men our age do!!! are you SHOCKED??? we have been their target for years...anyway I won't go there either! To the people who have asked, The reason I have'nt put up a song about my brother on my page is because I don't want him to be gone...might not make since but have you ever had a really good friend that pissed you off and ya'll never agreed on shit, argued all the time, talked shit to eachother, fought eachother, but always stayed friends??? That was me and my brother...no matter what we did to eachother, we loved eachother!! He was the only person in my life, that was not directly involved in my life that gave me advice that changed my life......for the better!!! We grew up in very fucked up situations, and because he was older, he tried to hide those things from me...but when he got locked up at 15, I was thrown into shit that I never even knew existed!! ya'll have all read the papers about him, and have probably come to your own conclusions about what kind of person he was, but let me bust the media in it's ass!!! My brother was a LEADER, he was the kind of person who was always helping people, yes he hustled, yes he fought, yes he dabbled in dope, yes he had many women, yes he did certain things when needed, and yes he grew up with no direction!!! count how many muthafuckas you know who fit this category....

He was still loved by his mother, his grandmother, who by the way, died 2 months after he did, his brothers, his sister, and his wonderfully smart children!!!

I AM my Brothers keeper!!! I have a song written especially 4 him, and it will be on my solo album...before my album is ever released that song will be given a away for free...because it will speak to those who need it...the truth is to be told not sold!!!

Thanks to the cats that made me realize what I needed to do...

PEACE

AZMA

Veteran’s Day by Citrus

From Citrus' myspace blog

I know there are a LOT of heroes out there. I thank you.
For me...especially now that he has passed on, my HERO Veteran has been my Uncle Joseph P Delio.

He was in WWII. He was a radio operator on B-17s. Once while bombing Germany he was shot out of the sky. He was knocked out but came to his senses and pulled his Chute in the nick of time. He evaded the Germans for about 10 days, but was captured. He was put in a prison camp and then, he and his fellow prisoners endured a forced 80-day, 487-mile march across the wintry landscape, a trek that cost him 65 pounds and earned him severe frostbite. He managed to write a book on that march. He used cigarette package paper and bound them together with floss! matchbooks...whatever worked. That book is in my Aunt's possession now...tho it belongs in a museum or something.
He came home with 6 medals.
When I met Uncle Joe...it was long after the war obviously. He never said a word about it to me. I asked and asked but he wouldn't glorify himself or the war. He just wouldn't go there. Instead he was putting the "magic" into figure and hockey skaters blades... He had become the BEST skate sharpener in the world. Every Gold medalist sent their skates to him in the day.
He had three daughters...all of whom I love..but you know they drove him nutso! His patience was endless...his strength you could feel across the room..the flash of love in his eyes could brighten your darkest day.

He taught me my first trade. Sharpening Ice Skates. He played Chess with me. He was the one man in my family that I truly respected in the MOMENT, not just in retrospect. I watched and I learned....and a great many of my traits that I am complimented on are directly related to Uncle Joe.
I was given some of his clothes recently. Strange that we are the same size cuz I always thought of him as a giant.
He is my Hero and will not be forgotten as long as I live!

PDF about my uncle here!

Go-Bama! Celebrate with U.S.! Obama-rama!

We're very excited about President-elect Obama. Help us celebrate this glorious change with some pure stanky funk!

This coming SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 you can party with U.S. at Out'a Bounds Saloon in Loveland, if you're up in northern Colorado! ALL PIPE, ALL NIGHT, 21+, 9:30 p.m.

Then next FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14 we'll be playing with our friends, HOME. at Moe's BBQ next to the Gothic Theatre (formerly known as The Falcon). 16+ AGES, 9 p.m.

Gettin my ning on! by Citrus

From Citrus' myspace blog

Hey everybody..Myspace and Face book are ok with me...but I am moving my life over to NING for the most part!

see me teaching music at
www.swallowhill.ning.com

find my U.S. Pipe and other interests at

www.uspipe.ning.com

and finally hook up with my Parliament family at

www.myfunk.ning.com

see you there...
I will be here somewhat to check in on how my non ning friends are doing!
cit