Dave Klemencic » sketch

Sketch of the Day #12

Dave — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:06:34 +0000

New Orleans-based drummer Johnny Vidacovich

Sketch of the Day #11

Dave — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 09:09:27 +0000

The Dominion Building in Glen Allen

Sketch of the Day #10

Dave — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:06:01 +0000

My good friend Tyler has been teaching English in China for the last few months. While he has the benefit of working with teenagers and college kids who already speak a fair amount of English, the language barrier must still be a huge challenge. He had prepared prior to leaving, studying Chinese and culture extensively in college and learning Chinese on his own for a year or so before he left.
Occasionally I’ll get an email or myspace post from him describing his exploits, and they’ve been both insightful and hilarious. He’s found some time to travel, and seems to adjusting well and enjoying it. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

Sketch of the Day #9

Dave — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:00:38 +0000

John Scofield is a world-renowned jazz guitarist. He has appeared with countless musicians in a wide variety of formats, with players ranging from Miles Davis and Pat Metheny to John Mayer. He recently produced a Ray Charles tribute album, and has toured on and off for the last few years with Medeski, Martin and Wood.
This image was created during his November, 2006 performance with MSMW (he being the “S” in Medeski, Scofield Martin and Wood) in support of their recent album “Out Louder”. His signature is faintly visible in the upper-right portion of the image.
Known for his versatility, his recent albums have delved into the jamband, dance and straight-ahead jazz realms, each marked by his signature tone and startling improvisation.

Sketch of the Day #8

Dave — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:52:52 +0000

S. A. Andre, a Swedish engineer and balloon enthusiast, launched an expedition to fly from Sweden over the North Pole, into Russia or Northern Canada. The flight ended in disaster, the balloon proving faulty and poorly designed. Andre and this two companions set out across the ice with the supplies they could carry, armed with rifles and an old camera. One of the men shot well over two hundred pictures of the team traveling, hunting and even wrestling with the ill-fated balloon. They survived by hunting and building shelters on the ice, but were constantly cold, wet and malbourished. After nearly a month, the three men perished on an island in the Arctic Circle.
33 years later, the final campsite of the explorers was discovered. Among the remains was undeveloped photographic film that was successfully exposed to reveal a glimpse of their journey.

Sketch of the Day #7

Dave — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:11:00 +0000

Billy Martin

Sketch for the Day #6

Dave — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:54:15 +0000

Sketch for the Day #5

Dave — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:08:04 +0000

The Hammond B-3 organ family is a class of tone-wheel organs that were made popular through their use by jazz and blues artists of the 1960s and 70s. First produced in the 1950s, the organs are most often seen coupled with a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet. This large wooden box that you will see not far from the organ in many concerts contains two speakers, a downward facing bass speaker and an upwards facing tweeter in the center cabinet, with a rotating baffle in the lower space and a rotating horn in the upper. The rotating horns bounce the sound waves around within the box, then projects them out of the slat openings in the sides and large openings at hte top and bottom. This allows the tone to reverberate in odd patterns, producing a doppler effect which has a warbling-like sound. The organ features a number of drawbars across the top of the upper and lower manuals that can be adjusted to simulate the different lengths of pipe in a traditional pipe organ. Percussive switches allow for quick a high frequency to be emitted as each key is pressed down. Bass pedals, arranged similarly to the white and black keys on a piano extend across the bottom of the organ.
Highly skilled players can work the upper and lower manuals and the bass keys, extending and retracting the drawbars, turning on and off the percussive sounds and adjusting the speed at which the speaker cabinet is rotating to produce a tremendous variety of sound. While most bands that include organs do not employ the bass pedals, many duos and organ greats are known for their ability to employ all the available options.
While the organ itself is bulky, weighing over 400 pounds, and the speaker cabinet is large, delicate and cumbersome, many musicians still make the effort to cart the instrument around and perform live with it.

These organs have been out of production since the late 1970s, but originals are still much sought after and coveted by musicians and collectors alike. Their rarity has promoted the production of many alternatives, and digital technology has greatly improved in recent years to allow for almost indistinguishable replication of the organ’s great variety of sound qualities. The Roland VK organ series, the Nord electromechanical “clonewheel” organs, the Korg organ line and even the newly produce Hammond-Suzuki organs provide lightweight, sturdy alternatives for professional musicians today.

Sketch of the Day #4

Dave — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:28:18 +0000

This image depicts an American soldier descending a minaret in the Samara region of Iraq.

Sketch of the Day #3

Dave — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:09:22 +0000

Had the great pleasure of visiting Crabtree Falls late last summer. Located off the Blueridge Parkway not far from Charlottesville, the falls represent the longest single waterfall formation on this side of the Mississippi River. The hike and scenery are pretty spectacular, and the trail around the falls is well maintained. It’s a great day trip.