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  • Extra! Extra! The Blacktop Kings to play the worlds largest music festival!

    Well, it took a combination of talent and cronyism, but The Blacktop Kings are slated to play Summerfest on the Harley-Davidson stage on Sunday, July 1st.  We will be playing a two hour set from 12:00PM until 2:00PM.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit nervous.  That's a big stage that has been occupied by some big names!  I guess it's time to get to practicing.

  • The Blacktop Kings to Play Beloit Riverfest

    We've just been scheduled to play Beloit Riverfest, the 2nd biggest music festival in Wisconsin (after Summerfest of course)!

    We'll be playing at 10:00PM on Saturday, July 14th right after Grand Funk Railroad and Steppenwolf (before you get too impressed, we're on a different stage).

    Look here and at www.theblacktopkings.com for more updates!

  • the Blacktop Kings - One step closer to Summerfest

    We're almost there.  The press kit is done, the demos glossed, the stickers printed, and the T-Shirts in the works.  We submitted through HD's official Summerfest contact with the assurance that we'd have a slot.  I'm not going to get too excited about it though until it's official.  Here's some good TBK links.

    http://www.theblacktopkings.com - Official Website (under construction)

    http://www.myspace.com/theBlacktopKings - the Blacktop Kings on Myspace

    http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.asp?epk_id=105222 - Sonicbids (here you can find full songs for listening or download)

    Look for future updates including bar shows, concerts, festival bookings, photos, set lists, videos, etc...

     

  • Another New Member of the Family

    Well, not to be outdone by Brandon and Jennifer bringing home a newborn family member, I too have expanded the inhabitant count of the Milwaukee Harris household.

    Last night at 7:05PM we brought home a healthy 226lb baby Hammond organ!

    She's a spry 39yrs old other than the one faulty vacuum tube (immediately replaced) is in wonderful health!

    I'm sure she'll bring many hours of joy as she screams "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" late into the night.  (and the song from the baseball games...that one's really annoying...I think I should play it really loud as my neighbor walks to his car in the morning)

     

     

  • Now I'm REALLY a Tax Paying Citizen

    Hooray!  We're now homeowners!  Time to go buy stock in Home Depot.
  • Keep Your Fingers Crossed

    We're on the 3rd offer now and getting dangerously close to being almost home owners.

    A little negotiating never hurt anyone, but I can certainly see why these things aren't done across a conference table in person.  If they were I might just have to use my go go gadget arms to reach across and choke someone.  I mean, I understand that nobody wants to lose money on a house, but it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and I refuse to pay too much for someone elses misfortune.

  • It's Alive!

    After a brief hiatus and a total reformation Alabama Son lives again!  Thats right, regardless of the fact that it took me 3 months to put a band together before, a mere 3 days after the decomposition of Alabama Son, the project has been resurected and is better than ever.

    I recently had the fortunate occasion of meeting a fellow HD engineer who in his past life was a professional guitarist.  After discussing with him my band mishap, he divulged his desire to assemble a blues-rock/southern rock band.  Add a superb bass player and drummer and before I could say "hearing damage" we hacked out a near perfect version of "Whipping Post" without so much as a practice run!

    But seriously...Jennifer, I need some molded ear plugs!

  • Welcome Home

    Well...Once all of the 'I's have been dotted, and the 'T's crossed I will be the proud owner of a house!  Closing is November 1st and we will be moving in immediately thereafter.  So for all of you who will be in Milwaukee for Thanksgiving, be prepared to sleep on the couch and eat dinner in front of the TV!

    Haha...Just kidding...We're going to try to at least get a blowup matress or two, and a dining room table to try and fill up at least some of the 8 rooms, garage, and basement.  It's going to be a bit on the empty side.

     

  • It's all over but the crying!

    After having examined the house again yesterday with the real estate agent, we have decided to put in an offer!  First of all, you have to wonder about the intelligence of some people.  Yesterday, I arrived early to the showing and found the owner sitting on the front porch waiting for us to arrive.  Since I was there early he proceded to show me around the outside of the house before the agent arrived.  As we're walking around the outside of the house and he's explaining to me how he really loves the house and doesn't want to sell, I proceded to ask it he minded me asking why he was moving if he loved the house and location so much.  And in a totally un-salesman-like fashion, he told me that he couldn't afford to make the payments anymore after his divorce and that he really needed to get rid of the house.  Oops...

    I hoped that my grin wasn't too obvious, but he didn't seem to notice.

    Further updates to come!

  • Don't worry...It's not just Southerners

    Well, it's not like this is the first indication, but there are stupid people everywhere.

    About a week ago I was doing some testing.  This particular test required that I drive an instrumented bike along city streets to validate the test procedure.  Just to set the stage, let me expand on "instrumented".

    The first component is a box about 8"x4"x2" duct taped to the top of the gas tank right in front of the rider.  Now this little box costs about $14,000 so there's about a half a roll of duct tape all over the tank in order to keep the thing on.  Attached to this box are about 15 blue wires going to 15 sensors superglued in plain sight all over the bike.  The last little bit of imagery is that the 16th wire leaving the box goes along the tank, under the seat, and up my back where there is a microphone with a 4" windscreen duct taped to the back of my helmet.

    Now that you have a picture in your head, imagine that I'm sitting like this at a gas station.  As I'm sitting there, a lady pulls up beside me and rolls down her window.  I looked over and noticed that she's saying something to me.  I've got a full faced helmet on with the shield down so I can't hear a word she's saying.  I reached up to lift my face shield and she began to repeat herself.  Now that I could understand her I heard her say, "Is that an MP3 player or something?"

    I looked down at the bike, thought about what she was asking, and just as I was about to explain the whole data recorder and accelerometer setup, I thought...it's not worth it.

    "Yes, it sure is."...And I drove off.

    Wow people are stupid.

  • Okay...I finally got around to updating the site

    I know it's been a long long time since its conception, but I finally got the oportunity to update my blog and photo galleries.  I'll try to update as often as possible so that everyone can peer ento life in Milwaukee.  In the meantime have a look at some of the things that we've been up to since July.
  • So Close

    Well...I thought that we were finally ready to go.  Alabama Son had finally found all of it's members, put together a solid set list, and made contacts to begin playing out.  After all of that, out of the blue I get an email from our other guitarist saying that personal issues are forcing him to sell off non-essential belongings including all of his musical equipment.

    Maybe next time.

  • One Step Closer

    Well, we've finally found another house on which maybe we'll be able to slip an offer.  This time I've gotten the pre-approval in hand, as well as all of the information that I'll need to make the decision.  Perhaps we'll even be moved in by Thanksgiving!

    Have a look!

    Obviously we've still got the inspection, the paperwork, formulation of the offer, various other contingencies, etc...  But it's at least closer than the last time.

    Speaking of the last time, people with $200k cash who swoop in and buy a house before you really suck.

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