Kitty Mansfield by Diane Jacobson for Munster Style

Just got a peek at some of the new pics by the talented photographer Diane Jacobson of the stunning pin-up Kitty Mansfield in front of Robb Newby's GodSpeed Rat Truck. These are for an article about Kitty for Munster Style and will also appear in Rats & Gassers during the section about Robb's truck. I love this set!

Rats & Gassers Fifth Day Of Shooting

Interviewed Big Tom McDonald today out at his shop for my Rats & Gassers documentary. Big T's 1956 T-Bird Gasser was featured prominently in Rat Rod Rockers! This was the fifth day of filming (including the shoot at Infestation IV Car Show) for this doc. Big T had several project cars he let us film, including his new Henry J Gasser and his older 1970 Mach I Mustang with a '69 fiberglass tilt front end.

New Percussion Instrument Beginning

 I started building a new percussion instrument for recording my new album. So far I have the planks and a crazy sounding gate spring mounted. Later I will add pipes and various pieces of metal. Final adjustments will be made after I get my contact mics and try it out through a mixing board. Wood makes crazy sounds when run through contact mics. 

Infestation IV Car Show

Had a blast yesterday hawking our wares at the fourth annual Infestation Car Show out in Issaquah, WA. Great weather and great turnout. Also did some filming and interview scheduling for the Rats & Gassers Documentary I am working on. Man we have some great cars and gearheads in the Northwest!

New Percussion Instrument

Old music stand that will be the legs.

Decided to build a one of a kind percussion instrument after seeing several videos of this guys home made percussion thing and then watching a live performance video of Einstürzende Neubauten last night. Went to Home Depot and got a 2x6x10 cedar plank, assorted springs and hardware to make this thing. Also ordered two contact mics to get the woods vibration into the mixing board. I have built many home made instruments over the years- my most famous creation being the Slambar, which was featured on almost all the Kill Switch...Klick back catalog. The reason for building this instrument is to get an acoustic percussion sound for my next album. I want more Tom Wait's "Bone Machine" and less electronica inspired sounds. This will make me think outside the box. We used lots of found percussion instruments, pieces of wood and metal on The Flathand 5 album. That was a lot of fun to record. Up to five drummers and percussionists all playing at the same time, laying down the basic tracks and then I built the tracks up from there. My new album will be a little less bombastic, but I don't want to rely on drum loops and stagnant drum machine sounds for this one.

Cutting up the old music stand.

Deck screws, wood, springs and hardware.

See Deck Mate...coool.

Working

Another day of working on organizing film files and daily chores at our Arts School. 

Munster Style

So Munster Style is behind schedule, but still cookin'. More interviews are done and more photo shoots have come in. Didn't realize how much work this would be, but it's all good. I also just bought a dictation recorder and transcription program for my MacBook Pro so I can write Munster Style articles, blogs, screenplays, etc on the go and at higher velocity than I can with my two finger typing style. If this new method of dictation/automated transcription works, my output may double. We shall see.

Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride

Finished the movie poster for my new documentary.

Hot Rod Documentary Third Day Of Shooting

We (wife and I) went out to Robb Newby's God Speed Fabrication to film his Rat Pick-Up for our Hot Rod Documentary. Robb has a speed shop that builds roll cages and does other fabrication for race cars. This was his first ground up build of this type and is extremely well done. When I saw his truck at the Rebel Riot in Tacoma a few weeks ago- I knew it would be a great and unique ride to have in the documentary. We got some excellent footage.

Hot Rod Documentary Second Day Of Shooting

Finished the second day of filming for my Hot Rod Documentary at Michael Soldano's shop. His purple '30 Model A is one of my favorite area Hot Rods. I first met Soldano during filming an episode of Go-Kustom TV several years ago. Besides building hot rods, gassers and kustoms he also runs Soldano Custom Amplification, one of the worlds best known boutique guitar amplifier companies. Got some great footage and it was really cool hanging with Michael all afternoon talking cars and guitars. 

Hot Rod Documentary First Day Of Shooting

Finished the first full day of filming for my new Hot Rod & Gasser Documentary. Went over to Tony Ririe's shop to interview him and film his cars. Great day.

Breakthrough Day

I had a major mental breakthrough on several project ideas. The coolest thing is the breakthrough came on intertwining several projects to reduce work and maximize my time. I will post more later as the projects progress, don't want to let the cat out of the bag. This breakthrough includes Munster Style and a film project idea. Gotta smile.

Fingers are still numb by the way.

Wrist Brace

Visited the doctor today and he thinks my recent finger numbness is due to over use and potential Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. So I got a wrist brace to see if that reduces the finger numbness. I am supposed to wear it especially when on the computer, because that seems to aggravate the symptoms. Lets see.

First Annual Rebel Riot Car Show

We (Go-Kustom) had a blast at the Rebel Riot Car Show in Tacoma yesterday. Great showing of DIY Rat Rods, Traditional Hot Rods and Kustoms (i.e. the good stuff). Lots of bands and a big deal pin-up competition put on by The Pin-Up Angels. This show fills a void left by the demise of Tacoma's Hot Rod-A-Rama. Not sure what the final car count was, but it filled the street in front of the Frontier and a huge parking lot. We are definitely going to this show next year!