Tour Journal 04.17.15: The Bus

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The newest aspect for most of us on this tour is the bus. All of last year for the Carolina Chocolate Drops was spent in vans; two different 15-passenger Fords, a Sprinter in the UK and Europe and couple of mini-vans when our transmission ate itself on the way to the West Coast. Though the long drives across prairies, mountains, and deserts could be grueling, I knew what to expect. Continue reading

Acoustic Guitar Amplification – Part One: Pickups

A Boy and his rather blurry guitar...

It’s inevitable that any performing acoustic guitarist will have to consider amplification, but the glut of options can make it hard to find the right setup for your situation. This is the first in a series posts I’ll be doing that aim to shed some light on various aspects of acoustic amplification.. This particular article will cover the differences between the common pickup types and their strengths and weaknesses. Continue reading

The SlingCatcher

Earlier this week, while perusing my local electronics store, I ran across Sling Media’s SlingCatcher, a set-top box that works with the company’s Slingbox. The two work together to stream your home cable and DVR content over a network or the web to be viewed on another TV in your house or across the world. But the SlingCatcher has a few other notable features.

I’ve be seriously considering the Roku Box as an alternative to cable tv, but I want something that will give me Hulu and Youtube on my LCD TV, as well as Netflix.

This is, essentially, what the SlingCatcher does. But, instead of getting the stream straight from Youtube, it gets it as a redirect from your PC.
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