Sander Roscoe Wolff

Although I had no idea at the time, Jason Savvy (aka Monkey Wrench) was snapping pix while I was performing. He was kind enough to post them, and share them with the performers.

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Forged
By Sander Roscoe Wolff
March 22, 2006 9:05 PM

Made inside this fire
Hammered, forged
Glowing from within
Beaten.

Coal and billows blows
Burning brightly
Nestled in the embers
So cold.

Any old iron
Melts into something new
What I was
Is gone.

When I allow myself to really see, not just with my eyes, but with my mind and heart, the world becomes so bright that I can no longer see. Everything becomes one, everything connected by the light. You and I disappear and become unity. This clarity, this perception, is rare and often painful because we cannot contain such beauty or truth, or sustain it for long. We see, we know, then return to this drab and mundane world, clinging to those moments of understanding. We feel their loss, ache for their return yet, even in their absence, we are sustained by them.

I got a custom case made for my new custom guitar, and decided to have a matching one made for my lap steel. The company that made them, Morris & Holmberg Cases in Santa Ana, did a pretty nice job. They used material I provided them, and painted it with a custom color. Sweet!

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The signal chain for my performance was:

The Gretsch BST-1500 and/or the Industrial Guitar Indy Rail > Ernie Ball VP Jr Volume Pedal > HBE UFO (fuzz/octave) > Analog Man Sun Face (NKT275 with Sun Dial mod) (fuzz) > HBE Psilocybe (phaser) > Marshall Vibrotrem > DOD DFX94 Digital Delay/Sampler > Line6 Delay Modeler > Fender Blues Jr. Amplifier.

I also used a cheap digital voice recorder, purchased in Little India, that I played by holding it against the pickup of the lapsteel. You can hear this about 5 minutes in. Later, I also use an Ebow to create long sustained notes. You can hear this toward the end, around 9 minutes or so.

The set of guitar effects I use is designed to provide me with a wide sonic pallet. Each one adds to or changes the sound in a distinctive way. I sometimes use them by themselves, or in combination with other pedals. With the 7 pedals, there are countless variations possible.

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I was privledged to be invited to perform at the 3rd anniversary of Dung Mummy, a performance event for experimental music, poetry, and other ecclectic creative energy. The event is hosted and organized by the Hop-Frog Kollectiv, a group of adventurous and creative artists from all over the Southland.

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Sierra is a lovely young lady who goes to Lauren’s old school. She and Lauren are friends, and we all enjoy her company when she visits. She’s a wonderful human being, with lots of wonderful qualities such as intelligence, humor, sweetness, cuteness, and our dogs love her.

She asked me to post a pic of her here, so I’m going to:

And here are some more!

We had a wee birthday celebration for Sierra at our house:

Make a wish!

I hope it comes true!

Create(!), a local instrumental electric free improv christian group, has been pushing the envelope for ages, both in performance and on record. Just when you think they can’t go anywhere, they reinvent themselves in some new and wonderful way. I received an email from them that announced a remix contest. They posted the individual tracks that, together, make Six Dreams Divided from their upcoming album, A Prospect of Freedom. Listen to the album version of

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Well, after some patient prodding I finally reconnected with Randy, who did the last few bits of shaping. He rounded off the neck heel, and a few transitions on the curves leading into and away from it. This, of course, required me to completely disassemble the guitar. After he finished that last bit of shaping, I was able to start on the finishing process. The finishing process is one that requires patience. The first step is sanding, followed by sanding, then more sanding. After that, I applied several thinned coats of boiled linseed oil.

Here are some pix taken after the oil was applied.

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I’ve been working on my 2nd painting for a while and finished it last weekend. I actually started it once but, due to some unfortunate events, that first version turned out badly. So, I started it again on a fresh canvas and am, overall, pleased with the result. I had a fairly clear idea of what elements I wanted, but creating them was a real process of discovery for me.

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