At Cranbury Day in Cranbury, NJ, September 2014, Bill and Bob performed at their first public appearance. Several songs were recorded and are on YouTube.com
Heart of Gold
Nowhere Man
We later became regulars at Teddy's Luncheonette 49 N Main St, Cranbury, NJ 08512
The Kids Are Alright and Cranbury NJ's Second Friday with a guest performers. Tears in Heaven
Click the image at left for more info.

Ultimate Stand TLF162 Tripod Leg Fitting Repairs

Bill and Bob continue with our 2016 Summer Tour of Cranbury, NJ ! See more at BillandBobLiveMusic.com

As careful and as choosy as I am when selecting well designed and manufactured equipment, touring (OK, using the word touring is a bit of an exaggeration) can be hard and things are going to break.

Case in point.  For the second time in the past 5 years, my now 20+ year old Ultimate speaker stands have broken. They have one weak point in the design and that is part# is TLF162 Tripod Leg Fitting, a plastic clamp that locks the tripod legs into position. It is entirely to easy to over tighten and break the plastic housings for the hand knob.

Last show, I found it had broken again and my search for the replacement part was not as successful as the last, as part is not in stock and appears to no longer be manufactured. 

These are great stands with this one exception and I was not about to replace them.

With some thought and consideration I came up with this fix.

The new Ultimate stands are now manufactured with metal collar clamps which looked like with some alterations to the existing fitting,  could be used to repair the break.. Without specific size specs, I gambled and ordered the Ultimate Support 13519 Speaker Stand Collar Clamp and rigged a solution.

By removing (cutting and filing) the protruding plastic loops that accept the tightening bolt and hand knob, I was able to fit the collar clamp into place.

The screw on the hand knob was now a bit to short and would not reach the nut. The hand knob has a plastic shaft into which the metal screw is set. By  removing (cutting) slightly less than a quarter inch of plastic from the shaft, it then had the needed length.

I reassembled with the new collar clamp and I was back in business. 

The tools required were:  

• Socket and ratchet, for disassembling the legs from the tripod fitting for removal
• Allen wrench for loosening the screw and removing the telescoping collar clamp
• Vise for holding tripod fitting while making modifications
• Hack saw, for removing the broken hand clamp housings and cutting a small piece from the hand clamp plastic shaft
• A file for cleaning up the hack saw cuts

The entire process took 20 minutes to disassemble, make the modifications and reassemble. The longest part was the waiting 3 days for delivery of the collar clamp from parts express, ordered through Amazon. Part was $6 + $5 shipping. I think that may have been cheaper than the original replacement tripod fitting.

Hope this was of some help!

Teddy's Restaurant Presents...

Cranbury Day 2014

Bill & Bob 

Debut Performance 

Bob Homoky and I recently put together a band. We would occasionally run into each other and often suggest that we should get together to try knocking out a few tunes. Time passed, until finally this past March, we met to try 20 covers we had mutually agreed on through email. Each of us brought an eclectic mix including classics like Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, The Dead, Clapton and others. There are a few newer tunes from bands like Collective Soul and Mathew Sweet.  We continued to meet weekly adding a song or two each time. In August Bob landed us a "9 am" spot at the Cranbury Day 2014 festival. While getting ready for the debut we tried using the PA and monitors and recording to help us hear and lock on the vocals. Listening back we could here it was coming together. Here are a couple tunes,  Heart of Gold and Nowhere Man,  from that Cranbury Day. This has been a lot of fun and we are both excited about continuing. Our next gig is at Teddy's on October 3rd.

2013 Fireman of the Year

On February 7, 2014, the East Windsor Volunteer Fire Company held its annual Installation Diner followed dinner and the awards. This years award came as quite a surprise.

Buck Season

By 3:30 pm Saturday, visibility and traction had been greatly reduced by the snow. There were flurries all morning along the turnpike but at an elevation of 2167 feet, the temperature dropped to 27 degrees and travel speed dropped along with it. What was to have been a five and a half hour trip was well on its way to becoming seven and a half.

My destination was my late Dad's hunting camp which consists of a recreational travel trailer, a deck, a storage shed and a hunting stand on 45 acres of wooded, undeveloped land.

I was awoken Monday morning at 5:30 am with the start of the automatic coffee maker. Everything had been prepared the day before.

It was still dark and calm at 7:00 am when I reached the stand.

The stand is covered and enclosed at 20 feet above the ground with windows on each side. It provides excellent visability while providing a cloak of invisabilitty to all deer that travel by.

The deer usually travel along a deer trail just down the hill to my left. You can just make it out in the picture just above the binoculars.

And this day, the first two doe did pass just below at about 8:00.

Grazing as they went, the two doe slowly made their way up hill and around the front of the stand. I waited for a buck to follow.  The doe eventually worked their way onto the adjacent property and out of sight.

About thirty minutes later, I heard foot steps. 

Just outside the door, five more doe passed, the last stopping to peer in through the stand door. It appears to be staring directly at me while I snapped this photo.

Sounds made from within the stand do not spook a deer as they do not naturally look up. But it they catch movement, which they can when they are up the hill from the stand, they get seriously spooked.

By moving slowly, I was able to get a picture of each of the seven doe that passed by.

After the doe comes the buck.

I put down the camera.

And watched the six deer graze in the briars for about 15 minutes.

...Waiting for that clear shot.

By 10:30 the buck was in the wagon at the trailer, awaiting travel to the butcher shop just next door.

It has been six years since bagging a buck.

And each of those years I watched as at least one six point and many other smaller bucks pass by the stand.

Finally, the Pennsylvania Game Commission changed the antler restriction in the county to "three points on one side including brow tine".

Growing up, spikes were legal.

Anyway, I am looking forward to venison on the grill!!!!

I will be saying grace over many meals of venison in 2012/2013.

Two Good Friends up to Good

I came into possession of a small stool, a purchase at a yard sale. Make that a farm yard sale. It came out of a barn, and I imagine it being used for milking the cow and/or repairing the tractor, or both, and/or more. It was in bad shape. A bare wooden seat attached by fours rusted screws to a rusted metal base. But I saw beyond the problems and envisioned a nice utility stool for any number of uses. So I picked it up for $1.50 and took it home.  It did not sit a day before I took it apart and lightly sanded and painted the base. I found rubber feet at Home Depot for a couple bucks to prevent scratches or snags. And then I stopped. The wooden seat was left bare, unfinished, sitting in my garage. Good enough and ready for those time to time utility functions. Until one day, it disappeared. I did not notice it missing for what I later learned had been a couple weeks. Then when I finally did , I didn't give it much thought. Sharon must have appropriated it for use at the church or upstairs in a closet, or whatever. It didn't matter. It would find its way back to the garage eventually. And then it returned. Sharon, had appropriated it. Only after coming up with the idea of having the seat painted to look like a guitar. Yet another of her unique gift ideas. Now, if I had said paint a guitar on a round piece of wood, what does your mind envision? Now ask that same question to friend #2 in this story, Alan... I pause as I write this. A long pause filled with moments of the many memories of a very special artist and friend who uses his endless palette of talent to bring color and light to other peoples lives. I have witnessed his creations of costumes to entertain children of all ages, stage props that look so real that you have to get close to assure yourself that they really are painted card board, signs with personal  messages, the yearly personalized birthday card, the yearly Christmas card, etc, etc, etc, and on and on. So many things. Each, a unique expression of love demonstrated through his artistic talent. The stool is another example. A "Martin" guitar, personalized just for me. In the right light and from the right distance, I can almost hear it playing. What a gift. I keep it close by. One of a kind. Both the stool and its creator. A friend.