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7:02 PM, Sunday, June 26th 2005:   Lost in all the stress of April and May was a little side story that was simply heartbreaking to me. Christ could April and May have been any more stressful? JEEZ.   A few days after they delivered my Yamaha C7 Grand I couldn't ignore it anymore, there was a metalic ring on several of the notes and an overall "ringing" on the sustain of some chords that were just maddening. That sick feeling in your stomach of buying a "lemon" took over. I went back to the store and the owner was great. Said he'd personally come out and work on it as he's also a technician.   I was totally bummed though. The instrument is just gorgeous with the most thunderous bass and bright keys - I was completely in love, but for nearly $13,000 - it had to be right. It just had to be. He came out and tinkered with the hammers and only ended up muting the sound. It also seemed the crack in the soundboard was getting bigger and that freaked the ever-lovin' hell out of me. I was already wary of it, but to have it do that within a week was just maddening.   I sat with it for awhile, and he came out again to no avail. He said he was getting a new C7 in and he would swap it out with me free of charge. Now that was a deal. When I got back from Japan I went and played it and it wasn't even close. It was a bit older and it just didn't BOOM like mine. I thought of switching them and just wanted mine more. So I went home and compared... it was all so frustrating. This is a type of purchase you have to be in love with. It's the only way to justify the price. You have to be able to sit down and just beam. This just aggrivated me to no end because it was soooooooo damn close, and he couldn't figure out how to stop that sound.   Now he had said all along that at any time he would just take it back and give me my money back. I have to say this has to be the most honorable salesman I've ever worked with. I didn't pay him to come out twice, and he's let me keep this piano for 2 months with that open-ended promise of taking it back. He even said he'd bring the new C7 over, let me compare them side-by-side in the studio and pick then. He has absolutely bent over backwards and I want so badly to reward that, but the bottom line has been it just isn't right. I believe that I simply need a newer model. I've played some 90's C7s (mine is a 1983) and they're just the definition of perfect. Great jazz/pop pianos for sure. I will probably have to buck-up and pay a lot more for a newer model to get what I want.   My money situation did play a part in it, but more because it was that much money for something that wasn't right. God I'm just heartbroken to see it go 'cause most people don't even hear the problems and it is in absolutely breathtaking condition..but it simply isn't worth it if it 'causes such frustration everytime I sit down. Again, $13,000 is a lot of money if this isn't going to be a lifetime of enjoyment and it was obvious after a few days that this wasn't the right piano for me.   Of course this is also the first step in the "big plan" I had back in April with simply travelling the world and making the site my art. Obviously nothing is official, but I wasn't kidding back in April. Granted, it was part of the whole "Minialaur" fiasco, but I'm very very serious about that. That piano was literally the one thing I couldn't really "store" and I'm starting to scale down all my belongings and box them up if I don't need them. That lead to the big one: I officially toredown 4tvs permanently. Man this really is a big entry...   It's over folks. 4tvs just isn't it. And even if I completely change my mind at some point down the road, it can't be with that clunky set-up. The flat screen/pole set-up has to be done, period. God tearing those towers down ripped me apart. 5 years ago Marty and I rebuilt them to stay completely in tact instead of breaking them down after every show like we did back in Columbus. So tearing them completely down was such a throwback to those shows siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix years ago. It just broke my heart. I remember all those set-ups and teardowns with Jess and Marty. We all believed soooooo strong then. It was so incredibly wonderful to be part of something with so much potential and we all just knew. We all gave it up to come out to LA and within a week, Marty was gone - drama ensued... and 5 years later I look up and I'm completely alone tearing down the towers for the last time with no clue as to what to do next.   (You would call this entry a "pick-me-up" - sigh)   I gotta say, I'm OK with this. I'm not really depressed. The story is very sad, but it's a story I've known for some time now. 4tvs got me here, it won't be what gets me further. C'est La Vie.   Now the reason I was tearing it down was to make room in the trailer for stuff to everntually store. I want to get down to the minimum stuff possible. Hell it may even be feasible for me to load it all into the trailer and then rent out the entire house while I'm off galavanting around the world. It would be nice to be able to hold onto the house, and of course to have something to come back to in case I just lose my mind. Though I have to say, after Japan...everything seems possible. Obviously however - I need to be able to better communicate if I hope to stay anywhere more than a few months. Time will tell. If I don't sell the house, I'm gonna need to have well over $50,000 saved up to even think of something like this. If this new job pans out, that could be next spring (real estate in LA is the goofiest, most lucrative business ever). I really think I'm gonna do it guys. I believe that strongly in it.   I mean seriously - look at the 10 Japan entries. How fuckin COOL is that? Just...wow. That's what I want to do. I want to perform all over, and document it - and create songs from TRAIN whistles again...that kinda shit. Just be this site's guinea pig and do things most people never do. So we'll see. God I hope I was able to put a slightly positive spin on the "They're taking my piano, 4tvs is officially dead" entry.   Whew.   Adam