Smalltown Gathering Concert @ Riverside Park Salida ~ Fab Friday Lineup Heard Between The Raindrops 26Sep26

Smalltown Gathering @ Riverside Amp... I headed out the Ark to Salida to catch a late season "music" festival.  I'd not been to the Riverpark Amp in Salida ~ It is a completely awesome venue right on the headwaters of the Arkansas River and right in town. So, the location is sweet, and more astounding is that the sound is very solid halfway up a modestly inclined patch of grass. Highly recommended. I was a skosh late (due to BC20X drop off at Salida RV Resort when the check-in office was closed) to grab my bracelet for the WE. Undeterred I contacted a golf cart attendee, parked the RodFthr, and jetted to Riverpark.

Lindsay Lou... Was first on the schedule for the fest' and delivered as always: strong and fun. She's a Berklee kid with great pipes, good writing peppered now with personal insights, and a kid, and a pile of close friends in Nashville and further. I've heard her live to my grin on several occasions and I got there to hear the last 20 min of her set, which was delivered with the awesome Mimi Naja as collaborator... she's a co-leader of Fruition and smokes on strings like the mandolin, and has pretty adjacent vocals to Lindsay, but was harmonically deferential here. The set was stellar and a great Fri kickoff... I didn't go to yoga. I will "always" seek out Lindsay sets, and Naja sets (she's back later this eve).

Slap Dragon... I've heard this killer Nashville alt-jazz group on YT and elsewhere, pretty recently. They call it jazz-grass or grove-grass but they're more of the former and less of the later. Still, completely amazing sound. The jazz-inspired lead contralto Laura Berens (nasty and powerful) and Scott Mulvahill, who brings the groove, met recently ~ results are whack. For the Salida show special lead guitar guest from CO Alex was stellar. This was their CO debut, following their 1st album drop, Mission Statement. Easy to compare Laura with some of my favorite female leads like Anna Moss, Rachel Price, and Sammy Rae... just an amazing vocal instrument on board here. 

Lowdown Brass Band... From Chicago this larger horn band was short at least 1/2 the team due to a traffic accident on 285. Maybe next time boys. Rap & horns were good but... I listened and departed for the keen local fare, rather than the food truck and "bar" at the festival. Tres Litros Clarity of Mind hazy IPA was tasty (later confirmed by local GL as "the choice") and Amicas was, as always, tasty. I said I wanted a beer an a margarita with green chilies and she said they made jalapeño margs; I had to clarify, I wanted pizza with chilies and a beer.

Magoo... - This is a stellar 4 pc acid-grass band from Colorado. Dobro played a “Beard” guitar - I’ve not seen black steel on dobros but Pippus assured me it’s nouveau-nouveau. I've heard Magoo before, notably at the Dillon Amp and howdy what a sound. They crushed us at Smalltown... so good that Joe wanted to share 'shrooms but nah... I gotta drive back to the Salida RV Pk (aka, the 4 Seasons), and maybe elsewhere. Joe was a neighbor center stage 7 rows up; he's a 10x sound engineer for the Grammys and so we knew some shit. Show was astounding with Dead covers and so much more tight to me. Plenty of weed was revealed and gummies seemed out like candy... I had to drive.

Fruition... Now they are something more to stand for here. This is an amazing dark writing ill-definable alt-country, alt-emo, hard-rock band with an amazing front trio throwing best harmonies on lyrics that rip at the heart. They acknowledged this was their "last fest show in CO," despite being a staple for many here, the show was important, and very good. The vocals were clearer here on the upper Ark than even in Dillon, I cupped my ears to delineate the 3 but yeah, so very good on every song. This is a band with remarkable edges 3 ways defined by the songwriters... all are amazing. The show was a stunner.. glad I was here.

Da Boyz & Da Rig... Moontricks are another psychedelic bluegrass band. They too were delayed due to the traffic on 285; it was late and I didn't wait around ~ so I could go see Greg. Here's the BC20X rig I took out to Salida and I stayed at the Salida RV Park (the Four Seasons!); I did not ride but the hitch and rack worked well. After the show I gathered with Greg and Rick at the Poncha Palace and had a beer around the fire ring ~ it got pretty cold for the first time this fall.

Lawrence With Colorado Symphony Concert @ Boetscher Hall ~ Great Band And Awesome 7th Row 18Sep26

Traffic & Nickel Dining... Jim and I headed to downtown DEN in hellish traffic all the way (2:20 door to door). We parked close to the music hall at DPAC and dined before the show at The Nickel. It was a short menu but the food was good ~ we did debate what "compressed" watermelon is after enjoying it.

Lawrence With CO Symphony... I'm a fan of Lawrence and have seen them live before but this was a whole new vibe and format. It was awesome having great center up front reserved seats @ Boetscher, as we didn't have to queue early or wait at the gate. There were no opening acts just the entire Lawrence band with Clyde (vocals & keys) & Gracie (vocals) up front, and 2 saxes, a trumpet, drums, lead guitar, and bass guitar behind, plus the entire Colorado Symphony on stage! They opened playing the entire debut album, Breakfast, in track order, backed by the orchestra... it was excellent. Though, I did have to cup my ears to amplify the vocals some - Boetscher's main speakers suspended high above shot right over my head; we were too close. They took an brief intermission after Breakfast, and returned with some more recent stuff. 

Closing & Setlist... They closed with Clyde asking parts of the audience to join singing the melody & harmony of "Don't Lose Sight" with the parts of the symphony ~ eldest siblings went first with melody with the strings; youngest went next with harmony and the horns; middle kids & only kids went with percussion on 2nd harmony. Cool. After the show I asked Gracie to give me her setlist, which was hard-taped to the stage, and she did. I didn't have a Sharpie for the autograph but still, that was cool.

New USB Keyboard & Mouse ~ For Linux Spinups 18Sep26

I was always dredging up very old keyboard or mouse gear from the basement, even PS2 interfaces, for use in bringing up new microPC Linux boxes for some use like streaming media or split tunneling, etc. Or for when wireless fails. For just $30 I was able to get a mechanical USB KB & mouse... Cherry MX Red keys are fine; optical mouse is good; white is nice, as is backlighting.

Summit Doin's With Mary & Jim ~ Vail Oktoberfest & More 11Sep26-12Sep26

Fri - Arrival... We headed out to Summit for a planned 3 couple weekend at the Nest. Unfortunately one team got waylayed, but Yohos made it Fri PM and we enjoyed MY's charcuterie and all our good wines. That evening we also played a tight game of Joker-Jumper where the ladies won (again).

Sat - F1 & Vail Oktoberfest... We all slept well in the cooler temps at 9800ft elevation. We arose early to catch the qualification at the Spanish Grand Prix of F1. It was exciting with Lando taking pole very late in Q3! We made breakfast, including "the best Colorado Quiche ever" according to Kala.

Afterward we headed out to Vail @ Lionshead for the Oktoberfest celebrations. We'd all decided to keep the Lederhosen stored and went over casual. It was a cool crowd with many dressed up and we found seats quickly near the main stage. The beer was not outstanding but we tried a Marzen.

After some dancers and oompah bands we went mobile and found the secondary stage where we enjoyed The Blue Ox band with country and keen covers. The ladies found special VIP seating.

We dined pretty early at Mountain Standard and asked for seating along the Blue River. That was nice and we found the food very good. We did not enter barrel rolling or cantilever stein holding. After a good day we came back to the Nest for some Listography and nightcaps.

September 2026 Music Appriciation ~ Best 3 Song Live Studio Sets Ever 09Sep26

Title says it all ~ here are some of my favorite 3 song sets ever. Three song sets are assembled most often from live appearances on radio studio shows. Let's go...

1. Anna Moss - OnBeat Sessions - U of Loyola  School of Music - Sep24... Anna & killer invited accompaniment provide 3 great blues covers. Easy #1.
2. Sammy Rae & The Friends - AudioTree Live - Apr25... Wicked vocalist came to Audiotree so late in her game; what a set (OK, maybe more than 3). Solid #2.
3. Molly Tuttle - Live @ Fraser/WGBH - Jun19... Yeah an older show from her 1st album out of Berklee. So good... wicked skill (flatpicking my dream) backed then by early songwriting knowhow. There are so many more 3 song wonder-sets from her it was tough to choose. Molly's musicality is unmatched but the first two women have "those voices." My fav gets #3.
4. The Wild Reeds - NPR Tiny Desk - 20Nov15... Super cool LA band sounding like female CSN band. Disbanded now but I track solo efforts from my fav writer in the band, Sharon Silva. This is a standout show. Still #4.
5. Cat Clyde - Western AF - Jul24... Unusual NAmerican. Big uke & keen writing. Here all alone as a one woman show is completely stellar. Down the list now we have spectacular songwriters and bandleader. I love her writing and awareness @ #5.
6. Maya de Vitry - WMOT Nashville  - May26... Multi-skill Maya has many instruments, many songs, many views, and the presence to knock 'em out every time. Skills score #6.
7.  Milk Carton Kids - Relix - May26... One of the best duos ever. They are boys, but completely awesome, so #7.
8.  Bella White @ Paste @ Green River Fest - Aug21... Oddest ever voice breaks; stellar writing; c'mon country kid from Canada and Appalachia. Thanks kid #8.
9. The Last Wild Buffalo @ Relix/NYC - Jun26... Fine mountain team ripping original tunes for all.  An unusual pick for a "best of" but emergence is worthy of mention. I really like these guys. Earning #9 this early is stellar.
10. Sierra Ferrel @ The Current 31Mar24... So good. I deflected listening for 2 years, thinking just freak outfits ~ I flipped and won't miss a show. Great show at #10 here but a rising star. 
11. Heavy Weighs The King @ Rick Beato's 13Sep26... Killer new studio exposed, strong interviewer, brilliant fav band on a tear for the 3 song set ~ opens sweet dissonant, 2nd pop superb, and so on. Let's go So Carolina!

I'm sure there are many more worthy of a list like this... these are just mine. 

"Final" New Blodgett Network ~ New Design, Added Mesh, Xfi "OK" As Bridge 02Sep26

Xfi OK Finally ~ Just A Bridge... I segregated COAX plants: terrestrial and Xfi separated directly at the house coax box, no diplexing ~ and then I removed routing from the XB8; it made all the difference. The Xfi "gateway" is just a modem (bridge mode) now. My first attempts to network via Comcast were frustrating as mentioned HERE. This frustration was such that I needed to minimize their admin footprint on my network. Net routing and admin duties are much better now. I also relocated the router near the modem and distributed Cat5e and WiFi from there. Not a great WiFi router location but serviceable.

Blodgett Router Up To The Task ~ WiFi 6e & 1Gbps... Once I got the router and modem assigned their duties and configured I went about the rest of the net. I reviewed the Cat5e run from the router to my main PC, a mac Studio in the study. I discovered an issue and replaced a patch cord. My mac's NIC now negotiates 1Gbps with the router. Wired was my main concern but performance is almost equal on wired and wireless in the study. I'm always checking my latency. While I'm loving the new bandwidth I still note a 50% latency increase from my "previous" ISP Century Link, which was 8msec to DEN. I have not "fired" them yet in COS, but I probably will now that Xfinity is stable and performant and the routing gear is much more manageable and adjustable. 

HD HomeRun Reception & WiFi 6 Extended... I have two HD HomeRun OTA receivers (2 tuners in each) getting terrestrial HD VHF/UHF from a bow tie array antenna in the attic pointed at Cheyenne Mtn. They convert OTA reception into packet streams over Ethernet. I use these with my Plex DVR capability to get live TV and do recordings of shows on the 6 primary stations (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, CW). The HD HomeRuns are wired Ethernet only and I had to place a WiFi-Ethernet bridge near them where I attached them to "their" coax. No problem, and it acts as a WiFi 6 mesh extender too, which provides better coverage to the back of the house.

Performance Throughout... I measured WIFi 6 reception & performance throughout the house, at mid-day. Pretty decent even at the extreme locations farthest from the router and mesh gear. Between my main server and my mac I get a pretty consistent 1.6-1.8msec ping/latency and 1Gbps throughput... I could get more if I updated some switches to 2.5G or 10G but I'm good  right now.

 

Next Steps... Next I'll work on secure remote access to resources on the Blodgett network. Likely via a Wireguard VPN.

Update 12Sep26 ~ New Arris S34 Modem... After discovering the Xfi XB8 was still using the radios and throwing WiFi SSIDs I did not need or want, despite my having disabled all of that, I bought the latest Arris DOCSIS 3.1 modem. I provisioned the new modem in just 15 min and it delivers fine performance. I even saw improvement in latency! But, I seemingly dropped in upload capacity by 66%! Maybe the channel config negotiated will be better with time ~ I need to look at the ATM/QAM log. I'll return the retired XB8 to Xfinity, else they'd likely charge me something. Speaking of charging me, I looked at my latest Xfi bill and they'd tacked another $100 for the tech call to my house to repair their network and modem. I call and railed, as all the problems were with the Comcast COAX network and Xfi gear, and they reversed the charge. Sheesh.

Update 21Sep26 ~ Cancelled Century Link... I cancelled Century Link's bonded twisted pair service to Blodgett before the next billing period. Xfi stable and offers 10X the bandwidth for the same price, though as noted latency is a bit slower. What a process: on the website, calling service center, receiving call back, etc.

Update 30Sep26 ~ Xfi Dead For 7 Days With No Apparent Reason; It's Back Up Now... On Thu 24Sep26 my viz into Blodgett went down; my new Xfininity ISP service to Blodgett went down hard after affirmed connectivity and performance for about a week. The harmonic convergence of my setting up a split Wireguard gateway from Summit to El Paso, Xfi performing "scheduled maintenance" in my area, and "storms in the area" like Xfi not dealing well @ my house, were too much for me to call a 'cause. I wasn't there so I let it lie. I bought new Starlink services to cover the outage and returned to Blodgett. No terrestrial Internet access - I moved everything to Starlink to cover Xfi's fail... it worked fine but was as latent as Xfi here and access required we be nearer the Starlink WiFi hotspot @ the front of the house ~ and that I keep the 12v system well charged.

Hmmm. I offered my opinion of Xfi performance thus far to their execs. I don't know if that notion landed or not but mail systems said not... hard to believe fully "not." Ultimately, talking to neighbors and weird "bots" from Xfi I determined "it's just me ~ only my service is down" and there are not outages in my area, and since I am @ Blodgett I should fix it or settle on Elon. I made an Xfi service appointment again ~ despite them charging me last time for fixing their own plant (I disputed and was rebated; too much investment for such an obvious contest). Infrastructure management can't be this goofed up can it?

Eric came today... a savvy youngster from Comcast Business. I do not know the source of my failed broadband; he blamed it on his company's own COAX plant. He claimed he replaced a number of terminations and even a splitter at my pedestal and showed me improved ATM/QAM signal levels on a phone supposedly connected to an instrument he attached to his COAX plant. He was methodical on his plant's signal but wanted inside the house for a review of that network ~ which has worked forever. Dang. I brought him inside and showed him my internal COAX net. He claimed the main line from my dmark to my "distribution point" didn't yield ~ however, retesting at the box was still lame as well... he didn't have to re-terminate my internal COAX really, but did on the side he could so do easily. We went back to the Arris S24 and he assessed that it was not activated on my account ~ uhhh; that's hard to believe as it worked well after I activated that same modem 7 days ago. Eric comprehended my confusion and continued to document my internal network with shots of my docsis 3.1 cable modem and my router. I am suspicious the whole event precipitating a call from a savvy tech was not orchestrated to get someone inside my net to document it all. Some call me paranoid; I pose it as secure and private. Eric spent 60 minutes out front of Blodgett and abutting the park documenting findings, closing the ticket and gosh knows what other surveillance items he was assigned. We are back on line.

Blodgett Desktop Audio Upgrade ~ SMSL GaN PA200 Class-D Amp & Reignited NHT SB1s 01Sep26

Blodgett Desktop Audio... I've never had a speaker setup for the Blodgett Desktop; it's always been headphones only. This had made sense with even open air headphones bugging other house members. My headphone system there is stellar Schiit Mjolnir2, Schiit Gungnir MB, and Mr Speakers EtherC Flow closed plannar magnetics or Sennheiser 600 open cans. Nonetheless, I like speakers better in general these days so why not toss a pair below my monitor for near-field listening in the study. I'll just need to pick my listening times properly.

GaN FET Class-D... I am watching the progress in the power, efficiency, and quality of "chip amp" audio amplifiers. I've owned, and used, and sold, and mothballed many of these inexpensive and efficient amps over time. These included Toppings, NADs, PopAmps, and other brands of "Class-D (digital)" amps and they were OK but nothing compared to my finer transistor or tube gear of classic linear amplification circuit designs. But I'm intrigued with the latest high speed class D variants in gallium nitride (GaN); they are even more efficient, even clearer & flatter, and still not expensive or large.

Class-D PWM Amplifiers... These convert analog audio input into high-frequency pulses using a technique called pulse-width modulation (PWM). Transistors (MOSFETs and increasingly GaN FETs) switch between power rails creating a pulse train (versus classic transistor amps using linear gain techniques). A low-pass filter is applied to eliminate very high frequencies and EMI from output. Efficiency is increased substantially in employing transistors fully on or fully off, 100%. Switching amps have been around since the 1930s but only relatively recently have gained the quality and performance status sought by audiophiles and music pros.

Mid-Fi Class-D... My dive on the category yielded numerous entries from $70 - $7000. The high end is not for me and I can't believe they'd be worth it compared to comparably priced classic SET, Class A or Class AB designs, much less SET tube designs for home audio. Many good products are raw boards for integration with powered speakers or in plate forms for PA systems, but I wanted a boxed variant. And, I prefer a unit with a pre-amp for volume control. The entry-level is littered with Chinese gear of varying sonic and reliability levels but one needs a bump in price to get GaN FETs and higher quality. After reviewing SMSL, Hypex, Purifi, atma-sphere, Nord, Buckeye, Crown, and others I decided on the Chinese entry-power level SMSL PA200. It's GaN stereo with 85W/ch into 8Ω with "no" THD for ~$400. Awesome on paper, and the reviews were 4.8/5.0 stars.

Install & 1st Impressions... The amp arrived quickly from Amazon. I'd retrieved a pair of "retired" NHT SB1 bookshelf speakers from the Nest that I repurposed to be the near-field transducers for this updated desktop system. Viola; it was all quickly installed and cooking. The audio path employs source flac files spun from my server through macOS via JRiver MC (or YouTube vids), then through my fine Gungjir R2R Multibit DAC over USB, and onto the SP200 amp from SE-out (single ended) via unbalanced RCA cabling; the last run to the speakers is via 16 gauge zip cord terminated with banana jacks. Listening demonstrated wanting low end so I need to work on a sub, but down to 100Hz it was stellar. Else the Blodgett Desk system is really clean and true and fun. Of course I measured the system raw at this point; measurements are taken @ listening position ~3ft away @ 1.5x the mains separation. 

Subwoofer Trial... I own a closed SVS SB 1000 subwoofer deployed in the Blodgett Fam Rm theater. I borrowed it for a trial with the NHT SB1 mains for a 2.1 system to fill the low end. One failing of the SMSL PA200 is the lack of a sub-out... to solve this I added a combiner to the 2nd SE-Out of the Gungjir DAC. I did not optimize the sub location; I just plopped it on the floor beneath my desk. I tuned it a smidge and this is the Blodgett Desk Audio 2.1 SPL sweep. I twidled the sub crossover & output volume for good integration. So much nicer. The full range 2.1 off the Gungjir MB DAC is nice but I wanted to see if I could smooth out some peaks.

EQ Baby... I found other aberrations, beyond lack of low end, in the 2.0 sweep and so employed my miniDSP 2x4HD to flatten for the speakers and the room. I rue the moment I converted my sweet R2R built analog back into 24bit/48KHz via USB in the miniDSP, but I did. Raw was good, DSP EQ was maybe better. Time will tell. I eliminated the Gungjir MB and used the miniDSP directly via USB from macOS, as DAC and PEQ, and drive both the mains and the sub exclusively from the miniDSP, with less perturbations and fine results. I measured again with REW, then created PEQ/biquad filters and saved the file ~ I loaded the file into proper slots in the miniDSP. Here are the Gungjir raw (orange) and miniDSP EQed (green) final integrated sweeps. Nice, a new fine mid-fi audio, system is born.

Update 04Sep26 ~ New Kanto Subwoofer & New Sweeps & Filters... The trial with the borrowed subwoofer worked very well but I returned it to its rightful place in the Blodgett Fam Rm system. So, I bought an entry level sealed sub (preferred for tighter musical bass) with decent reviews, a Kanto SUB8VMB for $350. It's smaller than the SVS but fine for the desktop audio low end. I again spun the dials testing crossovers and gains, measuring them each time. I ultimately chose a 100Hz crossover point and created a new filter set for the sub itself. And, to be most accurate, I remeasured the NHT SB1s and built filters off the new measurement for them and reloaded into the miniDSP 2x4 HD. The new Blodgett Desktop audio system sounds great. It is used sparingly in waking hours but useful in preparing monthly Music Appreciation entries when in COS.

Remeasuring NHT SB1s ~ Here are the filters and then the raw vs EQed SPLs; clear improvement but displaying the need for a subwoofer.

Kanto Sub Integration ~ Here are comparisons of Kanto Sub8 and mated miniDSP crossover settings for the sub, with the baseline NHT SB1 wanting low end. I settled on the Kanto set at 70Hz crossover (not really as the integrated xover is not very effective) and a 100Hz low pass filter in the miniDSP (more effective). The Sub8 can get loud but gets pretty distorted. The gain on the sub's Class D amp is probably ~25% here to produce 75dB, as my SB1s are doing. At final setting THD is ~11%! And, it loses steam from 20Hz-30Hz. I'd go to the SVS if I could but it is 2X the price of the Kanto. There was a little bump at 100Hz I could tame in the miniDSP and so I built a biquad for it.

Final Integrated SPL Sweep & Listening ~ Once everything was completed I re-swept the integrated system (compared to original raw) and started listening in earnest. This is a decent result for lower end gear chosen specifically for this location... I'm pleased. I wanted to hear the bass thump and listened to Miley's latest drop of pop, "Bass Persuades;" wow, and so it does. I moved on to more complex stuff from Elephant Survival, AJ Lee, & Cat Clyde and the kit is very smooth ~ I was concerned for harshness from the GaN amp but none, just clean. The distortion from the Kanto SUB8 was not a problem.

Update 24Sep26 ~ Blodgett Desk Audio Center Channel Upgrade; 3.1 Baby… I had an unused NHT center channel speaker and an open output on the miniDSP 2x4HD. I bought a cheap $40 Nobsound class-D amp based on the TI TPA3116 chip, which on paper will drive sufficient 40w in 8Ω for this application (to be sure though I also got a $15 24V/6A power supply as an upgrade to the included 19V/4A wart included with the amp ~ the chip can handle it). I’m running the amp for full range, not just for a passive subwoofer. Rather than buy an old Dolby PLIIx receiver to get a “dynamically derived adaptive steering” CC, I just went old school matrix tech and implemented my own center channel derivation from 2 channel PCM on my in-place miniDSP signal processor. I began with a simple summed signal (L+R)/2 for the CC, and then I tried a difference scheme R-L (harder to devise the correct settings to get this, as the 2x4HD can’t simply invert output). The difference scheme sounded weird and insufficient. The basic summing scheme sounded harsh on the cymbals at center and a smidge boomy on the kick drums at center. I therefore applied a 125Hz high-pass filter as well as a gentle 10Khz rolloff low-pass filter and even a broad bump in the mids 1KHz-4KHz; CCs are supposed to do voices and dialogue after all. Sounded good.

Measuring The New CC... The system sounds great with a more consistent near-field sound-field than the pure stereo “phantom center” one thrown prior. With these NHT speakers and my new 3.1 matrix setup, the Blodgett Desk Audio is now kindof special, beyond the headphone gear. The primary downside of this setup is my manually needing to dial the gains on the two independent amplifiers in order to achieve proper balance. I can do that by ear or by using Sonic Tools on my iPhone to measure SPLs... easy enough. I did measure the center channel itself. That is, after the Xfi fiber pull construction outside the house died down a bit from 108dB measured inside Blodgett... sheesh. It's loud; they are tearing up the yard, and my broadband service has been down for a week.

Here the green is the CC, the yellow shows the mains L & R, and the blue is the Kanto sub. Great result with the 3.1 scheme. I was able to return the 24v power supply as the 19v one is plenty sufficient.