While I was in graduate school at UC Berkeley, it turned that my lab in Gilman Hall was the Dr. Seaborg’s former lab space. If that name is not immediately obvious to you, then here are a few things he did:

• Co-discoverer of ten elements on the periodic table, including plutonium.
• You know those extra two rows at the bottom of the periodic table? That was pretty much his idea.
• He is an inventor on the only two patents ever issued for chemical elements.
• One of those elements, Americium, is probably in your house right now if you have a smoke detector.
• He and Edwin McMillan shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the lab in Gilman Hall is now a National Historic Landmark.
• He successfully transmuted bismuth into gold.
• An anagram for Seaborg is “Go Bears!”

That lab (307 Gilman) is now part of the Newman group. While I was there, occasionally we’d get a visit from Dr. Seaborg. On this particular day in March 1998, he visited with a PBS documentary crew to take some film of the lab. We got to say hello and talk a bit about our research. We also got this photo. Shown here are Jeremy Meyers, Rob Darling, Glenn Seaborg, and myself in front of 303 Gilman.

There are only a few launches remaining before the end of the shuttle program, so it was time to make the effort, take the risk of traveling without knowing for sure if it would go, and hope for the best. We got the best. Thanks to Jeremy’s friend, we got a front row seat out on the causeway. Thanks to the timing, we got a night time launch that was so close to sunrise that it also featured a visible flyover of the International Space Station, and the sun shining on the shuttle and its plume once it was high enough. Sunrise on the vapor trail was a nice touch too as we made our way slowly back to Titusville in the traffic after the launch.

Here’s the launch video from our little camera. I didn’t expect to record much of the launch with this–mostly I wanted to record the looks on the kids faces–but I think it captures the whole vibe pretty well.

My kids were pretty puzzled by my apparent need to play “Countdown” over and over on the rental car’s cd player, but I think after the launch they understood a little better.

Here’s the official NASA video, which does not feature my kids at all.

On the other hand, I’ve also been carrying around in my head this bit of snarky comment first made to me by a coworker at my first real job. “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” Other than as a joke, I don’t think that line of thinking has served me as well as, say, this Rush lyric, which is also carried around in my head constantly.

I’m not giving in to security under pressure
I’m not missing out on the promise of adventure
I’m not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes, experience to extremes.

Go down there and talk to Mikel if you are interested in this stuff. You can email me with questions too…if it could talk, oh the stories some of this stuff could tell. It’s all in good shape.

Fender Concert (mid 80’s) all tube guitar amp combo 1×12″ $599 SOLD!

Rhodes Mark II electric piano $400 SOLD!

Ampeg 410 bass cabinet $599 $499

Crown XLS602 power amp $250

Peavey bass rig (head + cab) $399 SOLD!
I don’t have a picture, but let’s just say it’s loud, it’s broken in, and it has that Peavey sound.

PAS passive stage monitors (3 of them) $250 ea.
These are fantastic little 2-way wedge monitors. I don’t have any good pics of them. You don’t see these very often, but they are very good quality speakers.

Roland KC500 keyboard amp $200 SOLD!
Great for live performance. It has a 15″ speaker plus a horn tweeter, 150 watts of power, and 4 stereo inputs.

]]> http://bobvillwock.com/blog/2010/03/08/music-gear-for-sale-in-nevada-county/feed/ 2 http://bobvillwock.com/blog/2010/03/03/mavis-staples-and-joss-stone/ http://bobvillwock.com/blog/2010/03/03/mavis-staples-and-joss-stone/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:48:51 +0000 admin http://bobvillwock.com/blog/?p=338 Mavis Staples and Joss Stone absolutely slaying “I’ll Take You There” at a Sound Stage performance. I love the bit at about 3:38 where it fails to end. They cannot be stopped!

Mavis Staples will take you there.

Lorraine catches a breath while Larry rips a guitar solo in Aretha Franklin's "Since You've Been Gone."

They’ve always got something in the works…tributes to Ella Fitzgerald and James Taylor are both in the works, plus a Broadway revue and a night of arias. Keep an eye on the calendar at the Center for the Arts.

It’s Mardi Gras…Don’t forget your beads!!!

Project Moss at Darwin's Pub

Saturday & Sunday, June 13 & 14

Sierra Sirens presents
Rhapsody in Blue
The Music of George & Ira Gershwin
Saturday at 8:00PM, Sunday at 7:00PM
$20 in advance, $25 at the door

Featuring:
Lorraine Gervais
Brielle Morgan
Jackie Landrum

With:
Bob Villwock & Kris Landrum – grand piano
Steve Wall – guitar
Joe Dolister – stand-up bass
Mike McMullen – sax
Lew Langworthy – drums

Following their The Great American Music Series, this will be another of the vintage themed shows that Lorraine & Brielle have produced featuring wonderfully talented local and regional performers. The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley will be turned into a 1930’s nightclub with martinis, twinkly lights and funky elegance!

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