Got Together with "Nick G" Today in San Francisco

I had a great time meeting Synthzone buddy Nick Galea in person today.
He's here visiting San Francisco on business, coming all the way from Sydney, Australia. btw: love your Australian accent mate!
We had a lot of fun and good laughs recalling our 6 year Synthzone friendship together,
all the while pigging out on tasty fresh roasted SF Bay dungeness crab at the Crab House on Pier 39 at SF Fisherman's Wharf. Yummy !
It's always a special treat to meet fellow Synthzone Members in person, and meeting Nick was no exception.
Here are a couple of shots taken during our meal:

Haha great photos.

Thanks again Scott, that was my third Crab in 4 nights! I love SF!!

Hey Nick,

Good to see you getting in some visiting...Scott is a great guy.

I hope your trip is both successful and enjoyable.

Man, that crab looks delicious!

Ian

Hey Nick...that's a big crab in front of you (the one on the table)

Glad to 'see' you again...I'm sure you had a good time with Scott. Like Ian said, he's a great guy, with a sense of humor.

BTW What keyboard are you currently playing?

HaaHaa Good One,

I think Nick & I used to actually frequent the same music store in Sydney when it came to Technics Keyboards??, but never actually ran across each other.

Used to actually know of a family in Port Macquarie with the same surname, any relationship??

Larry,

That's a Pacific Dungeness Crab, which reaches astounding weights in excess of 5-pounds. When I lived in Spokane, Washington during the late 1060s they were sold in the grocery stores for about 20 to 30 cents per pound and were boiled. The crabs tasted very bland in comparison to Maryland style steamed crabs that are heavily seasoned with Old Bay Seafood Seasoning.

There was some crazy law back then that a crab could not be taken from the beach without first boiling. I guess this was to prevent anyone from getting sick from eating a crab that had partially decomposed prior to cooking. Fortunately, I was able to make contact with a commercial crabber in Seattle who steamed up a batch for me using Old Bay. He loved the taste so much that he opened a crab house just outside Seattle called "The Maryland Crab House," used Old Bay to season his Pacific Dungeness Crabs, and made a killing.

Anyone that has traveled to Maryland and tasted hot, steamed, blue crabs knows just how wonderful these highly seasoned crustaceans can taste. Fran and DNJ visited Dan01 at Bill's Music Store and later feasted on steamed crabs--they haven't stopped bragging how good they were since that last visit.

Cheers,

Gary

1060's...I knew you were old, but didn't know you were that old!!!

Growing up in a town where fishing is a major industry (my grandfather was a lobster fisher), I am very partial to roasted crab as well...it is far better tasting than when boiled or steamed.

I LOVE roasted (in butter) lobster too...YUM!

Both foods are more of a treat than regular fare...just too darn rich! Got to keep trim.

Ian

I agree with you Gary, there is something special about Maryland Style Steamed Crab, with the "secret" seasoning being the difference. The Chesapeake Bay may be the best area for producing the best "tasting" crab in the Country, although many will argue that the cold waters off of Maine and Canada are the best place for shell fish...especially lobster.

Ian, Rosted Lobster in butter sounds awesome!

Larry, once I tried it roasted in real butter, I was spoiled. It's the only way I will eat it now.

Garlic butter is nice too.

Ian

Haha thanks Larry and Ian,
It was great to meet Scott in person. We enjoyed chatting away and pigging out on those massive crabs while overlooking SF Bay.

This is the first time I have been to the US. I arrived last Thursday and flying out to Vegas tomorrow for the rest of the week.

The SF Bay Crab is unbelievable and soooo much cheaper than the cost of a crab in Sydney!! I am a huge seafood fan so I have been making the most of it while in SF!

I am now using a Korg PA500 arranger with a Motif XS rack module.
The PA500 is a very powerful midi controller and I have configured one touch settings which instantly call up sounds from the motif module. It's a great combination and compliments the Korg sound and arranger functionality so well!

Cheers,
Nick

I appreciate and enjoy eating both the Maryland Blue Crab and our native Pacific Coast Dungeness crab.
Though I enjoy them steamed/boiled, when roasted in garlic and butter, it takes the crab eating experience to yet another level:

A Recipe for Oven-Roasted Dungeness Crab

Like our forum's never ending arranger keyboard brand preference debates, the East vs West Coast crab debate may never get settled either, as evidenced below:

Pacific Dungeness vs Maryland Blue Crab Debates:
Roadhouse.com: Dungeness or Blue Crabs?
Chow Hound: Dungeness vs Blue Crab

Eat and Play what you enjoy. I enjoy it all.

Nick, I'm looking forward to visiting you in Sydney someday, and checking out some of your local region's food specialties. Have a terrific time in Las Vegas and a safe trip back home. Will catch up with you on Skype then.

Later.

Hey Rikki,

I use to shop for Technics at Assosiated Electrics on York street in Sydney CBD. They were underneath retravision.

It was run by a couple of senior guys there that were big Technics fans not to mention great Players. (Bob Ransley & Oli Strum)... ring any bells?

Nick.

PS: the PA3x is so rare in Australia. You must count yourself extremely lucky to be one of the very few to own one down under!!

Just like our arrangers, we Yamaha players have found that lobsters are so much more satisfying when served up in STEREO.

I believe I mentioned this one other time on S-Z, but during my first visit to SF in 1980, the smell of the crabs being cooked in 'vats' on the streets at the Wharf really turned me off ... couldn't eat one after that ... now Maryland Blues are a whole different story ... they don't even need the Old Bay seasoning ... and living in RI there is nothing like a good local lobster - broiled, boiled, roasted, or even GRILLED !!! ...
But when in SF try the abalone ... YUMMMM !!!

I merely initiated this thread + pics to share the fun time Nick and I had meeting each other in person for the first time,
not for the thread to evolve into a mine's better than your crab "pissing contest".
It's disappointing how it turned into basically knocking the memorable meal Nick and I obviously enjoyed together, but I guess no different than how some people here enjoy going out of their way to bash the arranger keyboard other members own, love, and appreciate. Oh well, I guess I should have predicted this all along.

Scott,

The day you stop learning is the day you die!

Never mind Scott you shared your meeting with us, with Nick from SZ who travelled half way around the World, looks like he enjoyed the crab, I would love to have sat down and broken bread with you. Scott it is nice to be enthusiastic about things you do and share with us, don’t let this stop you, it’s how we learn about others as we battle through life and they aren’t all going to pat you on the back.

Perhaps it's not a good idea to post photos on SZ of you enjoying yourself.



Tony

Looks like it was a great get together. Thanks for the report.

What I find even MORE amazing is that when someone offers a differing opinion about any number of subjects - be it food, keyboards, whatever - it has to be taken as a "pissing contest and not just a discussion about personal tastes !!!
Scott, I fail to see how any of these posts turned into basically knocking the memorable meal ...
Nick enjoyed it, you enjoyed, we enjoyed seeing and hearing about it ...
It's too bad you got pissed off hearing about OUR opinions, especially since YOU posted the 'debates' about East Coast/West Coast crabs ...

hi Tony:
I merely posted those links only 'after' a couple of people appeared to simply use the thread
as an opportunity to turn it into a my crabs better than yours debate,
while completely 'ignoring' the actual 'thread topic' itself altogether.
Tony, perhaps I over-reacted, and if I did, I apologize. No worries.

Scott ... "it's all good" ...
As the 'author' of a thread, none of us likes to see it take a different track ...

Hi Nick,
that's it. Bob & Oli. Wonder I never ran into you. I used to spend hours there. Bob used to love playing the Technics arranger piano's
He'd happily play away for an hour or 2 , I was quite happy listening. He was brilliant on Full Piano Keyboard mode.
According to him, nothing else tracked the complex chord changes he used for songs as the Technics did.
Sadly the last time I saw him back in 2004, his hands were shaking really badly. Don't think he knew what was wrong at the time, but unfortunately I think his playing days were nearing to an end.

Yeh, actually I was pretty lucky getting the PA3X. We now live an hour out of Newcastle. Billy Hydes happened to have one in stock.
I somehow don't think Korg Arrangers would be a big seller out this way. I bought the PA 800 from them last time, & I would say it had been sitting for at least a year. Probably happy to sell it so quickly.

If I'd gone to Turramurra ( my old hangout) I think their stocks aren't due till sometime this month. Fortunately Billy's were happy to price match, plus I've had it for about 3 weeks now.

Really looks like you had a great time with Scott. The U.S. is wonderful. My son's going back for another trip next year.

Hi Rikki:
As a former Technics KN5000 owner, I totally concur with what Bob said. I loved how my KN5000 tracked even the more exotic complex chords correctly and so smoothly.
When I switched to Yamaha (following Technics regrettable demise), in order to still play the more complex chords,
I subsequently had to switch to playing in split mode, assigning both left & right voice to the same piano voice,
but with the chord recognition only recognized from what's played with the LH,
freeing the RH to play chord scale notes & alterations (#9,b9,#11, etc) & passing tones without it negatively affecting the auto chord recognition,
of which Yamaha's 'full keyboard' mode often results in.
Over the years I've learned to accept that limitation, but I still miss Technics' superior full keyboard chord recognition.

I really love my Tyros 4, but one IMPORTANT advantage that the Korg PA3X has over Tyros 4, especially for us piano players,
is its far superior 'full keyboard' chord recognition, which I feel runs a 'very close' 2nd to Technics.

Rikki, I'm really looking forward to learning more from you about your PA3X as you discover and report to us about its many features.
I'm especially interested in hearing more about the "Songbook", new "TC Helicon Vocal Harmonizer" and as you probably predicted, it's new "Chord Sequencer" feature.

When Nick and I met last weekend, we noticed how people in Australian & California West Coast both seem to share a similar casual relaxed lifestyle.
Whenever I can make it down to Australia, I'd love to hook up with both you and Nick.

hi Scott,
Bob was truly amazing, you'd swear he was playing along to a midifile rather than in arranger mode, but he wasn't. He used to put in all these amazing little runs , without messing up the chords. He used to demo the technics piano against the yammie, to show the difference in the chord recognition. The yammie really couldn't handle the chords as well in full keyboard mode.

I suppose you would have had to have changed your playing technique, going from full piano mode to having the split.

The bit of piano playing I did do, doesn't really suit arranger playing at all. I luved playing left hand arpeggio's ( Richard Clayderman was it & a bit when I decided I'd like to play )
Spent months learning to read bass cleff notes so I could play. Might have been easier if I'd known what a chord was haahaa
So, the bit of piano I had learnt didn't really help much with arranger keyboards.

To be quite honest, I've gotten sidetracked again. I've been busy converting a few of the bread & butter yammie styles I use across to the korg. I did them for the PA800, but since I've now got 4 variations instead of 2 & XG drumkits to boot, I decided to redo them.

Unfortunately the TC Helicon is a total waste on me.

The chord sequencer is something I will work out, and I'm looking forward to trying out the onboard mp3 recorder. I've never had one.
I've just updated my BIAB again, and there's some good real track jazz styles that I'd like to use for "music minus one" (I think you called it?) Not sure if the styles are new, or I just hadn't noticed them before, but it adds to the possibities.

WEll, Nick & I both live within a 100 miles or so of each other. Sydney is certainly more interesting than the tiny coastal town where I now live, but hubby & I certainly don't mind travelling distances to catch up with friends and family. We quite often do a 200 mile round trip , just to catch up with the kids for lunch ( which btw, happen to live in Sydney) haahaa.

Pity we wouldn't get to meet your little 2 legged feathered friend, she'd probably scare little Charlie to death, we don't call him Charlie Chicken for nothing, he's even terrified of our little yellow budgie haahaa.

You both look like kids!

I think I was that young once.

Has anyone been to Paris ? ... Scott , that was a joke

I'm at least an inch taller and older than Nick.

Danny, sorry, missed it. That one flew over my head.


Anyone else catch it?

You talked about the thread taking a different direction from the original post. Talking about Paris would have been another twist away from the topic.

You know what they say, if you have to explain the joke, it ain't funny.

Oui . . . pardon my French Ms. Hilton

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