The search continues for a good home defense/TSHTF semiauto rifle…

My small but efficient arsenal is almost complete. I now want to add a fairly compact, reliable fighting rifle to my kit. I have looked at many different rifles, listened to many different opinions, and checked my bank balance many times. Good rifles are expensive! My training with James Yeager at Tactical Response left me with a new respect for the basic AK47 platform. I couldn’t believe how much punishment this rifle took, and kept functioning flawlessly. It seems like the Glock of the rifle world.

I just upgraded my audio/MIDI software to Digital Performer 7. What took me so long?

I installed the latest revision of Digital Performer 7 and boy, is it awesome. As usual, the folks at Mark Of The Unicorn didn’t miss a trick. The install process went flawlessly, and I upgraded things like the drivers for my audio Firewire interface, the MOTU 828MKII and my MOTU MIDI Express 128 to make sure all went smoothly.

What a fantastic and versatile program. The selection of plug-ins is so awesome that I have decided to remix the eight songs that we have already “completed” for the new Brainclaw album.

MOTU have gone in and addressed every single thing that used to bug me when I was composing and recording, and they added THEMES! The interface looks so smooth and professional now! Mine is a very cool black and red theme that looks like the bridge of a starship, and it is very easy to read. It looks fantastic on my Mac’s 30″ HD monitor.

So, off to do some remixing. Folks, you can’t do better than DP7 if you are recording music on a Mac.

end of line.

So much has happened…

Best friends make great partners.

I’ve been away for awhile now, reorganizing my life. Tara and I have parted ways on good terms, and remain good friends, and I have a wonderful new/old person in my life now, an old friend who is now my life partner. Meet Stephanie!

I’ve rejoined the band Carfax Abbey, have a new musical duo with Gary Billings called God Shaped Void, and continue to work on the Brainclaw project. My photography continues apace.

Oh, and Stephanie comes with two energetic little boys, Jeffrey and Eric, six and four respectively. I am an instant parent!

So much has happened…

Stay tuned for a proper update soon…

Tactical Response “Fighting Pistol” course review…

Tactical Response “Fighting Pistol” course review

David Giuffre

May 26, 2009 (photography by James Yeager, owner, Tactical Response)

Back in October, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Tactical Response in Camden, Tennessee to take an amazing tactical shooting course called “Active Shooter.”
My wife knew I wanted to take my shooting training to another level, so she contacted James Yeager at Tactical Response and booked me on one of the more advanced courses they offer.

Normally, one would take the Fighting Pistol and Advanced Fighting Pistol courses before taking Active Shooter, but they let me come anyway, as it was a surprise 40th birthday gift from my wife, and I was so excited to be there.

Needless to say, the course was life changing.

I established an excellent and continuing relationship with James Yeager and everyone at Tactical Response, and regularly compose electronic music for the newer Tactical Response videos. When I discovered that Tactical Response was “going mobile” and bringing the Fighting Pistol course to Winslow, NJ (which is a scant hour plus from my dwelling in Morrisville, PA) I jumped at the chance to take more training from James and the crew.

DAY ONE

Gary Billings and David Giuffre LIVE… Saturday April 11

Gary Billings and I cover Pink Floyd classic “Comfortably Numb”

Gary and David spent Sunday creating a darker cover of a Pink Floyd song that was already pretty dark, “Comfortably Numb.”

You can check it out HERE.

Enjoy.

“Comfortably Numb” was featured on the platinum-selling Pink Floyd album, The Wall, released in 1979.

David will be performing this song and several others live with Gary at his next show, so stay tunes for show dates.

Be sure to check Gary’s MySpace page for all kinds of new songs and concert dates.

Cooking with Brainclaw! Learn to cook a Steak and Ale Pie!

Getting ready to make the Uzumaki Steak and Ale Pie…

(stunning culinary photography by Taraclaw, mostly)

So, you want to make a steak and ale pie to warm your insides during this cold tail-end of winter, huh? Well, David from Brainclaw is here to show you exactly how to do it! What follows is a huge, fairly funny pictorial cooking lesson with a full recipe and directions. Try it out! This is a mutation of a classic British recipe for a hot, steamy, flaky meat pie. Vegetarians and vegans can stop reading now, if you haven’t already. Let’s get started…

Ingredients List for one Davidclaw Deep Dish Uzumaki Steak and Ale Pie:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 box of pie crust mix, enough for 2 pie crusts (or make your own if you have time!)
2 nice steaks (use organic beef!) or you can use regular old beef stew meat if you are cheap.
1 nice onion, we use Vidalia onions! Yum!
Pam cooking spray or equivalent
salt
pepper (or season to taste, many possibilities here)
vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves
shredded cheeses of your choice, cheddar works best

and the main Secret Ingredient…
1 six-pack of Miller Genuine Draft in bottles… ICE COLD.

Have a sharp knife, an oven-safe deep dish pie pan, 2 cutting boards, a cookie sheet, a nice deep frying pan, an Xbox 360 and the Elder Scrolls Oblivion software, a fork and a spatula…

Modified thoughts on Glocks (and all other handguns)

Awhile back, I posted a glowing review of my then new Kahr PM9 autopistol.

I have recently modified my views on the ownership of my Kahr PM9, Glocks and handguns in general. I took a course recently at Tactical Response in Tennessee. It was a two day, grueling offensive/defensive course where we shot about 1000 rounds in two days.

The only guns that survived the course were the Glocks.

Period.

I was a big fan of my Kahr PM9 for its size and concealment possibilities. I saw numerous Kahrs fail over the weekend, as well as Sigs, Colts and many others. The worst offenders were the supposedly ironclad Colt .45s, which were worse than useless, with constant jams and finally falling apart completely. The Glocks shot flawlessly, WITHOUT ONE FAILURE TO FEED OR FIRE.

My Glock 29 10mm worked perfectly, and shot like a dream all weekend.

I got home and promptly traded my Kahr PM9 with Armalaser for a stock Glock 26. I am now carrying it in a Galco concealment holster, just behind my right hip. I learned the worth of spending good money on a PRO holster system as well. Having the best gun in the world in a crap holster can get you killed. I also learned an amazing draw, as well as countless other improvements to my shooting skills. I feel like a much more competent shooter now, one who could save a life if needed. I couldn’t recommend courses at Tactical Response more. Take one.

It takes practical applications like this to really put gear to the test. I don’t mean to slag anyone’s firearm in any way. Your gun may work fine for you. The real test of a firearm is this:

Will it fire every time you pull the trigger? Really! Will it go bang EVERY DAMN TIME? If you are unsure, get a different gun. Can you drop it on the ground, in the mud, shoot it upside down and sideways? Can you shoot 1000 rounds through it and have it still work? The first thing James Yeager did in class was to throw his Glock onto the concrete from 5 feet up, and tell us that if we weren’t willing to do this with OUR guns, we should probably find another gun, or another class.

My Kahr PM9 did NOT go bang every damn time, alas. Sorry Kahr!

I have been completely convinced that the most reliable handguns on the planet are made by Glock.

End of line.

http://www.glock.com

I LOVE Halloween!

Big Skull

I love Halloween! I don’t rightly understand those who don’t. My mom HATES Halloween. She’s a dental hygienist, though, so maybe we need to give her a break.
She dutifully crafted homemade Halloween costumes for us each year, then confiscated almost all of our candy.

Boneyard

That being said, the older I get, the more I enjoy this freakishly old holiday. Each year I fix up the front of our house and attempt to scare the bejesus out of our neighborhood kids. Then we give them extra-generous portions of candy, and the GOOD stuff at that! I only stock the “holy grail” candies: Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups, Milky Ways, Butterfingers and the almighty KitKats.

Spooky Steps

I did have moments of distress a few years back when bored gangs of un-costumed “children” came westward across the “Trenton Makes” bridge. They wandered our neighborhoods, looking for trouble. My massive “NO COSTUME, NO CANDY!” sign took care of that the following year, and I was able to avoid any further trouble.

Pumpkin King

We are known by neighborhood kids as Mr. Dave and Miss Tara, and each year I hear kids tell their parents “I remember THIS house from LAST year!” We are known to have an above-average amount of spooky decorations, lasers, fog, black lights and monstrous beings roaming our property on All Hallow’s Eve.

Grim Reaper

Each year it gets harder for me to go “all-out” as money and time seem to be present in ever-decreasing amounts in our lives. As I deal each year with the straight-lacers at work who wonder why this 39 year-old man goes so far out of his way to make his studio so “spooky” and why he takes a half-day on October 31, I often ask myself why I put this much effort into such a crazy institution as Halloween. Then, each year, I see these excited and breathless little faces on my doorstep, and know EXACTLY why I do it.

The Reason for the Season

end of line.

Tactical Response Active Shooter weekend…

Most of you know that my wife Tara is a pretty cool woman. Well, as previously reported, she wanted to give me the 40th birthday of a lifetime. She contacted James Yeager at Tactical Response in Memphis, Tennessee, and promptly signed me up for a two day intensive course called “Active Shooter.”

She then thought, “who would be perfect to send with David to this pro course on taking down rogue shooters?” Her answer was, of course, photographer Kyle Cassidy. As it turned out, because of his award-winning book Armed America, James Yeager knew Kyle, and loved the book, and also invited him to come down and take a course. So my birthday present was born… and we both took the course.

We flew out of Philadelphia on Friday morning, on the smallest jet and roughest flight ever. I almost barfed. We got there, checked into our hotel and unpacked our gear. We met with James Yeager and his instructors that night, and they were so cool. They want to use our Brainclaw music in their next video!

We started the course on Saturday morning. We shot targets on an outdoor range in the morning, moving, running, reloading on the run, it was amazing. In the afternoon, we moved to the Shoothouse.

Here I am, doing a move called “cutting the pie.” I slowly slide around the corner, looking for the bad guy, and then taking them out with my trusty Glock 29 chambered for 10mm auto.

The next day things got HECTIC. We hit the ground running, and proceeded to learn all about select-fire (full-auto) AK47s. We performed a drill where we shot bad guy number one with our handgun, then took his dropped AK47, got it running, and used it to take out bad guy number two, all from behind cover.

We shot targets on the run from ridiculous distances. I shot a man-sized metal target from 100 meters. I didn’t know I could make that shot with my Glock 29 from that far away! Kyle and I were some of the few who made the shot on our first try.

Then we did the hard stuff… this is the Shoothouse, where we practiced room clearing and basically shooting each other with real guns and simunition UTI bullets. They HURT. I got shot twice in the hand, once in the temple and twice in the stomach. Oh, and right on my thigh near my… um. You get it. One police officer took one right in his, er, manhood.

Pain is a real motivator, though. I did well, and consistently neutralized the bad guys. It was difficult for me to do this drill, where we were hunting each other down, but one of the instructors, Aaron, took me aside and told me to picture Tara and Ming Mei in there with the bad guys. That’s all I needed to hear. I’m walking with a limp from a possibly broken toe, and I look like I went through a blender, but I had a transcendent experience. I know I could help people if something bad went down.

This is James Yeager, owner of Tactical Response, a serious bad-ass, a wise teacher and a hell of a nice guy. He took great care of us, and for that I am grateful. He is a warrior-teacher-healer of the highest order, and he taught me so much about shooting and myself this weekend. Thank you James, Aaron, Kyle, Brian, Cori, Jay and everyone else!

I have a massively increased respect for my firearm, the Glock 29, chambered for 10mm Auto. My weapon had ZERO malfunctions, and cleanly fed almost 750 rounds over two days. Truly an amazing piece of machinery. Here is a picture of it that I took after Day One, with my new macro lens. I didn’t take too many pictures because I was so busy shooting, but Kyle took hundreds of great ones, which I hope he will post someday. He shot like a champ. Tara and I will be heading to Harrisburg, PA in May 2009 to take “Fighting Pistol,” another course offered by the wonderful folks at Tactical Response.

Can’t wait.

– David