This may be a repeat photo, feel free to let me know. I dug it out of the archives to reminisce over how things went in my early days of networking. Place this around 2005, before I realized there were no courses or texts that gave clear instructions, and I decided to buy three old computers and go to work. That is what you see here. I recall an erroneous assumption where I thought the Ethernet cards in the computers only worked with the Internet. After all, they used IP addresses, did they not?
A broiler. One of the rare Saturdays that the computer shop is closed, I had time to go over all the musical gear. I bought good quality so routine maintenance is minimal but things still have to be tested. The A/C can’t keep up when it gets like this, so I encourage all to head for the library or someplace kept cool by the government. That’s how you survive in Florida, as it were.The big event of the day was the gig, at Jimbos, where the unexpected can be normal. It was a small but happy crowd and the police operating a check stop across the street (the other side of Dixie Hwy) made for plenty of lively commentary. A few drivers tried to run for it, but they had motorcycle cops just up the block. With big guns.
Eddie (Monroe) came in an played for a half hour, the first time we jammed. I can definitely work with what he can do and the good news is that he would be quite reliant on me to carry the tunes start to finish. That is, like many guitarists, he is used to playing only the parts of the song that have vocals. This is called "dropping measures", which one cannot do while working with a drum machine. And should not do when playing with other musicians. This also tips me off that Eddie may have exaggerated the amount of experience he has in a band.
Also, the vocals can be a problem in that they are not automatically programmed into my system. I have drum tracks without vocals that will have to do for now. He’ll have to memorize lots of lyrics until my new system is operational. That could take months particularly since that part of it is not my priority. He would like to have a monitor on stage with all the lyrics, but that would also mean he would have to be convinced even more that this is not a 50/50 operation.
He played a few standards, including that “Tangled Up in Blue”, most of which I could follow. Eddie plays no lead, something I was watching for. He does, however, act like a lead player, which I will also be watching for. Read my lips, “No lead players in my band.” Emphasis on “my”. He does not understand why I don’t just go out and buy all the equipment I need on credit. That’s a quick trip to the poorhouse.
I also see that he is used to a different type of band; I can explain. Bands are not democracies, although everybody gets a say. By that I mean they get listened to even if nobody else agrees. (Did you get that, Hippie?) I had to caution Eddie not to go out and buy anything, not even a single battery, except that he get it for his own use. I stressed that he buy nothing on my behest, that he could say he bought because of me. This prevents hard feelings in the case of a band breakup (the rule, not the exception) and emphasizes the fact that I already have a completely working situation.
Then Lee-Anne (the barmaid) gets up and surprises the daylights out of me. We did a half-hour set that floored the room, including a duet of Bette Midler’s “The Rose”. That’s another song I didn’t know I could sing. Lee-Anne also did “Gimme One Reason”, “These Boots” and “Fire” and paced them perfectly with my bass lines, needing no queues. (This is not easy to do, as I have precise timing as opposed to the somewhat “loose” timing most vocalists are used to. It means you follow me.) I am not embellishing anything, it really was a remarkable set. She was better than most of the professionals on that stage. I’m even more glad that certain people were there to see it. For the record, Lee-Anne is married with kids.
Nothing else happens in the upcoming week as I have to program the Alesis (drum box) for Eddie’s music. For now, he’ll have to stick with grandstanding. The automated lyrics is also too large an investment for an act that may not fly. Why would it not fly? That is how it goes all too often no matter what the intentions. For a start, he naturally plays a lot of the wrong kind of music for our venues, a very common mistake of guitarists. They try to “educate” the audience instead of entertaining them. There’s that echo again, the one that rhymes with “dippie”. Why, if you just play Judas Priest a little louder, they'll get into it.
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