The big event of y’day was an extremely successful country music jam. But not in a paying club, instead, in my Florida room. Ray-B was over to demonstrate a new acoustic bass, more accurately, a semi-acoustic with a pickup. He also brought along some Roland battery equipment, which led to a Johnny Cash open mic. The quality of the music was remarkable, but this comes as no surprise to me because with the right guitarist, I’ve done it all before. The surprise was Ray-B became the first guitarist I know of in Florida that instead of just talking about it, actually sat down and tried to sing and play real bass at the same time. Congratulations! It can be a sobering experience.
The acoustic bass was naturally trebly, but when properly equalized has a middle-quality punch to it, more than good enough for most venues. Ray-B is a gradually taking a shine to country guitar simply because it is fun music to play. We have a dynamite sound and I think with a few hours of rehearsal, we could create an A-room country duo that would brush aside the competition. It’s the law of synergy: individually we are a couple of hacks on the circuit. Together we would be a top-notch duo going places.
Let me put that into perspective. Most solos in this town have fossilized song lists. There is no real variety, and with backing tracks there is no fake variety either. That is why I am confident if we ever formed a duo, even as a temporary experiment, Ray-B would rapidly learn to prefer it to performing alone. We would plow the weaker acts under, if only because what we play is totally live.
At the same time, I know why soloists in this town are afraid to form a duo. They would wind up making less money because they rely on the house for the bulk of their income. I’m the other extreme; I have always made more in tips (51.86%) than in gig pay (48.14%). I have even lost gigs when staff covet my tip jar bitching I am getting tips that rightfully belong to them. I need a guitarist who can see though the fog to the real goal—that fat juicy tourist gig we can milk all winter long.
I have emailed E24 about his offer to share his robotics books with the club. If so, I may be making a trip up to West Palm, the furthest I’ve been out of town yet. Scooter-wise, and even that depends on if he lives near a tri-rail station, since the train will accept electric bikes. Again, while reading, I was disgusted by the low quality of information and videos on-line. I’m not talking the indie stuff which can be excused, but big-money outfits that you’d expect would do a better job.
For the holiday, the club meeting was a half-hour phone call instead of a meeting. We are concerned about the complexity of the assembly stages slowing everything down. Progress is measured in weeks, not hours, despite the fact we took a few shortcuts (like gears and axles). This Thursday’s meeting will concern the most advanced robotics material we have learned to date. Put on your thinking caps. I was going to say that the average IQ in the room was going to be “three times room temperature”, but then I remembered in western Ontario that might mean 60 degrees.
My two favorite gangs, the Retards from Redmond and the Jerks from Java. Java is at it again, constantly updating their software, forcing you to close your browser to install it. Brilliant, there guys. Have you checked your reputations lately concerning your supercookies and spyware? Hint, that is why you guys never scored all through college. You unwittingly use your wits for birth control.
