This photo of a Mexican clinic caught my eye, not because of the spotless office, but because that is Tijuana out the window. Then I clued in. San Diego area code on the phone, Baja out the window. This guy is set up for dental tourism, the cute phrase for people who head south for the prices.
There is much talk about medical procedures in Mexico, but I draw the line at anything that might involve life-threatening operations. I don’t personally know anyone who has had an ordinary procedure done there for the sake of lower prices. The news can’t be relied on to report anything except tragedies. Yet it stands to reason if a trained professional was prevented from practicing in the USA for political or financial reasons that do not affect his skill, Mexico is a considerably better bet than Canada.
Most dental work isn’t going to kill you if things get botched. There is something else to consider, that Mexico does not have a large middle class. That means a dentist is either from the elite or from the slums, and the location of his clinic would be a quick way to tell the difference. I also know there are plenty of retired US trained medical types in Mexico. I’m saying I would not have any real problem with an American dentist in Tijuana who lost his license for, say, overbilling medicare or non-payment of alimony.
Let me tell you who not to have as your cell phone carrier. Virgin Mobile. I don’t know what kind of operation they are running but something goes wrong about 30% of the times I make a payment. They apply it to the wrong account, or make my monthly payment twice and try to keep the money, or in this case, the payment just plain disappears. Only this time I can’t find the receipt. To compound matters, I make the payment at Radio Shack, who make some kind of error or take too long around half the time. I once saw the location on Hollywood Blvd take 16 minutes to ring in a single $12 sale with other customers waiting in line. “Would you like the one year service plan or the two year service plan?”
And the Virgin Mobile website does not give the phone number of their customer service. I was going to call a couple of old friends this weekend but thanks to Virgin, that didn’t happen. It’s a sign of our troubled times that people can’t any longer perform a simple deed like apply your payment to the correct account. I no longer even try to use their on-line system. I drive over to Radio Shack and have the staff enter the payment. Then I wait in the store, usually around twenty minutes, until I receive a confirmation that the payment is received, and another five or so minutes for a second text message that the payment has been applied. I do this so I have witnesses, that is how badly Radio Shack has degenerated.
related to playing in a band.
It isn’t music, but part of the discussion today was the possibility of selling clips of what we do. I hear the hue and cry, what makes us think we are that good? We don’t, but watching other “how to” bass lessons on the ‘Net show a real lack of creativity out there. Watch a few and you’ll see what I mean. Those videos have a distinct guitar-player “watch me” stench about them. And I am not a big fan of monkey-see monkey do. As far as I’m concerned, apprenticeship is nothing but a scam for crusty old farts to get low price shop labor by spoon-feeding the kid who wants to learn.
You can see this effect in the videos, the bassist makes sure you can see his wonderful face and neat apartment, then plays full speed without explaining the notes, positions or timing. Since he is also no cameraman, his left hand covers up what you need to see. My videos are considerably different. I begin by explaining very slowly all the notes and finger positions used in each piece. If there are any refrains or special departures from the pattern, I spell them out in advance.
Next, I stilt my wrist back out of the way so each note played can be very clearly watched up close, I don’t bother with any clutter in the scene. Only my left hand, and since bass is mainly a single note instrument, it is obvious which string is being played. I think this method could be used to sell the lessons for a buck each. I’d only need to sell 100,000 to move to Belize. Anyway, that is just a shot, not a promise to follow through. I’m more likely to ask people to send me a dollar for a disk rather than trust the likes of PayPal.
Have you seen the 64 bit version of Audacity? That’s the application I use to modify all my MP3 files. Regardless of better software out there, that is the one my entire system is based upon and as long as it functions, there is no need to update. Good, because the Audacity 64 bit version sucks. I understand that low IQ people would have trouble with some of the functions such as changing the pitch. You kind of had to know if you wanted the pitch to go up or down, but such decisions baffle the shit out of stupid musicians.
So Audacity went ahead and revamped the commands. Now even a total klutz can use them, but the codicil is all the unwanted side-effects. Like making the vocals sound like the Chipmunks. Thank our lucky stars I kept copies of the earlier versions. If I knew how to make safely and anonymously make all my material available to the public for free, I would do so. Meanwhile, it is clear the direction of software development is not toward a better overall product, rather to water it down so it can be sold the most ignorant mouth-breather out there.
I’m not feeling much like being humorous today, so if you want a laugh, read the South Florida musicians section on Craigslist. What a bunch of deadbeats running the same ads month after month. Guys, if you don’t get into a band in a few days, take the hint. Most are far too restrictive in what they’ll play, want ready-made working situations, or for some reason are not being snapped up by the nearly equal number of ads seeking bassist
ADDENDUM
Rehearsal with the duo was a breeze today. I speculate it may be the beginning of some payback for the weeks of learning basics. By that, I mean we tackled a new tune using only the principles gleaned by some 30 hours of music study. What has to happen for a duo is to do much better than to sound like just two guys playing the same song in unison. To do so, we have to learn the music as a team. This is the often-talked-about but rarely accomplished step for the great majority of guitar players and a mere majority of other musician types. I have the time, so let’s analyze that.
What do I mean by “unison”? That’s the fancy term for what I’ve said before about musicians who play exactly the same thing together. We know guitarists who think a red guitar and a blue guitar give the music more dynamism. Wrong move, guys. We have all heard too many guitar duos that are technically correct but every rendition they play is one-dimensional. There exist other rare teams with a great sound, but it is left mostly to chance and the willingness of each guitarist to lean back a little. Not in my band, no siree.
In my duo, these factors are defined and systemized to a science. It involves learning certain aspects from the ground up, which explains why so many guitarists fail at this. No give and take, what guitar players really mean is you learn it the way they want it done. Sound familiar, south Florida? I have seen this disgusting situation so often you would not believe it.
In the case of Jag & I, both of us relearned musical techniques which may now be coming together on certain tunes, most of which are more like folk music than the country based “Johnny Cash” that my own set is centered upon. The tunes we have already aced now have a definite “sparkle”, something lacking in most of this town. It’s kind of neat to see Jag with a quizzical look after a song, as in, did we just sound that good? Yes, we did. But that never happened by accident, not even once. I can refer to a particular note in a particular song and he knows what I mean. Other players you have to show them and play it out, which is damn tedious.
Another milestone passed is that we are already bypassing tunes that we are not getting as easily as we should. Why does this merit mention? Easy, try getting some guitar player to reject “Hotel Califormia” on that same basis. The new tune we chose today was a CCR hit called “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”. I would normally have overlooked this song because it is so often badly played on the guitar. Those riffs and hooks you hear are actually piano and bass, coincidentally my specialities. How was it chosen? It was the first song I picked when Jag said that while he’d heard of CCR, he had never heard any of their music.
By end of the first chorus we were playing along and knew we had a winner. If Pat-B heard us he’d point out I’m playing lead on the bass. I’d point out that is the way the song goes. And that’s as far as it usually gets. No “professional” guitar player will ever condescend to playing a rhythm part while somebody else plays a melody line. It detracts from their aura of “stardom” and they will not stand for it.
By Jag sticking to a strict rhythm part we had in just minutes another signature song. It does sound like four instruments playing, or I should say four “voicings”. And since what we did comprised completely and exclusively of techniques learned by Jag and taught by me, it is practical vindication that I was right all along about what I wanted a rhythm guitarist to do. Jag was the only one who followed through. And if you really done it, it ain’t bragging.
This is so different from rehearsals with the guitar types who are so cool and so patient as they wait for you to “get it right”, but they themselves needn’t change a thing. For they have already achieved perfection in their own musical Nirvana.
