MORNING
I got all my e-mail caught up. Like many last night, it was nice to get away from the crowd and relax over the e-mails, which at times resemble a slow chat room as I’m working along. I explained to Elliot the reason today’s juke boxes contain so many cheesy versions of the song he thought he was paying for. Like the Manhattan Indians with their real estate, the musicians who sold their digital copyright often did not understand what they were practically giving away—and giving it away for all time to come.
As shown by this video still, I was researching for more music.
Since Xmas is a family thing, most of the single guys at the club were talking about women. As for the married men, it’s recognized you get to dress them (the wives) up once a year minimum and parade them in front of the single guys. I'd rather croak.
Chasing women, always in the news around here. I get fan mail asking what do I mean by a woman who is “self-supporting”. In the alternative, what would a woman like that (self-supporting) need a man for? Well, all I can say is those are very amateurish ways of looking at a complicated situation. Here is a link to ”non-traditional” women’s occupations. In the case of a few people who have not heard, it takes two incomes these days to make a domestic situation successful. The idea of the man as the breadwinner who supports the non-working woman is so last century.
It’s also a matter of what one is used to. I’ve never really dated a woman who was not self-supporting, but that is because since day one, I’ve never dated a woman who did not either live at home or have a place of her own. Such women are rare birds in Florida. The bottom line is societal standards have changed. What kind of person does not have their own car, their own rent, their own entertainment budget, and should you even be consider dating such a person ?
The average listed income for women in 2012 (the most recent data) is $39,936. If I met such a woman, the two of us would be very comfortable, indeed. But just you try to find one in Florida. I suspect such wonder-women do not even breathe the same air in this state. Highest paying occupation is a lady pharmacist, who at $1,900 per week makes more than the average lady lawyer. And that is my incentive to get this music duo happening. It’s not like I can go back to college, you know.
The documentary last evening was on the Channel Dash. This was the 1942 incident where German ships ran up the Straits of Dover back to Germany under the watching eye of the English. It was such a phenomenal failure for the Brits that to this day, the incident is mightily glossed over. For example, most reports say only that the Allied radar had failed. Ha!
What really happened is the German navy kept increasing jamming the radar so little at a time that the English didn’t notice. They likely assumed it was “atmospherics” to see such clutter. So when the Germans made the run in broad daylight, the Tommies were asleep at the switch. The British, later mortified, had second thoughts about continuing to call it the “English” Channel.
Return for more music talk, most of Friday’s around here are music-oriented.
NOON
Any idea what this is? Built in Germany in WWII, it is called a flak tower. They were built in groups of three so as to triangulate anti-aircraft fire across the very center of the cities that Allied bombers had to pass over to complete their bombing raids. The towers are massive concrete that proved so expensive to demolish after the war that they were just left there. You find them in Berlin and Vienna.
I believe this could be because the last five or eight songs, by the scheme of things, are often the least suitable tunes for the sound of the group. Any band can crank out 12 songs, the next 12 are “learners”, and the third batch of 12 is where most bands break up. There is always one member who cannot or will not learn songs he does not like--and I've heard ALL the excuses, guys. And that last set usually is a significant departure from what the band set out to do. I’ve documented this elsewhere.
It is becoming evident there are far fewer bass and acoustic duos than I presupposed. Are we on the right track? At least I also know two people with a big idea are more important than any amount of talent.. I admit, for the last while, I have been looking to see how other duos got past this hurdle. Most of them didn’t, can't find a single great hit tune by a bass-acoustic duo. Hmmm, no good examples. What’s happening now is I can’t progress with music I want, rather [I'm stuck] with what I can sing. And as far as getting any guidance or good advice, we are on our own.
One source was the lists of top songs of the 90s. I say lists because there are least 35 different versions of these so-called official lists. And the only thing they [seem to] agree on is the few songs that we already have on our schedule. I usually give prospects the “listen” test. If I find I can’t listen to them three times without getting distracted, that’s a fail. This is why I don’t do any Chesney. At the other extreme, have you hear the Grundy Auction song? That’s the opposite extreme. I like it but cannot sing it.
And that limit of what I cannot sing is looming large. I may have to stick with the songs I find the very easiest. That’s another case where they are not the best for what we set out to do. One conclusion I reached is some of the best material is Taylor Swift but that her music is too orchestral to be of use. She is a good example of how the Internet changes things. It is nothing to see her links with 200 million views. That was unheard of in my day but I like it as it renders the standard “lists” (like Billboard) less able to manipulate their criteria and play favorites.
On the top is his pirated version. Note the flat spot. Those appear in the playback as a “click” of dead sound. Most of his peers write that off to imperfect studio splicing. It isn’t. In the bottom, you see my zoomed in fix. What’s really happening is the other guy does not know enough to lower his sampling rate during the rip so his buffer does not overload. Like it did seven times in this one song.
As I said, magnificent idiots.
There are less than magnificent idiots as well. Take the Hippie. If you read back, you could find the incident where I was at his house rehearsing when his probation officer showed up. She started asking questions about me and I told him to shut the hell up. Oh, he blubbered, he had to tell her or get in trouble. I said then get in trouble, but she has no right to put my personal information on his probation files. Well, this morning I get an interesting packet. It’s a good thing I have a policy of not giving full information to guitar players. Everything I said to the Hippie, carefully angled as it was, is now on the “official” record. All of it giving a very accurate picture of how wonderful I have always been since I was born a poor black child.
And that, folks, is why people like the Hippie rot alone in jail. He knew I didn't want him to tell that probation lady anything, he knows he gave that probation lady details he at least thought were confidential to save his own scrawny neck. But it backfired, because essentially, fed her a bunch of crock that is, I see, now officially on the record. Because he thought the Cadillac belonged to me he even told her that. I hope she nailed him good for lying.
EVENING
There has been another slump in the real estate market. Hopefully the result will be another round of plunging prices. The system is doing everything it can to make people believe the market is returning, but there are no jobs in Florida that pay enough for the masses to afford even the cheapest decent housing. Prices remain about four times what property is really worth. The state relies on new money coming in from out of state boomers, not exactly the soundest foundation for economic recovery. But in Florida, the illusion of prosperity is good enough for most.
So what’s the delay? Well, it happens to be in Macon, Georgia. Two days from here by motorcycle. If this was in West Palm, I’d take it. I’m just showing the kind of places that will crop up on my searches, it lets me know that as a last resort, I could easily buy something livable somewhere. But I really cannot afford to leave Florida until 2019, by which date I may be leaving, if I do, in a pine box.
Speaking of boxes, I’ve discovered one way of joining wood so it won’t bend. Use the scroll saw to cut the joints out of solid wood. Yep, that messes up the work area, but it works, all-righty. Now, here’s something maybe I shouldn’t even say. I never thought for a second about other people not having access to tools when they were young, probably because I’d never met anyone who didn’t. Oh, I’ve met plenty of good-for-nothings who had the tools and were too lazy to learn them, but imagine my surprise when one of the wealthiest guys I know has never touched or owned a scroll saw. He called it “that saw you got that goes up and down like a sewing machine”. Okay.
That’s correct, good old JZ was fascinated by the implement. Ha, I mean, this guy lends me medical texts and such, I never for a moment thought he had never used a scroll saw. He has a truck full of metal and plumbing tools. I was surprised, that’s all. He calls it the "sewing machine saw".
I see the rough edges and the crooked edges here and there. I know I don’t have any files small enough to smooth the inside cuts. And I didn’t pay close enough attention to the way the wood grain runs, so it is at a slight slant. I would make the outside cuts on a circular saw to keep them straight and save time. And I used a design that may not let the “star” hang the most attractive way.
But hey, it’s my first.
And unlike many, I kept track of time and costs. Yes, I could produce these as Xmas gift, I have six different patterns. This just happens to be the most complicated for different cuts. The plans are free from the Internet, it makes me wonder why anyone would pay for them. While the patterns were meant to be painted, I like the natural wood and will compare various finishes. These would be cut four layers deep at a time and dunked stain and varnish. I think the natural wood finish makes them an exceptional gift.
I have no idea about this photo. But it is definitely Class of '91.
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