This is a picture of one of the inland canals along the Intercoastal waterway. The ads say this is waterfront property but not that the waterfront is concrete behind a chain link fence. Florida has more perfectly straight and flat waterfront than all other states put together.
Yes, I’m sore all over from the bike spill y’day. I do now think, since the injuries are still painful, that I will be contacting the people responsible. I just did not like the way that restaurant manager implied it was my fault. I hosed down the bike with heavy duty detergent – oh, and I had to get up and move it further from the house last night because of the odor. Old bacon grease, not strong, but bad.I’ll be laid up for the day due to my shoulder, the other injuries I can limp or work around but the shoulder puts me out of commission. I had no way to contact the club last night and let them know I could not play. Cowboy Mike wanted an extra practice later today, we’ll see. The good news is I found the old charts I had made of from the last practice we did with the whacko guitarist last year, which doubles my Blues repertoire.
Daylight also let me take inventory of damage to my bicycle. It is not so much the cost of repairs, but the opportunity cost as I must cancel other priorities to make the repairs. That bicycle is my primary means of local transportation, I rarely use the car for trips of less than ten miles. The grease got into everything, and even though I spent a half hour hosing the bike down, I still get a surprise handful of the gunk here and there. The handlebars are held in position by a clamp, now that has to be dismantled and cleaned. The clamp that holds my lock has to be replaced, and so do the hand grips which slide right off now, and cannot be cleaned no matter what I use.
My odometer has quit and I had to file the brake pads with emery board. The lens fell off my rear flasher and I had to replace my emergency reflector. My bungee cords may have to be trashed and my headlamp bracket is bent. There is a bad dent in my air pump, but I have not tried it out yet. My front flasher is loose and will have to be re-clamped in place. Worst, however, is that my chain and sprocket assembly now clicks and skips slightly as I pedal. That is always an expensive repair. After a year of keeping everything in tip-top condition.
I also have to keep moving. If I remain still for more than a few minutes, my right side becomes quite sore when I try to start moving. So, I’ll spend the afternoon programming the drum box, since that keeps me in at least mild back and forth motion. Oh, and making chili. I love to make chili when I’m housebound. Gives me something to look forward to. I am unable to play my bass due to shoulder pain, elbow pain and thumb pain (can’t grip the pick for very long).
Sure enough, I was able to get far further with the drum programming than I had planned, but I have gotten behind elsewhere. I discovered over half the tunes Mike chose must have been from the same album, as the drummer and drum kit were identical once I listened closely enough. Mike showed up after 5:00 p.m. and we jammed until 9:30 p.m. I should now describe this practice in more detail, as I believe this band will fly, and soon.
Cowboy Mike now accepts the drum box, his valid early concern was the sound, but now he hears that I can program it better than the original. (Oddly, my last guitar player created a Catch-22. It is so much work to program that I won’t do it without a commitment to a particular song, so all he had to do was refuse to commit until he heard the drum box. Catch-22). Mike now admits we need a rhythm player like we need a hole in the head. We got lost in several grooves and wound up jamming for ten minutes at a stretch. Between now and last practice, he has caught on that it is okay to leave off playing and singing for a few bars, I will never miss a beat. Until he heard the drum bass combination, he was understandably hesitant to stop playing. A lot of soloists are. Now he does it without a second thought.
We have already reached the stage of arranging every song, a slightly different process than just learning the tune. With simple music, like Blues, most musicians tend to vary the turnarounds a little each time, but that habit must be completely stamped out when playing in a group. The bad spots were quickly identified (he likes to go to the IV chord during lead breaks and I will often miss a drop to the IV during a turnaround if it is not in the original version). My injuries slowed me down from what I wanted to do, but even so, I came up with an actual original Blues bass line. It is the result of a “mistake” often made by beginner piano players, and although it is not really Blues, it sounds great.
That means I get to write an original Blues tune, I suppose. I’ve decided to call it “Blues Up the Ying Yang”. Mike, impressed by the drum beats, asked several times for me to turn it up, a good sign. As far as rehearsals, I would rate this one highly successful. From my viewpoint, we are ready to play somewhere, but Mike put on the brakes, saying he wants private time to practice on his own. I think we should do Jimbos’ this Friday. Practice is scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday so don’t rule anything out yet. I can tell Mike is used to these things taking a lot longer.
Trivia for the day. Did I already tell you this one? Anyway, the reason you cannot swat a fly is because the fly detects the shockwave of air created by your hand as you swat. Apparently the trick is to spread your fingers, but I’ve been unable to find an accommodating fly to test the theory. I do know that Florida flies are smart enough to avoid flypaper, giving them an apparent IQ greater than my cat. Huh? Oh, I can tell by the cat fur stuck on the glue.
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