Another unexpected day off, and another book read. For no reason, here is a picture of the Datran building near JP’s condo. Like a lot of Florida headquarters, nobody knows exactly what they do, or why the headquarters are here. Sure, the labor is cheap, but they don’t speak English. Having a corporate office in Miami seems to be the result of a lot of hype. Nobody can afford to live here on what they pay.
I spent close to four hours reviewing potential music off the Internet. Music that I can incorporate into my act but which meets the double challenge of not being too popular. It seems that even if his music is the local equivalent of the Poppy Family, at least Jimmy Buffett hired professionals to play at his recordings. Some of the background music is excellent except that you can barely hear it. That will change when I ripen it up on the computer and bring those bass lines into the foreground.The network guy was in today which led to a most inspired conversation on the features of a Comcast modem. He shares my opinion on the ethics of that corporation and instantly perked up at my suggestions that Comcast security must be in the modem, not the cable. We have agreed to pursue both avenues independently and share our findings. If we succeed, it will be an unheard of economy of brainwork for the results achieved.
[Author's note: in the end, he did nothing, there were no economies. I did the work myself and decided hacking modems was not for me.]
While in the shop, I tackled the problem of video uploads again. I think Blogger has jumped the gun and introduced a feature that was not adequately tested. When a brand new offering has a big support line that is enough to tip us off that they didn’t get it anywhere near right. Sorry, videos will have to wait, which is okay because I don’t exactly have an unlimited supply of them. What I do have, I would like to publish, mind you.
Something I have not done much in ten years, I went out to a coffee shop to read fiction. You could probably time this change to the day when most coffee shops stopped giving free refills. Throw in Miami where, if you are in deep thought, most of the locals don’t have any clue what that looks like and will interrupt you. I read 200 pages and did not notice until it was past 7:00 p.m. I must have needed that break.
Three hours later, I’ve identified a series of notes that spell “Jimmy Buffett”. Upon tackling tunes, such as “A Pirate Looks at Forty”, I find the bass lines are nice, but not up to standard for heavier bass performances. The good news is Buffett’s guitarist used lower register lead runs that can be faked with bass hammer-ons and slides. This is similar to the early Stones material, and in fact, some of it fits almost too perfectly. I’ve seen this before but can’t place it. Wait, yes I can. The bass lines in old Linda Ronstadt tunes.
Later. That was interesting, I have some novel bass lines for the tunes mentioned today. In a way I’m glad no guitarist worked out here, because it prompted me to get back into my solo bass style of the late 80’s. The guitarists I’ve met here can’t seem to play original licks without causing major changes to the piece. My bass licks are more subtle and everyone recognizes the original hit instantly. How do I know? I can hear them singing.
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