It was a day for catching up on repairs. Lots of little things I’ve been putting off because of the heat. One thing I had to trash was my Sony cassette deck, the one Pudding-Tat knocked over and broke the spindle. That is, of all the things in the Florida room, she chose the most valuable, crawled behind it and pushed it out of the shelf. The part she broke was inside the case, the most valuable part of the only feature I used. This is Murphy’s Law, revisited. “If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, twice in Florida.”I managed to find the popular version of “Tequila” and it was not the hit by the Ventures, at least not the one I remember. The heavy saxophone work is from The Bopper. Upon getting it up on the scope I’m dismayed to find (like many hits from that era) that the original is off-key. Worse yet, it is inconsistent and wavers around somewhere between an E and an F.
Today was another scorcher so I spent all available hours in the shop, where the talk centered around the proposed Apple computer. Whereas we have always known we would eventually take a closer look at the technology, I’m the only one with a motive to do it now. It seems I’m the only one with the money, as well, but I can’t afford new band equipment and an Apple at the same time (in exactly 14 days I’ve been out of work for three years).
The meeting produced two other points. One is that Windows SP3 (Service Pack Three) has a serial number check built in. If it detects a pirated copy of any MS software it shuts your computer down in 30 minutes. That’s going to shock a few people. The other is a rumor that Apple computers which run MS applications have been catching viruses from doing so. I say again that I hope MS has finally shot itself in the foot.
Another topic was Internet usage. Most people are convinced you need a computer to use the Internet. Furthermore, they think the better computer you have, the faster you can surf. My experience is that only the most sophisticated users ever get beyond the basics of email and surfing, and an old computer works well for most of that. The problem is, they are “old computers” and people are leery of them. My calculation is that a decent “dumb” terminal could be built for $100 and sold for $150.
I know that some will squawk that such a unit would be very limited and not really a computer, but I feel there is a market for such things. The other extreme I’ve seen so often is kids who buy their parents a beautiful and expensive computer that never gets used. I also know there is no place in this territory where you can go and buy a cheap “Internet” computer. My units would be brand new, and customized to do only one thing well: get online. I’ve toyed with this idea for years.
The quest for the high-hat is not going well. That’s odd, since most drummers keep their old snare and high-hat when they get a new kit. When I put an ad on-line, I get all the bottom feeders trying to upsell me. I kind of need that high-hat now since I can make money with it right away. September is always slow but I’ve stepped up my advertising and printed hundreds of new business cards, including new ones for my Music Method.
I didn’t gig last evening so I decided to practice a couple of my new ideas. High-hat or no, I went ahead tapping out the back beat while playing bass runs. Or, I should say, trying to play bass runs. What a mind-bending experience. The downbeat falls exactly where I’m up-picking in a dead spot that occurs in all my most effective riffs. Unlike strumming guitar (where toe-tapping is almost natural), I’m going to have to learn to think two different rhythms at the same time. Give it a try, I play both bass and drums and I know what I’m talking about. The good news is I only have to get it once.Here’s a picture I thought would make a good album cover. A rundown motel in Hollywood, just north of Pembroke. Livin’ it up at the Motel RoseMarie. Hey, it took me ten minutes in the rain to get that angle with the palm tree.
