I think the advertising people must be the last crowd in town to admit the economy has gone for a dump. They are holding out for top dollar everywhere. Like maybe we’ll buy into the theory that business is slow because we don’t advertise enough. Did I mention we have $10,000 in repairs waiting for people to pick up? This recession is deep and stayed, third year now. This picture is relevant, because it shows the area I plan to put a large sign saying “Internet Access”.
I have to pay extra to specify it is our place and not the sub shop. I would have put up a banner long ago, but did not know we could hang a sign on the business next door. This costs less than 1/9th as much as putting an ad in the paper that may or may not actually bring in any customers. The temp employment agency next door is out of business, which I consider something akin to poetic justice. There are vacant shops all over town, and I’m seeing property remaining empty long term because the owners will not lower the rent. This defies the Law of Supply and Demand. I first saw this phenomena in Canada and it taught me there is a lot more to being “English rich” than just having money. You must also use that wealth to prevent anybody else from getting their share. I still have trouble visualizing somebody who would let a property go to ruin for years on end rather than get the place occupied and producing.
The hurricane out west is giving us enough cloud cover to make the days comfortable again. We had an ordinary summer thunderstorm night before last and less than a quarter-mile away. Got Wallace up. It woke Pudding-Tat and I, but we couldn’t even be bothered to go take a look. It was loud, though no louder than usual.
Analysis of the gig last night. Arnel repeated that he has never seen a bass player do what I do and will help me find a musical partner. That’s great, since most what I’ve been meeting are the Craigslist losers. Ads at Guitar Center don’t help either for the board is ruled by cloned lead players who can’t sing or strum. I’m going to learn two sleepers, “Take It Easy” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling”. Not my favorites, being too “guitary”, although I admit to liking them back in the ‘80s. Then again, I even liked the Beatles before they weirded out on their later albums.
Before I tell you about the successful gig tonight, I’ve got a few words to say about the local power company, Florida Power and Light. They are unrelenting bastards of the worst kind. Lazy, obnoxious, pushy and inefficient beyond belief to an extent that has always astonished me, and I used to work for the phone company. Every Floridian you talk to has a horror story to relate about FPL, and now I do also. I am an American and my allegiance is not to the law or the courts or the army and certainly not to this or any government. My allegiance is to the Constitution, for I am a libertarian. I don’t mind showing you my ID, but no, you may not photocopy it and keep it on file for later. If you want to see it again, you ask me again. The Constitution specifically forbids arbitrary searches. The power company is demanding photocopies and (I suspect they are lying) say they have a law that allows this. That is nonsense, but I’ll check into it anyway. Not this photo with the gravel blocking the sidewalk. The power company could have put it anywhere, but they dump it on the walkway. It has been there so long there is a trail developing around the pole as you see in this photo.
Jimbo’s was a huge success tonight, although it was a small crowd and we closed early. Breakfast tomorrow for sure. It would have been even a better show if Arnel had arrived as intended. However he got a birthday party invitation at the last minute. To show you how professional he is, he called and told me. This type of rapport tells you instantly we are not from this part of the world. Later, Jackie and I stopped at Boston Johnny’s which had a sellout crowd and an excellent studio grade blues band. By excellent, I mean they were so tight, they could get the crowd bouncing to even the most unfamiliar tunes. They did not play one thing I recognized. The main feature of their show is a truly talented washboard player.
That man played not a real washboard, but a type of gold-colored professional model I have never seen before. They had a drummer and his raking perfectly complimented the sound. Sorry, I didn’t get the band name. The bass player had some kind of compression on his instrument that I’d like to copy and also some kind of fiber optic laser in the neck that I’d never seen before. It was impressive while reminding you that I’m rarely in the market for such gadgets.
What? I’ve never told what compression is when related to a bass? It is a pedal or effect that clips the high and low overtones out of properly played notes. That is, every note played anywhere on the neck has the same “oomph” to it. My uncompressed bass tends to let the lower notes boom and the upper notes get reedy, as is natural for any amplified stringed instrument. I use this effect to emphasize the home-spun quality of my act. This forces me to play differently on parts of the neck when I want to get an even sound and people watching closely can see the change. I used a compressor back in the late ‘80s. I’ll price them out again. Now that I’ve got the cash, ha!
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