Since I also watched movies on TV, I had plenty of time to revamp my song lists, which includes the task of renaming the tunes so they will display on your average DVD list. Can’t be bumbling around on stage with that. Today’s TV features were Independence Day and The Alamo. It is comforting to know that no matter who invades, they are incredibly bad shots.
I combed banks of music to find tunes that fit my show. I want tunes that can be improved with a fatter or chunky bass line. Suitable material is rare, yet great things are possible in front of a trained audience. The important thing is to keep the material fresh. I could use a little help around here on that one. All the new music available seems to be either all-male bands or, if there is a female, the tunes are over-orchestrated.
Channel 65 aired an hour on moonshiners. The message I’m getting is not the cops against the bad guys, but people who are defending themselves against laws and taxes that they had no say in. I think that’s the “by the people” part, and that people have not only a right, but an obligation to protest against bad laws. Since voting clearly does not work to steer the government in the right direction, I understand how people will resort to other means. Hence, the government makes those other means illegal which creates more criminals. That means more television, and the beat goes on.
Later, I’ve got a new hour of music to run through Audacity. I think the newest tune is “Afternoon Delight”, still before 1979. It might be okay that I didn’t really play this music when it first came out, or I wouldn’t be resurrecting it. These are more complicated music than I played years ago, keeping it interesting to me. The relevant aspect is that it doesn’t put me to sleep like “House of the Rising Sun”.
Hang on for a moment, let me check if there are any tunes on my list that I played when I started my first band at age 13. Nope. Not one. The “oldest” tune on my list is “Lodi”, excepting only “Sixteen Tons” as a non-rock and non-country classic. And I never played “Lodi” until last year. Say, my second anniversary is coming up at Jimbo’s. Hang on again. Here it is. May 26, 2007, Saturday. It was also my first solo gig. Let me find the entry (not all details are revealed in this blog, in case that is what you erroneously thought).
May 26, 2007. That’s an interesting read. I made $5 that night and people bought me three drinks. I was concerned about not having enough material. Five bucks is more than I averaged relying on others to get the gigs, making a good start. On June 29, a month later, I made $36 in tips. Today even the average tip take far outstrips what I made as a band member.
That first gig was a huge gamble. As a non-guitarist non-singer, I also knew that to a lot of people, bass was a background instrument. These days almost every new tune I play has some bass solo or added riff taken from guitar. Hey, guitarists steal bass lines all the time. I didn’t begin to break even (on variable costs) until August 2008. Do not worry, I am not about to write any tacky songs about how tough it was. I enjoyed every moment of it and you can imagine what I’ve saved not going out on Fridays.
Much later. I also redid several rough spots left over from my early days of sound editing. Remember, I play every tune the way people remember it, even if that is technically wrong. Usually it means taking out background noises or getting Johnny Cash back on key. Sometimes I remove repetitious parts or add a second solo. Most of the time I just wonder what was it with Creedance and the key of B flat.
Here’s trivia, sort of. As I test through music that meets what I need for my act, a truly old instrumental keeps qualifying. I cranked it up through the headphones to listen to the details and it is a real fusion piece between electric and what sounds like a fifteen-piece classical orchestra. It is the theme from [the television show] “Bonanza”.
