Looking into things, “Pink” isn’t a band, but a “singer songwriter”. I claim this photo as fair usage. She’s 30-ish, not a natural blonde. All the information I can find on her shows her bands are studio or road musicians thrown together for the purpose. I’m not sure what to make of that, but I know the same bassist plays the two tunes I learned today.Eddie never showed, which I figured upon seeing his swollen wrist y’day. I waited around until past dark in case he made it. I would have, against my better judgment, let Eddie purchase the drum box we need to spur up to performing. He understands it is not a matter of just buying a box. In my bands, all stage arrangements are predicated by the need to avoid anything that sounds canned. In my books, the guitarist who uses the same few drum patterns all night isn’t demonstrating much versatility or intelligence. I am the pro at making a drum box sound live, so I don’t like to waste time starting over with different or unsuitable brands.
The drum unit I had picked, the Zoom MRT3-Micro, has a series of reviews that carefully sidestep mentioning sound accuracy. That’s always a warning flag. It also appears the transformer is sold separately, the sure mark of an unscrupulous company. A virtual product, the Izotope iDrum has a valuable (but poorly documented) trial version which, for serious use, has to be programmed from scratch. But for $49 I may be able to work with it. As a former drummer, I tend to keep the tracks sparse where others go overboard. When you see drum machines with settings for 7/4 timing, some there’s an unemployed drummer on the team. One thing I am not going for (ever) is a “studio drum sound”. Expect some results with the drum thing shortly, but everything on the market these days is junk.
All this took place with just Puss-Tat and I over large quantities of iced tea I brewed up in the early morning. See, we know how to manage. It is again cool enough to leave the A/C off in the bedrooms, which will plunge the electric bills. I decided to watch a few Nature shows on cable during the hottest part of the afternoon. My favorite TV character? The dude in the Dos Equis (beer) ads. He’s so cool. People “hang on his every word, even the prepositions. He speaks French—in Russian.”
Last, to cover my options this season, I put an ad for a vocalist on the Internet. Let’s see if any of the same yahoos reply as three years ago. If so, just think. I’d get to tell them thanks, but I’ve moved on. Ha! I always like to say that to certain people.
Author's note 2015-06-09: I got a few inquiries for a vocalist, but overall, I'd say there is a huge glut of unemployed singers in this town. What's lacking is good bands.
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