Arizona has passed Bill 1070, giving the police the right to act as immigration officers. The feds objected, saying it would lead to racial profiling, but it seems the feds haven’t noticed 95% of the illegal immigrants are from the same race. Therefore, no matter how you tackle that problem, somebody is going to scream “racist”, so quit shitting your pants and get on with it. The feds have failed for 50 years to protect the citizens of that state, so they will to protect themselves. Meanwhile the feds are contemplating the lunacy of amnesty. The state also claims, and rightfully so, that there will be less crime, less welfare, fewer gangs, smaller class sizes and lower taxes. Myself, I’m going to wait and see without taking sides, but the bottom line is 70% of the states residents support the law. Majority rules, provided they are permitted to vote on the correct issues while they still are a majority.
Fred remains up in Orlando, but he’s going to be surprised at the amount of work I took in for him. That English chap who plays Blues guitar was in, and steered me to some hilarious youTube videos by the two Ronnies. It was a classic called “Four Candles”. See it if you haven’t, it’s a skit about this guy who walks into a store and orders fork handles.
While on youTube, I caught a short documentary showing a WWII-era T-34 sunk in a swamp since 1944. Let me count on my fingertips, that’s 66 years ago. My Lithuanian is a little rusty, but that tank sure wasn’t. They hooked up a tractor and pulled it out of the muck, water flushing out all the gun ports. I saw the tracks (tank treads) were turning like it was y’day! I was stunned even more a short while later when they hooked up a battery and the tank engine started. It vomited diesel fumes, but that sucker was running.
That was the good news. Bingo was a flop tonight, I worked for less than minimum wage. It is not prudent to play Jimbos near rent day. This seems to be the determining factor for all events at Jimbos, indicating most people there do not own their own houses. Bingo is now a major factor in my annual income, even with the bad days.
Friday’s jam at H’wood Johnny’s was not inspiring. Eddie and I showed up to play around 6:00 PM to find other musicians already there and taking up all the available instrument jacks on Jim’s six-channel Fender Passport [PA system]. My bingo show alone uses five jacks. Anyway, we waited an hour and a half and had to leave because we only had a lousy ten bucks each. That’s one long wait. We were also dismayed it took all that time for the band to set up and tune. I can have my entire show set up and working in just under ten minutes, and I use more gear, all of it heavier duty.
That excessive setup time has always been a red flag with Jim’s act. Everything seems to be slightly too loud or too quiet with occasional blasts, like a bad rheostat cutting in and out at full volume. Jim has very expensive equipment that never sounds balanced, seeming to require ten agonizing minutes of fiddling between each song. By comparison, my computerized show is totally sleek, with matched covers played three at a time, plus my show is far more “live”.
The difference is explainable, however. I rehearse my entire presentation in two modes: solo and duo. It works so well, I once did a two-year solo bass act. Let me say it again: good guitar is played differently when a bass player is present. If you don’t agree, then you only think you can play “good guitar”. One of the quickest ways to a bad show is a guitarist playing studio riffs on top of the band he is supposed to be cooperating with.
Yet, I was disappointed at not playing. It is a six mile bike ride up there and back.
*For those who ask why there is no link to Halston's sites, there are two reasons. One, this work, for its odd naughty word or two, is a family show and her's is not. Two, all links to her site eventually lead to FaceBook, an outfit that I will have nothing to do with. If I won't link to a porno site, I certainly will not link to the likes of FaceBook.
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