We played music and compared metaphorical notes. The music scene, the economy, and the future. Out of the blue, he remembered that old Fendermen song “Mule Skinner Blues”. Except for Rusty, my former business partner, I’ve never met anyone else who knew that song.Now, I think I will learn it. It is the version with the yodeling parts. I dug it out of my pre-Limewire-shutdown archives. It is so great to have somebody intelligent to shoot the breeze with that I talk too damn much. But Ray-B says it is worth listening to because it contains new information. That’s a real compliment.
As far as the economy, be reminded that I say the depression is already here. We can, as a nation, never recover from the stupid mistakes of the past thirty years. (That’s “we”, not “I”.) Twenty years ago I predicted February 2011 as the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end. This is not speculation, it has already come to pass. Hey, middle class, your pension plan is broke, your house is falling to 1970 prices, your dollar is worth ten cents, your career left for China and your children were born $40,000 apiece in debt. Serves you right.
Ray-B bought so we went to this excellent little sandwich shop near Panera. Great prices, big portions. The sandwiches are twice the size of Quizno’s. I didn’t get the name. I almost became a school teacher before I started with the phone place. Ray-B knows schoolteachers and he says they only make around $35,000 per year. Could that be? I mean, that is nothing these days. He assures me that is it. Glad I never went into the occupation. Janitors make more. For some crazy reason I though teachers made twice as much but apparently not.
Now Ray-B walked into this place and complete disarray. He saw the antennas and workbench and declared the scenery pretty amazing. You can tell when I’m busy: hacksaws and wrenches on the kitchen table, sink piled high, and empty coffee cups all over the other furniture. It’s the sign of forward movement, lads. Ray-B is likely to be an early beneficiary of the research happening right here these days. A tiny thing like free Internet can save you $1,000 per year and it is perfectly legal.
I suggested him and I play a take-up set next time he’s on the beach. I get so many offers to play out there but my solo act is not quite strong enough. That’s not to say I can’t do something. I only need to look harder for the right venue. It keeps coming back to my old solo act, but this time Karaoke has made what I do seem refreshingly live. Do you remember Charles, the sax player? He jammed with Mike and I one time at Jimbos, saying we were too good for that place. I’m still there.
Well, he’s in the same boat as I. No place to play his instrument solo. So he goes to Karaoke with his sax, requests his tune, and plays a sax solo instead of singing. And does a first class job of it. I saw his act for the first time last Thursday. I’ve got his phone number somewhere. Is there such a thing as country sax? If not, we’ll create it. For the past year I’ve tried several times to take my bass to Karaoke but none of the DJs would let me plug into their speakers. Now Charles and I acted in isolation, so this must be one of those instances of co-evolution.
I’ve got some video of our jam today. Google veryatlantic in a few days to find it on youTube. Right now, I’m up to Home Depot to buy another 258 washers needed for my variable capacitor. Is it worth it? We shall see. I also checked the musicians list for bass opportunities. This week had a full crapload of guitarists who think they know all about bass playing judging by what they were asking for. Real bassists are influenced by styles, not by memorizing names of so-called heroes and album cover art.
There was one poor guy in there wanting lessons and I had the unpleasant task of writing him that he may be setting himself up for more of the same disappointment. Bass lessons are designed to sell you more bass lessons, often falsely convincing the student the ultimate goal is to play “jazz bass”. What a crock!
I have never met a guitarist who could play the bass like a bass, I can instantly hear the guitar influence and that is rarely a good thing since the bass is a completely different instrument. But you can’t tell a guitarist that because he knows it all, yet when I play the bass the right way, it sounds wrong to many a guitar player. It doesn’t “match” what they have been conditioned to believe is bass playing. But I’ve had more hundred dollar bills in my tip jar than any guitarist I’ve ever met. So there.
