I used to own a four-door 1955 Buick Roadmaster identical to this one. I bought it in 1979, and walked away from it in 1994. After sinking some $21,000 into it, I decided old cars are a hobby for the idle rich. It was the four door model and it was made of steel. The paint job alone cost me $2,800. It ran fine at nine miles per gallon, but I had it parked at a lot that went into foreclosure and the car was seized. Rather than fight, I just left it there.
Cars are nice, but the motor vehicle system is designed to cost every inch of the way. You can’t move 500 miles without shipping it or driving it. It has to be insured just to park it. It was the most luxurious car I ever owned and would do 151 mph. But today, I can buy one restored for half what I wasted on this mine. It is in Pt. Roberts, Washington. The job of music. I count 80 concerts in the area between now and mid-September. Everybody’s after the fast buck, I don’t know how the population base can support that many bands. Like Roger Daltry. I thought he was dead, or am I thinking of his career after he went solo? Or how about Toby Keith plugging concert seats for $600? Music piracy clearly works both ways. (Keith is good, but his top selling work sold less than 3 million. I find his publicity and music match his stage persona, that is, mostly slick, shiny plastic. I’d pay $10 to see him at a local club. If it was licensed.)
Last evening was a musical tour, more like musical chairs. The “country” band up at the Wayside turned out to be a four-piece tour group with $40,000 in stage gear packed into the corner, a full-fledged touring band of pros. Overkill for any pub in this town. The bass player was world-class, he is either beneath his station or had his bass lines customized--only a classical musician does what he did. The drum kit was Ludwig’s with Zildjian cymbals.
On the way home I stopped at Buddy’s. In another weird outcome, when I sang my country duets with the host, some dude in the audience decided it was a challenge to his rock show. Both he and his lady were booked consecutively so once they saw my act, the did four duets in a row. Slow, droning rock ballads that put the audience back to sleep but killed the moment. They were as blind as the Hippie not noticing the audience turned back to their beers and applauded only out of politeness.
I decided to review some youTube bass lessons, the generic video material that clogs the drains of the Internet restrooms. It isn’t your imagination, the way they play bass really is boring. Lessons create boring bassists. And I automatically reject alleged “advanced” bass lessons, because those people are not playing bass. They are playing standard jazz guitar licks on the upper bass frets, a ho-hum concept at best.
[Author’s note: To me, advanced bass is not complicated runs, rather where you can recognize the entire orchestra from the bass lines as captured by the player. Example the way I play Ringo’s “Photograph” or “Passionate Kisses” as solos. True, my opinion is biased, but not so much as I could be considering my experiences. To me, a guitarist is just another instrumentalist only so long as he cooperates. I play many so-called guitar songs, including the “lead breaks”, by employing only innovative bass progressions. I also play saxophone, piano, and fiddle songs in the same vein. So there.]
While the basis of bass, as it were, is roots and fifths, if that is all you have to offer, get off the stage. Some of the lessons were produced by big studio names, but all treated the subject as if bassists are the singer’s half-retarded cousin from his mother’s side. All these videos approached bass playing from the wrong angle, that it is a backup instrument to be subjugated to the will of even the most pathetic guitarist. I oughtta write a book, “Bass Playing for the Thinking Man”, although that restricts my sales right off the bat.
Later, I hung out at the bookstore. Ladies, if you want to meet guys, at least split up once you get inside. I was looking for Arduino material. The fact is, I may have already covered all the material available. Even the advanced texts are starting to get repetitious. What’s lacking is the know-how to apply what I’ve learned. But isn’t that always the case. The trivia today is those metal shipping containers you see loaded on the big transport boats. Did you know that 10,000 of those things are lost overboard each year? The ones full of beta video equipment.
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