Music talk. I went back to Guitar Center to advise them of my decision not to go for the PA. They have another demo unit set up and we are welcome to try it out at full volume. Guitar picks alone cost me $16, then over to Big Lots for another $11 in batteries. Each day I drive it, I’m putting 15 miles on a cheap scooter never intended for such heavy usage. It has to last until I’m medically well enough to drive again. I have the money put away for that joyful day, but not to replace the cycle meanwhile.
I’m again looking at wireless gear since I can’t see getting a Fishman and then cluttering up the stage with cables. None of the manufacturers (Shure, Sennheiser) make a unit with multiple inputs, but considering the prices ($450 - $650) they charge, why would they? I’ve found a product by Nady that is highly rated by the pros. For some reason, local music stores don’t keep Nady in stock, making every item a special order. Here’s what a wireless bass rig looks like. The smaller box is a transmitter with a belt clip. I’ve scoured my music lists and come up still short of a full set (32 tunes). In this wide world you’d think it’s easy to find tunes that fit the bill. Wrong. Trent is aware I am a novice and haven’t found my own range yet. My lack of ability isn’t the limitation it was six months ago but the other constraints remain. Many contemporary songs don’t adapt to duo re-arrangement, particularly the over-orchestrated computer-based substance on the hit parades. We are in the midst of a musical ice age, global tempo decline, as it were. The top tens are so damn sluggish it truly brings a tear to my eye. Left side, in the corner, near the temple.
Ha! Did you see those hackers slap the feds around for their raid on MegaUpload? Myself, I have to side with the accused because no country, including the USA, should have authority to arrest people beyond its borders for civil offenses. I understand people were stealing, but I also understand how this bullying makes America look in the eyes of the world. And phooey on New Zealand, that Mecca of artistic copyright, for instantly squatting to US pressure, but what did you really expect from a country whose national bird can’t fly?
The group “Anonymous” shut down the FBI, the Justice Department, the Copyright Office and most importantly, the Motion Picture Association of America. The lot of them are just forcing the problem further underground. Their [the recording industry's] greed motive, which I have nothing against, is just a little too blatant. What? Well, you can’t pirate my music because my music is performed live, see. I make music, not recordings of music. Ha, I say again. Bwaaaa-ha-ha-ha!
Back to real life, I awoke with a pain in my shoulder, one of those things I take seriously. By 6:30AM it abated, but I now listen whenever Mother speaks. Pain is based on perception, so maybe I should rephrase that to say annoying muscle sensation. The worst physical pain I can relate to is still a heart attack. A broken bone is so painful I once passed out from a hairline fracture. But that is different, at least inasmuch as you know that no matter how badly it is broken, you aren’t going to die. Yes, Butterfly, perception is definitely something to think about.
Bingo was another half-full house but still the usual success. While Jimbos isn’t exactly the epicenter of Broward night life, the local music scene gets discussed in detail. I avidly listen for any potential country music gigs and we may have a new lady making the rounds. Described as “an older blonde” doing “a little country” along Federal. I visited the Lamp Post (I admit to not having been there in ages) to find her Saturday hours match mine. So we’ll never meet that way.
You know, at Jimbos, to a one, the clientele don’t like the downtown clubs for the same reasons I don’t. High prices and a get-drunk atmosphere, with the staff constantly tip-hovering over every drink. Where there is music, it is too loud, where there isn’t, it is dull and dead. The regulars are preponderantly working class. I’ve never been one to dine at drinking places. It would further strike any visitor that there are absolutely zero single women present, ever.
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
