Ho-hum, here’s that Imgur of the old man reaching for a Burger King application. Right away the do-gooders assumed the economy was forcing a senior back to work. Myself, that is my very last assumption. I would need to know how he got there. Was he one of those who insulted me because I don't use credit cards, who smirked when I warned them the boom wouldn't last, who called me paranoid for having common sense?
Put another way, if you hit 65 and your only marketable skill is food service, what the hell did you do with your miserable life, you dumb bastard? Laughed when I went back to night school at 34, did you? Well, now I have a robot club and they have Pizza Hut. And don’t even try to blame somebody else. I say it again, it is not suffering to get exactly what you deserve and that is what I see here. I found an ad for a bass-playing musical author actor. Actually, they were looking for three different people, but you know me. I answered because despite it being Craigslist, the spelling and grammar were nearly perfect. That alone merits a response.
By coincidence, I logged onto the same library computer a second time y’day. I was barraged by ads about mobile homes from eight different states. Did you hear about the father who found out his teenage daughter was pregnant because of ads that flooded the home computer after she visited birth control sites? That folks, is how the threat to your privacy really works. Other classic examples are seniors receiving embarassing ads for alcoholism treatment after buying liquor twice at the same store, and the families whose medical was canceled when their kids looked at cancer sites during a homework assignment.
Amusingly, most ads showed mobile home communities with swimming pools. Nobody swimming, but the caretaker standing nearby is wearing a winter parka. Or the “secluded” park where if you blow up the photo, you can just see the edge of the Interstate ramp sign in the lower back yard. Still, the lot rents are a third what I am paying here, and that could spell a new car for me.
I’m glad you read this far, because here’s where it gets interesting. Shortly after noon, Trent and I met up for practice. He’s been busy so we did a set here, then promptly moved it up to Jimbos for the remainder. We did a full hour on stage, a break, then a twenty minute throw together. We have now formally played out. On stage with a new band!
We had equipment trouble enough, but the qualities of showmanship were there. When the speakers cut out, we carried on with acoustic and so did the audience. We dealt out a series of tunes customized to a rhythm-bass style that would be new anywhere. I’d say we were most comfortable with the Johnny Cash and the Dons (William and Gibson). There’s nothing like a stage workout to reveal the weaker tunes. We’ve tentatively decided to tackle the next eleven songs.
My $1200 PA system kept clipping for no good reason. If I cannot find the problem, we are temporarily in hot water. I know that playing out becomes self-propelling. I fully expect all dress rehearsals will now be at Jimbos. It will take some mighty fine luck to time things to afford a new PA like the Fishstick. Overall, I rate today’s performance as top-notch therapy for this little adventure.
Trent correctly carried through on all counts, and there was no detectable hint of stage fright. The general presentation was exactly as Trent and I discussed. Soften the crowd up with a couple of familiar country-rock tunes and in five minutes you have them all, even the critics, bopping along. In further management analysis, we have a completely non-intimidating stage manner and we capture audience attention at surprisingly low volumes. This indicates they are listening, really listening.
ADDENDUM
As a treat, I’ve chosen a one tune to demonstrate the process of duo arrangement as we know it over here. While there is much talk about bands that just get out there and wing it, those are exceptions. It takes around a week to dissect a tune and render it suitable for the show. I’ll step through the process over the upcoming week and I hope it surprises anyone who thinks my music is a shallow endeavor.
The tune is “The Race Is On”, by George Jones, in 1965. First, we had a planning meeting to list approximately twenty new pieces of music to be considered. One major criteria is whether we both like the item, although not liking it is not automatically a rejection. Then, it is downloaded and analyzed for three should-haves:
1) Tempo is faster than 162 beats per minute
2) Whether it contains full stops
3) Overall feel of the tune should be unique.
In this case, the stops are after every verse. These are important to remind the audience that the music is live. This was also unique, the body and riffs of the song cannot be easily confused with any other song. And it is plenty fast enough. On to the next phase.
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