There are sure enough people in an uproar about last day’s beach incident. I told everybody what I knew for sure: that I’d heard there was an ordinance against busking, that busking required a license, and that I had sent a written request to the City Hall asking for where I could read the exact wording of the law myself. No reply yet. There will still be ill feelings because we were not busking (for money) rather playing for our own personal enjoyment. And yes, the rent-a-cop knew that. So everybody sit down, shut up, and wait.Ah, another old tune with a tough bass line is dug up. That is always unexpected, but give a listen to “Apache” by the Ventures. While there, pay attention to that rhythm guitar, the riffs he picks while he isn’t comping. That, folks, is ripe territory for me. The lead guitarist can’t simultaneously play those parts – and for me that spells opportunity.
The link is a particularly bad video on purpose. The drummer is the liveliest member. I will NOT be playing the bass line you hear in this video. I’m a pro at faking those rhythm riffs on the bass. The result is a huge boost to the guitarist in a two or three piece band, the only kind I’ll play in any more. It adds an extra voicing without resorting to the trio power rock format. And it blows two-guitar duos out of the water.
Later, after three hours on this “Apache” tune, I hung up the bass. That is a bass line written by a guitarist if I ever heard one. Yes, they are different animals. Guitarist favor simple root-fifth-octave patterns connected by rapid pentatonic scale notes bunched up near the end of measures or chord changes. Plus, guitarists have only two positions to hold their left wrist, which limits their ability to properly play thirds and sixths, which I consider bass fundamentals. “Apache” is finally about to receive the bass line it deserves.
As for progress with the band, the situation also caught the other guys off guard because like myself, they were originally shooting for October. Everybody is charging around to get some live gigs in before August. The logic is easy to follow. Every band member is a professional and knows how important that initial stage work is to create as sense of belonging. But everybody made plans for the summer and now we have to make like eggs and scramble. (There is another situation where early gigs are a pressure, but stay away from bands that are broke.)
In a changeover that is new to me, I am investigating the use of cash cards. I formerly rejected these for good reason, but enough sources say the obstacles can be worked around that I’m again looking. The goal is to make anonymous on-line purchases, which is the whole idea of paying cash. That’s right folks, however “normal” some may consider such usage, I do not personally know how to use a credit card, a cash card, or a gift card. Guess I must be pretty dumb, huh?
My arbitrary specimen is a $50 Amex gift card. There is a $4.95 fee to activate it and it may not be used at “cruise lines, casinos, ATMs, or for recurring [monthly] charges”. So that’s a 10% penalty on your cash immediately. One cannot stop payment on a gift card, but considering the mentality of some users, that is probably a good thing. Also, these cards allow “other types of Merchants” to add 20% above your authorization amount to “cover any gratuity that may be added”.
Boy, and they call me dumb?
The keyboard is mightier than the sword. This seems to be a basic truth that some people seem to forget overnight and seem to have to relearn each day after they wake up. Another thing, ladies, please don’t tell me all men are alike. Most of them disgust me as much as you yet you continue to associate with them. Try dating a nice guy, you might like it except for the part of having less to bitch about 24/7.
Clewiston, the town on the south banks of Lake Okeechobee and a place I don’t like too much. It’s a rough looking town with no view of the water (due to a sixty foot high levee that surrounds the lake). So why, all of sudden, is a quarter of the property in town for sale at rock bottom prices? Hey, I’m just asking. And I’m asking because I know the Florida real estate house of cards has to begin caving in somewhere. No, not another bust that lowers prices, but collapse. Like Detroit, the Murder City, where they can’t give houses away.
Detroit is an armchair study in economics. They quit counting vacant houses in 2009 and have to picket entire abandoned neighborhoods to control “Halloween Arson”. Everybody has a theory why Detroit tanked. Greedy unions, bad politics, crooked business, or just a prime example of exactly how long it takes non-white residents to move in and trash a city.
The disappearance of white majorities is not an American phenomenon. The nation of Sweden will be the first European (white) nation to disappear due to immigration policies. They give it another 40 years at most. What I can’t figure out is what affiliation that made Sweden let in 600,000 Muslims. It’s not like they had any colonies in that area. I don’t know but am I the only one who wonders why people raised in the desert are moving to the Arctic Circle by the boatload? But good old Sweden is now considered a dangerous place to visit. Just like Detroit.
Even later. Billy-Bill got here. Blog rules say you always get the new or unusual pronto. Billy-Bill and I practiced and this is like unpeeling an onion. Each time we get something right, another set of options appear. Believe me I know how difficult it is to play each song in a unique fashion, so I am flexible with others do not. But I’ve said before, as long as the pattern in consistent, it works fine enough.
Next we played a few minutes at Megabyte Café. Let me correct that spelling to Megabite Cybercafe. I thought I’d never play some place so far off my beaten track. The guitarist heralded “original” music and I’d like to say something. I suppose one facet of original could theoretically be making up your own guitar chords as you go along. But expecting others to follow is totally unoriginal. I’m just sayin’.
The club doesn’t pay that I know of and that is reflected in the musicians they attract. The atmosphere is totally laid back, the prices are sky-high and very few people were having a cold one when I was there. Possibly the house has an arrangement since most musicians I know can’t cough up the asking price.
But at the end, I pumped a bass tune through the PA. “Party Till The Money Runs Out”. That number has sold me and turned things around for me countless times. Nobody was expecting a bass solo, and I’m glad the channel cut out near the end, so the audience could hear that glitches doesn’t stop me when I’m getting things done. I finished the tune a capello. Most unexpected was meeting other musicians who, like myself, don’t believe guitar players are anything special.
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