Mainly music today, since that took up my entire daylight hours. Yes, the heavy rains have interrupted Internet service. Be patient, the blogs are written, they will catch up with you. Much history of bands is written from a single point of view, that of the melody providers. (Usually vocals or guitar.) If I was Dave Barry, I’d probably call my posts on music the “Confessions of a Bass Player”, or “Chronicle of the Invisible Musician”. This blog may be the world’s only inside source of information from backstage.Finally, I have news of the Awesome Arnel. The new drummer says he is out playing cruises. Ah, that explains the van parked outside, but no Arnel. See, he told me he’d quit playing the ships so I never considered that option. Musically, Hollywood is a small world. So, he’s back on the circuit same as me. One immortal pleasure of being entertainers is that people who make far more money have to spend it to sit on their asses two weeks a year to applaud us.
From not being formally in a band so long, I most miss the paid road trips. One thing folks, those sure solve the problem of what to do once you get where you’re going. I have yet to be paid to travel to the Keys. When I do, you’ll be first to know as I elbow to the front for bragging rights. It would be an unbelievable feat considering where I came from, when Key Largo might as well have been the moon for my chances of ever seeing it.
We now have much more information about the band. With me, it is a four piece. Drums, bass, lead, and a rhythm player who doubles on keyboards. The sound is tight early rock; like being a teen again. Admittedly, even as a teen I didn’t play or listen to this type of music, but let’s not split hairs. I played Beatles and that is all ye need know. It appears these new guys have been through the Craigslist meat-grinder and have horror stories of their own.
Take today, I was ten minutes late. You can’t get to Hayes off 28th, so I wound up driving around the big block, that chunk of real estate surrounding the YMCA. In that short time lag, they apparently got concerned I might be another Craigslist no-show. I distinctly heard them say “another”. That goes to show how Craigslist dominates the music contact function in this town. It’s bad, but everything else is even worse, such as the bulletin boards. Craigslist attracts the flakes.
Now, the good news. Our second rehearsal was equally productive. From what they say, they’ve tried other bassists who were not putting in the time. (Good, I was counting on that.) We played three hours, running over each tune just the once, a supremely important checkpoint. That’s how I wound up firing 18 guitarists for practicing on my time. A few technical parts such as which minor and what ending, and this band is good to go. They admitted they’d thought a new bassist would require months rather than minutes.
What about gigs? Few businesses have the wherewithal to hire a full orchestra any more. On the other hand, the solo acts in this territory are downright anemic on a real stage. And face it, solo acts wear thin. These new guys are in cahoots with a few societies and benefits, my kind of venue. The drummer inquired about my motives, I informed them nothing has changed since I was twelve, “Get out, get paid, get laid.” My actual wording used more metaphors, but he followed.
Other than a few specialty groups, like bluegrass, there is no competition. The few other acts with four plus members are [usually] grunge, heavy metal, or latter-day rock. This band, like myself, are from the era when less nonsense was tolerated. For example, until you can play the cover, no alterations. This may not be ideal, but it gives every band member an irrefutable reference point. You can solo, but you may not alter the song. There’ll be no Hippie-style Zydeco versions here.
My projection is that we’ll pick up some gigs from the charity outfits. Hiring committees tend to have traditional views on what constitutes a band. I must say, the musical quality of what we play is top notch; every band member is a toughened professional. I expect we’ll find a market niche soon enough. The song list is 60s themed enough for me to suppose one day we’ll do the band shell on the beach.
[Author’s note: That shell has significance to me. You see, I only have to make $76 (before tips) to best my highest band pay from Florida. And $51 to beat the top pay from the Hippie—and even that was only once. Ah, you think back, I’ve made much more than that. True, but that was from tips and that was solo, not band pay. There would be a grim justice watching one of the old gang walk up to the stage. They have not progressed an iota in fifteen years because they share two problems. They will not learn the other guy’s music and they will not form bands unless they are the undisputed star.]
The new band is newer than I thought. Tunes they do an impressive job on are “Poor Side of Town” and (oddly) “Mustang Sally”. Don’t hit me, but yes, I’m playing that standing joke of a Craigslist song. For a happy coincidence, the bass line I wrote for “You Got Troubles” fits to a jazz tune they play. You see, I cannot play jazz, but I think they were impressed enough by the bass line to incorporate it. That song is “Route 66”.
So overall, I’m satisfied plenty with how things are meshing. I can tell they are keen with my rapid progress. (I should quit being shy on that point for I know darn tootin’ well how long it takes other bassists to learn 17 completely new songs. I had 26 tunes ready for today, including all 14 from their “must play” list I received only last Monday.) I necessarily did a rush job, but knowing my strong points, I made sure what mistakes I made were precisely on time and in the correct key. They picked up on that.
I believe I earned the right to sit here the rest of the evening drinking tea and reading graduate texts. What say?
