What went wrong? I suspect the new power supply had greater amperage, although the total would still be tiny. It was enough to pop some diodes. Interestingly, when a regular diode is blown, it does not necessarily go bad. Instead, it conducts current backwards, returning to its function when the current drops to normal. Some LEDs but not all will exhibit this characteristic. Just long enough to cause extensive damage.Summer is official. I think so are announcements that the depression is over and that house prices are on the rise. My eye. Cancel my plan to attend the LAB Miami meeting this evening. First of all, a loose battery wire shorted out around half the LEDs on my ROM. And I told how the band put some of the shakier tunes on the set list for Sunday. Well, they are going to be either surprised or impressed. Because I put in thirty solid hours this week on that material.
Particularly this one song by The Band called “The Shape I’m In”. Sounds like a nothing tune, I know that I pretty much ignored it even back when it was a hit. Let me tell you, the bass player of that band was smoking something that day. He is actually able to fit three quarter notes into a four note measure and keep going. Took me a day to figure out why nothing I did sounded right. But, I got it.
I take extra care to play covers note for note except where some guitarist gets on the bass and riffs off. There is not one such tune on my personal lists because it that style sounds bad to me. Then again, I’m the guy that cannot name one Michael Jackson song. To me, the Blues is BB King and, you know, those other guys. At the same time, I take great care to capture the bass passing notes.
My hero, Johnny Cash, taught me the importance of that. He uses them not to signal chord changes, but as riffs themselves. Carol Kaye taught me perfect timing; Johnny Cash showed me how to mess that timing up in just the right way. The first thing you would notice about my playing is presentation. I don’t look or act like a bassist, most of whom stand there and get taken for granted. In my case, you’ll see people spin around in their chairs to look because they know something is different, but what? Since I cannot show off nor do anything that detracts from the rest of the band, I opt for delivery.
You are actually hearing a double whammy that invites you in to listen to the music in a way you likely never did before. I think it is because I never play any filler. Never. Every note has to contribute something. From this, strangers are able to regularly guess what I was going to play next by the first couple bass notes. This is something normally associated only with guitar music. That’s whammy one. The second is, and a lot of people don’t understand this, I don’t play loud. This new band said that the first few rehearsals until they caught on what I was doing. Now they describe my sound as “crisp”. And remember, I won out over a ton of locals.
Yes, I video and study my moves and you might say so what because lots of guitarist do that. The difference is, I purposely never watch what other bassists do or copy them in any way. You don’t get unique watching other people’s moves. I’m as ready as I can be for Sunday. With its 40% chance of rain.
I’ve essentially decided against purchasing the doublewide. The damage is too extensive to sink money into unless one plans to live there a very long time. Like twenty years. This trailer park won’t be here that long unless they throw out the entire management team and start over. Newcomers are not replacing the oldsters who are dying off. And the dopes in the office don’t have any game plan except to annually raise the lot rent hoping to stave off bankruptcy and keep their jobs one more season. Typical Florida mentality.
If it was my park, I’d buy a tow truck and a pilot car. Then I scout around Florida for these mobile homes that have to be moved. Read Craigslist, you’ll see them for sale at tremendous bargains. Then start at one end of this property and begin replacing the oldest units. Next, rent to 55+ only. If you count the number of empty pads over the year and calculate the total income at full occupancy, you could rent beautiful places out for $650 per month, or about half the going rate for houses in the area. At that price, you’d have people lined up down the block to get in.
Trivia. Here’s NeverWet from Rustoleum. I’ve sent a memo to the club to purchase an experimental sample. How long does it last? How durable is it on moving parts. It isn’t cheap, it’s around $20 bucks. If you don’t have a minute to watch the video, no you can’t use it on glass because it dries “frosty”.
ADDENEDUM
Think back to last Saturday the 15th, where I talked about all the famous women explorers throughout history. Who will remain nameless because, um, well, just because. I mentioned the prerequisite for becoming an explorer was having “oodles and oodles” of money. Stop and think about that redundant phrase. When was the last time you saw it written down? That’s because it is easier said than done, so to speak. (That’s a little joke, Ken. Get it? So-to-speak. No?) Anyway, what are the odds you’ll ever see it in writing again? Pretty close to zero.
