You’ve figured out the Internet has been on the fritz and the repair is no priority [to the trailer court] during the summer. Band practice was iffy, in that most bands [such as this one] which do not have a sound man tend to clash where note frequencies overlap. We kept getting that and they don’t seem to notice it, which is strange. Whenever the rhythm guitarist has bass boost and fat mid-range I tend to suspect they’ve been rehearsing without a bassist, though I know that is not the case. For that matter, they seem quite content with the job I’m doing. We have a gig. That is your good news. Some kind of benefit, cancer I think, I’ll provide the date-time-place when I know it myself.
The bad news is my beautiful Ampeg 15” bass amp is fried. The usual suspect is the Florida humidity even thought this puppy was solid state. The amp has been pampered, moved maybe a dozen times. Climate controlled storage, ten gigs tops (I usually play through the PA). It sizzled and fizzled after a few weeks of sputtering problems that I mistook for my cables. (Quick, I’m a musician—lend me $1200 bucks till the next time you see me.) How fried is this amp? You know that burning plastic tang this robot club would not kid you about? Yup.
This puts me on the spot. A new bass amp of adequate performance costs the same as the Fishman Solo rig I’ve been pondering for something like ages now. I cannot afford both and there is only one way to know which delivers better. I’ve been with the new group long enough to make the investment [in an expensive amp] if it comes to that. First, I will dismantle the Ampeg to see if it is anything obvious.
Beyond that, we’ve been a group together enough to know other musicians in common. I say little when they bring up subjects [like the Hippie] other than to say I’m into music, not drama. I rarely jam because it attracts the really bad apples. Folks, there’s a reason the guy isn’t already in a band. Besides, they don’t really jam as much as play the same old songs in unoriginal ways. I kind of wonder what kind of report card I’ll get when the new band runs into some of the guitar players I’ve fired. Remember, those egomaniacs will insist t’was them that canned me. In my own Florida room.
Again, we, over here I mean, bask in the warm afterglow of success. For some reason, bingo regained a little of its former glory. Now, over to the bad donut place with my earplugs for the morning crossword and one of their mega-calorie grilled cheese time bombs. On good Sunday mornings in Florida there is no such thing as health food. Hey, cheese is on my new list, right beside the broccoli and non-fat bouillon. Did I just spell bouillon right the first time?
My next abode will have to be walking distance from a nicer joint than Dunkin. Or at least the working class operation on Federal. Full of noisy types, old men on about the horses, old ladies yelling in Yiddish on the cell phone. These people cannot talk in a normal tone of voice. It wouldn’t bother everyone around them. I could hear them through my earplugs.
ADDENDUM
How’s the book on ePublishing coming along? More than fine. I’m learning what I need which, in turn, justifies the extra cost of this book from Britain. I’m still skimming before I study but the quality is evident. And I’m learning that there are stringent controls on the publishing industry. Much tighter regulations than really necessary are being toughly enforced. The English-language publishing laws are clearly aimed at ensuring all taxes get paid before the author sees a dime. The authorities (no pun intended) are clamping down on something.
Outfits like Amazon and iAuthor now require positive ID before they will even touch your book. By default, they also withhold 30% of sales revenue for taxes. Did they get hit with a fine or something? If so, I never heard about it. Even the ISBN number has been corrupted away from its sole original purpose of identifying a book. (ISBN = International Standard Book Number.) For openers, it is no longer an option.
Standards vary, but all are strict. Your or your publisher cannot obtain an ISBN without “registration”. Laws vary as well, from China, where books must legally carry an ISBN to the USA, where chain sellers are not allowed to purchase books without this number. The ISBN now has twice as many numbers identifying the “party responsible for the book” as the book. The numbers are also used to track the book’s movements. (How long before embedded RFID?) New legislation will require the ISBN to be placed in a specific location on the back bottom right corner.
My guess is there must have been some massive loopholes in the regular publishing industry that the tax man has no intention of allowing in the electronic age. eBooks began to outsell print in 2006 and sales are growing at nearly 30% annually since the American get-rich-quick operators discovered them. Freedom of the Press, my eye. This is one strictly controlled activity. But they don’t seem to have targeted blogs. My guess is they can trace a blog well enough already.
Also, forget about publishing anything you want. While it is possible to do so, the existing applications have built-in restrictions and fairly rigid guidelines. These channelize you into producing their pet products. The pricing ranges from $2.99 to $7.99, which is not what I wanted to charge for my articles. There’s a thought. Why hasn’t somebody come up with a pay-by-the-article site? People are far more liable to write an article than even the shortest book. Give me fifty cents and you can read my booklet for a week. Graphics seem to be a problem with every format except Apple and your book must be rendered for each different reader. So they’ve messed that up, too.
