You get the day in random order but it is mostly music-oriented and controversial. First order of business was band rehearsal with Jag at 9:30 AM. Let’s recap what is different than what was it, three years ago? We had no acoustic guitars back then, now we have three. He chose the Fender, his to keep as long as we have a duo. He’s older, has a driver’s license and access to a vehicle. He’s also heavier set and could pass for 23 and, importantly, has a lot more stage presence. I notice these because that is precisely the phase I had to go through around the same age.
This picture reveals how little I know about guitars. I thought I was taking a photo of the Fender, but got this other guitar I keep around for students. It looks cheap. The other guitar, the one Jag how has, was the one I bought in Colorado last summer. Remember that, where the guy at the music shop would not bend even a dollar? I had to go back after the first gig to buy the guitar case and strap because he would not even throw those in to sweeten the deal.
It turned out to be a super fine instrument, with a Fender logo burned into the wood inside the sound hole declaring it to be a custom made model and that it was custom assembled, whatever that entails. Not a sticker, this information is wood-burned branded into the body of the guitar. Those brass tuning pegs turned out to be gold-plated, it has that bright “bell” sound that made Fender famous and it has not required tuning since I hauled it back from Denver in my sidecar in 2012. I suspect it is worth quite a lot of money, but to me it is just another guitar that I bought secondhand for $123.
Speaking of cash, I’m out $50. You’ll rarely hear of this happening to me, but somehow my records are out this amount. I know it is somewhere because it is exactly that round number. But where? I went over the books after band practice. Got the electric bill, the gas to Miami, the bill for the carburetor, the new camera, the ink cartridge, even the new oil cap for the batbike. And I’ve lost $50. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
There is also the matter of a PA system and that points the finger directly at the Fishman Solo SA. Unless I can cart the PA in the sidecar, along with my bass and a suitcase of accessories, there will be no gigs. While the price has dropped 25% since I last looked, that still represents a major investment right when my Danelectro (bass) needs either work or replacement.
Ah, but you want to know how the music sounded. Especially my detractors who insist that I think I’m so perfect, which is not at all the case. I only think I am better than them and I add that it is not entirely my fault that I think so. The music is ready to go, sounding almost like I had trained an already talented guitarist to accept arranged versions. Hold it, that’s exactly what happened. Anyway, the acoustic/bass combination is a winner. Before he was using his el-cheapo electric because we had no choice. You should hear the sound now. Remarkable to say the least.
He’d picked up a few bad habits playing rock, but snapped right back into the rhythms we learned in 2010. When I stopped a few times he could immediately spot the difference--our music only sounds right when both instruments are playing their respective arranged parts. We completed a study of “voicings” back then and we definitely sound like a four piece band on some stretches. I believe we have a decisive head start even after this delay. To clarify that, only intensive or excessively honed acts will be better. As always, I combat that by making sure my stage presentation is light-hearted. And I know there is nothing like us in this vicinity.
What about my performance? Back in 2010 I had barely learned to sing and had not won any contests. I had zero experience and little confidence. I’d get on stage with all the distractions and kept forgetting lyrics. I had not yet learned to sit down when playing. I had no head microphone. I had not even found my range and knew less about projection and timbre. Times have changed. So how good does it sound?
I will never be a star, but having said that, I know how to compete with others who have not yet achieved that stark realization. Ahem, what did I just say? Stage work is not a contest to prove who is the best musician. (Zack, if you aren’t sure, at least I don’t have to get some fat old broad behind the bar to support my claim.) I would say this time around Jag & I will give all these “backing track bozos” a run for their money. When Jag and I first met, we played out within 21 days. This time, with a better sound, we will be ready for a two-hour show by this weekend.
ADDENDUM
This is a date to remember. For the past twenty years or so, I have advocated to all my students to use December 17 as a birthdate on any non-official forms. There must be thousands of records on-line showing 12-17 as everybody’s birthdate. I further recommended the year as 1985 so the user is always an adult, but you get the idea. And your mother’s maiden name is always “Daphne”.
Nor will I retract a single word of my criticism of Canadians y’day. Who else puts your name on a database to exchange a hundred bucks or refuses to serve you? “You don’t have to let us put your information on our computer, but we don’t have to serve you” is pure Canada-think. Because they always pull that stunt in a situation where you suffer if denied service. Some "choice", indeed. Those people suck at respecting privacy and that is that.
Why don’t I just quit bucking the system and go with the flow? Unlikely. That would constitute the danger that I’d wind up reading somebody else’s blog. Next of all, I’m not bucking the system, I’m only bending it to the limit, which should be an Olympic sport. I have yet to meet anyone who busted their ass obeying all the rules who can look back on as eventful a lifetime as I. Yes, I am hard on people just doing their jobs when they get on my case. I wish I could meet the person who said it right, “Give me my own way in everything and a more pleasant chap will never be found.”
I can’t elaborate, but you would not believe the crap I have gotten away with and the nonsense I’ve avoided by keeping the other side guessing. Even those who know me tend to forget I was born into abject poverty without any hope of avoiding a life of backbreaking toil. Yet I sit here in complete comfort with all my needs taken care of--not because I work hard, but because nobody knows I’ve got anything worth taking. Such agreeable circumstances don’t come about by accident. Those whose parents did all the hard work have trouble appreciating the significance such an accomplishment in one’s own lifetime.
Always remember the bureaucrats pick the easy targets first and it is clever to let them bog down at that level. Where some say I’m a difficult customer, others say I’m exercising prudent alertness. I suggest which side one takes is heavily based on education and IQ.
For example, in the mail the other day I received an odd letter. It was from my health insurance company telling me that everything was okay and I was not having my case reviewed. Huh? They could review my file any time without me having a clue it was going on, so what’s with that? It’s a setup. Gee, since I’m not being reviewed for anything, why not let down my guard and metaphorically turn off the security alarm? That’s the kind of nasty people I’m talking about.
What do I think? I think they just tipped me off that they are planning another disallowal of certain prescription medications covered by their plan. Smells to me like the time they “determined” I didn’t need Plavix--two years after I had signed consent for an operation on the strength of their promise to provide it for three years. Just you watch, in a few weeks I’ll receive a “survey” asking if I feel fine. Anyone still advocate going along with the system? Fine, but I say going with the flow leads straight down a sewer.
For me, due diligence is a factual matter of life and death and represents the quality of life between those two events.
What’s this? A court has ruled that domestic spying violates the Constitution? What say all the sheeple now? They certainly are not saying thanks for protecting them against their own complacent stupidity. These are small victories for freedom, I know, but I have yet to see a single incident which proves that those who say they have nothing to hide are right about their views on privacy. (But the bad guys are so powerful, even the judge who made this ruling carefully said the spying was only “likely unconstitutional”. Read the Constitution, dude. Government spying on innocent people without judicial approval is totally illegal.)
