If you want something to think about, try this. The horoscopes are worded ambiguously so imagine that being translated into Magyar, a language I cannot grasp. But it turns out by listening to the relayed message, I can guess whether the translation is accurate or not. Sound dumb? Then you had best attend one of morning readings because I surprise myself. It’s a combination of tones and inflection, but I’ve been right so often that the listeners look at me rather than the translator. Fancy that, because it sounds like bragging but it isn’t.
The theme for today, let us return to it, is what did not happen. How interesting is that? For starters, how about people who snicker that I’m losing money on my bicycle, scooter, and sidecar? If these vehicles are costing me money, why did I not get rid of them? Ah, because there never was any plan to operate my transportation at a profit. That’s stupid-think. Vehicles cost money. And overall my vehicles probably cost less than most. As far as the scooter, the total is now roughly what I would have spent in the same time period buying something better. The difference? See if you can figure it out.
So there, that is a peek at what I did NOT do today. For anybody who thinks that approach might work on me. I had to run the batbike so I drove most of the way down A1A. This is also known in part as Collins Avenue, it is the main drag down to South Beach (SoBe) and runs through the pretty part of town. The streets are lined by ancient shops or brand new operations. I find the towns in that area are too money-based for me. Women don’t just walk their dog. They put on a $1400 outfit and show off their inbred purebred. This route took me through “condo canyon”, shown here.
You’d find Miami Beach itself to be ho-hum, but Collins Avenue is worth a stroll. I’ve only driven it due to parking difficulties, though I intend to spend some time there in anticipation of leaving south Florida soon as I find a nice place in a neighborhood of my own. You know, a town full of mostly people with blue eyes, is a nice way to put it. It’s a value-system kind of decision. I like to live around people who think stealing and welfare are just plain wrong. People whose “family business” does not consist of stealing flowers from the graveyards and reselling them at stop lights.
ADDENDUM
Band practice this morning. I won’t be accused of wasting my retirement watching SNL reruns. How did this fourth session go? Jag and I are hitting the sound barrier. That’s my term for the situation where you got past the easy material and now the work begins. I’ve been through enough guitarists to know the waypoints of progress. For those who just got here, as a duo we have to compete with the solo guitar acts in the area, and they are both legion and at the legion. Get it? Ha-ha.
If you believe music is one big happy family, I got news for you—you are delusional. There is a modicum of professional courtesy between the established groups, i.e they don’t openly dis each other or flag postings. But until you break into that circuit, it is cutthroat. There is no substantial musical middle class, only royalty and crofters. What, you don’t know what a crofter is? Too bad. But in this business, everyone who is for real starts at the bottom. I cannot recall how often I’ve lost a gig to a solo guitar act who undercut my price by $5.00. That’s how tight the market is.
When I walk past a club where one of the regulars played last week and in his place, playing the exact same song list, I see somebody from out of nowhere or the microphone salesman from Guitar Center, you don’t need to tell me what is going on. I carefully examined the contours and noted that the song list was the crux; that’s the point where the soloist is saying to himself, “I can do that.”
Those who have followed along know that my new act is geared to prevent that. Instead they ask, "How did he do that?" And so far I am impressed with the results. Integrated guitar. Jag’s role would sound weak if played without the bass (but of course not the reverse, I can solo all of it, but don’t bring that up, okay). The point is, no solo act without backing tracks could possible compete on my song list. It is hand-picked (another ha-ha) to make that concept into folly. That leaves the money part. How am I handling that? Right now, just with a plan. You know how many guitar players have bombed on me. I’ve carefully analyzed the causes and it is the aforementioned “sound barrier” at fault.
All these players reached their plateau and could never get beyond that. I could explain [to them] what I wanted until blue in the face, but since I cannot myself pick or strum, they could one-up me. I long suspected they did this to cover up musical inadequacies, the usual being the outright inability to rapidly assimilate new material. Over time, I came to recognize certain roadblocks. Jag and I are now struggling past those, and that is what I mean by breaking the sound barrier.
Ah, but the money part. That’s easy. No way can we get in charging more than a solo act. So the only option left is to undercut them. How can we do that and survive? Tips, that’s how. If you were to watch Jag and I rehearse, you’d hear us fling around decidedly unfamiliar terms, and one of them is my creation. It is the “tipping point”. Not every song, but every song I play has a point at which the audience is likely to decide to tip. What I’ve done is deliberately incorporate that feature, to build on it. We get the gig using the guitarist’s own game against him, and make up the money in kind. Can this be done? We shall see.
