January 29, 2014

           Top story? The male-male monitor cables of last day. This is vindication that the old-boy network in America still works. I found this cable mixed in with the music stuff, not an unusual find, but it saved Fred a sixty mile round trip half-way across Broward County. I knew I’d seen the thing around but moving three times in five years lets things get lost in plain sight. Rain or not, I had this fixture up to Fred’s place within a half-hour of finding it. The blog rules make this top the list, tipping us off how slow the remainder of the day was.

           A new customer at the bakery and I’m not so sure about him, or his intentions. He’s educated, but in a recent-college sort of way rather than the rounded education one would expect from his age group. The decline in educational standards is not something easy to hide behind. For example, this is why I never believed the Hippie’s claim to have a college degree. One must possess a certain and minimum academic ability across several areas of subject matter, or no reputable school will graduate you. You can major in Bablylonian pottery, but you must still minor in some description of math, science, or “hard” technology.
           That’s where this new guy gets me suspicious. A valid degree requires several years of focused effort that tramples certain “warm-fuzzy” notions out of your intellect. I can’t point to which ones, but let’s just say I don’t trust it when somebody with supposed advanced degrees is trying to sell something. I mean like a product or service. It seems to me part of the incentive of getting a degree is to associate with other people with degrees, who in turn would recognize the crassness of constantly trying the subliminal sales pitch on each other. That’s right, Ken, some people get degrees so as to avoid having to associate with salesmen.
           Music. Why is my column on music better than all the others? Because, I’m not Mr. Cool Musician or any of his buddies. I will talk about the effort and money involved, and that comes ahead of musical philosophy. Right there, that puts me in a different category than 99% of the rest. And anyone who can accomplish that is either very right or very wrong. You decide. Let’s talk about money. Everybody is hurtin’, including my people. This mainly affects the smaller operation of Billie-Bill and I. January was a dog for cash, even down to gas money. If you are thinking something went wrong, you are right.
           I’ve described how I’ve been operating right to the wire, that if anything goes, even a guitar cable, I’m out of business. Something happened. My six-channel PA is toast. I have a four channel unpowered mixer, but it isn’t adequate. Four inputs are taken just by the two microphones and the two instruments, thought Billie-Bill has his own amp that he prefers. But we’ve been rehearsing to the drum box and I need a channel for that should we need it on stage. I have the 8-channel Gigrack, but that requires the batbike to move around.
           We (Billie-Bill and I) talked over these things and made a plan. If he is in the vicinity, we’ll rehearse but I can’t pay this week. He has a better camcorder so we’ll put together a demo and I’ll start pushing it at the beach. Those gigs don’t pay much but they are super-easy and the tips can be lucrative. He’s got an extra PA head, I’ve got a the other photography equipment like booms and tripods. But I must move fast to paying gigs because you know what I’ve said about two personalities and one band. Money is the only thing that keeps the gears meshing, particularly in this situation where either of us could quit and go solo in a wink.
           In another aspect of music, I’ve isolated the tunes that give me the most trouble for this upcoming Friday. And that trouble is again, timing. More to the point, syncopation is the culprit. One of the greatest challenges of a bassist is to not fall into a “groove”. Highly valued by guitar players and not many others, it is that predictable four or five patterns that fit everything. It is “comping” on the bass. It’s ho-hum easy and it works, and it is the precise style of bass playing that I hate and that I set out to avoid. The notes to a given style, such as the 50’s rock we play, are mainly the same. What’s different is the timing. The syncopation is what makes each tune unique and this can be tricky to capture. Although few play any 64th notes, I regularly use 64th rests to zero in. That’s why the same song makes tips when I play it. Attention to such detail.
           The tunes holding me up, and these are good examples of what I just said, are:
                      “Here Comes the Rain Again” - Eurythmics
                      “The Letter” – Joe Cocker
                      “Something” – The Beatles
                      “Feelin’ Alright” – Joe Cocker

If you say these tunes are easy on the bass then you don’t play bass. And you are wrong. Some of them are so difficult to do correctly that I cannot play them standing up. Anyone who’s closely listened to Joe Cocker albums will spot that things are rarely played twice the same way and this doesn’t make live any easier.

           Everyone wants me to take a trip again. I agree, it makes for captivating blog entries. I will travel, but be patient. These things cost money, and unlike you working folks, I cannot fly now and pay later. I have to actually accumulate the cash before I set out. But I have my fortune cookie on my side, shown here. It says here a surprise awaits and horoscopes like that are never wrong, or so I’ve been hearing at the pastry shop. Today’s readings were so accurate as to spark an hour-long conversation.
           In my late teens I dated a gal who believed in horoscopes. Judy, the doctor’s daughter. I could read one and she’d correctly guess which sign it was. I cannot do that. But over the year I can tell there is a definite pattern. For instance, Libra is always a little discouraging, Scorpio will tell you to kick butt, and Aires says to expect the unexpected. Sigh, I should have married Judy even if we’d certainly be divorced today. I don’t have that primary requirement of a househusband which is to remain exactly the same for thirty-some years.