Canada and the USA are more advanced. Here they beat confessions out of suspects they don’t like or get his friends to snitch on him using undisguised blackmail tactics. It could just be my perspective, but the English detectives are all so educated it hurts when they speak Latin and quote obscure poetry from rote. Mercifully, they are finally over “the butler did it” stage. I’m grateful as I’ve never met anyone with a butler and can’t relate.
Alaine and I had some miscommunication over the scheduling of next weekend. I’m going to attend Mass, have a quick lunch and drive back to band rehearsal. It was not a great showing for me last Sunday when I drew absolute blanks on some of the tunes—because I’m bad with names, not because I’m bad with music. Stick around a few minutes and I’ll talk about tonight’s rehearsal with Jag.
It was near panic here until I got the computer files copied, which is now done. But I need both computers because one won’t play sound. The audio drivers got wiped out and the new ones won’t load. It was horribly unfortunate that my computer crashed on Friday while making the monthly backups. Even I don’t usually have such bad luck.
I also feel that MicroSoft could long ago have fixed the worst features of their system if they had ever felt like it. It took an hour today to install IE8 (Internet Explorer 8 browser) which is totally unacceptable. In the end I went out for tea and it was still downloading “updates” when I returned. Reputable browsers take a minute or two. I just don’t need more reasons to hate MicroSoft and would love to dance on their graves.
The town is at a standstill. People here are no more ready for a cold snap than they are for the entirely predictable hurricanes and rainstorms that come ‘round. Ignorance once entrenched in a majority becomes socially permanent. I’m at the other end of that spectrum, I have two space heaters that keep things shirt-sleeve comfy, so I’m okay with staying home. But you should see the losers huddled up at Dunkin to keep warm. Those who won’t or can’t heat their own houses, well, you can have them. Most houses in Florida have no built-in heating. But that is no excuse for them to all be idiots.
Music. A successful practice, but we are now wrestling with more complicated music. Even if you are not a musician, you can relate how at first bands will choose easy standards they’ve done before. Then things get tougher as each new level is passed and I put it to you that 26 songs tends to be the upper limit for most startup bands. They get that far and just can’t break through that barrier to the 32 songs needed to gig properly. There are other factors at work, but for whatever reasons, 26 is tops.
This is not conjecture. I can’t tell you the number of bands I’ve joined that stalled at that point. I’ve met dozens of guitar players who cannot get beyond that frustrating integer. In fact, most bands and musicians begin growing weaker around 15 tunes and by the time they get to 26, they spend more time going back over forgotten stuff than getting on with it. Don’t blame them too much for it is exhausting work. But it is also the certain mark they are nothing more than a mob of amateurs.
Jag and I focus on the newest material first. And we are getting super results. With only the three or four rhythms he’s learned, we are producing top quality music—but that is restricted to the field we have chosen. Namely a country-like duo of dance beats. Think of it as like we are far more apt to win contests than awards. We’ve pretty much perfected the technique of never playing the same thing at the same time. A lot of it turned out to be the discipline needed to syncopate each part without throwing the other guy off beat.
This requires long hours of rehearsal, since it is not a quality naturally apparent in the human ear, which tends to hear a blended sound. After grueling hours, we can finally play what appears to always be something new and different as the song progresses. You can’t conceive of how many times we derailed each other, it was exasperating until we learned to, what’s the right word, to “intertwine” the parts. Another word is “integrate”.
It was so difficult learning not to play the same “parts” that I can understand better now why so many other guitarists ran for the hills when I wanted them to give my concept a try. They are the manual laborers of the music industry and their narrow-minded obstinacy would have been unmasked. It was different for Jag. My inability to play guitar meant I could only describe roundabout what I wanted, which brought many a laugh as we kept tripping over each other. (We quickly found some of those stumbles were so natural, we adopted them.)
I’m so sure I’m right, I’m betting my money on it.
