One year ago today: January 17, 2015, on Biosphere 1.
Five years ago today: January 17, 2011, today we talk PVC!
Nine years ago today: January 17, 2007, Argh! Guitar players.
Random years ago today: January 17, 2014, the others were even worse.
MORNING
Whoa, what a windstorm. Later I’ll go check if my lawn furniture is still in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, this whole retirement thing suits me fine. It was over to Senor Café for a Sunday omelet and coffee. As usual, I was the only one in the building working the crossword puzzle. For that matter, the only one reading. I’ve got to get out of this no-brain town.
There is a shortcoming in the real estate listing services, it seems, in the way each website categorizes your search. It gets difficult to find listings for places that are near a given city or given area. That was why JZ’s cancellation of this month’s “search party” was doubly disappointing. I was going to look at rural properties. Maybe I’ll sprint up there myself.
By the way, that was a Swiss cheese and mushroom omelet with toast and coffee. Sunday breakfast has been my tradition for most of my adult life. I have a theory on traditions. It is evident that most people have no theories on that, they blindly accept tradition. But I say even if the reasons are forgotten, that traditions arise from, literally, “What worked best in the past.” If you’d care to, please think that one through.
Over time, circumstances change enough that nobody remembers the reasons and the tradition sticks. And that, sunshine, is why nobody can explain traditions.
NOON
“If a man smiles all the time, he’s probably selling something that doesn’t work.” – George Carlin
Take a look at this splint. It could spell the end of things as I do them. It would seem I really did a number on my right index finger, and it is from typing. I spotted it a year ago and did nothing. This elaborate splint, shown from two different angles, has gone through several adaptations. (You do know you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.)
It works, but the moment I remove the splint, there is no improvement from the underlying pain. I wear it 18 hours per day, but if it transpires that I cannot type or dig my keys out of my pants pocket, like I say, the end of things as they are. You know, I went looking for some Absorbine Jr. linament and it is not to be found easily in this town. What’s with that? (Later, when I found it, I balked at the price. Still, one should not use under-advertised brands on their own skin.)
Rio Lobo, the John Wayne movie. Nope, I never saw it. I had no money to go to movies between 1970 and 1981, alright? You just had to make me admit that, didn’t you? Actually, I went to one or two movies in that entire time. Then I married an actress, so I had all the drama I needed for the next ten years and more. Those John Wayne numbers have to be among the corniest slop ever, but that’s what gives them that bucolic charm. And for once, this movie had women that were prettier than old John.
Did I mention last evening we met a guy who carves tombstones? No kidding, the guy had like a grade eight education, but he knew the words he had to work with. This led to much merriment including the inscriptions we’d like to see on the tombstones of several people we each know. Example, “Rest In Peace—Bitch”. Bwaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Deciding against braving the weather, I stayed put and practiced with the Tascam until I can produce quality recordings as second nature. During this process, I played back dozens of bass and drum tracks in isolation. Since I set the drum box to the identical tempo of the originals, there are some passages that kept making me think I could sell these tracks. It is excellent backing for a guitar but it means the guitar player has to follow. They don’t usually manage that so well.
However, what is probably a better point is that it is often difficult to hear certain bass passages and notes in the original recording. I can’t say how many times I’ve heard bass players gloss over those segment because it was obvious he couldn’t pick out the bass. I have no such difficulty, since I can “hear” each bass note as if it was played on a piano.
What do you think? Is the idea worth pursuing? I could sell the material on-line. Unlike the guitar market, which is flooded with “teachers”, there are very few good sources of bass material. The few that have a video tend to show just the fret hand, leaving you to guess whether all the notes being fretted are played, and in what order. With me, I can easily write either the notes or the tab, and give you a recording of just the drums and the bass line. I’m thinking.
[Author's note 2017: years later I'm still thinking. What I can't think of is a way to sell on-line for cash only.]
NIGHT
I’m halfway through the novel, “Dark Matter”. Quite well written, but a little formulaic. The prime suspect is so perfect it’s distracting. The detective, as usual, is taken off the case due to a confrontation with the Chief, and as even more usual, is an exceedingly well-adjusted divorced black female. The book never pauses reminding the reader how normal she is.
What’s keeping my attention is that the book involves details of nuclear and quantum physics that totally accurate, even if not every reader is going to follow that vein. I’m just saying the book is accurate on that count. I have not yet even guessed who the murderer is. That’s enough to keep me around.
Trump. He’s catching on like wildfire among the middle class that used to be. Funny, I don’t support either party, but I would like to see the country operated by a combination of the two. Democracy is great for curbing the greed of the upper classes, who could equally be described as those with the upper hand. People say Trump in power has consequences, well, yes, we’ve already seen the consequences of career politicians in power. It’s not like anybody asks the middle class if they want their sons and daughters “assimilated”.
Yes, I would do something to help Trump get in if I could, but I really mean that I would do anything to stop a “regular” politician from getting in. Every empire in decline has its good leaders who stave off the inevitable, and history teaches us Trump is that man. We don’t know the consequences of what he’ll do, but we have already experienced the consequences from the others. They are bent on destroying America, or if not, their behavior is identical to that. Back when this country was made of immigrants, there was no welfare office.
Last, there is one term I disagree with. This idea that a person became “radicalized”. That’s ridiculous. They are plain, ordinary, garden variety assholes to begin with. Calling them “radicalized” is akin to placing the blame for being anti-social assholes on somebody else. As if they were the innocents until the big nasty came by and converted them against their will. Of course I don’t believe that bull. I got two brothers, you know.
ADDENDUM
Trivia. Today in 1773, Capt. Cook sailed across the Antarctic Circle. That was 319 years after Columbus, kind of a revelation of the speed of things in those days. Or maybe they had the medieval version of NASA dragging their medieval feet along. Instead of pressing on, they convinced the king to sail around in circles 60 to 100 miles offshore, performing vital feudal experiments, for sure. Maybe wasting ducats and florins on the useless “”International Sea Station”.
Speaking of time, this is the beginning if my 17th year in Florida. Dudes I jammed with when they were 25 are now turning 40. With nothing, Not one guitarist I ever met in Florida ever amounted to anything. But I know of more than a few who wish they had listened to me. I’m not saying we’d have been stars, but at least there would have been a chance. I admit, I can’t do it on my own. My kingdom for a guitar player who admits the way.
Lots of guitarists move on, but it is rare for a bassist to go solo, so don’t look at me. Mind you, I can say one thing. I’m not the best bass player and never will be, but I am world-class and I know it. You see, bass is not a solo instrument. I have played in bands for years that never once handed me so much as a compliment. You see, good guitar playing is commendable, but even top-notch bass is considered part of the job.
Ronald Reagan said it right. There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you are willing to let others take the credit.
Last Laugh
Return Home
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
