One year ago today: October 16, 2015, a crow trap, Australia.
Five years ago today: October 16, 2011, a generic day.
Nine years ago today: October 16, 2007, he sat beside a train.
Random years ago today: October 16, 2006, missing photos.
MORNING
Just when you thought it was going great, I’ve got the sniffles. The catch is that I have not been near anyone at all within the infectious time period. That’s correct, nobody has sneezed around me nor have I been exposed to any of the common vectors. That leaves another possibility that most Americans are unaware of, a condition that causes almost identical symptoms to the flu. Mild food poisoning. Millions of cases of “the flu” each year are really food poisoning.
Here’s a happy photo of contented cows on a hill in the distance. This is one of the views along my scooter tour to Homeland yesterday. There were some impressively rich acreages and horse ranches along the road. And that is not really a hill. It is a planted over mound of mine tailings. The entire area around central Florida is dominated by these heaps, which can stretch for miles. Some have been sown with pine trees to look better but the rectangular shape of the ground gives it away every time.
Can’t sleep with the coughing so I wrote a completely custom bass line to that old tune, “My Bestest Friend”. This does not contradict my rule that you must play a true-to-original version. I simply want to hear the other guy play it that way first to ensure he isn’t changing the song because he can’t play the original. You are free to play anything you want after that, as long as it does not change the basic character of the hit version. So how can I play custom bass lines without breaking that rule?
Easy, I play every bass note that is in the original, but I’ll add notes from other instruments that normally would be left out. In this song, there is a swing beat and a guitar riff that walks down the fretboard instead of a simple country bass walk-up to the next chord. It doesn’t detract from the original bass line, but enhances it. It obeys the mandate I give the guitarist, you can play anything you want, but it must not take anything away from the chording.
Actually, I have an advantage with that. You see, I can flat-pick the guitar chops most of the time, but I have yet to find a guitarist who can do a proper job on the bass. They don’t like to admit that so I regularly “learn” the song playing roots and fifths, which is what the guitarist is expecting. Then once he’s doing what he’s supposed to, I’ll add in the custom base line. Is this “trickery”. Nope, he’s free to do the same. But most of them can’t.
This explains why sometimes I show up for rehearsal with a guitar instead of the bass. The time-worn method of learning songs one at a time is grossly inefficient. The five piece band I just left did that. Practice was playing through the song list without ever any discussion or suggestion. It works, but it is painstaking and the result is five musicians playing every song “in unison”. Not once did we ever practice or attempt a new rhythm and the few times I asked the guitarist to show me a riff, the reaction was like I was intruding. They never had time for that.
If I was so inclined, I’d insist the guitarist and I sit down and learn the guitar parts together so he gets a definite concept of what is expected. Of course, I’ll accept the same in return if they want to learn the bass with me, but how likely is that? This new guy seems more pliable than average, which might be what I need. Remember how rapidly Jag and I were out playing because he was like a complete novice to song arrangement.
Table and chair.
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NOON
Here’s the red scooter in front of the Homeland Post Office. I like to mail letters on the road and this qualifies since it is more than 50 miles away. The color in this photo is misleading, the scooter is no longer that brightly hued. But the muffler is totally repaired.
Or how about: “I never realized how much I liked Gospel until I saw you singing in the choir”, and if your mommy knew “she’d be layin’ square eggs”. It’s a weak plot about how you can be focused on singing for the Lord but still aiming to win the choir championship next month.
You know, where God is more the long term investment. The brand of movie someone who wants others to think they are religious would make. You probably won’t notice there are only four white people in the movie, so I won’t say anything. I paused the movie several times for more animated activities like moving furniture and unpacking.
Out goes the big TV that was left behind. I need the floor space. Plus, I have to rehearse with my old gear due to that Fishman fiasco. Things will move faster around here now that I’ve found my soldering gear and spare parts. I’ve calculated a way I can cut 4x4 posts and begin to raise the south wall as a one-man job instead of two. Even if it is the flu, I can still change saw blades and sharpen bits.
NIGHT
I wonder if my favorite new radio station is off the air on weekends. All I get is loud static. So I get no Lone Ranger or Gunsmoke, programs I’ve only seen on TV before I was ten. I had a paper route and could watch TV as I went from house to house on collect day. That means I’ve heard them more on the radio, something associated with audiences long before I was born. Interesting, because by then, I was already listening to re-runs. JZ leaves his TV on all day and there are two channels of nothing but old westerns.
So I found another station which seems to be having a Wynette festival. They played that song “I Don’t Want To Play House” countless times, something about playing house makes mommy cry. God sakes woman, then you are doing it wrong. I do believe what’s slowed me down is mild food poisoning. If it was the flu, I lack the majority of symptoms.
No fever, no upset tummy, no sore joints, no foggy head (I heard that). I can taste food and my appetite is fine. It is a sore throat and runny nose only. I can’t use nasal sprays, as they work, but they leave my membranes too tender for even the 70-degree Florida night weather. How sad that becomes bloggable because that’s all that was important this evening.
I may have the term wrong, but a passage set is designed for an interior door. This model is heavily chromed and the glass, if it is ordinary glass, is cut, not molded. It has a decorative thumb-operated latch lock on one side and came with all the accessories. I went over the piece with a magnifying glass and found a metal flange on the interior stamped “Bainsborough Melbourne Australia”. This is going on my new bathroom door. Talk about classy. (It seems they no longer carry this product.
And when I cannot sleep, I’m reminded how I’ve read every book in this house several times over. Including the volumes of computer code. While others watched TV. It dropped to 67.9°F last night. Sweater weather.
Last Laugh
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