One year ago today: November 3, 2015, “to see what floats”
Five years ago today: November 3, 2011, 10 years for “attempting to identify”.
Nine years ago today: November 3, 2007, patronizing the arts, $9.00.
Random years ago today: November 3, 2013, mile 87.
MORNING
“Pop A Top”, that song I never learned. It’s back. The reason I left it was Jackie from the old club said the song disturbed him. It’s one of the new guy’s signature tunes. Why’s that blogworthy? Because I gave it a close listen to the bass line and it is not at all a simple shuffle. It’s the exact type of walking bass I don’t play. Looks like I’ll be busy. I have to learn it some time.
I think I was getting a little attached to that tree. He says the worst area for this dangerous behavior is Cleveland Heights. There is a major yard tree fall across a public road after every storm. Well, kiss the Smithsonian off for another year, but I’m sleeping a little sounder now. So you’ll know, I pay $123.34 every three months for this yard trash pickup service. A bargain, considering what JZ and I paid for one small load to the city dump in June.
Yes, this whole tree event is a big deal over here so don’t scoff it as a trifling blog event until you try it. Here are two of the log piles, ready and waiting. Get to work, boys, they don’t stack up so neatly by themselves, you know. The driver grinned when he saw this. He picked up all the log piles, six in total, and was quite complimentary on how I had prepared them properly, explaining most other people just dump the trash and make him pile it right for the bucket, also shown here. Not me, I read the rule book.
Speaking of books, I browsed that French cookbook last day. Did you know they have strict rules for carving roast birds? It depends on if the bird is big or small. I find that fascinatingly childish that such a big part of continental dining centers on watching how and what other people eat. There is space in each chapter devoted to observing items like the order in which other restaurant patrons eat their vegetables. Yes, it strikes me as odd how such shallowness passes for refined behavior amidst the rich. Oh, look, momma, that man used his butter knife to slice a dinner roll. We’re never coming back here!
At the same time, I wouldn’t wish upon you to have to sit next to my family at meal time. After all, I don’t hate you. Talk to me later, it is mid-morning and I’m going to take a trip to the south end Salvation Army. I’ve been planning a day trip to find the movie theaters, which I’ve never seen yet. That’s two records broken, since I moved this is the longest stretch I’ve never been to the movies or eaten in a restaurant. But if I did, I’d use my butter knife however I pleased just to have the whole place to myself.
Pigeon Point.
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NOON
Well, the election that will make history is looming and unless the establishment pulls another fast one, Trump is in. He is less associated with any particular party than he is with America at large. Both existing big parties have been caught too often with their hands in the cookie jar. People from all areas are fed up with the political nonsense since Kennedy. Once more, I predict the landslide will happen due to the millions of people who just quit voting long ago. Both parties are to blame for that, denying any personal blame as individuals while supporting a weak and destructive party philosophy, where politicians represent nobody but themselves.
Just you remember, careful, that although there has never been a Donald Trump in power, there have been lots of presidents who collectively made most of the same promises over time. However, it is clear in retrospect they said those things to get elected—and every last one of them changed after the election. Some power above the presidency is operating behind the scenes. Trump does NOT exhibit the same conflict of interest. If he is not elected, so what? The rich will continue abandoning the sinking ship and America will continue to slide. No empire has ever survived massive immigration for foreigners. (Unless the immigrants were white Christians from northern Europe, it would seem.)
The establishment even got to Reagan. Trump seems to lack that vulnerability. (I say the primary reason they have not put a stop to Trump is it would now mean instant rebellion.) Something happens to these politicians once they arrive that makes them renege on their promises. Will they get to Trump? I say no, it would be too risky, and it would lead to the rise of uncontrollable despotism.
So far they’ve “interviewed” two witnesses. The first one was bullied that he reporting his gun stolen so he could use it in the crime. The second was told if he didn’t “cooperate”, the Health Department would find an [expensive] problem with his septic tank. If you ever wonder why the Canadian police have such a bad reputation, read this book.
I’m only on page 40 but I think it is about some native Indian on the Ontario police force. A lot of minorities see joining the police as a short cut to get respect—or else. It’s a lot of swagger and remember what I told you decades ago: there is no such thing as a fair trial in Canada. Ask Ernst Zundel. Ask Charles Vernon Meyers.
At the library again, this time I found an actual tablature to the lead break of “Pop A Top Again”, the full name of the new tune. And it is very adaptable to bass. My style inverts these roles, lead and bass, for a lot of duo work. The application is easy to understand but don’t expect most guitarists to like it. They are brainwashed that lead is lead and all other instruments are backup, where my style is all instruments share equally. That in itself is a conflict in the hero’s mind.
He expects to have the other instrument(s) provide the rhythm section while he wails off on a screaming lead break. There are a number of reasons this doesn’t work well most of the time. Bass and drums are not rhythm instruments and most guitarists can’t play lead and rhythm at the same time. So the rhythm goes reedy during such a lead break. Guess who the guitarist blames?
Now contrary to what Pat-B suspects, I did not set out to take over on bass. What really happened was I noticed that if the guitar player kept up playing rhythm, certain parts of the music, usually fills or intros, had to be left out. I would sometimes add in these riffs on the bass to retain the character of the song. But it works best when the guitarist keeps up the chops. My first song was “Spiders & Snakes”. This developed to the point where I could play a dozen tunes without any requirement for lead guitar, which was the era when I met Pat-B. I now have an instant requirement for anybody who can strum but not play lead. Here is what the tablature looks like:
[Author's note: Ha, I hacked the Zephyrhills library, it's blurry, but here is your graphic of a guitar tab to "Pop A Top Again"]
Would you like a mini-bass lesson of my technique? Sure, why not? If you are clever enough, even as a non-musician you may be able to visualize this as the introduction. The six lines represent the guitar strings, the numbers are the frets. The pattern is a grouping of four triplets, it’s that little guitar flourish you hear at the beginning of the song.
This diagram is a guitar tab. If you remove the top two lines, the bottom four represent the strings on an electric bass. (I’ve always felt this was the foremost source of the mindless guitarist’s brain fart that “bass is easy”.) In fact, here’s where things get difficult. The notes on the top two strings aren’t there on the bass, so you must move the notes up the neck. This primarily demands total familiarity with the bass fretboard beyond what is taught in “lessons”. There is no shortcut possible here, if you don’t have the time to learn those frets, you’ll lose the game.
The hitch is on the guitar, the top two strings are offset by a semi-tone. Riffs that are easy as hell to play on a guitar (after all, “guitar is easy”) become difficult propositions on the bass. It often entails bending strings that are so much heavier you’ll need two fingers, meaning you can’t transition to the next note anywhere near as readily as the other guy.
Add in a pattern of “thirds” which we already know most guitar players avoid unless they can take advantage of that offset. The same notes make for lively fingering patterns that move around like blazes between the wider bass frets. Have you ever noticed how the guitarist’s left hand barely moves on some instrumentals? You can’t get away with that on the bass.
Should anyone get brave enough to try this on their bass, don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t fall into place. There is much more to it than presented here. Often, you cannot just transcribe the guitar part note for note, for you’ll run into the same problem as the guitarist when he loses the rhythm. You’ll lose the beat. It’s physics, to do one thing, you have to omit another. That’s a good idea of what I mean when I sometimes say I play “rhythm bass”. And no, I’m not telling anyone how I do it without missing the beat notes unless they give me money.
And for the record, I am NOT saying I am the first and only person who does this. Did you hear me, Billie-Bill? But I AM saying I developed the way I do it completely independent of any source. I had no influences, copied nobody, and as far as I know have never met or heard another bassist who does this. If I met another person who has done the same, I would be completely surprised and probably shocked as well. For that matter, I’ve never even heard any other musician of any stripe even talk about the technique. So there.
NIGHT
Awright, awright, awright, I have met someone. But she has broken all three of the rules I have for “love”. Sometimes flatteringly called the “Rules of Engagement”, my dedicated readers know what they are. The attraction has to be immediate, positive, and exclusive. This is really what most people call chemistry, I’ve just quantified it a little finer. It’s a simple justification; my encounters that don’t follow these rules have a 100% failure rate. You don’t go for somebody who needs time to figure out whether they like you or not.
It [her reaction] was not immediate, either. It was more like the third time we met before she began to react like maybe I was okay. Nor was her reaction positive, it was more like neutral but friendly. She was actually more responsive to a few slobbering drunks in the room. She may have felt it made er popular, but which came across as some standard that had to be met. On that same count, it was not exclusive. There were a dozen men all told, and they all got equal time. The codicil was that she was observably testing the water, so I can somewhat discount that.
Six days later, there she was again. Same reaction, though this time she was friendlier and knew my name. The same could be said of a lot of people I meet. She somewhat distanced herself from the others this time and cozied up a bit, but the window of opportunity was gone. Then the next day, I run into her downtown and she’s half over me like a herd of turtles. It could hardly be the case here, but most of us have had this happen countless times after the woman has asked around behind your back. And decided you are a good financial prospect after all. It’s a woman thing.
This folks, is why so many marriages fail over “money matters”. The first time you can’t meet your quota, you’re a bum. Their entire game plan is based on getting you to a position where they can quit their day job. True, there are exceptions, and someday, if I ever live long enough, I hope to see one.
ADDENDUM
Want proof that the American diet is causing real problems? Compare the bodies of the young females in “Animal House” or any coming of age movie before 1990. Then afterward. I watched a DVD “She’s the Man” about a girl who impersonates her twin brother to get on the soccer team. There were several scenes designed to depict the hottest female in the school and to be honest with you, the brunettes looked like mini-hookers and the blondes all had hip bulge that showed through their jeans. This, while still teens? Don’t get me wrong, it was nice and I’ve always understood why so many men like that hooker look, but give me “Animal House” babes any day.
Last Laugh
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