One year ago today: March 6, 2016, if it’s “Old Florida” . . .
Five years ago today: March 6, 2012, for vanity reasons.
Nine years ago today: March 6, 2008, remember “Dazzle” editing?
Random years ago today: March 6, 2007, the dog didn’t bark.
Here’s your view of the refurbished Honda solenoid. That’s robot spec, not showroom, so if it looks a little scruffy, you’re obsessing on the wrong aspects. The working parts are all that count on a piece of equipment now 39 years old. The brass contacts are sparkling and the connection wires are spliced in waterproof putty. The strip ties are new issue, but the metal anchor on the casing are original. The red paint is also new, an acrylic waterproof, four coats. Inside, the contact points are military grade soldered. Mechanically, this puppy is a sound as the day it came off the assembly line. It sounds like some kind trip is in the making, wouldn’t you say?
Privacy, my eye. I received junk mail to my business address for a product to help me swallow pills. How does a pharmacy in east Winter Haven even know I take pills or get my medicaid address? Ah, here’s the answer, the address contains the code I use for that correspondence. It reminds me of that poem where the guy writes that when they came for him, there was nobody left to protest. All these people have something in common, they didn’t protest when their addresses were being collected. That’s the real pill that’s hard to swallow. As for that, some people have apparently never heard of the alternative called “water”.
This’ll cheer you up. I had a small handful of unsalted cashew crumbs. I threw them in with the birdseed last day and we have some new little visitors. Tufted wren-size guys with black wings and a few white speckles. Light blue chests fading to white in the wingpits. They are not in the book and are especially furtive. Like the similar but larger bird, they do no feed on the perch. Grab one seed at a time and head for the bushes.
Wild flowers, S. Africa.
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Just sitting near the front window and watching my sunflowers grow, I watched a Sherlock Holmes clip. FYI, I don’t normally watch entire episodes, rather small sections of say, 8 – 10 minutes per day. Then I’ll hit pause and think over what for up to a day. Trivia. Did you know in England, when they say Holmes, the “H” is silent? I rather like the episodes that occur on the trains, those cars with the compartments and quaint sliding doors. It is amazing how many suspects can fit into one carriage, usually on the midnight run to Edinborough. Northbound.
I logged zero hours on the value-added clock today, spending nearly six hours chasing around. I suppose some of the time represents overhead toward sweat equity in this house. Naw, it’s too haphazard and difficult to account for. Instead, I went out for a Monday beer. But not before checking in at City Hall about those footings. The code guy left early but by talking to the staff, I think the latest requirements are on the expensive side. As long as it adds equity, I’m okay with that. What I don’t like is local code designed to force you into hiring the inspector’s brother-in-law.
If you have a few minutes, read this article from the British National Railway Museum. If they even tried this in Florida, people would start living under the trains. The pictures are high-res hyperlinks themselves and the blurb says this is the largest railway museum in the world.
“He got fired at the calendar factory for taking a day off.”
Have you heard of the “Pedestrian Plough”? This is the law that says you have the right to drive your car into a pedestrian who is intentionally impeding traffic. Yes, I support the law. Actually, it does not give the driver any additional rights. It is more a provision that says any pedestrian injured by a vehicle has a self-inflicted wound, thus has no actionable cause. I hail it as a rare Florida law where the aim matches the situation. Move your liberal ass, you had your chance to protest at the voting booth.
Here’s something possibly new, a product that soak up oil. At least on a small scale. This is a link from Jimmy Ruska to New Scientist that is more marketing than documentary.
Reverse engineering. I was a great accountant, so I took some time and this quiet evening off to calculate what the local clubs are paying for bands. The very best bands, meaning the ones that pack the place, get $300 on a holiday weekend, and $200 otherwise. Knock a hundred off if the “band” is a solo guitarist. This is important to me because it determines how I structure my expectations. An equal split is often enough for a duo, but not for a trio.
What makes the difference? You already know it is the tips. I regularly double the house gate, with a word of caution. That’s only as a solo or duo, not as a trio. If that’s tricky to follow, put it this way. Unlike a ton of musicians in Florida, I’ve long since realized that the optimum size of a steadily working band is a duo. It is also the maximum size. The solo market is trimmed to the bare bones by clone guitarists and a trio will eventually lose money.
While I could not compete musically with most acts, I’m a fool for not keeping up with my solo guitar. It’s so much fun playing bass that I admit to neglecting what I should be doing if I really want to get out there. My preference for the bass goes well beyond the sound, for instance, I can sight read piano score on the bass which I can’t do with guitar. While I can use tablature, I kind of painstakingly translate that to the fretboard until I memorize it.
When I said just now that bigger bands lose money, you might ask why there are still so many around. Good question. The answer is that since there is a cash flow, it is not always obvious that a band is losing money. Yes, yes, I’ve heard the tired old argument that some guys just do it for the fun. But I’m not even remotely convinced of that. Why? Because those are the exact bands that break up and once again, the money aspect is not always obvious. Face it, nobody likes lugging equipment around after midnight and after a few beers when it dawns on them a year later their $1,000 PA system has to be replaced. It merely takes some people longer to clue into the facts, but those tend to be the same types who rarely catch on to anything. You know who you are.
How much does it cost to set up and operate a band? Lucky you, I’m one of those rare musicians with an accounting background and I can partially answer that. I’ll talk only direct costs, which would not include a room with easy access to store equipment and an adequate vehicle to more it in. (Think carefully on that vehicle, since most musicians cannot afford to operate two.) You will need, besides your instrument, a PA system, microphones, cables, batteries, and all your accessories. To put on a basic show, you are looking at roughly $2,000. If you plan to play out regularly at clubs, up that to $3,000. That’s your basic initial outlay.
And because you’ll need more capable equipment if you add a second band member or more, the cost still remains at between $2,000 to $3,000 per person. Each musician will likely operate his own vehicle, as community rides to gigs rarely work out. As for time invested, that’s something too variable to measure. I’ve slapped together duos in six weeks, but unless you have seasoned professionals, the minimum time is more like three months to first gig. The convoy is only as fast as the slowest ship and this becomes distorted when you have a guitarist who insists the others learn his list first. It usually turns out he will not and usually cannot learn anything new himself, but that is another matter.
It’s more the hidden costs that cause problems. Travel to and from the gigs, and wear and tear on the vehicle and equipment. From long experience, I know the average cost of a local gig is $19. That’s correct because it includes depreciation on the vehicle and gear, and the average cost of repairs and maintenance. If you go out there and play 100 gigs (which is a lot of gigs) it will cost you $1,900 in gas, repairs, lost equipment, and you name it. I’m amazed by how many musicians only measure what they make, forgetting about the overhead.
Is there a solution? Yes, the duo and the house gig. Jimbos was my house gig for years. You bet I made money. In the early days, I rode my bicycle there. And I had Jackie to keep a vigilant eye on my equipment. Even later when I drove the motor scooter, I had the cost of a gig down to $3. There will never be another Jimbos. I’d have made even more if I could have found a decent guitar player. That quest is well chronicled elsewhere in this blog.
ADDENDUM
This is the first real while that the bedroom walls and floor are completely covered with insulation and/or wallpaper. I’ve yet to crawl up in that attic. Yet there’s your proof, just walk in there at night barefoot. The floor is tepid, not icy cold on these winter nights. There is also stillness in the air that I suppose you would not notice unless you were looking for it. I was because as long as that one wall was not finished the effect was not there. I decided to put this to a test several months ago.
Now you walk into the bedroom. Ah, that’s cozy. You can still tell the wind is there, but it is more “outside”. So I’ve learned to insist on the tarpaper, difficult as it is [to retrofit]. Another lesson, you must seal all the walls completely. There was one small strip of tarpaper I had to remove y’day afternoon to get at the electrical wiring and you can tell. I think that double wall of gyproc for soundproofing may not be necessary. The room was formerly done in 1/2”. Maybe 5/8” will be enough.
Last Laugh
Millennial piano.
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