One year ago today: December 19, 2016, define ‘famous’.
Five years ago today: December 19, 2012, all about DNA.
Nine years ago today: December 19, 2008, on inventing circular arguments.
Random years ago today: December 19, 2014, England – no child support.
A quiet day, most of it spent helping a friend fill out legal documents and application forms. It is amazing how many people have reached adulthood in the past half century who never got good a filling in blank forms. It’s a defining characteristic of contemporary life. It takes me less than twenty minutes to do a tax return. Look at the bright side, you won’t get any porch pictures. But I will talk about the porch a bit. I had left instructions for some records to be ready, they weren’t, so I had a two hour break while I sent the guy to go get them. If you want me to help, you must do what I say.
Instead, here’s a picture of the blocks starting to sprout in the back yard. There is no pattern to these just now, but it gives a rough idea where the sunroom is planned. That project will be a while yet, though I may put the foundation in well before commencing the remainder. The weather is right for grunt work. I do the preliminaries on a computer, and I’ll tell you who deserves a major shit-kicking. The guy who made the default file display to include crap like artist, album, year. But it makes sense that somebody who works for MicroSoft would have no clue what information is correct for saving spreadsheets.
Or the file view that changes back to what it wants no many how many times you go in and change it. It’s scary to think these are the people that will be running the world soon. Not because they are qualified, but because there simply isn’t anybody who knows any better. And the next politician or news anchor that even mentions this damn Russian thing with Trump needs to be marched out behind the barn. The only good thing that comes out of it is people can see that is the best the liberals can do and they are fed up with hearing it. The way elections have been rigged since the 1950s, the last thing anybody is worried about is obscure Russian hackers.
SPECIAL EDITION:
Here’s your world class article that won’t cost you a cent:
Tomorrow the European court rules on whether Uber is a technology company. This will have world-wide effects because technology companies are taxed differently than others. To me, at least, the outcome is predictable. Uber will be deemed an ordinary transportation company. The reasoning is simple, Europe is run by a token elite and the complaints against Uber have been brought by taxi companies seeking to preserve their de facto monopolies. The “brave new Europe” thrives on total control by non-elects and upstarts like Uber will be hunted down, captured, and skinned.
It marks the beginning of the end of the computer slash Internet business revolution. From this point, every existing or new business will gradually come under the traditional tax hammer and innovation will shrivel as we enter another business Dark Ages. There will still be new successes, but their range will be limited and their profits diminished compared to the spectacular performers of our era. The outfits that thrive will once again be those who curry the most favor, that is, back to the comfort zone of established old money.
It will begin the quest for the next big thing, which historically requires 30 years. Examples in the last century of the three BIG business adventures that broke the rules and changed the playing field: airlines, software giants, and the Internet. They all rose, prospered, and began their decline in the same order, and now it is the turn of the Internet, which is the real premise behind companies like Uber. They will just be the first to fall. Soon, airbnd will become another motel company and eBay a delivery service. What newcomers that succeed will be, by comparison, small fry. End of prediction.
Yee-haw!
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I received three enthusiastic responses from my guitar player ad. Two of them women, and one guy with an oddly familiar name. But he says he just moved here from Maryland. So let’s talk about guitar players. First on the list was a lady, says she is 60, played in groups all through the 60s and 70s, plays an Ovation, and has all her own gear. Like myself, plays for money and fun, and after a quick chat on the phone, I’m satisfied she knows exactly what is involved putting an act together.
The second lady did not give age or location, but states she is a country rhythm player. I sent her an e-mail asking for more information. This is different than last year, when only men replied. The add is essentially the same, but specifies a guitar player must be able to strum through at least one entire song before calling me. Last year, I met twelve guitar players who could not strum at all.
And last, the guy with the familiar name. He’s 28, married, three kids. I sent him a note asking him to double confirm he knows pre-1996 country classics. He replied saying so and that he considers new country to be nothing but pop music. I told him he’s number three, but to expect a call any time for an audition. It is the first lady that sounds like the best bet. She was no doting grandmother type on the phone, although she did mention grandkids. Don’t worry, mine is 100% a family show, nothing on stage that isn’t above board. I don’t allow even one word of profanity, either talking or lyrics.
Am I doomed to never find a decent guitar player whose head is screwed on straight? I had to let Bradford go. He basically said he wants to join my band, but only if I drop all my songs and play the ones he wants. Interesting, since the guy is over 30 and has never played professionally yet.
ADDENDUM
The conversation with the lady reminded me of a band I played in back in the early 90s. It was one of the best venture of my life, though the group was dominated by the lead singer. That’s now what I was thinking about, because I understand he had learned over time that somebody has to be in charge. Most bands that have been together for years either have a leader or have gone nowhere. That band and I went our separate ways after a year for the primary reason that it was geared toward recording rather than playing out. I’ll explain why that can be a problem.
The lead singer was completely focused on cutting that dream hit record. Myself, I could care less though if I was involved in something that hit the charts, I would have been happy with that. However, I’d rather spend time out on the circuit than in a studio. It’s boring, the people are boring, the entire process is boring. During that year, we had one really big show, that’s the one at the sports pavilion for the airline stewardesses. Where I got a standing ovation. But let me get back to the point, which is because of the singer’s neve-rending quest, that band was sputtering along. I can’t have that again.
I always ask new people what they want from being in a band. It always helps when there is a little goal congruency, though it isn’t a strict rule. You see, that band long ago failed because the lead singer was not quite good enough for what he wanted to do. Almost, but not quite. Pay attention to what I mean because there is a tight balance between those two factors. That band would have been an absolute killer bar or party band, but never got there because of the supreme focus on recording.
What I want is to be on the stage instead of in the crowd. (But that doesn’t mean I’ll put up with nonsense, as we found out last Halloween for the thousandth time.) The same question can be asked about me, am I good enough for what I want to do? Ha, let me just say you don’t need eighth grade classical piano to play the bass. I have to work at keeping things loose enough to be enjoyable. The new lady and I talked for maybe six minutes, but it got my brain rolling over these issues.
Last Laugh
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