December 6, 2018

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 6, 2017, so many damn bugs.
Five years ago today: December 6, 2013, I like pilot biscuits.
Nine years ago today: December 6, 2009, today, it's $3.25.
Random years ago today: December 6, 2014, verbal leases?

           I like to point out how nothing new in electronics as come about in, what, fifty years now. But there are digital innovations that are, from a microcontroller viewpoint, quite impressive. It’s just a pity they show up now when they could have arrived so long ago. Today I picked up a space heater, a ceramic oscillating model by DeLonghi. I found several novel settings that could probably only exist digitally and sell at a price I’d pay. In this case, it was $55. I found it a surprise there are still so many analog units on the shelves. My unit had all the standard features, you know, two temp settings, a fan only mode, a tip detector.

           The extras I liked are an “anti-freeze setting. It does its best to keep a room at 45°F to prevent freezing. Ingenious. Then, an Eco setting. It strives to keep the room at a comfort level by operating the hi-lo setting and restricting max temperature to 79°F. And a now common delayed switch on and shut off timer. Nothing really new, but still a gem. And yes, it heats the front bedroom just fine.

           Which is good, because the guitar guy is due here in about an hour. I’ve warned him he’ll have to trip over things so I didn’t have to spend too much time tidying up. First impressions are overly important in music, more so than job interviews and I dare say, dating. I usually take a moment to express that nobody’s expectations are going to be met. My goal is to gig out as soon as possible and music quality stays confined, initially, to what is on the table. I no longer have time for people who need to practice the music itself. If you can’t play it by the time you are 40, move on to something more appropriate. I dunno, coin collecting? Origami? Just get off my stage.
           Has anyone else noticed Harbor Freight has passed the customer first stage and moved on to corporate Never-Never-Land? Before, if you wanted help, you waited for your turn. Now, as you walk in, an employee pounces on you. If you don’t need help or know exactly what you want at that point, they disappear. Five minutes later, when you want it in blue or something, good luck finding anybody who isn’t “extremely busy” at the moment.

Picture of the day.
For sale in Ukraine, $51,000.
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           The guitar player was here on time, we ran through the basics. So, what happened? Hard to say, because for one, a guitar player who can sing normally will solo. He won't join a band unless it exists to feature himself. This guy knows a little better, so he was not so easily readable. He's here until May only and knows even a month getting together with another group will seriously bite into his playout time. His guitar style is more fancy "Merle" picking than actual playing, and yes, he comps. Nothing he plays sounds like the original, but I can work with that. Put another way, it is comping, but a very structured and advanced style that is not readily recognized as such. He also plays a lot of slow music, but I can learn that. I can play stuff like "Long Tall Texan" from memory.

           He also knows the humdrum of a solo act and wants into a group. Problem, there are no ready-made groups in this area. But there are definitely groups who will lead you down that garden path. He described this bassist and drummer he will audition with on Monday, and there is something familiar about that, like the ad has been running on CL for nearly a year if I think about it. There's also something I can't quite place about the story that the last guitar player got sick. If I'm remembering right, the guy quit and there is usually only one reason a guitarist quits a working group.

           Gator is his handle and he's aware of the tradeoffs with joining a larger group, in this case he'd make it a trio. However, he's got to give it a whirl, and I think he'll go for that unless he finds something extraordinarily wrong over there. So, without an uncanny amount of luck, I'm right back where I started. A bass player without a rythmist, which means no gigs this year unless I play guitar, which I never could do.
           I did give him the quick synopsis of what to expect and that us teaming up would be the most expiditious move. We played more than enough tunes to gig right now and the sound quality is more than sufficient. The other factors are that he may want to share the singing, or the other group does not know his versions or maybe enough of his tunes. He's committed to audition them next Monday, but volunteered to let me know his decision then. I'm not that hopeful, but like I said, there is something about that band that doesn't add up. Just the fact I've never heard of them or seen them is quizzical.

ADDENDUM

           I watched an excellent but disturbing British movie called "The End of the Affair. It's about adultery but has 15 sub-plots. Mind you, it is done excellently, every character is outstanding. Even the sex scenes are quality. Since it's unlikely you'll see it, the plot is rather involved in that a man thinks his wife is cheating and his friend hires a detective to find out, which is kind of awkward because she's cheating with the friend. The theme is realistic in that beautiful women always fall in love, but they do not know when men love them back. They never know when they are just being used.
           In the end, she thinks the guy gets killed by a V-1, but he survives. The detective has a son who helps the shadowing, she thinks he is an urchin and kisses his cheek, which cures his disfigurement, you get the idea. Involved. Anyway, in the end she cannot leave her husband, which makes the boyfriend jealous, but when he finds out anyway, it's the same time he learns she is dying. So they both of them decide to live with her until she dies, which rather upsets the local Catholic priest, it being 1944 and all.
           This, of course, comes as a great disappointment to those of us who still think sex was invented in Deming, New Mexico, in 1962. Late on a Tuesday evening, after the Red Skelton Show.

           If you get time, here's a link to the Hungarian leader's speech to the European Union's socialist and liberals who condemned his country for closing their borders to illegal immigrants. Illegal is not a concept that liberals are capable of grasping when they push their politics on others. The picture shows part of the 500,000 people who turned up for his rally. Hungary is one of the few places left in Europe where it is safe to walk the streets.

Last Laugh

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