One year ago today: November 7, 2018, beginning the Great Trek.
Five years ago today: November 7, 2014, good music is always live.
Nine years ago today: November 7, 2010, early vaping comments.
Random years ago today: November 7, 1982, another stab at guitar.
What’s with the freezing drizzle all day, Nashvegas? People who like this weather usually move to Seattle. This means I spent most of the day inside except for the dog runs and a little shopping. The feeling in the air is one of dreariness, so I put some extra spring in my steps when the dogs are out. Something did happen in the music area, so stick around and I’ll write you a bit about that. For me, music is a complicated hobby so I apply pressure to keep it simple. It could be said I over-think the subject, but it keeps things in check where so many fail due to wasted time brought on by complication.
Blog rules I have to tell the big event of the day. It was too soggy to burn leaves, so I fixed that broken shelf on the bottom of the fridge. How’s that for thrills? It’s about as much fun as it sounds like. I had really wanted to give the new router a test drive but that rain did not let up enough even for an hour. The Reb, who has lived here twenty times longer than I have, tells me this is unusual cold. Great, I choose the worst two consecutive winters of the century to stick around. Even the doggies have sweaters and jackets, which they probably consider about as useful as I do, but hey.
I’m amused to see the advertising industry comment on itself. The Correspondent (no link) believes it is fulfilling a desperately-needed function for the Internet and world at large. They claim to have “the best minds” of their generation working on getting people to click on ads. They see themselves as an all-positive force that before long will know you better than you know yourself. The premise is that where marketers can predict your behavior, they can also manipulate it.
What they fail to see is that the direction they are heading is toward increased intrusion into people’s lives—and there is a limit to what people will put up with. This is old news to this blog. The Internet could benefit a lot by the simple experiment of stopping advertising for a month like eBay tried. Dollar for dollar, nothing changed. That will never happen on a larger scale, because to advertisers, a click is counted as a sale, which it isn’t. Note that eBay did not cease all advertising. Instead, they found it was a waste to spend money on individual keywords. The advertising industry howled at them. Instead, eBay found it was better and far cheaper to just advertise the word eBay by itself. If this catches on, it would bring Google to its knees in no time, so I’m all for it.
Dimple surgery.
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Music. Here’s the developments of today in exhaustive detail. But first, enjoy this photo of the first sunny Nashville morning in days. The background is I occasionally run a short ad for an “acoustic rhythmist”, which is the way I avoid saying non-electric guitar player. In fact, the guitar is amplified in some way for performing and it leaves the field open for other types of instruments, which I okay with except piano. Further, the technique of playing acoustic is better suited for small stage work mainly because I said so. And I mean it, even the acoustic guitarist’s head is screwed on a little tighter. I get three general categories of response.
2) Wannabes who want proof of everything as if you owe them at least that.
3) True entertainers who would like more information on the act.
And today we got a number 3. Actually, it was all three types, but the last one is the rarest. Before I recount things, allow me to remind us of the premise that applies here. I seek a performing artist, not a recording studio sort—and there is very little useful overlap on these. In my own life, I went from nothing to amateur to pro. Once arriving at the pinnacle, I did not like the view. (Careful, my pinnacle does not involve production contracts, stardom, or fame.) Like many others, I drew back and settled for a less pro musical existence which is a lot more fun. If fortune came along, I’d answer the door, but no more busting my chops to join the music Establishment.
Hence, my ad can have a taunting quality to some. They are tired of scenes that I have no trouble with. I think they are just doing it all wrong. I’ll play for tips only to get into a venue, often finding that the tips are better than the gate. Some accuse me of undercutting, usually the unemployed. My point is, I put effort into exactly what the bulk of guitar players love to denigrate. I strive for an amateur sound that could be labeled “bar band”. Nashville pubs are a hoot to play at because of the high turnover of tourists. In other words, bar-banding is a bit of a specialty for me and far from the bottom-rung of many attitudes. Hey, you chumps, I have yet to hear of a band making it big on the pool-party or corporate event circuit.
Today I got an inquiry from a renowned slide guitarist. After listening to his on-line, I may show up at his next gig. I’m leery of recording stars because of the difficulties of accurately presenting their material on stage. You can’t punch out a mistake up there, you must do a slick recovery or humorize it. That’s just one example. People who’ve made recordings also think they’ve got rank. There is something about this response that says to follow up. His reply was articulate and he asked the correct non-musical questions that indicate he agrees with my premise that it is better to play live just about anywhere than climb the ivory towers. He went a bit out of his way to refer to my act as a “concept”. We shall see.
[Author’s note: “punch out” is a recording studio technique that allows a mistake to be corrected without re-recording the entire song. It is accomplished electronically but still requires the talent to operate the software. A technician marks the start and stop points of the error, then rewinds a few seconds. The musician plays the passage over and past the error, and the software punches in just the part that was marked. Many popular songs, if you listen closely have pretty sloppy jobs of this, especially live recordings.]
ADDENDUM
Later, I followed up on the guitar player, he owns a recording studio. That’s kind of odd, since my ad makes it clear that my act is live. Generally, the tone of this guy is that he’s sharp, so let’s see what he says. Studio types tend to elbow originals into the mix. Sure, I play originals—just not on stage. The proper place for original music is in the studio, not in public. That remains so unless it becomes a popular hit, which is not how you bet your money.
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