July 31, 2020

Yesteryear
One year ago today: July 31,2019, “not sensitive enough”.
Five years ago today: July 31, 2015, printed up this morning.
Nine years ago today: ,July 31, 2011, my most expensive car ever.
Random years ago today: July 31, 2010, I still have that bass.

           Here’s a multiple guess question. This clip represents A) my Florida bass playing career, B) why you need to buy your own place, or C) the real reason to stand around drinking beer from cans. It’s the end of an all-out effort to get ahead of the brush piles in the front yard. That means I was out there in this record head working the chain saw and you know, I got a lot of it done without straining things. It kept this fire going for three hours. I did not break out the marshmellows I saw how those are made and yuck anyways. This flame is camphor trees, so named from the aroma when cut, but not when burned.

           My first day back in action found me working the shovel, wheelbarrow, and the chain saw. The slow week gave me time to catch up on paperwork and read the want ads. Yep, if I was in Orlando, I’d be gigging within the week. Even their musician ads are more creative. I’m befuddled by the number of tribute bands advertising for members, since they never seem to play anywhere. You never see a Nirvana or Eagles show advertised and I’ve never walked in on such an event. Maybe they play a lot of garages?

           The shutdown nonsense (it is not, as claimed, a medical procedure) has really put the squeeze on my musician acquaintances. Many of them have zero other skills and I’m naturally suspicious when the government does anything that targets an identifiable group. It makes you wonder. While you are at it, take notice of which groups the government never goes after. The normally high turnover of bass players has seemingly tripled in towns like Tampa. That town has something in common with Nashville. At any given moment there seem to be around 80 unemployed bass players. It’s a tough field in which being a great musician is only an influential factor.
           I’m waiting on some baking, so here’s a Tampa band that published their list. Let me go through and name the ones I play. Of the 58 tunes, a lot these days, here’s what I could stage today.
           Rock This Town
           With or Without You
           Brown Sugar
           Ticket to Ride
           Still RnR to Me
           Secret Agent Man
           Listen To The Music
           The Breakup Song
           Back on the Chain Gang
           Stray Cat Strut
           Pink Cadillac
           99 Red Balloons
           I Will Survive
           Tide Is High
           Sweet Home Alabama
           Running Down A Dream
           Reeling in the Years
           67-5309
           Wagon Wheel

           The tunes that I do NOT play on that list are
           Money For Nothing
           Last Dance MJ
           Message In A Bottle
          Comfortably Numb

Picture of the day.

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           I’m finally going to learn a Fleetwood Mac tune. That’s pretty late in the game, but that band always lost out for some reason. I’d listen to it in elevators and the juke box. So which tune should I pick, you only get one. Make the bass line interesting for my sake. The music is so ancient I’ll just find an on-line bass tutorial and run with that. Have you ever noticed the crop of bass players that post on-line? I suspect at some point they all worked at the same McDonalds. Folks, I do not look, act, talk, or think like any of those people. Especially the Guitar Center specials, with the limp wrist and thinking they look kewl wearing headphones.
           Ah, here’s a candidate, 50 million hits. Fleetwood Mac is not known for great bass, so why not pick a tune with lots of fans. Maybe learning “Rhiannon” will force me to finally memorize the name of that song. Another chick song to match my set. If I ever meet a chick band that needs a bassist, I’ll be as surprised as they will be. That, incidentally, was another miscalculation on my part. That bassists who play mainly chick music would have an easier time finding a band. As far as I know the only live country bands left are girl bands.

           Why would the band be surprised? Because it happens all the time, I’ll describe the effect. I’ve never met a chick band who paid all that much attention to the bass player or what he did until I showed up. This says plenty about other bass players, but let’s move along. I always get along great with chick singers because I know what not to do. The chick and I bond musically, and this is how it happens. The concept here is that I never rely on anyone else in the band to give me cues. I learn the music, not how to follow along.
           Thusforth, when the guitar player misses a chord or drops silent, I have a tendency to keep on playing. The lady learns she can sing along to just my bass playing. Sounds familiar, huh? In no time, we are playing bass & vocal “duets”, which can be highly influential on getting the band to play the right music, but does not endear us to many lead guitarists.
           I can hear Billie-Bill shouting that I did not invent this. True, B-B, but I’m not claiming that. Only that when I started doing it, I had never seen it before and I’ve never seen it since. He’s still down in Miami, collecting welfare and trying to put together a Rock-a-billie band. He plays a lot of free gigs because nobody will pay him. He’s the guy who shows up for acoustic practice with his Strat. Reminds me of my brother. We get invited to musical exercise, I show up with my bass, he shows up with his sneakers--there's a repeat old blog joke for ya.

ADDENDUM
           That strange situation with my real estate lady saying there is no inventory. Or is it that the only people selling are in financial straits? There is another option nobody is touting. That financial collapse is imminent and only those people who own real property will come out of this thing in any shape.

Last Laugh