One year ago today: November 4, 2020, perfect dog weather.
Five years ago today: November 4, 2016, Redneckville.
Nine years ago today: November 4, 2012, my only UFO experience.
Random years ago today: November 4, 2014, I traditionally do better.
4:58AM I think we have now caught what should be the last of the baby possums. Is this the end of the possum pandemic? That last one was sharper than the rest, having figured out how to get bait out the side of the hav-a-hart, but we go him. Move fast before you get fond of the little creatures. The survival rate of these vermin is very low but I can’t be adopting anything these days. Sure, he’s scared, but for now he is safe. I think I’ll let this one go near City Hall.
Rehearsal is later today and I’ve had time to review the gig videos very closely. It’s for real, these guys lose their sense of balance on stage. The moment they get on stage, what was accomplished at rehearsal goes out the window. They relapse into depending on the rest of the band to get their individual parts right and you can reckon the outcome of that, the blind leading the blind. But they are better than 100% of the musicians I’ve met in these parts who never get as far as the stage.
The intros are the dominant problem. If the guy playing them gets it wrong, the rest of the band follows on in error. Randolph, the drummer is bad for that as he often draws blanks on stage, forgetting how the song even goes, so he’s the one reverting to comping most regularly. Next is the lead player, he gets the notes okay but not the speed and he cannot come in strumming. What is the solution? I know, it is to memorize the parts that make a difference, but these guys have shown no inclination to put in that effort. Check back for details.
I took this possum over to the treed in part of the Civil War cemetery and let her go. She ran to the fence, then along it right out in the open. I’m like what do I do now when the Reb calls. Then I see another possum along the same wall so it must be possum happy trails or something. Back home, I put the chicken on for the doggies and put some extra on for the hillbilly. The job he was hankering seems to be delayed, and he has to walk across town each time to check on it. He’s got something I never had, family who can help him out. They keep him busy with odd jobs and I pay in cash. He’ll be fine.
Let’s put more shed work on hold. I’m happy with the comparatively large amount of labor I managed here almost a month steady. That’s all good news to me. But taking it easy is mandatory, so it’s siesta time. I get a cramp on my right side ribs if I overdo it, so I’m reading my little booklet on failed English railroads for the tenth time. Plus the Reb called back with instructions to take a break, go to rehearsal, and then the rest of the day off. Yes, Sir, Ma’am.
Inside Tiger tank turret.
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I’m back from rehearsal and where do you want to start? I’m familiar with the after-gig doldrums. Bus that’s why I let the follow-up rehearsal go so late in the week. I don’t do Thursday if we regularly play Friday. Not unless you like the band to show up exhausted and hungover. But today, I cornered the piano player and insisted we go over some details. It worked. A lot of people reject music theory because it is presented wrong, like it is some obscurity that stifles creativity. I put him through the paces and saw the smile of revelation on his mug.
Before continuing, here is the odometer reading in the minivan, 244,444 miles. The transmission light winks if you stop too long with your foot on the brake. That’s common considering how slow the traffic signals work in these parts. I’ll have it checked, the transmissions on these vans is a sealed unit with instructions to take it only to an authorized dealer. Yeah, what about my right to repair?
We put in three hours. Prior to this, the rehearsals (I felt) were not being used effectively. We kept going over the same material without improvement. This has the ill effect of the band wanting to learn new material when they still cannot play the old stuff. It gives the illusion of variety. They are also heavily swayed by what they like, such bands always want to do more Skynyrd and love “Hotel California”. You wind up with people wanting to play “Pride & Joy” who can’t even manage to play “T For Texas”.
That’s correct, we spend 30 minutes going over “T For Texas”. It does not drop back to the fourth and does not have a turnaround. They were jazzing it up with those blues techniques and changing the character of the song. They want me to do a bass solo in that tune. One thing really becoming clear is the vast gaps in their experience. Does the term “weekend warrior” mean anything to you? I don’t like the phrase, but it applies to guys who don’t want to rehearse or learn anything but their own version of their favorites and play that, to hell with the rest of the band.
My experience seems to go “ten times deeper” than what they got from the same time put in. My approach since my late teens has always been to ensure there is a core of two people in each band who set the pace. Three or more won’t work, you need two and the rest will follow. That would appear to be Parson & I, he is just now catching on to listening for voicings, the effect of more instruments than are actually playing. It’s completely new to him.
Congratulations to the truck driver who spent $2,300 and defeated the illustriously-titled New Jersey State Senate President, whatever the hell that is. The cold fact is that even the most brainwashed of liberals don’t like what Biden is up to. I figured no big deal because I knew it would happen but it appears the incident has thrown a panic into some circles. I hope it means a public backlash to the professional politician class, that they get thrown out by the thousands. Who will run the country? Nobody, it can run itself. You know what I mean. The man on the street with his lunch pail don’t need no State Senate President.
And there is a movement now underfoot for all Republican counties to withhold their count until the Democrat counts are 100% in. Brilliant, and I told them I thought so. For the first time in maybe 20 years, I had a problem with a cassette tape. Huh? That is correct, I listen to cassette tapes, which are a dime a dozen, when going through bad radio zones in the van. A tape snagged on the spindle this morning. So that’s a failure rate too small to measure. I wish I could say the same for DVD/CD disks.
ADDENDUM
The navy is claiming one of the submarines crashed into an “uncharted underwater mountain”. This is borderline impossible. The oceans consist of abysmal plains except for many thoroughly charted continental shelves. The sudden appearance of a new mountain would be a major seismic event. I’m not buying that story, which I believe they have used at least once before. Until they come clean, I say what really happened is they hit a Chinese sub that was shadowing their fleet maneuvers off Taiwan.
