August 11, 2022

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 11, 2021, Lee-Enfields hurt shoulders.
Five years ago today: August 11, 2017, half your retirement.
Nine years ago today: August 11, 2013, I was only pretending.
Random years ago today: August 11, 2009nothing new or mysterious.

           Today I feel organized so let’s see what I get done. Twitter has announced “measures” to protect the midterms. As each story unfolds, its suitableness will be determined and negative posts will be stopped in advance. A few hours later I guess the past few days caught up and I dozed off until mid-afternoon. This is how I understand why rich kids get so little happening. A day off it is.

           That does not mean totally nothing, as I sent through my song list to find any tunes I can fake better, putting a lot of thought into how that is done. I can sing both parts of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and I’ll drop “Venus” for “Stand By Me”. I have nowhere near the leeway I would on bass, so I’m not concerned with how ancient these tunes sound today. There has been a lot of better-than-nothing types going through town lately. People who’ve heard me on bass sometimes ask why I don’t train somebody to do that and I just stick with guitar. Try it.

           The nervy squirrel defeated the red cardinal sticks. They were placed to give the cardinals a better foothold on this relatively small feeder, but still under the Chinese hat. He not only used it to tip seeds out of the feeder without actually getting under the metal. Then he said the check with it and chewed off the string, meaning I have to devise a better way to secure the wood. The nerve of that guy.

           JZ answered his phone and he’s thinks the last series of pictures of that gig make me look lonely. Tell that yahoo I’ve been lonely for fifty years. How observant. Seriously, he’s referring to a series of pics where I was singing Johnny Cash, who is a big part of my act. Now there’s a guy who knows all about lonely. JZ is the guy who has no hobbies to fall back on. He should own two more houses by now.
           I warned dozens not to fall for that pandemic scheme on their mortgage payments. It was a trap, actually several traps, but the biggest one was a temporary reduction of payments. These “incentives” eventually wear off and the foreclosures are beginning again. The stats say over two million mortgages will soon pass into serious default.

Picture of the day.
Mediterranean shoreline.
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           I’ve outlived a lot of my contemporaries already. So long that I may soon know people in Texas again. I lamented how everybody I knew had moved away, well, now others are moving there. Today Bryne announced he is going out to look for a house, though he did not say where. You know, I really hate Microsoft. Now this computer has gone and wiped out a whole segment of music and sad to say it was a folder specially made to keep my hard to find lyrics and tunes, such as the original of McCartney’s “I’ve Just Seen A Face”. Only crap versions remain on-line. And from Vista on, the search feature is a total piece of shit twice over. It will come back saying no matches with the file right on your monitor.
           And for the kazillion times I’ve said it, I practiced my solo sets. I finally set up my Fishman and the complete stage array in the back bedroom, where I am most likely to practice. I’ve already played all the tunes on guitar, but without regard to which ones I can present adequately. The chorus pedal is connected. This is the list of 27 tunes I can play for three sets. I say again, they are not arranged and practiced for presentation. However, I went through 15 of them and finally found the setting on that chorus pedal that lets me seamlessly chord through instrumental breaks. The list severely dates me as a 1980s type but that’s the only music I have any hope of doing within the upcoming century.
           By dropping my standards, I should be ready in a short couple of weeks. I won’t be at the Coliseum or uptown, but I’ll give the local VFW musicians a run—most of them can play but it is not arranged because either they can’t, don’t know how, or simply do not think it is important. Ha, watch me.

           At 7:30PM I met with Wilford at the club, I wanted to give a pep talk about the so-so gig at the brewery. Many beginners overlook the positives and I ken the effects of public scorn. He bore up better than most. I went over the “August List”, the derivative of the brewery gig. These are the tunes we could play, the test was if he knew the tunes. Yep, every one of them, which means we have a good starting point. He knows the locals and that could be helpful with the Legions. It was a long conversation so we’ll trim it to say the song choices are ideal for now.

Last Laugh