One year ago today: January 3, 2022, nonsense that continues.
Five years ago today: January 3, 2018, joists yes, porch no.
Nine years ago today: January 3, 2014, too many variables.
Random years ago today: January 3, 2003, I miss the 70s.
Houston, we have a problem. Smuggled video out of Africa shows the countries where the Chinese were invited in have the highest rates of COVID fatalities. It could be many things, but the piles look like otherwise healthy people. Then, JZ calls to report the arm where he got jabbed is giving him enough pain to put him out of action. I’m planning an extra trip to Miami over this, since he’ll get no help from that girlfriend and won’t ask [for help]. Make sure the guy has the essentials (food, not whiskey, folks) to wait this out. Myself, I have a three month supply of coffee. JZ figures because I don’t go visiting when I’m sick and thus never sees me even with a cold, that I must have a super-immune system.
Around 10:30AM Mike, the new guitarist showed up in a late-model Lexus. This ad, [which] I first saw in Tennessee, not Florida. I guessed right he’d moved here but I thought direct from up north. Nope, he was working in the Keys. Aha, that explains why his music is such a match for Polk. He quit his job there, he’s a maintenance man, because he decided the $1600 rent for a single room wasn’t worth it. Wise. The remainder of today will likely be about the audition this morning.
Once again, I can say if he does his homework, we will get out there in no time. His initial reaction and later his summation is that he’s never before heard bass played as anything other than “second fiddle” and never it its own right as a separate instrument of equal voicing. As we progressed you could see the “aha” moments, where he can now play the part he always wanted rather than dragging the band along. This took up most of our time, so I’ll have to do something about getting his song list. I asked for a complete set of what he already knew for sure [that] he could sing and play.
The picture is from northern Alberta, sent by Mitch. This is apparently his favorite toboggan hill. I can't see it, there's too much snow covering it up. But he has sure learned how to take a picture.
Prefab “Billionaire Bunker”.
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Waiting for him to meet a few of the locals paid off. He’s learned what is not out there and I remind you that is a big factor in this town. For example, he’s already met Bradford, which I can imagine had Brad realizing I am not (as he hoped) the only one who had moved on from guitar-centric music. Mike only said that after talking to a few of these yahoos on the phone, he took down his ad and decided to throw in with me sight unseen. We only met today, in case you forgot. He glommed onto voicings right away and that carried us through at least five tunes. It is a definite match for music, intentions, and for now, personality.
We also did the preliminary talk about gigs and money. He is also looking only for casual income and a reason to go out. He will play for tips only, recognizes it as advertising, a concept too may guitarists struggle with. The song list today was roughly twenty tunes, more than 15 of them “combat ready” if we had to. To non-entertainers, that is a gargantuan milestone, one that so many never get to. There was a pattern to his song list that made sense once he explained the Key West connection.
I got nothing else done today and this is good reason. I must rig up my small PA speakers and set some equipment for rehearsal. If this takes more than a couple of weeks, it is because some totally unknown factor arises. He was visibly satisfied that I could carry a full voicing on the bass. He was aware of the difficulty singing and playing bass at the same time and saw how my piano background made that work. I ran over the list he sent me and will wait for an updated version now that he is aware a second rhythm player is not needed to carry the tune. (He was somewhat impressed that I could sing just to the bass, like many he’d never seen that before. I never told him I had a complete show already doing that.)
ADDENDUM
It’s rare good news. Germany is banning the collection and storage of data without a good reason. That means a court order. It’s interesting how decadent politicians pass such laws and any country with a decent high court overturn them. It’s doubtful we’ll see anything of the kind in America with Big Tech lining the pockets of the politicians who have now absolved themselves of all responsibility and put themselves above the law. Mind you, we keep hearing about Trump and Kari Lake who DC so badly wishes would just go away. Thus, even if we ban secretive data collection, the bad guys have enough to keep going for several lifetimes.
Except on those who saw it coming, I mean. Those few will be okay.
Here’s something. The actors in the 1968 movie “Romeo & Juliet” are suing because they were “forced” to act in the nude. If you’ve seen the movie, there is one brief scene showing the guys arse and a glimpse of her boobs, a far cry from anything you’d call sex. If you ask me, these two are not at all that good-looking or talented to be so worked up over the matter. Oh, that when I was 17, somebody would pay me to hop in the sack with a teen actress, any teen actress. I’m sure I’d be scarred for life. They got one thing right, mind you. The movie is best watched with the soundtrack turned off.
