September 10, 2023
Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 10, 2022, 5 years to de-orbit.
Five years ago today: September 10, 2018, this poist rambles.
Nine years ago today: September 10, 2014, whew, an ideal checkup.
Random years ago today: September 10, 2012, batbike tow hitch.
I’m bound to make this a memorable day. I heard that, somebody saying that is best accomplished by getting some work done. It’s actually a simple equation; having a blog makes every day memorable. Shall we start by checking on the papayas? Good plan, they don’t need checking so that means I get another cup of tea. It’s too hot for coffee. And before I forget to mention it again, am I the only one who doubts the claim that Stevia is twice as sweet as sugar?
Shown here, some critter got one of my avocado seeds overnight, right off my window planter. Meaning the sneak did it while I was asleep three feet away. The window was not open but still. This casts a shadow of gloom over the morning, why I’d better have another tea before I go check the north yard. It’s okay for all the “good” plants have wire guards but I really wanted that cup of tea.
Later, I got a good look at the damage after the raid and he got the coffee-can avocado I planted especially for you. For garnish, he nibbled a bit on the oregano. It now looks like I’ll have to rig up a wire cage for any plants too small to fend off these animals.
There is one Haas avocado left and it will be ripe today, so you are lucky. I notice they won’t touch anything over a certain age. From the amount of turmoil, I’m suspecting a fully grown raccoon. More items are slated to be moved up on shelves at least three feet up off the ground. I mis-measured the fence post for the lean-to, meaning I’ll need a 14-footer to span the roof but otherwise looking good. See picture, this is the gradually emerging plank wall along the table saw shed.
It did not get warm until past 10:00AM so we got in a half-hour with rake and hoe, enough to clear some workspace to sink another post for the birdbath. I’ll lower the dish bath because turns out it is too high to see the birdies when I’m seated at the desk inside. Can’t have that. We’ve not seen Mrs. Downey in a week.
What’s in the news, besides “Trump bad” that is. Wow, look at the reception he got in Iowa. That’s one of the states where the Democrats rule supreme. Or used to, anyway. The ruling class is frantically handing out long jail sentences to justify the J6 fake insurrection. This time they jailed a mother and son for walking through an open door. Reminds one of how Stalin told his thugs a revolution needed enemies. So they went out and killed every Ukrainian farmer who owned more than one cow. This is all coming to a head. They are trying to jail Trump for life for saying the 2020 was stolen, yet every major Democrats said the same about the 2016.
The entire Democrat camp is one big dumpster fire. Their own party faithful are leaving, quitting, and defecting in disgust. There’s talk that Biden is incensed that Trump is getting bigger motorcades than he is, what a thing for a Head of State to be bothered over. Google is mucking with the system again, so pardon any posts that are late. Google loves to do things on a Sunday, when the library is closed. Google is on another security kick, where they won’t let you log on to your blog unless you enter the code they send by e-mail. Then lock up the e-mail sign in page.
Picture of the day.
Crowded Manila animal shelter.
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Five hours in the great outdoors. I repaired the bird dripper, they’ve had only the mister nozzle for a while. That’s because I had to sink a fence post, not a summer sport in Florida. It’s done and Mrs. Red was in there within 60 seconds. This sets in motion a relay of backyard events. While she’s in the tub, Mr. Red knows he has the feeder to himself. Cardinals are noisy feeders and this pair is skittish. They will only feed when nobody is nearby, hence the squirrels have learned to use the cardinals as lookouts. So this time, I watched for how the squirrels were getting at the big feeder. It’s a flying leap from the dryer. They run across the top of the dryer and leap the three feet onto the cage. But it’s at their range limit, so we just move the dryer.
How about something most of you have never seen before? Would that qualify as unique enough. Okay, that PA speaker that got wet in the corner, the one that I custom built a beauty of a wooden cabinet out of plywood. It’s half the size and weight of the big speakers, so it comes in handy for most gigs. But I have not use it for years, it is in the silo. I went to get it for rehearsal this evening and a rat comes bailing out of the case. How?
The box is solid plywood and the metal grill is screwed into a frame that fit the casing. Ah, but that bass reflex hole was facing the floor. It did not quite seal the bottom all the way down. There was enough for a small rat to get inside and build a nice armored nest out of the wads of insulation. Eventually, the rat gnawed a hole through the speaker, shown here. I mentioned the frame, it was fitted in, but not out. There was a way the rat could push the grill outwards just enough to get into the silo, then spring back into place so I never noticed it.
Who knows how angry I’d be if I had not got these speakers free from Agt. M? I took the other speaker and Gigrac to rehearsal today, our groupie did not show. I can report a lot more progress. This also means we will sooner rather than later reach what I call the “talent limit”. The point at which learning anything new becomes a lot like work. I know how long things take and also know music learning curves can have drastic differences. We played through Set B today, now focusing on the parts that are shaky, but at no point did we have to stop and do repairs, musically speaking.
We need four more songs, no shortcuts on that. Now that I’ve measured his guitar playing, I’ll pick tunes that match his style. Which is bluegrass, and [it has] a strong influence on his strumming. He learns rapidly when I show him with my six-string, it’s that effect that things seem simpler when you watch somebody else do it first. The fact is, while I don’t like teaching music, I am so anxious to get a band together that I’ll play and teach whatever it takes. It means putting on a less-than-capable show. So be it, any guy who shows up for seven rehearsals is motivated in my books.
My decision is to shunt the Pavilion ahead to the 24th. He’ll be as ready as ever by then. I’ve set him to work on strumming non-bluegrass chops, which I see him struggle with. Still, forge ahead because he now knows I can fake most of his parts on the bass, and also that if he loses a chord or passage, he has now seen that I can solo along. I’m reaching deep into my music sack to find two more tunes for Wednesday. “One More Last Chance” and “Fireman” are the most likely candidates. I will have to use lyric sheets on stage, my poor head can only hold so much. We now have around 15 strong tunes and 15 that need work. We rehearsed in the 100°F+ heat.
We’ve stepped rehearsals up to two per week, which for me is a 100 mile commute (only in America) but I’ll recoup that with one good gig. He’s seen how my rehearsals do not waste any time. Personalities are already showing through so keep your eye on the future. Bands need to get along. Let’s do a quick overview of the duo arranging. The list has dropped those [tunes] he doesn’t pick up right away. Like millions of guitar players, he has never had any reason to look at music from any perspective but his own, so he is incredulous at some of the things I do, such as the lead breaks. But, unlike so many, he is NOT resistant or grumbly over it, he knows what he has to do if he wants to play the material.
So while he does not yet have an ear for music that lends itself to great duo arrangements, he is now super-aware of the differences in sound between our song selections. His were chosen with mainly guitar-think while my pieces are chosen for overall balanced presentation. That is, my pieces deliver the wow, his do not. Time will change that.
Where his imagination is fired most is the simple addition of intros, riffs, and outros that are mostly left out when guitar soloing. And a mediocre bassist doesn’t help with that. Turns out he enthusiastically likes the bass intros and outros because he sees they how are angled for maximum audience appeal. (This would not be the first time I’ve met a guitar player who never thought of that outside his own perspective.) The Prez, by doing his homework, is now getting a million bucks in free exposure to the techniques that count.
Where he is most amused is where I show him a generic technique that he knows he’s heard somewhere before, but where? My bands don’t normally fade the endings, an acutely difficult sequence to get right on stage. On the other hand, the “chop” is over-used. That’s why I’ve developed an array of endings that intrigue him because they have to be played on two instruments. Nobody tell him he is playing a little Mozart and Beethoven at times, okay?
Would I give examples? Okay, but they are pretty local and attached to how I go about things. Last day I mentioned the “cha-cha-cha” ending, and the “Haffamen”. That’s where when you end on a root chord, you wait one beat and play the IV chord so it sounds like the first syllable of “Amen”, but you never play the second. Catches somebody in the audience every time. Today I showed him how to tack on a melody line, which I call “lingering”. The concept here is having around a third of the song list end with some distinct musical sequence that leaves an impression, and that impression is not left to accident.
As for stage technique,the Prez catches on instantly. He gets every stop after one try and he instantly picked up on “doing a Johnny Cash”. If you don’t know that one by now, watch “Walk The Line” or read way back in this blog. That’s where the band keeps on playing the same musical phrase over and over until somebody starts singing. Plus what to keep playing (softly) at the end of a tune if the audience cheers or applauds. My observation is he’s never been in a band before that even approached this level of stage sophistication. My theory on that isn’t idle, I think the entertainers who figure it out have every right to name the band after themselves.
His pet new technique is playing mutes, he never knew there was a wrong way to do it, and now plays like a drummer would. I found out he had never before learned anything about drumming so he was playing them like a guitar player. Plus, he would mute the strings halfway up the neck, where very slight overtones always leak through. This is undesireable, mute on a fret that’s a sharp or flat. A lot of this is new material for this blog because I’ve never had a guitar player get this far. Now musically, he’s around a six on guitar, but that does not matter because he’s “hanging” the guitar parts on the bass lines and it works. He’s also learned not to fumble for chords because I can keep playing with or without the strums. Overall, I’d say the potential of this duo outclasses anything I’ve seen in Polk Country, Florida.
At the same time, the band is still at the phase where all could go wrong instantly. That’s why I included this extra picture of me holding the special “birdie-stick” I built for the Reds. I suppose there was no YUGE event to mark today. But I think the combination of events makes for quite the novel Sunday in September.
ADDENDUM
Today’s addendum is not required reading. It’s about the book I’m reading on banks. It is monotonous past tedium so I not only don’t recommend it, I issue a warning.against it. The title “Bank Accounts – A World Guide to Confidentiality”, this is not a book that teaches you how to be a criminal. Myself, I was hoping it would explain how bank systems work, and it may yet. You see, I’m only on Chapter 3 as it takes pages of dull reading to find a single spot of interest. There have been two so far. Numbered accounts and Swiss accounts. Turns out, the original reason for numbered accounts was European laws that allowed the wife to know about the husband, and numbers don’t fuss with Mr. or Mrs.
So, I wondered, could anybody steal the number and go clean out the account, and why do we never hear of this? Turns out even with the number the bank goes through some hoops and many banks require an appointment so when the number shows up, the manager will personally know the owner. That’s the second item, Swiss accounts, pertaining to their relationship with America. Hollywood pushes the idea that Swiss accounts are for criminals and the Swiss make so much money off it they are running a protections racket.
I’ve now learned the Swiss point of view. They say they do a fine job of keeping criminals out of their banks. They know there is a problem, but they maintain (and I think this is an excellent point) that it is a problem with American tax laws, not Swiss banking laws. And the Swiss are not going to get embroiled plugging American legal loopholes. The primary objection by American authorities appears to be the numbered account system itself which runs counter to the American concept that they have a right to snoop. The Swiss say they were banking long before America came along and will be banking long after America is dead and gone. That’s another excellent point.
Last Laugh
