October 29, 2023

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 29, 2022, skinny girl costumes.
Five years ago today: October 29, 2018, the fake “stealth” angle.
Nine years ago today: October 29, 2014, I can’t weld.
Random years ago today: October 29, xxxx, WIP

           Check back in twelve hours how rehearsal goes. Most seat-of-the-pants types would find our directed goal approach to practice to be “unmusical” but we are in a playing situation seven weeks after we first met and I don’t mean because we already knew all the same songs. I knew zero of the Merle songs he’s brought in and he had played only bluegrass, so there were no shortcuts. The groundwork could be just starting to pay off, as the last gig is now completely examined for what worked best. There’s no absolutes and we don’t know what’s next, but we do know the effect our groundwork had on the other guitar players.

           Hence, the plan is three tunes this time, the ones mentioned last day plus “Neon Moon”. The jam host played it “from memory” and it was our structure that carried it, although I’m guessing at parts because he kept stepping outside the camera frame and his strumming was muddy. But the plan is to let him shine on all three tunes. I will do what I have to for that gig and I’m disappointed we were not called in on last Friday’s cancellation. It’s 8:00AM, the sun is up, let’s go slap on another coat of poly while the atmosphere is temperate. Right now, let’s have rice for breakfast and see if I can find my misplaced favorite tape measure.
           This extremely rare photo was posted on-line this morning by some lady from Minnesota. There are no real “albino” red cardinals as they appear this beautiful yellow color. She’s a lucky gal as statistically there are only 15 of these in existence. Even more rare are truly original ideas in Hollywood. That giant monster worm in Star Wars is based on the Mongolian legend of a giant death worm that lives under the desert sand. It can surface, curl into a ring and chase down prey by rolling across the dunes like a tire. I’ll watch the movie later today as the radio says it will be another scorcher.

           Four hours later, you get the shed report. I finished the small box and took it over to the neighbor. He’s depressed these days. I told him the box was to hold the thousand dollar bills his grandkids gave him for Xmas since I knew they had sentimental value. When he stopped laughing, we got the belts on the sander in the shed. I got the machine cleaned up and oiled. We also over-inflated the lawn tractor tire that kept going flat and now it seems to hold. Most of my boxes got yet another coating of poly and I filled the birdfeeders. Also planted another batch of papaya seeds, this time in a raccoon proof cage.
           One of the items I picked free was a gallon of “siliconized” paint. It said for waterproofing roofs and I figured to try it on my remaining wooded tool handles. So far the thing it sticks to the best is my hands and clothes. It will not wash off with water or spirits, but drips off the wood globs. I took fifteen minutes to run through the tunes scheduled for later. I cut rehearsal to two hours today as I know both of us are feeling the pace. I remind the reader that a working band is a bit of a part time job and the time put in can’t be shaved.
           Later, I dipped two of my wooden tool handles into this silicon paint. The texture remined me of that goop made special for tool handles. It’s exensive and once you open the container you might as well use it all. Shown here, this paint does a fairly decent job and has a rubber-like feel. It seems to do a dandy job. If this experiement is successful, we’ve got plenty of wood around here that needs some protection.

           I’ve begun the audio-book “Starfire”. So far, avoid it. The plot is no glorious battles, but so far how the President takes a flight into Space. His opponents attack, no because they think he did anything wrong, but because they believe they can manipulate public opinion. The trip to rehearsal gave an hour’s listening time and so far this not a story of space wars as depicted on the jacket. Other than the descriptions of the orbiters, it’s most politics and all about people out to use the American system to shaft each other.
           Here’s a unique picture, the small work light rack I built. Originally for the microscope, it ‘s too handy for such specialized used. I wireedup one of those lights meant for under a shelf to produce what you see here. My camcorder lens cover jammed and I’m trying to release the tiny pieces but it’s hopeless. I found what was sticking the shutters. Papaya juice. It’s times like this I look forward to my Monday’s off.

Picture of the day.
Jupiter “space face” dupery.
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           This week has been, by my standards, hectic and I know I need downtime. I got plenty of praise for the work on that box I gave away so the next one is in the works. But, I’m reversing some of the steps, for example, I’ll prepare the wood first. That’s part of what you see here, the wood is jointed, planed, and sanded to a satin finish. It’s slow-paced hand work requiring unfamiliar tools and around ten minutes of sanding time with 80 grit followed by 150. But it upgrades the cull lumber I use and some of it comes out pretty slick looking.

           One gem from Saturday was a can of cherry stain. I thought it would have a more red hue, but it is more brown. It’s nice so I applied a layer to my speaker cabinet. It looks a lot less like plywood now. There should be a photo, it leaves a golden-red tint to the grain pattern. At one point today I had fifteen boxes lying around drying their poly finish. It’s funny in a way, seeing boxes I build long ago that are suitable only or storage now gleaming with pecan, walnut, and cherry finishs. I sent a full page of photos to JZ who knows darn well he missed the boat on this incredible hobby.

           Rehearsal was as “non-standard” as it gets. We did not spend hours learning “our part” and more hours meshing the process. If you can’t get out there, play it, and have fun in the process, get the hell away from me. I care not what you are trying to prove. We rattled off the three tunes planned and was impressed how rapidly the Prez pegged the musical parts that adapts for a duo. What a great apprentice, he will tell you himself how he’s never done anything like this before.

           Another offshoot of the time learning technique is the tunes that become possible. One that gives me pause, however, is “Chatahoochie”. Yes it’s ancient and I’ve played it but mayge give it another listen. This will test us to the limit, just the chord pattern need to be memorized. I’ll point this out to the Prez but he will likely now say do it, why not press what we’ve learned to the limit?
           We stopped after two hours where we usually run well over. He still works for a living so I’ll slow things down for a couple of weeks. I know to outsiders it looks all fun and games. But last Wednesday we were on that stage and hour and a half and I an not keen on overworking my guitar player. He’s not the enthusiasm, and it’s interesting that he will play what we rehearsed even if it is not quite right for the moment. Like somehow (we discovered), the EQ setting on the chorus pedal had been turned up full but he kept on playing it that way. He knows he’s getting valuable stage time.
           One aspect that really impressed him was the rhythm strums, how even a slight variation in each tune can produce a great change. We spent four hours learning this, that scenario where I can’t play guitar, but I can sure show you how to play guitar in a band. The Prez is not the first lifelong guitar player to mention they never knew about this technique until I brought it up. The effect is the more we play the songs, the more his ear gets the strumming to emulate the overall sound, not strictly the guitar part. I’m very please with how things have moved forward.

ADDENDUM
           The Israeli poster child for the COVID vaccine died of a heart attack, he was 8 years old. His father was a doctor who should have known better, but that is the only way some people learn.

Last Laugh