One year ago today: May 4, 2023, New York mental problems.
Five years ago today: May 4, 2019, he’s a stooge.
Nine years ago today: May 4, 2015, before anyone noticed.
Random years ago today: May 4, 2020, there’s Matilda.
The mechanics of music. I must have five different boxes of gcables and adapters over the years. I found some of them today. Let’s focus on getting enough together to make a recording. Checking the real estate incoming, I see some new tactic, prices dropping by and extra dollar on the end. Like $20,001 or 14,001. Maybe a stab at the old 99 cent pricing trick loved by itinerant salesmen. The small birds I cant ID may be juvenile sparrows. The new Canon ink cartridges are a rip-off, printing less than 80 regular pages or about half the capacity of the old models. Mostly I print lyrics and letter at around 15% coverage.
Here is, finally, the small bird feeder in its custom baffle. It’s experimental and I paid extra for woodpecker grub as they have not been hanging around. Infused with blueberries, which have quintupled in price for no apparent reason. You may find a slight improvement in the blog features. While I’ve not found my main folder with all the XP software, It’s actually MicroSoftOffice 2000, but the reality is that company has been unable to improve a single feature or add any new ones, bearing in mind that they were never the best to begin with. This photo is hard to decipher It shows the outer protective frame of rings that, according to on-like squirrel control, will not allow access.
Now look closely. In the upper half of the cavity, you can just see the shape of a regular hanging birdfeeder. It has to be loose or it would be hard to refill. The top and bottom lid of the feeder are metal and it does not allow enough space (I think) for an adult squirrel to, well, to squirrel around it. We do not know if the design is right, or even if the small birds will enter the cavity. It was planned empirically, but what the hey, we know that many times in history something was gained by such trial and error. Just I’ve never been so lucky.
Later, still no luck finding my XP disk folder. I know exactly where I keep it and it is not there. Usually this means it has fallen behind something and I will move the furniture if I have to. I’ve also got a habit of placing things on top of things. As I search, I get close to a flashback of where I may have put it, so I have a plan. Later tonight, I go to Karaoke, see? With my mind distracted, I should get that final flash where it could be hiding. And where is my box full of audio cables? I have a dozen sets of RCA and other patch cables. The silo was supposed to put an end to this sort of searching around.
How about the news that the boxes of “classified material” that were seized in the Trump raid were placed there without his knowledge? After their despicable conduct over the fake Trump election interference trials, nobody of substance is doubting the theory. It centers on a missing binder of Russian intelligence that was, according to the CIA, gone missing in the White House during Trump’s “final frantic days”. The snag with that theory, that Trump declassified the material and took it with him to use against the intelligence agency and as ammunition against enemies during a second term—it’s far too sophisticated for Trump to conjure up, far too consistent with the Deep State's reputation. It smacks of the way the Deep State frames people, not a political novice like Trump. It’s like accusing a pre-schooler of planning to blackmail his dean if he every goes to college in the future. Nobody is buying it.
the Singing Ringing Tree, England.
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The box for the recording equipment is going to be 19-1/2 Inches long. As with most of my wooden equipment boxes, it should easily withstand being dropped from any likely height and the structure strong enough to stand on. I called the neighbor over for a look and to check on how he’s faring. Sure enough, he’s to the same flu as JZ, one symptom at a time lasting around a week. I had it, but less severe, noting that the only cases I’m aware of are people over fifty. This photo is not the box, rather a demo of how well the poly finish sharpens up the dry balsa type wood these cigar boxes are made of.
Found it. Underneath a book, could happen to anybody. Well, Ken, I mean anybody who kept a copy of their 2014 Nautical Almanac. And don’t give me your old “I knew you were going to say that: routine. So, I never made Karaoke and since the install takes a couple hours [to do it right], I won’t start until tomorrow.
That leaves me a nice quiet evening to play bass. Oh goodie, we get to talk music. Before that, let’s take a peek how this one incident can ripple through my lifestyle. The software in an attended install, that means you have to hang around because the proceedings. It will stop at various points to ask for instructions, so don’t stray too far. The immediate effect is this doubles my local weekend travel budget, making it $86, more than I usually spend. Add that to my entertainment saved tonight and we have over $100 to do something.
It is not that simple. We cannot invest it, that disrupts the careful planning needed to keep a steady amount each period. There’s nothing we need to buy that is not already spoken for. I haven’t been to the movies but the nearest theater is a long drive than the movie. The money must b e spent or it gets recategorized as 1143 (Found Money) and shipped off to Tennessee. That’s the funeral account and it is already over $4,000 sitting there. It’s not enough to buy that PA system that suits my now down-graded roadie capabilities. Let’s clip the $100 on the bulletin board and kind of play it by ear.
Ah, but will the money get burned up on repairs? That’s twice I’ve taken my bass apart and checked every joint, and resoldered any suspect connections. No apparent faults, all checks out, including the cables to the PA. That lands the suspicion on the PA itself, say it isn’t so.
ADDENDUM
It’s not busy, so how about some details on how I worked on a tune, adapting it to suit not just the techniques of duo presentation, but part of the search to find music that cashes in on our strong points. I finally did choose the Kinks, “Sunny Afternoon”, the weird song of its era. Frequent novel chord progressions and a strong, adaptable bass line, and in a key I can sing it. No lead break and strong riffs, I can easily turn most of this tune into walkdowns that almost double the number of notes. To really arrange this is a tall order, so give me time. For now, I’ll just have to be happy a schmeeb like me can even contemplate such musical tasks. Sigh.
Which is how I play old rock, and one of my favorite “duo” adaptation techniques is the four-octave walkdown. Consider it lucky I have a guitarist who does his homework, although that was not an instant process by any means. It often takes a bit for them to realize not only is this the real thing, there is zero chance of ever finding something even similar east of the Mississippi. In a nice surprise, those Bluegrass picks that he does fit very will with melody lines during the instrumental breaks.
That is something to hear, instead of a volume punch, the breaks involve both of us beefing up the music to fill any gaps, and emulating that melody line, now that has audience appeal. I’m the happier because it deletes the need for a lead player and’or conversations thereof, plus it solidifies the rhythm players commitment knowing it becomes ridiculous to try finding another band. Bandwise, this is considerably significant.
Around the time I pulled the pin on the jam session, there were all kinds of rumors of the fat-boy stealing my player, but I know nobody likes playing the same dozen tunes unless they have no other choice. This led to a one-week pause, after which the Prez was back, sold on the duo concept, and playing some impressive licks. That means time put in, which I will see to it is amply rewarded in the tip jar as soon as we find a house gig. And we are getting very close. Monday is kava bar, episode two.
How are the voicings? Great, some of the tunes now have “5-1/2” parts. That’s why I’m plowing time into getting it recorded. What a surprise that Bluegrass riffs can spice up the tunes, I could not have known that without getting this far and you know that took decades. I’ve used the technique on bass, where I don’t quite play the melody, rather suggest it. This has a proper name I don’t recall but the Prez heard me doing it and added his own versions. This means we can play most instrumental breaks in counterpoint, something I know scares the pants off the guitarist who loathes sharing the spotlight.
To ramp up the effect, remember my insistence since day one that we do not leave out the intros and outros? Smart move. That’s where walkdowns begin to show up. Counter point says the two parts must be harmonically related—but this means scale tones must sometimes be played out of key to fit the chord pattern. Aha, remember all those music theory lessons I took before my teens? I can visualize the correct notes by visualizing a piano keyboard (not a perfect solution).
As always, I pay attention to what goes right and this duo tends toward non-standard chord changes. We now rarely play I-IV-V patterns. This is where the “5-1/2” voicings show up. If you can image the following in combination. He’s playing bluegrass accompaniment while I’m in there with four-octave scale tone walkdowns, both of us singing light harmonies, and the blend of the acoustic and bass supplying an implied half-rhythm that nobody in the band is actually playing.. Add ‘em up, it’s 5-1/2, Hippie.
Is there a downside? Yes. It also means that every part has to be played rather precisely. This puts a standing strain on the band that makes the music less fun to play that it could be. I’m already beyond my limit as I now can forget entire verses and, with age, I am beginning to miss notes. I don’t mean when getting distracted on stage, or playing space. I mean lapses where my mind played the note but my fingers did not. Scary, but at least I’m up there, guys. And you know the old saying, time spent playing on stage is not deducted from your lifespan.
Funny, I can hear Billie-Bill somewhere saying everything I’ve written has been done before so nothing I do is original. Maybe so, but how come none of them ever wrote it down? Besides, I don’t doubt everything I’ve done has already been done. But have they ever been deliberately done before specifically for a basa and acoustic presentation? I doubt it
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