One year ago today: August 28, 2024, WIP
Five years ago today: August 28, 2020, the expert pile.
Nine years ago today: August 28, 2016, the get-tough majority.
Random years ago today: August 28, 2008, dinner at Peggy’s.
Here’s something you’ve likely not seen before. These are vacuum tubes that have a metal shielding or sheath. Other than emitting dangerous radiation, I don’t know if there is anything special about these. I’m having second thoughts on cataloging the latest batch of tubes, you see, in four days the total wholesale list price is so far just $436. After expenses, my cut isn’t enough to keep me interested. But so far, only spare time like this morning has been taken up.
Check back later, I’m crawling back in the sack. I made it to the last Friday in August of 2025, so no sense tuckering myself out first thing. I received an e-mail this morning about investing in a flying boat. It’s serious, some company has restored a 1941 Catalina and are charging people $400 for a half-hour ride around the local harbor. They are offering a 15% return plus profit sharing. The answer is no, but I will take a look.
A perfect Florida morning until the sun came up. Logging a few more tubes, I played over some bass tunes in case today’s audition works out. It did, see below, just not in ways that help right now. Steve is really stuck in the middle of moving and could not be there. So it was bass and drums, but that is no challenge for me. I’ve been playing for money since I was twelve and have no fear of startup bands. The drummer is almost 90 but he knows every song you ever heard of. As usual with musicians, he could pass for twenty years younger.
I balk at averages because the general declining caliber of people skews that number. For example, the average weight for my age is 21 pounds heavier than my optimum. According to their rule book, I’m doing fine. But I can still sense the injuries lurking just below the surface. But I will also enjoy the break, I’m now active three or four hours a day. Which found me driving to Winter Haven to audition the drummer guy. He’s been playing since before I was born.
This morning I have yard pictures for you. Here are some fence panels drying in the sun and the linden tree sprout I will have to kill with chemicals. It is right in the footpath. Shown here, every time you cut it, there are every more sprouts and each of the saplings shown here can grow into an immense three in three years. Too bad it isn’t three feet further south.
The Israelis have posted a communiqué that one Nimron C. has spent 700 days in captivity after being kidnapped in his tank. There is no data on just how that is accomplished, Gab has suggested he accidentally left the screen door open. But I must say, that was not on my bingo card. I mean, “Nimrod”?
Cable from Golden Gate.
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Finally I get to hear Jack the drummer. I correctly surmised he knows all the clubs in this town, and here is a picture of one I checked out later (Florida like long, narrow bars). Turns out he lives around two blocks from the old tube warehouse. He’s got a mini-mansion bought in 1986 and owns two sets of Ludwigs. Pictures later, just not today. He’s getting up in age but knows every song in the book. Yes, he’s out of practice but drumming is the instrument most like riding a bike. It was just bass and drums but he quickly picked up on the methods, in fact, he was somewhat taken aback.
We easily jammed ten of the standards. Jack is still old-school rock and roll, but know the parameters have changed. He would have to make the transition from customized rock beats to the looser country shuffles and lighter touch. He was not the greatest to join in on a song in progress, but that could be simple lack of recent practice, and he admits he’s been out of the loop a while. But those drum kits did not get into his double garage just for looks. Music-wise, the audition was a success. However Jack understands the market a lot more than he did this morning. So let’s talk social music.
Jack reacted quickly to the money part, that you will lose money in a band these days unless you get lucky. However, you will lose vastly less money than you would sitting in the crowd. I think he may know Dave Parsons. He mentioned by name lots of musicians I’ve jammed with over the years and have long forgotten. Most jams for me are one-time events, if I don’t meet candidates or Taylor, I move on. If you want to play the same jam forever, try Derry Downs.
Jack has a house five times bigger than he needs, so he’s a prime candidate for women on the prowl, ha-ha. He’s also got a beautifully restored motorcycle I could not brand, but wait, nobody owns that much chrome without bragging rights. He’s in that category of musicians who remember earning $75 a night each. He knows those days are over. And he’s not jammed that much because he is left-handed. I already suggested me might consider an abbreviated kit for the lighter-duty music we’d be playing.
Some aspects that amused Jack about the duo arrangement are the inclusion of all intros and outros, which soloists tend to leave off. Also the number of stops, which are best memorized. I realized around a third of my list has tunes with stops. Jack quickly spotted how the music would be very tricky for a solo guitarist to copycat, though I doubt he knows this is deliberate. He mentioned a pub I had never heard of, it’s in a strip mall not visible from the road. Jack says they are hiring, so I got my arse over there right afterward.
Yes, it is actually large for Florida, with around 80 chairs plus a full rack of bar stools and another 20 chairs outside. They hire twice a week and promote local bands. I would like to see what they offer and the gal server took a few moments to say what they are interested in. I can do that, just not right now this moment.
ADDENDUM
Ha, I just watched a documentary on the situation at Indian Creek. The media is all over the island known as Billionaire Bunker. It’s an enclave of billionaire right next to a town of millionaires. And it nicely demos what I’ve said about how American capitalism promotes greed—but from the opposite direction most people think. I’ve worded it that once you get rich, you cannot sit back and enjoy, because those who did not make the effort will now demand an ever-increasing share of your wealth.
What happened is the island (man-made) has no sewage system, it is connected via a pipeline to the on-shore treatment plant. What I suspect happened is the millionaires upgraded their system without consulting the billionaires. It seems the millionaires tried to slap the billionaires with a disproportionate share of the cost, you know, like rich shit costs more to dispose of than poor shit. The billionaires said in that case they will pay nothing and had the authorities exempt them from any extra taxes over what happens at the end of that pipeline.
