Yep, I’m MEGA late with the post, but I’ve got excuses. Do you care to hear them? Well, you get
to listen anyway. I’ve been very busy booking gigs for this fall. There’s a bunch of good stuff coming up. I’ll be doing a few
shows with Trip Wamsley (www.tripwamsley.com) in Arkansas,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas,
and maybe Tennessee. Nothing’s
set in stone yet for those, but keep an eye on the Gig Calendar page. If you
haven’t checked out Trip, you must do so now. Go to his website. Listen to his music. Buy his music. Trip is a stellar player, composer, and just an all-round cool guy.
Do it. Now.
So anyway…after the shows with Trip, there’s going to be
an awesome all bass night called “BassUp!”. It will be on October 9th
here in Atlanta at the RedLight Café. The
line up is me, Trip, Joseph Patrick Moore, and Adam Nitti. Joseph and Adam will
be with full bands, and Trip and I will be solo. It’s going to ROCK. You must come. We will be recording most, if not all, of the
show, so you must come and scream cool things about us. Yes, yes!
By the way, my other excuse is that May 1st
was my birthday. I’m 28 years old. My
my, our little baby is growing up! The big third circle (30) is right around
the corner…laughing at me. No worries.
I’ve still got the mentality of a three-year-old, so when I hit 30 that will average out to 27. I’ll still be younger than I am now. That’s what I call Voodoo
Math. It’s used a lot by the aging…and the insane.
If you haven’t heard by know, I played a live broadcast
will Adam Nitti on Chattanooga’s public radio, WUTC, on Friday, April 23rd. I had a blast! Let me first of all thank
Mark Pitner for getting the show together and asking me to play on it. The hour
would have been more interesting if he let Adam Nitti do the whole thing by himself.
So thank you, Mark. I really do appreciate you getting my music on the
radio. By the way, if you haven’t heard the show, go hear:
http://www.bassically.net/realmedia/nitti_michaels.ram
Cliff Engel of bassically.net was kind enough to record
the show and post it on his site. Thanks Cliff.
That’s two I owe ya.
Okay, now onto to why I’m writing this blog…the show. We met at Adam’s house in the morning so he and his wife could follow Cindy and me
up to Chattanooga. His dog mugged
us as we waited. It really took my mind off of things. We raced up to Chattanooga (yeah, I’m a speeder, so what?!),
and met Mark Pitner (that’s three times I’ve mentioned your name) in the crammed-full-of-cars car lot behind a popular lunch
spot in Chatt. We left that soon after arriving and dropped our gear off at WUTC. There we got to meet Richard Winham, one of the cool DJs at WUTC. Richard has a wonderful sense of humor (after seeing all the gear I brought, he asked if we were moving
in) and a great love for music. He spins a lot of tunes you won’t hear anywhere
else on the radio in the South. Needless to say, it was a pleasure to have met
him.
After dropping off the stuff, we drove across town to grab
some grub at a kick-bootie Indian restaurant. I forgot the name of the place,
but the food is divine! We had a great lunch.
We talked about our schemes involving bass, told stories, and made fun of each other.
Good times. Then we raced back to the studio (this time Adam was the speeder)
while listening to the new Prince album. Crazy good stuff…I almost had to spray
some Glade it was so funky.
Got back to WUTC, got set up, and waited for instructions
for a sound check. Instructions never came.
That’s because we had no sound check. I couldn’t even check how I sounded
in the room because Richard was on the air. Bummer. So I set my amp head EQ flat, and hoped for the best. Then
I found out we were just going to room mic it. I really prefer a close mic so
you can really hear nuance and what not. However, I didn’t fret (punny). Richard
has a lot of experience at this.
Now then. Let
me let you into my head on my view of the radio event. I don’t want to sound
too negative, but I do want to show an honest view of how critical I am of myself and my playing. Remember this is how I felt and what I was thinking during the show.
I actually had a wonderful time hanging out, playing, and meeting new people.
So before you click send on that email to yell at me for being a jerk, realize you are probably just as critical and
insane about yourself as I am about myself. Cool?
Here we go. We
went on the air, and Richard gave an introduction for Mark. Mark said a few things
about his love of bass and introduced me. I
introduced Green, and BAM! I was playing it.
Man! my tone wasn’t there at all in the room, but it wasn’t horrible. Immediately
I was worried about playing the piece. If it didn’t sound good to me, I didn’t
want to play it. However, there was no way to change it then, since Mark was
between me and my amp. Heh. Also,
I couldn’t tweak my bass EQ because I was playing a song that didn’t allow me to reach down to grab the knobs. I adjusted my plucking a bit, and my tone became passable for the room.
I stumbled a few times musically while I was making adjustments and freaking out a little inside. I began to relax, and the song started playing itself sounding more and more musical to me. I finished the tune and no one clapped at first. Heh. Did I suck that bad? was bouncing around
in my head pounding my confidence into mush. Richard was cool and talked a bit
about my pedals.
Mark gave me another intro, and the next tune, Third Circle, was better.
I got to tweak just a bit on my bass, but then I realized that Mark was standing between the amp and the mic. I was wondering if that would muffle the broadcast sound somewhat. I couldn’t stop in the middle of the song, although What does this
sound like on the radio?! had become my new mental mantra. Once again, musical
slips during the freak out.
Third song, Mr.
Skin, was a little better. Since I had no sound check, the drum machine was
crazy loud. The distraction threw off my timing for the loop, but I kept going. Since I was looping in lots of overdubs, the crappy tone problem seemed crappier. Plus things were getting audibly murky and really covering up dynamics and nuance
that really make me love that tune. Again the “what’s-it-sound-like” mantra ruined
my brain, but I was able to ignore it a little. I felt I performed Mr. Skin reasonably well. Also, I was very happy to have played a
newer piece, because Green and Third Circle are pretty old tunes and don’t represent my present state as a player/composer
very well. Ego, isn’t it just a horrible thing?
I stumbled through the rest of the interview with Richard. It’s hard to switch from playing to talking, you know?
I unplugged. Cindy gave me a hug and a kiss, and told me that I did a
great job. Adam said he liked it. I
was convinced that I completely blew chunks. When I looked down at my watch,
I noticed that almost 30 minutes had passed. The original plan, I think, was
to have me play 15 to 20 minutes then the rest would be Adam. I felt so horrible. I had bumped into Adam’s time. I’m so
sorry for that, Adam.
Adam went on air and completely threw down. He was very composed when he spoke and played some amazing solo pieces.
It was so awesome to be in that room and to experience his music. Too
bad his last piece got cut off right in the middle. Once again, I felt like an
ass for going over time. I’m sorry that all of you listening to the show didn’t
get to hear all of it.
Anyway. Over,
done with, gone. That’s my insane view of the radio show. Let me say this. I would do it again. Even if I was forced to make the same mistakes, I would do it again.
I had that much fun. My kinda fun makes me go psycho, but it’s still fun
to me. I love it. So let me thank
everyone again. Thanks, Mark, for putting me on the air…and the Indian food. Thanks, Cliff, for recording the show and speading the word. Thanks, Richard, for doing the interviews and playing my music. Thanks,
Adam, for letting me perform with you. Thanks everyone one that sent me positive
comments. And thanks, reader, for making it all the way through this hella long
blog post! On to the next show!…well after mine and Cindy’s trip to Spain.
