Hiya. Welcome to the magical land of the Internet where
every minute is chock full of gummy bear wishes and lollipop rainbows. You can be anything you want to be here. Personally,
I want to be a boat. Not a large boat; maybe a tugboat…with a foghorn. BEEEEEOOOOOHH!!!
Yes that’s right, I am a complete goober. Sorry for wasting
your time with that last paragraph. If I could, I would definitely refund the ten seconds you spent reading it—fifteen seconds
if you’re a bit daft. Come on, you know you were moving your lips when you read it. Heh.
I suppose you’re here to hear about my June 25th
gig at Jatema. I guess I’ll nix on the goofiness and let you know how it went.
It went well.
Turn out was a total 180 from last time (see previous Jatema
blog). At one point there wasn’t enough seats to go around, so folks were standing. The large crowd was due to everyone telling
and/or bringing a friend. To all you guys that did just that, you rock! Don’t worry you people that didn’t tell a friend,
you’re pretty cool, too. I’m not too sure about you rocking, but you’re still pretty cool for showing up. For those of you
that didn’t even show up, well, I’ll let your own guilt be your reprimand.
My playing was pretty okay. I’ve been in the process of
writing new material, so I haven’t practiced most the set tunes in a very long time. The only “new” song I did was a cover
of an old Gershwin tune called “Summertime”. I had fun playing that one once the Echoplex cooperated with me. Luckily, I only
had one other head-butting contest with that moody little device. It was during “Love Song” by the Cure. I’m so happy Robert
Smith lives an ocean away, because that was a pretty bleak rendition. Sorry, Bob. Anyway, the rest of the show was typical
Darren—laid back and loose. I had an extremely pleasant time playing for all you fine folks who came to hear me. Thanks again
to the groovie people of Jatema for having me. Look for me to play there again in September. In the meantime go check out
some of the other fine musicians they have playing there on Saturdays. Tell ‘em Darren sent ya.
Oh yeah, a shout to my good friend and student, Ryan Taylor, who got up and played a few of his tunes during my show at Jatema. Great stuff! Look for more music coming from this fellow.
Speaking of September, the bass festival I’m struggling
to once again put together has hit a snag. We’ve had a multitude of players bail out of the lineup due to scheduling and whatnot.
Never fear, BassUp! will go on! I’ll have more info soon, so be just a bit more patient.
Speaking of patience, my custom bass is complete. A friend
of mine has confirmed that my Jerzy Drozd Obsession Excellency is indeed finished. He says it sounds and looks incredible! I’m super psyched to get my anxious little
mitts on it. Of course now it’s waiting to be shipped. Barcelona, Spain to Atlanta, USA is a pretty intense journey, so wish
it a safe trip. I’ll most certainly be telling you guys more about this bass later.
Oh yeah, I’m going to a reunion camp for Victor Wooten’s
Bass/Nature Camp. That should be a real blast. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with a ton of other bassists again.
Good times. If you haven’t heard about this camp, go check it out at www.victorwooten.com .
Okay guys, next gig is Youngblood Gallery on Thursday, July 7th followed by Green Market on July 9th. I’ll be playing some light sets for those, so come check
‘em out. After those gigs, I’ll be taking a bit of a break to revamp things and do some non-music related traveling. Plus
I really, really want to get to the beach!
