“Summertime and the living is easy. Fish are jumping and
the cotton is high.” Ah, Gershwin. Good stuff. Good stuff indeed. Summertime is starting to wind down, though. Heck, a lot
of you young folks are already back to school. Teehee. Teehee indeed.
So, yeah, it’s been a while since I last blogged. Wow,
I feel like an uber-weiner when I say that word…blog. Yep, geekaroo. Yet if the shoe fits...dang. Anyway, since I last talked
to you guys out there in web-land, I’ve had four gigs. I went to the NAMM show in Indianapolis also. Plus, I finally got my
new Jerzy Drozd bass. Drool. It’s a real beauty! It sounds pretty darn snazzy, too. You can see it here. Oh yeah, the BassUp! show is rolling along. It’s got a website and everything now. Check that
out here.
My four gigs went very well, of course. The first one was
playing the Kraftwork at Youngblood Gallery. Kraftwork is this nifty deal where a whole bunch of artists take over the Youngblood Gallery on the
first Thursday afternoon of every month. For absolutely no charge, the artists can set up and sell their wares. If you are
an artist or crafts type person, you should check it out. If you like to buy art and craft stuff, you should check it out.
Anyway, they invited me to play for the July one, so I did. It was packed with artists. I played some really easy going tunes
and had a blast.
The next gig was for Green Market in July as well. I think I’ve talked about Green Market in previous blogs (uh oh, there’s that word again), so you can read
more about what it is there. I love playing Green Market! This time around I got to set up under the shade of nice oak tree.
The Echoplex gave me no problems, but I did manage to kick a bunch of sand into my midi pedal. Major bummer! Sand and light arrays with plastic, spring-loaded buttons do not mesh well. If this was high school, sand
would be the jocks and midi pedals would be those arty types that wear black and hang out in the parking lot during lunch
period. Together, they may be semi-cordial in halls, but at a school dance, they’re on different sides of the gym. Dig?
Anyway, aside from the sand, playing in the park was once
again fun as heck. One weird thing that happened was while I was trying to improvise using a Fibonacci sequence (don’t ask), some dude came up and started talking to me about how LPs sound better than CDs. No argument there,
but the conversation was pretty bizarre. You know that spacey feeling you get when you’re trying to hold a conversation whilst
multitasking to the limit? You're busy doing something (like performing as a solo bassist) and someone asks you a question.
You can kinda hear them. It’s almost as if they are speaking to you from underwater or something. My responses during these
instances are usually pretty brief…polite,yes, but brief. Most folks catch on that I’m a little busy at the moment and come
back after the song’s finished. Not this fellow. My responses were getting ever briefer and more automatic with each question
yet he keep on telling me about his LP collection. Don’t get me wrong. I rather enjoyed the conversation. He mentioned some
great records. What I find odd is how I heard what he was saying. Each one of his comments merged with my own thoughts as
I was trying to perform a solo over a song. It was like, “I’ve got this great buncha all orig…[hit the next loop button]…45s that were just sittin…[rest,1,1,2,3,5,8…]…fellow’s
attic for about s…[ooh, that was neat…try it a fifth higher]…or seventeen years
in an ol…[let me stack that in the loop]…trunk covered in Grateful Dead…[ba da da daa de do dit dum]…kers and eight pounds…[stinkin’ sand]…dust.”
The whole time I’m responding with cools, neats, you-don’t-says, and head nods. Weird, huh? Does this happen to anyone else?
After that gig I took a few weeks off, because I was expecting
my Jerzy bass to show up. I almost got to pick it up at the NAMM show in Indianapolis, but the package was stuck in customs
way too long. UPS, one day you and I are going to go some rounds! (Betcha UPS throws sucker punches though). NAMM was kinda
barren this summer by the way. I met and talked to some nice folks. Plus I saw and played some nice basses, but everything
seemed kinda low-key. I don’t know, maybe it was just me. It was the first time the show was in Indianapolis. That’s a pretty
neat city by the way, but honestly all of the US is starting to look the same to me. It used to be that you could find odd
little mom-n-pop places in different parts of the country. It seems to me that everyone used to have their own way of doing
things. Some ways were similar, some ways different, and some were so bizarre that they bordered on surreal (those are cool).
Now when you travel the US it’s almost as if someone is repeating a reel of scenery. Look, there’s a Taco Bell, a KFC, a mall
and a Wal-mart. There’s a McDonald’s and, wait, another mall and a Wal-mart. What gives?
Anyway, I spent a lot of time in my hotel room. I finished
a few new song stories and I got the BassUp! website up and rolling. Go to that website. Read about the event. Donate or buy some or the groovie merchandise. Then
go to the show on September 18th. You don’t necessarily have to do everthing in that order, but it is
highly recommended. Heh.
So my Jerzy Drozd bass did show up. I’ve been playing the
ever living crap out of it. The different string spacing (feels wider than a P-bass) is still busting my chops, but I’m loving
the look and for the most part, the sound (it’s a bit quiet). The ability to retune on the fly is really taking me to some
new places musically speaking. To help finance the Jerzy bass purchase though, I sold my Fortress four string to one of my
students. I’m missing it, but I know it’s in great (and excited) hands.
I played my new bass in public for the first time at the
Green Market on August 13th. It handled really well. I still have to get used to it not being as aggressive as
my Fortress, but the sound was pleasant. The market was a bit slow due to the heat, but I still had a great time playing in
the park. I met some more great folks. The only bumpy part was when a security guard tried to stop me from playing. I guess
she thought I wasn’t part of the festival, but the organizers straightened her out. Heck, she was only trying to do her job
I guess. Anyway, I played for almost three hours straight out in the sunshine. When I was done, my shirt looked like an ink
blot test from all the sweating I did. Rock! Thanks again to the Green Market folks for having me out! Look for me there next
summer.
A few hours after playing the market, I went up to Lawrenceville
and played at Jatema. This place has become one of my regular haunts. This is nice, because it’s starting to catch on. Turn
out is better and better each time I play there. I think the first time I was there I played to the massive crowd of five
people. However, turn out on August 13th was so good that there wasn’t enough seats for everyone. In the crowd,
I saw many students and their families, folks that I’ve only spoken with via the internet, and many regulars. Shout outs to Steve and Emily as well as the Longo posse. Thanks for helping spread the word! There were
even folks from Cindy’s photography club who came to Jatema to see Cindy’s photos. Did I tell you guys? Cindy had a series of photos hanging at Jatema. The Saturday
that I played there was the last night for folks to see ‘em. If you didn’t see them, too bad you missed them. They were really
good shots. My wife rocks.
My playing that night was okay, but not terrific. I was
worn out from the park, plus my strings on my Jerzy bass were dead from all the sweat I gushed on ‘em earlier that day. Too
bad all you guys didn’t get to hear how that bass really sounds. It’s got a voice that can part clouds. Ah well, there’s always
other chances.
I played some older tunes that I hadn’t pulled out in awhile,
Thana’s Toast being one. That was the first time I played it with the new rig. The song was a bit rusty, but executed nonetheless.
I played a new tune on the Jerzy. It leans a bit to the ambient side of things, but I dig it.
As of yet, I don’t have anything else booked at Jatema,
but I’m pretty sure that will change in the near future. Thanks to the nice folks at Jatema for putting up with me, and thanks
to all you guys that made it out to see the show. I know most folks would rather have a root canal and drink a tuna fish and
beet smoothie that’s been sitting out in the August heat than to go see a solo bass show. You guys showed up, though. Thanks!
It was really a joy to play to a room full of good people. There's just something about it that keeps me doing what I do.
It had me so buzzed that the next morning I had to go out and mow my lawn just to keep from feeling too much like a rock star.
Heh. Anyway, you guys all rock six ways to Sunday.
That’s it for me this summer. I’m off to be a camper at
Victor Wooten’s Bass/Nature Camp in the last week of August. Then right after that, I’ll be doing some recording for East Hall Records. Nope, it’s not more solo stuff although I have enough solid material for two more albums. You guys will just have to wait
some more for that. Sorry! Okay, next gig is BassUp!. Hope to see you there!
