Just got back from day 2 of BP Live. I feel really fortunate to have had the opportunity to be there.
I met and talked with Bill Leigh for a little while and just have to throw a thumbs up out in his direction. As I think I've said here before, I really get the impression that he cares about the readers of BP, and really tries his hardest to put out the best magazine he possibly can. No salesman vibe, no attitude, just a real down to earth guy who seems to genuinely dig his job and place on the planet.
What I thought was one of the coolest things about the whole event was the sense of community that Bill wrote about in editor's letter of the program guide for the day. He says, "Gone is the braggadocio and one upmanship often found btwn guitarists or drummers... with bassists the feeling is more of mutual curiosity and support, a willingness to show and share...". I so felt that. Didn't notice any egos floating around at all, and got a genuine sense of family. Felt very much at home, so much so that I volunteered to jam with Freekbass & Bakithi Kumalo when Chris Jisi asked if there were any brave players in the audience during the closing jam. Unfortunately he was looking for someone who had their bass with them
. For my troubles and disappointment he gave me his card and told me to call him and he'll comp me passes for next year's NY bass day. Yay! I'm there. With my bass!
Because I had a gig yesterday I missed the concert (which I heard was great), BUT I sat in on workshops from Will Lee, Gail Ann Dorsey and Freekbass. I took a little something from each - Gail touched me the most though. I'm amazed and inspired by the amount of success she's had with the limited (book) knowledge she has regarding the bass. Her knowledge and approach to playing is incredibly similar to mine, as are her influences. It was a pleasure to have met her and share a handful of words. Got to also talk with Bakithi Kumalo while checking out some basses and I loved the humility that guy had. It's all just 8 notes and stuff that someone else came up with and passed along to me. That was basically what he had to say about his godlike playing.
Got to play lots of basses I never heard of and won't be able to afford any time soon. Fell in love with M basses. Reassured my distaste for Fender basses - I really think they're a cheap, non caring, money hungry company that rips people off bigtime (sorry Fender fans. Just my opinion).
Ohhh yeah - how can I forget, came home with tons of free s**t. Didn't even know they were giving stuff away till my guitarist who came with me started coming back to me with straps, t-shirts, strings. I'm not going to have to buy strings for 12 years.
I'm NEVER going to have to buy another shirt.
That's it fer now. I wanna go eat ice cream.
