This Is Who I Am

[iiipopes]

OK, I give. I have never been a member of any other forum that was just so adamant on knowing everything about me. I guess it's flattering, because we all like to know our acquaintances, but, frankly, from all the posts and all the private messages, it borders on being downright nosey.

That said, here is your one chance to know as much about me as I care to post in cyberspace: I'm 49 years old. I have a wife and son. I have a day job taking care of my folk's office. Music has been an avocation ever since I stood up with the kindergarten Sunday School class and sang "Jesus Loves Me." I had classical piano lessons for six years starting April, 1970 when I was eight. I played trumpet in school band starting in 5th grade, moving to marching souzy as a freshman. I've had private lessons on just about everything else through the years. Like all teenagers, I started electric guitar and bass in junior high school. In addition to my academic scholarships, I had a minor vocal scholarship to undergrad Drury University, BA summa cum laude 1982. I followed the "family business" and went to law school instead of music as a career, law degree 1986, practicing in a wide variety of offices and fields.

A few years ago I got blood clots from a hereditary clotting condition. I'm the only guy in my family lucky enough to live to tell about it (thanks to a great doctor and loads of blood thinners), but it trashed my career and avocation, as I lost the use of my left arm for a couple of years, and I now run into walls with words from aphasia. I do not practice now, so don't ask me for advice.

So even though most of my equipment is top notch professional quality equipment, I bought my CCB DB after the clots, on a limited budget with everyone in the family having medical issues: my wife has fibermyalgia and Reynaud's phenomenon and can't hold a job outside the home; my son has Asperger's syndrome and encopresis, and is on an IEP at school, simultaneously needing occupational therapy and other counseling to help him interact properly with other people and manage chronic anxiety, while at the same time so far advanced beyond his years intellectually that the junior high administration has him taking high school online courses instead. So my family medical bills are, well, let's just say I actually have something to list each year on my Schedule A, even with good insurance and copays.

My "15 minutes of fame" was the last Lawrence Welk special, "Precious Memories," which still airs occasionally on PBS during fundraising week, which I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get the gig. This was just before I got my blood clots and went out of commission.

For that gig I played my custom fanned fret electric bass I designed myself to accommodate old left arm, wrist and finger injuries coming back to haunt me. Starting with a P-style instrument, the nut is conventional, with the usual 34 inch scale on the E string. The G string has a 33 1/4 inch scale. The bridge is narrowed to 2 1/16 total string spacing, both for comfort of my right hand and so I can use a RIC HB-1 pickup in the D-G P bass pickup position, rotated to match the fanning of the frets. the bridge is segmented and offset for the fanning. With the help of a friend with a router, I did all the body and electronics, and Sheldon Dingwall fretted the neck. I'll post pix when I get the chance. I also have a matching custom fanned fret electric guitar that Tommy of USA Custom Guitars did the neck, and I did the rest of it.

When my blood clots hit, weekend bar gigs were out of the question, as smoke and circulation problems do not mix. I had been out of tuba for over 20 years at that point; I bought a used Miraphone and re-taught myself to play it up to semi-pro performance level.

All of my instruments and equipment have paid for themselves with gigs over the years; which is pretty good for a guy who has music as an avocation instead of the primary day job.

You can cross reference my postings on these other forums using the same avatar: Brass-Forum.co.uk and TubeNet, forums.chisham.com . I have diagrams for rewiring 3-pickup Rickenbacker guitars that are discussed on my own thread on the Rickenbacker factory website forum that doubles the number of usable pickup tones a player can get out of a Rickenbacker guitar, while retaining stock functioning of the controls, and that have been sent literally around the world: all 50 states, the provinces of Canada, UK, most of the countries in Western Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Austrailia, New Zealand, etc.

Everybody influences me and inspires me, although I started on bass because of Sir James Paul McCartney, M.B.E. Yes, I am an Anglophile, having been on several trips to the UK as a young man in college, having sung in most of the major cathedrals, and summer school at Cambridge and one summer clerking for a barrister, including helping him argue an appeal in the House of Lords. Having done all the Beatle's touristy stuff, I've walked across Abbey Road, had a hair cut in the barbershop on Penny Lane, taken a daytrip on the actual Magical Mystery Tour coach, and I know personally, "how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall." And I love to drive in my Jaguar, a 1967 E-type convertible, which I've had since 1985, although with the price of high-octane gasoline, I don't drive it much. God Save The Queen!

I am a member of the Episcopal Church. I am a Freemason and Shriner, having sponsored several children into our network of hospitals for children for orthopedic and burn treatment. My son is a Scout, and I am a Scoutleader for the only special needs troop in southwest Missouri. We have about a dozen Scouts with all sorts of special circumstances, from autism, to congenital brain injury, to epilepsy, wheelchair bound Scouts, and one with literally only two functioning heart chambers. There is no greater pleasure and honor than helping these boys be boys and learning the necessary life skills that can only be learned through the Boy Scouts of America.

It's only been recently that I've felt confident enough on DB to actually post here. Yes, I freely and directly post my opinions on threads. I research before I post so I can be as informed as possible. If I am wrong, please tell me and give me citations to better information. I am damn good at math and geometry, and will give that perspective on my posts, as music cannot exist without math and geometry, but math and geometry are insufferably limited without music as a means of taking them from science to art. There are those who say I should have gone into engineering instead of the "family business," and they're probably right. But I'm here now.

There are those who perceive me as a troll, because I will air other points of view to get discussion going. But most of the time I will agree with the conventional wisdom, as there is no sense in always having to reinvent the wheel. I will offer unconventional solutions to challenging problems, which may or may not work. Most of the time they do.

So there you go. If you're going to be in southwest Missouri, contact me and I'll buy lunch and/or the first round of beverages of choice.

And finally, I'm late at this, but here is my New Year's Resolution:
N6 - V65ofV - V87 - I4-3.

[Don Higdon]

The profile would have sufficed.

[iiipopes]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

EDIT: Larry Welk.......Ewwwwwwe.

Good night, sleep tight, until we meet again....
Actually, it was a really fun gig. There's a great closeup of me on the DVD "extra selections" of the intro to the accordian rendition of "Saints" that didn't make it to broadcast.

[Paul Warburton]

Hey man, here's line I could letcha' use...
"Enough about ME. What do YOU thnk of my playing?"

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Hey man, here's line I could letcha' use...
"Enough about ME. What do YOU thnk of my playing?"

LOL!! Damn funny - I almost lost my coffee OLDGUY.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

LOL!! Damn funny - I almost lost my coffee OLDGUY.

Thanx, JACK.

[iiipopes]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Hey man, here's line I could letcha' use...
"Enough about ME. What do YOU thnk of my playing?"

Yeah, that's the risk a person takes anytime when posting, isn't it!

[michaeln]

You guys are mean.

That's an awful lot of pretty sensitive personal information to go stomping on it with both feet.

[praisebass]

Guess I just missed you at Drury as I started in 1982. No music major or minor but I played in orchestra, band jazz band and Drury singers. I play EBG over at Wesley UMC these days.

Cheers,

Jesse

[Nev375]

Hi.
Nice to meet ya.
Cold enough for ya?
Take care.
Bye.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by michaeln

You guys are mean.

That's an awful lot of pretty sensitive personal information to go stomping on it with both feet.

Maybe take a look at yer siggy?

[BigOldHarry]

odd... I joined, I post a great deal and no one bugs me whatsoever. Perhaps I'm one of the more dull 49 year olds on this list...

[Michael Case]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

odd... I joined, I post a great deal and no one bugs me whatsoever. Perhaps I'm one of the more dull 49 year olds on this list...

Do you spend much time on the Double Bass forums?

[nutdog]

Dude, I'm jealous. There will probably never be another gig with orange, pink and green polyester leisure suits ever again.



And those lovely Lennon Sisters



Legend.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Michael Case

Do you spend much time on the Double Bass forums?

Yep, he does, Michael. I've read his posts many times and I find it strange that his Avatar Pic is him playing a slab.
Hello?

Have y'all sensened a bit of non interest in this site from real professional double bassists who have some history on the instrument and in their chosen genre?
Take a look at the OP.

[michaeln]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Have y'all sensened a bit of non interest in this site from real professional double bassists who have some history on the instrument and in their chosen genre?
Take a look at the OP.

Or in your case, a mirror.

[Nathan Parker]

I don't handle conflict well. Can't we just all make fun of Kenny G and move on?

[Jason Sypher]

This is a truly strange thread.

[Treyzer]

Just like tuning into Daytime TV. Welcome to Oprah, Jerry Springer, The View and all those other (way too much information) shows...

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by michaeln

Or in your case, a mirror.

Bring it on, Muther, let's hear you play yer Lidl and your Engle.