"gig" report

[Peter McFerrin]

So I was hanging out at a friend's punk rock house party in Ithaca last night--5 or so bands, abundant qualities of beer and marijuana (of which I did not partake), coke being snorted upstairs by one of the bands (of which I definitely did not partake--morons )--and this dude with a curly mohawk and black plastic dork glasses walked up to me and said, "Hey, man, you wanna do some improv?" (I was wearing a King Crimson shirt, naturally.) I said, "Damn right!" After the last band is done playing, we started jamming on their equipment.

I ended up playing some weird harmonic-minor grooves on a Danelectro DC Bass with string spacing so narrow I could barely play fingerstyle, and with the strap about 18" below where I normally hang my basses. I don't drink or smoke the leaf, but my coordination was thrown off so much that for a few minutes it looked as though I had been partaking of some psychotropic substances. Nevertheless, I was actually locking up with the drummer, who wasn't half bad. Sadly, the guitarist and "singer" were more interested in making ungodly noises than actually doing anything cool--but hey, this was a punk rock party. What few people were still left in the basement thought it was hilarious.

House parties are great fun--when it's not your house

[Ívar Þórólfsson]

It´s nice to jam with a drummer you don´t know, and to lock up with him.

But them guitarists/singers always mess things up


B.t.w. Good call on saying no-no to the drugs..

[Peter McFerrin]

I will never understand, to my dying day, what drives people to consume cocaine or heroin. I know of few surer ways to screw up your life.

[boomerang]

I brought my old squier bass to a "shed" jam with some friends today. Nothing beats going nuts and just rocking out, most fun involving music ive had in my life. At one point I ended up playing the drums and playing bass at the same time. I used the kick and used my bass neck as a drumstick on the toms and hats. It was actually a pretty educational experience, come to think of it. This was the most dilapidated drumset id ever seen, and the guy hitting the skins was probably the best drummer ive ever played with. Never let your impression of players be determined by their gear. That's what i learned today...

-peace