Interviewing Bassists Stories part 2

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by Arthritic_Tom

Not bad for a housebound failure.

You're only a failure if you give up.

Since you didn't...

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by Stumbo

You're only a failure if you give up.

Since you didn't...

I'm a late bloomer!

Next year will be fun. I'm full of optimism. As they said in one of my favorite movies, Death Becomes Her, "Life begins at fifty."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryGN3_MkZFs

[Arthritic_Tom]

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL TALKBASSERS.

And thanks for making my book a reality.

May 2013 be as fun for all of us as this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSdxLnv9_U&t=0m32s

[natw42]

Originally Posted by Arthritic_Tom

He told me a Russian saying: "There are no Russians by choice, only by fate."

I wouldn't have chosen my fate, but I've embraced it. We'll see where that takes me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxHDyEpp_qI

Great stuff there, and I can totally relate. Have a great new year and I can't wait to get your book next year!

[Arthritic_Tom]

This is the Year of the Bass.

To see it in properly, listen to the hardest bass line ever played. Turn up the volume and stick with it. One of my goals was to someday duplicate this. It wasn't to be, but I accomplished other things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbJAklOdx58&t=0m50s

Happy 2013 to everyone here. We're cooking now.

[TinIndian]

Happy 2013 to All!

Bassline was definately intense! He was just rocking back and forth hardly even paying attention!

[secretsound5]

The year of the bass....i like that! btw, Tom, where do you find these videos!? that bass player was on a roller coaster gone wild.

[miles'tone]

Happy New Year to everyone here! Excellent youtubes Tom (as always). Here's to a cracking 2013 (ladies and gentlemen, we are living in the future!) for one and all.
Really looking forward to your book(s) Tom, and may you have a great ride this year.
All the best!

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by secretsound5

The year of the bass....i like that! btw, Tom, where do you find these videos!? that bass player was on a roller coaster gone wild.

I loved my job at Bass Player. Was always on the lookout for different stuff that expanded horizons.

After I fell/was pushed out of music journalism, I didn't listen to music for ten years. Sounds crazy, but it was just too painful. I've got a lot catching up to do.

For example, I just discovered this last night, after ringing in the new year with my mommy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDgkbLw4qkw

Never seen anyone do that before.

P.S. I didn't realize that "Bulchenska Ratchenitsa" was cut off in the Ivo Papasov video above, so I found the album version. The bassist is named Radi Kazakov. He uses all four fingers on his picking hand and has no formal musical training. He's a Roma--a gypsy--who spent much of his young adulthood imprisoned by the communist government in Bulgaria. The Roma were persecuted unmercifully under communism. I guess that's why I love this song so much. Talk about overcoming adversity and triumphing. Most of the band members are Roma.

Brandon Marsalis tried unsuccessfully to jam with these guys. Apparently, there's a tape of him screaming, "What key is it? What time signature is it?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cXS5QrPkDs&t=1m38s

Here are some closeups of Radi Kazakov's four-fingered picking technique. He's also a composer and singer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA2TdXa3ZLc

[howlin]

Tom,
I haven't looked at the videos you posted regarding the Pop & Slap technique that you said was credited to Sly Stone. Just wanted to say it was Larry Graham. He did play with Sly [and later with Prince] and, yes, there are some similar upright techniques but Larry is the man when it comes to pioneering that style on the E-bass FWIW.

Cheers and Happy New Year to Everyone!

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by howlin

Tom,
I haven't looked at the videos you posted regarding the Pop & Slap technique that you said was credited to Sly Stone. Just wanted to say it was Larry Graham. He did play with Sly [and later with Prince] and, yes, there are some similar upright techniques but Larry is the man when it comes to pioneering that style on the E-bass FWIW.

Cheers and Happy New Year to Everyone!

Oh, I know, but Sly claims he invented it and Larry copped it from him.

Happy New Year.

[howlin]

Ah, I'd never heard that before. Typical Sly. No wonder Doris won't have anything to do with him anymore . . .

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by howlin

Ah, I'd never heard that before. Typical Sly. No wonder Doris won't have anything to do with him anymore . . .

As Ronnie James Dio used to say about Gene Simmons, "Gene claims he invented shoes and breathing."

[Arthritic_Tom]

Nothing new to report. Waiting to find out the firm publishing date, after which I can put up my Web site and begin sending out press releases and review copies, as well as sending all the copies I promised to everyone here who proofread, made MP3s for me, and various other favors.

Scored two pretty giant coups in promised reviews. Won't jinx them by mentioning their names. I'm shocked; all I did was send queries, and I got back, "Sounds great! I'd love to read it! Send me a copy! Here's my address!" Ask and you shall receive.

In the meantime, I found a little piece of history: a pick from the last live show I attended officially as a writer for Bass Player. All the subsequent shows I went to on my own, in the hopes of presenting my editor with the promise of a great interview. Either that, or I interviewed people without seeing their shows. So here's a memento I picked up off the floor after the show. I'd never done that before. It turned out to be prescient of me, since it was the last show I went to in my capacity as Contributing Editor for Bass Player.

A little music now, one of my favorite themes from one of my favorite movies. If you read Ghosts, you'll see that movies play a very large role in my life, even more so now that my physical horizons are limited.

But movies allow me to exist unbounded, unfettered, and unmarred, for 90 minutes or two hours at a time. They're like being able to play the bass again. If I were allowed only one form of art for the rest of my life, I'd have to choose film.

My dreams are like movies; last night I had one in which I was in the lobby of a luxurious Art Deco apartment building as the Perfect Woman showed me her elephant gun. She was the most intelligent, beautiful, humorous, and interesting woman I've ever met, with the deep, smooth voice I like. A dead ringer for Garbo:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:G...rbo_1924_2.jpg

I don't know why she was showing me an elephant gun and explaining how it worked; maybe it symbolizes slaying the Elephant in the Room. She wasn't a hunter and hadn't killed anything. The gun itself was ornamental, not functional, plated in silver and kept in a padded green bag, like a guitar gig bag.

Anyway, it was a very fun dream. We connected, this dream-Garbo and I. It was important to her that I understand, and she found me worthwhile. I was someone whose company she enjoyed. That's a great feeling.

So: one of my favorite movie themes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-WYm9nl32Q

[Profania_bass]

Nice pick, nice theme. Just nice

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by Profania_bass

Nice pick, nice theme. Just nice

Thanks very much. Not as nice as a beautiful photo I saw recently.

[SR505bassman]

I liked the opening theme too, but I really like the reference to the movie. I have never seen it, and after reading about it and watching a trailer for it, I really want to. So thanks, Tom, for the song and the movie. :-)

[MouseRat]

Originally Posted by Arthritic_Tom

Not as nice as a beautiful photo I saw recently.

Sorry, I'll quit sexting you.

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by SR505bassman

I liked the opening theme too, but I really like the reference to the movie. I have never seen it, and after reading about it and watching a trailer for it, I really want to. So thanks, Tom, for the song and the movie. :-)

It's a true classic. The Denzel Washington-John Tavolta remake was garbage in comparison.

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by MouseRat

Sorry, I'll quit sexting you.

Don't stop now! This is the image I was talking about. I printed it out and put it in a locket that I wear twenty-four hours a day.

http://tinyurl.com/b8wo6hh