Tom, your wonderfully engaging writing style is very, very appreciated by me.
This is like having a literary great such as Mark Twain unexpectedly show up at your house for lunch to share his stories.
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Interviewing bassist stories
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Tom, your wonderfully engaging writing style is very, very appreciated by me.
This is like having a literary great such as Mark Twain unexpectedly show up at your house for lunch to share his stories.
The irony here abounds. When I first met Scott Thunes in 1997, he scared the living hell out of me. He won't mind me telling you that I thought he was deeply and unreasonably negative. I thought he brought his own problems upon himself. Still, I liked him a lot. When I met him, I was absolutely blown away by his sheer power of intellect and personality. But I thought he brought his own problems on himself.
Now, I understand completely where he was coming from. First, my career in the music industry went nowhere, and then when I started writing in the military field, I found people were actually hostile to me because I didn't have the proper pedigree. I came out of the music field, not academia or the military itself.
I suffered the same rage in 2007 when my first book on flamethrowers was published. I won't bore everyone with what I love to talk about, but a simple rule of thumb is that 80 percent of everything written about the weapon and the units that used them is inaccurate for a variety of reasons.
I thought my ground-breaking study would be embraced, but it was either ignored or denigrated. Here's the final irony: The father of the modern special-forces concept was the commander of the German flamethrower regiment in WWI. He invented all the tactics still used today by everyone from the Green Berets to the Russian Spetsnaz.
During the war, he was never promoted beyond Major; he was an older guy, from the reserves, and the son of a carpenter. He never got the credit he deserved during the war, and after the war the tactics he invented were attributed to two people: a much younger, glamorous German captain of a different unit, who became a celebrity, and a Frenchman.
The major became a bitter, angry man who wrote desperately about how everything people were saying about him and his weapon was wrong. For example, the flamethrower is mostly a psychological weapon. The Germans used to have to attack strong points with grenades and explosives, killing all the men inside and suffering heavy casualties themselves. After they introduced the flamethrower, often they would simply squirt one jet of flame into the air, and the men in the bunker would surrender. Nobody died.
Today, almost every English-language history refers to that major as Hermann Reddemann, but his real name was Bernhard Reddemann. They didn't even get his name right!
I've been invited by the director of the German Firefighting Museum in Fulda to help write a biography of Reddemann, because he was a fire chief before and after the war. That director is one of the three people on the planet who appreciated my work.
My second book was as indifferently received. One of the people who appreciated it was the director of the Bulgarian National Museum of Military History, who sent me a photo of his assistant holding it after I donated it to the museum. As you can see, the director is a man of sophistication and humor. He himself is an older, chunky fellow.
I started getting angry and bitter again, but it's only been recently that I've been able to finally shake all of that off. Having to face the fact that I can't play bass anymore was the catalyst, strangely enough. Also, the reemergence of Scott Thunes as a performing musician and a happy man, after he swore he'd never play again, brought me a sense of justice finally achieved that has been helpful.
See, if Scott can shake off his rage and bitterness and create his art again, so can I. His is a story of the triumph of the human spirit and an indomitable will to survive on his own terms. He won't mind me telling you that the Dot Com Bust devastated his non-musical career, too. He just couldn't seem to get a break. That setback on top of everything else would've killed a lesser person. But he's got the most amazing wife on the planet, and from what I gather after a video he sent me last night, he has phenomenal children. I'm going to ask him for permission to post a link here of his daughter playing a song she composed. It will blow you out of your house and up into a tree.
So, now he's back, and he's lost nothing of his art. It took me years to finally and honestly not be bitter and angry anymore, but I it also took the loss of many things and people I loved to finally make me see what's important and what isn't.
Thunes always haunted me. The exchange you saw between him and me last night was the first time we've spoken at length since 2003 or so. His return brings me a peace of mind that I honestly can't describe to you. And it helps me not be angry when my own efforts are ignored or ridiculed by the "experts."
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Arthritic_Tom said:
poignant. The one thing that my own asthma attacks have taught me is that, when it's my time to go, I want it to be a total surprise. I don't want my last moments to be spent in that much fear. If I could be happily bopping down the street with Sly and the Family Stone in my earbuds, and suddenly find myself gone, that would be perfect.
Uh, if it could be right after I'd just got dressed and let myself out of Olivia Wilde's house, that would be even better
He speaks the truth. Whats to add, when one of your favourite electric bassists and an accomplished writer/journalist/intellectual/close friend of said bassist square off in an engaging joust on a public forum? THIS IS RIVITING STUFF
Thank you again for sharing and educating. Extremely valuable stories, not to mention entertaining!
After the first interview, I wanted to simply hear what he had to say about why he wasn't playing, so he consented to a second interview, purely for my own use. It showed a level of trust that was quite flattering. He put no restrictions on my use of it.
Here's a humiliation I'll reveal publicly for the first time, to show you how I came to appreciate Thunes better: After my bassist interview book was published, with the full Thunes interview in it, the one I did for Bass Player, my publisher arranged for me to go to a Zappa convention. I set up a kiosk and put piles of my books out there.
The convention and shows lasted about four hours. I didn't sell a single copy of my book, even though I'd made a big poster indicating that fully half of it was Scott Thunes talking behind-the-scenes stuff about his years with Zappa. Nobody even stopped to ask me anything about it. It was as though I'd been cursed by a Hopi shaman and made invisible.
At one point, a man finally came over and began talking to me. I realized he wanted me to give a message to Zappa's wife, whom I don't know and have never met. I explained to him that there was no way I could accommodate him, and he said, "Do you know who I am? I'm _______ _______, creator of (a hugely popular TV show)!"
I told him that wouldn't help me pass his message along to someone I didn't know. He stomped off.
At the end of the night, I loaded up all my unsold books and smashed up the poster I'd made. As I was leaving, one of the cooking staff--a kid in his early twenties--was walking out with me. He said, "What's your book about, man?"
"Really scary bass players," I said.
"Far out! How about giving me a copy?"
"Well," I said, "I'm actually trying to sell them."
He laughed. "Yeah, you didn't do all that hot tonight, though, did you? I saw. So how good could it be? C'mon, man, how about a copy?"
So I thought, why the hell not, and gave him his copy for free.
He was the only person from that whole night who walked away with a copy, after telling me he only wanted it because he thought it was worth what he'd pay for it, which was nothing.
My journey to beginning to completely understand Scott Thunes was almost complete. The collapse of my career at Bass Player finished my education in Thunesian Theory.
Please take care of yourself. As I said, I believe that my friend Steiv contacted me and told me not to worry about him anymore, but I still remember watching helplessly as he had his attacks. I didn't help by smoking hash with him, but I was 23 years old at the time. He always told me the hash had nothing to do with his asthma, so I let that rationalization allow me to do something I shouldn't have done.poignant. The one thing that my own asthma attacks have taught me is that, when it's my time to go, I want it to be a total surprise. I don't want my last moments to be spent in that much fear. If I could be happily bopping down the street with Sly and the Family Stone in my earbuds, and suddenly find myself gone, that would be perfect.
Uh, if it could be right after I'd just got dressed and let myself out of Olivia Wilde's house, that would be even better
A few months ago I was diagnosed with Meniere's disease, an incurable autoimmune disorder that causes hearing loss and attacks of "rotational vertigo." The world spins like you're inside a centrifuge, sometimes for hours, until you projectile vomit. It can be managed with medication and a severely restricted diet, and it almost always goes into spontaneous remission after about two years. I've got another 18 months to go to see if that will happen.
Even with the medication, you sometimes get vertigo attacks, so I'm essentially housebound for the time being. I can't drive for anything except short distances. I've learned to predict the attacks, so I can go shopping, but that's about it. Concerts are out of the question.
"Who's that guy spraying the fountain of vomit in the crowd?"
"He used to work for Bass Player. We oughta kick his ass!"
But! I have my computer, my window into the world, and I have millions of bassists through whom I can play vicariously, and now I have the return of Scott Thunes to the music world.
So it's all good.
Just don't bring out the sledgehammer and tell me "It's for the best!" right before you smash my ankles!
thanks Tom & Scott - good read
now if you could get Peter Hook to rejoin New Order, and for Gene Simmons to retire, your work would be complete
now if you could get Peter Hook to rejoin New Order, and for Gene Simmons to retire, your work would be complete
not likely, I understand he was permanently banned from TB. He had a forum here and it got very nasty so he was shut down and kicked off the island.
father of fires
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My mom's been suffering from Meniere's for a while. She switched jobs (she was a hospital nurse) because she couldn't handle the stress anymore (at least when she passed out she would wake up only a few feet away in the emergency room) but, now she lost her new job (School Nurse) because she couldnt hear her patients (children) anymore and she would get sick and have to be driven home constantly. It sucks but most people dont understand Meniere's. They want to call her out and say shes over exaggerating but they cant because when vertigo hits the effects are very real (and apparent to others). Now she's fighting to get disability. Apparently there are some experts in the Baltimore area so she may have a chance to get better. It runs in the family so well see how I am in 30 years.
This thread has made me feel like a little kid eagerly listening to the wisdom of a wise man. The funny thing is that this thread has become Tom's interview with commentary from Thunes. Please keep it coming.
Nonsense! In fact I now demand that you wrack your brain and come up with something that will contribute on any level. Ask a question; comment on Thunes's (ahem) inimitable style of communication, anything.
He won't mind me saying this: You can say anything about him, as long as it's informed.
I know I keep harping on it, but if you buy a copy of Make a Jazz Noise Here and listen to it all the way through, (I always skip the intro), you'll see that this is a man of exceptional emotional sensitivity. You will never hear a bass guitar move you in such a way.
That's why I would beg his critics to listen to the music, but they wouldn't. There was a discussion earlier about separating the artist from his art, not learning too much about the artist, not reading their interviews, etc.
All I would ask is for people to think for a moment and realize that for all his notoriety, he's not saying anything cruel; he's not lecturing about politics; he's not bragging; he's not saying anything that should make someone fold his arms and refuse to listen to his music.
I can understand not wanting to consume the art of a hateful person who thinks you're beneath him, but that's not Thunes. He attacks a mindset, not people. He's a bass teacher! He loves the bass! He loves Ray Shulman!!!!!!!
His only "problem" is that he literally has about a 200 I.Q., so in a certain sense he's living among apes. Yet he never EVER has made that kind of statement. That's MY evaluation, not his. When you're that intelligent, it's frustrating to be misunderstood by almost everyone. So take that into consideration.
Now, I have to take a break. I have about 40 e-mails in my box. Maybe one will be from Random House, begging to sign me to a book contract.
Ha! I crack myself up.
There's hope, and yes, she can get disability. She needs to find an expert. My doctor wrote his dissertation on it. She needs to avoid stress and stick to the diet like glue. Low salt, no MSG, no artificial sweeteners, and no foods with the non-compounded amino acid cysteine. That means no apples, no onions, and no garlic. She needs to improve her circulation through exercise and taking the supplement Lipo-Flavonoid Plus. No aspirin, either. I take Valium and the diuretic Triam/HCTZ, and most of my symptoms have abated.
If you have any more questions, drop me a PM.
father of fires
Commercial User
Will do. She might know this stuff but I've never heard her mention any of it. I'd like to get some details to see what she is or isn't doing.
Thanks!
Thank you for posting that. From the Geoscott website, I gathered that Mr. Thunes is very caring and dedicated father to his children.
For that reason alone (at the very least that) he now has my undying respect. For all that's worth.
I can't think of greater accomplishment in life than being a good parent.
Just got an e-mail from bassist Mike DuClos, who also wrote for Bass Player and was the bass writer at Guitar World and Guitar School. With his permission, I recount the following interview stories:
1. A bassist said in the interview "I'm the world's greatest f*cking bass player!" and then phoned Mike dozens of times over the next week begging him to cut that quote from the article.
2. Mike interviewed one of the legends in the rock industry, whose manager sat there beside him and had to okay every question, just like a lawyer. This included questions about equipment and even his EQ preferences. All had to be cleared by the manager, so the interview was a tedious nightmare.
3. A famous, respected bassist pompously explained to Mike--an accomplished musician, by the way; my own editorial comment here--what a major scale was, only the bassist got it wrong, even though he larded up his endless, boring explanation with the names of all the artists he'd studied under.
4. Mike interviewed Cliff Williams and asked him what his favorite bass was. Answer: "Heineken."
5. A bassist Mike really liked kept blowing off the phone interviews. Mike would schedule them, cancel plans, sit around waiting... and no call. When the bassist finally did call, Mike said, "Never mind, man. I've already lost money in the time-labor continuum just waiting for you." Mike told the Bass Player editor, who said he understood... but Mike was never asked to write for the magazine again.
Hmmmmmm...
Thanks, Mike, for letting me share these.
1. A bassist said in the interview "I'm the world's greatest f*cking bass player!" and then phoned Mike dozens of times over the next week begging him to cut that quote from the article.
2. Mike interviewed one of the legends in the rock industry, whose manager sat there beside him and had to okay every question, just like a lawyer. This included questions about equipment and even his EQ preferences. All had to be cleared by the manager, so the interview was a tedious nightmare.
3. A famous, respected bassist pompously explained to Mike--an accomplished musician, by the way; my own editorial comment here--what a major scale was, only the bassist got it wrong, even though he larded up his endless, boring explanation with the names of all the artists he'd studied under.
4. Mike interviewed Cliff Williams and asked him what his favorite bass was. Answer: "Heineken."
5. A bassist Mike really liked kept blowing off the phone interviews. Mike would schedule them, cancel plans, sit around waiting... and no call. When the bassist finally did call, Mike said, "Never mind, man. I've already lost money in the time-labor continuum just waiting for you." Mike told the Bass Player editor, who said he understood... but Mike was never asked to write for the magazine again.
Hmmmmmm...
Thanks, Mike, for letting me share these.
Keep going, Tom! We almost have enough for the next "Spinal Tap" script!
Best Thread Ever!
Great contributions from Mike, as well! I remember reading him in those magazines back in the day.
Have you kept in touch with Jim Roberts at all?
Have you kept in touch with Jim Roberts at all?
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