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Interviewing Bassists Stories part 2

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#261
dbd1963 said:
I just got caught up at around 4am this morning and I want to say, this thread is full of epic goodness of a kind that surpasses easy description.

In a way, I feel I cheapen it by thinking in terms of entertainment because this was something that happened in real time, while real people were affected. But the value of it as a participatory experience is very high precisely because of that. It's much more than entertainment, because you come away affected by it. And the lessons that Tom is trying to teach are among the most valuable we are "sent" here to this school called life to learn.
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Thanks very much for that heartfelt comment, I appreciate your kind words very much.

A lot has happened that's changed the book. It's continued to evolve as I found more material: diaries, photos, letters--all the stuff that I thought I'd thrown away but actually stuffed into the back of filing cabinets and kept, even though I thought they'd always be too painful to ever look at again.

They aren't anymore. I can now say with complete honesty that I can look back and see the value of everything. That isn't to say I'm a shiny, happy person all the time now, cuz I ain't. Wait'll you read about how my computer hard drive crashed in the middle of writing this and I had to write in longhand for a week, which was hell because of the arthritis, and while doing that I caught a thief on my property stealing something worth several hundred dollars.

Yet I didn't lose my shi'ite, which for me is miraculous. So I think the change is permanent.

I collected all the photos, and now I'm sweating out permissions for the use of written material. This is the hardest aspect for me about writing nonfiction. If there was ever a time I was going to revert to my raging former self, it'd be now.

I try to think of it as binary: Either I get permission, or I don't. If I don't, I'll adapt and overcome, as they say in the army.

The book will be worth the wait. I promise.
 
#262
I've been given permission to use excerpts from this thread in my book!

Once again Talkbass.com proves it's one of the premier Web sites on the entire 'Net.

I hope anyone interested in this project lets the ownership know they made made the right decision--which they did cheerfully, by the way.
 
#267
Arthritic_Tom said:
I've been given permission to use excerpts from this thread in my book!

Once again Talkbass.com proves it's one of the premier Web sites on the entire 'Net.

I hope anyone interested in this project lets the ownership know they made made the right decision--which they did cheerfully, by the way.
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I hope you didn't use any excepts from my posts.

You'd bore your readers to death!;)
 
#268
NWB said:
I hope you didn't use any excepts from my posts.

You'd bore your readers to death!;)
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As a matter of fact, your challenge of me is central to the short story titled "Demanding Satisfaction," in which I pressure Scott Thunes here to make a public comment on my Gentle Giant "Mobile" YouTube video.

The excerpts have been edited to clean them up, shorten some of them, and improve the flow, as I make clear in the book.

Without your challenge of me, the story wouldn't have been as compelling, so take a bow, young man or woman.
 
#269
Congratulations Tom - if in your artistic opinion the TB material is important then im delighted you can use what you need -and thank you to both the community for providing that material and to TB owners/managers for recognising this and giving it as freely as it was first contributed.
Proud to be TB!
 
#270
MartinG1957 said:
Congratulations Tom - if in your artistic opinion the TB material is important then im delighted you can use what you need -and thank you to both the community for providing that material and to TB owners/managers for recognising this and giving it as freely as it was first contributed.
Proud to be TB!
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The excerpts are included in Scott Thunes Interludes titled Communication and Happiness, and in short stories titled "The Collateral Ghost Un-ghosts Himself" and "Demanding Satisfaction" in Anthology Seven: The Great Un-haunting: 2012.

Besides Scott Thunes, the Talkbass users whose posts appear are dhsierra1, NWB, CGramazio, Lady Kayri, and jeffbrown.
 
#274
TinIndian said:
I am so glad to hear you've received your permission from TB. Now lets get that book on the shelf!
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It's coming. The manuscript isn't due until August 31. The publisher has over 9000 titles in print, so my book is just 1/9000th of their inventory.

Still, I'm going to hire my own publicist and really hit the social media.

I'm going to also try and work out some sort of deal with Talkbass, so we'll see.
 
#275
Martin89 said:
I showed your youtube video to my friend who got me into bass and filled him in on the background of this thread. He was very, VERY, impressed and can't wait for the book!
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Thank you very much.

The book has evolved quite a bit since this project began. To my absolute shock, one of the people I wrote about was so impressed with what I put in the book (he's one of the few I mentioned by name) that he wrote a song he said was directly influenced by me.

The song is so amazing that I had to include a review of it, some of its lyrics, and its title, "God Only Guards the Tool Shed," in the Lessons Learned chapter of the book.

What it means is that some higher force provides us our tools and makes sure they're always there for us, but it's up to us to use them properly and maintain them.

This musician has also taken a tape I did right before my hands crapped out and turned it into a song that I'll post on the Web site I plan to put up.

The piece I wrote is called "Ode to Bill Laswell and Pino Palladino," and it includes absolutely everything I learned in my twenty years of playing. I use my fingers, a pick, two-handed tapping, flamenco raking, chords, thumb slapping, and droning open strings for a sitar effect. Since my hands were just about done when I recorded it--which I did just so I could have it--there are mistakes.

This musician--who's one of the most technically accomplished bassists alive--has taken my bass line and drums and rerecorded all the parts himself, added other instruments, and turned it into a song. I haven't heard it yet, but I'm sure it'll be amazing.

So all sorts of exciting things are still happening.
 
#277
Arthritic_Tom said:
Thank you very much.

The book has evolved quite a bit since this project began. To my absolute shock, one of the people I wrote about was so impressed with what I put in the book (he's one of the few I mentioned by name) that he wrote a song he said was directly influenced by me.

The song is so amazing that I had to include a review of it, some of its lyrics, and its title, "God Only Guards the Tool Shed," in the Lessons Learned chapter of the book.

What it means is that some higher force provides us our tools and makes sure they're always there for us, but it's up to us to use them properly and maintain them.

This musician has also taken a tape I did right before my hands crapped out and turned it into a song that I'll post on the Web site I plan to put up.

The piece I wrote is called "Ode to Bill Laswell and Pino Palladino," and it includes absolutely everything I learned in my twenty years of playing. I use my fingers, a pick, two-handed tapping, flamenco raking, chords, thumb slapping, and droning open strings for a sitar effect. Since my hands were just about done when I recorded it--which I did just so I could have it--there are mistakes.

This musician--who's one of the most technically accomplished bassists alive--has taken my bass line and drums and rerecorded all the parts himself, added other instruments, and turned it into a song. I haven't heard it yet, but I'm sure it'll be amazing.

So all sorts of exciting things are still happening.
Click to expand...

That sounds amazing, I can barely wait!
 
#278
Arthritic_Tom said:
As a matter of fact, your challenge of me is central to the short story titled "Demanding Satisfaction," in which I pressure Scott Thunes here to make a public comment on my Gentle Giant "Mobile" YouTube video.

The excerpts have been edited to clean them up, shorten some of them, and improve the flow, as I make clear in the book.

Without your challenge of me, the story wouldn't have been as compelling, so take a bow, young man or woman.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Tom.

I'm extremely honored that I was able to make some contribution to your efforts.

Man here, but not so young!

Like you, I also have arthritis. However, mine is under control enough that I can still play my bass. I understand that a day will come that I'll have to lay down my beloved instrument. I can hardly imagine what day was like for you.

Tom, especially with your video, I think that you've inspired me to do something with my bass while my hands are still functional enough to play.
 
#279
NWB said:
Thank you very much Tom.

I'm extremely honored that I was able to make some contribution to your efforts.

Man here, but not so young!

Like you, I also have arthritis. However, mine is under control enough that I can still play my bass. I understand that a day will come that I'll have to lay down my beloved instrument. I can hardly imagine what day was like for you.

Tom, especially with your video, I think that you've inspired me to do something with my bass while my hands are still functional enough to play.
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My pleasure on all fronts.

Giving up the bass was hard, but I'd already lost so much else that it wasn't as traumatic as I'd expected. It was more coming to terms with reality, which is always better than fooling yourself.

I hope you can keep playing for a long time. I miss it sometimes, but I've found other avenues for expression.
 
#280
As part of the changes brought about by joining Talkbass and writing my book, I deleted my YouTube account, opened a new one under my real name, and re-uploaded my video of me playing Gentle Giant's "Mobile."



It was time to erase all the stupid, belligerent, hostile comments I made anonymously over the past five years. Since I no longer take part in online flame wars, I wanted a fresh start.

I've included Scott Thune's praise of my video in my book, so even though the comment is gone from YouTube, it lives on.

Thanks to everyone who watched it and commented on it, and I apologize to those people I slagged mercilessly back when commenting anonymously was an outlet for my anger. I'm not angry anymore, and those comments made me ashamed. So I deleted 'em. Change can be a good thing:

2012 versus 1995.
 

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