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Hard to do for dedicated Luddites like me.
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Interviewing Bassists Stories part 2
- Thread starter Thor
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Hard to do for dedicated Luddites like me.
Nice pics from Hermosa Beach! You actually look fine, there's no way to tell you were sick or anything. Can't wait for the book!!!
Just read that- sucks, but at least you have options available to you to get it done.
Good luck and looking forward to the release
Good luck and looking forward to the release
Just checked back in to your thread Tom, been busy being a new Dad. Sorry to hear of the editor shenanigans, but proud that TB has come through for you again! Still looking forward to the book, not only because it sounds like it's gonna be awesome but this has been a once in a lifetime situation where we have all seen a book come to life, almost willing itself to be.
Good luck with the rest of the journey Tom.
(ps - I hope you got to enjoy the Thunes article in BGM I sent you. My apologies for half the scans being upside down! Tried to correct them god knows how many times to no avail. In fact I'm quite surprised that you received it at all, me being quite technologically challenged. Hey ho, fellow luddite I guess!)
Good luck with the rest of the journey Tom.
(ps - I hope you got to enjoy the Thunes article in BGM I sent you. My apologies for half the scans being upside down! Tried to correct them god knows how many times to no avail. In fact I'm quite surprised that you received it at all, me being quite technologically challenged. Hey ho, fellow luddite I guess!)
Yes, it was a good article, though Scott looks better without his white beard.
Most of the proofreading is done, so I should be able to provide the publisher with a pretty good final product. I'll have two more chances to proofread before it goes to the printing press, though I'll be honest: I'm sick of reading this thing.
That's why I wanted the editor to do his job. Oh, well. Someday when I'm rich and famous, I'll do what Thomas Wolfe did and just send in a crate full of pages written in longhand and let someone else turn it into a book.
Or maybe I'll do Barbara Cartland's trick of dictating my books.
Ozzy Osbourne's autobio reads like the ghostwriter basically just took what he dictated into a tape recorder and wrote it almost verbatim. As I read it I could imagine Ozzy's heavily accented voice telling the tales, minus the trademark stuttering. And it was hard to read when I was laughing hard enough to spit soda out my nose every other paragraph. I guess if you have the kind of personality Ozzy does you can make that work. I recommended that book to all my friends and they all loved it, too, some of them are young and never really even listened to Ozzy or Sabbath, but the rock star stories still resonate.
Amazing. I just finished all 78 pages/1,535 posts in both threads so far. I feel like I've read an amazing book before the actual book is even published. Thank you Tom for stirring up questions and feelings that I had tabled in the name of success, the very definition of which is now up for grabs. I have been genuinely entertained and I am excited to dig into the book. I am an L.A. native in the music business (or what's left of it) and while many of your stories are sadly familiar to me, I found great solace and insight looking past them to the meaty substance of your personal creative struggle and ultimate redemption.
I am also thrilled to see the best of TB and how it has led to something meaningful.
I am also thrilled to see the best of TB and how it has led to something meaningful.
Thanks very much. I appreciate it.
The book is much more hard-hitting than the thread, because I wasn't constrained by language and subject matter. My publishers wanted a mass-market title, so even though I kept in most of what you see here, I've expanded on it and gone into some pretty fun themes, such as destiny, life after death, lots of sex, drinking, drugs, and how to overcome that which you thought you couldn't.
And it's got great photos, too.
The volunteer proofreaders did a great job. They deserve garlands and rounds of beer.
I've decided to make this as much a Talkbass project as possible. In the coming days I'm going to ask if there are members with specific skills who want to be hired by me.
I'll let you know.
Garlands and rounds of beer for the proofreaders? Awesome! Oh, wait... That's not actually in the budget, right? Ah well. I'm more of a rum fan, myself. Would love a garland, though - lol!
Curious as to your new venture idea. Members with specific skills who could use your services? Intrigued.
Well...
Members with specific skills whose services I could use.
I ain't hiring myself out for anyone, even if I've become quite the stud muffin these days.
Ah, that's different than how I read your previous post. You stud muffin, you!
For sure, let us know what you're looking for when you're ready. Lots of folks with various skills here, but people will also know others that might suit. Gotta love the internet for networking!
This might seem pointless but I'm halfway through the first thread and its great! But today I listened to a lecture given by a grammy winning artist/composer and she confirmed what you had said about the music industry being currupt. She tried to explain how record deals work and how much the artist acctuly gets paid once them make a record. It just amazed me that its really that bad out there. Now she said that the internet had to do something with artist's not getting the money that they deserve for making music and I think that could be true but I wanna ask what is your opinion of why the music industry is currupt?
The music industry is corrupt for the simple reason that they do things the way they've always done things. It's called "corporate culture." It happens because the people who do the hiring always choose people exactly like themselves.
Lots of institutions are dysfunctional in ways that are impossible to fix. The U.S. State Department. The CIA. Hollywood. The auto industry. Amtrak.
I recently tried to stop a relative from joining the army because he and his parents were lying about his OCD and his asthma. Lying on your application is a felony called fraudulent enlistment, and it's grounds for an automatic dishonorable discharge.
The recruiters refused to listen to me, and when I went on military forums to ask what to do, 100 percent of the people--all veterans or family members of veterans--said that I had no right to "interfere" and that I was just a dumb civilian trying to tell the professionals how to do their job.
My relative has been assigned to the Chemical Corps and will begin training in January. It's the most dangerous job in the military, because he has to learn to work with chemical weapons, nerve agents, nuclear weapons, bioweapons, etc. In the training he'll be exposed to all these substances. It requires people with the ability to remain calm under incredible stress and who can work carefully and meticulously.
My relative is a hysteric who panics at the sight of houseflies, has no attention span, and can't be hired to even mow lawns because he always cuts corners and refuses to follow any rules. In any given situation, he'll make up his own way of doing things because he thinks he always knows better. He also lies to cover up his failures. When he screws up, he tries to hide it. This will be a catastrophe, probably a fatal one for him.
So far it's been impossible to convince a single military person--except for one member of his forum--that my relative is unfit for service. Every single person has told me that the military will make a man out of him, and that as a civilian I don't know what I'm talking about. As one guy said, "Your opinion doesn't count for squat."
So, a kid who's terrified of houseflies, can't concentrate, has no work ethic, and can't communicate is going to be in the chemical corps, where his job will be to detect WMD, protect others against them, and train soldiers how to use their chemical-protection gear. What's wrong with this picture?
Corporate culture. It's a contempt for outsiders and the refusal to ever admit that what you're doing isn't working. I'd say it's the number one reason for the decline of western civilization. It's a herd mentality that makes people unreachable.
Yup. The main reason I tried to stop it was because of his safety, but right behind it was the safety of the troops he'll be assigned to protect. The CBRN Specialist 74D will be assigned to regular army units. He or she trains the troops to protect themselves, inspects and maintains the protective gear and devices, and detects chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials.
My relative at eighteen threw huge tantrums that included lying on the floor and kicking and screaming. He also hates everyone and everything and told me he'd like to develop weapons to help the Russians defeat the U.S. in battle.
I told all that to the army, and they told me to p*ss up a rope. Then they assigned him to one of the most sensitive jobs they could find.
God help us all if that attitude is widespread.
It was exactly like my time at Bass Player, when I simply couldn't get through to anyone. I started having all these anxiety attacks.
"Wait: What year am I in?"
Typical military thinking. "We'll decide what's best for our personnel. Got issues? We'll [DEL]whip[/DEL] drill them out of you."
I know this from personal experience in the Canadian Armed Forces. Went in a boy, came out more of a man.
I know this from personal experience in the Canadian Armed Forces. Went in a boy, came out more of a man.
Wow, that's really scary on so many levels. Reminds me of a recent article here about how applications for the police force are denied if the applicant is deemed too intelligent and/or rational. Apparently they don't want those who can think for themselves. They want recruits who will accept and carry out the party line without questioning it. Wonder if this is a trend in the military, too.
The problem I see is that my relative is the sort of person who will refuse to do anything he's told. He always cuts corners and then lies about it when everything blows up in his face, which hit always does. He's a terminal screwup whose mommy always did everything for him, including his homework.
His arrogance, his insistence that he knows better than everyone, and his inability to learn from mistakes would seem to make him exactly the opposite of what the military wants, but the recruiter old me that he'd been doing his job for six years and could tell army material within two seconds of meeting someone.
My relative is utterly dishonest, lazy, unethical, and misanthropic.
That's army material? I've been told by two former soldiers that what happened was the recruiter got angry at me--a stupid civilian--for trying to tell him how to do his job.
Having an all-volunteer military always fosters an us-versus-them mentality among the troops. It's unavoidable. Like my editor at Bass Player, the recruiters were simply unable to hear me because we belong to different species.
That's why I like people who listen. Like Stephen Jay.
A new favorite song: "So Do I Sadie." Slow grooves are often harder than fast ones.
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