Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
I've never seen Jaco play this bass before
- Thread starter Gorn
- Start date
That was an awesome letter from his daughter.
And it's funny, no matter how rough his life was he still played better than 90% of us on here.
And it's funny, no matter how rough his life was he still played better than 90% of us on here.
I always wonder why famous musicians/artists have to be drug addicts very often.
We all know since centuries that there is no "mind opening" by drugs.
And all those thousands of great musicians addicted to drugs can't all suffer from depression illnesss.
What's the reason for it?
Is it being alone in hotel rooms after playing in front of huge audiences?
Is it the rats/dealers sneaking around musicians and concerts, trying to get them on drugs?
Is it just "bad friends"?
Is extreme musical talent a chemical thing in the brain near the drug thing?
Or a mixture of it all?
Remember all those musicians we lost by drugs or the result of drugs - unbelievable.
Thinking about guys like Joplin, Hendrix, Jones, Vaughan, Pastorius - what would they play today?
Damn drugs.
Jaco was covered in mud because it rained all day [outdoor venue] and people in the cheap seats got wet on the grass .Jaco worked the room pre show.
Addiction is never a good thing. Anything done to excess can be bad, but I don't know how true it is that "there is no mind opening by drugs." It's all about moderation. I'm not saying drugs are necessary to the creative process, but getting stoned and jamming with friends can produce some amazing music. Jamming with friends sober can also produce some amazing music. Everything in moderation, or not at all if that floats your boat. Just my humble opinion.
Aside from that, Jaco was awesome. I'm listening to Elegant People right from now Word of Mouth Revisited and it's fantastic.
Aside from that, Jaco was awesome. I'm listening to Elegant People right from now Word of Mouth Revisited and it's fantastic.
S R V straightened his life out; rehabbed in Atlanta; calling Atlanta..his "2nd home". Let's not put him in with the Drug and Alcohol victims, please.
Don't know about the others, but I believe that S R V had reached his purpose; finalized with "Riviera Paradise" and God called him home. [Not wishing him harm and...Yet Clapton lives on?]
Still mouring the loss of all of those mentioned, as well as Duane Allman, Berry Oakley..and most recently Gary Moore...... ALL GONE TOO SOON.
Don't know about the others, but I believe that S R V had reached his purpose; finalized with "Riviera Paradise" and God called him home. [Not wishing him harm and...Yet Clapton lives on?]
Still mouring the loss of all of those mentioned, as well as Duane Allman, Berry Oakley..and most recently Gary Moore...... ALL GONE TOO SOON.
Well, I tried weed, LSD and cocaine 20 years ago.
There is no "mind opening" - it's just destroying your sight on reality.
And I made music being on drugs - and heard the recordings some days later: it was all crap.
True story: the last tour in germany of Jaco Pastorius, when he played with Bireli Lagrene, they played in Dortmund/Germany, in a club where I worked as a DJ.
When the audience came in, I played smooth Jazz music in the background. While that, one of the stage hands, a fat guy with greasy hair, fat face and stoned eyes made an additional soundcheck on the bass, playing in between my music.
I entered the stage to tell him to stop, because the audience came in.
He didn't follow my instruction so I pushed him off the stage, taking the bass off and putting it beside the bassrig (can't remember if it was the bass of doom!) - and I gave him several words as "**** off, *******" and so on.
45 minutes later the concert started - and that fat stagehand was Jaco Pastorius!!! I didn't recognize him, because he looked like a ****ed up hobo!
I told the tourmanager what happened and that I feel asahmed of it - but he answered: "Don't blame you, he is so on drugs - he has forgotten it after 30 seconds".
Very mind opening, those drugs...;-)
Maybe there's no mind opening for you, but that's not necessarily true for everyone. I don't think it destroys your sight on reality. I think it alters it. Again, excess is bad and just might destroy your sight on reality. Drugs aren't for everyone just like beards aren't for everyone. I look like a dirty hobo with a beard, but Commander Riker looked awesome. But different strokes for different folks.
Well, you're right, SRV died by chopper crash, not by drugs.
But he was a drug addict some years before - and his music became worse.
You can see it in 2 different concert dvds, one was made while his drug "career", one was after it.
You can see, how drugs destroyed his guitar playing skills, and how fantastic he was when he was clean and sober.
Greetz from Germany
Well, interesting discussion.
I think, that it's a self-deception to tell others that drugs are mind opening.
The problem ist: all drugs change the point of view - they don't make it bigger or wider.
If changing the point of view, if seeing red things as blue and so on, is a kind of "mind opening" - then drugs are mind opening.
But to me, mind opening means to see MORE, not only to see DIFFERENT because of chemical processes, started by drugs.
To me, it's more mind opening to spend the money for travelling and meeting new people instead of buying/using drugs.
By the way: I wasn't a drug addict - I just tried drugs.
And I didn't like it. It was funny, of course, but I just didn't like it.
Greetz from germany to Queens
It sounds to me like you've had some bad experiences. Everything is a chemical process. Seeing things normally is a chemical process, and tweaking those chemicals a bit can cause some really interesting effects. I'm a big fan of traveling and meeting people too. Sometimes doing drugs with those new people while traveling can be fun too. Anyway....I'm awesome, you're awesome, Jaco's awesome, and German food is amazing. I'm a huge fan of spaetzle.
Not really bad experiences i try to give you some examples:
I smoked weed, together with the bandmates.
Then we rehearsled - and as always we recorded it rocksteady.
Some days later I heard the tapes - and it was the worst crap I ever heard.
I took cocaine one night, and tried it some days later again.
Both times the effect was: being the greatest, everything seems to happen - and when the effect stopped, I was like before.
And that's the reason why people became addicted to cocaine: when the effect stops, they think they would be very small - but they aren't they are normal as before.
And then they use it again, because they feel small.
I was too strong to fell to it. I just stopped it.
I tried LSD - it was horrible. Laying around, talking trash, seeing things that are not real and so on.
Maybe funny, but it couldn't give me new sight or new experience.
You're right: different guy, different experiences.
But to me there is no experience in drugs giving me more information of my life or of "the" life at all.
Greetz
PS: Spaetzle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very good idea, pal! Next sunday I gonna make german "Sauerbraten" with Spaetzle and Sauerkraut...
I'm sure we can both agree that Jaco Pastorius and spaetzle are both very good things.
Never tried sauerbraten but I will next time I go for German food.
Never tried sauerbraten but I will next time I go for German food.
saw him in 82, then in 83 in dallas w the mike stern- kenwood dennard version. on that 83 show he was taking super long solos with streams of 16ths. for days. at least 3 times during his set he abruptly put down the bass and went behind his amps. then he would come back out and rip some more. mike stern would turn on his octave box and play bass while JP was taking a coke break behind his amps. freaky. it was an amazing show. havona was the encore. epic. it was obvious to anyone what JP was doing behind his amps.
the black bass in the vid was prob his. no pickguard, frets ripped out. or, he borrowed it and modded it to his liking. or borrowed it from a super-fan
It's the inhibition to try things that drugs often remove. Some people are fearless without the need for drugs. Jaco was like that in his prime. Drugs brought his demise musically, not his betterment. Trying to say there is a positive, definite, and repeatable result that comes from drug use is reckless IMHO. While some can get away with casual use, others will be destroyed by it.
Rickett Customs
Commercial User
at the 82 show in dallas with the erskine- mintzer- brecker unit his solos were much more staccato- fragmented short burst- style. the 83 show was quantum levels higher in intensity and continuity.
Not really bad experiences i try to give you some examples:
I smoked weed, together with the bandmates.
Then we rehearsled - and as always we recorded it rocksteady.
Some days later I heard the tapes - and it was the worst crap I ever heard.
I took cocaine one night, and tried it some days later again.
Both times the effect was: being the greatest, everything seems to happen - and when the effect stopped, I was like before.
And that's the reason why people became addicted to cocaine: when the effect stops, they think they would be very small - but they aren't they are normal as before.
And then they use it again, because they feel small.
I was too strong to fell to it. I just stopped it.
I tried LSD - it was horrible. Laying around, talking trash, seeing things that are not real and so on.
Maybe funny, but it couldn't give me new sight or new experience.
You're right: different guy, different experiences.
But to me there is no experience in drugs giving me more information of my life or of "the" life at all.
Greetz
PS: Spaetzle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very good idea, pal! Next sunday I gonna make german "Sauerbraten" with Spaetzle and Sauerkraut...
Your mindset is extremely important when dealing with substances, and not all are in the same category. If you're taking something to "catch a buzz" or party or whatever, I doubt you're going to learn much from your experience. However, if you're paying attention, there's a lot you can learn about yourself, how your mind works, and a whole lot of things that are just ridiculous to try to talk about.
Of course there are plenty of drugs that aren't really good for this, and seem to only seem to be good for hiding\running from personal problems you might have. Personally I think coke and most if not all other chemical drugs fall into this category.
