There are definitely some real pros here on Talkbass. You can always recognize them by how humble they are.
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.
WISDOM.
I'm following this exact path too. Nothing worth losing happiness.
Even in the lockdown we actually are, i always find something to be happy. Even when excpecting a social crush in the company in few months.
One of the positive things is i can work from home. No more train, longer sleep, and every day a red throat bird come looking for food just below my home office window. This little bird always brings me joy. We're looking each other for few minuts, like we were discussing by our eyes. Then he goes , continue his life. And he's here every day. Really more fun than the grey walls of the plant in my close-to-blinded office.. Happiness is everywhere.
Nobody said you had to make stupid choices. We're not all Anthony Bourdain.
Oh, man, this reminds me of another fast-food chain I used to go to occasionally on my way to rehearsals. One night I stopped there for one of their signature dishes and by the time I got to the rehearsal location I was an absolute wreck. It was awful. Stupid me, I loved the flavor of that dish so I tried again a few months later, thinking it just had to be a one-time deal. It wasn't.
Yeah, that fast food sure is so much safer
i checked out TB 20 years ago on a tip from a friend. i was playing full time, for a living. between internet/computer standards and general busi-ness i didn't have the time/interest. when i retired i had more time and i've come to regard TB as a specific value (entertainment, a resource). i'm too old to be back in the business all day, everyday, but if i was: i'd have to let TB go to some extent, maybe totally. hobbyists don't get what it takes to make a real living from music/playing. playing a few times a month isn't the same as playing a few times a week which isn't the same as playing a few times a day!
i have young(er) friends and associates who are struggling right now. i'm sure things will get better, but this plague is far worse for musicians than the financial crisis of '08.
i have young(er) friends and associates who are struggling right now. i'm sure things will get better, but this plague is far worse for musicians than the financial crisis of '08.
That's just the point - it was exactly the opportunity to sit down with the locals, eating locally caught fresh food, and enjoy a great cultural experience, that so many here are saying they wouldn't want to miss out on.
Nothing about it seemed at all risky, or stupid.
It was only about halfway through the meal, when I really couldn't identify what the tough, peculiar mystery meat in the stew was, that I started subtly asking questions.
Seeing the carcasses, and then the market place filled with raw, fly covered, hunks of unifentified meat, and dead apes / parts of apes, baking in the sun, made me wish I'd gone for pizza instead.
Meat (and subsequent discomfort) aside, the food, and company was great - and it was certainly an experience for me (as well as a costly inconvenience for those I was supposed to be working for).
In an unrelated cautionary tale, one of my best friends almost died, after he fell afoul of an insurance scam in India.
Hospitals were receiving huge payouts from European travel insurance companies, when they treated unfortunate tourists.
Some unscrupulous hospitals were giving locals a financial incentive, to hospitalise foreign tourists, so that the institution could fleece the insurance company.
My friend (who was traveling alone, and just basically getting into adventures) was invited to someone's home, and then deliberately poisoned.
Of course, I can't imagine something like that happening to a touring band (I've certainly never heard of it), but if you're going off on your own...
Crazy things happen, even when you're basically playing by the rules - such as the time another friend of mine was at a work party in Tahiti , that ended up with one person getting murdered, my friend getting kidnapped, and thrown naked into the trunk of a car, and eventually being thrown in a ditch in the middle of nowhere, and having to walk naked for two days, before being rescued.
That's one hell of a foreign travel cultural experience.
I think my only hard & fast rule (besides responsible food / drink / sleep / physical activities, when I'm there as an employee) is :
When in countries without reliable / constant electricity - DO NOT eat ice cream!
That one has caught me out twice, and the flight home is particularly unpleasant.
It's a continuum. There are current fill time musicians. There are many of us that used to play music full time but no longer do (me). There are also those that have a day job but also make a significant amount of money (and spend a significant amount of time) playing music (used to be me). There are the weekend warrior types who play occasionally (me until covid), those that play just for fun (also me in the past) and those that don't play out at all (me currently). There's a ton of perspective and information in there, it's a shame to dismiss it.
Also, not for nothing, but I know an absolute ton of full time musicians - good friends of mine - that are really hurting right now. I would make a million dollar bet that a huge number of folks that aren't full time musicians that know many ftms as well. You would have to be a sociopath not to have some sort of empathy. I'm not saying you don't - far from it! It's comments I've seen in other places and a lack of empathy from some segments of society in general.
My worst experience with that was rancid buffalo meat in what the Thais call Lahp Dip (raw meat salad).
I was really loaded at the time, & was ill in the morning, but still managed to get to work in the afternoon. The Princess was coming to visit that day.
A South African fellow I know feared for his life over a gem scandal in India.
In Madras/Chennai, I was going to walk out of the hotel & the staff begged me not to, because the streets were lined with people. I didn't feel in danger, it was like a sidewalk market in Bangkok, but a little more dense with vendors & beggars.
I guess I have a 6th sense for danger, because I 'could have' gotten into some sticky wickets in the Land of Smiles, but only ever really felt threatened a handful of times.
A friend & I were just discussing getting pickpocketed in the Land of Smiles was par for the course, but I never got drugged like he has.
only when she has a fever, otherwise they're both 37C most of the day
I used to, but lately they're missing the mark.
Twice last week I was really disappointed with a burrito with tomatoes in it, because the tomatoes were nearly rancid. You know how they get kind of pink & taste like crap.
Here's the kicker, it was two different restaurants 100 miles apart. So, I'm thinking they have a new policy on how long they use old, already chopped tomatoes.
Ever since they took away their extra-large cups, things have gone downhill.
No more Volcano menu, no more steak tacos, you have to buy the 'beef' tacos & pay extra for steak.
No more grilled stuft XXL burrito, & that was a winner!
Ha, good one!
There are at least 3 brands I will not buy or even consider, because of how their endorsing artists have acted on this very forum.
There's another case I will only give 1 clue about, if he starts a thread, ALL responses must conform to his needs, or he will complain directly to the offender.
I also recall getting admonished by a pro who was not so thinly-veiled insulting me for being an amaeteur/hobbyist & showing it. (i.e. Us pros know who the poseurs are!)
The semi-pros have hassled me heaps of times as well, I get flack about not needing strap-locks & not knowing how a cabinet will sound LIVE.
For the most part I suppose the real pros are humble, & the ones who have specific sub-forums on here definitely are.
Last edited:
Monday morning happiness: my friend Reddy say "hello" to you all.
Attachments
Reading the OP brought two recollections to mind:
1. It was during the years when I was an active professional, playing 6 nights a week, traveling around the country, that I had the least amount of equipment (1 bass, 1 amp, spare strings & cables). It's only now that I'm older and have a straight job (and make a lot more money) that I have numerous basses and amps. Of course if I ever go back to gigging professionally (perhaps after I retire from my stable, well-paying, benefit-providing, job) I'd probably take two basses now.
2. The sickest I ever got on the road was from a McDonald's Big Mac. It was so bad that I actually passed out and keeled over onstage, and then ralphed copiously upon regaining consciousness.
1. It was during the years when I was an active professional, playing 6 nights a week, traveling around the country, that I had the least amount of equipment (1 bass, 1 amp, spare strings & cables). It's only now that I'm older and have a straight job (and make a lot more money) that I have numerous basses and amps. Of course if I ever go back to gigging professionally (perhaps after I retire from my stable, well-paying, benefit-providing, job) I'd probably take two basses now.
2. The sickest I ever got on the road was from a McDonald's Big Mac. It was so bad that I actually passed out and keeled over onstage, and then ralphed copiously upon regaining consciousness.
When I was on the road full time in the 80's, we had one rule to rule them all when it came to eating in restaurants; it went like this....
Server arrives at the table, goes through the specials and asks if we have any questions. We say yes, we do have one question... what's good on the menu today. If they said everything, we would each order the "Club Sandwich". Our thinking, it's either going to be or not, a club sandwich. If it's not, then we'll send it back.
Pretty sure that tact saved the lower unit many a time!
Fishheadjoe
Server arrives at the table, goes through the specials and asks if we have any questions. We say yes, we do have one question... what's good on the menu today. If they said everything, we would each order the "Club Sandwich". Our thinking, it's either going to be or not, a club sandwich. If it's not, then we'll send it back.
Pretty sure that tact saved the lower unit many a time!
Fishheadjoe
You're welcome, but I was just responding to a post.
So @Polfuste gets the credit for making you happy
I have to apologize. OP was too kind to say it, but I'm the reason he left.
You see, I *suck* at bass. I really am a beginner. I'd have to work really really hard just to be mediocre. I've been taking lessons and all, and I visit TB a LOT to try to learn about my hobby.
I also don't eat enough fast food. I used to, you know, but then I got older and my digestive system got a little more finicky.
But I'm quite sure my sucktitude really drags down the TB average bass quality. But for me, the rest of TB would be serious hat-wearing professionals, and OP would feel more at home.
And I will redouble my efforts to eat more fast food. My waistline and my wife might object, but both will need to understand that I have to make certain sacrifices if I'm ever going to get good at this so I can quit my day job of 20+ years.
So ... I'm really sorry, y'all.
You see, I *suck* at bass. I really am a beginner. I'd have to work really really hard just to be mediocre. I've been taking lessons and all, and I visit TB a LOT to try to learn about my hobby.
I also don't eat enough fast food. I used to, you know, but then I got older and my digestive system got a little more finicky.
But I'm quite sure my sucktitude really drags down the TB average bass quality. But for me, the rest of TB would be serious hat-wearing professionals, and OP would feel more at home.
And I will redouble my efforts to eat more fast food. My waistline and my wife might object, but both will need to understand that I have to make certain sacrifices if I'm ever going to get good at this so I can quit my day job of 20+ years.
So ... I'm really sorry, y'all.
Last edited:
Then he should’ve posted in the Humor section. Nothing else there is funny either.
