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Double Bass Spin / No Spin

#21
Marcus Johnson said:
Thanks for your answers... keep 'em coming.

I chose not to, as it was my regular gig at the Four Seasons Wailea, not really a spinnin' venue in my book. I've played there for about fifteen years, and I gotta be able to look my friends who work there in the face.

In retrospect, I wish I'd said fifty bucks a spin, IF you donate the money to the Maui Food Bank. Lot of folks living in tents on the beach here in paradise.
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Whenever my family stays at the grand we grab dinner there, great food. (expensive, but that's Maui I guess)

During your solo? That sucks, props for restraint.

Obligatory Gig Story (rhyme)


I did one of those lame society hits awhile back, and I was reading a chart I wasn't familiar with. This chick that was putting the event on was close by, and engaged in this heated conversation. She had a clipboard and this other woman wanted to hand her something. She was in a rush, so she reached behind her and put the clipboard on the closest thing to her my music stand which elicited a strong "MAN! THE ****?! out of me, she understood, I was lucky.


Oh, $50? Yeah, I'd spin, but I'm a poor college student so exceptions should be made.
 
#25
All my gigs would have to be a NO SPIN ZONE!.

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#28
The occupational hazards of bass playing--last night, I noticed a young woman kneeling down in front of me, drunkenly snapping cell phone pictures of me. This I, well, generally don't mind. She then proceeded to stand up, lean into me mid-tune, and ask, could she take a picture as though she were playing the 'cello'? Somehow, while maintaining my walking bass line, I managed to calmly tell her that I was busy playing at the moment but that she could come back during a set break.
 
#29
Aaron Cohn said:
The occupational hazards of bass playing--last night, I noticed a young woman kneeling down in front of me, drunkenly snapping cell phone pictures of me. This I, well, generally don't mind. She then proceeded to stand up, lean into me mid-tune, and ask, could she take a picture as though she were playing the 'cello'? Somehow, while maintaining my walking bass line, I managed to calmly tell her that I was busy playing at the moment but that she could come back during a set break.
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It's obvious she wanted to play YOUR cello. ;)
 
#30
Jim Calhoun said:
Years ago I saw a major U.S. symphony (can't remember which one) perform on PBS. They were playing Gershwin and at one point the entire bass section, maybe ten players, spun their basses in unison.
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That's a standard move for the Boston Pops bass section. There's a long section about the history of the BP Spin in the (excellent) book, "Real Men Don't Rehearse -- Adventures in the Secret World of Professional Orchestras."

The book is by Justin Locke, who used to play bass with the Boston Pops. It's kind of a G-rated, bass-oriented version of Blair Tindall's "Mozart in the Jungle," an R-rated look at the classical gig scene in NYC. Tindall's book is also worth reading. It has a fair bit of kiss-and-tell, but also some interesting and honest thoughts about jobbing, and it's quite well written and thought out.
 

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