Yep. This is how you do it…
Jane Little, Atlanta's Dainty Double-Bass Player For 71 Years, Dies Onstage
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Your Last Gig
- Thread starter J-Fev
- Start date
Jane Little, Atlanta's Dainty Double-Bass Player For 71 Years, Dies Onstage
- Mar 19, 2013
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- If only I were that good....
After a terrifying incident yesterday between my middle finger (fretting hand) and the 0 degree nozzle of my power washer, I briefly thought I’d never be able to play again…..at least I can feel my finger some today
My last gig may have been in 2019. I was just starting to get back out there when, well, you know.
I'll never stop making music, but the idea of working hard to develop and rehearse an act, haul gear and produce a show for (maybe) peanuts and an audience that may or may not be there and be engaged has lost a lot of it's allure.
I can stay truer to my artistic vision in my hobby studio. If by chance somebody wants to book my imaginary band for a show, I might consider putting it together if the pay is good enough.
Otherwise I'm increasingly comfortable with the idea that my days as an entertainer have passed. But again, I'll never stop making music. It's just what I do.
I'll never stop making music, but the idea of working hard to develop and rehearse an act, haul gear and produce a show for (maybe) peanuts and an audience that may or may not be there and be engaged has lost a lot of it's allure.
I can stay truer to my artistic vision in my hobby studio. If by chance somebody wants to book my imaginary band for a show, I might consider putting it together if the pay is good enough.
Otherwise I'm increasingly comfortable with the idea that my days as an entertainer have passed. But again, I'll never stop making music. It's just what I do.
As a survivor of the big C myself, I wish you luck, strength, and continued bassyness!
I'm sort of looking forward to it. I really don't care about gigs at all. I like the groove. I can have as much fun in someone's living room as I can have playing in front of a huge audience. If the groove is there I'm happy. I keep playing with good musicians and sooner or later someone starts booking gigs. I wish they'd knock it off when we're already having fun. I like it when we set up all facing one another. We play when we want, what we want, how we want. No worries about sound etc. It's about the playing (I should note that I am primarily an upright player and have concentrated on acoustic stuff for decades now).
You are not who you think you are. Your mind or your ego might make certain judgement or identifying statements about yourself. “I am a musician “ or maybe even “who am I if I can no longer be a musician”. This is how your mind and ego look after themselves. But you are not your mind, or your ego, or your thoughts. You are much more than that.
A recommended read on this and other spirituality things is Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. An audiobook version might only be 5 hours or so worth of listening.
It is a fascinating book that will help put things into perspective at any stage of life, even towards its end.
Being a musician will give you an automatic social status boost. You can pretend that stuff doesn't matter to you intellectually, but your body lives and breaths body language, pecking orders. You're 99% instinct, 1% enlightened being.
Being of a high social standing, will decrease anxiety, stress, give you energy etc. You'll live longer etc, and the loss of that status will have the inverse affect. Humans are really bad at knowing when they are right or wrong, in danger or are safe, are financially secure/financially insecure etc. We in general use social hierarchies/body language etc, to regulate our society. So if you look like a winner you get treated like a winner etc.
My old high school drummer would heckle bands by yelling "stop embarrassing yourself!"
When I am not playing at the top of my game - and to be honest I'm getting pretty close to that point some nights these days - I will hang it up with no regrets.
Because I see way too many guys on the local circuit these days who in all honesty should have hung it up 20 years ago. They are embarrassing themselves.
That's exactly how I feel about it. I'm just not sure all the effort would be worth it for me, considering the gigs I've played in the past, which were mostly in original bands. Without playing bass in a band, my outlet is mostly playing my original tracks on guitar, which I have to do regularly or I'll forget how to play them! (A few tracks are recorded, so I think recording the rest of them should be my next meaningful project.)
As much as I love playing bass and supporting a group sound, my days on bass are most likely over. Not interested in playing to 20 regular drunks in a bar anymore. Just not worth it. The way things are these days, I don’t see this getting any better.
Recently started back up an acoustic duo with my wife. Me on guitar. Looking for low key early gigs at restaurants or small performance venues. If this doesn’t make sense we’ll stop. That will free time up for our collies, grandchildren, family and friends.
Recently started back up an acoustic duo with my wife. Me on guitar. Looking for low key early gigs at restaurants or small performance venues. If this doesn’t make sense we’ll stop. That will free time up for our collies, grandchildren, family and friends.
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While I rarely think about having to give up making music, I guess I'm quite aware that this may become a reality in the future not because of physical restrictions and disabilities (as many here have mentioned) but also because of mental issues. My grandfather stopped playing clarinet in his eighties after some strokes when he just couldn't "make sense of it" — at least that was my impression. He was very much focused on music his whole life, but then suddenly music lost its importance, and in my understanding this was less due to the fact that he could not play as good anymore but that the vision was somehow gone. Just my impression, it's many years ago.
My best wishes for all you guys having to cope with diseases...
My best wishes for all you guys having to cope with diseases...
No longer gigging doesn't mean not playing anymore. You can still practice, write, or jam.
But yes, I think about it. Getting close to 50, I wonder how much longer I can keep doing this. I love playing shows and playing with my band, but it is very physically taxing, and audiences aren't going to be interested in a bunch of graying nobodies.
But yes, I think about it. Getting close to 50, I wonder how much longer I can keep doing this. I love playing shows and playing with my band, but it is very physically taxing, and audiences aren't going to be interested in a bunch of graying nobodies.
If seriously ill one can become too weak or too lethargic (or both) to play a bass. But sometimes just touching it or lightly strumming it while it's on a stand can offer some comfort. ~With me that helped when I had Covid... But the disease has possibly changed my partial deafness for the worse and I dislike some of the new sounds coming thru my hearing aids!
But even now {in my mid eighties} I'm gonna keep bass-ing (sitting and at home) and I even ordered a new (used) Ampeg PF-20T tube amp I've gassed over for years! -Hopefully maybe me and a new ear Doc will be able to correct my health matters somewhat.. ~Anyway I'm damn well gonna keep 'playing' my bass as long as I'm able to, and it feels OK!
All my respect and well wishes go out to our TB friend with cancer!
But even now {in my mid eighties} I'm gonna keep bass-ing (sitting and at home) and I even ordered a new (used) Ampeg PF-20T tube amp I've gassed over for years! -Hopefully maybe me and a new ear Doc will be able to correct my health matters somewhat.. ~Anyway I'm damn well gonna keep 'playing' my bass as long as I'm able to, and it feels OK!
All my respect and well wishes go out to our TB friend with cancer!
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As they say, “there’s a last time for everything”. With age, most of us at some point, consider our mortality.
I haven’t given any thought to the last time I might play a bass until now however.
One knows certain events in life are “last times” as they happen. Other “last times” don’t reveal themselves until later. To quote the Dalaï Lama, “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow”. I take it to heart. We can’t predict tomorrow. Live in the present and cherish every moment.
Hang in there J-Fev! Keep up the fight, and if and when you can, write to us, what you have to say is vitally important, we’re in this human predicament together, share your story, and know that you are not alone.
I just turned 72 and I'm not even close to that point.
Grace and courage aren't really needed. Just live life, make decisions as you go, and don't fret about aging when there's nothing you can do about it.
Fantastic message!! Couldn't agree more with the F*@k cancer part. I've got a former college roommate fighting it right now, and I lost an aunt in 2021 & an uncle (just last week) to cancer.
Best of luck to the OP. I don't know you, but I'll be thinking about you.
