I guess that’s a weird way of saying this is more of a status update than anything, but I’d just like to muse a little about what the past month’s been for me.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I had some really good band shows in January (the solo gig was more iffy). After that, kind of nothing whatsoever was happening with the band for a variety of reasons, which was kind of weird but ultimately very okay. There’s a lot brewing in the other band Pat and Jay are working on, so I kind of knew that was the deal. Which is fine.

I did a setup-cleanup-restringing of the new bass and got it sounding great and in tune all the way up the neck, and I was very excited to play it at the band shows this past weekend. So I strapped it on for the second set…

…and I hated it. Seriously. HATED IT.

I don’t know if it was the choice of strings, the non-maple fingerboard, or the fact that I didn’t adjust the truss rod when I did the setup because things seemed fine, but it played like garbage for me at the show and just didn’t have the right presence sonically. I played maybe four songs and swapped back for the other one. What a disappointment. I was really digging it at home. Maybe it’s just better as a sit-down, studio bass. Not sure. I’ll figure it out, or if not, I’ll let it go. No big deal – there’s no real emotional attachment to this one yet.

The Speakeasy show with Chandler and The Bings went SPLENDIDLY – lots of energy and fun – and a packed house, which included my lovely wife Erin! I was so excited to have her there and seeing her face always makes me feel happy and loved. (Thanks to her friend Christopher for being on toddler duty so she could come.)

The solo show at 360 UNO was just as much fun as the CATB show – Using a “new old gear” setup I brought my Line 6 X3 Live pedalboard back into the fray, designed a patch that ran my vocals and guitar, and it made setup even faster. And I added a Bluetooth page turner footswitch so that I never have to reach up and scroll on my iPad.

I also recorded the show. I was trying to get a decent video of the show to share, but the video looked like total garbage, so I’m sharing the audio with you, if you’d like to have an idea of what my shows are like. It’s pretty good. Some clearly iffy vocal moments (just had a gig the night before, which usually makes things dodgy) and enough guitar clams to make a chowder, but I was happy with it and the crowd really seemed to enjoy it.

Here it is in its entirety:

I didn’t take a break, so it’s two solid hours. Feel free to skip around. Comments are welcome.

Here’s a list of the songs I played (with timecode, for the aforementioned skipping around…):

0:00:24 Hurts So Good
0:03:52 Bad Moon Rising
0:06:02 Learn To Fly
0:09:57 Bus Stop
0:13:14 Lodi
0:15:58 Daydream Believer
0:19:12 Just Like Heaven
0:21:52 Ain’t No Sunshine
0:24:13 Stray Cat Strut
0:27:07 Hold Me Now
0:31:27 Happy Together
0:35:12 What’s Going On
0:38:48 The Way
0:43:16 Every Rose Has Its Thorn
0:47:34 Wanted Dead Or Alive
0:52:42 Can’t Buy Me Love
0:54:52 Santeria
0:58:19 Plush
1:03:30 Wonderwall
1:07:39 Drift Away
1:11:43 Crazy Little Thing Called Love
1:15:03 Hey Jealousy
1:18:42 The Middle
1:21:59 No Such Thing
1:25:31 Always Something There To Remind Me
1:29:01 Tainted Love
1:32:08 I’m A Believer
1:35:22 I Melt With You
1:39:52 Interstate Love Song
1:43:33 Get Back
1:46:56 Out Of My Head
1:50:34 Walking On A Thin Line
1:55:47 Blitzkrieg Bop
1:58:14 Baby One More Time

More Bings stuff coming up, then a Florida trip – hoping to coordinate seeing a lot of my Jax friends. Have to figure out a venue to be hanging around in on Friday or Saturday night or something for when I’m in town.

Enough from me for now. I was going to rant on some big concept, and I still have a few ideas I’m going to explore in the coming months, but for now, just an update.

Take care, have a great week, and thanks for reading!

Peace be the journey.
TMS