bye bye Gonzo...maybe now you and Karl can figure out how to stay out of jail...

...staying out of Hell is another matter entirely...

23rd Psalm for Bassists

The Lord is my drummer, I shall not rush
He maketh me to lay out in tasteful places
He leadeth me beside cool meter change
He restoreth my "one"

Yeah man, though i read through the trickiest of charts
I will fear no train wrecks
For you are with it
Your ride and your snare, they comfort me

You setteth up a solo for me
In the prescence of mine guitarists
You annointeth my lines with drive
My Groove overfloweth

Surely good feel and swing will follow me
Through all the tunes of each set
And I will dwell in the pocket
The whole gig long

Oh Man!

what is the meaning of this?

...woke up this morning with a strange dream echoing in my head...was at a gig...not sure where...big stage...festival sort of thing...came back after a break to find some kids wankin' away at two of my three basses onstage and on each of the basses the G string was broken and i didn't have a single extra string in my gig bag...i was pissed...where the fuck was security?...
...then i woke up...

i take this as a sign to go buy more strings (and keep young wankers away from the basses)

some historical footnotes

...journal excerpts from 31 october '89 12:25 AM

too much time since the last entry, but what else is new?...somehow muddled through another month...still have creditors on my ass but again, what else is new?...met a new friend saturday night at The Monastery...actually it was like re-meeting an old friend...an immediate and deep bond seems to be forming but logic tells me to exercise caution and take things slowly, but as i said, the attraction is strong and sudden...
...Shelleigh is her name and she's chronologically younger than i, but an old soul, wise beyond her years...

and the verses that came from that first encounter...

...there's someone rattling the bars
of my heartcage
walked right through the maze i'd made
surveyed my barriers unfazed
and swept them away with a glance and a smile...

now here a familiar stranger stands
(a lover from other times and other lands?)
with magic eyes and an artist's hands
you penetrate the facade
and stir the sleeping soul within
been asleep for ages
don't know how to begin...

and i want to begin again
but i'm clumsy and afraid...
been alone with my thoughts for so long
that the words come hard now that there is one
i wish to say them to...

Jackson

...one of my best feline buddies had an argument with a vehicle this morning;
the vehicle won...

rest peacefully, Jackson...

you will be sorely missed by all your human friends...

post-gig ramblings...2:48 AM

...did a somewhat rare "electric band" show tonight, with the addition of drums and electric guitar to the usual acoustic guitar/bass format...being that we are all loud, forceful players and were squeezed onto a tiny stage in a bar with wonky acoustics, the dynamics got away from us at times...but a spendid time was had by all, even if we did suffer some hearing loss...i just tell myself that the ringing in my head is crickets...
...but it was really freakin' loud, i will freely confess and can make no apologies for being such...part of me is still a snarling seventeen year old rock & roll punk with an upraised middle finger, back when i had more attitude and patches on my jeans than talent...

...and all these years hence
still out in the trenches
night by
night...



good night...