The Bass Geek

Ryan Bingham and Jesse Drayton hit Radio Radio tonight for a good, long dose of Texas-based alt-country.

Deano’s Vino hosts Doris Davis tonight and Ten Strip Duo tomorrow.

The Vollrath Tavern features “Money Hoes Clothes ‘I Like To Party’” tonight. America Owns The Moon reunites for a rare show tomorrow night, and you can also catch Coltrane Motion and Soft Speaker.

Finally, it’s Swing Night at the Fountain Square Theater tonight, and there’s live jazz at Maria’s Pizza.

The new IMN podcast is up – download it here or listen at the site or at WFYI.

Also, there’s a couple interesting bass gatherings coming up. The Indianapolis version happens August 16th at Fionn McCool’s in Fishers from 2pm to 6pm. For those in or near Cincinnati, the Bass Blast takes place July 15th. The latter features concerts, giveaways, and much more.

The numbers seem to add up now for major labels and online radio broadcasters. What seems most significant is that there are tiers to the payment structure, which means that smaller stations don’t face as large of an obstacle to their continued broadcasting. However, the minimum $25,000 payment per year is still a huge chunk of change for small broadcasters.

However, it also means that labels and artists will see royalty payments from these spins, even if they filter through SoundExchange first. It looks initially like everybody has a stake in keeping online radio services like Pandora and Last.fm up and running, and everybody gets something out of it. How this plays out in reality is still up in the air – do independent artists get the same cut? Will they have the same advocacy as larger artists in getting their fair share? The door is at least open, but everybody has to go through.

Want to strike fear into my heart while playing a gig? Recommend a “jam” or something similar to round out a set at the end of the night.

It’s not near as bad as one gig where I basically had to follow the shouts of the band leader to learn Heart’s “Crazy On You” on the spot. Turns out that we started early for a gig in Nashville and hadn’t factored in the time change. The bar owner didn’t have sympathy, though, and demanded we play to the end of the hour. We ended up getting shorted on some pay, too, but that’s another story.

But yeah, the freeform jam at the end of the night is a dicey proposition at best. Even for jam bands. It’s my personal opinion that even the staunchest fan of endless noodling can only take so much before the mind wanders, and not in an ascension-to-a-higher-plane way, either. More of a I-have-to-get-cheese-at-the-store-for-that-lasagna-I’m-going-to-make-Thursday way. There’s something to be said for a sense of purpose. As long as the sense of purpose is there, you can create symphonies that make people sit their butts on wooden benches in Bayreuth for hours at a time. But not everybody can or should do that. And usually, it’s the former case and not the latter.

I think the Playboy Psychonauts pulled it off okay last Thursday night (they kept dancing, after all, and we kept it short). But I won’t be adding it to the set list yet. We’re probably going to just have to write more songs. Or learn some more covers. Any requests?

At Radio Radio, you can celebrate Independence Day with Bigger Than Elvis. Do this after you come down to Fountain Square at around 6pm for the Art Parade and then watch the fireworks over downtown Indianapolis.

Speaking of the Art Parade, the Naptown Swingin’ String Band will play directly after the parade at Deano’s Vino on Saturday. For First Friday, Deano’s Vino features the Travellin’ Hillbillies.

The Vollrath features Cave Darter, Christian Taylor, Jascha, and Half Rats tonight. Tomorrow, check out Pterodactyl and Early Day Miners. The latter is an early show – 3pm.

Finally, there’s live jazz tonight at Maria’s Pizza. Enjoy.

Well, the Playboy Psychonauts are live every night of their earthly existence, really, but tonight all three appear in the same location, wearing the appointed performance attire and carrying their respective instruments, in order to play a couples sets of fine sitar, bass and drums tunes. So there you go. The whole thing goes down at the Upper Room in Broad Ripple tonight at 10pm.

Also, the new IMN podcast is up – download it here or listen at the site or on WFYI, Thursdays at 4pm.

It helps that it was once played by Kurt Cobain, I suppose. I’m guessing that this is the only time the term “provenance” has ever been used in conjunction with a Sears bass guitar, though I’m not accepting bets on this.

Ten years ago, this probably would have ended up in a Hard Rock Cafe somewhere. Neither Christie’s nor the article specified a buyer, so I assume it’s off to a private collection somewhere, where it will no doubt sit unplayed while somebody points at it and recounts the history behind it.

Kind of a waste, even for a Sears bass guitar with a story. Frank Zappa had a guitar set on fire by Jimi Hendrix, and he played it.

From the wonderful new bass info source No Treble, it’s a jazz bass trio paying tribute to “Beat It.” Enjoy. It’s a small reminder of some of the great work that players like Louis Johnson and Freddie Washington did with Michael Jackson’s bass lines. The public may not know the players’ names right of hand, but the lines are instantly memorable.