The Bass Geek

There is nothing more festive than seeing five copies of “Road House” wrapped up and ready to go to friends and family.  This, truly, was the highlight of the holiday.  Nothing of real musical importance to report, except that I did get a crack at “Guitar Hero III.”  Adventurous educators might posit that this game could function as a tool to enhance the learning of rhythms - they might, but I won’t.  Fun game, though.  We’re off to New Orleans, which is a shame because we’ll be missing a huge night of New Year’s Eve fun in and out of the neighborhood. I think we’ll make it by, though.

As far as trick plays in football go, the fake punt doesn’t rate very high on the flashy scale. Triple reverses, modified fleaflickers, Boise State’s Statue of Liberty play, and the like all carry more visual excitement, more drama, more zazz. But I humbly submit here that a successful fake punt both emboldens the team who pulls it off and irrevocably crushes the one that suffers the indignity.Sure, it’s probably only a few yards and a first down. But it represents a renewal, a refreshing dash of hope, possibly even the hint of resurrection. Sure, it may look as if you were giving up and heading back to the bench to conduct a post-mortem on the drive’s proceedings. Yet, that glimmer of hope in Coach’s eye wasn’t ready to dim just yet. “Head back in there. Give it one more shot.” And it paid off. All is right again.And just as happy as you are now, the other team is crushed. Demoralized. Perhaps considering a career change. They gave it their best, their all, their everything. And as successful as they appeared then, along comes some lowly frickin’ punter to muck the whole thing up. “Great,” they think. “Now the punter thinks he can pass (or run).” And pass (or run) he does. And then he celebrates in whatever weird and off-putting manner punters celebrate - maybe a spastic twitch or something. They’re not used to celebrating like that, so it’s unfamiliar and a little scary. Still, they’re celebrating, and you’re not. Back to the trenches, as Coach yells “Think maybe you can stop the PUNTER from throwing next time?!”And so, here’s to you, Daniel Sepulveda - congratulations on your 32-yard fake punt pass last night. How does it feel to break the spirit of 53 men simultaneously?

There’s a new podcast up at IMN. You can download directly from the link or get an RSS feed from the site.

This podcast was quite a bit longer than previous efforts, for a few reasons - more tracks on this one, we just gabbed a bit longer, and we tacked on a New Year’s Eve list ’cause we won’t be podcasting in the next week due to the holidays. I should also point out that Fountain Square has a few good NYE shows within walking distance of each other, with Radio Radio taking the least expensive show on the list (only $5?!) and Big Car Gallery sponsoring the only all-ages show on the list. Excellent job, folks.

So we’re headed back to New Orleans for the new year this year, and I’ve been looking ahead at the music calendar for some ideas of things to do while we’re there (now that we’ve gotten some of the tourist stuff out of the way, I look forward to sleeping later and enjoying more of the nightlife).  The funny thing is that some of the big shows we saw down there last year are coming around again.  George Porter and Johnny Vidacovich at the Maple Leaf?  Yep.  Eddie Bo and Snooks Eaglin at Mid-City Rock N’ Bowl Check.  Dr. John at House of Blues?  Mais oui, ma cheri.

These shows were good enough to demand a return visit, I’d think.  We were so exhausted that we didn’t get to catch the whole thing, so there’s certainly more to be heard. And watching George Porter play bass is a revelation. These folks are legends.  Plus, there’s a Toadies reunion while we’re down there, and I’d like to relive my college radio days.  This is going to be a lot of fun. 

VH-1 apparently has the market cornered when it comes to ready-made nostalgia, but allow me a bite at the proverbial apple with this particular bass guitar. This screams “EIGHTIES!!!” at me more than anything else, including legwarmers, Reagan, and John Hughes movies. You saw it in the hands of Duran Duran’s John Taylor (if you were paying attention to popular music), you saw it in the hands of Stu Hamm (if you weren’t paying attention to popular music and instead focused on bass guitar instructional videos . . . in your room . . . alone . . . ), and I finally ran across one years ago in an Indy guitar store. The action was terrible on it, which kinda soured me on the experience at that point. Unfortunately, I haven’t run across one in a bit, and it looks like their primary endorser is the bassist for Kenny G.

Not gonna get a lot of store space with that, I suppose.

Still, I liked the sound they got, and the foresight to slap on the extension that changed the E string to a low D was a good plan (brought to us regular tuning-machine-folks by Hipshot). I’d give it another shot. And I’d probably play the bass line to “Rio” on it.