The Bass Geek

• Musicians must feel the need to hibernate like bears. The more the temperature goes down, the more the shows drop off and the studio requests go up. We’re either lazy or smart, and I’m not going to take the time to figure out which.
• The Playboy Psychonauts managed to integrate both the new distortion pedal and a dose of shoegaze into the set for Friday night. Not in the same song, though. That might be a little much.
• One of those albums that skirted right underneath the attention it deserved about 8 years ago was “How I Do” from Res. Her new album is a free download from the artist itself, and from the listening I’ve given it, it too deserves wider attention. Head over to http://the1res.com/ and get your own.
• Don’t forget about Seth Horan’s new album Clang and Chime, either – I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned it yet, but it’s a deep slice of bass-y goodness. Have at it!

The above title looks a little weird to me – after all, in the world of bassists, Bootsy Collins is anything but “unsung.” He is, as one Parliament-Funkadelic singer put it, “The Jimi Hendrix of the bass guitar,” and there’s no denying his influence on funk bass, or indeed funk music as a whole. Hell, even those who don’t follow the funk at least saw him in that Dee-Lite video from oh-so-long-ago. Still, he was the first subject to be profiled in the new TVOne series “Unsung,” and the episode airs this Sunday at 8pm (check local listings for the channel in your area).

I’m just loving the picture in the article with a sampling of his basses – truly drool-worthy. Can’t wait for the episode, either.

Radio Radio presents La Vida Variety tonight – in a manner befitting the First Friday art event, they are featuring a barbershop quartet, belly dancers, sideshow performers, and the horror-folk of Harley Poe. That, my friends, is a happening. Bigger Than Elvis return Saturday for their monthly happening, as well.

The Vollrath has Wheelhouse, New York to Nowhere, Lockstep, and the Punch Ups tonight for a punky evening of entertainment. The mood changes over to . . . something different tomorrow evening for Exorcism. Again, it’s either a dance night or a religious ceremony, not entirely sure which.

As part of the Big Car Gallery show this evening (The Dead Zone Boys art show – art inspired by the new Jookabox album), “Pattern-Hungry Records will be presenting a night of hip-hop, spoken word, and everything in between.” I quoted from the press release ’cause I can’t describe it better than that.

Finally, there’s live jazz at Maria’s Pizza and acoustic music at Deano’s Vino during the whole weekend. Enjoy!

That headline could have probably been phrased better, as it’s not a benefit for the band. We’re doing just fine, thanks. In this particular case, we’re playing a benefit show next Friday at Radio Radio for our local Community Building Committee. Here’s what community-organizer-in-charge Jerry Keys has to say about the whole thing:

The Community Building Committee is an organization composed of interested Southeast Indy residents, Neighborhood Associations, and Institutional Partners like Southeast Community Services (SECS) and Southeast Neighborhood Development (SEND) CDC. The goal of this organization is to gather and disseminate information about and to Southeast Indianapolis. The Community Building Committee hosts an annual event called the Neighborhood Gathering to gather input for a Quality of Life Plan for SE Indy. This event gathers over 200 interested residents to review what has happened in the last year and any revisions to the plan to work on in the upcoming year. The event is being held Nov. 5th this year.

All proceeds from this show will go directly to provide food, child-care and other services for next fall’s neighborhood gathering.

Entrance to the show at Radio Radio on Nov. 13th will be $5. Doors at 8 PM, music at 9 PM Jon and Denise Martin, DJ, Playboy Psychonauts.

We’re all locals helping out the neighborhood here, and we’d love to have you out for the wonderful event.

Also, the new IMN podcast is up – download it or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2 Thursdays at 4pm.

Evidently, Hulk Hogan attempted an audition for Metallica after the death of Cliff Burton. I knew the Hulkster was a bassist once upon a time, but I never knew he had such aspirations, even as his pro wrestling career was at its height. Evidently, he was never considered, and life as we know it unfolded. The big question is, even after all of the surgeries and injuries, which lifestyle would really have been rougher on him? And how would “Say your prayers and take your vitamins!” have gone over with the Alcoholica crowd? And, given the Hulkster’s (albeit fake) brawling tendencies, would they have mixed the bass out of “. . . And Justice For All” like they did with Jason Newsted?

My trip to Portland was a great time (mostly because I got to visit with my sister), and I got the chance to visit some music stores out there as well. Some thoughts about the the availability of gear out there

• Huge amount of homebrew pedals – as opposed to the manufacturers I usually see in the stores and online, there’s a huge amount of boutique manufacturers out there making effects. Racks upon racks upon racks of pedals, actually. I didn’t get the chance to test many of them (and most of them were for guitars, to be fair), but it was great to see the available options. It makes me think that an Etsy-like location for pedals could do well.
• Lots of music stores, still – both of the musical instrument and of the recorded variety. Sure, most of both varieties dealt with used wares, but they all seemed to be doing okay. There’s something to be said for the support of a community for local businesses, and I wish I could more of this kind of thing outside of the borders of Portland.
• Not too many basses, from what I could observe – but such is life. I’m probably still jaded from the Chicago Bass Club and the boutique goodness found there. I saw mostly older Fenders and budget models, and I would have loved to have seen some homebrew instruments to match the number of pedals and effects represented in the stores.
• Great to see old bass spreading the knowledge – my sister got one of my older basses as a gift quite a few years ago, and though it never really took for her, it turns out the old Fender JP-90 is still seeing work in a local band or two out there, and it inspired one of her friends to keep learning and playing when she otherwise might have given up. That’s the best return-on-investment I can think of for an old instrument, really. Even though it still has some wiring problems – I always pulled the the input jack out of wack and had to have my old student radio station engineer re-solder it.