The Bass Geek

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

The Playboy Psychonauts play up in Lafayette Saturday, barring delay or Snowpocalypse™©®, and thus you have a chance to hear a real sitar in action. However, a friend of mine shared this article on the iPhone pocket sitar with me, so you’ve got that to fall back on when the snow drifts engulf your house. It’s definitely not the same experience, but at least you don’t have to tune the thing.

The image below says it all – a great bunch of folks are putting on a benefit for Haitian aid and relief next Saturday, and everybody should probably go and drop off as much as you can.

1. Even if you wear silly smoking jackets and feature a sitar as your lead instrument, rockabilly crowds will love your credibly performed version of “Ring of Fire.”
2. Classical guitars, even with plugged soundholes, can make a lot of feedback.
3. The new pickups sound great, even as I try them out in a real-life gig situation and not just my little home environment.
4. The Fuglees still represent the epitome of power-pop genius. Their new album F-Bomb swings from world-weary hope in love and life to world-weary wry cynicism, but the songs manage an upbeat infectiousness that insinuates itself in your ears. Basically, you’re forced by very persistent monkeys to listen over and over again, and I don’t mind.
5. This does not represent Friday’s show – it comes from an unnamed gig in the past that my drummer only now made me aware of. And so, I rant: DO NOT PLACE YOUR DRINKS ON OUR INSTRUMENTS. Clubs are generally unfriendly places for gear – musicians know this, and we’re accepting of the usual risks of cigarette smokes, accidental droppage, and the like. The smallness of clubs also mean that there’s no giant storage spaces or backstage areas to store gear. Again, we know this, and we acknowledge some risks. But who thinks it’s a great idea to sit your cup of liquid delight on a drumset? It’s not yours, it needs to stay dry, and the drummer is not going to like you. Think about it – you’re angering somebody with an instinct to hit things in a sometimes rapid rhythm. At least try setting your drink on the singer while he or she is looking in the mirror – more than likely, they’ll be there for awhile and your drink will be safe. But not the drums. The drummer doesn’t like it, and that’s enough for me. Plus, I have to carry them sometimes, and I don’t want to be touching your fluids, either.