The Bass Geek

I’m considering a spree (negative in results) of some sort after receiving this MySpace bulletin:

James Brown fans and all true Funkateers, our James Brown tour has been backed up till after our Europe & Japan dates which are in June and July
so I can tell you now that it will be after we get back, so check the website for more currect detains which will be posted starting next week at:

www.bootsycollins.com

This hurts me as much as it hurts my fans JB’s fans everybody, but it was out of our control. We hope you all understand our position and all we can do is funk you extra harder when we do funk.

Instead of one nut you get two.

That’s the only way I know to make it up beings that it was not our fault in the first place, everybody was ready to go and they pulled the plug.

So we ain’t gonna whimp out about it, we just gone be ready when the horn blow we will Pee-Red-to-Go!
Love & P-funk hugs and thanks for tha prayer’s yall!
One Nation, One funk, One love baba!
Bootsy!!!

I was totally geeked up for this show, and my only consolation is that we were waiting for a check to come in to purchase tickets. I want rescheduled dates now. NOW.

I’ve been going back through my iPod, trying to catch up on the backlog of albums I’ve loaded in the past weeks (Nicolay was today, and the new Gnarls Barkley waits patiently).  Right now, I’m making my way through the Nine Inch Nails Ghost collection (purchased, in the interest of full disclosure, at a local record store as part of Independent Record Store Day).

What strikes me most goes beyond the music (which hits me as interesting but not particularly moving soundscapes or tone poems) - it proves both that somebody can make huge money off of a self-produced and distributed release (bonus for the artist!) and that they need a loyal cult following already in place to make it happen (bonus for that one particular artist only!).

It’s just impossible for me to separate this work from the established backstory.  It works more as an example than it does a work of music.

Well, maybe that’s premature.  Let me get through the second recording and see what I think.  I don’t suspect much of a change, though.

EDIT:  No sooner do I write this than there’s a new track up at Reznor’s website.  The email/track exchange is fairly familiar and common, so let’s see how many folks jump on this.

It is not entirely unreasonable that I’m fully geeked about this show coming to Indy on May 14th.

It’s Bootsy Collins.

The Bootsy Collins.

With (according to the press release) the original JBs rhythm section.

There’s a bunch of other folks on the tour as well, but this is all you really need to know.

Bootsy, Jabo Starks and Clyde Stubbefield, Catfish Collins, and (at the Indy stop) Fred Wesley.

DAMN.

I’m fully aware that these “tribute” shows tend to pick up and lose folks as they go, and nothing’s guaranteed.  As long as Bootsy shows up, though, everything else is gravy for me.

It’s BOOTSY!

I wanted to wait until this show was confirmed and listed on the venue’s website and such before bringing it up here, and all of those parts have finally fallen into their respective places. So now I can tell you how darn nice it’s going to be playing the Vogue next Thursday for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s a nice big stage with nice big sound, and I want to hear what my bass and synths will sound like there. I’m also sure it’ll be the first time I’ve heard a sitar there (certainly not the first time one has been there I’m sure, but it’s still rare enough, trust me). We’ve been playing muich smaller and intimate venues to this point, so it’ll be a challenge, especially considering we’re a three-piece. I’ve also been doing most of these shows without an amp (both bass and synth using a DI into the P.A.), so I wonder if I’ll have to change that. It’s probably better to bring one just in case, eh?

Second, our little half-hour slot leads the way for the genius that is The Leisure Kings and the oversized punk-rock marching band Mucca Pazza. They boast being 30 members strong (inlcuding wind sections and cheerleaders), and the thought of trying to organize them into rehearsals of any sort frightens me, frankly. That’s why I’m glad I’ll just be taking in the show and not the preparation.

We got my mom moved in and took in as much as possible.  Beale St. is still Disney, but we managed to grab some good food and took in the Stax museum again - they had a good exhibit from Otis Redding’s personal records on a limited run.  It was also a delight to see the basses used to record “Soul Finger” and some of the Booker T. and the MGs songs.

We also took in a night of boxing that turned out not to be professional, but a fraternity’s charity event.  Suffice it to say that we saw maybe one real boxer out of the night, and a lot of really ineffective swinging.  Such is life.

I also noted an inordinate amount of truckers sporting signs about remaining strong and attentive 24/7/365 and never giving “aid and comfort to the enemy.”  I was unaware that these brave drivers manned a combat zone fraught with such danger and peril that their constant vigilance was required.  I have visions of the borders being lined with semis blasting Toby Keith in unison, guarding our livelihoods with a combination of brute force and nausea.  Yes, it scare me a bit.

Now I’m home, gazing at the unwatched episode of Battlestar Galactica on the DVR and waiting for my wife to get home to remedy that situation.