The Bass Geek

A Las Vegas jeweler is selling this particular custom-made instrument for $250,000. The original story is accompanied by a graphic explaining the fine detail of the bass, ranging from a body formed from a single piece of quilted maple (nice touch) to several 24K gold inlays (superfluous) to diamonds in the knobs and a nut made of Siberian mammoth tusk (you must be joking).

My favorite part, though, is the explanation of the brass frets. It was a structural consideration, as gold would be too soft for playing, and brass was necessary to stand up to the strings. I find it quite hard to believe that this won’t end up in a display case somewhere, untouched by playing hands for years at a time.

Also, the new IMN podcast is up - download it here or listen at the site.

My friend Jim Roach forwarded to me the next-generation mix tape, complete with USB connection. Kind of a cool idea, unless it’s actually inserted into a real cassette drive. Then, no matter what you’ve put on the tape, it sounds like Throbbing Gristle.

C|NET brings news of the magnetic guitar cable, featuring a snap-away design similar to the MacBook power cord. It’s an interesting design that most certainly would have prevented the recurring jack trauma an old bass of mine suffered from cord strain (that, to be fair, was the fault of the jack mounted on a plastic cover and not wood or metal). It’s not gonna help much when you keep stepping on your cord, though.

New IMN podcast is up - download it here or listen at the site.

Radio Radio hosts some big shows this weekend - Unknown Hinson finally bridges the gap between rockabilly and vampirism tonight, and the venue hosts a tribute to Mpozi Tolbert on July 4th. That bill includes the IRB, Twilight Sentinels, and a host of other acts and DJs. Bigger Than Elvis takes the stage Saturday night. All come highly recommended.

Sam’s Saloon waits until Tuesday to host a musical act, but I’ll throw them in for the sake of completeness. Up!Scumbag, Wait ‘Til Wednesday and Boats play on the 8th.

Deano’s Vino is holding a wild extravaganza on the 4th, with nonspecific grilling and music to be had. Enjoy.

Also, the new IMN podcast is up. Download it here or listen on the site.

Happy 4th of July, and don’t blow yourself up.

Subscribing to some NPR podcasts helps me in a few ways:

• Time-shifting “This American Life” to a more reasonable hour, i.e. any time but that weird Saturday night time slot it currently occupies on my local station
• Getting some programs said local station doesn’t carry
• Acting as a safety net for things I miss during my drive time (short as it is, this can add up)

Which is why I was delighted that the podcasts caught Victor Wooten on NPR giving an impromptu bass lesson to the nation on the subject of double-thumbing and the open-hammer pluck. It was cool not only because of the subject matter, but hearing the announcer speak these terms almost gave them an air of the martial arts movie - like they were moves Shaolin monks sought to master before defeating the usurpers of their style. He also talked a bit about the book he recently published, which I have on order but have not yet read.

Which somewhat countered the slam on bassists from last Sunday’s “Metalocalypse.” Following a grim attempt to pick up two women, Murderface ran into a torrent of insults such as “Shouldn’t you be loading the band’s gear?” and “Why don’t you act like a bass player and stand over there and be inaudible?” My wife gave me such a look of pity after that last one.

Rob G. sits in once again, and it rocks.  Download it directly or listen at the site.

The Warner Gear does some more recording tonight - well, the other folks have been recording for a bit, but I’m just now getting back into the Coop now that I’m not playing three shows a week (for a few weeks) and trying to write two books at the same time.  Therefore, I have no idea where the project stands or what I have to do.  I’m planning on just playing bass wherever they tell me to, and I’m planning on using the P-Bass for the majority of it.