Taking a mental health break, so only light crappy blogging (yes, I stole the phrase from Atrios) until tomorrow.
In the meantime, from one of my favorite Nat Lamp albums, please enjoy Mr. Roberts (Christopher Guest) interviewing a bass player (Bill Murray).
People* always ask me "Steve, why did you ever decide to pick up the bass guitar?"
And when they do, I play them the above.
*defined as "sort of like Tom Friedman's cab drivers."
You might like this Steve. I always liked that sort of clipped bass sound, especially with a good drummer.
ReplyDeletehttp://pitchfork.com/tv/youtube/5-special-presentation/955-jacco-gardner-performs-the-ballad-of-little-jane/
I had no idea that was Christopher Guest. Shows my utter incuriousity.
I like the way you said that.........
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a joke:
ReplyDeleteA tourist goes on vacation to a tropical island. He's soaking up the ambience - lush breezes, palm trees, native drumming in the background. He gets to his hotel, notices that the drumming is still going on, and asks the clerk about it; the clerk says, "very bad when drums stop!"
Later that evening out by the pool, same thing - continuous drumming, but when asked, the natives look horrified and mutter "very bad when drums stop!" Finally, the tourist can't take it any more and yells, "WHY is it VERY BAD when the drums stop??!!"
The natives look at one another, then one finally says, "Bass solo."
You're welcome.
That's actually one of my all time favorite jokes.
ReplyDeleteMine is:
ReplyDeleteQ What has 3 legs and an asshole?
A A drum stool.
or
Q What do you do when a bass player knocks on your door?
A Give him the money and take the pizza.
My son plays bass, so in fairness to the bassists out there:
ReplyDeleteHow do you know when a drummer is at your door?
The knock speeds up.
What do you call a rock drummer without a girlfriend?
ReplyDeleteHomeless.
How many drummers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
ReplyDeleteFour. One to screw in the lightbulb and three to stand around and say,
"Aahhh, I coulda done that."
J. Lag
Q: How do you know when the drum riser is level?
ReplyDeleteA: The drool runs out of both sides of the drummer's mouth.
In spite of all the jokes, there are no great bands without a rhythm
ReplyDeletesection.
What do you get when you give a monkey two sticks?
ReplyDeleteA drummer.
What do you get when you take one away?
A conductor.
buzzbabyjesus makes a good point. A guitar- or keyboard-player can be out-of-tune, or make some other mistake, and people won't necessarily notice. But if a drummer messes up, it sounds, in the words of the late, great Levon Helm, "like someone dropped the kitchen stove." (I love that description).
ReplyDeleteJ. Lag