Friday the Thirteenth at Pastis

Earlier on Friday the 13th, lunch at the Big Chicken in Marietta with Jack.
We then cruised over to Ken Stanton Music to browse.
I was shopping for bass strings but they didn't stock what I was looking for:
a black tapewound 5-string set.  They can get 'em in a couple of days.
No big deal.

My second outing with the incomparable dance band Third Party, live on stage at Pastis in Roswell.  Once again, on this rainy night in Georgia, it was Glen Perdew on vocals and keyboards, Steve Humphrey on guitar and vocals, Randy Hutchinson on drums, and myself subbing for the fun and grooving Fuji Fujimoto.  What a serious music lesson this is.  I have so much to learn.  This thing called "bass" is just so much about feel, groove, and nuance.  Those things were elusive to me for many years.  I hadn't grasped the intricacies of the subdivision.  I firmly believe that a stellar deep, fat groove is the result of subdividing in one's head and then articulating the strong accents but silencing the weak ones.  It feels good to get this out on the 'puter screen, at any rate.  There's probably a lot more for me to come to terms with, I just haven't gotten there yet.  Randy reviewed the points of the three beats:  the on-top-of-the-beat, the on-the-beat, and the behind-the-beat.  Behind is important to master, and I'm obviously not there yet.  It's like dragging, but by just the same amount every beat.  Hard to translate to words, I'm thinking.  It's relaxing and not quite hitting the note on the one, more like hitting it just after the one, but before the e of one.  Glen is always telling me that to my credit, I am terrific at playing rock styles;  I'm just weaker on the R&B.  After watching Fuji the week before, I can understand where he's coming from.  She has a very cool approach that is smooth and fluid, with lots of subdividing going on in her finger style technique.

We played so many songs that I thought I was ready for; here's what I can recall: And I Love Her;  Always and Forever;  Wishing Well;  Easy (Commodores);  The Grooveline;  Don't Stop Till You Get Enough;  Rock With You;  Love Rollercoaster;  Shining Star --> Sledgehammer;  Play That Funky Music;  Soul Man --> Hold On I'm Coming;  I Wanna Be Your Lover (in E flat);  Brick House --> She's a Bad Mama Jama;  Sex Machine;  Start Me Up --> Hurts So Good --> Here Comes My Girl;  Purple Rain (with the second verse being words to Forget You, or actually the more explicit F*** You!)...  I'm certain there were many more, just can't regurgitate them all at this point.

The last time out here I had some sound level issues.  This time I brought both cabinets.  Plenty of volume, although the red lights did illuminate on the octave pedal sections.  The point is, I blew my fuse for the tweeter last time here in December and forgot that I hadn't replaced it.  haven't used the 410 since.  I happened to have the spare fuses with me, so during the break after the first set, I got around to unscrewing the input plate and stuck a new fuse in there.  It worked!  My tone had some top end in the 410 cabinet, which was on top of the 115.  Made a big difference and I was happy after that.  The women were fun and flirty, dancing with whoever.  We were there to get them all dancing and drinking, it's a business geared towards selling alcohol.  I think we did our job admirably.

Glen leading the band, most likely inserting a rap over one of the vamps.

Steve on super-human guitar.
He warms up on a medley of vintage Steve Howe Yes licks:
Siberian Khatru;  Heart of the Sunrise;  And You And I;  All Good People;  Starship Trooper.
I dug it.

My best shot of Randy after the house lights came on.
He is a serious groove doctor, perhaps the greatest drummer I've ever played with.

My typical pose, with Fender Jazz Foto Flame in hand.

Steve out in the crowd.

One with my Stingray in hand.

Glen in action.
He plays iPod DJ during the breaks, a real passion for music and
a gift of crowd interaction that might rival David Lee Roth!