Hurts So Good was the opener. I wasn't quite there. Martay's yelling over the din that we're in Eb. Confusing for a few reasons. When I tune for Martay, I tune down a 1/2 step from standard; I was already there, so to speak. My tuner calls the low string D#, but that's a technicality. I wish it thought in terms of flats and not sharps. Anyways, the last time we did this, I remember playing it in G, down a whole step from the original key of A. Keep in mind, A sounds like Ab as far as our tuning is concerned; G sounds like F# (or Gb, but who really thinks in terms of Gb, unless you're in E flat minor?), and so on. Well, this time Martay was in E. I hadn't played the song in E before. That puts it in concert E flat - cool, a tri-tone away from the original! So he's yelling "E flat" to me, he's playing E, I was playing A, I fumbled down to G, then saw his left hand grabbing an E chord and moved it down to my open E (for the last time, Eb). Now I got it! To me, it's almost not worth doing the song anymore once you move the key so far from the ingrained key. Really, corporate radio has slammed that song into our subconscious! You can't mess with it too much.
Now that I typed that all out in my own disorganized fashion and have re-read my thoughts, I realize that we had played it in E before. Maybe once, maybe twice. It had been a while. I accept the responsibility, and the blame. That said, it's up to the wanna-be musician to keep track of the keys, changes, and arrangements. Bass players have it fairly hard in that we need keen ears and an unfailing reliability. The band (and the crowd) count on us to keep the format intact. No pressure!
Bill showed up early and sang like his life depended on it. Man, no one else can get the Led out like Mr. Bill! Bobby Plant would have been proud to witness this! Whole Lotta Love indeed! We should have done more Zep, in any case. With Martay, it always comes down to the guitar solos. We did pull out some decent Van Halen: Jamie's Cryin' and Panama. Also did some 80's hits that not everybody can pull off: Your Love (Josie's On a Vacation Far Away) (The Outfield) and the ubiquitous Don't Stop Believin' (down from E to D, which in our tuning is C#, a necessity even for Brent's deluxe vocal range).
My Precision had a mighty large tone, certainly owing somewhat to freshly boiled strings (don't tell anybody but I think this was the 2nd go-round in the hot water for the current set...). The night before I was reminded by removing the strap to polish the wood (!!!) (ha-ha) that the horn's strap hook screw had become stripped over time within the body's wood. I had to procure a longer and slightly more robust screw to adhere the hook to the horn. Several minutes of searching through my collection of screws yielded a few good candidates. It wasn't overly taxing to slowing screw that puppy back into the bass. It will never come out again! Back to the tone - so fat and yet so clear. The clarity owes itself to the jazz pickup in the bridge position. Love that feature, even if it taints a true P-bass tone. I can always pan over to just the p p/u, but I never do.
Great to see Cliff, as well as Christine and Dorothy. Mary, the chief bartender with the bitter soul, has left the building. Alas, no love lost. It felt like old times for sure. Real nice playing with these guys. We just don't do it often enough!
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