Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you. Sometimes you never see the bear at all. This audience I played for today was not the worst of all time, but it was certainly a contender. One person looked up from her computer to clap for one song. As far as everyone else might have been concerned I could detect very little evidence that anyone knew I was there. Ah well. It is a nice opportunity to play just for Zahn who listens faithfully and always claps. And she took time to take a few nice pictures for me to post today. It is really amazing how loud twenty or so people in a room can be, especially when one or two of them seem to feel it is important to make sure that anyone in the room who wants to hear every word they speak will have no problems at all. I’m sure it is entirely possible to converse quite effectively in either a noisy or a quiet room while moderating one’s voice so that only the person across the table can really hear what you are saying. That would be what I would consider a polite way of being in public. Well. So much for that
Earlier in the afternoon, while I was setting up my equipment, I had a nice chat with Paul Michalec who decided to open the 49 at 49 book to page 2, on which I am featured. Paul himself is on the cover of the book as well as maybe on page 6. Or 8. One of the usual waitresses was out for her birthday. Mike Shifflett failed to show up. Was he out sailing? He was missed, not only by us but by the waitress with whom he regularly flirts. Mike will be very disappointed to learn that he missed a choice version of the St. James Infirmary.
One of the two people who took an interest in the musical aspect of the situation came over and asked about my amplifier. It looks like some old vintage machine, but it is actually fairly new. It is a Fender Acoutasonic Pro which I bought it back in 2002 I think. It was fairly expensive but it seemed like just what I needed to embark on a journey of discovery in the world of music performance. It has served me well. Though the Acoustasonic line has continued, the Pro model was discontinued fairly soon after I bought mine. I’m not sure why. It is a fantastic machine. It is quite heavy but that goes with the territory when you have 80 watts per channel, 99 effects and great tone control options. I use all the same settings I’ve been using since I first bought it and rarely turn it up past 3 (it goes to 10). But I doubt another machine would allow me to fine tune the sound so well to meet my needs and there’s always the possibility of deciding to try something new.
