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Post 1806, Day 32 of 2017
- 2,224 days since I started this blog -
- 2,224 days since I started this blog -
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| From Reverend Ken's Birthday Bash and Survivor's Ball: "Starry Night" |
I've played bass out (that is, played with other people as opposed to solo practice) every one of the last 10 days.
My chops are up. My happiness is present, intact. But I am exhausted.
That is my excuse for making unkind remarks about Joe, who showed up on my end-of-the-night set, and proceeded to use his guitar skills, which are very good, to demolish an otherwise solid performance, something he's done at every single encounter we've had.
It is how a personality problem overwhelms talent.
By insisting on having the spotlight, taking charge, and then playing leads that disregarded the other players, he diminished the music, when he could have enhanced it.
Is it my perspective? Of course, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. Crunched by the end of the night, we had two songs. I and everybody else involved had waited hours to play, this guy walked in a half hour earlier, after attending a different jam/open mic, and (literally) pushed his way onto the stage, unasked by any other person.
Already past the official end of the open mic, we got just two songs. The first one, he played a minute past the end, while everyone else just stood and watched. The second, which I sang, he played solos over the vocals.
In the past, he has pushed me away from the mic during a song, to be center-stage for a solo that went on so long that I never got to finish the song. On another occasion, he was house bass at an open mic (he plays a 6-string bass, and sounds just like a guitarist when he does - not a good thing in my opinion), and when attendance wasn't good, but there were a couple of other bass players there, he just walked off the gig. He has never shown any personal insight, never seems to have a perception of how his actions were seen by others.
In speaking with him, I have found him to be pleasant. He has friends, seems to be a good and loving family man. It is only his attitude about making music that turns me off.
So when I told the drummer on the set (my friend and Reverend Ken's Birthday Band member Dan) at the beginning of the set, "The only reason I'm still on this stage is to help you deal with Joe. You're about to see what happens to an ensemble when one of the members is not a team player. You're about to meet the most entitled musician in Syracuse".
Just to make the point, Joe tried to replace Dan with a drummer who had come in with him after the first song. It was Dan's set, and I and the open mic host made sure Joe knew that wouldn't serve.
I'm grateful the set was as good as it was, grateful for all the musicians I shared the stage with, and that I don't have to see Joe often.
My chops are up. My happiness is present, intact. But I am exhausted.
That is my excuse for making unkind remarks about Joe, who showed up on my end-of-the-night set, and proceeded to use his guitar skills, which are very good, to demolish an otherwise solid performance, something he's done at every single encounter we've had.
It is how a personality problem overwhelms talent.
By insisting on having the spotlight, taking charge, and then playing leads that disregarded the other players, he diminished the music, when he could have enhanced it.
Is it my perspective? Of course, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. Crunched by the end of the night, we had two songs. I and everybody else involved had waited hours to play, this guy walked in a half hour earlier, after attending a different jam/open mic, and (literally) pushed his way onto the stage, unasked by any other person.
Already past the official end of the open mic, we got just two songs. The first one, he played a minute past the end, while everyone else just stood and watched. The second, which I sang, he played solos over the vocals.
In the past, he has pushed me away from the mic during a song, to be center-stage for a solo that went on so long that I never got to finish the song. On another occasion, he was house bass at an open mic (he plays a 6-string bass, and sounds just like a guitarist when he does - not a good thing in my opinion), and when attendance wasn't good, but there were a couple of other bass players there, he just walked off the gig. He has never shown any personal insight, never seems to have a perception of how his actions were seen by others.
In speaking with him, I have found him to be pleasant. He has friends, seems to be a good and loving family man. It is only his attitude about making music that turns me off.
So when I told the drummer on the set (my friend and Reverend Ken's Birthday Band member Dan) at the beginning of the set, "The only reason I'm still on this stage is to help you deal with Joe. You're about to see what happens to an ensemble when one of the members is not a team player. You're about to meet the most entitled musician in Syracuse".
Just to make the point, Joe tried to replace Dan with a drummer who had come in with him after the first song. It was Dan's set, and I and the open mic host made sure Joe knew that wouldn't serve.
I'm grateful the set was as good as it was, grateful for all the musicians I shared the stage with, and that I don't have to see Joe often.
Food and Diet
Today's Weight: 202.8 lbs.
Previous Weight (1/31/17): 203.4 lbs.
Net Loss/Gain: - 0.6 lbs.
Diet Comment
Light eating yesterday, and I'm that much closer to 'Goal Weight' and making new lows for the year. Tomorrow, given the dessert I had with being taken out to 'lunch' - breakfast for me - I'm not expecting good news.
Food Log
Breakfast
1:30pm, at Bull & Bear Roadhouse: Bangkok salmon salad (grilled salmon, Spring Mix, snow peas, Napa cabbage, radishes, almonds, cilantro, carrots, tortilla strips, sesame-ginger dressing) and hot cinnamon sticks with cream cheese frosting.
Lunch
1:30pm, at Bull & Bear Roadhouse: Bangkok salmon salad (grilled salmon, Spring Mix, snow peas, Napa cabbage, radishes, almonds, cilantro, carrots, tortilla strips, sesame-ginger dressing) and hot cinnamon sticks with cream cheese frosting.
Lunch
9:55pm: A Quest bar.
Dinner
2:05am: Carrots, Dubliner cheese, and a Quest bar.
2:05am: Carrots, Dubliner cheese, and a Quest bar.
Liquid Intake
Espressos: 0; Coffee: 18 oz.; Tea: 0 oz.; Water: 72+ oz. and a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey
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