-=> Richard Webb wrote to James Bradley <=-
...
 JB> "Where's that confounded bridge?"

 RW> "I'm just tryin' to find the bridge."

Little known quote from the same group:

"We've done four already but now we're steady and then they went."

 RW> Btw  it's funny how many young drummer come in and when I
 RW> ask them to show me an example of the kind of drum sound
 RW> that would come as close as could be to musical orgasm for
 RW> them if it were to be heard on their recording they play
 RW> that band for me.  THen they look at me strange when I
 RW> don't close mic the kit, or even funnier when I tell 'em
 RW> what we
 RW> need is a big room to record their drums in.    I explain
 RW> to them that you don't put your ear right up to a drum to
 RW> listen to it, which is essentially what you're doing with a
 RW> close mike.  tHe Bonham studio sound was big rooms, only
 RW> two or three microphones.

Yup... Can't capture *that* in an iso-booth. Even when the old codger was 
playing quiet, he was LOUD.

 AH>  Chords          -- something organists play with one finger
 RW> 

 JB> MOD: Chords  -- something accordionists play with one finger PS: I
 JB> just read your next post, so the MOD stands. 

 RW> YOu bet!!!

L!!! Bagpipers do it by just blowing hard. 

...
 JB> We get all the blame, even if it *was* the base player/horn section!
 JB> 

 RW> Yeah I know, bass players can do that easily, or other
 RW> rhythm section elements.  USually because they're not
 RW> paying close enough attention to the drums, or because
 RW> they're
 RW> trying to push the tempo for other reasons, i.e.
 RW> uncomfortable singing at that tempo or similar.  That's one
 RW> thing all the midi work did for me, it improved my sense of
 RW> when I was trying to push or pull the tempo.

What an eyeopener when I first tried to play along to my drum box. Sitting 
"in the pocket" is the sign of a good player, but if one other member of 
the rhythm section tries to drag that pocket further, often with the best 
of intentions - "That drummer can't keep time." If the person holding the 
sticks notices the singer struggling with the tempo, a great player can 
adjust to take one for the team. "That drummer can't keep time." even if 
it *was* the keyboardist that initiated the tempo shift. 

 RW> YEp, the tension adjustment for the snares, the lugs on the
 RW> top heads, lugs on the bottom heads.

I have a marching snare here that I can adjust each snare wire 
tension independently from each other. Each side of the basket is height 
adjustable also. It's the second such arrangement I've had in my stable, 
but I sold the first out of stupidity. That old unit was a 'snap' to 
adjust.  It took forever to get just right, but my, did it sing!

 RW> You'd be surprised in my bar band days though how many
 RW> times I'd go to a gig to find a pickup drummer who didn't
 RW> have a
 RW> drum key or common hand tool.s  A drum key, common hand
 RW> tools, and wd40 for kick drum pedals was part of my gotta
 RW> have it toolkit for gigging.

WD40 didn't *exist* in my bar-daze! Still, a box of fluids, a box of tools, 
and a box of expendable were always on my list. Inside one of those boxes 
was always a box of band-aids, mole-skin and what-nots. Besides sticks and 
skins, drumming is expensive! If you haven't worked for a while, physically 
you might not make it through a night.

 JB> Boy, did I pick it wrong! 

 RW> Yeah I know, think about those guys carrying those cp-80
 RW> Yamaha "electric grand" pianos with the pickups. 88 keys.
 RW> AT least they didn't have the unisons in the middle and
 RW> upper RW> regions.

"Unisons"????

 RW> 
 JB> Smartest entertainers of our days! As mentioned, who needs to carry
 JB> a tune  these days or even annunciate the "lyrics"? I've hated on
 JB> the current state  of "popular" music for years, but George Clinton
 JB> said it best. In a mumble,  "Whatever you say - and we tried - Rap
 JB> music brought blacks and whites  together for better or worse."

 RW> YEah I know, I see as many suburban white kids digging that
 RW> stuff as black kids.  I just shake my head.  That rap album
 RW> I did was for a suburban white kid.  .

A neighbour and I have been working on a "suburban white kid" for her 
tastes in tunes. What're you gonna do, eh?  A few Holloweens ago, I was 
doling out the treats to a few late stragglers when a car drove by thumpin' 
and bumpin' so loud I could hear something in the trunk rattling. I asked 
the girls what it must sound like *inside* that vehicle if it sounds so bad 
from here. 

...
 JB> Now, Shirley's no Patsy Kline but she  has plenty to offer. Had it
 JB> not been for those boys that discovered her, we  would likely never
 JB> know her name but, I'd still love to hear her do a  duet with The
 JB> Holly Crow Trio.

 RW> I always thought the same, I'd like to hear her voice
 RW> without all that.  But then you have to remember that Butch
 RW> Vigg is heavily into that stuff.  That was sort of the
 RW> effect this alternative band I mentioned was going for.

I suppose the experiment that was Garbage worked and was valid as art, but 
I still don't hang it on my wall either. I just wonder if they were an
instrumental group how well the music would hold up. Different strokes, I 
suppose....


... James
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