22 years ago today
I’ve got an audition with another band next week and it looks like a recording session will take place next week as well (which will be db stuff, so I’d better get my chops good before then).
My left index finger is killing me at the moment.
NP: “Summertime,” Keith Emerson, Changing States.
Tuesday, 9 November 2004
Weak audition this evening. I was really under-prepared, particularly since I didn’t do any real practice beforehand (in fact today was the first time I took out the double bass since I moved to California). I need to spend some time doing some serious practicing just rebuilding lost chops on db. I also need to remember to practice with the amp so that I can do a better job of getting the sound that I want from my pizzicato playing through the realist pickup. I have to admit that I’m not that crazy about the pickup anymore.
25 years ago today
This was my first time hearing any of the music (except for a Beatles cover thrown in at one point). Nice stuff. I picked up Mike’s “Dancing” CD plus Nick D’Virgilio’s “Karma.”
Saw David plus DiC’s last drummer (in both senses of the term “last drummer), Phil Plencner at the show.
A bit of lyrical inspiration struck at one point so I’ve got two lines for a song in my palm pilot.
Friday, 9 November 2001
Not especially productive rehearsal for Heidi Jo’s Christmas presentation. I’ve volunteered to write some horn charts for Jingle Bell Rock and Joyful Joyful. Rehearsal ran long and I ended up bringing my bass with me to the Mike Keneally show at Martyr’s.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Made it to the Pax Christi mass in the first time in what seems like forever. Played reasonably well.
Tuesday, 13 October 2026.
Forgot to write an entry Sunday after playing at Mass. We were a bit scattered and there were a few pieces that felt like they would be trainwrecks during Mass that narrowly missed or did derail, but overall, it was not too bad.
NP: “Bass Blues,” John Coltrane, Traneing In.
Sunday, 27 September 2026.
It feels like more than a month since I’ve played at St Giles, but according to my diary entry it’s not. Played really well this morning, although the closing song mysteriously got a different rhythm on guitar than it had in rehearsal which forced me into a different bassline style than I had prepped during rehearsal.
NP: “Swannee Tunnel / Steel-Driving Man,” Silkroad Ensemble & Rhiannon Giddens, American Railroad.
Friday, 25 September 2026.
Played tonight for the parish’s gay ministry annual blessing ceremony. It felt a bit less of a big deal this year than in the past. I think the first one two years ago was probably the best as it was really kind of a historic occasion being the first sanctioned blessing of gay relationships in the modern church history. Music-wise it was occasionally a trainwreck at least around endings, but overall good enough, Kind of fun to play some secular music in public once in a while.
Sunday, 23 August 2026.
St Giles FMC mass this morning. Did a reasonably good job on the bass parts, although there were a few things I felt were subpar. The communion song was too short so we had an instrumental verse which I took the melody on. The guitar player said afterwards that he liked how it sounded.
The alto sax player who’s been at the FMC masses with the men’s choir before was there and I noted he had his hand-transcribed leadsheets with the transpositions in place and I was reminded of the old days playing at St Michael’s where we never did anything in the written key and I got really good at sight-transposing things, even complex piano parts. I can still do up and down a half-step, whole-step, minor third and fourth, and I’m still certain that major thirds and tritone transpositions are still outside my wheelhouse.
Wednesday, 19 August 2026.
I’ve done a bit more work on the site but no music. This post is mostly a test to make sure that a new feature for maintaining the diary is working correctly.
Tuesday, 18 August 2026.
After a long time, I’ve finally gotten around to fixing the code on this site so that the music diary can return! I’ve been largely quiescent, although I do occasionally play bass or piano for Masses at St Giles which is my main musical activity right now, although I’ve been thinking of doing a bit more music on occasion.
Friday, 20 September 2019.
And yet another long-delayed update. Went to a singing and playing get together that happens monthly here in Oak Park. I decided to take a bass since from the pictures on the Facebook group it looked like they had plenty of guitars and I took my double bass since I didn’t want to deal with an amp.
I was a bit rusty at first and discovered that I don’t seem to have any rosin anywhere I could find it so my bow was relatively useless, but as the evening proceeded, my playing improved. I feel like once a month is probably a good level of commitment for me to do something musical at this point in my life.
Tuesday, 19 June 2012.
A long-delayed return to music diarizing. I’m currently in Tampa for the residency of my Creative Writing MFA. I brought along my banjo and found a piano so I’ve been able to get in some practice on banjo, piano and voice while I’m here. The big things I’ve been working on have been a piano and voice arrangement of “Nuages”and working out a bit more of “I Found Jesus” which now has its melody and chords a bit more defined (It’s a I-vi-IV-V in Bb).
Sunday, 14 August 2011.
Second rehearsal of the gypsy jazz group. My endurance was a great deal better, although I was a bit behind in printing up charts. I’ll have to spend some time on this before the next rehearsal. I’m feeling pretty good about my playing, although I want to be spending more time practicing.
Monday, 8 August 2011.
A new musical project. I auditioned for and was accepted by a nascent gypsy jazz group as their bass player. My finger is a bit sore from that much pizz playing after so long away from the instrument. I also found myself fatiguing well before the audition was over with my fast walking parts hard to keep up to tempo. Fortunately, a lot of manouche bass is a somewhat less demanding root-five kind of line.