Cliff Edge

Not 50’s country and western, but there is a thin line between some modern country and 50’s rock and roll.

Pretty much all modern country music is alternative to the accepted Nashville sound of 30/40 years ago. To me as a former member of several country bands, Alt = modern or country rock.

They may not be allowed but my FB accounts all have fake names. A couple of them are fairly obvious too. At one time you weren’t allowed to have more than one account but I’m not sure that still applies. Although rather like your age, very difficult to police.

I’ve used contacts for years, used to wear them all the time but as I got older I would use them less. These days I wear them when out and about mostly in the summer months so I can use decent sunglasses. Very occasionally on gigs. I have varifocal lenses in the specs as I’m short sighted from an early age, and I now need additional help with reading. My contacts are monthly Bausch & Lomb Purevision 2 multifocals for distance and reading. Can’t recommend them enough. I can see the audience, the fretboard and the charts on the iPad.

Surely Herbie Flowers deserves a mention here. And Guy Pratt has done some good work of a Jazz.

KZ ZS10 Pro IEM’s. Bang for buck difficult to beat.

Facebook threatened to take down one of my accounts years ago because they didn’t like my name. To be fair it was obviously not a real name and they gave me the opportunity to change it. So I did, to Mahatma Coat from Glasgow. They seemed happy with that and I continued to use it for several years until they again asked me to change it.

Slightly off topic but Google has/had a long standing issue with email/account names. If I set up an email account cliff-edge at Google dot com, I can also use cliffedge as well and will receive email using either. But someone else can set up an account cliffedge at google dot com. So you can imagine how that works, or not. Accounts my wife and I set up years ago using a hyphen to separate words have been affected by this. We both occasionally receive emails not meant for us. Luckily the email accounts are largely used as junk black holes these days. Passwords are changed fairly regularly.

There was an excellent English Eagles tribute band by that name a few years ago.

I had a few good gigs in Stowmarket with a country rock band. Very enthusiastic audiences, although it must be said most were dressed as Cowboys and Indians. But hey, you take what you get.

Tangerine Dream. I have been given a couple of tickets for Sunday 5th Nov. at The De La Warr Pavilion Bexhill on Sea. I know nothing about them even though I’m easily old enough to have seen or listened to them first time around. I should really give them a listen before hand, any suggestions for a good primer. Should be interesting.

Nice interview etc in the Grauniad with Ron Carter, who at 86 is still working and touring. Long time Miles Davis collaborator he’s also played on some big hits in the pop world as well as his own albums. Well worth a read even if you never listen to or play jazz. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/03/ron-carter-jazz-bassist-miles-davis-aretha-franklin-roberta-flack-interview

That hook at the top of the headstock would be useful for hanging on the wall. Just need big screw. (sorry matron)

She was a virtuoso on the electric gas stove.

On the Graham Norton show last night. An impressive bit of bass playing by John Taylor on what I presume is their current single.

Similar to me. Moving out of a long established comfort zone and made to play stuff I would never have considered playing has made me realise I am a reasonable bass player. Well more reasonable than I thought.

I’m sticking Apple AirTags in everything these days.

That is a great venue, I only played there once but recall it being very well organised, the landlord was a big music fan. It was packed for us despite being totally unknown in the local area. I’ve seen a number if great music pubs around the country close, and I’ve just found out another one local to me is facing the same fate. It’s very sad.

On the plane ride home last evening I listened to 2 albums of covers I made over 20 years ago with the last full band I was in. I was surprised at how good they are. At the time I wasn’t really sure. Never commercially available except at gigs so don’t ask. I don’t even have the CD’s any more.

I fail to recall what most adverts are about immediately after they finish. Murray mints, too good to hurry mints. Now that was a class act I’ll never forget.

All of the above can be useful, but don’t get too hung up on YouTube videos about proper playing technique. You play whatever way works best for you. Many BCers here started off before the internet existed and all we had were a few thin books, probably now out of print, and our eyes and ears. You therefore have it relatively easy, but use it wisely. If you want a teacher, get a proper bass teacher, not a guitarist. Learn how to set up your own instrument, and this is where the internet can be useful, but also confusing. Again, eyes and ears. Good luck, stick around, most don’t bite.

Ok you win.

I don’t know what the strings are but those silks are blue to my eyes. Hope that helps.