The Last Bass Outpost

I never thought I could like a camo pickguard. This changes everything!!

I keep expecting to see photos of new Epiphone basses. Imagine my surprise with what I find instead.

Could become a new saying:

"Look at the Epiphones on THAT one!"

We've gone from the second snowiest winter on record to almost no snow so far this season.

We had about two weeks of cold in Nov/Dec., but since then it's been 30s to 50s daytimes.  Not much snow (so far) other than in the mountains, but March usually evens it out.

Mild winter at present in Fort Collins CO.  We just got back from a week in Cozumel...I got in four dives in 80 degree water. 

Taylor didn't have the training of those six sets a night in the Hamburg red-light-district!

I also believe that the auto-tune sound has by now become de rigueur for certain types of music just like distortion belongs to rock guitar though it was initially unwanted by producers.

But I get you, Taylor is at best an ok singer. She is no Whitney or Mariah who had - no matter what you think of their image and music - one-of-kind singing ability.

I guess I'm missing something - what are the tipoffs to someone using autotune?  Not sure what to listen for.

I don't know if he's playing gigs any more, he's at least semi-retired and living in Colorado. He was selling some of his vast fiddle collection one by one on eBay a few years ago, signed upon request.

But he was still moving around while playing as late as 2016. It's just his style.

There was a restaurant with his name on Highway 85 about 40 miles north of Denver for years.  (85 was the old N-S highway, I-25 made it a secondary highway) I noticed the name changed about 5 years ago.  I don't know how close his connection to it was.

I owe my interest in bass to Paul McCartney.  But I think the time is coming relatively soon when many will say they weren't influenced by the Beatles hardly any or not at all.  Being a Hendrix fan, I've already encountered people who have never heard of him.

Not to pick on TB, but that is a place where many impatient young people with little interest in history show up.

The discussions about the impact of the Beatles there reveal a surprising number of people who think they were just some old band that was nothing special. It does boggle the mind of those who lived through that era and know how much they influenced the direction of popular music.

That said,  I remember that nearly 20 years ago one of my friends related overhearing a conversation between two teenagers.  His ears perked when the Beatles were mentioned. The pivotal comments were these:

"...the Beatles? Who are they?

"Aw, that was McCartney's band before he formed Wings."

My friend was still reeling when he told me of that exchange.