How come no one mentioned this?

[PhilT]

Has anyone heard Huckabee play? Is he any good?



There's even a Gibson here, though the wrong sort.



At least he looks a bit more like he knows what he's doing, unlike this je..... person

[Dave W]

He can play. Just search for Mike Huckabee bass on YouTube.

He probably hasn't been mentioned because it could lead to a political debate.

[uwe]

That's even a Tobias, isnt it? So he's halfway there.

[OldManC]

From the clips I've seen, he doesn't seem to have progressed beyond the, "I can't play a note unless I look directly at it" stage. I'm no Jaco though, so I can't really bust on him too much. No comment about anything else either. 

[felig]

Don't forget John Kerry is/was a bass player.  John seemed to come from the Lurch (Addams Family) school of bass playing, though.

[Max Soren]

I have known about this for a while.  I didn't mention it because of its political nature.  I did do some research about it a few months ago.  Huckabee has been playing bass since he was 11.  I don't know when, but at some point he came to prefer Tobias.  When he was governor of Arkansas, he convinced the president of Gibson to move the Tobias factory to Arkansas.  I'm not sure about this, but I believe that over the summer he bought a Gibson SG RI.  However, in the videos I've seen, he is always playing a Tobias.  In most of those videos, it seems to be situations in which he was campaigning, was asked to play with a band, and went on stage and started improvising. 

[uwe]

"I didn't mention it because of its political nature."

Oh please, let's not get carried away.

George W. Bush has a dog and Bill Clinton had a cat. Both were probably very nice to their respective pets. That in itself is not a political statement and cannot be construed as such.

Except by dog lovers and cat haters and the other way around! 

I have no idea about Herr Huckabee's political agenda except that he's from the Grand Ole Party, but it's nice that he plays bass. Should be mandatory for all Presidents.

He grooves nice enough on Mustang Sally here:



It's amazing how you can play bass and yet remain unpolitical about it. 

Uwe

[gweimer]

I think he got up with Letterman's band recently, too.

[drbassman]

I find his playing quite conservative!  JUST KIDDING!!!!!     Actually, I agree with Uwe, it's need to see other old public figures playing bass regardless of their politics.  It helps us see them as real people with more than one dimension.

[Darrol]

I think he got up with Letterman's band recently, too.

I tuned into Jay Leno when he was on it just to see him setting down the bass cause he played with the band on Leno's show.

[PhilT]

A big thing was made of Blair being the first PM to move into Downing Street with an electric guitar and having been in a band at Oxford, but apart from a rather cheesey and embarassing photo opportunity with some school kids, I can't find any evidence of him actually playing the thing in public.

I'm now working up a fantasy political band - Blair on guitar, Clinton on sax, Huckabee on bass - anyone know a political drummer? Next Live 8 or whatever, they could headline.

[Max Soren]

A big thing was made of Blair being the first PM to move into Downing Street with an electric guitar and having been in a band at Oxford, but apart from a rather cheesey and embarassing photo opportunity with some school kids, I can't find any evidence of him actually playing the thing in public.

I'm now working up a fantasy political band - Blair on guitar, Clinton on sax, Huckabee on bass - anyone know a political drummer? Next Live 8 or whatever, they could headline.

I think Clinton and Huckabee pretty much hate each other since they are Arkansas political rivals.  But Blair might be able to act as a mediator.

[Dave W]

I'm now working up a fantasy political band - Blair on guitar, Clinton on sax, Huckabee on bass - anyone know a political drummer? Next Live 8 or whatever, they could headline.

How about Dave Rowntree from Blur? I read last year he was a Labour candidate for city office somewhere and lost.

Of course, he's a drummer first, politician second.

[rockinrayduke]

Mr. Huckabee has been a long distance student of Carol Kaye's for quite a while now, she mentioned him to me a few years ago.

I watched him play Sweet Home Alabama the other night and he was.....OK. Needs to quit looking at the neck and smile more, too intense. But then again he's a politician not a professional entertainer. Still, he plays bass and I like that.

[marcnorth]

I'm now working up a fantasy political band - Blair on guitar, Clinton on sax, Huckabee on bass - anyone know a political drummer? Next Live 8 or whatever, they could headline.

They could get AL Gores wife Tipper to play drums, she played in a band in her younger days. Just have to watch those lyrics or she might have to put a warning label on it!