Global Bass Online April 2002
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On
Expecting the Unexpected... Well,
10 weeks in Switzerland wind down in just a day or so. Back to Canada, to the
land of Minus 25 Degrees Celsius and winter weather that would freeze the brass
hoohaz off anything. Yeesh! It
is rumoured Spring will soon be there. We
shall see. It seemed that Spring hid here this time. It has been
incredible, apparently the locals think so too. In the section of Zurich where
we stayed, I don’t think even one centimeter of snow fell the whole time we
were here. I
had no idea I would learn to like this place so much and it is very hard to
leave. I hope someday soon to be back here with My Other Half, this time for
good. Ah,
but you guys don’t care! Besides,
what on Earth does all this have to do with bass? Nothing directly...except one
thing, and here it is... I
learned that you CAN expect the unexpected. Nothing is over until you breathe
your last breath. No matter how crappy your day job, you CAN get out, you can
follow your dream of being a full time musician. It you don’t paralyze
yourself with self doubt. If you don’t confuse pessimism with realism and if
you allow your dreams to breath. If you can nurture the flame of the reason you
first fell in love with music and this wonderful instrument we play. Remember? No
matter how limited you think you are as a musician, you can carve out a little
piece of paradise, even if you only find a smoking little weekend band that
makes your muse soar. It can be done. Music
truly is magic. It truly is An Ancient MoJo. It can lead you places you would
never dream. It can save you and it CAN destroy you too... and never think for a
moment think that you can truly control it. You are not at the helm, so sit back
and just enjoy the ride. I
myself would never want it any other way. As John Lennon said, ¨Life is what
happens to you when you are making other plans¨.
Watch and see. This
month we feature Marcus Miller as our Cover Story. We caught him in Zurich with his
solo project band. In a small club, packed with fans right to the rafters, the
man was rockin’. Great sound, simple stage set up, a band bursting with
talent, Marcus ran the musical gamut, featuring songs from his long and varied
career. And the man can slap too! I
am sure he broke a few local speed ordinances with that thumb! An incredible ability to be profoundly melodic and
percussive, all at the same time. Andy
Long
continues with his series on Stick players, inundating me with articles on an
instrument that fascinates me a lot and intimidates me more than a bit. You
can slow down now, Andy! For reasons beyond my understanding, and most
everything Andy does is beyond my understanding, he has taken to calling
himself ¨The
Hand¨. I have no idea why and am afraid to ask him. ¨The Hand¨ also includes this month an in-depth article with Les
Holroyd, bassist for Barclay
James Harvest. Brent
¨Noisy Tony¨ Johnson
offers up an angle on a story that at first made me feel like we were being
invaded by guitarists. When he first proposed the idea to me, I felt vaguely
like people must have felt when they first encounter missionaries. His
premise, entitled ¨What Are They Thinking?¨ covers
an interesting perspective on what guitarists think of us and hope to receive
from us as bass players. Lastly,
we hearken back to an article run a few months ago on Stephen Jay. In this
article he talks about his Theory of Harmonic Rhythm. At the time it really
didn’t sink into my big old empty head as to what he was on about. I reread
the article and then went to his home page. I then read the article on this
subject and realized that this man was on to something. Something BIG! Some
ideas that will shake you up with some truly new ways at look how and why some
music recording and writing works and some fights you every step of the way.
All
in all, a wide and varied group of articles in this issue. New ideas and new
ways of seeing old ideas. We hope you enjoy.
And feel free to comment ! Also don’t forget to let us know if you would like to be placed on a no-obligation, no commitment list to be notified when we start printing a hard copy version of this magazine. We just want to know that if we build it, you will come! Warren
Murchie Editor Wannabe Swiss
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