It was a year ago this month that I played my last two gigs. At the time, I thought they were okay and fun to play but nothing special. In both gigs I got to play with some good players but both were casuals as they say “in the parlance of our times” (I stole that parlance stuff from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Big Lebowski.) In retrospect these gigs were very special as I haven’t had any casuals since or for that matter any jamming. I wish I had the chance to play a couple of casuals this year.
One of last year’s gigs was at a Winery up the hills in Cupertino with the Ames Bluegrass Jam Band. I use “jam band” not in an eclectic festival long solos kind of Grateful Dead thing but rather, in not a band but actually a biweekly jam that got lucky enough to be asked to play this event. We got paid in red wine currency. Not a bad deal for a Sunday Afternoon
The other casual was a pick-up band playing the “second stage” at The Devils Canyon Brewery’s Christmas party. The second stage was a concrete floor in the corner of a cavernous warehouse game room at the brewery. Other than competing with a Whack a Mole game, this too was a fun time. Playing with this group is always a pleasure for me as they are all pretty good players. Actually, despite playing in a cavern, we sounded pretty good.
I have gone a whole year now without playing with anyone not on the other side of a computer screen. Some of that is my doing as I wasn’t comfortable enough to do any of the socially distanced outdoor jamming I was invited to attend. By the time, I got my nerve up, it was getting cold and dark and the plague cases were starting to surge again. So it goes…at least until spring it seems.
As I have been telling you every month, I am staying reasonably sane. There was a time a few weeks back that I downgraded my status to half insane but I’m back to reasonably sane these days.
Besides recording Linda and I doing some bluegrass tunes and me recording some bass lines, I have begun fooling with iMovie. Another slippery slope, I fear. Just as I graduated from GarageBand and my iPad to a new MacBook Pro and Logix Pro X, I hope the slope isn’t sliding from iMovie to Final Cut Pro. So far iMovie is stumping me enough to keep me busy.
I published two videos on YouTube so I now have my own YouTube channel. They haven’t tried to monetize me yet and no one is after me for licensing infringement, at this point, but I intend to grow. I may need a legal team soon. Maybe Apple has an iLawyer app I should become familiar with.
One video is an iPad video of Linda singing Sundown and Sorrow with her on mando and me on bass. This was the first step of the slippery slope I was talking about. I had an iPad then and that’s all. Now it’s a MacBook Pro with a Focusrite 2i2 interface and a Pro MPA II pre amp on my dining room table which doubles as my studio.
The other video is me playing my bassline for Limehouse Blues. Just me neckkid, as they say. This one is my first go at iMovie.
I’m finishing up a Logic Pro and iMovie project of Linda singing and playing Baby Blue Eyes. It also has some lunk playing bass. The recording is done and mostly mixed. Now I’m starting the video. Nothing elaborate, just some video of singing and playing. I’m not sure of the release date at this point.
Anyhow, if you are pandemically bored and looking for something to do, you can find my YouTube channel, oddly enough, at Dave Williams YouTube. If you can’t find me among the 1000’s of Dave Williams. Drop me a line and I’ll send you the links.
So in the times of no gigs or jams, these are the activities that are keeping me reasonable, as Norman Blake calls it. There are a few more months to fill before the vaccine gets here and the opportunity to play with live people, instead of computer screens, returns.
Until next month, stay reasonably sane, safe and wear a mask. I believe that we are going to get through this.
