In the beginning there was a bass. It was a Fender, probably a Precision, but it could have been a Jazz - nobody knows. Anyway, it was very old ... definitely pre-C.B.S.
And God looked down upon it and saw that it was good. He saw that it was very good in fact, and couldn't be improved on at all (though men would later try.) And so He let it be and He created a man to play the bass.
And lo the man looked upon the bass, which was a beautiful 'sunburst', and he loved it. He played upon the open E string and the note rang through the earth and reverberated throughout the firmaments (thus reverb came to be.) And it was good. And God heard that it was good and He smiled at his handiwork.
Then in the course of time, the man came to slap upon the bass. And lo it was funky.
And God heard this funkiness and He said, "Go man, go." And it was good.
And more time passed, and, having little else to do, the man came to practice upon the bass. And lo, the man came to have upon him a great set of chops. And he did play faster and faster until the notes rippled like a breeze through the heavens.
And God heard this sound which sounded something like the wind, which He had created earlier. It also sounded something like the movement of furniture, which He hadn't even created yet, and He was not so pleased. And He spoke to the man, saying "Don't do that!"
Now the man heard the voice of God, but he was so excited about his new ability that he slapped upon the bass a blizzard of funky notes. And the heavens shook with the sound, and the Angels ran about in confusion. (Some of the Angels started to dance, but that's another story.)
And God heard this - how could He miss it - and lo He became Bugged. And He spoke to the man, and He said, "Listen man, if I wanted Jimi Hendrix I would have created the guitar. Stick to the bass parts."
And the man heard the voice of God, and he knew not to mess with it. But now he had upon him a passion for playing fast and high. The man took the frets off of the bass which God had created. And the man did slide his fingers upon the fretless fingerboard and play melodies high upon the neck. And, in his excitement, the man did forget the commandment of the Lord, and he played a frenzy of high melodies and blindingly fast licks. And the heavens rocked with the assault and the earth shook, rattled and rolled.
Now God's wrath was great. And His voice was thunder as He spoke to the man.
And He said, "O.K. for you, pal. You have not heeded My word. Lo, I shall create a soprano saxophone and it shall play higher than you can even think of."
"And from out of the chaos I shall bring forth the drums. And they shall play so many notes thine head shall ache, and I shall make you to always stand next to the drummer."
"You think you're loud? I shall create a stack of Marshall guitar amps to make thine ears bleed. And I shall send down upon the earth other instruments, and lo, they shall all be able to play higher and faster than the bass."
"And for all the days of man, your curse shall be this; that all the other musicians shall look to you, the bass player, for the low notes. And if you play too high or fast all the other musicians shall say "Wow" but really they shall hate it. And they shall tell you you're ready for your solo career, and find other bass players for their bands. And for all your days if you want to play your fancy licks you shall have to sneak them in like a thief in the night."
"And if you finally do get to play a solo, everyone shall leave the bandstand and go to the bar for a drink."
hahaha - I don't know much about bass guitars or rock n roll bands and such, but I sent this to a friend of mine who does, and he totally cracked up! Me, seeing the subject line, I thought it was about fishin'.......
But what the FL gang wants to know is, now RB, did you compose that yourself? Or find it in some guitar holy book, heh heh ?
Too bad the Forum's become the main attraction, and mostly a colony of spectators at that. Meanwhile, when it comes to ratings, songs are lucky to reach double digits. Would be great if some of these wallflowers would participate and "LISTEN AND RATE"!!
Seems that the ones that DO LISTEN AND RATE have a need to rate nearsided.
Comments? We don't need to leave no stinkin' comments! We flame 'em ALL low!
Bs, s'what it is. I still, STILL, cannot understand how 15 songs can be entered in one week and songs can go days with out being rated.
Certainly it is too much to think that 15 people who are in expectation of a fair rating and useful/less comments would actually give a few minutes to GIVE one of those useful/less comments to the peer contenders.
That is passive aggressive at it's finest!
Granted, AW has long since reached a point of needing an overhaul. If I had the talent I myself would do it. Hell, what am I saying, many express my lack of talent, that has never stopped me before!!! Maybe I'll tinker with some things after I sober up.
All I know for a fact is this. Love is a four letter word. If you want it in its most elevating form you give it in its most elevating form. If you want the other ****, then you give that.
It goes in spurts - the eval's and comments, it seems to me, anyway.
Waaaaaaaay back, I can't research it at the moment, but there was a discussion here where someone said, sometimes the best and kindest I can do is NOT comment, just rate. A lot of times, I feel that way - I listen to a lot of songs here, not all, but quite a lot. And a lot of them, I don't get and have nothing to offer. Some seem awful in any case, and some I think, well, this is a genre I know nothing about or a message I don't understand so I rate at two or three flames, depending how far I make it through, and say nothing. But some I feel strongly about and say what I can, as thoroughly as I can.
The botton line is, the songs are here, the opportunity to comment is here ....... but let's face it, the site lacks - dare I say? - leadership. A couple of years ago, when the site was started, there would be song Comments in BOLD from a JUDGE - whom we were told had some credentials and credability and was a blah blah big shot (whatever happened to 820??). A lot of times, a song got no BOLD comments because the Judge didn't deem the song worth comment. I felt fortunate to get a Judge's BOLD comment once asking me to post my lyrics once (Champagne Moonshine). But if the site owner/director/czar/etc isn't sufficiently interested to imbue it with some insihght, direction, or vallues, it's unlikely anyone really wants to pick up the so-to-speak torch.
It takes a lot of people with a lot of different areas of interest and exposure, feeling in-sync with the values and goals of the site Meister. For whatever reason, right now, this site just isn't getting it.....
All >very< good points Ms. O. We are, in effect, the blind leading the unwilling!
If you remember, even when the BOLD comments came, it was almost a certainty that you were looking at a song that was going to make the "list". That said, every song deserves comment, good bad and other wise.
I still think that we as a musically educated people can make the difference, pick up the ball that the leaders have kicked to the curb. But we are essentially in a car moving at half throttle, seats to full capacity, and we have no door handles, no keys, no breaks and no idea of how to get off this road. Other then the obvious and that is too abandon the site completely.
They did it...so when do we do it?
What we need is a strong Revolution!!! Hell, if all those super cats have no interest, fine. Be gone with 'em, I say.
But man up enough to let someone else try to push this thing into fruition.
I vote Ronnie and Sharon...all in favor say "I"!!!
