Question

Is it more a result of having a day off in the middle of the week while eating mass quantities and sitting around watching football with people you don't have a lot to say to - or - this?

Plants Hexagons and Music

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The Political Compass

Go here. Take the test - it'll only take a few minutes.

As is typical for me when I have taken personality tests and similar such inventories, I find myself in the midst of seeming contradictions (I am relatively extroverted but I also commonly prefer the company of a small group to that of a large one and so on). This test was no different, but it did seem pretty accurate. I was slightly, but pretty much only slightly, in the libertarian right, but I actually appeared to be closer to the cross-point of the axes than any of the political figures they profiled. This indicates that I am either incredibly balanced in my viewpoint or completely blase about terribly important issues. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. It's funny - if you're reasonable, you wind up dealing in lots of grey areas. That probably tells us something, doesn't it?

I'll not be posting at this rate over the next few days. I promise.

My bad.

I stand corrected.

Sorry.

Ode to Pino.

I played bass a bunch this weekend and was giving some thought to my earlier comments about Pino Palladino, Guy Pratt, and Graham Maby - great British bass players all. What exactly is it that makes a great bassist? Well, it's really like asking what makes a great writer or sculptor, I suppose - it's different for each one. The characteristics that make Flea great, for instance, are quite different from the ones that made Jaco Pastorius great. (And please don't think for a moment that I would equate one with another - that is a debate for pinheads. )

That's all just a bit of a preamble to thinking about Pino. What exactly is it that makes him so amazing? For me, it has to do with a sense of tone that is something that might be described as "liquid". If that doesn't make sense - and it probably doesn't, after all - you can start with the standard Pino track that everyone knows: Listen to the 80's hit "Every Time You Go Away" by Paul Young. Pino plays bass on that. If you listen, and I mean really listen, to the bass playing, you'll hear a tone of fluidity and connectedness from note to note that goes a long way toward defining his greatness. (Don't confuse the sitar part with the bass on that track, mind you.) It's tone, it's note choice, and - here's the thing that it took me years to figure out but still haven't mastered for myself - it's about the space, or lack thereof, between particular notes. Each note flows cleanly and seamlessly into the next, note after note, tone after tone - and then there is the slightest break between them for a staccato tone you weren't expecting - and then you're back to liquid. It's amazing.

And then listen to the John Mayer trio record and hear Pino play live. It's not just about tone. His sense of timing and space - in the context of a power trio, no less - is about as perfect as can be imagined. Without meaning to get into hyperbole, I think that Pino's playing on that record (with obvious assistance from the other two chaps on the stage) can go into the pantheon of great trio bass playing with Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Jack Bruce (Cream). It's not just liquid tone, it's liquid groove. And again, the space between notes just jumps out at you - because there isn't any unless he wants there to be.

When The Who's iconoclastic bassist John Entwistle passed away in 2002, there was only one player to call to fill those shoes: Pino. It is, of course, impossible to replace John Entwistle - it simply can't be done. But if anyone can step in and breathe different and therefore new life into the music, that person is Pino. And as only a true great can't do, he has done it in a way that makes the listener appreciate the greatness of Palladino, but also (and possibly more importantly) cherish the brilliance of Entwistle's playing.

It's funny - most of the bassists I've referenced (Pino, Guy Pratt, Graham Maby, Noel Redding, Jack Bruce, and John Entwistle) were from the UK. (Flea and Jaco are the only ones I've cited from this side of the pond, but there is certainly no shortage of great Yankee bassists. I'll have to write glowing accolades to them another time.) And at some point, I'll write a rambling tribute to Guy Pratt. And then the great and vastly underappreciated Graham Maby.

Not right.

The younger of the little Pinatas just put on the "100% Disco" CD, listened to it for about two songs, and left the room, leaving me with K.C. and the Sunshine Band as my soundtrack. I don't mind K.C. when I want to put on my boogie shoes, but I'm leaving the boogie shoes by the door right now. So I have to get off my butt and go shut that thing off.

I wish he'd put on Tears for Fears.

Internship, Oil, Tears, and Headhunters

Been working my buns off the past few months on the internship applications that I've mentioned here before. I have 11 down and 3 to go, and those 3 shouldn't be too tough. I'm turning the corner.

The internship applicaiton process has meant that Teo has been away from the Hombres more often than not. Sorry, boys.

So here's a string of consciousness for you.

A few months ago I went into get an oil change on my 2005 Saturn Ion. It was a good car, but not great, and I liked the idea of it more than I actually liked it. So I drop off the car and there's a sign there that said, "We need your Saturn! Talk to a sales representative." So I did. And instead of driving away with the newly-oil-changed car, I drove away with a 2002 Saturn SL2. It had 30,000 miles on it, which was great for being a 2002, and I like the SL2 better than the Ion. This is not an interesting car. It's a car. If you Wikipedia "car", it has an SL2 as an example. (Well, it probably doesn't, and I'm not going to look, but you get the point.)

So even though the SL2 is older and a step down from the Ion, it has two things that are better than the Ion: 1) gas mileage (which has no bearing on this story), and 2) a better sound system. Yes, I am the only person in history who will tell you that the 2002 Saturn SL2 sound system is actually quite excellent. Mock if you like, but you can bounce in that thing.

SO. This is where we go tangential a bit. (A bit? Only now?)

I've been listening to a record that sounds freakin great and it is the kind of record that my pals Pinata and Vinnissimo would want to hear about. And essentially, that's what Tres Hombres is for.

Tears for Fears: Elemental. 1992, I believe. This is a great album. Great. It's only the one dude with the big mouth and mullet hair (Roland!), and the other guy is MIA. But that's OK. I discovered this album when I got the record for free because they were on Mercury Records and I worked on that floor in NYC in '92. I had a cubicle outside of the VP of Video, and all the Mercury artists would come by for meetings. (The list as I remember it: Roland, Gene and Paul from Kiss, Mellencamp, Vanessa Williams, Jon Bon Jovi, Black Sheep, and yes, the Kentucky Headhunters.)

Which all is to say that Roland and TFF were Mercury artists, so I got the disc for free. I remember liking the record, which was actually pretty rare. I got so many CDs for free I didn't take many of them seriously. But that record stood out as pretty good. I'd pull it out every couple years.

Here's the other thing about that record and that band: They always had to fight the 80s stereotype of pablum pop. They never were that, but they had to fight it because of when they were putting out their records. They always had really, really good records, but they had to fight the pop backlash both when they were in it and then again when Nirvana took over the world. TFF never had a chance to be taken seriously.

So here's my stand. Roland is a great songwriter, and yes, I've italicized great three, no, four times in this post. The production is great. That album is as good of an album as I can name at this moment. It's interesting from start to finish and the sound is pristine. It also has great examples of that rare record to successfully mix programmed drums with real drums, and there are only a few people who can do that. This record is brilliant.

And it sounds great in a 2002 Saturn. So you both have two jobs to do this weekend:

1) Go buy a used Saturn, and
2) Go buy Tears for Fears "Elemental" from 1992 and play it in your new/old car

You will like.

By The Way...

...don't fuck this up.

You know who you are.

Velvet Creme and TCBY

make me think of Teo and Vinissimo.

Neither is still there. Velvet Creme is gonzo - replaced by I'm not sure what. (Haven't been around the town in a few years.) TCBY went away with the razing of Bakery Center.

Sad, innit?

What made me think of these things? This.

Survivorman! Mr. T!

I am absolutely smitten with Survivorman, the brilliant show featuring a guy named Les Stroud who gets himself in some pretty hairy situations for about a week at a time. Basically, the idea is that Les gets dropped off in a remote location with nothing but his video equipment and a few tools and he has to survive for a week. Naturally, he films the whole thing. The whole concept and such is better explained here for those who are interested.

It's great stuff - reality TV without the overhyped conflict between immature people - and the end result is really fascinating. If you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it.

The honorable mention for new TV programs has to go to I Pity the Fool, the show featuring none other than Mr. T as he intervenes in the lives of people with problems to solve. Does he solve the problems? Well, who really cares? He's freaking Mr. T! As far as I can tell, he just runs around yelling at people for half an hour, and it's great. I'll be honest and admit that I've only made it through one episode, and the real truth is probably that I like the concept ("Mr. T shouts at people! Alright!") more than the actual show ("Mr. T seems to be doing nothing but shouting at people. This is awkward.") But, when all is said and done, he's still freaking Mr. T.

An aside: I watch very little TV. I just love my TiVo.