I went down to Cafe Stritch Saturday evening to experience Joey De Francesco, after playing a gig at the Menlo Park Veterans Administration Hospital under the auspices of Bread and Roses.

I’d never seen Joey perform before, although I’d dug so much of what he’s played.  It was a great experience.  I got to meet Pete Fallico, too and experience the wonderful odor of ozone as he opened the back of the B3, so I could marvel at the vacuum tubes, transformers, capacitors and stuff I hadn’t seen and tinkered with since 1967!  :0).

All I can say is that the Stritch is about as close as one can get to the East Coast scene in NYC on the Peninsula!  It was a great evening.  I hope you get down to the Stritch to experience the Muse, whenever you can.

RIP jack

RIP Ikey. Two months ago, for sale I had the pleasure of connecting and hanging out with my Nephew, order Ikey Owens, healing who was 38, touring and performing with Jack White in SF. Sorrowful regrets and condolences to his mom and brothers: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ikey-owens-keyboardist-for-mars-volta-and-jack-white-dead-at-38-20141014

A drummer (without shame) sent me a sermon:

Drummers, story apparently, need salvation and a savior.

2015 ISB CONVENTION ….

This week marks an awareness of my inadequacies.  Perhaps all musicians go through feeling as I do.  It seems there is so much to learn, so much I am not accomplishing in the moment of performance, or even in daily practice.

I am aware that the little things that seemed impossible, only moments ago, will usually proceed to a better level of competency as the future becomes the present. — provided I expend time working on and confronting the failure.

Failure, it seems, must be the goal to strive for every day.  The more failure and the bigger the failures, the more I have to work on and, in the course of so doing, the better I shall become. That is a difficult mind-set to maintain.  My ego tells me that failure reflects on my inadequacy and value as a human being. However, there’s another part of “self” — the objective, above the noise of the crowd part — that tells me, what I’m experiencing is the only way to get to what I’m trying to achieve:  being an accomplished bassist!

I’d have to ask:  Does the need to practice ever stop?  I guess it depends on what one means by “practice.”  Of one thing I’m certain: I’m going to go fail now, once more.

The interesting phenomena is how we connect with our unseen realities.  I commend to you Michael Klinghoffer’s blogging on PERFECTION!

PRACTICE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW OR CAN’T PLAY.

I should have thought of that before.

And, for a little musician’s humor:

A home on the San Francisco Bay in East Palo Alto, CA.  There’s more to this place than the violence you’ve read or heard about. But, I’m not concerned that public perception.

A place and refuge from Bay Area traffic!

Some who read or use my in-house server may wonder what am I doing in this World? Hell if I know!  All I know is that I was born and have been defined by humanity as “African-american.”  Like, who isn’t, if born and living on the American content?

It appears that I was actually brought into this existence to be a musician, whether or not that was anyone’s intention except mine. I was 16 years old when I felt that being a musician is my destiny in this incarnation. And, apparently, at almost 70 years of age I have actually arrived.

First appreciation goes to my father who enabled me to experience Lionel Hampton and, also, to every musician,  drummer (I’m so amazed and happy that I was able to actually play with Eddie Marshall before he passed) and every bassist that’s made me feel good about being. There’re a bunch including Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Buster Williams, Richard Davis … you know or should or will know the music and names.

Today, John Patitucci through ArtistWorks is the launching pad from which I have been unleashed on the path .  I can’t describe why simply being with him, virtually, has launched and freed me to be.  Suffice to say, I know I can do it — “be” an excellent bassist and consistently perform at a professional level. That, apparently, is what I have been born to be.

A special thanks also to Steve Swan, who sold me my bass 6 years ago.  See my Tributes to Loved for a more complete list, including ISB!

I think I’ll get a  new bass, one that I can take wherever I go, as I don’t plan on going anywhere without one ever again in my life, except to the crematorium.  I believe Lemur music has one that I think, finally, answers my question:

Let’s have a great day!

Peace,

C