Hello, friends. I was a bit shocked to realize upon posting The Curse of the Bass Player that it had been over a month since I wrote anything for this weblog. I’ve been feeling pretty overextended, and this was one of the things that gave when I wasn’t able to keep all the balls in the air.

There’s been a lot of good and interesting stuff going on. Back at the end of last month, I spent a slightly extended weekend in Georgia, visiting Chris. It was a fantastic time. We listened to some good bluegrass, visited several good museums, ate Georgia-style BBQ (which is nothing like BBQ in Texas), went bike riding and hiking, climbed on public sculpture, ate some absolutely spectacular Pho, and generally had a delightful romp.

Two particular standouts: Amy Etheridge, Chris’ lady friend, gave us a personal guided tour of the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, where she serves as the Executive Director. The Institute is a beautiful place, and was hosting a fair bit of fun and interesting art as part of its current exhibit.

Amy also came along for the drive-in-movie night that turned into a bowling night. After Chris’ come-from-behind bowling victory, we passed a little store with a sign out front that boldly proclaimed it “The Monkey Store.” It was open. “THE MONKEY STORE?” we all said, nearly in unison. “We’ve GOT to go see what that’s about.” So, we turned around, drove back, parked, and ventured into The Monkey Store.

We were a mite disappointed to discover nothing more exotic for sale than animal feed and Pringles. (But I’m being redundant. Haha!) However, the fellow on duty and his friend, who’s family trees were evidently palms, made up in color for anything the store itself lacked. We asked them about why the place was called The Monkey Store, and he explained that there used to be monkeys. (I was never quite clear if these were just wild monkeys that were hanging around the area, or promotional monkeys specially imported for the store.) Apparently the flocks (gaggles? murders? ah, a “band” or “troop”, according to the Oracle at Google) of monkeys dwindled over time, and eventually vanished altogether. By way of explanation, the clerk explained that “People take monkeys for all kinds of reasons. You know…you know in China, people eat monkey brains…monkey brains are a delicatessen over there.” I had to very assiduously avoid looking at my brother during this exchange to keep a straight face. After we’d had our fill of Monkey Store fun, Amy bought a corncob pipe and we drove off into the night.

A couple of weekends later, we made our way south for Sand Castle Days, a great big sandcastle building contest down in South Padre. Kathy and Emily joined teams, and took 2nd and 3rd place respectively in their division. The other kids and I played in the sand down by the waves, building castles and then building buttresses and waterworks to keep the castles from being washed away by incoming waves.

On Saturday night, the other members of the Grant Mazak Band and I played backup for Ponty Bone an accordionist who plays Texas-flavored Zydeco music. In addition to the usual suspects, we were joined by another slide guitarist, an additional accordionist, and a great fiddler. Additionally, there was an Australian fellow with some funky dreadlocks who had a drum slung around his neck, which he played as he shuffled around the dance floor amid the other sand-caked dancers.

We also got to see my friend David Barnard, who recently moved from Austin back to Brownsville until the new year. It was fun to catch up with him, as well as to have lunch with Mike Howard, with whom I share an office at work, and his family down there. We ate at Blackbeard’s, which was yummy in an everything-deep-fried kind of way.

So, that’s the text summary. I’m working on a pictorial update as well, and hope to have that ready too in the not-too-distant future.

Possum John forwarded this to me, and I thought it worth a reprint:

THE CURSE OF THE BASS PLAYER

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’ red,
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.”

And it was so.

The former campus of The King’s College, where I made lots of dear friends and earned my degree, pretty well burned down over the weekend.

So sad to see, and to think of those fond places in memory gone.

I’m not looking for a new job, as I’m quite happy with my current position. However, during the time that I was casting about for opportunities, I put together a list of places on the web that I was watching. Since I have several friends in the area looking for good work, I thought I’d throw those links together, add a bit of salt, and stir. Behold, the Job Links Page!

Last night, we all went to the wedding of our friends Bryan Washer and Mary Godonis. Bryan and Mary are both unusually fun-loving folks, and their sense of humor bled over into the wedding in some delightful ways.

The first hint that the ceremony was to be a bit out of the ordinary was when the priest put on a towering quasi-papal hat, and launched into a speech from The Princess Bride: “Mawwiage. Mawwiage is the thing that bwings us here today. Mawwiage, that dweam within a dweam…” She then masterfully segued into using that speech as the basis for a short homily before the ceremony proceeded.

Next, when the four year old boy who was carrying the ring was asked to present it, he muttered “my precioussss…” in a manner worthy of Andy Serskis. Bryan was then enjoined to put the ring on Mary’s sixth finger, another reference to The Princess Bride.

At the reception, Liam put on an impromptu breakdancing demonstration that had most of our table in stitches, and we all enjoyed getting out on the dance floor for a while. We had originally planned to head out a bit early, since we had all the kids along, but were having so much fun that we ended up leaving shortly after the happy couple.

Congratulations to Bryan and Mary, and a big thanks for letting us be a part of a day that was not only very special, but also a load of fun. Grace, peace, and love to the both of you.

Last night, Kathy and I went to see the Pulitzer-winning play The Gin Game at The Gaslight Theater, our favorite nearby playhouse. The show itself was great, but was enhanced immeasurably by the fact that it was Senior Citizen Night.

There were a flock of retirees sitting in the section off to our right, who would whisper to their neighbors during the course of the show. Due apparently to their hearing loss, however, what they had intended for their neighbors was broadcast loudly enough to be heard on the other side of the theater. (I came to think of this as the Senior sotto voce.)

While the on-stage action already had us in stitches, hearing a particularly dramatic scene capped with “She’s really worked up!” and the between-scene darkness punctuated with “They’re moving the chairs around now!” was a wonderful, rich cream cheese icing on the cake. I had to stop looking at Kathy at one point because I was trying hard not to laugh, and the pent-up pressure was such that, given the slightest additional impetus, my lungs would have been expelled through my nose. (I’m trying, on doctor’s advice, to avoid that.)

Doggone, that was a great experience.

My friend Jonathan has started keeping an online journal, rather remarkable in its openness and honesty.

Kathy and I went to Half-Price Books for a while last night. One of the more interesting things I stumbled across was a book on the architect, I.M. Pei. One of my favorite buildings in Dallas is a huge, shiny green glass obelisk of his design that has a beautiful water garden beneath (which we got chased out of by a security guard one weekend). I was surprised, however, to find out how much of his other work I was already familiar with, including Dallas City Hall, an example of his earlier work, and the Meyerson Symphony Center, which is a wholly remarkable piece of design. Ever wonder why the glass pyramid at the Louvre and the geometric glass juttings at the National Gallery are so similar? Same guy. Quite interesting to read about the man and see so much of his work.

Electronic Arts, my employer, today announced Ultima X: Odyssey, the next online Ultima game world. It’s using the Unreal engine, and is a dramatic departure technologically from Ultima Online. The demos I’ve seen look really sweet, and the team has some really good ideas for improving the online gaming experience over what’s out there already. Of course, I can’t say much beyond what’s in the press release (both because EA wouldn’t want me to, and because I don’t know much else), but it’s nice to be able to acknowledge the project’s existence.

Abigail is just getting over mono, which turned out to be the cause of the fever that so nearly disrupted her birthday party. (The recovery comes none to soon, as yesterday was the first day of school for her.) She’s on the upswing now, though the doctor says no contact sports for another several weeks, as mono can cause one’s spleen to swell and potentially burst if it gets a good, solid whack. Fortunately, Abby’s not too prone to contact sports, so this restriction should sit fine with her.

Margaret has a rotten case of swimmer’s ear, which has come on rather abruptly after her learning to swim. She’ll be out of the pool for a while.

Emily, who we’re home schooling this year, and Liam who isn’t yet old enough for school, are of course completely healthy.