Weird Al Yankovic

Since I was a kid, I loved Weird Al Yankovic. Just on a whim, I did a quick search to see what he was up to. To my surprise, he's releasing another album "Straight Outta Lynwood". Here's a parody of Usher's Confessions; "Confessions Part III"



Hilarious Genius

Quote of the Week

Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.
- Groucho Marx
Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home.
- Phyllis Diller
Home is where the heart is. Just make sure your heart is still in your chest.
- BassBassDude
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.
- Sir William Bragg

Lesson Learned

Things are always funny when there are issues with your bass setup and it is important to have this in proper condition.

I made the little mistake of trying to put my double bass down that, at the time, I thought would be safe, but in fact was quite dangerous which had to pay the price. I arrived at a gig, but in order to put my bass down into the orchestra pit , I would have to carefully lower it from a 4 foot stage down into my section. I thought that my bass was fairly light and my strength and flexibility was more than enough to pull this procedure off but such was not the case. The momentum of this large instrument pulled me off the stage and pulled me down on top of my bass. After dusting my self off, I rolled my bass off its front and quickly examined it for some serious damage. To my relief, there was nothing that I could find.

Throughout the week, it felt that my bass was just not the same and I was not happy with some of the notes I would hit with both arco and pizzicato technique. To make a long story short, I found that the bridge had been slightly compromised and needed to be adjusted to return to form. For a while now, I've been playing around with the bridge's location in relation to the f-holes and the sound post in the bass. It wasn't until last night of fiddling around with the bridge again and practicing, that I found the bridge is where it should be. The bridge is at a correct angle and is properly aligned with the sound post and the f-holes. Most importantly, the sound is warm and projecting nicely.

The Lesson Learned?

Always take care of your instrument and never compromise your setup lest you play with fire.

Quote of the Week

To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
- Jack Handey
No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.
- Lily Tomlin
Who needs cynicism when I'm always right.
- BassBassDude

Quote of the Week

Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
- Evelyn Waugh

Over-excessive boredom can breed extreme lateness as I have only discovered as of late.
- BassBassDude

Recording with Melodious Vibes

Last night I had a last minute recording session with Melodious Vibes. From what I can tell, it will probably be the last (for now, hehe). I never really realized it until last night how much I enjoyed being in a recording setting. In my case, I really enjoy the creative process and the focus one has to have in order to lay down a number of tracks. Moreover, in-between recording, I can just let loose and joke around which helps relieve any tension there could be in the room. Although, I tend to be pretty light-hearted when I'm playing music. It's funny, but almost every time I find myself behind a microphone in a studio, I feel really overly comfortable. Granted, I think I have come to the point where I can balance work-time and fun-time quite reasonably. Years ago, there have been a good number of times where I could go off on major humor-filled tangents that would suck up recording time; now a days, I'm much more focused. Don't get me wrong, I probably still have as much fun as I had years ago; it's just different when you mature.

I thought I'd also take the time to thank Mags and her team on helping us get this put together. As you can tell, I had fun coming into the studio and meeting you and your recording team. It's been a long time coming for Melodius Vibes to get together in a studio recording setting. I just hope the tracks we laid down are good enough for you and your team to play around with in post.

Have fun.