As I type this (although "tapping" is a more accurate description), I am flying to Las Vegas, connecting to Reno, then driving to Lake Tahoe to perform my second gig with the
Journey tribute band JOURNEY UNAUTHORIZED. It's my 52nd birthday, and here I am on my way to playing in yet another cover band, the same basic thing I was doing 30 years ago - and loving it.
Getting older is many things, and a yearly life check is inevitable. I'm not much on nostalgia, and would rather just get on with things, but for all my over-analyzing and forced focus on the processes of my life, the fact that I am pretty much where I was headed 30 years ago is sitting fine. Getting older sees to be a combination of learning what it is I truly love, figuring out how to avoid the things I don't, and accepting that I'll get and be much less than I had hoped. Which is another way if saying that I have learned to accept less, love more and try not to get caught up in the rest of the bullshit.
I call this blog Bass Guitars and Chocolate because they are two of the things I love and continue to explore as I travel, perform and live. I'll be playing catch up for a while, with lots of photos and descriptions of amazing dark chocolates, thick Italian chocolate drinks I have enjoyed from around the world, and amazing bass guitars I have built, owned, seen and/or played. I have no idea who could possibly be interested in this combination of sensual and intellectual obsessions, and I am sure I will talk about much more than these two topics, and admire the elegance of extreme niches blogs can inhabit.
The only pity is that my birthday gig tonight is as a keyboard player, no basses involved ( not in my hands, anyway). Oh well, it's a gig, and at least I am playing music tonight!
Chocolate: had enough time on my way to Burbank airport to stop at Porto's for a chocolate croissant. Very good here; the chocolate inside is more of a ganache now, is soft and creamy with decent flavor, and not too sweet. Half of the outside is dipped in chocolate as well, an extra treat, reminding me of the chocolate dipped soft serve ice cream I loved as a kid. The croissant itself is not the best (compared to Maison Giraud in Pacific Palisades, which rivals any in Paris), but with all the chocolate flavors and textures the pastry itself does it's job and stays out of the way (without the chocolate the plain croissant there is not satisfactory). Sorry for no photo, I was driving and eating. Can't say I expect anything exciting in Tahoe as far as chocolate is concerned, but the day is young.
Basses: as already mentioned, tonight I am not playing bass, so no such tactile pleasures for the fingers in the near future. I have 3-5 basses is pre- or mid-build stages at home in the shop, and in my mind I am still working out some construction or design issues ( a couple more jazzes, 2 or 3 precisions, and a beefed-up sunburst Jaguar bass, along with 3 others that need necks and/or tuning machines swapped out or upgraded).
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