Jason and I haven't been doing much lately (though I have located another guitar player for us to try), but we did get together this past weekend to play. Not much of note to say about it, other than that the main thing we were doing was trying to get musically reacquainted, and I finally got to actually use my new bass amplifier. My guitar playing continues to improve, to the point where I'm considering investing in some better guitar equipment if I'm going to continue to spend this much time playing the instrument.
There was a possibility of some friends getting together to play at a mutual friend's picnic that weekend, but everybody except me seemed to lose enthusiasm and/or confidence as the actual date approached, and it fell through. I had focused most of my practicing for almost a month on the particular songs we'd chosen for that event. Very frustrating, but Jason and I should be able to use two of those songs for our project, so the time wasn't entirely wasted. I'm still far more interested in playing as part of a group than performing by myself, but I can really see why some people end up playing solo when it's so hard to get people on the same page.
I'd hoped to get something musically operational together with people I already knew because the idea was more to play music with people I enjoy as a social event than to form a musically successful band, but since that hasn't worked out I suspect I'm going to have to look further afield for people (thus, the guitar player I found on a message board from a local music store). If he doesn't work out, I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do, but I think a change is necessary. The most likely possibility is that we'll try recording some original material with the two of us and see how much fun we can have doing that. Life has a way of taking you where you need to go (which almost always isn't where you wanted to go), so I'm trying to stay open to possibilities at this point.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
That Post-Con Charge
As usual, I came out of DexCon with some inspiration to do new material. I surprised myself by sitting down to put some of the new ideas into a form I could save, and typed out four pages of rough ideas for four different scenarios before I slowed down. Looks like I won't have any trouble getting material together for next year.
I had a little time today and put some more focused effort in on my idea for Paranoia. One of the advantages of writing for this setting is that there's a standard format for adventures, and I still haven't written so much Paranoia that I feel a need to break out of that format yet. There's the mission briefing, the trip to PLC for equipment, the trip to R&D for experimental equipment, and then the actual mission can be relatively brief and simple, since most of the complications come from the character interactions. The climax should be wacky, chaotic, and destructive, then it's back to the briefing room for an epilogue.
Most of the real prep work for this one is going to be in character creation (to make sure we get the complex character interactions during actual play) and a couple of forms that I'll have to generate myself to suit one running joke. I like to have a working title, but one hasn't come to me yet for this one, though there is a particular word I want to include in it.
I've been looking forward to revisiting Paranoia for a while. It's a classic that a lot of convention GMs don't seem to tackle for one reason or another, but players always sign up for it when it's available. The writing of it is already fun.
I had a little time today and put some more focused effort in on my idea for Paranoia. One of the advantages of writing for this setting is that there's a standard format for adventures, and I still haven't written so much Paranoia that I feel a need to break out of that format yet. There's the mission briefing, the trip to PLC for equipment, the trip to R&D for experimental equipment, and then the actual mission can be relatively brief and simple, since most of the complications come from the character interactions. The climax should be wacky, chaotic, and destructive, then it's back to the briefing room for an epilogue.
Most of the real prep work for this one is going to be in character creation (to make sure we get the complex character interactions during actual play) and a couple of forms that I'll have to generate myself to suit one running joke. I like to have a working title, but one hasn't come to me yet for this one, though there is a particular word I want to include in it.
I've been looking forward to revisiting Paranoia for a while. It's a classic that a lot of convention GMs don't seem to tackle for one reason or another, but players always sign up for it when it's available. The writing of it is already fun.
Monday, July 13, 2009
DexCon - Sunday
After checking out of the hotel, I spent some dealers' room time, picking up copies of Zombies!!! from Twilight Creations and "The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen" from Magnum Opus Press. I hesitated about picking up Baron Munchausen because, as much as I enjoy the game myself from my experiences at conventions, I'm not sure that anyone I know locally will be willing to play it. Still, I decided to give them the benefit of a doubt after thinking of a few people who might be willing to at least try it.
My final session of the con was another run of "Clerks 1 1/2", with three players this time. A married couple played Jay and Silent Bob, the third player took Randal Graves, and I NPC'd Dante Hicks when we needed him. It seemed a little strange to have a woman playing Silent Bob, but she nailed it, giving me my biggest single laugh of the session by coming up behind "Jay" in character in a scene best not described in detail but entirely appropriate to the style of a Kevin Smith movie. In the end, Jay and Silent Bob lost pretty much everything they had but reaffirmed their friendship in a big way, while Randal had the best three days of his life in the company of two comely female demons before disappearing entirely from the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Yes, it breaks continuity, but it was funny and made perfect sense for the character. I've had a lot of success with Sorcerer for three years in a row now, and since preparation for it is minimal, it's likely I'll do another one for next year if I can come up with the right idea.
I must say that my last couple of convention experiences have been particularly good, and again I had that special recharge of ideas that keeps me going. I have enough new ideas to keep me going for at least another two years, and enjoyed reconnecting with some people I haven't seen in a while.
My final session of the con was another run of "Clerks 1 1/2", with three players this time. A married couple played Jay and Silent Bob, the third player took Randal Graves, and I NPC'd Dante Hicks when we needed him. It seemed a little strange to have a woman playing Silent Bob, but she nailed it, giving me my biggest single laugh of the session by coming up behind "Jay" in character in a scene best not described in detail but entirely appropriate to the style of a Kevin Smith movie. In the end, Jay and Silent Bob lost pretty much everything they had but reaffirmed their friendship in a big way, while Randal had the best three days of his life in the company of two comely female demons before disappearing entirely from the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Yes, it breaks continuity, but it was funny and made perfect sense for the character. I've had a lot of success with Sorcerer for three years in a row now, and since preparation for it is minimal, it's likely I'll do another one for next year if I can come up with the right idea.
I must say that my last couple of convention experiences have been particularly good, and again I had that special recharge of ideas that keeps me going. I have enough new ideas to keep me going for at least another two years, and enjoyed reconnecting with some people I haven't seen in a while.
DexCon - Saturday
I slept in on Saturday, so no Saturday morning session for me. Saturday afternoon was my GURPS Banestorm session that drew a full house of six players plus four alternates, so needless to say I'll be offering this one again next year. The fantasy material does seem to draw better than my usual preference of horror. Five of my six players were new to me, and the sixth was one I hadn't seen in quite a few years. I really enjoy and appreciate my regulars, but it's also nice to have some new blood to shake things up now and again.
I hadn't been able to schedule a playtest in advance for this story ("Tiger by the Tail"), which involved a lot of the characters being at cross purposes, so I wasn't entirely sure how the dynamic would work out, but it did work out pretty much as planned, with one actual character death and a lot of misunderstandings and manipulations. The tricky part turned out to be having a very young player who was not only new to GURPS, but also didn't quite understand his character's relatively complex role in the situation and was having a hard time taking appropriate action as a result. The other, more minor difficulty was that the bruiser of the group had an aspect to his character that didn't work out as threateningly as I'd hoped. I might need to work on that, and possibly have more for the group to do on the journey. I'd purposely kept that part simple because I wanted the focus to be on the interpersonal situations as opposed to figuring out how to fight a monster, but it might help if there was something slightly more involved to deal with along the way.
Three of the players from that session who were new to me must have enjoyed themselves because they all signed up for my Saturday night GURPS Cabal session ("Lives in the Balance"). I was delighted, because up until that point I'd had no players signed up for that one. And shortly after that group signed up, so did some other people. I ultimately ended up having to turn a player away from that session as well. Quite a difference from having no players at all! Even better, one of the Cabal players was another that I hadn't seen in the last few years, and particularly enjoyed having before. The whole Cabal group was very strong in terms of roleplaying, which left us pressed for time at the end of that session, since the final scene got started a bit later than I'd intended.
There were several really fun bits in this session, too long to detail here. The important things to note are, as usual, the surprises that some of the players brought to the table. For one thing, the new character of the group (a Chinese expert on the manipulation of chi energy) was written in a very straightforward manner, but the player brought a wonderfully wry sense of humor to it (as well as some ambiguity about his real origins) that I'll try to maintain if I ever bring the character back as an NPC, which seems fairly likely. The other major development, which I'll almost certainly keep in the official continuity, was one of the female characters making a startling agreement that I can't include here for risk of spoiling a future session. The player expressed concern that she'd ruined the character by doing so. My reply was "I haven't lost a character; I've gained a storyline". I already have a good idea for the very next Cabal scenario, but now I have another one of the scenario after that! There's a lesson to be learned there. Each time someone thought they'd irreparably damaged a character by making a dramatic decision, they had in fact opened up an exciting new possibility for that character! This is a shining example of the advantage roleplaying has over fiction in my eyes. The interaction with the players often produces Big Fun results that I'd never have written myself.
I finished out Saturday night by participating in the poker tournament and being the very first player eliminated. I tried a more daring strategy than I usually do, and ran into triple queens and triple sixes respectively, concealed by the other player having a pocket pair and flopping the third card in each case. It didn't leave me with many chips, so I went all in with a hand of queen/jack suited, only to have the opposing player pair his king on the flop, and I was done. Granted, I had some bad luck, but have to admit that I made far too many mistakes. I have to do better next year if I play, because you can't be worse than first out!
I took advantage of my early departure to spend some time with Mike Miller and Michelle Mishko in the board game room, then with a fellow Steve Jackson Games rep that I'd only met in passing previously, so it worked out well, all things considered.
I hadn't been able to schedule a playtest in advance for this story ("Tiger by the Tail"), which involved a lot of the characters being at cross purposes, so I wasn't entirely sure how the dynamic would work out, but it did work out pretty much as planned, with one actual character death and a lot of misunderstandings and manipulations. The tricky part turned out to be having a very young player who was not only new to GURPS, but also didn't quite understand his character's relatively complex role in the situation and was having a hard time taking appropriate action as a result. The other, more minor difficulty was that the bruiser of the group had an aspect to his character that didn't work out as threateningly as I'd hoped. I might need to work on that, and possibly have more for the group to do on the journey. I'd purposely kept that part simple because I wanted the focus to be on the interpersonal situations as opposed to figuring out how to fight a monster, but it might help if there was something slightly more involved to deal with along the way.
Three of the players from that session who were new to me must have enjoyed themselves because they all signed up for my Saturday night GURPS Cabal session ("Lives in the Balance"). I was delighted, because up until that point I'd had no players signed up for that one. And shortly after that group signed up, so did some other people. I ultimately ended up having to turn a player away from that session as well. Quite a difference from having no players at all! Even better, one of the Cabal players was another that I hadn't seen in the last few years, and particularly enjoyed having before. The whole Cabal group was very strong in terms of roleplaying, which left us pressed for time at the end of that session, since the final scene got started a bit later than I'd intended.
There were several really fun bits in this session, too long to detail here. The important things to note are, as usual, the surprises that some of the players brought to the table. For one thing, the new character of the group (a Chinese expert on the manipulation of chi energy) was written in a very straightforward manner, but the player brought a wonderfully wry sense of humor to it (as well as some ambiguity about his real origins) that I'll try to maintain if I ever bring the character back as an NPC, which seems fairly likely. The other major development, which I'll almost certainly keep in the official continuity, was one of the female characters making a startling agreement that I can't include here for risk of spoiling a future session. The player expressed concern that she'd ruined the character by doing so. My reply was "I haven't lost a character; I've gained a storyline". I already have a good idea for the very next Cabal scenario, but now I have another one of the scenario after that! There's a lesson to be learned there. Each time someone thought they'd irreparably damaged a character by making a dramatic decision, they had in fact opened up an exciting new possibility for that character! This is a shining example of the advantage roleplaying has over fiction in my eyes. The interaction with the players often produces Big Fun results that I'd never have written myself.
I finished out Saturday night by participating in the poker tournament and being the very first player eliminated. I tried a more daring strategy than I usually do, and ran into triple queens and triple sixes respectively, concealed by the other player having a pocket pair and flopping the third card in each case. It didn't leave me with many chips, so I went all in with a hand of queen/jack suited, only to have the opposing player pair his king on the flop, and I was done. Granted, I had some bad luck, but have to admit that I made far too many mistakes. I have to do better next year if I play, because you can't be worse than first out!
I took advantage of my early departure to spend some time with Mike Miller and Michelle Mishko in the board game room, then with a fellow Steve Jackson Games rep that I'd only met in passing previously, so it worked out well, all things considered.
DexCon - Friday
Once again, I find myself reminded why I enjoy doing this so much.
DexCon was at a new location this year, which turned out to be an improvement in several respects. The hotel staff was especially friendly and helpful, and access to reasonably affordable and quickly available food was far easier than the previous location. However, the new location also had a lot more people from outside the convention wandering through the area, resulting in a fair amount of unintentional "freaking the mundanes". I could tell that some of the hotel staff was not previously acquainted with the gaming community by watching reactions to some of the costumes and unusual conversations going on around them. The former hotel staff had come to know us, and usually just reacted with smirks and the occasional eye roll, while some of the new hotel staff would sometimes actually turn and watch some of the more extreme costumes as the people wearing them passed by.
One of my favorite moments was when an argument broke out in a LARP in an area near the main lobby. I could immediately tell by some of the archaic language that it was coming from a LARP, so the sound was barely a blip on my personal radar, but then I saw two security guards rushing to the stairs to investigate, only then realizing that the two people involved were engaged in some kind of mock duel and not the real thing. I'm sure they were informed that something like that might happen, but you know they had to check the situation out to be sure in order to do their jobs, so I'm not making fun of them for doing so. It was just funny to see it happen.
I arrived in time to play in Andrew Morris' Pareidolix session, "Psychic Underground". Virtually everything except the initial setting description was collectively created on the fly, as usual for Pareidolix, and yet it all ultimately came together for a very satisfying story. There were five of us playing, and I was by far the oldest player at the table while playing the youngest character. My character concept was more of a follower than a protagonist from the outset, which was intentional on my part, but I think some of the others were concerned that the character would be too passive. The reason for my choice was that the first two players to describe their characters had chosen especially forceful personalities that were likely to come into conflict with each other, and I thought it would be more interesting to make myself a valuable bone of contention between them than to be another strong point of view, which turned out to be correct.
Andrew's Pareidolix system definitely influenced my own Fluid system, but seeing it again after having run some Fluid showed where he has solved some problems that I haven't, to be honest. Fluid may work better for a long term game, but Andrew said he has rules for Pareidolix for multi-session play, though I haven't seen them yet. I'll have to look at them, and if he does the job better, I may just give up on Fluid and use his system. Why reinvent the wheel when every session I've played of Andrew's has done what I set out to do?
My scheduled In Nomine session for Friday night folded for lack of players, attracting exactly zero. Unfortunately, the change in location also meant some shift in the composition of the player population, and in this case may have meant that it's going to take some work on my part to build up a new audience for In Nomine at DexCon.
And so I signed up for a Call of Cthulhu session, which I was quite looking forward to because this is a game I sometimes run, and only rarely get to play. I also know and like one of the other players already signed up for it, and trusted her taste in games, so I thought it was likely to be good. From what I was able to gather, this particular scenario was written by someone who does it at least semi-professionally, but I was seriously unimpressed by both the scenario itself and the GM. There was nothing especially creepy or engaging about the story or characters apart from a disturbing creature turning up in the last half hour of play, and no real zip to the GM's presentation. Meh. The best parts for me were interacting with two of the other players, including the one I knew.
My midnight Sorcerer game (Clerks 1 1/2) had two players, which was still enough to run it, and they chose to play Jay and Silent Bob. One of the most pleasant surprises about the Clerks sessions has been the consistent quality of the players. The performances for all three of the Clerks sessions (playtest plus the two DexCon sessions) have been good to great across the board, without a weak player in the bunch, and the endings have felt right for the source material every time. Very encouraging. I had to do some tweaking because the idea is that Randall will probably be the first character to get a demon, but it all worked out well enough. It's interesting to note that players in general prefer to play Jay and Silent Bob (particularly Silent Bob) to Randall and Dante. In spite of the late hour, both of the players hung around for an extended and very interesting conversation afterward about the Askewniverse and storytelling in general, which then drifted into storytelling style in anime. I'm no expert on anime, but have absorbed enough from my wife by talking to her about it to keep up with the conversation.
DexCon was at a new location this year, which turned out to be an improvement in several respects. The hotel staff was especially friendly and helpful, and access to reasonably affordable and quickly available food was far easier than the previous location. However, the new location also had a lot more people from outside the convention wandering through the area, resulting in a fair amount of unintentional "freaking the mundanes". I could tell that some of the hotel staff was not previously acquainted with the gaming community by watching reactions to some of the costumes and unusual conversations going on around them. The former hotel staff had come to know us, and usually just reacted with smirks and the occasional eye roll, while some of the new hotel staff would sometimes actually turn and watch some of the more extreme costumes as the people wearing them passed by.
One of my favorite moments was when an argument broke out in a LARP in an area near the main lobby. I could immediately tell by some of the archaic language that it was coming from a LARP, so the sound was barely a blip on my personal radar, but then I saw two security guards rushing to the stairs to investigate, only then realizing that the two people involved were engaged in some kind of mock duel and not the real thing. I'm sure they were informed that something like that might happen, but you know they had to check the situation out to be sure in order to do their jobs, so I'm not making fun of them for doing so. It was just funny to see it happen.
I arrived in time to play in Andrew Morris' Pareidolix session, "Psychic Underground". Virtually everything except the initial setting description was collectively created on the fly, as usual for Pareidolix, and yet it all ultimately came together for a very satisfying story. There were five of us playing, and I was by far the oldest player at the table while playing the youngest character. My character concept was more of a follower than a protagonist from the outset, which was intentional on my part, but I think some of the others were concerned that the character would be too passive. The reason for my choice was that the first two players to describe their characters had chosen especially forceful personalities that were likely to come into conflict with each other, and I thought it would be more interesting to make myself a valuable bone of contention between them than to be another strong point of view, which turned out to be correct.
Andrew's Pareidolix system definitely influenced my own Fluid system, but seeing it again after having run some Fluid showed where he has solved some problems that I haven't, to be honest. Fluid may work better for a long term game, but Andrew said he has rules for Pareidolix for multi-session play, though I haven't seen them yet. I'll have to look at them, and if he does the job better, I may just give up on Fluid and use his system. Why reinvent the wheel when every session I've played of Andrew's has done what I set out to do?
My scheduled In Nomine session for Friday night folded for lack of players, attracting exactly zero. Unfortunately, the change in location also meant some shift in the composition of the player population, and in this case may have meant that it's going to take some work on my part to build up a new audience for In Nomine at DexCon.
And so I signed up for a Call of Cthulhu session, which I was quite looking forward to because this is a game I sometimes run, and only rarely get to play. I also know and like one of the other players already signed up for it, and trusted her taste in games, so I thought it was likely to be good. From what I was able to gather, this particular scenario was written by someone who does it at least semi-professionally, but I was seriously unimpressed by both the scenario itself and the GM. There was nothing especially creepy or engaging about the story or characters apart from a disturbing creature turning up in the last half hour of play, and no real zip to the GM's presentation. Meh. The best parts for me were interacting with two of the other players, including the one I knew.
My midnight Sorcerer game (Clerks 1 1/2) had two players, which was still enough to run it, and they chose to play Jay and Silent Bob. One of the most pleasant surprises about the Clerks sessions has been the consistent quality of the players. The performances for all three of the Clerks sessions (playtest plus the two DexCon sessions) have been good to great across the board, without a weak player in the bunch, and the endings have felt right for the source material every time. Very encouraging. I had to do some tweaking because the idea is that Randall will probably be the first character to get a demon, but it all worked out well enough. It's interesting to note that players in general prefer to play Jay and Silent Bob (particularly Silent Bob) to Randall and Dante. In spite of the late hour, both of the players hung around for an extended and very interesting conversation afterward about the Askewniverse and storytelling in general, which then drifted into storytelling style in anime. I'm no expert on anime, but have absorbed enough from my wife by talking to her about it to keep up with the conversation.
Friday, July 03, 2009
DexCon Next Weekend
My mind has been very much on music lately, but it's time to shift gears and get ready for next week's DexCon. I took a little time a couple of weeks ago to get organized, so there's really very little prep work for me to do at this point, apart from getting reaquainted with the material before I go.
As it turns out, I'm going to run "Clerks 1 1/2" not once, but twice, which is fine.
I'm looking forward to seeing all of the people that I rarely see outside of conventions. Since I didn't do a spring convention this year, it feels as though it's been forever since I've been to one. I expect to post con details later, but it'll probably be another week and a half before I have the chance.
As it turns out, I'm going to run "Clerks 1 1/2" not once, but twice, which is fine.
I'm looking forward to seeing all of the people that I rarely see outside of conventions. Since I didn't do a spring convention this year, it feels as though it's been forever since I've been to one. I expect to post con details later, but it'll probably be another week and a half before I have the chance.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Michael Jackson
The first album I ever bought was the Jackson 5's greatest hits. I remain a huge fan of old Motown material, and the early Jackson 5 records were a significant part of that. As for Michael solo, I liked "Off the Wall" and "Thriller", then almost entirely lost interest. It's probably not cool for a rock musician like myself to admit to this, but good is good, and whatever you thought of him or his music, Michael Jackson was obviously an incredibly talented guy with enormous impact on the music world.
And then he became the poster child for celebrity weirdness. When history looks back at our culture from this time, I'm sure the excesses of top-earning musicians will be one of the quirks that leaves future people wondering how the heck some of this stuff ever happened. The obvious question is why somebody didn't say something to these people before they went too far over the top, and the equally obvious answer is that nobody wanted to get shoved off the gravy train while there was so much money being made. I think we're going to see fewer musicians like this now that money in the music industry is being distributed more broadly.
At the end of the day, I feel really bad for these people who have everything and yet have nothing. I have to wonder why more of them don't reach a point where they realize that what they have isn't making them happy and bring those amazing material resources to bear in ways that might actually help them. George Harrison, for example, seemed to reach a point where he understood the limits of material success and started looking for something more. Michael Jackson's religious beliefs ultimately didn't seem to be helpful to him. Maybe it's just not in the nature of some people to look further, even when they're unhappy, while others just haven't found the belief set that works for them in time to save them.
And then he became the poster child for celebrity weirdness. When history looks back at our culture from this time, I'm sure the excesses of top-earning musicians will be one of the quirks that leaves future people wondering how the heck some of this stuff ever happened. The obvious question is why somebody didn't say something to these people before they went too far over the top, and the equally obvious answer is that nobody wanted to get shoved off the gravy train while there was so much money being made. I think we're going to see fewer musicians like this now that money in the music industry is being distributed more broadly.
At the end of the day, I feel really bad for these people who have everything and yet have nothing. I have to wonder why more of them don't reach a point where they realize that what they have isn't making them happy and bring those amazing material resources to bear in ways that might actually help them. George Harrison, for example, seemed to reach a point where he understood the limits of material success and started looking for something more. Michael Jackson's religious beliefs ultimately didn't seem to be helpful to him. Maybe it's just not in the nature of some people to look further, even when they're unhappy, while others just haven't found the belief set that works for them in time to save them.
Monday, June 22, 2009
If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Maybe a Friend Will Kill Him For You
I was thinking about the "Ghost of Bands Past" entry and realizing how my unenthusiastic ex-bandmate may have done me a large (if accidental) favor. That particular band looms large in my history. It was an odd circumstance, being a very inexperienced musician in a very good band. I couldn't have accomplished everything I did later without that experience, and yet I couldn't have accomplished what I did later if that band had remained together because I wouldn't have had as much opportunity to improve individually. I've always suspected that at least part of the reason for my musical retirement was that once I'd put together a band of my own that I thought was in that same league, it felt as though I'd come full circle and proven myself. There was no need to go any further, and the few things I did after that felt like a coda.
In the big picture, it doesn't matter which was the best band I was ever in, or if that last band was as good as the first. The only band that matters at any given time is the one I'm in right now, and there was never really any point in comparing them. It was a trap I'd created for myself, and now I'm free of it, but can't take 100% credit for that. It's true enough that I'd gotten at least partially past the need to impress an audience (or even have an audience at all) on my own, but it took this last gathering to show me the degree to which I was still caught up in that past.
And now enough of all that. Where are the right musicians to play with (and especially somebody to sing with) now that I'm in the mood again?
In the big picture, it doesn't matter which was the best band I was ever in, or if that last band was as good as the first. The only band that matters at any given time is the one I'm in right now, and there was never really any point in comparing them. It was a trap I'd created for myself, and now I'm free of it, but can't take 100% credit for that. It's true enough that I'd gotten at least partially past the need to impress an audience (or even have an audience at all) on my own, but it took this last gathering to show me the degree to which I was still caught up in that past.
And now enough of all that. Where are the right musicians to play with (and especially somebody to sing with) now that I'm in the mood again?
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Yes: Yes Acoustic
I've often said that one of the most interesting things about acoustic music played solo (or with a small group) is that it reveals what the performer truly brings to the table. You can cover up a multitude of musical sins in an electric band, but there's simply no place to hide in an acoustic situation. Aerosmith completely changed my opinion of them for the better with a solid performance on MTV's Unplugged series. And so I was really looking forward to seeing what some of the world's finest rock instrumentalists could do in that context.
Surprisingly, I was a bit disappointed. There's no doubt that these guys can play, and yet the music as a whole lost a lot more impact than I'd expected. The piano and drums fare best, and the bass by far the worst, as I'd expected due to the properties of the instruments. The bass sound seemed to be throwing Chris Squire off his game, as he really looked like he didn't want to be there, while Rick Wakeman (the pianist) seemed to be having the time of his life.
The songs themselves didn't seem to hold up, which I hadn't expected. Some of my Yes favorites seemed just average played this way. My best guess would be that the bass guitar is prominent in a lot of Yes music, and since the bass lost a lot of power, so did the overall effect. I suppose this is why we haven't seen Yes play acoustically before, and probably won't be seeing it again any time soon. I'd be curious as to what it would sound like with electric bass guitar and acoustic everything else, but then they couldn't honestly call it Yes Acoustic.
I could only recommend this one to a hardcore fan, though I would point out to that fan that Rick Wakeman's commentary on the rehearsal extra is not to be missed if you're interested enough to rent it in the first place.
Surprisingly, I was a bit disappointed. There's no doubt that these guys can play, and yet the music as a whole lost a lot more impact than I'd expected. The piano and drums fare best, and the bass by far the worst, as I'd expected due to the properties of the instruments. The bass sound seemed to be throwing Chris Squire off his game, as he really looked like he didn't want to be there, while Rick Wakeman (the pianist) seemed to be having the time of his life.
The songs themselves didn't seem to hold up, which I hadn't expected. Some of my Yes favorites seemed just average played this way. My best guess would be that the bass guitar is prominent in a lot of Yes music, and since the bass lost a lot of power, so did the overall effect. I suppose this is why we haven't seen Yes play acoustically before, and probably won't be seeing it again any time soon. I'd be curious as to what it would sound like with electric bass guitar and acoustic everything else, but then they couldn't honestly call it Yes Acoustic.
I could only recommend this one to a hardcore fan, though I would point out to that fan that Rick Wakeman's commentary on the rehearsal extra is not to be missed if you're interested enough to rent it in the first place.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Ghost of Bands Past
I went to a reunion today of the first band I was ever in, formed about thirty years ago. I'd been looking forward to it for some time, but was trying to keep my expectations low for several reasons. The band lasted for four years, with three of us as members the entire time, plus our drummer. The original drummer was with us for the first three years, then a second drummer lasted only three months, then our third drummer stayed until the end. Long story short, none of the drummers would have been able or likely to attend, and a couple of people associated strongly with the band (but not members) declined to come, so the reunion really consisted of the core three band members, plus our original sound man, plus wives and kids.
At one time we were the very best of friends. We spent a lot of time together, made some good music, and had a loyal and reasonably large following. At one point toward the end, we played the same place for three weekends (Friday and Saturday nights) out of four and packed the place every night except the last. Even that last night was relatively full. Combinations of two of the three of us even went on to play in other bands together after that. I realized that we might not always be in a band together, or even be close friends, but I thought we'd always be at least on good terms and see each other once in a while. However, things change, of course. We all got married, and two of the three of us had children. We all ended up with good jobs that occupy a substantial chunk of our time. Even that didn't have to prevent us from getting together if we really wanted to, but in the end, some of us just didn't want to get together as much as others.
This has more impact on me now than it might otherwise have had, since I'm getting back into playing music. The last time we got together was at a mutual friend's wedding five years ago, and there wasn't really any opportunity to play music together at that time. I'm not sure how long ago the time before that was, but we met at one guy's home, went through some old photos and had a few (well, more than a few) beers and actually did play some music. It was quite rough, as I hadn't played at all for at least a few years at that point, and one of the others hadn't played much in at least five years, but we had a fantastic time of it, to the point where we continued on long enough to irritate some of the wives.
I was more than ready to go this time, and the guy hosting had also said he was more than willing to play. However, the third member, the most talented of us all, turned out to also be the least willing. When we'd last played, he was still at least playing for his own pleasure, if not for audiences. He doesn't even do that any more. He still plays just a little bit of piano now and then, but leaves it for his kids to play most of the time, and hasn't played guitar or done any singing at all in nearly twenty years. I was hoping that he could be persuaded to play at least two or three songs for old times' sake, but was prepared to be disappointed, and as it turns out, I was.
I'd brought my acoustic bass guitar and electric five string bass and left them out in the car, reasoning that I wanted them within reach if there was an opportunity to play but not wanting to force the issue if nobody was interested. I could tell that our host wanted to play, as he brought his acoustic guitar out to play along with the kids while they played the video game Rock Band. However, I'm sure he didn't want to push the issue with our reticent third member. We even played some tapes of the old band, and while they weren't our finest work, I thought they might prime the pump. If anything, I thought it might encourage us to show that we could, in fact, do a whole lot better than that. But it was not to be. He made it pretty clear that he was done with it, and even seemed a bit embarrassed by it all, even down to the old in-jokes that are inevitably part of a tight-knit group like that.
I'd hoped to rekindle the personal chemistry between the three of us (if not the music itself) for just one day, but it couldn't be more obvious to me that that time is well and truly over. We're different people now, and the reasons for that don't really matter. Change is inevitable, and I didn't really expect to be able to make it as it once was. I just thought there might still be some spark left that would be worth enjoying for a few hours (I thought that was the point in a reunion), but it's clear that that spark is entirely gone.
I have mixed feelings about this. It's incredibly sad to see that chemistry, once so vital, reduced to nothing. And yet it's liberating. I didn't want to get back into music just to play the old songs again. Once upon a time it would've been my fondest wish to play those particular songs with those particular people again, but things have changed, and it's time to well and truly move on. I might still be able to enjoy getting together with the one old friend at some point, though his schedule makes that difficult, but the ghost of the original band was laid to rest today for me.
At one time we were the very best of friends. We spent a lot of time together, made some good music, and had a loyal and reasonably large following. At one point toward the end, we played the same place for three weekends (Friday and Saturday nights) out of four and packed the place every night except the last. Even that last night was relatively full. Combinations of two of the three of us even went on to play in other bands together after that. I realized that we might not always be in a band together, or even be close friends, but I thought we'd always be at least on good terms and see each other once in a while. However, things change, of course. We all got married, and two of the three of us had children. We all ended up with good jobs that occupy a substantial chunk of our time. Even that didn't have to prevent us from getting together if we really wanted to, but in the end, some of us just didn't want to get together as much as others.
This has more impact on me now than it might otherwise have had, since I'm getting back into playing music. The last time we got together was at a mutual friend's wedding five years ago, and there wasn't really any opportunity to play music together at that time. I'm not sure how long ago the time before that was, but we met at one guy's home, went through some old photos and had a few (well, more than a few) beers and actually did play some music. It was quite rough, as I hadn't played at all for at least a few years at that point, and one of the others hadn't played much in at least five years, but we had a fantastic time of it, to the point where we continued on long enough to irritate some of the wives.
I was more than ready to go this time, and the guy hosting had also said he was more than willing to play. However, the third member, the most talented of us all, turned out to also be the least willing. When we'd last played, he was still at least playing for his own pleasure, if not for audiences. He doesn't even do that any more. He still plays just a little bit of piano now and then, but leaves it for his kids to play most of the time, and hasn't played guitar or done any singing at all in nearly twenty years. I was hoping that he could be persuaded to play at least two or three songs for old times' sake, but was prepared to be disappointed, and as it turns out, I was.
I'd brought my acoustic bass guitar and electric five string bass and left them out in the car, reasoning that I wanted them within reach if there was an opportunity to play but not wanting to force the issue if nobody was interested. I could tell that our host wanted to play, as he brought his acoustic guitar out to play along with the kids while they played the video game Rock Band. However, I'm sure he didn't want to push the issue with our reticent third member. We even played some tapes of the old band, and while they weren't our finest work, I thought they might prime the pump. If anything, I thought it might encourage us to show that we could, in fact, do a whole lot better than that. But it was not to be. He made it pretty clear that he was done with it, and even seemed a bit embarrassed by it all, even down to the old in-jokes that are inevitably part of a tight-knit group like that.
I'd hoped to rekindle the personal chemistry between the three of us (if not the music itself) for just one day, but it couldn't be more obvious to me that that time is well and truly over. We're different people now, and the reasons for that don't really matter. Change is inevitable, and I didn't really expect to be able to make it as it once was. I just thought there might still be some spark left that would be worth enjoying for a few hours (I thought that was the point in a reunion), but it's clear that that spark is entirely gone.
I have mixed feelings about this. It's incredibly sad to see that chemistry, once so vital, reduced to nothing. And yet it's liberating. I didn't want to get back into music just to play the old songs again. Once upon a time it would've been my fondest wish to play those particular songs with those particular people again, but things have changed, and it's time to well and truly move on. I might still be able to enjoy getting together with the one old friend at some point, though his schedule makes that difficult, but the ghost of the original band was laid to rest today for me.
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