Beach Blanket Bingo

In an odd twist of fate strangers call me every once in awhile these days regarding playing some kind of music with them. The latest call was from a guy whose name rang no bells, and I could not recall ever playing with him at any of the open mic venues or other events I've attended.

He said I played with him and his wife, who plays paercussions. His plan has to do with another charity event, and the details are still a little vague. I think he wants me to sit in with him and/or others.

Not wanting to limit my horizons too much I agreed to meet down at the beach to jam a little with him and some other people he said were showing up. He gives detailed resumes of whoever else is supposed to play, and I tune out such things. If you say you know Joe Dokes and he's famous or played with Bach or whatever, it means zilch to me.

All I care about is if I can fit with the people and if what they play is not completely abhorrent to me. That is a little negative but many guitar player/singers of the acoustic world tend to play things which seem like they lack real melody, and which contain chord changes that have no purpose as far as what makes sense and sounds pleasing to me.

Often the songs are famous and made someone tons of money. Usually things that did not grab me when they were rising in the marketplace, and things which I couldn't imagine wanting to cover.

So, I showed at Ocean Beach and after a second did recognize the guy. I still don't recall playing with him and his wife. A mandolin player and violin payer showed up. The violin was tentative but I liked how she played. The mandolin was not bad either. He seemed to know what he was doing and be capable of fitting with others better than the other three. I guess it worked out, but I cannot recreate even a shred of any of the songs in my head because they just didn't have whatever it is that memorable tunes have. They seemed like those tuneless odd songs Mike Douglas used to sing on his show.

I'm sure it works and sounds different to others. Maybe because I did not know the songs and how they sounded originally, I found no attachment to them. A lot of that going around--someone covers a tune in such a way that you can't even recognize it even though you know how the original sounds.

Maybe I'll play his benefit. Just for the exposure. It is probably a decent service that proceeds help fund. But, I confess, I'm not there because I think I am "doing good" or "giving back". I could care less about giving back because I haven't taken that much. If I were to give back it would go to family and friends who really deserve it and who have sacrificed for or because of me. Not random charities. That is how I roll.

It was a strange session, and I guess I added to it, but it seemed the guy did not really know the songs he was doing, and he never knew what key he was in. I finally just asked him to name a chord or two that would be involved and guessed it from there. I can find it but it is a pain. If I paid enough attention I would be able to know immediately the key just by hearing it. I'm working on paying attention.

I'm often finding people thinking they are in A when they are in E minor or D or G or something. Today most often they thought it was in C but it was actually in G. Close enough. They were in tune, and that is good. I just don't get the idea that this angle is going to move my experience and education forward. I'm turning into a snob maybe. Maybe not.

There is just a limit to how much I am willing to play that I don't find engaging.

I think I want to get a giant hot air balloon and make it my home. Just float around on the wind, sometimes waving to the people below while I eat popcorn, watch movies on my computer and just be lazy in the clouds.