Notes_Norton

"Jelly Roll Blues" – Jelly Roll Morton Notes ♫

Don't Worry, Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin (sorry about that) Notes ♫

Son Of A Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield (Quadruple word score) 😄 Notes ♫

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy – Cannonball Adderly Quintet Notes ♫

Pass The Dutchie - Musical Youth Notes ♫

Night Shift – Commodores Notes ♫

I Wonder as I Wander – Barbra Streisand Notes ♫

Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy) - Slim and Slam (Keb Mo did a nice cover)

It's all what you get used to, and if it happens gradually it's less shocking. I remember being 'up north' when September came around and it was in the 60s, everybody bundled up. In the spring, after the cold winter, when it got back to the 60s, people were in tank tops and shorts. The problem most Floridians of today have, is they live in 68-72 degree air-conditioned houses. So when they walk out when it's in the low 90s, it's a 30 degree difference and their body is acclimated to low 70s. Before AC, everyone painted their roofs white, planted shade trees, and opened windows. A fan on still days was enough. I still live that way. I have a white roof, and I planted shade tress around my house, but not over the roof. The white roof reflects the heat, it rises, and the cool air from under the trees comes in to replace it. No matter how hot it gets outside, it never gets higher than the very low 80s inside. And since I'm acclimated to the 80s (70s at night) going outside isn't a 30 degree shock to my system. Here is where I gig 3x a week: Notes ♫

^^ Nice! ^^ --- I'm not much of a songwriter. It's the lyrics that get me. Everything I write either sounds too much like everything else there (but not quite as good) or they sound really, really stupid to me. I am good at improvising a solo on my sax, flute, and wind synthesizer, though. Getting good at the guitar -- at least good enough for a non-musician audience. 😄 Notes ♫

Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen Notes ♫

We have a fan club (two electric fans). Yesterday the place was packed to overflow, with people sitting behind us on the beachside. If the weather isn't hot enough, the bikini babes will turn the temp up. (I'm sure the young dudes catch Mrs. Notes' eye too, it's just a fact of life.) The owner was there too, and seeing no available seats, food and drink being served and people getting up to dance in the usually dead hours between lunch and dinner is good for job security. BTW, it seldom gets too hot for us. We both grew up in FL before air conditioning and to this day don't use it. If you aren't acclimated to sleeping in a 68 degree freezer all night, 80s and low 90s aren't bad at all. Conversely, when the weather drops below 70, we turn on the heater. Actually, the worse part of this gig is the salt spray. I bought a used upper student model saxophone to use here, and it's showing the effects of the salt on the brass. But we've been doing 3 days a week here for over a year now, so it's paid for. Notes ♫

Something may be lying around in storage for countless years, and you've never had a use for it. ... UNTIL ... the day after you dispose of it. That's when you will have an occasion where you desperately need what you just got rid of, and you are forced to buy a new one.

We play 3 days a week, in an outdoor restaurant/bar, under a big canvas, on the public beach. Bikini girls. 🙂 Notes ♫

"Smoke On The Water" - Deep Purple Notes ♫

I've done a lot of session work, but I really prefer live performance. Most of my gear gets beat up on the road. We do from 15 to 20 gigs per month. Each one involves set up and tear down, 13 this month are under a canvas cover about 300' from the Atlantic Ocean, with salt spray as a fact of life. There is more than one right way to make music. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

I've been a career musician for a long time. When I was young, I'd buy the top-of-the-line everything. Now that I'm older and hopefully wiser, I usually buy just below the top. There is a point of diminishing returns, where X amount of additional dollars brings less and less advantage, until it's no longer worth it for me to throw more dollars into it. Often the break for me is when the money just starts buying bling instead of performance. The second line Yamaha sax I own is just like the top of the line but it has plastic key buttons instead of real mother-of-pearl, and no fancy floral engravings on the bell. And it cost over $1,000 less. My Parker guitar is the DF (Maxxfly), just natural wood, without a fancy top. But I sprung for the P-Rail pickups because that's where the sound comes from. So I get the body, neck, frets, tuner, of the expensive Maxxfly, better pickups, and save about $1,000. Since I play music for a living, that's $1,000 worth of gigs. To each person, that point of diminishing returns is different. I have a 1970 Gibson ES-330 and a 2002 Epiphone Korean (Peerless) Casino. Sound wise, the Casino is a little brighter, and turning down the tone knob a bit makes them sound close enough. The Gibson sounds better unplugged though, because the wood is better, but the wood does nothing for the tone of magnetic pickups (I know people will disagree with that). I love the P90 sound of the Duncan P-Rails. It's somewhere between the P90 sound of my Gibson and my Epiphone, and definitely good enough for me. I also believe, finer points of tone are lost on the audience, but better expressive playing, even with worse tone, moves them more. So rather than chase tone, I work on technique and expression. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Almost Hear You Sigh – The Rolling Stones Notes ♫

I Feel The Earth Move - Carole King Notes ♫

The Duncan P-Rails will give a P90 sound and a Humbucker sound, plus a strat-like rail sound. I have them on my Parker, and I highly recommend them. They are like the Swiss Army Knife of pickups. The weakest of the 3 sounds is the rail, but if you use two pickups and turn the volume up a bit, they sound very strat-like. The P90 is a little brighter than a soap bar and the humbucker is right on. Notes ♫

The Parker has the P-Rails. Over 90% of the time it's in the P90 configuration. I played P90s exclusively for a couple of years, and after I got used to the ping when I picked, everything else just sounds dull. But that's just me. Notes ♫

Take Five - Dave Brubeck Quartet Notes ♫

P90s are my favorite pickup for almost anything. Nothing beats the attack of a P90. If you want distortion, you can add it, but you can't add that attack to a humbucker or regular single coil. I have Duncan P-Rails so I can get P90, Rail, Series humbucker or Parallel humbucker. I highly recommend them. Notes ♫

Weed and Willie - Toby Keith Notes ♫

"Space Is The Place" - Sun Ra Notes ♫