Diatribe Of A Mad Bassist

It seems that February is really my iPod month. Over the last few years, all happeningly in the month of February, I’ve gotten a new iPod for my birthday.

Here is the pic of all the iPods I’ve ever owned…

From left, 20gig iPod from 2005. No colour, no photos, no video. That somehow only lasted me a year and it just died on me.. the next is the 30gig iPod video from 2006 which was a replacement for the previous one… working fine until few weeks ago, the headphone jack started to go crazy on me and I could only hear one side unless i press the iPod together really tight. And I got the iPod touch for my birthday this year who is gonna carry on the duty of filling my ears with music during my travels as well as speeding up my process towards deafness. Well, standing in front of the drums during music prac and JW services doesn’t help either. But well here’s an ode to all my iPods past and present that have served me well..

Man, I must be getting crazy..

Anyway thanks for all you guys who celebrated my birthday for me.. certainly a much better one than last year… =)

Came across this promotional pic online today…

For those not in the know, I was the bassist for Moren Tea Estate. And this was the last gig that we had together. Many things have happened (which I will not go into) after this very gig which ironically, was our first and last overseas gig. Yes, it wasn’t pretty nor was it good. Friendships were destroyed beyond repair for some, and it kinda marked the end of my gigging “career” in the local music scene. But somehow it started yet another “career” of mine as kinda immediately after this whole episode, I started playing for church more and more and more and.. ya.. till where I am now.

If you asked me, did I wish that the whole saga never happened? Of course. The 2 over years gigging every other week was really one of the most unforgettable periods of my life. I’ve gained much experience in playing in a band and stage experience also. And of course it’s pretty much a crazy bunch of guys who would hang out together and making stupid songs and all. But all in all, if things never happened the way it did, I may not be where I am now. Do I miss gigging, sure. Do I miss jumping around like a mad monkey while entertaining crowds? Sure. (For the record, we were really pretty good with rather huge crowds sometimes.) But would I exchange what I have now to go back to gigging? No. Not ever. Never.

What I have now, which is playing for church service week in and week out, is my life now. It’s a fulfillment of what God has placed in my heart some 9 years ago back in the old Hollywood theatre where I would sit with a few friends on the steps of the entrance after service on Saturday to strum my guitar and learn stuff together. It’s a fulfillment of a dream from above. Yeah sure, I’m probably not gonna find as much fame as gigging outside but who cares? It’s never about the fame and for sure there’s no money in this. But there is only one person I aim to please each time I play and that is God.

I guess it’s a pretty amazing journey from the day I first started learning guitar in 1998 till where I am now. Price paid? A lot. Time and money were sacrificed. Even fellowships and enjoyments with friends were put aside. For what? No, I’m not a goal or task oriented person. Relationships are still a top priority for me. But it’s just a price that I have to pay to follow my calling.

It will be 3 years since this gig come June this year. How time flies… would I go through all these things again? Sure I would…it’s all these tough times that make me value every opportunity to serve more.

Here are some rhetorical questions to think about:

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person that drives a race car is not called a racist?

Why is a wise man opposite of a wise guy?

Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

How come no one ever says, “It’s only a game” when their team is winning?

Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?
Why is it that when you transport something by car, it’s called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it’s called cargo?

You know that little indestructible black box that is used on planes, why can’t they make the whole plane out of the same substance?

Why is it that when you’re driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?

If they have life jackets under the seats of planes, does it mean that they should have parachutes under the seats of ships?

On my left is Mr. Titus “I wanna be like Gene Frenkle” Shu.. as you can see.. he’s trying to throw me off with his cowbell playing… and as you can see again, with my “heck care” face, complete with all 4 chins, I was trying hard not to be distracted.. How bad can it be right? Just look at the video below…

Muahaha.. the musos are getting crazier and crazier… Anyway for those who have no idea how the whole cowbell thingy  came about…

This has somewhat become a cult hit and spawned a bunch of “Cowbell Hero” and “More Cowbell” T-shirts… Haha