Today's performance will be dedicated to the Locrian Mode.

 

I wonder if Robert or Peter have thought about the Locrian mode this morning? The 1 3 5 7 notes from the Locrian mode make a m7b5 chord. It's a very handy chord and I'll be using it in quite a few of the tunes that I play at my lunchtime background music gig today. I don't think that Neil Diamond used it much. His call, I guess.

"I didn't use it much at all. My call, really."

It's a cold, sunny morning in Wainuiomata. I'd like to do a nice, slow violin warmup this morning. I also need to change the batteries in my little backing track amp. That won't take long. I won't be taking any sheet music with me. I can play at least 90% of my music by ear. I'll probably only have to play for about an hour, but I can certainly play longer. That's enough about this silly gig.

* * *

Obviously, there is no post from Peter this morning. Robert wrote something. I'll have a read.

[Won't be long.]

He tells us that changes are opportunities in disguise, but he spells 'opportunities' incorrectly. We get a reminder from Moses not to forget to 'take the tablets'. I'll take mine after I've finished this post. Rob then goes on about space and time for a while. He finishes off with something about Russians becoming Catholics and peaceful people. Evidently, if you have fun, you will be saved. 

Thanks Rob. At least you haven't got a new computer chair and mat that are being wasted.

That's it.

I'm off.

The pope speaks out.

 

"Si', e io sono il papa." said the pope. "Our churches are too packed. Too much talking and not enough praying. The plan for the future is for every Catholic to have their own church."

The Catholic's church.

Around Lower Hutt there are not many people who have their own hall, or church.

 

For many months now Robert (an old blogger) has mentioned having to clean a Presbyterian's hall. He has mentioned that he has passed this job on to someone named K. Now he is mentioning a Presbyterian's church. Does this church belong to the same guy?

Nigel Thomas Simpson is a successful businessman who lives in Lower Hutt. He has a very nice home up on the Western Hills. He is a devoted Christian, a Presbyterian, but he doesn't like crowds. 

About a year ago he set up his own Presbyterian hall. He put a crucifix on the wall and took his immediate family there to pray and worship God. Then he had a thought, "Why not get my own church?" He called his church simply the Presbyterian's church. He felt no need to explain the name as God would know it was his church. The word 'his' relates to Nigel and not God.

Okay, okay, if Rob knew how to use possessive apostrophes, we could have avoided this little story.

* * *

Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. For me reciting those seven modes is like Rob reciting the rosary. Isn't it amazing that all these modes come off just four fingerings! I have my big weirdo gig on Saturday. Will I get told to shut up after a couple of tunes? Will Neil Diamond be called for? Only time will tell. Ah well, it is what it is, as some people like to say. At least this event is being held in a private house and not the Presbyterian's hall.

That's it.

So long.

Hey, guess where I'm going soon!

 

Okay, I'll give you a clue. I'm sipping a cup of coffee as I write. I'm anticipating movement from one room in our house to another, sometime fairly soon.

I like Thursday because I don't have to go to work. Hey, I'm even a bit late writing this post because I'm not that long out of bed (The same size, actually.). Both Robert and Peter will have finished their posts much earlier this morning. I'll pop over and have a read of them both right now!

Whoops! Nothing from either of them!

Peter seems to have wasted money on that computer chair, and four computer chair mats. 

This picture only shows the latest two computer 
chair mats.

Isn't it a pity that he couldn't find two matching chairs!

I don't know why Robert hasn't posted this morning. I know he gets up very early. I just hope, for his neighbours' sake, he wasn't practising that bloody Haydn cello concerto.

[It might nearly be time]

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes goes "aah".

In a band I played in, quite a few years ago, we used to call this song, "The Girl From Ipana."

For you young ones, Ipana was a popular toothpaste, back in the day. We had a few 'humorous' names for other tunes too. We certainly knew how to have a good time back then!

[Still hanging in there]

While it is a song that got a bit overplayed in those 'background music' bands, I think it is a bloody good piece of music, and it is included in my repertoire. Jazz musicians play it in F, but it was originally performed in Db. Here is a comparison of the chords (A section and B section) in both keys. I haven't put in the duration of the chords.

* * *

F

Fmaj7 G7 Gm7 Gb7 Fmaj7 Gb7

F#maj7 B7 F#m7 D7 Gm7 Eb7 Am7 D7b9 Gm7 C7b9

* * *

Db

Dbmaj7 Eb7 Ebm7 D7 Dbmaj7 D7

D7 F#7 Dm7 Bb7 Ebm7 B7 Fm7 Bb7b9 Ebm7 Ab7b9

* * *

[The coffee cycle is complete]

Well, there's a few chords to play around with. No need for thanks.

Hey, it's really worth having a listen to the original version of The Girl From Ipana with Astrud Gilberto singing. A great sound! A great song! Great singing!

Okay, I'm off. A little lighter, but off.

There are jobs to be done.

Ciao tutti.

I have a gig.

 

I've been asked, by a friend of Shelley's, to play for about six people at a lunch. Well, a gig's a gig. My first job will be to replace my batteries in the little amp that I use for backing tracks. Backing tracks work well at the gig like this because it makes me sound more like a band, the sound that people are used to. I don't know how long I'm supposed to play for, but that's no problem. I have a big repertoire. A more relevant question is, will they like Jazz? Hey, that's not my problem. I just play what I play. 

Peter will be out walking up Mount Victoria today, but Robert will not be cleaning that Presbyterian's hall. Maybe the fella will have to clean it himself. It shouldn't be very dirty if he's the only one using it.

Peter is planning to write his next post about the Mount Victoria walk. He's actually running out of rooms in his house to tell us about. Yes, before you ask, he has actually mentioned the garage. Remember that it is getting new shelves. Maybe he could do a post about finding a car park in Hobson Street? Something like this...

"As I've told you, Hobson Street is a busy street that caters for parking for two girls' schools and is also a short walk from town. We've decided to set up some exercise machines in the garage. This means that I had to pay for a resident's car park. Yes, I know, Richard will be grumbling about whether I should have used resident's or residents' - bloody grammar Nazi! Well, old Nui boy, there is only one of me and I'm only planning to use one car park. I had a good walk up Mount Victoria on Wednesday*. I took my new water bottle. It is bigger than the old one and doesn't leak. As the old boy will want me to tell you, I wore shorts and a t-shirt. I also wore a new pair of walking shoes that I found in a very good little shoe shop on Lambton Quay. They were reduced from $165 to $45. What a find! They are very comfortable and they match my preferred shorts. They also go well with my racoon hat, which I am wearing quite regularly as the Wellington weather becomes colder. I'd better end there. I need to tidy up my half of the computer room before The Old Girl gets home."

Well, I'm off to work. 

Ciao tutti.

* This post will have been written a wee while after the event.

The downside of having grandchildren.

 

The bloggers have given you a quiet day today.

 No mention of Day 6 of lent yet. TC posted yesterday, so you won't hear from him for a while.

Maybe those two old bloggers just slept in?

At Richard's Bass Bag* we show more responsibility.

I had a pretty good practice on my violin yesterday and will try to put in some good time today as I have quite a few gigs coming up. Actually, I have no gigs coming up. I lied. Sort of like God creating a devil for himself. 

"You ought to drink more water. It'll make you taller, not shorter." Wise words from Tony. I'll try to drink some soon. Well, as soon as I've finished this post.

Okay, okay, I'm filling in a bit today because I don't have much to tell you. I'll do what Peter would do and post some pictures.

Or perhaps I should do a Robert and quote some old biblical guy?

Graham 7:11 And God the Father told the other two members of his trinity, "Look, we need a bad guy that we can play off. It would make us look righteous. I'll create one. I'll name him Lucifer. It'll be a new concept. I'll call him The Devil. He'll try to challenge me, and I'll beat him and send him to a very hot place for eternity. Hey, we could also use an event called Lent. I'll sort that out too."

That's it for this morning.

Ciao.

* the original bass bagging site