i think it's over

Re: i think it's over


"jeffb" <rigger@shaw.c> wrote in message
news:qOaPj.210891$pM4.182597@pd7urf1no...

-snip-

Sad shit man.

I support all being said here. I'm almost two decades younger than you. But,
few years back I quit music altogether. It lasted few years. After coming
back I knew that music is the living part of my being. Quitting music would
kill a part of me.

What I've learned from people smarter than me is to ask myself:

"Do you want to live today or die today?" "Is this what you are doing
killing you or making you alive?"

After these two questions, most of the decisions become really simple to
make.

Danko

Re: i think it's over

On Apr 21, 8:02 pm, jeffb <rig...@shaw.c> wrote:
> I'm forty-seven and I've been playing the bass since I was twelve. I've
> studied with some good players: Rene Worst, Tom Hazlitt, Rick Kilburn,
> David Friesen, and two lessons with Ray Brown. I've gotten to play with
> some good players and make some music I'm proud of. I have pretty much
> distilled my gear down to a few excellent items that don't get in the
> way of my musical voice.
>
> For the last six months I haven't had much fun playing. Years of manual
> labor working in the bush, as a stagehand and recreational abuse seem to
> have taken their toll and the knuckles in my right hand are never
> without pain anymore. Lately my left has been getting worse too. Rather
> than struggle to retain only a glimmer of my former facility I'm giving
> up the bass. I've talked to doctors and I could take painkillers but
> I've been down that road and think I'm better off leaving them alone.
>
> I'm in the process of packing to move onto a boat and just now as I was
> putting my Azola Deco into it's case it occurred to me I would probably
> never take it out to play it again. It will kill me to have it sit in
> storage..,it needs to be played. I think it's time to pass it on but I'm
> not sure how to do that. It's been the only bass I've ever truly loved
> and I need to find someone who will love it like I do...I can't just put
> it up on ebay. I'm at a loss here.

Jeff:

I may know of something that can help. Fire me your email addy, and
I'll send you some info:

corey AT coreybenson dot com

Corey

Re: i think it's over

Um, yeah, I'd like you to help me with "something" too - how much might a
1/4 ounce of this "something" cost?


"coreybenson" <coreybenson@gmail,com > wrote in message
news:5efa8228-c34c-4280-8f2c-ccf0b62ea587@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups,com ...
On Apr 21, 8:02 pm, jeffb <rig...@shaw.c> wrote:
> I'm forty-seven and I've been playing the bass since I was twelve. I've
> studied with some good players: Rene Worst, Tom Hazlitt, Rick Kilburn,
> David Friesen, and two lessons with Ray Brown. I've gotten to play with
> some good players and make some music I'm proud of. I have pretty much
> distilled my gear down to a few excellent items that don't get in the
> way of my musical voice.
>
> For the last six months I haven't had much fun playing. Years of manual
> labor working in the bush, as a stagehand and recreational abuse seem to
> have taken their toll and the knuckles in my right hand are never
> without pain anymore. Lately my left has been getting worse too. Rather
> than struggle to retain only a glimmer of my former facility I'm giving
> up the bass. I've talked to doctors and I could take painkillers but
> I've been down that road and think I'm better off leaving them alone.
>
> I'm in the process of packing to move onto a boat and just now as I was
> putting my Azola Deco into it's case it occurred to me I would probably
> never take it out to play it again. It will kill me to have it sit in
> storage..,it needs to be played. I think it's time to pass it on but I'm
> not sure how to do that. It's been the only bass I've ever truly loved
> and I need to find someone who will love it like I do...I can't just put
> it up on ebay. I'm at a loss here.

Jeff:

I may know of something that can help. Fire me your email addy, and
I'll send you some info:

corey AT coreybenson dot com

Corey

Re: i think it's over

On Apr 23, 2:44 pm, "js" <nothing AT nothing DOT com> wrote:
> Um, yeah, I'd like you to help me with "something" too -  how much might a
> 1/4 ounce of this "something" cost?

Nice! LOL

Hey, John... fire me your email addy again. I had it, but I can't find
it anywhere. We're going to be in Greensboro in August again, and I'd
like to try harder to get together this time!

Corey
http :// www .henryandbuster,com /
Check out our new and improved site! New episodes will be arriving
shortly!

Re: i think it's over

On Apr 21, 9:02 pm, jeffb <rig...@shaw.c> wrote:
> I'm forty-seven and I've been playing the bass since I was twelve. I've
> studied with some good players: Rene Worst, Tom Hazlitt, Rick Kilburn,
> David Friesen, and two lessons with Ray Brown. I've gotten to play with
> some good players and make some music I'm proud of. I have pretty much
> distilled my gear down to a few excellent items that don't get in the
> way of my musical voice.
>
> For the last six months I haven't had much fun playing. Years of manual
> labor working in the bush, as a stagehand and recreational abuse seem to
> have taken their toll and the knuckles in my right hand are never
> without pain anymore. Lately my left has been getting worse too. Rather
> than struggle to retain only a glimmer of my former facility I'm giving
> up the bass. I've talked to doctors and I could take painkillers but
> I've been down that road and think I'm better off leaving them alone.
>
> I'm in the process of packing to move onto a boat and just now as I was
> putting my Azola Deco into it's case it occurred to me I would probably
> never take it out to play it again. It will kill me to have it sit in
> storage..,it needs to be played. I think it's time to pass it on but I'm
> not sure how to do that. It's been the only bass I've ever truly loved
> and I need to find someone who will love it like I do...I can't just put
> it up on ebay. I'm at a loss here.

just when ya think it's over - it ain't

Re: i think it's over

klaw wrote:

> just when ya think it's over - it ain't

Putting the bass in its case wasn't the moment I knew it was the moment
I admitted it to myself. I'll take the advise given by a lot of you guys
and store it for a year. I'm still going to try to track down a young
Danish guy I met a couple of years ago who was playing with Ed Thigpen
at the JazzFest. He was one of two players who really "got" this bass
immediately (the other one actually bought a Deco) and I'd feel good
about giving it to him.

As far as all the other things suggested I've tried them and found
temporary relief at best. Maybe with having the lower overhead of living
on the boat and being able to work a lot less I can give my hands a
break and heal enough to feel like playing bass again. Until that
happens though I'll be annoying the hell out of everyone with the
chromatic and diatonic harmonicas I've been fooling around with the last
few months. I need to make music, it's part of who I am...like the man
sez, it ain't over.

So I'm bugging out of AGB now. For anyone who wants to get in touch with
me jeffbonny AT gmail DOT com will be the address I'll be using.

Thanks. All y'all take care.
Jeff Bonny
Vancouver, BC

Re: i think it's over


"jeffb" <rigger@shaw.c> skrev i en meddelelse
news:HwpPj.213399$pM4.61141@pd7urf1no...
> klaw wrote:
>
>> just when ya think it's over - it ain't
>
> Putting the bass in its case wasn't the moment I knew it was the moment I
> admitted it to myself. I'll take the advise given by a lot of you guys and
> store it for a year. I'm still going to try to track down a young Danish
> guy I met a couple of years ago who was playing with Ed Thigpen at the
> JazzFest.

Would that be Jesper Bodilsen?
http :// tinyurl,com /3g8ldj
http :// tinyurl,com /4k9fww




He was one of two players who really "got" this bass
> immediately (the other one actually bought a Deco) and I'd feel good about
> giving it to him.
>
> As far as all the other things suggested I've tried them and found
> temporary relief at best. Maybe with having the lower overhead of living
> on the boat and being able to work a lot less I can give my hands a break
> and heal enough to feel like playing bass again. Until that happens though
> I'll be annoying the hell out of everyone with the chromatic and diatonic
> harmonicas I've been fooling around with the last few months. I need to
> make music, it's part of who I am...like the man sez, it ain't over.
>
> So I'm bugging out of AGB now. For anyone who wants to get in touch with
> me jeffbonny AT gmail DOT com will be the address I'll be using.
>
> Thanks. All y'all take care.
> Jeff Bonny
> Vancouver, BC

Re: i think it's over

When I become God I am going to make us live our lives backwards. 'My hands
may be bad now, but wait 'til i'm 18'.

Re: i think it's over

Maybe a move to upright double bass?
You can keep your fingers pretty straight...

Do you have a family member that can take over the bass?


"jeffb" <rigger@shaw.c> wrote in message
news:qOaPj.210891$pM4.182597@pd7urf1no...
> I'm forty-seven and I've been playing the bass since I was twelve. I've
> studied with some good players: Rene Worst, Tom Hazlitt, Rick Kilburn,
> David Friesen, and two lessons with Ray Brown. I've gotten to play with
> some good players and make some music I'm proud of. I have pretty much
> distilled my gear down to a few excellent items that don't get in the way
> of my musical voice.
>
> For the last six months I haven't had much fun playing. Years of manual
> labor working in the bush, as a stagehand and recreational abuse seem to
> have taken their toll and the knuckles in my right hand are never without
> pain anymore. Lately my left has been getting worse too. Rather than
> struggle to retain only a glimmer of my former facility I'm giving up the
> bass. I've talked to doctors and I could take painkillers but I've been
> down that road and think I'm better off leaving them alone.
>
> I'm in the process of packing to move onto a boat and just now as I was
> putting my Azola Deco into it's case it occurred to me I would probably
> never take it out to play it again. It will kill me to have it sit in
> storage..,it needs to be played. I think it's time to pass it on but I'm
> not sure how to do that. It's been the only bass I've ever truly loved and
> I need to find someone who will love it like I do...I can't just put it up
> on ebay. I'm at a loss here.

Re: i think it's over


"Larry Shaw" <larry@local-angle,com > wrote in message
news:R6SdnbPMcLeKwpPV4p2dnAA@bt,com ...
> Maybe a move to upright double bass?
> You can keep your fingers pretty straight...

Jeff plays an upright already. From what I've heard, he's pretry darn good!
:)

Re: i think it's over

jeffb wrote:
> I'm forty-seven and I've been playing the bass since I was twelve. I've
> studied with some good players: Rene Worst, Tom Hazlitt, Rick Kilburn,
> David Friesen, and two lessons with Ray Brown. I've gotten to play with
> some good players and make some music I'm proud of. I have pretty much
> distilled my gear down to a few excellent items that don't get in the
> way of my musical voice.
>
> For the last six months I haven't had much fun playing. Years of manual
> labor working in the bush, as a stagehand and recreational abuse seem to
> have taken their toll and the knuckles in my right hand are never
> without pain anymore. Lately my left has been getting worse too. Rather
> than struggle to retain only a glimmer of my former facility I'm giving
> up the bass. I've talked to doctors and I could take painkillers but
> I've been down that road and think I'm better off leaving them alone.
>
> I'm in the process of packing to move onto a boat and just now as I was
> putting my Azola Deco into it's case it occurred to me I would probably
> never take it out to play it again. It will kill me to have it sit in
> storage..,it needs to be played. I think it's time to pass it on but I'm
> not sure how to do that. It's been the only bass I've ever truly loved
> and I need to find someone who will love it like I do...I can't just put
> it up on ebay. I'm at a loss here.

Sounds to me like you need a swift kick in the ass. While I may not have
agreed with many of the things you've had to say, you at least earned a
measure of respect from me as a hard ass. Sounds to me like you're just
having a PMS day. The JeffB I've pissed off a dozen times wouldn't be
slinking away with his tail between his legs.

You're in pain. That sucks, but so are a lot of us. Your pain affects
your playing. That sucks, but that happens to a lot of us. You may never
be as good in the future as you were in the past. Welcome to the real world.

You say you're not having fun anymore. Why is that? Is it because you're
pissed about about what you cannot do instead of enjoying what you can
do? Suppose some 16 year old kid came to you to learn how to play bass,
but he had similar physical problems to what you have now. Would you
tell him to forget it?

You're feeling down - it happens to the best of us. Don't get rid of any
of your gear. Start listening to music just to enjoy it. Pretty soon the
drive will come back. Learn to enjoy playing subject to your limitations.



--
Write a wise saying and your name will live forever.
- Anonymous

Re: i think it's over


"jeffb" <rigger@shaw.c> wrote in message
news:qOaPj.210891$pM4.182597@pd7urf1no...
> I'm forty-seven and I've been playing the bass since I was twelve. I've
> studied with some good players: Rene Worst, Tom Hazlitt, Rick Kilburn,
> David Friesen, and two lessons with Ray Brown. I've gotten to play with
> some good players and make some music I'm proud of. I have pretty much
> distilled my gear down to a few excellent items that don't get in the way
> of my musical voice.
>
> For the last six months I haven't had much fun playing. Years of manual
> labor working in the bush, as a stagehand and recreational abuse seem to
> have taken their toll and the knuckles in my right hand are never without
> pain anymore. Lately my left has been getting worse too. Rather than
> struggle to retain only a glimmer of my former facility I'm giving up the
> bass. I've talked to doctors and I could take painkillers but I've been
> down that road and think I'm better off leaving them alone.
>
> I'm in the process of packing to move onto a boat and just now as I was
> putting my Azola Deco into it's case it occurred to me I would probably
> never take it out to play it again. It will kill me to have it sit in
> storage..,it needs to be played. I think it's time to pass it on but I'm
> not sure how to do that. It's been the only bass I've ever truly loved and
> I need to find someone who will love it like I do...I can't just put it up
> on ebay. I'm at a loss here.

Jeff, if it doesn't feel right to play music, then it isn't right. I agree
with many here that you shouldn't just quit but take a break for
a while and then see if it is right for you again before giving it
up completely. In any case I have really enjoyed your posts;
you are one of the best contributors on this NG. Good luck
wherever your path may take you.

- Gary Rosen

Re: i think it's over

In response to the private emails I've gotten I need to say I've given
the Deco to Jesper Bodilsen (thanks Tom K for connecting me with him).
Since I was twelve I've been under tremendous self imposed pressure to
excel as a bassist and now that I've given them all away I feel lighter
and freer than I can ever remember feeling...playing the bass had run
its course for me. Jesper is a wonderful young Danish double bass player
with a bright future and I saw in him the same love at first sight for
the Deco that I knew when it came into my life. After playing it he
contacted Azola but on what a working jazz musician makes buying one was
beyond his means. He's the right person to have this bass and I feel
really good about giving it to him.

I'm not leaving music as a player behind I'm starting a new chapter with
the chromatic harmonica. I love this instrument and I don't need to
impose the same brook no excuses iron will to succeed I did with the
bass...I'll be the player I become not the one I think I need to be.
A lot of you probably think I'm nuts but I've done the right thing.

jeff

Re: i think it's over

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:37:37 GMT, jeffb <rigger@shaw.c> wrote:

>In response to the private emails I've gotten I need to say I've given
>the Deco to Jesper Bodilsen (thanks Tom K for connecting me with him).
>Since I was twelve I've been under tremendous self imposed pressure to
>excel as a bassist and now that I've given them all away I feel lighter
>and freer than I can ever remember feeling...playing the bass had run
>its course for me. Jesper is a wonderful young Danish double bass player
>with a bright future and I saw in him the same love at first sight for
>the Deco that I knew when it came into my life. After playing it he
>contacted Azola but on what a working jazz musician makes buying one was
>beyond his means. He's the right person to have this bass and I feel
>really good about giving it to him.
>
>I'm not leaving music as a player behind I'm starting a new chapter with
>the chromatic harmonica. I love this instrument and I don't need to
>impose the same brook no excuses iron will to succeed I did with the
>bass...I'll be the player I become not the one I think I need to be.
>A lot of you probably think I'm nuts but I've done the right thing.

Hey, God bless you Jeff. If you think you did the right thing, you
did the right thing. I hope the harp works out for you.

Re: i think it's over

On Apr 23, 7:37 pm, jeffb <rig...@shaw.c> wrote:

> I'm not leaving music as a player behind I'm starting a new chapter with
> the chromatic harmonica. I love this instrument and I don't need to
> impose the same brook no excuses iron will to succeed I did with the
> bass...I'll be the player I become not the one I think I need to be.
> A lot of you probably think I'm nuts but I've done the right thing.
>
> jeff

I'm lost when you get beyond blues harps.
Is the chromatic harp one of those long harmonicas like the midget
used to play?
I hope you understand who I'm talking about.

Pt