Since I wasn't working regularly, I had plenty of time to stay entertained. Still reading daily. Still watching tv and movies with Marci (more TV than movies). Still playing video games. Listening to a lot of podcasts. And, of course, still playing bass. Let's go.
Books. Still a lot of books read, with 40 started, 37 read, 2 audio books listened to. I just love reading and will do so forever. Here's my thoughts on what I read.
- Favorite book of the year: The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith. I don't recall why I picked it but I'm glad I did. It took me a minute to get into it because I thought it was a traditional crime novel. However, I started to realize there was humor and weird stuff in it, like a deaf dog named Martin who had his nose injured by a squirrel. The vet then reattached the nose upside down. Anyway, sweetly funny, very clever, and the author evidently has written a boatload of books.
- Second favorite book of the year: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman. This is the fourth book based on his Thursday Murder Club crew and I loved it. Sweet, funny and also a great story. Makes getting old not seem as bad as it might be.
- Third favorite book of the year: My Effin Life by Geddy Lee. My hero wrote his autobiography and though I knew a lot of the stories, hearing them from his POV made a huge difference. And I learned what a perfectionist he was in the studio and how he was sort of a megalomaniac. Really interesting stuff.
- Least favorite book of the year: Dark Ride by Lou Berney. One of my favorite authors, Don Winslow, recommended it and I was a bit let down by it. I've read some of Berney's stuff and it's been OK. This book was not great.
- Biggest surprise of the year: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I picked this up at the actual library and added it to my download list for my Kindle. The title intrigued me and as I read about an African woman detective solving the goofiest mysteries with common sense, I was smitten. Mma Ramotswe is a wonderful character and I look forward to reading more of his books.
TV and movies took a little bit of an unintended break due to the writer's and actor's strike this year. No new content meant not many shows being watched. Let me rewind and see what I can remember from earlier this year.
- Thanks to Haley, we have Apple TV at home and watched a few shows. One was Shrinking, which had my other hero, Harrison Ford, in a wonderful comedic role as, what else, a grouch. So on brand for him and great to watch.
- Lessons in Chemistry was another one, featuring my crush, Brie Larson. We really enjoyed this one as well. It was sweetly done and I might even read the book.
- The Golden Bachelor. Yup, we watched it and I enjoyed all the old bats trying to get a piece of the bachelor himself. It got a little long in the end and he chose the girl I didn't like, but it was entertaining.
- The Amazing Race. Always fun to watch and the finale was in Seattle. The Black Tones, La Fonda and Smokey Brights were featured at the Showbox for a challenge, so that was cool.
- I can't think of much else. Oh, did watch the final season of Barry. It got a little weird and ultimately, I thought it was a bit of a letdown, but after the BCS-sized hole in my viewing heart, it was something.
- I signed up for a free sub to Paramount Plus to watch Geddy Lee's "Are Bass Players Human Too?" show, where he interviewed four other bassists. That was sort of fun; I watched all 4 20 minute episodes in an afternoon.
- Movie-wise, the only one that matters was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Though now that I remember, I did take Riley and his bro Logan to see Raiders in the theater. Still great. And DoD was, to me, surprisingly good. I enjoyed it for the most part, despite it being long in certain parts. I also recently rewatched Mad Max: Fury Road, having forgotten basically the entire thing. Which was fine, because rewatching it was a hoot; very entertaining!
Gaming-wise, I remember playing a few games on Xbox, including the very excellent Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Fallen Order, or whatever it's called. And then Hi-Fi Rush, also very excellent. Both on Xbox One and both via the very excellent GamePass. But then in April, I updated and set up a PC and it's been goodbye Xbox ever since. Also, the Xbox has been acting goofy (eject button is broken, so it's always beeping), so that helped me get over it.
With the PC, I've crossed back over to my roots. Going way back, I remember having a PC, like a 286 or something, and running some sort of X's and O's football game. I recently revisited some journals I kept during my freshman year in college (!) and read about an old Origin game called Strike Commander and calling Egghead Software to see if they had it yet.
Now, with the Acer PC and its graphics card, an old 1060GTX with 3GB RAM, it's tired but determined. Since the games it can run well are all a bit older, they are also cheaper, and with band funds at an all time high last year, I bought a few of them. That and GamePass for PC helped as well. But I picked up Red Dead Redemption 2, which ran well enough, on medium settings. I like that game, but I think it's a bit too slow paced for me.
I also picked up Tom Clancy's The Division 2 on sale for $4.95! And I got swept back into that universe. Then I got TD1 on sale for even less, and then added in the D2 DLC, Warlords of New York. And after getting those, I pretty much played D2 or D1 on the regular for the next several months, throughout the summer.
I was able to get my bro Danny to jump in with me on these games. He's about 15 years younger than me but since meeting as the MS Store about 10 years ago, we've stayed connected. He helped me get my job at the EBC and we've been hanging ever since.
D3 has been announced, but not for a couple years. In the meantime, I've been working on the grind with D2 and my agent, leveling up slowly but surely and working on missions with Danny when he's available. Good times.
I put podcasts up here because when I'm running or driving, that's pretty much all I listen to. I toggle between Conan O'Brian Needs a Friend and Smartless. CONAF is great and I love Sona and Matt. Conan is who he is; most of the time I dig it, sometimes he goes too hard, but Sona and Matt balance him out.
Smartless is good dumb fun and for the most part, a great listen. Sometimes I get a little tired of the 1% congratulating the 1%, but still good to listen to on the road/pavement.
Other pods include This American Life, SBL's bass stuff, Sarah Silverman's podcast. Any more of them and I feel like I'm falling behind. I'm sure I'll grab different ones sometime this year, but for now, I think those are a good group.
Jumping back in to add KJ Wright's KJ All Day pod, of all things. I started listening on my Forest Ray road trip because I loved the inside angle KJ had from being a Seahawk for so long. It's evolved into watching his post game reactions after the games. He is great and the chemistry he has with his bro, Gee Scott, is awesome as well. Love listening/watching these dudes.
Bass-wise, it was two out, one in. I sold my T-Bird and the Reverend Thundergun. Neither was getting played and I needed the money. And then, paradoxically (since I needed the money), I picked up the Hog L-1000 on St. Patrick's Day.
Having two L-1000s is fun. I make it a game day decision as to which one I'm gonna use for practice or a gig. Though, if I'm playing slap with the Grooves, I used the gold one w/o the thumb rest as it gets in the way. Both basses are great and I do not regret getting the Hog at all.
I was able to record with Planets twice in 2023; once at Lang and once at London Bridge. We are slowly but surely moving forward with getting a full-length put out. Robb keeps making it public and we're hoping to have something done by summertime. Lots of things moving in our favor, we just need the people to come to shows.
Grooves was great fun again. Lots of new songs, Dennis in the mix locking things down on guitar, playing a good number of shows and making more $ playing music than I ever have. Here's hoping for even more shows this year.
And Forest Ray was fun and it taught me what things I need in place for any future tours, specifically with my own bands:
- 2-3 shows over 3-4 nights
- hotels to stay at
- cheap eats
- at least break even
To be fair to Peter and Forest Ray, there was no bending of any truths. He told me he'd pay me (he did), he told me we would have places to stay (we did), and we always had something to eat (self-paid, for the most part). I guess I had misconceptions about what a DIY tour would actually be like and it opened my eyes to that. I would have a hard time leading that sort of life, but I really admire Peter for taking it head on and loving it.
Gearwise, nothing new aside from the Zoom B24 multifx unit. I've spent a good amount of time trying to figure that thing out and it works great for the Grooves. I tried with PITO, but I think it's better suited for the covers. I can dial in individual tones for songs and click through them during the set. Less good for on/off use, better for whole song use, IMO.
I also picked up a double bass gig bag for bringing two basses to shows. I got tired of slinging two gig bags, so this helps consolidate things for me. Having the band fund $$ helped to fund these things.
Overall, a nice year in entertainment and keeping myself, well, entertained. I didn't list the games I tried on PC and didn't complete. I didn't mention the YouTube videos I kept track of when I was working from home.
I'm sure there will be great bits of entertainment in 2024. Always cool stuff to look forward to. Can't wait!
