Author Topic: Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)  (Read 294 times)

smokin_dave

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« on: November 09, 2008, 03:39:29 PM »
It's been a good long while since I posted here on the forum but I will now.
I have had to put my music career on hold(it came to a grinding halt actually)and do something else to make money.The economy got so bad for yours truly I had to switch careers.
Now I'm a trucker and I'm typing this from a crummy truck stop,crawling with lot lizard's,in Hattiesburg LA.
What a mind blowing thing to do since I had been earning a living mostly from playing gigs my whole adult life.But it won't pay the bills anymore so I had to get re-educated to earn some real money which I am doing now but it really sucks giving up my two big loves,playing gigs with my Alembics and doing up the sometimes midnight toke.
Not to worry though.I have six more months of a years servitude left with the company that hired me and I hope to get a local job and free up my weekends again.I'm home only four day's a month
so I need to free up some room in this rolling tin can to bring along my Epic at the very least and go back to playing along with CD's and the like.
Anyhooo,I'll try to do a little better about posting(when I find wi-fi hotspots)and keep the good club members informed on my whereabouts.
Plus I would be very interested in hearing from any club members who are OTR drivers.
 
Ciao
S.Dave

mike1762

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2008, 04:24:00 PM »
I used to live an hour away from my band's practice space.  I would stick the neck of my bass out of the car window and practice through head phones while driving down the interstate (I steered with my knee).  Please don't do that.

811952

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2008, 04:30:24 PM »
Dave,
 
I wondered where you had got to.  I played music for a living for several years, and now I don't know that I'd want to go back.  Playing for fun on weekends is far more fulfilling for me, and you may discover that to be the case for you as well.
 
Be safe on the road (and off) and post when you can!
 
John

poor_nigel

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2008, 04:23:33 PM »
Good to hear from you Dave.  I thought I got screwed 18 months ago when the parent company decided they would restructure and my position got cut with no warning.  Luckily, a spot opened up six weeks later in a related company that was sold off five years previously in the same town, and I got hired on there at a 33% cut in pay.  These daze I see how incredibly lucky I was.  No back to school, learn new tricks, or the dreaded, Can I supersize that for ya?!  Decent jobs here in the wasteland are far and few in-between!  In time, both you and I will get paid better.
 
Home 4 days out of the month?  I feel for you.  I really hope things go well for you, and you can get back to at least playing for fun.  Weekend gigging with friends can be greatly satisfying.  Sounds like you need a Steinberger and pocket amp for truckin around with.  I hope things get better quickly for ya.

smokin_dave

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2008, 05:32:17 PM »
Ahhhh,the lot lizards are rollin' again tonight.They can be real pest's at times.Good to hear from you Nigel,Mike and John.Still stuck in Hattiesbug MS.since I had a breakdown with my truck but it's fixed and I should be rollin' again tomorrow this time to Lakeland FL.I do have a pocket amp with headphones but I may go and buy a POD and hook it up to my laptop and bring along my Epic and jam here in the truck during downtimes.Load this sucker up with a bunch of music and keep thumping.
I may as well keep this thread open and post on my whereabouts cause' they keep me criss-crossing the country.Loads of coffee from New Orleans to L.A. and kitty litter from L.A. to Atlanta GA.I haul all kinds of crap.
And as far as playing a steinberger,fine instrument that but I've played nothing but Alembic since 1994 and I aint gonna stop now for nothing else.Not even this truck won't stop me.So my Epic is going to have to get used to bouncing around a bit in my sleeper.
Till next time.....
S.Dave

David Houck

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2008, 12:23:27 PM »
I drove for Atlas Van Lines for a couple of years in the mid '80s.  Fall in Vermont, winter in Milwaukee, summer in Miami, spring in Greenville, Mississippi, and all points in between.  I absolutely loved that job; and the only reason a quit driving was that I blew out the L5 disk and the doctor that did the back surgery said I couldn't drive anymore.  Of course household isn't like hauling freight.  There were times when I would load furniture from eight in the morning to midnight, and then get in the cab and start driving.  Household is also seasonal; we would work all summer, but in the winter we would usually just work five days a week.  I didn't really care for driving in New York City, or the northeast in general.  Back then there was no place to pull off 95 in Philadelphia, and the New Jersey turnpike wasn't a lot of fun.  The loop around DC was a challenge, especially on the southside were you get off the loop and head south on 95.  But Vermont in the fall was beautiful, as was the Pennsylvania turnpike, and Kentucky and Tennessee.  The mountains between Knoxville and Asheville on ice and/or in fog was a rush.  In addition to household, we had contracts to haul mainframe computers and CT scanners, and had the occasional office move.  It was hard work, and the pool tables, refrigerators, washers, and boxes of books day after day eventually took its toll; but I loved it.  And after all the physical work, getting in the cab and putting in 500 miles of windshield time was a wonderful feeling.
 
And here is one of my favorite tunes from that time.

lembic76450

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2008, 03:15:51 PM »
Dave,
 
Also one of my faves,  I dug the Commander Cody version, though.  That album always said Spring to me,  a new dawn.  Thanks for the rush.  I always sang that song to my sax players mom,  she made great coffee.

David Houck

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2008, 03:53:40 PM »
Yes, the Commander Cody version is the classic.  Off of Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers' Favorites!

mike1762

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2008, 05:18:14 PM »
Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop drivin' that Hot ... Rod ... Lincoln!

hankster

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2008, 05:26:26 AM »
I loved that Commander Cody album. The first arena concert I went to was to see the Commander and the Lost Planet Airmen, with Andy Stein on fiddle and sax and Bill Kirchen on his tele.  And Buffalo Bruce Barlow on bass.  I think Lookin' At The World Through A Windshield was my favourite.
Live each day like your hair is on fire.

cozmik_cowboy

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2008, 06:11:19 AM »
Hey, S. Dave, I feel your pain.  I did the music-biz-to-trucking transition 24 years ago.   Did it for 17, then got laid off & went back to college.  Unlike Brother Houck,  I hated every minute of it.   When people ask if miss the music thing, my standard answer is Usually only when I'm awake.   Always had a Red Sovine tape handy because, well, it's just the right thing to do, but my favorite trucking song is this one.
Drive safe.  
 
Peter
"Is not Hypnocracy no other than the aspiration to discover the meaning of Hypnocracy?  Have you heard the one about the yellow dog yet?"
St. Dilbert

"If I could explain it in prose, i wouldn't have had to write the song."
Robt. Hunter

lbpesq

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2008, 09:36:09 AM »
My favorite trucking song is this one.
 
Bill, tgo

David Houck

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #12 on: November 15, 2008, 10:19:50 AM »
I love Willin'!  Haven't heard it in a while; thanks!
 
And well, of course Bill!

rraymond

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #13 on: November 15, 2008, 11:08:30 AM »
Little Feat was just through Portland a couple of weeks ago and I got to hear Willin' again. Of course, it's not the same without Lowell, but they still do a kickin' version. I've always been a total junkie for the rhythm section of Kenny Gradney, Richie Hayward and Sam Clayton. Long live the Feat!

David Houck

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Hello again and missing my babies(Alembic's)
« Reply #14 on: November 15, 2008, 02:06:28 PM »
Waiting for Columbus is one of my all time favorites, and the groove on that album is big!  Here's Time Loves A Hero; great groove!