I wanna be Keith Moon

background entertainment: The Who Live at the Isle of Wight (DVD)

You know, in the old days, when a young man was a strong man, all the people they stepped BACK when a young man walked by ...

But you know, these days, it's the old man's got all the money; and a young man ain't got nothin' in the world these days!

Yup. I'd love to be able to play drums like Keith Moon. In reality I'm more of a Charlie Watts kind of drummer. Now, John Entwistle - the Ox - that's more like the way I play.

You see, I've been playing bass for going on 26 (gasp!) years, and Entwistle (God rest his soul) was one of my primary influences. That man had a serious grip on what a bass player should be doing! Just listen to "The Real Me," from Quadrophenia. Forget Pete Townsend's guitar on that one: the Ox played the melody.

Right now the only bass I own is an Ovation acoustic. I like it a lot. I can play around the house without an amp and still hear it just fine. You know what's wrong with it? It lacks the 20th fret!! Without that fret, I can't play "The Real Me." The sixth note in that tune is the highest E flat you can play on a bass. To the uninitiated, that is the 20th fret on the G string.

"The Real Me" is the tune I usually play to warm up. I'm no Ox, but I do OK on that tune. Pretty damn well, actually. If I have the proper length of scale ...

OK, gotta go -- "Summertime Blues" is on. "Gonna raise a fuss, gonna raise a holler" (Carl Perkins, I believe)