Friday, November 19, 2010

Rosetucky on hold

My new band that started in the summer of 2009 is on hold for now. I'm not sure if the bass player Rocky and I will get back together or not. We haven't practiced regularly for some time now. The band's name Rosetucky was Rocky's idea, as he grew up in Roseburg, Oregon. More than half our songs were his original tunes. We also did a few of my originals and a couple of songs from my days with R Band back in the early 1990s. It looks like The Bicycling Guitarist is going to have to be a solo act and not part of a band, at least for now. Best wishes for Rocky.

It's too cold and wet these days for me to ride and play much. Cold and wet weather is not good for the wood of the guitar. The cold isn't too good for my fingers either. Also, when the pavement is wet the skinny tires of my vintage ten-speed bicycle can slip and skid, and braking is more difficult too when the rims are wet. At least now I have alloy rims on my Schwinn instead of slick chrome steel. It used to be I couldn't stop at all when the rims were wet!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Local folks cheer me

I just rode my bicycle to the local convenience market, playing guitar while I ride as I am famous for. There were many people out in front of their houses because the weather is fairly nice today, and I was cheered by many people and groups of people as I rode by them.

Some people hadn't seen me before. I heard one guy say that to his companions with a big grin on his face. Other people were smiling and laughing because they had seen me before. Either way, I cheer them even as they cheer me. One of the best things about bicycle guitaring is bringing smiles to people's faces.

Encouraged, I went back out a short time later along the same route but this time with my battery-powered Pignose amplifier attached to the rear rack of the bicycle. As I passed one of the groups of people a woman said "Groovy." I said, "I haven't heard that for a while," and circled back around to chat with these people. Then she said, "Psychedelic."

I asked them if they wouldn't mind my playing a song for them, and they didn't. In keeping with the theme of the woman's remarks, I played the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. A younger woman there sang along, then asked me if I could play any Pink Floyd, specifically asking for Wish You Were Here (the title track of their 1975 album).

I happen to know that song at least well enough to fake it, and played that while she sang along to that one too. Then I played an original instrumental tune of mine for them, and finished by playing my Evolution song.

I hope I made new friends: Taylor, Melinda ("Groovy") and Alexa ("Wish You Were Here").