End of August? As my people would say, “Yous gatta be shittin’ me!” No, we shit you not. Septembreth doth hath approacheth thee and thyne; thus, autumnus be upon us!
Two more basses left the nest this week, with another couple making it into assembly, and the couple already in here getting closer to flying the nest. Over in the little green workshop just across the porch, two more went from routing to sanding, and one from sanding into finishing. So we’re moving right along and, as always, appreciate your patience with the process.
We’re not taking orders at this time except for the builds/bodies in inventory – there are only a few left, and I can’t honestly tell you when we will be ready to again. I keep things focused on nexts, and there are plenty of those and the lists they make up to work through, and I stay conscious of my pace. Increasingly so. I am not the young man with big dreams and a whole life – and others – dependent on climbing the mountain now. He climbed. I still love what I do and to keep it that way I listen to my body and my spirit and give them increasing chunks of time to stay replenished and healthy. On the way UP the mountain they got scraps for those, if any. This is a different side. It’s an incredible validation and compliment to have the reputation and trust to where “Sometime next year” as a time quote given in the summer does not deter people at all. But even with that, there is only so much sometime to quote before it’s just time to “work with what ya gaht.” So theeeya go!
We want to thank you, all of our distant friends asking about the hurricane. It slammed Louisiana instead of Texas, though southeast Texas took a hit and lots of power is out. We’re hundreds of miles from there, more toward Austin which is south-central Texas. We haven’t even gotten any rain. Jamie, the better half of Birdsong, IS from southeast Texas and has lots of relatives there – some of whom will be making it here this afternoon. Everyone’s safe and couch surfing, which beats the hell out of the alternatives. They thankfully have homes and lives to go back to once the grid comes back up. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by the storm.
The sky is blue and it’s a beautiful day here. Wherever it’s not, it WILL be again sometime. Music may not be happening so much right now, but it will again – in whatever way it has to, wherever it possibly can. It’s like the seed in the soil, man. If it’s a good seed and fertile soil, that’s going to grow. All by itself it’ll germinate again, push through the dirt, lean toward the light, and fight to bloom; it happens constantly even after wildfires or floods or personal trauma. Sometimes we’re that seed; sometimes we’re that soil. It can’t be stopped, it’s built into this world – for all its quirks, it has that. As we’re a part of it, so it is a part of us. So plant beauty and hope wherever you are and whatever that surface level of things looks like. Play the music that can be played; share the moments that can be shared. Don’t waste them. Thank you all so much for being with us!
Listening to: Duke Ellington, Count Basie… and Niyaz!