Mass alert!

 

As you know, I'm a Catholic Apologist. 

Sorry.

No, I mean it, sorry for making missing mass on a Sunday a Mortal Sin.

Who made up that silly rule?

I think it's time to review the Ten Commandments.

1) You shall have no other gods before Me.

Sorry God but there are actually a lot of gods to choose from. People in other countries feel just as strongly about their god. Let's change this one to...

1) Go with your own god, if you have one.
2) You shall not make for yourself a carved image.

Okay, there is nothing really wrong with carved images, say of a beautiful girl or your dog or cat.

2) Carving is quite a good skill to have.
3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

This one actually has a spelling mistake. The last word should be vino.

A bad translation from Italian.

3) Do not name your wine Gsus.
4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

This one is telling you that there are holes in the Sabbath day.

4) Fill those holes with putty. You don't need them.
5) Honor your father and your mother.

This one is true to a point.

5) Listen to mum and dad or, at least, pretend to.
6) You shall not murder.

This one is okay as it is.

6) You shall not murder.
7) You shall not commit adultery.

This one probably depends on a lot of things.

7) Think before you screw around.
8) You shall not steal.

Yep, another good one.

8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

This one really depends on what your neighbour is like.

9) Not all neighbours are the same. Some may tell you to practise your violin in a shed. Ignore them.

10) You shall not covet.

This means to yearn to possess something belonging to another. 

10) Cover things that are outside when it is raining.

* * *

Well, I think that covers the 10 Commandments.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Why is there a god mentioned in our national anthem?

 

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for all the nasty things that the Catholic church has done. Well, remember that I am a Catholic apologist.

"God of nations, at thy feet..." That's how our national anthem begins. Which god are they talking about? Zeus? Hey, there are a lot of gods out there to choose from. At least there is no reference to Mary and her bloody rosary.

It's ANZAC Day today. That means that pubs don't open until around lunchtime. Tough if you need a drink in the morning. There will be quite a few trumpet players up and working early this morning. The bugle is the official instrument that you should really use. It's just a trumpet without valves. Without valves you can't get as many notes. Bugle calls don't use that many notes. For example, you couldn't play Take The 'A' Train on a bugle.

Okay, I'm off. NO! I'm not going to church. I'm not mad. I might go for a walk, like Richard (of RBB) and The Curmudgeon are doing. 

Walking is good.

Cheers.

Is Bebop good for you?

 

Good morning. Let me start by saying sorry for all the shit the Catholic church has thrown at people. Hey, I am a Catholic Apologist.

It's funny how people like different types of music. I don't think you'd ever hear Catholic church choirs singing Bluegrass, Rap or Bebop. I guess it's all about praising Angry Jesus and his mum and dad. The Holy Ghost seems to get less praise.

I wonder what sort of bird the 
Holy Ghost actually is?

It's funny how they changed his name to The Holy Spirit. That's sort of like renaming Gsus Bruce.

I wonder how many Catholics actually like Bebop? Personally, I would pick Haydn or Chopin as being more popular with them.

Chopin

Ha, ha, a good joke there!

Well, it's about time for Catholics to think about getting along to Mass. I hear that quite a few are making their own rosary beads these days to save money. Hey, that's not good for the church shop. They're there to make money, after all.

See you later and don't worry about all that sin nonsense.

Let the sin in!

 

Hey, firstly, I'm a Catholic Apologist and I'd just like to say sorry for all the abusive clergy the Catholic church has fostered.

I know you've all heard of the 10 Commandments. These are where your sins are supposed to have come from. "As God said to Moses, "Don't forget to take the tablets.""

"Sheesh!" Oops, I've just broken commandment number 2. Obviously, I blame The Curmudgeon for that!

Catholics get sin muddled up with morals. Sins were obviously created for the 10 commandments. Thanks to a silly story about Adam and Eve, we were evidently all born with Original Sin. How silly!

* * *

Hey, on a lighter note, I hear that Richard (of RBB) has added a 6th. original tune to his unaccompanied bass repertoire. It's called Swing In, Swing Out. That brings his unaccompanied tunes for violin and double bass up to 18. Wow! He'll be a busy boy practising those!

* * *

Well, that's it for today. 

Before I forget, happy first birthday to Henry Prowsey. See you this afternoon, Henry. xxx

Welcome to our new host!

 Well known Catholic Apologist 

EVIL DOCTOR RICHARD!

"Hey, sorry about the Catholic church!"

I'll be hosting this blog from now on so make sure you pop by on a regular basis.

I look forward to seeing you and keeping you informed.

LINK get together.

 Hi from Richard's Bass Bag 3.

We thought it could be good to get out five LINK members together for a 'welcome back' discussion.

We'll let Richard (of RBB) kick things off.

Richard (of RBB): Hi everyone and welcome to Akish The Philistine, RBB2, RBB3 and The Curmudgeon. It's really great to be able to get these five blogs all linking up.

The Curmudgeon: I have lots of links on my blog too. Lots of different Curmudgeons.

Richard (of RBB): Yeah, we won't get that lot involved, TC. Just count yourself lucky that you made it into the big five. Regular posts are all you have to worry about. Go easy on the tennis posts though. 

RBB2: I'm going to give you some very good tips to improve your double bass playing.

Akish The Philistine: Yawn. Do we really need to include three bloody bass playing blogs? 

The Curmudgeon: I was wondering about that too.

Richard (of RBB): Shut up, TC. That's just the way it is around here. Anyway, RBB3 might be taking over the religious commentary from that Catholic guy who buggered off.

RBB3: Yep, we can take care of that. I'm guessing that RBB will take care of the violin.

Richard (of RBB): Yep. We can probably all guess what Akish will be taking care of.

Akish The Philistine: Well, I will be helping to keep an eye on TC too. Bagpipes? No thanks. Hey, who is he going to play golf with now? Maybe he has a secret link to that Catholic guy?

The Curmudgeon: I haven't heard from Robert since he packed up and buggered off. I guess I'll just do lots of practice.

RBB3: Alright guys, we'll leave it there for today. Just keep those posts rolling out!

The Curmudgeon: I'm working on one at present. It's about replacing my garage door.

RBB2 [under his breath]: Shit.

Richard (of RBB): Okay, let's all try to remain positive. 

Akish The Philistine: What have I gotten myself into?

The Curmudgeon: I wonder if The Blue Guy would fit in around here?

RBB3: It's times like these that rosary beads could be handy.

RBB2: Shut up, RBB3!

Richard (of RBB): LINK team dismissed. I might need a coffee soon.

Okay, let's get this blog rolling along!

 

Rolling along!

There are plenty of blogs for you to read around here now, but Richard's Bass Bag 3 will take the cake!

ENJOY!

2024, here I am!

 Who needs The Curmudgeon, or whatever Rob's blog is called now?

BECAUSE

Richard's Bass Bag 3 IS BACK!

Now you can go between the three bass bagging sites - JUST LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS!

ENJOY!

Christmas shopping.

 Did you know that there are actually ten planets in our solar system?

I know, there aren't ten planets, I just that made up. To be honest, I don't care how many there are because my intention is to write about Christmas shopping. Anyway, there won't be anyone doing Christmas shopping on Mars or, for that matter, Your Anus Uranus. Let's move right along.

Our Christmas will be pretty small (5 people and 1 unborn) so really it'll just be like having a few people to lunch. Though, we do have four people coming around on boxing day too. Anyway, the first stop was at a money machine to get money out for kids. Then it was off to The Warehouse to pick up gifts for our little under $10 present game - you're supposed to buy one each.

I bought five because I thought I could make up a silly little game to keep people amused.*

I wrapped them all in the same paper, as you do, and decided to write Italian names on them so that I would know which is which.

Shelley guessed what 'diario' was when she saw it under our little tree which is made of plastic. I'm sure others will guess that one too and think that they must be fluent in Italian. Just like how TC keeps saying 'mea culpa' (thanks 3P), if they come across any Italians, they'll be able to say 'diario'. That should strike up a conversation - probably beginning with, "Cosa?"

I went to the supermarket and, among other things, bought quite a few bottles of Cleanskin wine.

I'll have to return to the supermarket a few more times. For example, I still haven't picked up ice cream. I guess it will be getting busier and busier. Ah well, I've got plenty of time.

I'll also squeeze in some serious bass practice.

Enjoy your day.

* Much like writing a blog post.

Fly Away.

 So, how's it going?

Part of summer is having flies buzzing around - I'm talking about inside.

Something attracts them in. Food? A new, exciting environment? Adventure? Then they can't find a way out.

Could Heaven work like this?

One moment Bert was sweating and having great difficulty breathing. This was Bert's last moment on Earth*. Bert had been a decent bloke overall. He'd been one of three children and his parents did their best in most respects. They weren't church going people, which suited Bert fine, and they weren't rich people. Bert had left school at 15 and gained an apprenticeship as a plumber. He'd married Nancy, when he was 24, and they'd raised two girls. He liked a beer (or two) and was happy when he was watching rugby or working on his old car. Both of his daughters attended university - one studied philosophy and the other chose English. Bert often joked that he didn't go to university, but he could speak English very well. He did worry a lot about how his daughters would get jobs, but they both turned out okay.

The next moment Bert was standing in a big open space. There was nothing to notice, except for two large, open gates that seemed to have captured the sun. He had nowhere else to go so he walked towards them, then through them. Bert really had no expectation of what would be on the other side. It had been a very weird day so far, so he was about to accept just about anything.

Suddenly Bert was a fly! He started to fly around the space. Maybe coming through those gates was a mistake! There were parts you could see through but, when you approached them, they were like rock - rock that you could see through. Bert wanted to get out. 

Bert sat on the big clear thing. 

OKAY READERS, I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO FINISH THIS STORY YOURSELVES IN A COMMENT.

PLEASE GO EASY ON BERT BECAUSE HE IS (WAS) NOT A BAD GUY.

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WOULD DO TO A FLY WHO ENTERS YOUR HOME.

DOES HIS MISJUDGEMENT REQUIRE SOME TERRIBLE END?

HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO SAVE BERT, OR OTHERWISE...

* aka Jasper

I'm back.

 Arnold made those words his own.

Well, the big news is that the three bass bagging sites will all be back and working for you, so make sure you get around all three.

Shelley and Richard of Richard's Bass Bag 3* will be staying in Wellington this afternoon and this evening but, to quote Arnold again, we'll be back!

We'll be talking about many things on this blog:

• Double basses.
• Violin playing.
• Wine advice.
• General life advice.
• Gigs, or the lack of them.
• Italian language.
• Other blogs, some of which are a bit silly.
• And much, much more!

All you have to do is sit back, read and enjoy.

* the blog that's not too bad

Little bass.

When my son was young I was practising a lot of bass guitar.
I remember at time I took him into a music shop when he was a little chap.

He looked around at all the guitars and said, "Look at all the bass guitars!"

He's a bass guitarist now and a lot older.

Actually, this post was going to be about my violin.

Time is moving on, so maybe I'll save the violin stuff for next time.

A post about Christmas.

People celebrate Christmas for a few different reasons.

For some it's the birthday of Jesus.

Lamb says, "I thought there was a line or two

 in the Catechism against that sort of thing."

For some it's all based around that guy that someone at Coca Cola invented in the 1930s.

While, for others, it's just a chance to get together with friends and family.

A lot of people in the world don't celebrate Christmas. It's mainly a 'Christian country' thing.
No doubt a lot of people are lonely over the festive season and it must be noted that Santa brings better presents to rich kids. I wonder why that is?

Anyway, I didn't mean to be drepressing.
I have a 99 year old Aunty who probably won't see too many more Christmases. She won't be coming to my place, which is what normally happens, because she's pretty much bed (or big armchair) ridden. What a wonderful thing it would be if her five nephews could find time to pop in and visit her on Christmas day. Now that would be something that we could perhaps call Christmas spirit!

Santa's special day approaches.

There won't be many people here and I'll probably cook fairly traditional food. I'll pop in and see Aunty in the morning.
After lunch I'll probably have a jam with my brother.

Preferably on toast. Ha ha, old joke.

I must check over on RBB to see what the original bass bagging site has planned.

Good morning world!

Wow! What a lot of comments on Richard's Bass Bag* - HERE!

Some blogger said the blog is falling apart, or something like that, but all those comments point to the fact that it is still the leading blog in these parts.

We're all looking forward to that Christmas post!

"And, move over Jesus, it's going

to be all about me!"

Upwards and onwards for bass bagging!

* the original bass bagging site

Upwards and onwards with 'The 6 Strings'!

See HERE.

This is a name that fits our time and will undoubtedly take our blogging community forward.

I'm looking forward to a bright future with The 6 Strings.

I just hope I'm not the G string. Ha, ha, old music joke there!

I'm up.

I got up at 6am this morning. Probably because I'd had enough sleep. Not many people are saying that around the Nuova Lazio area because it is presently very hot, but I have a heat pump. A heat pump also works as a cold pump. Last night our house was at 16 degrees. I slept like a baby. I didn't even wake for my 2am bottle (old Dean Martin joke).

Music practice is going well so far this year. I'm well ahead of my hour a day target that I always aim for. An hour a day doesn't sound like much, and it isn't, but every time you miss a day it gets harder to keep on track with that target. 

As you know, I practise three instruments - guitar, violin and double bass. It is certainly easier if a person only practises one instrument but, for me, three instruments is just the way it is. I guess I have an order of importance - double bass, then violin, then guitar - but this doesn't mean that the double bass always gets the most practice. In fact, so far this year, the guitar has had the most. It just depends what I'm working on.

At present, on the guitar, I'm working on what is called the rest stroke style of picking. This approach is used by gypsy jazz players and it gives you a lot of volume. A pick can go down and up

(over / through the string). The rest stroke is used on the down pick - the pick comes to rest on the string below the one you are picking. The up pick is a free stroke (it finishes up in the air).

There is a singer whom I back from time to time. She sings a few jazz standards. When it comes time for me to solo I'm on my own. This entails nice bold single note runs and plenty of chords dropped in. The gypsy jazz picking style works very well in this instance. My guitar, which is not the type used by gypsy jazz players, has a similar type of tone to a gypsy jazz guitar. So this type of picking seems to really suit it.

Django - the master.

I'll leave it there this morning. Keep cool out there.

It's too darn hot.

I've seen this clip before on Richard's Bass Bag.*

HERE

It certainly is right for a day like today!

Well, it's a time of change in our little blogging scene. The Bass Bagging Hexagram is as busy as ever and occasionally people visit The Cuumudgeon Old Boys' Brigade. Robert seems to have all but fizzled out in his blogging endeavours. The last time I saw it, his blog was called 'Z' and had no posts.

Do not fear, dear readers, our BBH posts will keep you very stimulated.








* the original bass bagging site

Slow practice.

I've been working on this piece on my double bass.

HERE

This chap does a good job. There's a lot to be learnt in this tune and it requires a lot of slow repetitive practice.

Well, I guess I'd better get back and practise a bit more.

What's this?

A four sided star looks a bit silly.

This five sided one is a bit over used.

Hey! Whats this?

THE BASS BAGGING HEXAGRAM

PERFECTION!