Low and behold, Mr. Adam Clayton is rocking out with a vintage Epiphone Rivoli. Screencaps:

At first I thought it was just for show, but I’m pretty sure he actually played the Rivoli (or some type of mudbucker-equipped bass) in the track. Listen to the bass interlude/solo starting @ 1:16 in the video and you’ll know what I mean.

Link: U2.com Media Page

I’ve been true Radiohead devotee since ’97 or so, when I bought a copy of OK Computer after hearing Paranoid Android on the radio. I remember the first time I listened to the album – I was vacationing at my Aunt’s house for the week. We had made a trip to the mall (or some other record-selling establishment) where I bought the album. As soon as we got back to her house, I anxiously opened the cellophane and popped the disc in her nice Hi-Fi. Airbag……”this is amazing”. Paranoid Android……..”still amazing”. Subterranean Homesick Alien…….”umm….this is not exactly rockin”. Exit Music……..”hmm, this drags. maybe this album isn’t as great as I thought it was going to be.”

Now, before you crucify me, these were the thoughts of a fifteen-year-old, who for the last two years had been listening to a LOT of Nine Inch Nails and just about any other heavy, pounding, hard rock / industrial stuff he could get his hands on. (Exit Music is now one of my favorite Radiohead tunes.)
But I liked ‘Airbag’ and ‘Android’ so much that I kept coming back to the album. After several listens, the genius of it hit me. I can honestly say that my copy of OK Computer is the only CD that I’ve worn out since I started buying CDs in the early 90′s. And I take immaculate care of my CDs.

Before OK, I was a casual fan – I loved “Creep” (as any angsty teenager would), and thought the singles from The Bends were okay (I didn’t get around the buying The Bends until after OK Computer was out).

In the years between 1997 and 2000, I would take trips to Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Greensboro or anywhere with a decent record store in search of Radiohead import singles and albums. Then in 2000 I discovered Napster and started downloading any Radiohead oddities that I could find. When Kid A came out, was in line at 12:01am to by my limited edition copy.

Heck, I actually paid for my download of In Rainbows.

In short, I consider myself a devoted fan.

In 2001, I had an opportunity to see Radiohead live for the first time. August 11, 2001. It was going to be glorious day. We drove from North Carolina to Washington DC for the show. We were stoked. I have a picture or two that were snapped in my Jeep on the way up there. We’re happy! We get to the park – it’s a hot but beautiful day outside. We make it inside the park and stake out a spot on the ground.

Oh, what a horrible journey it turned out to be. A little before the opening act was supposed to come on, the clouds rolled in. No biggie, right? The ticket says rain or shine. I don’t mind getting rained on if I get to see Radiohead. Then the rain starts falling. And the lightning starts crashing all around us. And the skies opened up and what occurred next was a deluge of rain that can only be described as ‘Biblical in proportion’.

We end up being forced out of the park by security and told to wait in our cars. As we’re trudging/running up the hill to the parking lot / mudhole, there is as least 8″ of water rolling down the hill into the valley we’re exiting. Lightning continues to crash, causing a tree to our right to explode. My wife actually felt the electricity from the tree explosion run up her leg. We made it to the Jeep (Cherokee) and piled in. At that point we realized the rain was coming down so hard that the seals on the Jeep doors had given way to the rain and there was now a 1″ puddle of rainwater resting on the floorboard. With all the water we’d soaked up on the way to the Jeep, the seats were now soaking wet as well.

We spent a good while in the Jeep before learning that the concert was officially called off. It’s still raining. As we finally make it to the parking lot exit, we picked up some poor chap who had been sitting in the rain all this time. We took him back to downtown DC before heading to our hotel room.

I managed to book a hotel room in a semi-sketchy part of the city, and didn’t really want to leave my windows down or car unlocked overnight. So I didn’t. When I went out the Jeep the next morning, the windows were fogged up from the inside. Suffice it to say that the Jeep had a bit of a ‘funk’ for the next few years until the mildew smell finally dissipated.

So anyway, the ’01 Radiohead-DC trip was a total bust. After that, I decided I would never again make travel plans for a band. Even Radiohead. Unless the somehow resurrected Johnny Cash. I’d travel to see that…….

Fast forward seven years. Radiohead announces their In Rainbows tour, and Charlotte, NC is on the list. YES. I know I wasn’t the only one with that sentiment, considering my tickets were towards the back of the covered seating and I was on Ticketmaster vying for seats at 10am sharp the day they went on sale.

Finally, finally, finally, I see my heroes play a concert. Ed’s GQ style. Phil’s grin. Johnny’s Starcaster. Colin’s under-appreciated bass. Thom’s unmistakable voice. For real, playing and singing on a stage that if I had the inclination and security-bypassing ninja skills to make it to, I could have stood with. It was as close to a religious experience that I’ve had at a concert. For some, it probably was the most religious experience they’ve had.

If you haven’t managed to catch a Radiohead show over the last sixteen years, I highly recommend you do before you die. I’m glad I managed to.

Setlist:

1. All I Need
2. There, There
3. Airbag
4. 15 Step
5. Nude
6. Sail to the Moon
7. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
8. Myxomatosis
9. Idioteque
10. Morning Bell
11. Videotape
12. Optimistic
13. Where I End and You Begin
14. You and Whose Army?
15. Everything In Its Right Place
16. Bangers + Mash
17. Bodysnatchers

Encore 1:
18. Go Slowly
19. Talk Show Host
20. Exit Music
21. Planet Telex
22. House of Cards

Encore 2:
23. Paranoid Android
24. Reckoner

The only thing that could have made the night better for me would have been to hear Climbing Up The Walls. But that is in no way a complaint. Personal highlights of the night were There There, Myxomatosis, You and Whose Army? and seeing Radiohead play Talk Show Host and Exit Music back-to-back. Talk Show Host does weird things to my brain. Makes me wonder if I’m invincible.

Garrett, thanks for coming to the show with me.

Zac, wish you could’ve been there.

-Brandon

My vantage point (cellphone pic):

Yours truly, waiting for the sun to go down and for the Liars to get off the stage:

Photos from the show, taken by a few folks with better vantage points than myself:

Photo by Hyphen1982

Photo by Hyphen1982

Photo by Hyphen1982

Photo by Hyphen1982

Photo taken by Crystal Floyd

Photo taken by Crystal Floyd

Photo taken by Crystal Floyd

How to Ship a Bass

Scenario #1) No Case

If you don’t have a hardcase for the instrument, double box it. Wrap the bass in a material that won’t chemically react with the instrument’s finish or physically mar it in any way (if all else fails, a trash bag will work). Place the bass within a box (we’ll call this the ‘internal’ box) with dimensions similar to that of an appropriate hardshell case. Place padding around the instrument so that it is snug within the internal box. Seal this box and give it a shake test. If the bass slides around, you need more padding. If the bass is snug,then place this ‘internal’ box within a box that is larger by about 2″ all sides. (Larger than 2″ is okay, you’ll just need more padding.) Place padding around the internal box until it is snug within the external box. Tape up your box, slap on the address label and you’re done.

Scenario #2) Gig Bagged

Follow same steps above except forget about wrapping the bass before you put it in the internal box. That’s what the gig bag is for.

Scenario #3) Hardshell Case

With a hardshell, there isn’t a need for an ‘internal box’ because that’s what the case is. So to start, check the bass’s fit within the hardshell case. If you can shake the case (while closed) and the bass doesn’t shift, you’re okay. If the bass is shifting within the case, figure out where it’s shifting and pad those areas to eliminate this movement. Once any internal movement has been eliminated, the ‘cased’ bass needs to go within the ‘external box’. As with the previous example, I like to have a few extra inches of padding between the case and external box. However, with the added weight of the hardshell case it is extremely important that the space between the case and the external box is jammed with as much padding as possible (bagged air, packing peanuts, styrofoam remnants, bubble wrap, newspaper, etc) so that the hardshell case can’t easily shift back and forth within the confines of the external box. Once you’ve got this padding in place, tape up the box and ship out.

Caveat #1) Do I HAVE to pad between the hardshell case and the external box?

Technically, no, you don’t HAVE to. But you should. I’ve had basses shipped where the external box was sized the same as the hardshell case; the case provided the only real padding and the box was there to keep the outside of the case from getting beat up. These basses arrived with no problems whatsoever. (In fact, a lot of manufacturers ship this way.) However, I think you’re just asking for trouble to send an instrument like this. All it would take is one well-placed blow to the box to go right through the single layer of cardboard and into your case (and potentially your bass depending on how hard and deep the impact is). I’d rather not leave it to chance and add that extra padding.

Caveat #2) Packing materials

Think about what material you’re using to pad your boxes and how much weight that material will add to the overall package and shipping cost. My favorite packing material is bagged air. Most manufacturers and online retailers use this stuff because it provides the most cushion with the smallest amount and weight of material. If I don’t have bagged air, packing peanuts are my next choice because of the light weight. I’ve had to use newspaper as a last resort before, but any type of paper packaging gets heavy if you actually do a good padding job.

Caveat #3) Tape

I prefer reinforced paper tape. It just holds better. If you don’t have paper tape, use shipping tape. If you don’t have shipping tape, use packing tape.

Caveat #4) Bass prep

The only thing you really need to do to a bass before shipping it is to put it in the case or gigbag. That’s it. Leave it tuned up. Detuning is not good for a traveling bass. Unless you’ve got some super fancy instrument that already has special care requirements of its own, just put the bass in the case and start packing.

Caveat #5) Choosing a Carrier

Avoid UPS like the plague. They break stuff. I’ve never had a problem with Fedex or USPS. My preference is USPS because they have more locations, they’re cheaper, and they tend not to deliver packages that embody the term ‘FUBAR.’ Your mileage may vary.

Check out the hollow body bass! Don’t put yer eye out……..

I am looking for a sweet bass guitar, something that Flea would totally slapfight, and matching bass amp. I pay in a delivery service through which, every Wednesday night for a year, you will receive a dozen assorted Krispy Kreme donuts- or just the glazed if you like to keep it old school. Negotiable, but serious inquiries only.

And just in case you were having trouble comprehending the deal, here’s a little visualization that was included with the listing:

See the listing: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/msg/274281728.html

Rickenbacker has only made one type of hollowbody bass – the 4005. There have been variations in the body binding (OS & WB) and number of strings (6 and 8 string models were available at various times), but the body shape has always been the same. Sometime in the 80′s Rickenbacker killed the 4005 model and hasn’t produced a hollowbody since. Some recent eBay auctions for pristine vintage 4005′s have reached into five-figure final bids.

1960′s:

4001, 4000, 4005 in Mapleglo, 4005 OS in Fireglo & 4005-6 in Fireglo

4005 & 4001

same 4005 & 4001 again

4005 in Fireglo, 4001 & 4000

1970′s:

Model 4005 in Fireglo

1980′s:

Model 4005 WB in Mapleglo

And now to round out the post with some risque 50′s Rickenbacker Girls. Dean Girls eat your heart out!

Who knew your grandma liked showing so much skin?

Just keep watching the bass player…………..

Best YouTube comment: “That’s Les Claypool’s Dad……”

From http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300046233052.