by Gregory 'Bassie' Jackson
Thank you to everyone who has offered so much positive feedback regarding this tour journal… and encouragement… this goes to all the Spear supporters worldwide… and the band members… Adam… Joshua… and Mr. Rodney… Thank you…
So much has happened in the past week since the two gigs at the Pit… in North Carolina… but yunnowhat… today I want to focus this diary in a different direction… just for today… cool with you?
I read somewhere recently that great minds go on asking confounding questions with the same intensity throughout their lives… as I read these words… It was in Charleston, SC… yeah… in a college bookstore with Cecil… a few hours before sound check at the music farm down the street… yeah…
Well anyway… at that moment, I realized that I am witness to this process… within this realm… in the Spear camp… Winston Rodney… and the other members of the crew… the camp…
Mr. Rodney's sense of wonder and curiosity come out in the depth and breadth of his interests… and in his willingness to question some accepted ideas and policies… and behaviours… like trendy this or that… yunno…
His creative curiosity is an example to me… for the prospects and possibilities… the potentiality to remain fresh… while maintaining a sense of focus… this curiosity… is something that doesn't have to cease… as we age… it enhances daily experiences… make this moment more interesting…
Like after a gig… walking through the hotel lobby… 2:00 a.m… "Gregory…" yes Mr. Rodney… "why don't you try my bass on the next gig… see how it sounds…" yunno…
Curiosity… like a snowball rolling down a mountain side… it builds… and picks up things… around it… and grows… movement… could be small… or massive… yunno…
Stewart and I sit in the bus… the members… in their bunks… its a long ride… the Silver Streak… whistling down the road… soothing… bottled water… shoes off… under a canopy of stars…
Stewart leans forward… "you want to try a little more mid in your amp rig?… what do you think it would sound like to you? would it help you?"
Engaging our thoughts… that's what great minds do… and then comes the snowball effect… the snowball effect of positive feelings…
But Stewie… what is the Spear swing man? how can we take it to the next level… sipping some cool drinks… Tedo and Sylvan… heating up another two plates of steamed snapper… listen… hands to their hips…
The questions continues to linger… result… yes… they come…
Norfolk Virginia… Micah Robinson walks into sound check with his new horn… the love horn… bright tone… it really stands out in the horn mix well… it projects… yeah… maybe that is what he said… but what seems to me to matter the most… is the curiosity… fueling… the movement… the action… you see…
The snowball effect…
I forget the stage… the band is cooking and stewing like big pepper pot… Naya Keith… been on our list for a few… yunno… we dig in… serving up big portions of all the good stuff…
Curiosity enters… Mr. Rodney calls out… "drum and bass…"
Wow… ok… we shift gear… but not really… we just… make a stand… yunno… drum and bass… and continue the journey…
And man… it sounded sweet… something we tried out the first time… in that moment…
Curiosity continues… one night… it was in North Carolina… now I'm going back to last year… but check this out… this is a drummy story… Mikey… you listening…? ok… we are hitting the gig… then boom… the snare head bursts… but do we stop… does Mikey stop… what… are you crazy? smile…
Mikey hits the tom… yunno… keeps the riddim with a tom tom hit… as the tech changes the heads… but hey… hear it is… the snowball effect… it sounded so interesting… so good… the colors… it was part of the whole vibes… the "swing" yunno…
Now we use it every night… just check out the last few bars of African Postman if we are hitting it… and you will hear it… now you know the origins of that line…
I can go on… but the rains are coming down hard now… here at the holiday inn express… yeah… thunder too… I can hear it above me… and I'm thinking… hummm… let me wrap this up… and get up to my room cause I may have left the window open… maybe I did…
But here… let me finish this thought…
Think of the best teacher you ever had… what makes them brilliant? hummm?
…the ability to help the student to learn for himself? yeah…
Curiosity… a life long process… as manifest within the works of one Winston Rodney…
For us… the musicians… and you perhaps… is that a yes? smile…
till next time, from the road… guidance and protection as you make your forward movements…
Gregory
