by Gregory 'Bassie' Jackson
Greetings to everyone from Aspen CO… I'm facing the golden sun above the majestic Rockies… this resort is bubbling… and simmering… lock some nice pepper pot… I'm here in the living room area… amongst leather chairs… wooden tables… and a crackling fire… its warm here…
Its been a while, huh… today I'm just going to sketch out a few vibes on the past week…
Athens, GA… a wonderful theatre to play in… a thick fat sound… Cecil dropped his twin reverb to the shop to tighten up his tubes in his amp… sound's phatter now…
Ziggy's in North Carolina… out along a beautiful bay… excited fans… dancing on the speaker cabinets out front… a polaroid of that moment now hangs in our message center… on our bus… the silver streak…
During the early morning ride to Atlanta… a late night session listening to the tapes… discussing ways to deepen our groove for the boss… nice vibe… the rains came down hard… the silver bullet… hurtling down the highway… a good night for rest in the bunk… much cold water… against silver metal… Stewie turns and says… "that lightening… was close… did you see it?"… groggy… we acknowledge… before drifting into sleep…
Atlanta… back into the city… greetings from Mrs. Rodney… and fams… some yard food after soundcheck… Tabernacle… what a place… have you ever been…? a huge hall with a giant pipe organ behind us… we tore the place up… Mikey was happy I think… did you see the size of that drum monitor…?
Cincinnati, OH… pulling up to an old hotel… built during the art deco days… or should I say daze… Me, Cecil… and Stewie in the fitness center… putting in some time… yunno… a solid show again… later… after the gig… sitting on a reggae bus… these guys built… with a sound system on top or something… we took a few pics with them… and then grooved to the distant foggy sounds… as it pulled outta the lot…
Bloomington, Indiana… Mars club… redone brand spanking new… Spear tears up the place… the horns sounded especially phat that night…!!
Columbus, OH… that was a hot one… and I mean… 110 degrees on stage… can't find the water… we put it all out there that night… it was a nice vibe… the people were very into it… the stage was covered with our sweat… we left having spent ourselves… Me… I was happy to run into a good friend from Pittsburgh… yeah…
Louisville KY… in a hotel full of soldiers ready for bootcamp… young bloods hanging by the pay phones… wondering who were were… smile… a nice show… the headliner club… very nice spot… and phat sound… travel day… the hotel phones are burning some serious time huh? I call a man's room and the line is busy… smile… catching up with home I suppose…
The long road to Albuquerque… what an experience… Tedo, Stewart, Virgo, Cecil, and Micah… grooving to some soul tunes… and discussing production methods… "listen for the high hat man… listen for the riddim guits… hear it… its pushing the riddim… listen for this or that…" …nice vibes… singing along… eye's closed… or staring into space… riding along with the lyrics… and memories… a nice vibe… with mi bredren… Mr. Rodney… sharing the morning sunrise… a rest stop… a chance to stretch the legs… the sharing of a few quiet moments… a few laughs…
Gene… passing out pictures of us… but of us asleep… looking… looking rather silly… those pics won't see the light of day… you heard it from bassie…
Albuquerque… the El Rey… niceness… we jammed out extra on African Postman… a bit different then last year… this year… we bring it down to drum and bass… and dub it in and out…
Did you all know that Clydie is the Mayor of Rico CO… yeah… seen him a few minutes after we arrive… driving in a car… full of people… at the restaurant… making sure everyone is happy and taken care of… I just called him Mayor… again a phat show… later… walking home to the Rico Hotel… rustic… and earthy… under a canopy of stars… golden orbs… chilling in the living room with a dozen or so reggae lovers…
So here we are… two miles high… Jimmy Cliff and his band just pulled in… as I write y'all… I send out greetings to the band and crew… in a couple of hours… Hugh Masakela takes stage… down below… at the festival… I want to catch that… Virgo and Chris are down there… last I seen them… they were at catering… Sylvan and Tedo already have the Spear stand ready… Mikey… last I seen him he was on the bus… chilling… no… cleaning out the frig… which has a bit of a fishy vibe going right now… Stewie was down there too… I passed Micah's room on the way here… to write y'all… I heard him running through his lines… yesterday… the horns had a practice session up there… which keeps things right and tight… Cecil… he is across the hall from me… I knocked on his door… he was in the bathroom… his office… doing a voice training… yeah… voice training… running scales and things…
I checked Gene… he and I share a room… he was relaxing… on the phone with fams… CNBC on the box…
Spear asked me to come check him… we spent a moment… and then I came down here… time to end this entry… I have a few minutes still before I catch transport down the hill… going to run up to my room to get a small jacket… yeah…
LA is coming up… House of Blues… watch out… cause the lead guits will bust out his new axe…
till then… guidance and protection… to all Spear lovers…
Bassie
