So there I was diddley-ing away and I thought, "Why am I not playing so well?" And I realized it was that perennial problem of forgetting have a wazz. I went to the toilet/ bathroom/ lav/ restroom and urinated long, hot and amber, returned to the musician's table and started playing again. Now it was fine!
Also why is it that evey time you go to the bar or outside for a smoke, the musicians play all the tunes you know and by the time you return with your fresh pint or slightly more damaged lungs, they are playing some obscure stuff you don't know?
I often forget to do basic things when I get engrossed in something. I had a friend who wrote music for TV and radio, and he started a session in the afternoon, working away at this set of compositions. When he became aware of being hungry and very tired, he looked up at the clock and saw it was about half past seven in the evening, so he went downstairs - and somehow the daylight didn't seem right for the time of day...then he realised it was 7.30 in the morning and he'd worked all evening and all night.
This is a symptom of total immersion in what you are doing and is a very good thing indeed. I remember experiencing it as a child when I was absorbed in drawing.
Re. tunes you want to play starting up as soon as you take a break, this is also known as The Law of Sod. It also works consistently when I have packed away my fiddle. One of my tunes will start but not last long enough for me to get the instrument out and participate.
Perhaps the answer is the method employed in remote parts of Canada (so I've heard), where, to save men having to risk grave injury to delicate parts by relieving themselves outdoors in the 40-below winter cold, there is a gutter just in front of the bar. Pint in one hand... the rest is best left to the imagination.
An Australian told me a similar thing about a specific bar in Western Australia (never been there myself though). It was called Fremantle Working Men's Club. I don't what the ladies did.
A dedicated musico does not wander from the group for any reason, sir.
Developing more bladder stamina (the pharmaceutical industry can help here) is one solution, or purchasing a bright blue catheter-linked ceramic jug like the ones you've no doubt noticed between the feet of the best and most dedicated players. "You needn't leave the table for your glassy-eyed relief" is the product's emblazoned motto, but the product's name escapes me right now. Anyone?
Those troughs were for spitting, not peeing--for the convenience of users of "chaw" (chewing tobacco). Had constantly flowing water so the staff didn't have to empty and wash out spittoons.
The Brick--the real one, in Roslyn, Washington--featured in the TV series "Northern Exposure" has one. (You didn't see it on TV because, obviously, those interior shots were done elsewhere.)
I'm sure NASA have lots of surplus spaceman suits. Weren't they designed to soak up surplus bodily fluids? Might present difficulties to flute players, though.
"the method employed in remote parts of Canada", ragaman?
The closest I've seen to what you describe was in a public house (and I use the term advisedly) in King's Cross. I forget the name of it, but it was the local for staff members of The Morning Star newspaper, and one of the staunch Followers was my musical mentor at the time. Newspapers on the floor would have been an improvement.
Okay, I made that part up, there was a sort of separate room, visually but not olefactorily. I don't believe the question of what women would do ever arose in that establishment.
Like I say, Oldstrings, it's what I heard somewhere, from someone, sometime. Never been to Canada, much less any remote part thereof.
I did hear of an unfortunate incident that befell visitor to a pub somewhere in the West of Ireland. The man in question, having had a few pints, asked one of the locals the way to the gents. He was pointed towards a door at the back of the pub. So he headed straight for the door, opened it, stepped out and fell 18" onto a patch of sodden ground. It turned out, you were just meant to stand at the door...
Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
So there I was diddley-ing away and I thought, "Why am I not playing so well?" And I realized it was that perennial problem of forgetting have a wazz. I went to the toilet/ bathroom/ lav/ restroom and urinated long, hot and amber, returned to the musician's table and started playing again. Now it was fine!
Also why is it that evey time you go to the bar or outside for a smoke, the musicians play all the tunes you know and by the time you return with your fresh pint or slightly more damaged lungs, they are playing some obscure stuff you don't know?
I fart once more in disbelief!
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by Krick Stahlschwanz
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Maybe they're thinking, "Don't let that s*d spoil those tunes - he thinks he KNOWS them....wait till he's out the door before we start up..."
Not aimed at you specifically, Krick, but it strikes me as an everyday session possibility!
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by nicholas
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Oh come now Krick, we don't need to explain Murphy's Law on this website of all places, do we?
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Or should it be "wazz's law"?
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by Mark Harmer
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
I often forget to do basic things when I get engrossed in something. I had a friend who wrote music for TV and radio, and he started a session in the afternoon, working away at this set of compositions. When he became aware of being hungry and very tired, he looked up at the clock and saw it was about half past seven in the evening, so he went downstairs - and somehow the daylight didn't seem right for the time of day...then he realised it was 7.30 in the morning and he'd worked all evening and all night.
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by Mark Harmer
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
This is a symptom of total immersion in what you are doing and is a very good thing indeed. I remember experiencing it as a child when I was absorbed in drawing.
Re. tunes you want to play starting up as soon as you take a break, this is also known as The Law of Sod. It also works consistently when I have packed away my fiddle. One of my tunes will start but not last long enough for me to get the instrument out and participate.
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by sashiko calico
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Perhaps the answer is the method employed in remote parts of Canada (so I've heard), where, to save men having to risk grave injury to delicate parts by relieving themselves outdoors in the 40-below winter cold, there is a gutter just in front of the bar. Pint in one hand... the rest is best left to the imagination.
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by OrganicPeatCreature
Gutters around the bar.
An Australian told me a similar thing about a specific bar in Western Australia (never been there myself though). It was called Fremantle Working Men's Club. I don't what the ladies did.
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by Krick Stahlschwanz
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
"It was called Fremantle Working Men's Club. I don't what the ladies did."
Presumably they stayed at home with a bottle of gin.
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by OrganicPeatCreature
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
A dedicated musico does not wander from the group for any reason, sir.
Developing more bladder stamina (the pharmaceutical industry can help here) is one solution, or purchasing a bright blue catheter-linked ceramic jug like the ones you've no doubt noticed between the feet of the best and most dedicated players. "You needn't leave the table for your glassy-eyed relief" is the product's emblazoned motto, but the product's name escapes me right now. Anyone?
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by NEW Pure Drop® Ear Canal Oil
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Surely in Canada they have adequately heated conveniences under the same roof as the bar?
In Canada's austere winter circumstances the British probably never got round to organising this, but the Canucks have been free for long enough now!
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by nicholas
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Those troughs were for spitting, not peeing--for the convenience of users of "chaw" (chewing tobacco). Had constantly flowing water so the staff didn't have to empty and wash out spittoons.
The Brick--the real one, in Roslyn, Washington--featured in the TV series "Northern Exposure" has one. (You didn't see it on TV because, obviously, those interior shots were done elsewhere.)
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by tuckered out
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Not to say the odd micturation never happened... Roslyn was a mining town, after all.
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by tuckered out
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
get a box of Depends
# Posted on July 15th 2009 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
I'm sure NASA have lots of surplus spaceman suits. Weren't they designed to soak up surplus bodily fluids? Might present difficulties to flute players, though.
# Posted on July 16th 2009 by nicholas
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
If that's true, Nicholas, imagine buying a USED spacesuit. Ewww...!
# Posted on July 16th 2009 by Mark Harmer
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
I've been to that bar in Canada. The drain leads straight down into the lager keg.
# Posted on July 16th 2009 by gam
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
I usually wait till someone sings a song. Then I'm usually in the loo, sometimes whether I need to be or not...
# Posted on July 16th 2009 by Joe CSS
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
You know in gigs when the drum solo starts and the rest of the band leave the stage for five minutes.....
Maybe we should introduce the concept of bodhran solos - just kidding
# Posted on July 16th 2009 by sashiko calico
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
"the method employed in remote parts of Canada", ragaman?
The closest I've seen to what you describe was in a public house (and I use the term advisedly) in King's Cross. I forget the name of it, but it was the local for staff members of The Morning Star newspaper, and one of the staunch Followers was my musical mentor at the time. Newspapers on the floor would have been an improvement.
Okay, I made that part up, there was a sort of separate room, visually but not olefactorily. I don't believe the question of what women would do ever arose in that establishment.
# Posted on July 17th 2009 by oldstrings
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Like I say, Oldstrings, it's what I heard somewhere, from someone, sometime. Never been to Canada, much less any remote part thereof.
I did hear of an unfortunate incident that befell visitor to a pub somewhere in the West of Ireland. The man in question, having had a few pints, asked one of the locals the way to the gents. He was pointed towards a door at the back of the pub. So he headed straight for the door, opened it, stepped out and fell 18" onto a patch of sodden ground. It turned out, you were just meant to stand at the door...
# Posted on July 17th 2009 by OrganicPeatCreature
Re: Remembering to have a wazz and so forth..
Although there are now alternatives for women....
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441931845&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302695889&bmUID=1247935617645
# Posted on July 18th 2009 by oldstrings