Nov. 17, 2008 - Kevin Smith

My Influences:

Mr. Kevin Smith
string bass

My cousin turned me on to the Asylum Street Spankers. He paid me a visit after he stumbled across their first CD in a bin at Tower Records. We threw that CD into the stereo and enjoyed some fine music. At some point, we had both started thinking about the great bass sound and started discussing the nature of his percussive effect. How is this guy making all this racket?
This guy was (and still is) Mr. Kevin Smith.
I'm sure that I had heard a string bass being slapped before hearing those recordings but Kevin was most certainly the first bassist that made me aware of this technique.
For that alone, I am monumentally grateful and indebted to this great man.

It would be a serious foul to understate Kevin's great ability with this instrument. Our man is very easily one of the best string bassists around ... and, I don't just mean around town.
Kevin has the most phenomenal taste; an uncanny ability to share and play the music that we all seem to desire in any musical setting. He presents this ability and this music in a very comfortable and natural manner that seems to relax and soothe yet inspire and excite the attentive listeners as well as the jabber-jawed conversationalists in his audiences.
I'll say it again; Kevin is very easily one of the best string bassists around!

Kevin is not just an amazing musicianer. He is an amazing friend and an amazing human being.
On more than one occasion, Mr. Smith has rushed into my corner to assist with me with the battles life has thrown my way.
A few years ago, my roommates and I lost our house to a fire. After the firemen cleared the house, I went to work immediately on the recovery process. Knowing that process would be an all-day affair (at least), I dropped Kevin a call to ask him if he could cover my gig that evening. When I explained to him why, he wanted to know what else he could do. He had already done enough by taking that stress off me so I didn't wish to bother him with anything more. With a kind and genuine "thank you!" we ended the conversation. Twenty minutes later, he pulled up out front of the smoked house ready to help.
For the next six + hours Kevin rummaged through the charred mess with me, salvaging the bulk of what I owned. He helped me clean what we could on the spot and pack those sooty personal items into my wagon. Throughout, he successfully kept my spirits up by good, light-hearted joking and, he even insisted on driving us to the local grocer to pick up lunch -a concept completely foreign to me in Marine mode.
By the end of the salvage day, I was covered with char and smoke. Kevin, stylish gabardine jacket and all, had one small bit of soot on his collar; not only did he rush to the house to help me through and recover from a fairly stressful situation, reorganizing all of his (many) other responsibilities, he did it with style, grace, and genuine care and friendship. And, he kept it light!

Kevin is a great friend. He has warmly invited me to be a part of his life. He has shared his wonderful and kind friendship with me. He has treated me like family. He is easily one of the best human beings I have ever met!

Thank you, Kevin! You have been and always will be a very great influence and inspiration to me in all aspects of my life. You opened up one of the most important doors in my life that has led to some much of the good that surrounds me.
Thank you for all the good you present to so many other lives, too! This world is truly a better place because of your efforts.

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Some Links:

www.myspace.com/txstringbass

www.myspace.com/highnoontrio

http://www.heybale.com/

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"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
~ Winston Churchill

Nov. 2, 2008 - Jon Baily

My Influences:


Mr. Jon Baily
banjo, veteran, musicianer

There are so many brilliant characters who have graced my life. All of them seem to leave an indelible mark or marks that continue to remind me how to live; how to give.
This week's illustration of such greatness is my late friend, Jon Baily. It's been over three years since his passing but I still carry with me his joyful and giving spirit. Because of the nature of his gift, I don't feel heavy sadness when I remember that he is gone, instead, I just can't help feeling lighter and smiling when I think of Jon or recall some joke or story he had shared with me.
What a great musicianer!
What a great man!

August 25, 2005

Jon Baily, a banjo player from California, spent his last years in Austin, Texas supporting the Austin Banjo Club and the Austin Traditional Jazz Society.

I met Jon at a Traditional Jazz Society function. He scrawled on the back of his business card the directions to the Banjo Club and insisted that I show up the following week. I did.

Jon went out of his way through those, my first couple visits to the Banjo Club, to make me feel welcome and to insist on my return. From those first visits to the Banjo Club on, Jon would share his love for music with me through telephone calls and emails. He would insist that I come pick up some band’s CD that made him think of me. He would email me all manner of information concerning music in all its forms that he found of interest.


Jon's love for music and his desire and willingness to share it were impeccable and so very appreciated. Jon was also proud of the banjo pickers in the Club who were veterans. He summed up their stints in the military for me on different occasions. He shared with me any story that filtered through him that related to our nation’s warriors.

I’m ever thankful for having gotten to know this man and will live more fulfilled having been gifted by his hearty spirit.

If you have the extra time in the days following, take a minute, please, and realize what’s good around you. Be thankful for the elders in our musical family and take heart in their vitality and nature. Without these good people, our lives would be less.

Thank you, Jon Baily. I will continue to play tunes to the best of my ability for you!

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Some Links:

The Baily Family's Tribute:
http://bailyfamily.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=13817
Austin Banjo Club:
http://www.austinbanjoclub.org/people.html
Mark Rubin's Good Words:
http://markdrubin.blogspot.com/2005/09/jon-baily-rip.html

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"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
~ Albert Einstein