Improvisation (past tense)

The following is a post I made in 2007 on an old blog.  I wanted to repost it here mostly for my own memory, and the things it makes me think about.  Hope you enjoy it, too.

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In April 2007, I did a short tour in France with Nom Tom. The set-up I use for this trio utilizes a small amp, a small mixer, and between 2 and 4 cassette decks, as well as 2 snare drums. This produces a fairly specific sound, particularly with what I knew the amp could do with it’s inherent gain settings, etc. So, I figured since they were all small pieces, I’d bring them with, so as to not have any surprises with borrowed equipment. Not being very versed in electronics, I relied on the expertise of my local Radio Shack employee to lead me in the right direction in the way of power converter, since Europe works on a different voltage. The employee seemed very confident in his recommendations so I made the purchase.

Arriving in France the following week (I will omit describing the ordeal involved in hauling this equipment from Chicago to Paris…), we visited the studio of Pascal Battus. I set my equipment up, plugged everything in, and then went to hit the power switch on the power strip, and BOOM, everything blew up. I believe the power strip was the culprit, leaving the amp completely dead, the power strip burning, but fortunately the mixer still worked. We hooked up another amp, and I made do, wondering how I was going to manage for the rest of the tour, which hadn’t even begun yet.

We found an amp for me to borrow, so all seemed well. And it was. However, this changed things slightly as far as my capabilities go. This is the kind of situation one can find themselves in any given day, but when it comes to music, it often seems more critical to have things exactly a certain way. I could comment here about drum tech horror stories, but I won’t. The point I’m trying to make is that as both a musician and a person, we need to be prepared to act in any situation. Not having certain things, or having things just as we want them shouldn’t inhibit us from doing what we do. Find a way. It’s an aspect of improvising music, and it should certainly translate into daily life.

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