Stuff by Dennis Alstrand
Paul's influence on bassists has been so widespread
over numerous generations that there's no denying he's in everybody's
playing at this point.--Will Lee This
article looks at how Paul McCartney brought the role of the bass guitar
from the depths of the briny oceans out into the sunlight.
I've tried to point out what he does with many of the Beatle songs (as
well as his solo stuff) to make them vibrant. as quoted in the book "The Beatles as
Musicians"
Go to Evolution of Rock
Bass Playing
I'm involved in a project by William Anderson whose purpose is to help upcoming bass players to be up front singing in the band.
If you'd like to learn more about it, check out singingbassist.com and subscribe. There's a LOT of great information there. Will has created an excellent DVD to help guide aspiring singing bass players, including very indepth interviews with top of the line bass players. I love it and recommend it.
Then and Now
One of my latest passions is to find old photographs of a town, and go re-create them. It's always kind of exciting to find the exact spot a photographer stood maybe 100 years ago, then - if the buildings in the old photo still exist - line up the shot exactly as was done before. Without fail, the place seems smaller in reality than it did looking at the old photo. Below are samples of Then and Now photos of San Francisco, the San Francisco Cliff House, and Newark and Alviso, California.
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| The Cliff House on the west side of San Francisco has a long and sometimes beautiful history.
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San Francisco Then and Now could fill a few books. Here are a few that I've recreated. |
On the east side of the San Francisco bay, 15 miles south of Oakland, is the town I grew up in: Newark. | Down near the south part of the San Francisco bay is a sleepy little town called Alviso that has it's own interesting history. Check it out here. |
Ahhh, for the love of Warmheart and his tales. Go here to read tales of warmth, debauchery...oops, I mean tenderness and backhanded love.
In 1973, Louie Cortez and Lance Morrison put a horn band
together designed to change the world. It was my first band
and, probably for that reason, my favorite one. Five of the six
members of Halla Nass talk about the birth and (flaming) death of the
band that could have gone somewhere if only.....if only.....we had
better singers. If you've ever pondered what it's like being in a
band....
Go to We're Halla
Nass 
Here's an old photo of me - known then as Commando Cody - with a female admirer while trying to save the earth from invaders from the planet moon.
Unfortunately, the "admirer" was busy yapping at me about who to shoot at and who I had missed and as you can see in the photo, I was in a state of complete distraction. Even the cake-hole of my helmet had opened into a gawking position. The result is history known to all. Retik and his Radar Men from the Moon successfully defeated Earth's defenses that day. What? You never heard about this?