In October of 2005, I unofficially became a hermit. I still went to work, of course, but I made what I call an “Inward Turn.”

Up until that month, I’d been very active in the local band community (Gainesville, FL). Then, well, things happened, and I just gave up on people, for approximately a year. I kept to myself, practiced, made my music–learned to play conga drums, developed a bit of style & panache on the keyboard, picked up a few more fingerstyle acoustic skills, and worked on my bass improvisation.

A few months ago, Jessica York, a friend of mine from the Gainesvillebands.com days, invited me to her birthday, out of the blue. Funny what these little things can do; it got me out of my shell. Jess is one of the coolest folks on the planet, and it was incredibly good of her to remember this one particular lost sheep.

Through Jess I was able to reconnect with my old friend, Morgan Caraway. Morgan is my inspiration. He is widely regarded as one of the most talented bass players in town, and I’d venture to say, he’d be the best in any town he chose to move to. The review I’ve often given his playing is that if you dumped a box of china down a set of stairs, Morgan could make up a bassline that would be perfect for it and make it sound like music.

Want to hear him? Check this out, he’s on bass in Nim Sum:

• The band’s Myspace page.
• The band’s website.

Morgan was once part of one of my favorite bands of all time–I’m not even qualifying that by saying local band, I mean bands in general of all time–El Robot.

Now, I would direct you to some cool place where you could listen to their music, but, alas, there is no longer a web page in existence with their tunes. Which is too bad: their music was innovative, wildly creative, and unmatched by any band in town before or since.

It wasn’t just Morgan. His partner, Allen Shorter, has a wicked, if not unbelievable, vinyl LP collection from which he sampled, remixed, rewired, and remade entire sets of albums into totally new creations.

On the first album, Allen wrote hilarious and clever lyrics. Then, on the 2nd El Robot album, he pulled off a song called “Two” that was deep, and full of truths that aren’t often spoken out loud. It was an amazing transformation.

Allen has moved on to running a home studio; Morgan has moved on to many new bands and even some solo work. I suppose we can’t be prisoners of our past–innovation is about moving on, and love is sometimes about letting go.

But I’m glad to have reconnected.

To learn more about El Robot, read the article in the Gainesville Sun that started it all.