Thanks again to Ian for the hospitality and the exchange of stories. I missed Victor Wooten on Sat, but got email from his wife 5am on Sun (because I'm going to his camp in March...strike those bad thoughts) saying they were just in Santa Monica. I was going to email her back and invite them to the nostatic trio gig in Marina del Rey last night. That would have been a hoot.
In an example of what is wrong with the world, there were tons of long lines for people wanting autographs from aging rockers (plenty of hair dye in play) with sagging tats, and young bucks that I didn't recognize with shaved heads and not-yet-sagging tats. Then we walked by the small Smith basses booth and the g/f sees "1:00 - Freddie Washington" written on the small easel. It was 1:15, and lo and behold, "Ready" Freddie Washington was sitting there talking with a friend. There was one other guy from Smith basses hanging out and that was it. Nobody noticed. Freddie grabbed a 5-string Smith and started playing. It was sick. Huge, fat, wide grooves. No flash. No 32nd note runs, no slappa-wanka-wanka crap. No one noticed. I stood there for 15 minutes mesmerized getting a clinic from 5' away.
This is Freddie: