Let me begin this post with a few words about my great friend Mark O’Brien. Mark and I have been friends since early 2001, when we were both living in Providence; since then, Mark has moved to North Carolina, I’ve moved to California, and I don’t get to see him nearly as much as I would like. The projects White Whale has undertaken for Duke University have given me an excuse to visit him occasionally over the last few years, but it’s just not enough. Fortunately, he’ll be the best man at my wedding in September, so we’ll have some quality time then. And we both run Web companies now (his is called Newfangled, and has a better Web site than mine), so we talk shop from time to time.
Mark and I played in a band together in Providence (that’s how we met). He plays bass, and he really is one of the best bass players I’ve ever known. A lot of dudes who play the bass are really just guitar players who dabble on the bass, usually as a way to get into other people’s bands; Mark really lives and breathes the bass. He’s just awesome.
Not long after moving to Oakland, I joined a band myself, as a bass player. (I’m a guitarist, but I dabble on the bass, usually as a way to get into other people’s bands.) In order to pass as a real bass player, I figured I needed some respectable equipment, so I called Mark for advice. And I have thought a lot since then about what he told me.
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