We don't have to play games, sell or convince anyone! All we do is open people's eyes! The area was named after an Englishman. Disputes arose between the Dutch and the English. In , the Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of Suriname conquered from the English, resulting from the Treaty of Breda. Senate in Illinois in November His presidential campaign began in February , and after a close campaign in the Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination.
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Anonymous November 27, at AM. Anonymous November 29, at AM. Anonymous November 29, at PM. Anonymous November 30, at PM. Almost anyone who brings a technique to the forefront and gets as much attention as you have gets imitated almost immediately. Legions of copycats suddenly appear—what happened with Jaco's sound is a good example of that. But that hasn't happened in your case. People are startin' to do it more.
But one thing about this technique is it really takes some work to get used to because it's totally different from what us bass players are used to doin'. Slowly but surely I have been hearing people come out with things that I can really tell that I have influenced.
And I think it's great. I'd probably even hate to say I just don't wanna come off saying "Oh yeah, this guy got this from me. I know that I've influenced players—even some major players and friends of mine. But it goes both ways. We all influence each other. That's evolution. You've been the subject of a great deal of adulation. Titles like "the greatest player to ever pick up the electric bass" and "the most evolved player in history" have been attached to your name.
How do you deal with that? It's a very radical thing for people to say and have happen to me. I'm still not used to that kind of stuff because I don't see myself that way at all—especially with guys like Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Larry Graham.
These guys that I learned from are still around playin'. So they'll always be above me the way I look at it. To hear people say that about me makes me wanna start talking about these other guys.
But I just say "thank you" and realize that people are free to decide what they wanna decide. They're free to look at you however they want. And it shouldn't be my desire to change that. Whatever people wanna see is up to them. So I usually just say "thank you" and just try to let them hopefully see themselves in the same way that they see me. There's people puttin' me up on pedestals a lot of the time and I used to try to take myself off that pedestal.
But I've finally learned that, wow, if people can have those high sights I mean, if they can see something that high, that must mean they have the potential to gain that. They can be that high. I try to show them how they can be up that high also. It's good to be able to see high goals and see, "Wow, this person is way up there," because that lets you know where the possibilities are. But I just try to let people know that they can do everything that I do and definitely even more.
So I approach it that way now. I go ahead and let them say those great things about me, but I try to bring it to their attention that they have every ability to do the same. During your raps with The Flecktones and throughout your solo album, you often talk about peace.
What does peace mean to you? Peace and love and all that stuff is what's necessary for anything else to happen. I need that freedom and that peace inside me to be able to take the bass to the level that I wanna take it to.
So it all relates back to music, but it's actually at the forefront of the music. That has to be there first. A good example is when a lot of slaves were brought to this country, their instruments were taken away from them, and they had to express themselves through different means. I just strive for the freedom for people to be able to express themselves the way they choose—whether that's music or whether that's sweeping a street or whatever.
It's about allowing people to be who they wanna be. Peace definitely equals freedom. Peace, to me, I guess, if I had to describe it, would be the freedom to express who you are.
That's one way of saying it. That's a good explanation. I'd have to think a little to see if that covers all of it, but that's definitely a good one—the freedom for all things to be who they are. What do people have to have in place before they can embrace that philosophy?
They have to stop worrying about what other people think they should be. Most of us define ourselves by what others think of us rather than what you think of yourself or who you wanna be.
In other words, we wear these clothes because they're in fashion—that's what everyone else says we should wear. I wear my hair this way because everyone else thinks it looks good. You know, if I wore my hair or the clothes I wanted to wear and I went outside and everyone laughed at me, I'd probably come back in and change into something that, really, is maybe not me, but suits everyone else.
So I think that everyone should just really go inside of themselves and find out who they are and strive to be that. It really doesn't matter what the other person thinks. If you are truly who you are, the other person will grow to like that more than likely. During one of the spoken word parts between tunes on A Show of Hands , you talk about the Sesame Street bit that goes "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong.
It is, but I didn't use that name [ Sesame Street ], but I think most people know that that's what it is, yeah. You basically use that to assert that everything belongs—everything is somehow part of God's plan, including racism and injustice.
Well, I think it's all about acceptance. And usually every problem arises because of a lack of acceptance or rather we want other people to accept things the way that we accept them. Basically we want all things to be the way we want them to be rather than accepting things as they are. And that song "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong" all of a sudden was saying something doesn't belong because it's not like everything else.
And I can remember being a young kid—and moreso my brothers being the only black kids in a class and part of your school is watchin' TV in elementary school and they used to bring videos in from Sesame Street and things like that.
And these are things that you're being shown—"One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong. And all of a sudden, they're teaching you in class that if you're not like the other, you don't belong. So the main thing I'm trying to say there is that everything belongs. We just have to learn to understand it. We have to learn to understand the role that everything plays. And then it helps you accept things and then everything is easier dealt with—when you realize that everything does have a place.
I guess you just have to figure out what your place is within that. Yeah, because it's just so sad that after all these years racism is still a big part of this country and of so many countries. You know, we're almost in the year and people are still looking at color. Can you describe a situation in which you've encountered outright racism and how you dealt with it?
Well, I could bring up so many incidents, and there are some that are blatantly obvious. You know—where someone calls you a name or someone sees an interracial couple or something like that. There are so many incidents, but what even gets me more are the incidents that people don't catch because it's just a part of society. And I'll give you a good example. Two days ago, we had just arrived in Atlanta to play a show.
And we just pulled up to our hotel room and we got out of our vehicle and there was a guy coming out of his room—a white man coming out of his room in a shirt and tie and nice slacks, briefcase and everything—you know, a businessman or whatever. And he looks over at us and he says to me "What part of the parking lot are you guys working on today? And I said, "No, sir, I'm a guest just like you. And then he just got in his car and drove off.
There was no "Oh, I'm sorry. I mistook you for such and such," or "My fault," or whatever. He just got in his car and left and probably didn't think anything of it. And those are just the little ways racism still prevails. And it's not even racism so much as in black and white, it's just how we judge people by the cover—judging a book from its cover. I'm looking at that issue as broader than just a black or white issue because blacks, we look at whites the same way and I'm just hoping that we can get into seeing people as people and not because you wear this or you wear that then you must be this type of person.
I could've taken a few different approaches to it, but I was nice with the man. Because in situations like that, confronting it with the same attitude as the person that's giving you anger or whatever will just escalate the whole thing. It'll give that person reason to feel that way. But if you give that person no reason to feel that way, then it'll help defuse the whole situation.
So that's the way I approach most of those situations. And some of 'em really try you—they really make you get angry sometimes. But for the most part, my main goal in that is to not give that person a reason—any reason—to feel that way towards me. America has seen some real racial upheavals and divisive events in recent times. Obviously, the Rodney King and O. Simpson incidents come to mind. Through it all, I still say that things are getting better.
I mean, I'd have to say that. Racism and inequality have moved into different places and they may not be as visible, but they're still there. I still think that things are better. When I look at things like Rodney King and O. And I think we need many more people that way—rather than to run away from the problem and let it stay there.
I'm glad that there are at least some people that are trying not to be a part of the problem. Basically, we need a lot of people like that here. So I'm glad that I'm here around it so that maybe I can help get rid of part of it or get rid of all of it.
Certainly an admirable attitude. But some people argue that it's simply human nature to push back when you're pushed around. Yeah, most people say that it is human nature. That's what we're taught most of the time. But there are definitely other ways. There are definitely other ways.
Yeah, and once you're educated, you still have to be wise enough to use that education. Education is definitely a big part of it—being taught about the racism and everything.
But you also have to be wise. Because there's not one solution to every problem. Each situation has to be handled in the appropriate way and that comes through wisdom. I don't think there's any education that can teach you everything about music or everything about life. You just have to kinda live.
And you're gonna be faced with situations that you haven't been educated about and to me that's where wisdom comes in—which is very similar to education.
But to me, wisdom is how you use your education. Yeah, a lot of people tell me that I am and I guess I would be termed a spiritual person. But to me, everything in this world is spiritual because the way I look at it, anything that exists physically had to exist spiritually first. So I don't see how anything couldn't be spiritual. But because I recognize it, you know, yes, I am considered a spiritual person. You know I love reading about it and I love talking about spiritual things.
But I would consider myself more of a spiritual person rather than a religious person. No, I don't. I saw a bumper sticker once that said "God is too big for any one religion. I look at it like music. I don't consider myself a jazz musician because then what happens when I wanna play bluegrass one day? Am I not allowed? The Flecktones have gone to a bunch of schools to do gigs and help open kids' minds to new musical and social ideas. We have.
We haven't done a lot, but we have. We played in elementary classrooms and colleges and things like that. For high schools too. And even though you're there for the music, do you see the kids absorbing other messages too? Kids definitely do. Kids are so great 'cause they really are innocent until they learn otherwise. I mean to see—especially when Howard [Levy] was in the band—two blacks and two whites and we're playing music with a banjo, a harmonica, bass and then this weird drum instrument, you know, basically, not following any rules, but coming out with something that's enjoyable.
Kids totally understand it. No question about it because they see it for what it is, not what it's made up out of. They don't say "Wow, this guy's black so it's supposed to sound like this," or "This guy's Jewish and it's supposed to sound like this," or "This is a banjo and it's supposed to sound like that. So a lot of the time the kids understand the music much more than the adults because they don't try to analyze it or pigeonhole it or anything like that.
But they also get the message which is different than what society teaches them a lot of times. And basically, the message is that you can make whatever is in your heart work.
Whatever it is in your heart, you can make it work. And we're proof of that. By taking these instruments and taking them out of their characteristic traits, and still makin' it work—makin' it enjoyable. Since Levy left in , do you perceive any sort of imbalance in the group as a trio?
It just shifted us in another direction. I don't think it's an imbalance because we have covered for any lack, hopefully. It's like if you have a four-man team of any sort, and then one person leaves, the other three have to step up and it makes the other three have to grow. And that's what it did in this situation when Howard left the band. He wasn't seeing his family enough because The Flecktones were touring so much. He has a wife and two kids. But also, Howard's not the kind of guy who likes to stay in one situation.
And we had him for three years. He likes to play in all different types of situations. So, I think, that was probably just as big a part of it. He didn't have the freedom that he used to have. I think he had just grown a little tired of it.
I didn't know! We're really looking forward to it. I just kinda wanna be done with the road some—at least as much as I'm doin' it now. I don't wanna be out that much when the children come She just finished a tour yesterday, actually—touring around with children's theater.
So we're both out on the road quite a bit. That's what they say. I know after my first nephew was born, it was a change for me. It was just amazing. One of my brothers having a baby So I can just imagine when it's us—when it's me.
I'm looking forward to it. Until you have kids, what would you say is the primary motivator in your life? Music's definitely a big motivator in my life, but it's my life that motivates the music. You see, the music is like a language. And if I were gonna talk, I wouldn't talk to motivate myself.
I'd have to be motivated to talk. And I approach music the same way. I need something to say—musically. And so that's why I try to get out and do so many other things with my life. So that when I come back to music, I have things to play or to talk about. It's like the blues, you know—just like the blues. When people have a hard day, they can sing the blues.
If they have a hard life they can sing the blues. The best blues singers are the ones that are singin' about experience, 'cause they're puttin' their heart and soul into it. Well, I'm doin' the same thing except I'm singing a different type of blues.
You know, most of my blues is happy. It wouldn't be considered the blues. But I let my life experience influence the music in the exact same way. So, for me, I'm about life first—being a great person, being the person I wanna be, being the best at that I can be and lettin' the music come out of that. We became a full-time band in the beginning of But we had actually started playing some gigs back in, I guess, ' And the Lonesome Pine Special, I guess, was ' So yeah, it's been awhile.
But we've all grown as musicians and people—I'll even say that. We've just been able to see the non-limitations of our instruments and of music even more. We've been able to travel the world so we've been able to learn more about world music and let that influence us.
And to see how if people were more like music, then maybe we could all get along better. We go over to these countries and jam with people. We may not be able to talk to 'em, but we can sit down and jam with 'em and that's an amazing thing. But yeah, we've definitely grown as musicians. I think we've all gotten better on our instruments—learned more about our instruments—learned more about musical relationships.
I could probably see it grow through my brother mostly because his instrument's always changing on a daily basis. And with each change it brings him new ideas. We're just growing with the instrument. And then even with the loss of Howard, it really made us step up as far as playing music and even the musical technology.
He'd just walk up to a microphone and play his banjo. Now, everything's miced and has MIDI pick-ups and all this kind of neat stuff.
Yeah, in a sense. You know, we've done it so much. It's always fun for me to do other things. I don't know that I'll say that I get tired of it, but I do get to points But also it's been almost a month since I've done a Flecktones show and we're gonna do one tomorrow so that'll be fun again.
Yeah, it's definitely about balance. It seems like whenever you do anything all the time, no matter how great it is, you're always happy to see a break from it, so that when you come back to it, it's great again. Fleck never ceases to amaze me in the amount of space he gives to the other players in the band. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it is great to see that.
But another thing, and hopefully this doesn't come off the wrong way My brother and I and even Howard are individualists. We are the type of people that basically we all see each other as equals. We had all done support roles and we knew that with this band, for it to be the best it could be, it would have to be an equal-type of situation.
You know—not a one-person and a back-up band type of situation. When we all decided to do it full-time, I don't know if it was so much of a spoken thing, but we all respected each other that way. The shows wouldn't be the same. The records wouldn't be the same. It would just be a totally different band. And he sees the strengths that each member brings to the family.
And to hold that back would just weaken the whole family. So, a double live CD is in the works? It's not done yet. It's being mixed right now as we speak. It should be done any day. It'll be out this year. And I'm not quite sure of the exact date. Because there's so much music and the music spans a five-year period. He's trying to listen to it all, and decide what should be used, edit together, make sure it's right, and mix it. Edit, yeah. Edit from night-to-night. And there may even be a few songs where we played one part great one night, but played the second part of the tune better the next night, so with the technology nowadays you can put those two nights together.
Some people object to live albums that are pieced together that way. The argument is it takes away from the integrity, honesty and vibe of the performance. You see, the thing is, it's all about the outcome. It's about the music. It's like when I go see a movie, it doesn't matter to me what day they filmed the scene. It's about whether the music's good and enjoyable. That's the way I look at it.
And to me, it's all about the outcome. I'm not so concerned about how someone does something, but I do understand what you're saying—which is why even in our studio recordings we try to play everything as live as possible. There may be some. I haven't done any, but I do know there's some stuff on there with Paul McCandless playin' horn. For the most part it is live. For the most part it is. So, the live album spans various years and performances. I assume that means Levy will appear on some of the material.
Because some nights the solo may be 15 minutes long. And we have to remember that in a live record, each song maybe shouldn't be 15 minutes long. Shouldn't that be the whole point of a live album? To capture a realistic performance? It's a long version though. It's a good version. I'm happy this album is happening.
I haven't been around for all of it—the actual mixing and stuff—because I opted to go out and do some of my own things. And I also did a lot of clinics. And I've just been having to fit in so many other things that I haven't been around for the process.
I'm just hopin' that it really captures the live element. Victor credits the brothers' early ability to play a variety of musical genres to the experience of relocating frequently, the diversity of 's radio stations, and the unwavering support of their parents who provided many opportunities and booked all of their performances.
Regi started teaching me as soon as I could sit up straight, and my parents let him do it. Victor has been heralded as "the Michael Jordan of the bass" and "one of the most fearless musicians on the planet. Victor, having never played violin in his life, was thrilled to meet the challenge. He borrowed an instrument from his high school orchestra teacher and immediately began practicing.
He trusted me. I had to learn to be a fiddler real quick, almost over night. I don't think the people who hired me ever knew I'd never played before. What they soon found out was that the brothers were quickly becoming star attractions. The Wooten Brothers rapidly became staple figures and star attractions at the park throughout the 's working in the German, Italian, Country and Bluegrass, and Americana shows.
Traveling the world was an eye-opening time of learning for young Victor, but it was one summer performing in the country show that, unbeknownst to him, changed his life forever. They prepared me for just about anything by teaching me to keep my mind open and to learn to adapt. While messing around with a friend's banjo between shows, the friend commented on Wooten's unique banjo sound.
Because the instrument is tuned different from a bass, Victor's lines came out sounding pretty strange when he played his friend's instrument. With a thick southern accent, the friend told him that he sounded just like a banjo player named "Baylor Fleck".
Wooten couldn't imagine anyone playing a banjo that way, so he sought out to find out who this Baylor guy was. In , Victor traveled with his friend to Nashville, TN. During their short visit, he connected with the banjoist Fleck for the first time. After their initial meeting, Wooten and Fleck kept in touch and continued sharing musical ideas. In , Wooten found himself living in Nashville. With a dozen recordings under their belt, the band has created a completely new sound and has become known for its genre-defying music.
Currently, over twenty years later, the band is still going strong. A few years after he began touring with the Flecktones, Victor released his first solo project, A Show of Hands. Recorded with only a 4-string bass, no multi-tracking, and a lot of groove and soul, this revolutionary CD was voted one of the most important bass records of all time. Musicians wanting to learn Victor's unique style and elusive techniques began seeking him out for lessons and seminars at music stores and schools around the world.
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