Krissy’s Anniversary Gift

Krissy with her new bass.

A couple weeks ago I took a picture of Krissy with my bass, just for fun, and she remarked — wrong-handedness aside — that she liked the feel and weight of the bass; it felt like an instrument she could get into. Well, I didn’t need much encouragement from that point; I snuck online when she wasn’t looking and picked up a left-handed bass for her as an anniversary gift, and arranged with a bassist friend of ours to give her a few lessons. If everything works out, Krissy and I will have our own punk band very very soon.

— JS

36 Comments on “Krissy’s Anniversary Gift”

  1. I had not realized your wife’s a southpaw! My mother was a lefty, and so is my wife’s best friend.

    :-)

  2. Love this! I can almost see the two of you in a Sono and Cher-esque pix spread in Tiger Beat.

  3. I’m also left-handed, but I can’t even imagine trying to play a left-handed guitar. Of course, I can’t play my “normal” right-handed one worth a crap either, so there’s that. Good luck to her.

  4. To quote from Zelazny,

    Oh, basely done! I had hoped for better of thee! – Borel of Chaos

  5. With SO many people taking reversed pix of themselves on their phones, something I find maddening any time there’s a stringed instrument involved, I wasn’t sure it was a lefty at first.

    SCORE! Instruments for the win.

  6. And speaking of that…Happy 79th Birthday to southpaw bassist Sir Paul McCartney.

  7. Nice story Mr. S. You’re very good at stories which we all know.
    Time to fess up. You getting to be her groupie is another dream come true for you, isn’t it?

  8. Looks good on you, Krissy. Just remember that to play a wrong note is insignificant, but to play without passion is inexcusable (I think that was Beethoven).

  9. In honor of the husband and wife duo The White Stripes, I propose “Scalzi Nation Army” as your first album title.

  10. Awesome gift! Love Ibanez basses have a pair myself that I’ve had since the early 90s. Be prepared to be the least cool person in the band, because we all know bass players are the coolest! Hope she gets much enjoyment out of it.

  11. Athena’s instrument will be a cricket bat. She’s obviously the band’s manager. (No gigs in Boston, though — it’s not much of a college town.)

  12. @jaidling, from the Twitter thread:

    “isn’t it just biting your lip and closing your eyes while straining your neck dramatically while you wiggle like three fingers???”

    So bassists other than Roger Waters do the Lookit Me, I’m Putting In So Very Hard Here thing? I cannot see Krissy pulling faces to get people to take notice of her; she’d have their attention by default.

    P.S. Belated happy anniversary!

  13. And the vintage-shoutout guitar strap just completes the look. Nicely done, Scalzis.

  14. I always say there are two kinds of people in the world: people who play the bass and people who are wrong.

    Joking aside, the bass is a great instrument and the easiest instrument I ever learned how to play.

  15. Some of us are going to be taking those Band Name jokes more seriously, now…

  16. Band name jokes as a contest!

    “What do you mean Athena is taking 50% of our gross!”
    “Not our day jobs.”
    “The cats do not mind.”

  17. Given one of the problems with the practice area, another potential band name comes to mind:

    Cat Box Fever

  18. My wife, and every girlfriend I had before her are, and were, left handed. What’s up with that? And btw, when my wife played in the local municipal softball league she was the best first baseman (base person?) of them all. She could hit too! She was a hit with me as well and still is after 45 years. Keep reading Krissy correctly (and giving her fun gifts) and you’ll make it this far too.

  19. Awesome! And she also looks the part! So cool.

    At this point you should probably stick with the drums, ’cause anybody else will simply be invisible on stage.

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