Leaderboard

I’ve had 4 gigs this week so been quite busy… Last Sunday afternoon I was playing with the blues band at a pub in N.Lincolnshire. It appeared that very little had been done by them to publicise it so we played to a small audience ( and a dog! ) Finished bang on 7pm, and was back home by 7.30 - one of those rare times for me when I just wanted to take the money and run. Tuesday was a gig with the acoustic duo for a birthday party. Played in a nice garden, and managed to set up in the shade thank goodness, it was a hot one. Took along my little Ibanez PNB14 very short scale, and it suited the gig perfectly. The low tension strings were a welcome rest for my fingers, and the gig went really well, with a couple of enquiries for similar events. Wednesday was my weekly gig at the rock n roll club. Took along my large stage fan which helped with the heat. A good crowd of dancers in as usual, and we did more slow stuff than usual as they were getting a bit sweaty. Used my recently acquired Hartke head into the 4x10, am getting used to this now. Friday saw the blues band playing an early evening slot at Farmyard 2025, a large bikers festival on a country estate in Helmsley , North Yorks. A very well attended and organised event, with great staff and tech crew. Days before the gig I realised I no longer have a ‘big’ bass rig, and so took my (nearly vintage!) Barefaced Compact cab to use along with my Rumble 500 combo. Although the combo would have been sufficient, when the Compact was added it gave it massive clout so I ended up using them both. We did an hour set, which went very quickly. Nice to play on a big stage again, and I really enjoyed it. Also got to meet @peteb who was playing with his band ‘The Gentlemen Rogues’ immediately after our set ( see pics). Was knackered yesterday, but just getting ready for another gig today with the duo - a party in a local village pub starting around 4pm. Definitely taking my fan for this one, so hot today.

How was my gig last night? One word, sweaty! Played our local Billy Bootleggers with our acoustic trio, supplemented for this gig by good friend and multi-talented percussion, harmonica, and vocalist Mr Les Young. We were on straight after a local Dolly Parton impersonator who was entertaining a ‘bottomless brunch’ crowd who migrated off to other venues in and around the Ouseburn delta before we struck a chord. This gig is one with a mainly passing trade, but we did our usual trick of getting folk to stay so we had built up a medium sized appreciative crowd by the end of our second set. Lilly, my 1960’s Boosey Hawkes Excelsior coped really well with the heat and despite my fears, remained in tune for the whole gig, which is better than what I managed 😂 Picture may be used to keep small children away from open fires etc.

I took part in my first gig in 18 months yesterday. It was a battle of the bands in a secondary school and our band was one of the 'parent's bands'. Anyway, we have our first gig under the belt. It was outdoors so I got to use my full rig and this ended up being the kids' bass rig too. Consequently, I ended up with bass tech duties too. This is my first gig playing with a drummer with an electronic kit. There were no monitors and as well as not hearing the vocals, I could barely hear the drums. We got through our short set ok though. My rig:

Last night, played with Nine Lives at the Harbour Lights in Peterhead. As intimated above, had a rather nasty summer cold which I had fought through the worst of, but still felt about 75% strength. Still, the show must go on, sponsored by Lemsip and Kleenex if necessary. Got an instant boost on arrival - the venue has hired a sound engineer again! The last few times we played there, we had to rather annoyingly set up our own PA in front of their much larger tops and subs and do it all ourselves. No PA lugging for us last night. Instantly that perked me up! We got greeted by a friendly lass who had been mentored through 7 shows but last night was her first gig doing the sound solo. She did a great job and it made for an unusually quiet and civilised stage - our PA is vocal only for the most part. Nice change. My amp was my own personal monitor and it was barely on. Got a great monitor feed, could hear everything, nice balanced FOH sound, fantastic - lass did great for her first gig by herself. As you can imagine, having the sound basically taken care of us made for a very relaxed gig, and the adrenaline pulled me through enough to still get out there on the wireless and get up to no good. New move unlocked - hitting a ball on the pool table with the head of my bass. Need to work on that one because I muted the strings while I was doing it, but as I always say "people listen with their eyes" and I got a cheer for the audacious move. The game of pool was over BTW, there were two random balls on the table and no white in sight - so I didn't eff up anyone's game. Anyway, had a great night - it wasn't super busy but we did have folk up dancing and that's all you need. While we were packing up, to say the heavens opened was an understatement - a monsoon of rain, massive lightning strikes and booming thunder. Which thankfully moved on by the time it came to loading the cars. But the storm had moved in the direction of Aberdeen, so I ended up driving into it like a storm chaser - rain so heavy I had to slow down to 40 or so on the dual carriageway - massive lightning strikes - even saw the shape of it one time and the thunder came almost immediately after so must have been close! And my jammy luck didn't end there - when I got home proper, the rain was off again! God bless Scotland and its nutty weather Gear was a long, shaggy dog story plugged into a snotty hankie. No, wait - it was the Yamaha BB1200 followed by the Burny LSB-80 into a barely awake Markbass rig.

Phew! That was tough one at the South Benfleet Social club. Intensely hot, even massive fans and iced water could only do so much. The audience were appreciative but I think the heat was wearing on them too! Lots of applause but very little dancing. We’re back there on August 16th and a few people said they’re coming back to see us again, so that’s always nice to hear. We played well, some of my regular mistakes were ironed out, so pleased overall. Best part of the night was a cool shower when I got home!

We played Summerfest yesterday. There were some pros and cons. It was one of the smaller stages. However it was an upgrade from the last two years after we lost our big stage contact. It was 99° so Summerfest attendance was low. We had an air conditioned trailer with a nice supply of cold drinks. We played a 45-minute set took an hour break then came back and played another 45 minute set. The best part of the gig was we went straight from the stage into the shuttle van. That was cool. Daryl

I had a depping gig last night at a local golf club. One short rehearsal where I met half the band (but not the singer). The set list was familiar with only four or five I hadn't played before and the rehearsal showed up another few that had different arrangements than what I was used to. A 20 minute drive to the gig was a bonus. I'd played this golf club about 20 years ago so although it was vaguely familiar, the decor had changed for the better and the band had a dedicated space (although not an actual stage). Following the recent trend the gig was sweaty as although there was a patio door open behind us, there was little movement of air. Every thrash of the cymbal that sent a waft of slightly cooler air my way was a gift. It was a good night and my playing was up to a standard I was pleased with given the circumstances; no major gaffes and only a couple of issues with the ends of songs. The crowd were certainly up and dancing from the first number and throughout. The band were pleased with my efforts and I'm now on their dep list. Kit was my trusty Sterling 34HH, swapping between bridge pick up for the rockier numbers and both pick ups for a more mellow sound for the quieter stuff. This went through a Zoom MS60B for noise gate, compressor and tuning/mute and an Ampeg SRC-DI into the FX return of my Peavey Minimax 600 and a pair of TE 1x10" cabs. It's the first time I've used backline for several years (I DI and use IEM with my main band) and it was great to be able to get the punch out of the TE cabs, which were more than a match for drums, three guitars and a singer. Footwear was Black Skechers.

Party in the Barn. This was a ticket do with hog roast included. I'll try to be cheery about, despite missing Iron Maiden (my wife and son said they were fantastic!) So we actually had a really good gig. Nice to be working with a sound guy we knew and it sounded great. It was darned hot and humid though so I'm glad I took my fan. There were about 300 people there, around 200 of them that dragged their tables out of the barn to where there was a very slight breeze. It wasn't exactly the freshest of air though being a working farm 😂 A long, hot night but plenty of dancing. The Rumble was only just ticking over as on stage monitor as everything was through the PA

Played a birthday party in the middle of nowhere in a sweaty tent, no food or drinks with a client who made an ignorant/racist comment to out guitarist right of the bat. I also got to use my newly finished "Grandma's wallpaper" jazz bass. So 7/10 overall

Saturday was a surprise 50th birthday party, in the upstairs function room at Starr Sports, Canvey Island. The birthday boy’s wife booked us months ago after seeing us severaral times, including another party in the same venue. Apparently he is a huge back to the future fan, so they had an “enchantment under the sea” theme, including decorations, and we offered to include a couple of songs from the film in out set, as well as a couple more when Liam, one of our co-lead singers was also going to man the DJ booth. I say ‘was’, because we got a message Saturday morning on our band group chat to say that his ME was playing up quite badly which took him out of action. This meant revising the set list for Jenny, the other lead singer to do the gig on her own - something she hasn’t done for a some time, particularly this sort of gig - as there are a few songs she simply can’t pull off. There was also a few in the set that she doesn’t usually sing or hasn’t sung lead on them before, but was confident she could. I realised this also meant I was going to need to up my backing vocals game, and sing some parts I don’t usually sing… which is fun! This also meant the DJ service was said we would provide before, between and after sets wasn’t going to happen either. Luckily, I have some party playlists already set up in the Music app on my iPad (aka iTunes) that would get us out of trouble. I just had to find a couple of extra songs from the BTTF soundtrack to play at certain predefined points during the evening. I needn’t have worried though. The evening went without a hitch. Jenny did an amazing job on her own. I feel she sometimes relies on Liam’s confidence to interacti with the audience, but it seems to have rubbed off on her. This venue also has a lovely big stage area and she made the most of it (as did I), confidently moving around and interacting with everyone. My curated playlists worked fine (thank goodness for Bluetooth on our mixer), although I realised that I can't switch to BandHelper whilst playing music. That's a mistake I won't make again! I also realised during our first set that I hadhn't synced BandHelper before I left home. So I connected it to my iPhone whilst it was playing music towards the end our break so that it would sync when I switched back to BandHelper, not realising that a FB messenger notification would pop up... loudly, through the PA system. Another mistake I won't make again! Ooh, one last thing, as this stage is so wide, last time we played there I noticed the speakers being so far apart, meant the drums didn't quite gel. So I asked one of the guitarists to being their DXR10 speaker to use as a centre fill. Sat it on top of the sub, plugged it into an aux out of the mixer, with the same mix as the main, and set to post fader. Dead easy, and sounded great. Definitely made a positive difference. So all in all, a good night after, despite the anxiety of being a man down.

How do you reorientate videos? LOL WhatsApp Video 2025-06-22 at 12.50.37 PM.mp4

We joined a new church in January this year - our local Anglican Church (or at least one of them) - and been feeling increasingly at home there. It’s not been since the before pandemic that I’ve played in a service but I’ll be playing bass at the the church for the first time tomorrow, so this should be fun. It’s at the more relaxed evening service. The tone and approach to the music is a bit more mellow than I’ve previously been used to at previous churches, though it’s all the same sort of range of writers… Bethel, Brooke Ligertwood, Elevation, Rend Collective etc. Will be keys/piano leading plus bass, acoustic guitar, drums and vocals. Will be interesting to see how it goes. Very much looking forward to it. I’ll try to report back afterwards!

Wasn’t in a great place when I arrived but Dr Gig helped to pull me out of the pit. Very hot last night with the windows and doors mainly shut, and a lot of people outside in the front garden of a small country pub, so it was a bit quiet but those that were inside were appreciative. All good with the IEM’s and the new better boundary mic I ordered after the old one wasn’t working last week w a marked improvement. Very tight on space and some of the videos look very static and somewhat disengaged from those in the crowd but I think that was to do with lack of space (at least I hope so)

Played a dep gig for my old soul band. The set had changed slightly since I last played with them, Boogie Nights, Never Too Much and Let's Groove had to be learned and polished and then rejigged again with all the mistakes/changes the band have added 😂 Boogie Nights intro and outro had become my Achilles Heel, the bridge I needed to cross to enjoy this gig fully. The gig was a wedding reception at the Stones Hotel near Amesbury (more than a stones throw from Stonehenge, which seems a blessing on Solstice). We did 3 x 40 mins sets with 40 min breaks which were filled by a DJ. I was a little apprehensive due to the heat that afternoon but the room was large with a high ceiling and a couple of stage fans plus the fire exit was open...cool as a cucumber! Gig went well, the long breaks between sets was welcome and I was pleased how the new stuff went even if they didn't go quite to plan, any bumps in the road were dealt with calmly 😁. Even Boogie Nights went well! The big plus playing in this band is that I get to sit in the engine room with Dave, probably the best drummer I've had the honour of sharing a stage with. He is my rhythm version of an old pair of comfortable slippers, it all clicks with him (lovely shirt too!). Overall a grand night and a good pay packet at the end of it 👍🏻

Had a rehearsal booked today. Message from drummer saying he's put his back out, then singer messages saying she's dribbling with cold... But we went ahead anyway - I got the album drum stems on the laptop, plugged it into the PA and we did a 2 basses and guitar rehearsal. And it was excellent! We've ironed out some of the niggles between the 2 basses, and new guitarman now has all structures, and can do the widdley bits with me and solos that fit over funky slap stuff. So extremely worthwhile - should now be fine for Rebellion with 3 more full band rehearsals and warm-up gig to go.

And she's fully stripped! That was a truly epic job - which I don't want to repeat again in a hurry! The heat didn't help in keeping me sweet tempered while the brown gloop came off but I got there - sweaty and triumphant. I picked up a sander from my local B&Q at lunchtime - but the 31+ degrees in the unit's yard made me decide to take the rest of the day off! So next jobs: I made up some hide glue pellets and water - ready to use later in the week - sawdust and hide glue is a brilliant filler that easily takes wood dye ... so the odd bit of damage etc will get plugged. The whole bass will get a sanding - Then the dye can be applied ... my favorite bit.

Sorry to hear about the dodgy gig and w@nker of a client (it happens) but they are 2 crackin‘ looking basses Gromit!

I think it’s my absolute favourite board. Keep thinking about ditching the BCB1000 and just having 2 of these

I prop mine up on a 1950's edition of Proust's 'Au Recherche du Temps Perdu' in the original French. Great for that wistfully elegiac P bass tone that so many of us strive for.

When I need to doom:

Thankyou for the warm welcome to the forum, I'll probably lurk for a bit and find my way about, already finding the forum super helpful. I've started with a second-hand black Yamaha BB434, standard apart from a black pickguard and a small Orange practice amp. As an aside, the bass was used by the previous (pro musician) owner on the incidental music for "Homes under the Hammer" off the telly - ok it's not Physical Graffiti but it's.. something! Not often out in the city but do go to gigs at the Lemon Tree, Tunnels and Drummonds etc 👍 Mostly gigs where everyone is either bald or grey. PS favourite player is probably JJ Burnel, it's just taken me nearly 50 years to pick up the bass after first hearing him! Late starter indeed, plus too many other hobbies. Although I listen to anything and everything these days.

Something of a contrast between the two open mics I did this week - Wednesday was all male, minimum age 65, one really good performer but the rest (including me, I'm not a great singer and only an average guitarist) mediocre. OTOH, last night there were (I think) five male singers and six female ones, and I think only me and the host were over 65. Three featured bands - a quartet (female singer, DB, drums, keys) did jazz covers of various rock songs (eg Eye of the tiger, Sunshine of your love, Seven nation army), a sextet (2 gits, bass drums, female singer, female keys) playing straight rock, and a conventional quartet, female-fronted, also playing straight rock. I was recruited to play bass for someone who is an even more recent arrival than me, so I learnt All the small things on the hoof. Also accompanied the youngsters again. The guy who played drums for various artists has just returned from playing Download with his band Jayler, who are playing Glasto shortly - very capable multi-instrumentalist called James Bartholomew who generally plays guitar and sings but can also turn his hand to bass and the aforementioned drums.

From my experience, the bigger the band then the bigger the problems. If you’re in say a 6 piece and everyone of them are in other bands, then the chances of everyone being able to make all your gigs are significantly reduced - and then you end up with one of more deps which is hardly ideal. With my recent situation with a touring theatre band it was made clear that depping gigs out was not going to happen, and I did every gig with them that they performed in 15 years. I was fine with that to be honest. I had to turn gigs down with my duo as a result, but as my duo mate was a lot busier than me it wasn’t an issue. Since leaving the band, I’m now in a position for the duo to be my first call, and we’re getting plenty of gigs - we can book them further into the future with confidence, knowing we’ll both be there! I’m reminded of that famous Duke Ellington quote - “ There is nothing to keeping a band together - you simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money! “ 😄

I’m not aware of the maker or the model, but I’m guessing the design brief was “can you make a bass out of my nan’s side table and lamp?”.

I'm in lots of bands/dep occasionally and the golden rule (as others have said) is: If you've said yes to a gig and it's in your diary, you do it. I've just had to turn down a well paid wedding gig as I'll be up in Manchester (playing for next to nothing - an old mate's originals band) next weekend. This gig was organised months ago, so I'm doing it. If you start ducking out of gigs for better paid ones, people will quickly stop asking you to gig... you're only as good as your word. Use Google calendar and encourage everyone else to - this makes everyone's life a LOT easier and cuts down the potential for oopsies in my experience. As someone above said - if someone in your band is getting offered stuff like IOW festival.... that'd be a different matter. I'd imagine they've made that pretty clear from the outset! And as someone else said - get a few deps on board! As for people turning up to gigs/rehearsals without having practiced... that's just laziness, surely?!

We played a small pub where 3 of us started playing together at the open mic. We were a little concerned that we'd not get anyone there to be honest. The heat, the pub hasn't got an outdoor area or a way of throwing the doors open and getting some air flow, and several bigger events going on. Oh and it was a Friday. However, we had a decent turnout, the crowd were great and we've been asked back. Can't be bad.

It was a light hearted joke Then I started thinking - why the hell not? I know many of us are very busy most weekends, and through the week evenings are littered with rehearsals and other sorts of stuff. But if we could arrange a time when a bunch of us could get togther (a Sunday afternoon perhaps?) - nothing as grand as a bass bash - just a meetup somewhere in the pub to talk shite about basses or bands or anything else you fancy - would any of you Aberdeen city and shire bassists be interested? No offence taken if it comes to hee haw, but if you don't ask, you don't get...

It really is a bit of a brain-melt moment when you’re browsing through Amazon Prime for something to watch and you happen across a Jeff Beck live video with the guy you who hosts your jam night playing in the band - the amazing Nicolas Meier on guitar! Mind blowing stuff!

My old band, who I’m currently standing in for have just done a mini tour of Belgium & Germany with a dep. I said when I agreed to stand in no touring - plus I was meant to be working this weekend anyway. The dep was based in Germany so had no rehearsals with them yet the gigs apparently went well. Dep success story backing up your point methinks Chris.

I have finally got to a Marc Johnson transcription. This is the tune 'Dingy Dong Day' from the 1997 Johnson led album 'The Sound Of Summer Running'. I love the tune and I love what they do with it (have a listen if you haven't hear it before, you'll see (hear) what I mean). Not a massively challenging tune to play but 'that' section will throw you if you are not ready for it. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/dingy-dong-day-marc-johnson/

I play bass in two bands, dep on bass in a third band, and do solo acoustic guitar and vocal gigs. The members of each band also play in various other bands too. As long as there’s agreement well in advance on what gigs can and can’t be done, we work around it through deps. The only band I rehearse with is the one where we write original material - in the others it is assumed I do my homework and turn up knowing the material. Committing to lots of rehearsals is actually something that would put me off playing in a band - the people I play with are all experienced musicians playing at a very decent level while already juggling family, other commitments (musical and otherwise) so doing it without rehearsals is par for the course. Where I am (Leicester) there’s a huge amount of overlap of musicians playing with multiple bands. I tend to find I either know someone or have played with someone who knows them! Not sure if that’s the case in other cities too but I’d expect so. The idea of being in just one band doesn’t really come into it. The things that attract me to working with bands? Regular paid gigs, material I like, musicians I like, no pressure to rehearse, and some say in the songs we do. I’ve been in enough bands that go nowhere, or never get round to gigging for one reason or another, or have people i struggle to get ok with etc…

Having got a new drummer (cheers Bob ex of Terminal Rage!) and guitarist we're finally ready for the first gig of the year! Then on 10th August it's our 1st ever 2 gigs-in-a-day! We're on at 2100 at this Rebellion fringe event: And before that, we're playing at Rebellion at 1350:

Mate, firstly glad this has helped Second, if I were able to get up your way to see you lay down that funk, I'd be there in a flash Third, love this f***ing forum and the people who hang here, and @AndyTravis, like @Clarky earlier this year, respect and thanks guys 🙏

So I simply HAD to pick a 31 degree Centigrade day to strip the front and back of the bass ... doh! I used the shadiest corner of my workshop yard ... but it was still stifling and VERY acetony! It was so hot the acetone was evaporating and solidifying with the lacquer almost as soon as it was tipped on ... but I persevered. Compared to the woodworking part this is a hard, unpleasant and gruelling grind. Front and back done ... only the sides to do. And stripping the back revealed some past repaired damage down at the end pin block ... it's well enough done to be left alone. I gave the front and back a light hand sand - but I think I will have to get an electric sander onto them to take away the last of the sanding sealer and remove the blotchy look prior to staining. The issue is that I don't have a sander in the workshop (hand is usually good enough for what I do day to day) ... so more tool buying required. How much easier it is to work on a bolt on neck bass ... the way forward I think.

I have been in two bands simultaneously because I wanted to gig more than the first band did. I made it clear to both bands the situation and that when it came to gigs, the first gig in the diary got priority. Practicing was never an issue and rehearsals with either band were arranged so far in advance that they never clashed. In terms of motivation - for me it was gigs. Both bands had great people in them and playing with them was enjoyable and fulfilling but the main reason I play is to be on stage. I don't think failing to prepare or practice is a direct result of being in several bands. If I was struggling to manage the workload the first thing I'd do is prioritise based on upcoming gigs but I would also be talking to all the bands involved to explain. I would have to think carefully about whether this was a one-off or likely to happen again and if the latter, I'd have to make a decision about leaving a band to reduce the workload. As with most things, communication is key and the earlier you talk it through the less heated it will be.

Are they good players? Then forget rehearsals and put gigs in the book. That'll focus their attention. You also need the numbers of a few deps.

So for all this, I’m gigging this tomorrow. In my defence it would be more complex if the postman knew how to knock on the neighbours door

To echo some others on here, I think it’s a case of being clear from the start what the expectations are from bands so people can decide if it’s something they can / want to commit to, whether that’s paid gigs, how often, rehearsals and goals overall. Personally I think most generic function/wedding/pub covers bands all play at least 50% of the same material anyway so it’s not actually rocket science for an experienced confident match fit player to step in given enough notice. I love playing in multiple bands. I find it a bit unrealistic for any one band to fulfil all my musical aspirations and needs. Some are better payers, some do loads of gigs, some allow more creative expression. It’s all good.

Maybe the last time (I no longer have a Soundcloud account...), so make the most of it... Andy's offering...

It only works when the people who run two bands can pull the others in when required and those other people are doing nothing else. As a person who prefers to have one band and nothing else, I have always found that if someone is in two bands, their availability is compromised and so is their attention span and ability to absorb and devote time to learning new material. It very rarely works and there is always going to be conflicts over which band gets first dibs on dates. It's just a nightmare. The people who elect to be in two bands (but don't run diaries) always think they can make it work. They of course, are not the ones tearing their hair out over broken gig schedules and aren't the ones going back to venues saying 'oh I'm sorry, x is suddenly not available'.

Unmistakably Camel. I will put it on the list. I have been working on a guitar chart this week and it it exhausting. I did the Haden charts for a break and have a Marc Johnson chart that I should finish today. My next target is 646 transcriptions which would be 200 since I came back on line.

Records like this are why I love soul house and funk. Superb playing from Mr Crampton...

Hooray! Three days before the curfew! It even has words! Anything can happen on a plane. You could drink a hot brew, have a snooze or ingest some top quality drugs whilst watching unidentified flying objects out the window. Words below (hidden). I'm sure you'll agree that any cobras listening would quickly grow hands so as to punch the air with glee at the Dylanesque turns of phrase. Instruments? Er, Westfields. Westfield Les Paul copy and Westfield violin bass fuzzed up using a Digitech RP80 pedal with a Roland amp. Oh, and MT Drums. Recorded with those old troopers Wavepad and Audacity.

First and foremost I hope this doesn’t discourage you from moving forward with building basses. I’ve been admiring your daphne blue jazz (but I already have two jazzes 😆). It’s bad luck to have a difficult customer experience out the gate. What I get from your post is that you want the customer to have a nice buying experience but then not have buyers remorse! Maybe you offer one free service, to be redeemed within a year, with each instrument (adjusting selling price accordingly)? Or match whatever statutory obligation for returns/refunds is common? There’s a bit of a reassurance there rather than, for the buyer, this sense of slight anxiety that they’re buying something from a builder who, as yet, is “unproven” - despite what they may feel about the instrument in person on the day. Personally I need a bit of time to warm up to an instrument and decide whether it’s for me. I think this echoes the point about selling a service, which may be far removed from your aim to enjoy building basses and cover your costs. If it were me I’d accept the instrument back irrespective of who’s right and wrong in the situation, offer a full refund, chalk it up to experience, and live to fight another day. Path of least resistance and all that, which may well be better for your heart, if not your wallet.

Friday night's open mic featured an appearance by the 14-y-o guitarist's mother to sing November Rain. She got a bit panicked and it all got somewhat rearranged on the fly but Phoebe managed to get her soloes in. And it was the last night that the 12-y-o singer was a 12-y-o singer as her birthday was the day after. Another guy put in an appearance - the first time Mrs Zero and I had seen him since well before lockdown. He used to run an open mic night in Coventry which is where I first met the keyboardist-singer that I'm now playing bass for. He had a series of mini-strokes but has recovered and is trying to get out more.