casapete

In my function band days this saved many a gig from being tedious for me....

A tough call Lozz, but the right one. Wishing you better health and plenty more gigs that suit your circumstances in the near future. All the best.

Although never been particularly hung up on lyrics, I’ve always appreciated songwriters who connect with me on whatever level. Step forward Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Davies, and Carole King amongst many others. Doesn’t always have to be clever, just ‘right’ if you get my drift. Couple them with a killer tune and it’s job done.

I don’t think EC’s Rainbow Concert was a benefit for Ronnie, although it may have been recorded using his mobile studio set up? You’re maybe thinker of the later performances in the early 80’s, known as the ARMS (Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis) charity concerts which involved Ronnie, who sadly suffered from MS. Think it was a handful of gigs played at The Albert Hall and some in the US which featured EC and many other famous players including Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page , Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts. I had a copy on VHS back then! Ronnie’s old band Slim Chance coincidentally have recently reformed and toured in the UK, performing some of Ronnie’s material as well as some new stuff too. I missed them when they played near me, but hope to catch them soon.

Just for balance - my 63 Precision spent a few years in a loft before I rescued it. It was in a (crappy to be fair) hard case. The frets had turned green, fingerboard heading that way and the old refinish was cracked and lifting off into scrolls, like when you strip wallpaper. To be fair the neck was fairly stable though! I think as others have said it depends on how long and the condition of the loft in question. Lofts tend to be prone to extremes of temperature, boiling in summer / freezing in the winter months, and sometime both within 24 hrs, so I would imagine it's these changes of temperature and humidity that do the damage. You'll probably be okay for a short spell at this time of year I would imagine, but I wouldn't recommend it as a longer term thing.

My thunder was very near choclatey when I saw the price....😂

Still doing it too I believe, with Michael Schenker band? Friend of mine saw him last year and said his singing was still as powerful as ever. Not bad for a 70 year old....

I actually like both versions - Dolly's for it's charm and simplicity, Whitney's for it's amazing arrangement and vocal.

As above, eagerly await your impressions of this amp. I love GK stuff, so hope it's going to be mega!

Guess again my friend! I believe that people's fondness for larger percentages of popular music is dependent on their era in which they were teenage / maybe early 20's? For example, growing up in the 70's I liked a far larger proportion of chart stuff (say 70%) than I do now (say 20%). This is of course inevitable as pop music was (and still is) primarily aimed at young people. Things I didn't like were the more obvious rubbish such as 'Grandad' (as mentioned above) and similar 'novelty' records, and MOR howlers which were probably bought by an older generation anyway. But I inhaled all the other great things of that decade - Soul/disco, Glam, Country rock and punk/new wave amongst others. All very different genres but still relevant to my 17 year old self. This continued right through to now, although there are some genres I do struggle with enjoying (grime, techno, EDM etc) so my love of all things current has gradually diminished. This is made obvious when I'm watching Later with Jools, where I usually only like one or two of the acts each week. BUT - there is some new music being made that interests me, and I'm grateful that this can still be viewed on mainstream TV.

Agree that some of the later stuff could get a bit like that, but for me her first couple of albums were truly outstanding, full of great songs demonstrating an amazing vocal talent. It grates on me a bit when Whitney gets lumped in with Maria Carey etc as a vocal gymnast, she was so much more and had such a sad end to her far too short life. I saw her live in concert in Monaco just before things started going awry for her and she was incredible.

Thursday saw us do a 400 mile round trip from Yorkshire to Essex for a gig in Chelmsford. Not a capacity crowd in the theatre but enthusiastic and jolly, so worth our while. Left home at 10.30am and got back at 2.30am so a long day. Today we played at a Butlins 70s weekend in Skegness. Completely different set up, as we followed Absolute Bowie ( who were very good) playing mid afternoon in a massive room. Just after I’d set up my GK rig, I noticed an SVT rig at the back of the large stage area, which pis*ed me off as apparently I could have used it which would have been a nice change. Anyway, by the time we went on the room was pretty full, probably around 3000 people (many in themed 70s outfits) all keen on having a good time. House PA was not great but we managed okay, everyone singing along to most of our set. Big video screens just behind me felt a bit weird, with some graphics alternating with live video of our band just in my peripheral vision. We went down well, and are in with chance of doing a couple more gigs for the company again next year. Fairly quick pack down meant I was home around 6.30pm which felt very strange after doing such a gig, but most welcome as I was still knackered after Thursday! Really enjoyed it, made such a nice change doing somewhere a bit crazy compared to our usual theatre gigs.

Don’t worry about going down the lighter route, there’s no shame! Prior to having an accident which resulted in a shoulder injury, I still soon tired of my pre EB Stingray’s weight, making long gigs a chore. Then used my 63 Precision for years which was a blessing compared to the Ray. As I hit my mid 40s I got a Precision Lyte, and never looked back really. These days it’s still my main bass, and at 61 am still doing around 150 gigs a year, using that and a Dano Longhorn along with a Washburn EA20. I honestly don’t think I’d still be in reasonable shape if I’d persisted with the Ray. Same goes for amplification too - Barefaced came along just in time for me. Embrace it and play the long game I reckon!

+1 Apparently VM had the habit of starting the soundcheck, then disappearing for a while leaving the band onstage not knowing what was going on. This happened a lot during the tour so revenge was sought I believe. May be true, maybe not...

One of the guys in my band saw them last week, said they were superb.