casapete

Great tune, wish I was in a band doing it. Was only thinking about this yesterday - we were gigging in Dundee, home of AWB.

I don’t generally suffer from anxiety so quite lucky there. I do get a bit twitchy if I think someone else on stage is nervous or likely to f*ck up though, and also strangely enough playing in front of friends and family. Think that comes from being made to play piano when we had relatives visiting when I was 7 or 8. I did feel more pressure during gigs when I used to play guitar, felt like everyone wanted me to prove what I could do ( which wasn’t a great deal...). Maybe explains why I found playing bass less pressured, and why I’m happiest not in the spotlight as such.

Yup, the old drummer was a lovely bloke - amazing for his age (mid 90’s I think). To be fair, as an ex dance band drummer , he was never going to hack doing rock stuff - same as the pianist who couldn’t grasp how to phrase the song and the drummer who hated reggae etc. It’s obvious that most of the people who were picked to be in the two bands were just totally unsuitable to add jeopardy to the programme ( as Cosmo mentioned in the previous post. ) Throw in a looming deadline for the first gig at a major festival along with a bit of sad back story stuff and it’s nearly as bad as ‘X Factor’ type rubbish. Of course, we had to have singers with no sense of timing as well. 😆

I’ve just got back from seeing Tommy Emmanuel in York. Stunning playing and not all 100mph stuff either, which usually bores me rigid. Superb support from Jerry Douglas, probably the world’s finest dobro and lap steel player. A great evening’s entertainment.

After more than 35 years running Astra estates , I’ve recently changed to a diesel Skoda Octavia estate. Great car, drives very well and pulls like a train in all gears with the boot area loaded, and does nigh on 60mpg whatever I drive like. Load area is good, although for the size of the car probably little more than the (smaller) Astras. I know Vauxhalls are often not liked by some, but I always found them very reliable and easy / fairly cheap to maintain. Hope the Skoda proves as good.

I would love to try this! Sounds a blast, especially with good musicians to work with. With my acoustic duo we do gigs where we put request forms on the tables, and can usually manage approx 80% of the stuff the punters ask for. Even if we’re not completely sure of the song ( nearly always the lyrics that trip us up), they appreciate us having a go. Got our monthly gig in Scarborough tonight where we get inundated with requests, from 1920’s to 2020’s, really looking forward to it.

Another plug for BBC2 on a Saturday night - this week there is the Bruce Springsteen documentary , ‘ A Secret History’ on at 9pm. Following this at 10pm there is the 2019 film ‘Blinded by the light’ , a great comedy drama.

Are The Sex Pis*ed Dolls still going? Think a couple of members were called Anna Key and Connie Rotten. 😆 My 8 piece band has 3 female players, and is all the richer for it. Most of the time it stops it being too ‘ blokey’ which for me is especially welcome. We all get on very well, despite an age range of early 20’s right through to me and the drummer! I’ve never liked being in groups of just men, either for work or socialising, so it suits me fine, We spend a lot of time together travelling and performing, and honestly can’t remember a crossed word for years.

Curious as to why your wife wouldn't go to see a female fronted band? We would never have been to so many gigs over the years if Mrs CP had applied that criteria, or I'd have been to them on my own 😆

I saw Lou Reed there in the 70’s with my brother, who saw David Bowie there around the same time. The list of who has played there is amazing. Apparently when Sinatra was there someone had to go and remove him from the nearby pub and get him onstage as the audience and band were fed up of waiting for him.

There’s some good stuff on BBC2 tonight ( Saturday 19th). Starting at 8.30pm there are three Stevie Wonder programmes including ‘ A night of Wonder’. These are followed at 11.35pm by a Teddy Pendergrass documentary.

Yeh, a great little pub - it said on the board outside ‘Real music and live ales’. A mate of mine used to run Thursday evenings there, and I used to do it when their regular bassist ( the amazing Aidan Lawrence) was away touring. Always a great night, especially when I stayed over and sampled the excellent beers. Haven’t been in for a while now, hope it’s managed to retain it’s magic for local musicians. Happy days.

I think one of the reasons I'm sticking with the CD format is that I just can't get used to the concept of not owning music in a physical sense - as Woodwind says above, I only stream to see if I like an album then usually buy it on CD. Plucking music out of the air seems alien to me as a replacement, am guessing it's having grown up with a music collection to hand on vinyl/CD it's hard to let that concept go. Definitely an age thing I think.....🧓

We had a great gig last night at Liverpool's Empire Theatre. Despite the long journey in pretty grim weather, it proved well worth it - around 1300 people in the audience which amazed us. A really historic venue that has put on a long list of great singers and bands over the years, including of course The Beatles. Always think of this when I'm singing 'Roll over Beethoven' on that same stage, (albeit quite a different version from theirs and Chuck's!!) Managed time to get a great pizza at the famous Ma Egerton's pub (near the stage door) before the gig too, so didn't have to walk far on a night of dreadful weather. Made it home around 2am, knackered today though.

It’s on the west pier, in fact the full name of the venue is The Lookout on the Pier. We play there one Sunday a month at present, and it’s a wonderful gig. Before it was up and running we also used to do The Watermark on the north bay, again a great venue previously run by the same people as The Lookout. I’ve played in Scarborough quite a lot over the years, and have worked with some amazing players there. Used to play at a great little pub called The Indigo Alley, bottom of N.Marine Rd. Also many good New Years Eve gigs at The Scarborough Spa as well as many other function do’s at all the major hotels. It’s only an hour’s drive from where I live, and always enjoy working there.

Interesting to see how the availability of reasonably priced CD players has seemingly diminished at a more rapid rate than the CD format itself. Assume that means these CDs are still in the main being played on ageing hi-fi / computer disc drives? (I’m wondering whether to buy a back up CD player to try and future proof my large CD collection. I’m reluctant to shell out more money to re-purchase my music collection again for a third time.) All our kids ( in their 30’s) don’t possess a CD drive at all, preferring not to own hard copies of music in favour of streaming. It’s just how things move on, but I’m hoping CDs will become retro and hip again at some point like vinyl has. I’ve still got some of my vinyl (which doesn’t get played) including a vast amount of singles (45’s) which I don’t know what to do with.

Another GK fan here. Started with an 800RB (which I still have), and have had a 700RB II and currently use the 1001RBII. All great amps IMHO, and am sure the big daddy 2001 will be awesome. Enjoy!

You’re right, all those mentioned will meet the brief. However, I do recommend the Fender Rumble range, great sounding compact lightweight combos, and when he comes to upgrading will get a fair return on the outlay.

Think you’re on the right track with the idea of six or eight tens. Barefaced and Markbass do some which aren’t crazy weight wise amongst others. My old SVT 810 rig was the punchiest rig I’ve ever used, been chasing that sound with smaller stuff for years but to no avail. 😕

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According to Wiki it was Larry Johnson. (Must admit to not knowing anything about him though.)

I’d add Alan Gorrie to the list as well - loved the AWB when he and Hamish swapped lead vocals and bass duties.

Couldn’t agree more. I had a guy in a pub audience (at a gig with my country band) come and ask me after the first set why on earth I wanted to play ‘a cheap Danelecto’ and why I wasn’t playing ‘the best bass ever made, a Gibson Thunderbird’. After a couple of minutes trying to get through to him I gave up and told him to eff off.

Just booked tickets to see Jimmy Webb on his UK tour in May. One of my favourite writers, looking forward to hearing his songs and stories.

I used to play a lunchtime set at a cafe in a shopping centre, and remember a fella representing PRS coming in and asking for a set list a couple of times. IIRC he was a musician who worked for them part time. As far as I know we didn’t get hit for any payment, although the cafe owner maybe did. In my current band we play theatres who always ask for set lists, and we have to pay PRS on every gig.