casapete

Played at my favourite gig last night with my acoustic duo at The Lookout on the harbour in Scarborough.

Usual request night with plenty of variety. I was a bit shaken doing the old standard 'Have you met Miss Jones?',

which I'd forgotten was such a bug*er to play - unusual changes throughout (for non-jazzers like me anyway)

but my guitarist partner held it all together and nobody died. Can't have been that bad as we got another gig 

offered at the end of the night for a customer's private party, so all good.

A sold out gig despite the appalling weather, which made for an interesting drive home for us. We're back

there in a couple of weeks, and I'm already looking forward to it.

For me, that would be a crazy bass to own.

For you, if you can manage it then enjoy!

10 hours ago, markbunney said:

That theatre is just a few minutes up the road from me. The land that the temporary theatre sat on was a huge patch of bare earth for years since an old coop was demolished.

 

Quite a feat to get it up and running so quickly 

I was amazed at how brilliantly well the whole thing was carried out. You read about things like this in other

parts of the world but rarely in the UK. The whole place was well designed and constructed, with a superb

foyer and bar area for the punters along with excellent backstage facilities ( green room & excellent dressing

rooms etc). There was a Meyer Leopard line array PA installed too. I heard someone say the whole thing had

cost £1.8m to bring about, and they were expecting to be back in the old theatre by the latter part of 2024.
( Am guessing the new structure will then be taken down and sold ). 
 

Played in Dartford last night. The Orchard Theatre was closed down as a result of defective concrete

that was found in the roof in September 2023, and our gig there soon afterwards was cancelled.

However, due to amazing work done by Dartford Borough Council and Trafalgar Theatres, they 

managed to construct a brand new temporary theatre venue close by to The Orchard, which

was built and opened for business in late November 2023 as The Orchard West, only 9 weeks later!
Absolutely incredible feat, and shows what can be done when people work together.
Businesses in the town were worried that they would struggle without the theatre bringing in people,

and the council listened and reacted accordingly. It was ready for the Panto season! 
Anyway, we had around 800 people in ( holds just over a thousand) and it went really well. Great 

audience and the theatre crew were amazing. A long drive back though, dodging muppets on the

M25 and M1 as well as long 50mph speed restrictions for no apparent reason meaning I got home

just before 3am. Bit of lunch soon and then am driving up to Scarborough this afternoon for my

favourite gig with our acoustic duo. Severe weather warnings in place so crossing everything.

Wimborne Tivoli Theatre last night with The ELO Experience. Capacity crowd of around 500

in this nice venue in Dorset, although a five hour drive down from Yorkshire for us.

Gig went well, and got to meet my cousin who lives in the area for a chat beforehand.

Only a 20 min drive to the hotel afterwards too, so in bed before midnight.

Onwards today to Dartford so hoping the M25 will be kind to us.

23 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Many BC'ers swear by them and @casapete has more than one for every week of the year!

Not me Al, never had one! 
Maybe getting me confused with @cetera ?!! 

20 hours ago, steantval said:

Sad to see three artists that come to mind on the stage performing that are no longer with us, Tom Petty, Billy Preston and Gary Brooker. ☹️

I was thinking that when watching last night - 3 amazing musicians, all favourites of mine. 
In fact the whole stage was full of people I’ve admired for years. 

Had the pleasure of meeting Gary Brooker in the 70’s, a lovely funny man with so much talent.

Saw Billy with The Stones also in the 70’s, and Tom Petty in 1980 at Manchester Apollo - one

of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. I know a lot of folk on here don’t have time for Eric Clapton,

but I thought he played and directed the gig brilliantly too. 

6 hours ago, martthebass said:

Makes perfect sense Pete. Come and see us when you get the chance think we’ve got one in Hull and backin Withernsea in August.

Nice one Mart, keep me posted and will try to be there.

Tonight ( Sunday) at 9.45pm on Sky Arts they are showing ‘Concert for George’. 
A wonderful celebration of the music of George Harrison by a star studded cast, in 

my view it’s one of the best rock docs ever, up there with ‘The Last Waltz’.

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

 

Pete,

Is that a GK rig? If yes, how long have you been using GK?

 

Daryl

Hey Daryl - yes it is. I use a 1001RB amp into a Neo 4x10 cab. Been a GK user for approx 20 years now,

and never any problems with it at all. Had a few different models including a 700RB and also a 800RB

which I still have and is one of my favourite heads ever, second only to my old Ampeg SVT rig.

Are you still using GK stuff?

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Why would you want to give that up Pete. ? Many would give an arm and a leg to be playing gigs like yours.

Guessing you've been doing it for a while and just time for a change.

Dave

It’s just the right time for me Dave. Get my pension next month and want to retire from touring 

and being away from home to spend more time with my partner and family, and going to see

more live music! 
First played with the band in 2009, then permanently since 2011 so been with them a good

while. They are a great bunch of people to work with, and will really miss them and the crew.
Before that I was in a function band for 16 years, again gigs all over the UK and some abroad,

so it’s been my professional life for around 30 years, as well as nearly 20 more before that

as a semi pro. Am blessed to have managed to make a living doing something I love for so long.

It’s obviously going to be a massive change for me, but plan on continuing with the acoustic duo which I 

really enjoy, along with any dep gigs that come along that I fancy doing. Can’t ever imagine not playing

at all! 

51 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

It looks incredible.  I love theaters. 

 

Daryl

Thanks Daryl. It’s a great theatre but not particularly architecturally interesting like some others

we play at. Still a great gig though.

19 minutes ago, martthebass said:

Trying to sort out seeing you at your last visit to Sheffield with a couple of your old acquaintances.

Am intrigued Mart! 

Last night I began my 20 gig countdown to retiring from The ELO Experience with the annual

visit to our hometown gig - Hull New Theatre.

As usual it sold out so we had around 1300 people in. Slightly different this year as we had a flying

PA which involved a lot more time and manpower to set up. However the improvement was definitely

noticeable to the audience ( and me too, being non IEM’s!) so well worth the hassle and expense.

I dropped a couple of silly clangers but nothing drastic and the band as a whole played well considering

our last gig was mid November. Bit sad for me knowing it may be the last time I grace the stage there,

but still a great night for us. Caught up with a few old friends in the pub afterwards too so happy days.

double post, sorry.

22 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I've played at many weddings. The one thing many bands don't realise, at a wedding you are playing to guests, not an audience.

 

They are not there for you, and what you play only had to keep multiple generations happy and on the floor.

 

Modern or old fashioned is irrelevant if they are dancing and enjoying themselves. 

Absolutely this. 
Two lots of families and friends have gathered to celebrate a wedding, and the band is there to help

them do that, not the main attraction! Plenty of pub bands think it’s just a case of rocking

up and doing their usual thing, but successful wedding bands understand the challenges and

react accordingly. Keeping as many of the guests happy with the music is a priority, whatever

it takes - not just the selection of tunes but also making sure it’s the right volume, is well

presented, on time ( even when their schedule has gone down the pan!) and will be the 

band that others want to book for their wedding too. We used to get many enquiries from

people who were guests and were looking for a band for their own celebration. 

I’ve always wanted one of these amazing basses, but sadly can’t justify getting one at the 

moment. Good luck with your sale.

16 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

Back in the 60s high was the thing

It certainly was, and Gerry Marsden was one of the main culprits …….

Nice studio stuff with Bob Babbitt now on Sky Arts, playing with Phil Collins in a Motown tribute

thing. 

1 hour ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

I have the strap length the same sitting down or standing .  As told by Billy Sheehan . 

I discovered this on NYE! Mistakenly took a strap on the gig that didn’t have two different holes

for the end strap pin  - usually have the higher of the two for sitting down and then move to the

lower one for standing. I had to compromise between the two on this strap and to my amazement

it actually worked well for both playing positions. Looks like Billy was right…..

36 minutes ago, Franticsmurf said:

I was 57 when I joined the Hulla band (covers), the 2nd youngest in the band. I'm in my mid 30's now. 🤣. 

 

I've just had this conversation with the drummer of the Hullas - 75 and working as the 1st call drummer for two big bands/dance bands and one jazz band as well as the Hullas. He's gigging or rehearsing at least three nights a week, regularly deps for bands around the area and was the drummer in my trio project playing rock covers until it folded last year. I hope I'm as active (and wanted) as he is when I get to that age. 

That is fantastic - anyone gigging at 75 needs respect but particular drummers IMO. The physicality of

playing drums is even more demanding with age, so good on him! 

16 hours ago, tauzero said:

I bought my first Hohner B2 in the mid-80s, and initially had a problem putting my hand on the right place on the neck - I attributed this to the visual cue of the headstock which I was used to. I got used to it though. That went in 1988, and it was many years before I got another headless. However, when I did, I had no problem with hand placement. I later bought another Hohner B2AV to use as a spare. I hardly ever played it, but I took it out to an open mic night a few weeks ago and had exactly the same problem with hand positioning as I had first time round. Seeing as I play headless basses almost all the time now, my conclusion is that it's the way that it hangs due to the absence of a top horn that does it, not the headlessness.

I had exactly the same problem with my Hohner B2A. I ended up selling it due to this, which was a shame

as otherwise I really liked it. I only later found out that there were brackets available ( which were originally 

designed for Stenbergers I believe) that when fitted moved the strap button making the bass bass hang

in a better position on the strap. Read about them on here too, called them ‘Strap hooks’.

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

I detest the horrible vibrato that musical theatre folk apply to other types of music. 

Probably the main reason I detest musical theatre, although there are plenty more….

1 hour ago, DaleASmith said:

Great band. Does Jan still play guitar for you? Nice guy. ✌️

Yes he does and yes he's a lovely bloke. I’ll miss him when I leave. 

16 minutes ago, zbd1960 said:

I'm a trained singer - but classical - I have 30+ years experience mostly singing as a baritone, but I've been workign with a teacher to sing tenor (there's a long story there but I'll leave it for another post). 

 

What many people (including singers) don't realise or understand is that there are different styles of singing and the techniques required are different. Not only that, but no one voice can sing all styles. There's a huge difference to being a choral singer to being a soloist. There's a difference between singing German lieder, singing opera, or singing musical theatre. It's a different style to be a Rat Pack crooner, a folk singer, or singing hard rock.

 

If this person wants to sing rock/pop then they need to realise that it's a different style, requires different techniques and you can't just "have a go" and expect it to work. 

 

Even within one 'genre' there are variations. If I sing renaissance a cappella polyphony, it's a very different style to singing big C19th choral work with a large orchestra. 

 

Some more self awareness would help... suggestion about needing to work on 'style' with a teacher is probably a good route - but you need to find the right teacher...

Great post. I’m sure a lot of singers feel that swapping styles/genres is a doddle, but from my experience

of working with a lot of them, it really isn’t! One of my pet peeves is when classical/opera singers try to

do pop/rock stuff, and just don’t get it at all ( Michael Ball, Alfie Boe etc ). Likewise pop / rock singers 

trying to do swing/jazz (Rod Stewart and everyone else). 

7 hours ago, chris_b said:

In his day, with Long John Baldry, Steampacket, Jeff Beck and the Faces, Rod Stewart was outstanding.

 

I thought the Sugababes band was good and the bass player was excellent.

I thought so too, the bass player and the drummer were spot on.

The Sugababes vocals were also excellent, although I couldn’t help wondering if

they were being ‘helped’ in places?