bassace

We were doing a gig once with a nice girl singer. The woman who booked us asked if she could borrow the mic. To use in the next door room. We told her it was set up in this room ‘But it’s a radio mic’ she said triumphantly. But the amp/speakers are in this room, we explained patiently.

I’ve just found this guy playing over Herbie Hancock’s reading of Stella By Starlight. Good eh?

Probably late in the day, and thus unhelpful, but have you considered a 5/8 (rare) or a half size bass?

The man needs a haircut. Surely he can afford one.

WoT

Fair nuff. But he still plays a few DS tunes on tour. So not completely perhaps.

I wonder why MK didn’t go to the RnR Hall of Fame induction. Was there frisson between him and Alan Clark?

For the last four weeks we’ve been watching a pair of Nuthatches fly in and out of the hole in our oak tree. They return every year, whether it’s the original pair or their offspring I’m not sure. Yesterday two young ones appeared at the entrance and by the end of the day they had flown away. Once they’re gone they’re gone, they never return to the nest. A bit sad really. Otherwise Mrs B and I have been locking down in relative peace and harmony. She’s out watering the plants right now and I’m looking forward to going to the tip on Wednesday with a lot of cardboard and some old paint pots. Can hardly contain my excitement really.

Oh, I thought you used it for gigs and stood your pint on the rubber bit. 😬

Oh, that’s very much the exception, as you would imagine. Although the boss had done quite a bit of TV etc he hadn’t quite made the big time in the jazz world - does anyone? But he still had the odd delusion of grandeur and wasn’t backward in coming forward. I remember doing a Dutch jazz festival with a different band where we slept on the floor of a pub, all seven of us with four inches space between each sleeping bag. A year later I went over with the aforementioned and stayed in the best hotel in the city, one en-suite room to each. All the foreign tours were like that. It was a great ride.

A few things are coming back to me. ‘This is a small room so you’ll have to keep the tempo down’. We did a very upmarket gig as a seven piece Dixieland band in about 2003. We had to park in the town car park and transfer all the gear to a shuttle bus which went up the hill to this house. There was a ‘performers’ village’ in the grounds where all sorts were holed up. People walking around on stilts, fancy dress, etc. And a bossy woman with a clipboard. Things were getting all behind timetable, bossy woman getting more and more frazzled and we were missing our slot. So there was a bit of a discussion between the boss and bossy woman. Boss comes back, ‘ The bad news is we go on later and finish half hour after contract finish time. The good news is we each get a hundred quid extra.

Like the Four Tops? 😧

Bass players, eh?

I’ve just moved a heavy vice from the left hand end of my workbench to the right hand end. Yes, fascinating, isn’t it?

There was a well remembered incident, on the South Coast I think, where the bass player put his instrument on its side on the floor behind an upright piano. You’ve guessed it, the piano fell backwards and flattened the bass. I know the bassist but I wouldn’t bring up painful memories. As above, if I can’t find a corner - and most time there isn’t one - I put my bass on its ribs. Once I’d just got off the stage at the half time break and I heard a splintering noise as the sax player walked in to it and put his foot through the table. Only a small split but it still cost a grand at a well known firm of bass makers/purveyors. A stand is good but it’s an extra bit of metal in the car and intrudes into my playing space, not generous at the best of times.