Mickeyboro

Many of you kindly contributed to my recent thread about motivating dep musicians. This is related, but a wee bit different. We have just done our first ever gig with a female singer - our fifth front person in three years, the others all blokes. We gave her maybe 65 per cent of the songs to sing: I did the rest. It went down well on the night. (Caveat: she has her own band and has not committed to us for any specific period.) Just had a call from the promoter of our next gig to advise me that he and a number of people there were not taken by the new female-fronted line-up. When pressed, he admitted he’d liked our ‘blokey’ image better. (Including a singer who could barely hold a tune compared to our new one!) My wife tactfully suggests we are now sounding ‘more commercial’, but will that win us enough new fans to make up for the stick in-the muds? Have any of you had to overcome resistance to change?

Have a checklist pinned to the door of your gear cupboard. Use it!

Seems to be symptoms of a Parkinson-like disease. Had to sit for the last few numbers (reports said) and missed cues/seemed out of it. As I said, based on press/Facebook fan reports, I wasn’t there myself. And he is 77…

By all reports hes in a bad way - don’t think it will be rescheduled.

That’s kinda what I was interested in finding out, Len. Ta for asking! As far as I can tell, there’s really not a great deal of difference. Maybe it’s not as compressed as the Elf, but certainly loud enough for the room. The Fleas pickups drive it quite hard. What I like about the Warwick is the clearly visible controls - many’s the time the Elf’s volume has somehow turned itself down or off! Curiously, on the evidence of live recordings, the sound I like best for blues at the moment is my Sandberg VM4 with the GK MB200 through my Barefaced Two10. None of which I was using here🤔

First Otis Jay BluesBand show with our new singer Cecilia. Also my first show as a main singer, having taken on the ‘male’ songs in our repertoire. Video shows me giving C some space as she emerges from behind the keyboards. She’s only on loan to us, but if we come back without her I think we might be lynched! Played Flea Jazz through a just visible Barefaced One10 and a very efficient Warwick Gnome that arrived in the post that very morning courtesy of @spyder 87527738-02ab-49e9-9f7f-662474ad080d.mp4

Anyone had the problem I’m having - I can’t email a set list with songs attached to a colleague. It just won’t go any more. Thanks!

Hi Alan I am a fan of ‘lunchbox’ amps like TE Elf, Warwick Gnome and GK MB200. The BAM is I imagine similar, and probably adequate for your needs. Cant say I am a great fan of the brand though, so haven’t tried one.

Jeff Lynne cancelled last night’s ELO show - will Hyde Park on Sunday go ahead? https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0wdne4x5go.amp

Interesting how their own music when they released it was unmemorable. They needed the songwriters as much as the songwriters needed them!

That was great, thank you for posting. 🙏🎸

I thought @casapete’s old mob were pretty good. Like Pink Floyd, you just need a convincing Lynne/Gilmour - the supporting cast can look how they like…

Bought an amp from Marc - painless transaction, recommended Basschatter!

It’s worked for Sparks for 50 years!

Our fans seem to appreciate the between-member banter we engage in between songs - even some poor humour. For example - here’s a song by Elmore James dedicated to men of a certain age who wander around in the middle of the night looking for the bathroom. It’s called ‘I Can’t Hold Out’… Maybe I should stick to the bass!

Why not? There’ve been plenty of replacement Searchers!😂

Yes, she was a lot of fun… RIP @Mrs Tinman

I tried the Minimax and it seemed like overkill after the Elf. Too complicated for the likes of me…

Woody Wood… if he wasn’t dead! Actually, he aint!😂

I could see Neil Young playing the first Pilton festival alongside Stackridge and the free milk. Rod Stewart, not so much🤔

So that’s the definition of flushed with success! 🎸

Glastonbury and the BBC are now inextricably linked. Its profile will shrivel when they lose it to streaming. As will the chance for enemies to attack them.

A bit more passionate than Hammers fans then!