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spike

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Posts posted by spike

  1. Bad start but good ending to my gig last night, we played at a PTA dance at a local school. I got stressed setting up the PA because no matter what I did I could only get two of our four monitors working, then a fuse blew in one of the power amps so we had to soundcheck with no monitors at all. Managed to get everything sorted out while the punters were tucking in to their dinner but because of all the hassle it took me a fair while to relax into bass player mode when we started playing.

    As it turned out the audience were really up for it, the dancefloor started filling up from the second song and we kept them there for the rest of the evening. The fact that two of our singers are teachers at the school probably helped a little bit.

  2. [quote name='pete.young' post='292202' date='Sep 25 2008, 09:25 PM']He means read the dots, young man. The Book isn't tab, it's proper notation.

    Can anyone tell me if the Gladys Knight version of 'Grapevine' is in this book?[/quote]

    It is :)

  3. [quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='290924' date='Sep 24 2008, 03:24 PM']Years ago the (now late) bloke in the Bass Cellar told me when I enquired about availablity of the MIJ Fender Duck Bass, that Duck wasn't a very good player and Lewis Steinberg played on all the hits

    I didn't take much notice of him though as Duck was and (indeed still is) a well respected and sucessful recording artist with impeccible taste who has been inducted into the Rock n Roll hall of fame and Mr Baldy was a cloth-eared miserable little cnut in a shtty bass shop.[/quote]

    AFAIK Duck Dunn replaced Lewis Steinberg in Booker T and the MGs quite early on. It is Steinberg playing on Green Onions though.

  4. Played a 25th wedding anniversary last night, first gig with my new covers/function band which is basically four of us from my soul band with different material. Our singer was really nervous because it was the first time she had sung on her own ( she usually sings sings with two other singers in the soul band ). Unfortunately she had a little too much dutch courage beforehand and was pretty tipsy by the second set which resulted in our carefully rehearsed arrangements being abandoned and the rest of us having to guess what she was going to do next. It all turned out OK in the end, people were dancing and the guy who booked us tols us how pleased he was afterwards.

  5. [quote name='slaphappygarry' post='288684' date='Sep 21 2008, 06:57 PM']Chameleon by Herbie

    :)[/quote]

    Strangely enough, I was learning that this morning and decided it was going to be my new showoff piece. Of course, if anyone asks me to play it I'll immediately forget how it goes

  6. [list=1]

    [/list]My soul band set list

    Set 1

    Philly Dog - The Mar-keys
    Just Can't Turn You Loose - Otis Redding
    In The Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
    Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd
    6345-789 - Wilson Pickett
    Let's Stay Together - Al Green
    Band Of Gold - Freda Payne
    Respect - Aretha Franklin
    Rescue Me - Fontella Bass
    My Guy - Mary Wells
    I Get The Sweetest Feeling - Jackie Wilson
    Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide - Martha & The Vandellas
    Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone
    You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes
    Heatwave - Martha & The Vandellas
    Higher And Higher - Jackie Wilson
    River Deep, Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner

    Set 2

    Lady Marmalade - Labelle
    Soul Finger - The Bar-Kays
    Hold On I'm Comin' - Sam & Dave
    Soul Man - Sam & Dave
    Ain't Too Proud To Beg - The Temptations
    Think - Aretha Franklin
    Sweet Home Chicago - The Blues Brothers
    This Old Heart Of Mine - The Isley Brothers
    Night Train - James Brown
    Papas Got A Brand New Bag - James Brown
    I Feel Good - James Brown
    Get Ready - The Temptations
    Do You Love Me ? - The Contours
    Twisting The Night Away - Sam Cooke
    Shake A Tailfeather - The Blues Brothers
    Everybody Needs Somebody To Love - The Blues Brothers
    Mustang Sally - Wilson Pickett
    My Girl - The Temptations

  7. I had a great gig last night, one of those ones that really make it all worthwhile. We played outdoors at a bike show along with five other bands. It didn't rain, the crowd loved us, we had a sea of dancers in front of us all through our 1 hour set, we played well, the other bands were good, the sound engineer was very good and even provided a nice Trace Elliot amp so all I had to do was turn up with my bass and plug in. It was great to see all the bikers getting into our Stax and Motown set. Best one for a while.

  8. [quote name='Mikey D' post='237955' date='Jul 12 2008, 02:40 PM']To go along with my Sky music rant, I have one more that relates to music...playing it live to be precise.

    "Semi-professionals" who seriously undermine and devalue live music by playing gigs (I'm predominantly talking function type gigs or background music etc, not originals) for £20-£30 each as of course they can afford to do this as they are well paid in their careers.

    I did a gig the other week and the bar manager says he can get a 6 piece for the money we did as a trio (£150) £50 each for 1h 30 mins straight through, which should have been two 45 min sets (never mind the cost of getting to and from the gig) and they are ""much better". Well, everyone I played with knows that isn't true, they aren't "much better" because they can't really play very well, but yes they have amazing gear, but this is about it when it comes to their set.

    It's hard enough making it as a working musician, but to be expected to do a gig for £15 and a meal is a joke to be honest.

    Does this bother anyone else? Are you somebody that does this? Is it actually just bar managers that are idiots!?

    Generally interested in peoples opinions from both sides of the fence.[/quote]

    This sort of thing happens in most businesses, not just live music. There will always be someone prepared to do the job for less than you need to charge to stay in business. One way around the problem is to market yourself or your band. Part of that involves targeting the right customers to sell your services to, the bar manager who is happy paying £150 for a band isn't the right customer for you.

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