cybertect

1 hour ago, mike257 said:

 

That's my mate Dave in the background there 🤣 he's an excellent bassist when he's not busy being a top tier roadie!

You can thank Dave from me for doing a great job! 👏 

On 21/05/2025 at 18:40, tauzero said:

 

You have to make sure that it's trying to load http:// and not https:// - Chrome has an unfortunate tendency to change everything to https://, Firefox is more subservient in that respect.

I wouldn’t want to use any web site that’s asking for my login details (!) over plain http.

Sorry, that’s a very big red flag, it’s not 1995 any more.

Chrome is not doing awfully wrong thing here IMHO (Safari gives me a warning that it’s insecure which is fine if you understand what you’re doing)

12 hours ago, kwmlondon said:

Martin McCarthy wrote that arrangement I think Paul Simon copyright Ed it

Martin Carthy - and he was very unhappy about it

I just discovered a detail in an FT article that I was ignorant of up till now [emphasis added]

https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/scarborough-fair.html

Quote

What of Martin Carthy? Eventually he grew tired of, in his own words, the “trudge through the grudge”. It turned out that his own publisher had, without his knowledge, copyrighted his arrangement and had been receiving royalties from Simon all along (Carthy had somehow managed to sign away his own claim in the small print of a contract). Carthy and Simon, reconciled, joined forces to sing the song in London in 1998, closing that circle.

!!!

A family outing to see Wet Leg at Brixton Academy on Saturday night; it's been fun watching them learning how to make a bigger show since the early days.

The new album is going to be a belter - I should watch out for Davina McCall to be a single.

I sold a few photos recently and spent the proceeds on a new camera that's small enough not to bother security at gigs... 

5 hours ago, three said:

 

the band and Roger appeared to be genuinely happy throughou

That looks rather like percussionist Jody Linscott sat just to the right of Daltrey

Essex's own Martin Newell in Shepherds Bush Hall last night,

Two sets, one solo and then another with backing band The Cleaners from Venus for the first time in over 30 years for this two night run at Bush Hall; though it was support act The Gardeners stepping into that role (my friend Tiv played guitar alongside Captain Sensible and Dave Gregory for what had previously been the Cleaners' final excursion in Japan in 1994)

Quite a few famous faces were in the crowd... 

Thoroughly entertaining, when he goofed up a riff on the piano, he remarked "At least you know now it's not AI" 😆

Ex-Vöid being magnificent at The Victoria in Dalston on Sunday night with a drummer borrowed from The Tubs. 😎

In Love Again has been one of my favourite albums of the year. I'd not had a chance to see them since its release in January and they lived up to my expectations. 

worthy support from Bloody Death, who were a new discovery to me; I'm going to be exploring their back catalogue...

On 07/04/2025 at 15:41, nekomatic said:

Eddi Reader at the Stoller Hall in Manchester. Boo Hewerdine on guitar, John Douglas uku (I think!) and guitar, Alan Kelly accordion, Kevin McGuire db. Great show, included some Robert Burns, some Fairground Attraction (yes including that one) but brought something new to each of them, and some other stuff. Definite recommend.

Thoroughly enjoyed Fairground Attraction at the Royal Festival Hall last year

I am seeing Eddi at a one day festival in South London in August; I will be over the moon if Boo is in the band for that gig!

On the heels of The Tubs a couple of weeks ago, I’m seeing Ex-Voïd at The Victoria in Dalston tomorrow night

in Love Again has been one of my favourite albums of 2025, so I’m looking forward to this

Last night at my most local venue, The Sound Lounge in Sutton, about 120 of us were treated to an hour and a half of improvisation by The Pete Roth Trio, plus a Q&A session at the start.

The trio is Pete Roth on guitar, Mike Pratt on bass and the legend that is Bill Bruford drumming, persuaded out of 15 years of retirement by an overwhelming urge to play drums again.

Friday evening, after a few months' absence, Robbie McIntosh returned to my favourite local venue, The Sound Lounge, in Sutton, south London.

Superb as always

\

Not exactly live music, but musically related... on Friday evening I attended an event at my local venue, The Sound Lounge in Sutton, where veteran DJ Nicky Horne was talking about his encounters with The Beatles and David Bowie. He recently found the original tapes of his interviews with them that he thought had been lost and played some exclusive clips throughout the show.

I used to listen to Nicky's Your Mother Wouldn't Like It and Six of the Best shows on Capital in the 1970s, when I was very young and Capital  was quite a decent station.

Some great stories. Worth catching if you have the chance.

I live in a small terrace house so usually it’s an NUX Mighty Plug Pro + a pair of headphone (closed back FIIO FT1 if Mrs C has the telly on or open back Sennheiser HD660S otherwise)

I was sure GAK in Brighton used carry a limited range of Sire basses, but they seem to have stopped.

Andertons have been showing most Sire P basses as out of stock for many months now, even when they have been getting new models in. I was wanting to try a natural finish P7 since early Spring but they never had any. They have one white P8 and a couple of P10s right now and I think that’s it for right hander basses.

Thomann appeared to have fewer supply issues over the summer (or perhaps just larger stock in their warehouse) but that has changed a bit when I look now. Same with BAX in the Netherlands and musique-shop in France that I had been keeping an eye on. I’ve a suspicion that anything up to 14 weeks availability may be why the OP is looking here, in part at least.

3 hours ago, rwillett said:

I'm trying to work out the most obscure way to set an TCP/IP network that could run a VPN. Of particular note is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers however I'm not sure how to integrate VPN into that particular protocol

I have considered this myself on previous occasions, but I figured the latency would be a killer for VPN applications 🥸

Off with Mrs C to the Forum in Kentish Town tomorrow night to see The Lightning Seeds, which will be the second time we have seen them this year

No idea who/if any support might be; it appears to be a closely guarded secret 

Last night I saw Soft Machine at my local venue, The Sound Lounge in Sutton, south London

Great show, great crowd, amongst whom I bumped into Tom who runs the bass dept at Wunjo on Denmark Street, which was a pleasant surprise.

Fred Thelonious Baker on bass

Also, import duty from the EU for stringed musical instruments such as bass guitars is 2%, not 4%

Commodity Code 920290

https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/subheadings/9202900000-80?day=25&month=11&year=2024

18 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Item, add the shipping. Then add 20% vat to that. Then the duty (about 4%), and then finally the courier charge for dealing with the customs paperwork. Usually about £15-£20

 

You won’t get any surprises if you assume 30% over the item price. Probably be a little lower.

Just to be picky about the sequencing, you need to add VAT after calculating duty and shipping.

e.g. (ignoring any separate charge for handling customs paperwork)

Bass: £1000

Shipping: £50

Duty: £40

Ex VAT total £1090

VAT @ 20%: £218

Total inc VAT:  £1308

Saturday night was Nada Surf at Islington Assembly Hall (not Islington Academy as listed on the tour T-Shirt I purchased 🙃)

Support was provided ably by a Norwich band named Other Half.

Apparently, Matthew Caws had been out shopping in Norwich for a present for one of his young kids, got talking to the person at the counter in the shop, discovered they were in a band...

So, now he's made an appearance on a track on their new album and booked them as the support act for Nada Surf on this tour. As their lead singer said in front of the crowd 'We're used to playing to thirty people!' I'm now investigating their back catalogue on Bandcamp. 🙂

Nada Surf were excellent as I have come to expect. A good mix of songs from the new album and older favourites.

At the end of the encore, Matthew went completely unplugged with an acoustic guitar and no amplification, and engaged the whole auditorium to sing along gently to The Blizzard of '77 from their 2002 album, Let Go. It was a beautiful way to finish a gig.

So following Phil Manzanera on Thursday, on Friday night Mrs C and headed up the Northern Line to Camden to see Squeeze at The Roundhouse

They were totally on the top of their game. Glenn Tilbrook appeared to be having the time of his life and in conversation with them afterward, even the ShowSec staff really enjoyed the gig!

10 minutes ago, toneknob said:

Greg Howe at the Underworld tonight, world's stickest-floored venue.

Mohini Dey on bass.

 

When carrying your pint from the bar to the mosh, it’s easy to miss your step in the gloom at the bottom the stairs and spill a few drops on the floor to add more stickiness. Don't ask me how I know 😀

Sounds like that should be a very good gig 😎 
 

I shall be up the road seeing Squeeze at The Roundhouse 

Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, talking about his life and times last night with Paul Sexton at the Sound Lounge in Sutton, south London.

His Les Paul was played for our entertainment also 🙂

Quite an exciting end to the week is planned...

Thursday - Phil Manzanera appearing at a venue about 10 mins walk from my house in south London,. He's talking about his new book with music writer Paul Sexton, but some music is also promised. 🙂

Friday - Squeeze at the Roundhouse

Saturday - Nada Surf at Islington Assembly Hall

1 hour ago, howdenspur said:

Squeeze at Victoria Theatre Halifax last night. Not seen them before, but really impressed with the musicianship, vocal harmonies (there are 8 of them in the stage band, they all contribute), Glen Tillbrook's pipes and, of course, the tunes. Brilliant!

I will be seeing Squeeze at The Roundhouse in London on Friday. Definitely not my first time though 😀