Happy Jack

Well Hell ... if even Cliff could perform "Devil Woman" ...

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1434537047' post='2800486'] I have had enough of this. I am leaving the country. I may go to Italy and [b]Live In Pompeii!![/b] [/quote] That's magic! Wizard! Oh no ... wait ...

[Irony] If there's one consistent theme that runs through the pop/rock of the last 50 years, it's that songs written & performed by young whippersnappers like those awful Rolling Stones (why can't they get their hair cut?) seem to be designed to shock and offend. It's almost as if they're trying to be provocative. Why can't musicians just stick to good, wholesome stuff like The Golliwog's Cakewalk? [/Irony] I suppose I could make a list of songs that are either gratuitously, in-your-face offensive, or which cover very dark territory indeed but do so in unexpected ways (e.g. Perfect Day, by Lou Reed). Frankly I haven't got the seventeen hours it would take to make that list anything like comprehensive. The world now seems to be full of dedicated offendees, those who are determined to be offended by something, no matter what it is, no matter how out of context they have to take it. And do you know what? It always turns out that SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE! Why would anyone choose to live their life as part of a brain-dead tabloid headline? Have these people really got nothing better to think about?

OK, so the scarred old slaver is a racist misogynist, but what about the houseboy? And don't get me started on the lady of the house. The idea that the song is about (female) slaves being raped on the slaveship doesn't actually fit the lyrics. At all. The slaver is in a brothel in New Orleans. The houseboy is the guy who gets the drinks etc. but also gets to sleep with the girls. The lady of the house is more commonly called the Madam. Does that make it a nice lyric? No, but at least it's historically accurate, it paints a striking picture with a handful of words, and it's still a great rock song more than 40 years later.

Perhaps your school needs more thought?

Had a guitarist turn up at a gig without his own amp - he'd left it at home, 50 miles away. Luckily enough, I had one of these with me: http://www.studiomaster.com/product-view/pax12px1212/89/ In truth, he sounded better through it than he did through his own valve amp. Better still, because it's a wedge and pointed at his ears, he could hear himself properly without having to pin the punters to the back wall of the pub with excessive volume. Being a guitarist, of course, he wouldn't be told.

You'll need to make sure your instruments are relics.

This came up during the presentation from D'Addario at the Herts Bass Bash yesterday. The rep (Andrew) made most of the points covered in the dozen posts above, but mentioned IIRC that D'Addario believe that through-body stringing makes broken strings more likely. It links back to the break angle, of course.

Posts not into double figures yet, and this is already one of the better topics this year ...

Pah! Call yerself a guitarist?

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1434360778' post='2798829'] The prototype Barefaced guitar cab is sitting here, I just need to finish off the electronics and fine tune a few other details... [/quote] Guitarists are incredibly rough on handles ...

Ha! That Clone Theory was what I won in the same raffle last year. Had some fun with it, then put it back in as a prize in this year's raffle ...

We close our eyes ...

Now me, I'm a complete rosewood fan, really don't much like maple. But when you played the Stingray, the maple just sounded "right" for the tone of the bass whereas the rosewood made the Ray sound pretty generic. That's about the only time I've preferred maple to rosewood. Shame about the ebony, mind.

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1434300758' post='2798460'] Thank you all for attending - we had at least 25 people at the bash, possibly more. [/quote] That was my count during the D'Addario presentation. At least half a dozen more turned up later, which definitely took us past 30. I'm pretty sure that makes it the UK's second largest bash (but feel free to put me right). Well done Mick and the team.

I run a Matamp GT100 through a Barefaced 69er. Not cheap, but utterly righteous.

[quote name='odysseus' timestamp='1434191723' post='2797459'] Not recently, but it happened a few years ago. We turned up to a pub in St. Austell, the landlord denied ever making a booking and told us to go. As we left, a couple of young lads were carrying record decks in - it turned out that the landlord was taking the money from the brewery for a band, getting a couple of kids on decks for £50 and pocketing a nice £150 difference. Tosser. [/quote] Hmmmm. The usual structure is that the brewery pays a pre-set amount to the landlord to subsidise all his entertainment ... how he spends it is usually up to him. If he can save money by putting on a couple of kids with decks, then he has to weigh that up against how many people will come to see that rather than a real band etc. In west London a typical annual subsidy is £12k - £15k p.a. A landlord can spend that on a band every Saturday for £250, or he can spend it on poker nights, or quiz nights, or he can mix it up. That's why you can turn up and play to three men and a proverbial and still get paid at the end of the evening. There's a bigger picture. Doesn't excuse a landlord shafting a band he's booked, but does partially explain why he might want to ...

Not sure why the craftsperson needed to wear giNORMous false lashes and loads of lippy whilst hand-fitting the sequins ... I suppose she was staying in character, or something.

I've already saved £500. http://www.goldfinchpianos.com/pianos/the-baby-piano/ Just another £474,500 to go then. Plus VAT, of course.

I had the original Bassbone but for some reason I couldn't get on with the notion of a pre-amp that could not supply boost, so I sold it. Whether or not it was actually important I couldn't tell you.

[quote name='Stingray5' timestamp='1433977508' post='2795701'] I'm going to try and make this. The first Herts bash in 2013 was great fun but I had to miss last year. I should be free this weekend but a recent back problem may dictate otherwise (Jack, where are you when I need you?! ). Gear - depends on the aforementioned back problem but I'll probably bring 'old reliable' (Stingray 5, 1989, maple neck). Possibly also a 2001 Stingray 4-string fretless (Rosewood neck) and a 1991 Tune TWB-6 6-stringer (Rosewood neck). (Or other basses as per my signature pic if there's any interest). Hope to see you all on Sunday. [/quote] Well I'll be at the bash actually. Best bring Old Reliable so that people can understand how you got your back problem. Oh, and a crane to lift it of course.

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1433852505' post='2794528'] Is it just me who read the title as "Cozy Powell Plague"? [/quote] I thought this was going to be about his dodgy teeth ...