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Cato

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Posts posted by Cato

  1. Posted

    6 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

    My wonderful wife has very few flaws.

    but one thing I cannot accept is the relentless use of voice notes instead of text messages by her and her mates, and colleagues.

    On WhatsApp they press and hold the mic icon and witter on about whatever, so an inordinate amount of my life is spent listening to...

    ”well, she came round and I was like - what you doing here at this time, and I was like...”

    and

    ”are we doing week 3 of Macbeth with year eleven from Tuesday or Wednesday because I’ve not got the PowerPoint ready yet”

    It does my head in.

    So on another thread I posted some music.

    I’d already sent it to a select few - now @Cuzzie is someone who I respect massively and I really appreciate his enthusiasm and healthy constructive criticism...

    Today was different, he replied with...A VOICE NOTE.

    Not one for swearing or violence... here’s how I replied 

     

    I'm getting flashbacks to the chill out room in Oz nightclub in Plymouth circa 1995.

    • Haha 1

  2. Posted · Edited by Cato

    I wonder if we're going to start seeing European imports being held up by a UK customs backlog.

    I remember reading last year that the government hadn't come close to hitting it's target for recruiting thousands of additional customs staff for post Brexit Britain.

    They've got to be up to their eyeballs right now.

  4. Posted · Edited by Cato

    Remember when 70s Fenders were considered the absolute nadir of Fender's production history?

    When I stated playing in the late 80s they were so badly regarded they were almost like the bogeyman of musical instruments.

    Look at the prices they get now though.

    • Like 1

  5. Posted · Edited by Cato

    There's also the whole quarantine issue which has to make the whole European/UK festival summer circuit a bit of a logistical nightmare, with bands and crew potentially having to isolate for days everytime they move between the UK and Europe.

    That's got to make the previous scenario where bands could be playing a couple of festival dates a week all over Europe and the UK throughout the summer impossible.

    • Like 1

  6. Posted · Edited by Cato

    12 hours ago, Kev said:

    It’s a useful story, as it will bring it to some people’s attention.

    But how anyone can complete a sale that almost certainly said Ex Vat in more than one place think that they wouldn’t be charged VAT is difficult to imagine, especially if it’s someone who regularly shops online and noticed the prices drop by about 20% this month, assuming the shop aren’t being naughty of course.

    In the same article there's a guy who got hit with £147 of import duties, taxes and other charges on a pair of £300 boots.

    I was aware that there would be increased costs for buying goods from Europe but I would never have put them as potentially high as 50% on top of the listed price.

    I seriously doubt many people would.

    I buy a lot of outdoor gear from Alpine Trek and I was considering Thomann for a new guitar as they're one of the very few places that actually seems to have stock at the moment, but I won't be ordering anything from Europe until I can see a set-in-stone price for the whole transaction before I buy.

  8. Posted · Edited by Cato

    5 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said:

    Sad news, but I'm having problems with the 'bankruptcy' bit - this is a large working farm aside from the festival and as such surely would carry on as normal (as much as can be achieved at the moment ) ?

    😎

    It's always been a bit murky how much the festival makes.

    Theoretically all the profits go to good causes, but at the same time  the Eavis family pay themselves a fairly large wage for organising the festival and I believe they also pay the farm maintenance and 'rent' for hosting the event.

    Even so I don't think it's super-lucrative on the scale of earning the organisers tens of millions.

  12. Posted · Edited by Cato

    Card fees used to be a problem for small retailers because they hit the profit margins on low ticket items disproportionately hard, hence the reason that a lot of small corner shops used to have a £5 minimum card payment limit.

    But these days card fees are much lower, the shop I volunteer at will take card payments for 50p newspapers.

    And even if as a business you were saddled with a high % card charge for whatever reason, surely on a £2500  bass you'd just pass that on to the customer.

  13. Posted · Edited by Cato

    Pearl Jam don't like their fans getting ripped off.

    Their one band war against Ticket Master in the 90s started over a 1$ admin fee that Ticket Master wanted to charge people for tickets for a free concert that Pearl Jam were putting on and rapidly escalated to Pearl Jam boycotting every Ticket Master associated venue in the US and testifying before congress over Ticket Master's monopoly.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/pearl-jam-ticketmaster-1995-boycott-booking-fees-gigs-ticket-prices-a8989516.html

    • Like 4

  14. Posted · Edited by Cato

    I've been listening to hip hop since the late 80s and, to honest, I think the whole 'gangsta' thing may have been a little over done over the last 30 or so years.

    Rap is a fantastic story telling medium, but the genre could definitely do with some new plots.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted · Edited by Cato

    45 minutes ago, stewblack said:

    I think Cory has completed 4 albums, a chat show, endless YouTube videos - all of them good, during the lockdown! 

    Eight albums last year according to the article in HJ's link.

    By the way is Sonny T quite a small chap or is that bass (Warwick Dolphin?) massive.

  17. Posted · Edited by Cato

    It looks like Music Tribe/Behringer are doing the same with Sweetwater in the US.

    https://guitar.com/news/industry-news/music-tribe-sweetwater/

    It sounds like it may be an exclusive or semi exclusive dealership deal.

    We are now focusing on a select choice of the most influential e-commerce partners who have the largest customer reach and depth of services,” he wrote. “Only large e-commerce partners are capable of delivering this service.”“As a consequence, this unfortunately disqualifies all small brick-and-mortar stores and traditional distributors, as serving them adds little value and increases cost,” Behringer added.

    The report mentions that they're doing something with Amazon as well but it sounds like Behringer gear may soon be exclusive to just a handful of albeit huge retail outlets.

    • Thanks 1

  22. Posted · Edited by Cato

    Active and/or passive is also a big consideration.

    For me it's a plus to have the option of both on a single PJ bass, sometimes I like to solo the P in passive mode for a more vintage vibe other times I might go all out on both pickups with the preamp engaged for a more contemporary tone.

  23. Posted · Edited by Cato

    The sad fact is that just about every company Gibson has acquired in the last 3 decades either only now exists as an almost unrecognisable sad parody of it's former self, such as Kramer and Steinberger, or no longer exists at all.

  25. Posted · Edited by Cato

    11 minutes ago, peteb said:

    The rumour is the relationship will supposedly be a 'mutual partnership'... 

    With Gibson's reputation where it is at the moment they might be concerned that calling it a takeover will devalue the Mesa brand.

    Not that I'm sure I believe the rumours, it seems like odd timing for the new consortium that took over a bankrupt Gibson 2 years ago to be looking to expand.

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