Doctor J

I'll need to get "Street lightning, go street lighting" to the tune of that song from Grease out of my head before I can dosomething useful 😩

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If there are aftermarket manufacturers for it, there will be propaganda for it. If it can be used for one-upmanship, there will be propaganda for it. If there are bedroom players who only ever play in isolation and can obsess over microscopic perceived changes in tone when nobody can really hear it because the only part of this whole circus which actually matters in the end is the music these tools make, there will be propaganda for it.

Well done, Andy, top job 👌🏻

If you want to deep dive, and I mean really deep dive, into that topic... http://www.musicmanbass.global/bridges-pre-eb-eb/

Every time I listen to the albums, I end up listening to these songs multiple times before I can move on Aaaah there are loads but that'll do for now

Yeah, but... at least they walked in first 😁

It was an attempt at humour, not a Mojo article.

Ok https://www.nme.com/news/music/blondie-glastonbury-2023-setlist-photos-quotes-videos-3461148 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/25/blondie-at-glastonbury-review-debbie-harry https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/blondie-at-glastonbury-2023-reviewed/ The point being some people liked it

I agree entirely. People go to events, not gigs and, for many, they will have lapped up multiple over-the-hill acts and have ticked off a load of boxes. It's still demand, though, in whatever guise. People like to see "legends" play even if any musical merit they had exists only on old recordings. A cult of celebrity thing? Debbie Harry owes me nothing, though. I've no problem with her picking up the cheques even if, as the saying goes, I wouldn't open the curtains if they were playing in my back garden. If someone wants to have the time of their life to what is utter mediocrity to my ears, let them at it. Legacy schmegacy. It doesn't change the old recordings. I am probably the target market of legacy/nostalgia act circuit, but I have no interest in it. However, I can't deny it is the prime mover when it comes to ticket sales, these days. It is what the people seem to want.

One man's meat... etc "Blondie delivered one of the best sets of the weekend" https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66013118

Fender's business model is built on regurgitation. It saves them having to think of another meaningless series name if they can tag some celebrity's name onto what is essentially the same thing they've churned out since the 50's.

Depends on the band and why you're playing the music you're playing. If you're trotting out covers for money, I'd imagine audience numbers and reaction plays a big part in how you percieve the gig went. If they don't sing along to your Sex on Fire, then were you really that sexually fiery? Perhaps getting the cash money eases that pain? For originals, it's always nice to get a positive response from people after the gig. I mean, it's great if people turn up at all but, when they do, if people seek you out to tell you they really enjoyed music you wrote, that's always a good feeling. If they buy a CD and a t-shirt too, even better. I was in a band in the early-90's where we were chasing a sound of very selective appeal. We got a weekend support to a reasonably popular mainstream band and we bombed. I remember looking over at the guitarist during the set and seeing two people in the crowd, beyond him, mouths agape in slack-jawed wonder/repulsion. I was delighted. I thought that if we were alienating people who liked the mainstream stuff, then we were on the right track.

It's also lucrative. There is no supply without demand, from those who want to tick the box and say they saw Blondie, GnR, whoever, and those who still watch it on the telly, keeping the viewing figures high enough to justify another meander through the festivals next year. If someone offers you big money to plod through the greatest hits one more time, and you enjoy going through the motions, you'd be a fool not to take it. Screw the begrudgers. By the time your favourite band is playing large arenas, or stadiums, or is high up on the bill at festivals, their best days are long behind them, anyway. If you didn't see them when they were playing small, filthy sweatboxes, you've probably missed the really good stuff already 🙂

Yep, as said, the way I heard it was that he wanted the Stingray to be the Flea. Not a mere signature bass, but a rebranding.

Probably that the Stingray has sold just fine without needing to give a cut of the cash to Flea whereas Modulus went bust.

Having become detached from popular music awareness around 25 years ago, I'd expect a decent modern festival to be full of names I don't recognise. Any lineup I'd come up with would read like something from the last century and it shouldn't be that way. Many of the bands from my era are mediocre live, these days, even when playing the old music from back when they were good. They shouldn't be at the festival, anyway. I need a time machine festival 😂

Quality player and a great band, despite the inevitable link to britpop and the negative conotations that seems to now infer. There's no place to hide in a band with no rhythm guitarist. I saw them plenty of times over the years and he's a musical and inventive player, while never giving the impression of someone weighed down by technical considerations 🙂

Weak sauce.

Yep, modded Cardinal.

77 is no longer just the year punk broke, it's also Debbie's age. Not bad. My great-grandmother couldn't rock a show like that.

Yep, self-taught on bass, guitar and drums and have recorded and gigged in bands on all three. I started on bass in the late 80's, had one book on bass playing, which got stolen after a while, so learned from watching other players live and in videos and taking the things I liked from their sound and technique. None of my guitar-playing friends were any use at writing music, so I started playing guitar a couple of years later, purely so we could have a band and play our own music. I followed the same pattern of self-learning through looking and listening. A few years later, I started playing drums and, again, learned the same way. I'm not a maestro on any of them but, in truth, I don't really want to be. They're a means to an end and that end is making music. I'm good enough to play what I want to hear and, if I need to play something beyond my abilities, I'll figure out how to do it and practice it. I don't feel burdened by this approach. I don't feel the need to master techniques I have no musical interest in playing. I sound like me and I'm as good as I need to be to make the music I want to hear. That'll do, pig, that'll do.

The courier should have a record of the weight of the package you sent.

There's definitely something in the air, I picked this up yesterday