ezbass

Stick It Out - Rush

Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey

To go with the previous porn star names from the ‘60s, Englebert Pumperdink

The Winner Takes It All - ABBA

Porn star name if ever there was one, as is… Lusty Springfield

Diamonds & Rust - Joan Baez

Carrier on my Wayward Son - Kansas

Review of the 3 here: https://www.bassgearmag.com/sterling-by-music-man-joe-dart-iii-artist-series-bass-guitar/

Bad Case of Loving You - Robert Palmer

It really won’t be, central London has changed immeasurably due to development. The parts that haven’t changed are mainly in The City, which wouldn’t really have featured in photos from the ‘60s. As to it ever swinging, well, I grew up in London in the ‘60s, it was fairly meh. That said, living and working there until recently, every decade was meh from a fashion and cultural perspective, just same old, same old with less flared trousers. After 30 years of working and commuting to central London from South London, I can understand that. We moved 500+ miles north in 2020, to a rural location and when we went back down to visit friends, I couldn’t wait to get back to my new home. I never had me down as a country mouse, but that’s what I am. Another thing about London and the Home Counties is that, at least from my experience, it’s rubbish for live music at the pub/club level. Getting gigs is ridiculously hard and the monetary rewards piffling. Things are much better away from that conurbation (I wonder if it’s the same for Manchester, Birmingham and the like?).

Sash in Pocket - The Pretenders

Teats for Fears Tears for Bears

Thompson Twits

Milks Davis

King of Pane - The Police

It's Raining Again - Supertramp

Yep, me too. Not keen on Dunlop's either. I've gone back to Grolsch bottle washers. Trouble here was that I couldn't see the wear behind the rubber.

Oh, as do I. Well, normally. I opened the bag with the spare bass in it, no strap!

In addition to the first set of keyboards not working, yesterday, the guitarist forgot his pedalboard, resulting in an hour's round trip to retrieve it. Then, halfway through the second set my strap gave out and was hanging by a single, impossibly strong, thread. What a palaver! Still, get all the niggles out of the way in one swoop. They don't make that strap design in black anymore and I really like it, so this morning was spent ransacking an identical one in red, that I don't use anymore, for parts. Good as new, even if the sewing isn't the neatest. Action pic from yesterday.

Well, this one tried its best to be as bad as I anticipated: Guitarist forgot his pedalboard and had to make an hour round trip back home to get it; keyboardist’s setup refused to send a signal to the desk, fortunately, a spare was at hand and worked, not as good a sound though; halfway through the second set I felt my bass move, my strap had split at the strap pin and was holding on by one thread, went to use a spare from the backup bass, no strap packed 🤦🏻.

Half way through this afternoon’s gig. Slow start as keyboards refusing to work, but all good after. Parking is an absolute nightmare and it’s all gone up in the pay and displays by about 30%! Still, appreciative crowd, which is nice.

I feel that acutely today. I have a gig an hour away (not too bad), at a venue that the guy running it seems flakey at best. Parking is nightmare, unless the loading bay outside is free. I’m tired and irritable and could do without gigging today TBH.

San Quentin - Nickleback

Like @msb, I’ve been gigging since the mid ‘70s. What keeps me at it? Force of habit certainly has something to do with it. If I didn’t play with others, what else would I do? I’m not sure I’d actually keep playing much at all. Maybe that’s it, I keep playing because I play.

Going Down - Various