Dankology

I have had a happily small number of bad gigs. Plan B at Manchester Academy 3 - went due to an amazing acoustic rap style thing on a magazine cover CD but the gig sounded very much like a US boyband and the clientele were edgy to say the least. Plus it was the height of summer and the sweat was dripping from the ceiling. The only gig I've ever walked out of. I must have caught him in some weird in-between stage before the fantastic Strickland Banks album (which features some very satisftying bass playing). Dylan at Manchester Arena in about 2003 - seats right at the back, got there late (ie normal gig time), no big screens in use so the band were just tiny dots a quarter of a mile away and the sound was incredibly poor with the snare drum reverberating of the back wall so loudly I initially assumed someone was banging their own drum up there. I later picked up a bootleg recording and the performance itself was magnificent. Evan Dando at the Manchester Ritz a few weeks back - hideously oversold to the point that many people, including us, had no view of the stage whatsoever. Really meant to complain to the venue/promoter about this one - as well as being a crappy experience it was palpably unsafe. I've saw a fair few underwhelming Fall gigs over the years too but they usually ended up entertaining for non-musical reasons.

I truly feel your pain. I don't mind other people paying a "stupid tax" because they haven't done their homework but it does sting when they cost me a bargain. Similar but different: years ago I was bidding on a soundcard - in the final day of the auction a new bidder bid me up to my maximum then spotted that the seller had an identical item for sale and nabbed it for the opening price. This was long enough ago that you saw the full ID of every bidder and winner so I don't think I was shilled. I take an almost forensic approach to buying higher value items on Ebay and it narks me to an unreasonable degree when someone blunders in and skews the whole thing. I do miss the days when Ebay searches didn't account for misspellings too.

The headline set from Glastonbury a couple of years ago is not a bad overview. The radio broadcast was all over the Internet at the time. Happy to upload it somewhere if anyone needs it.

Will I then face the same problem when wanting to use it with a PC though?

The HD is now being recognized after a restart... Although from what I've read, I won't be able to *write* to it (as is NFTS formatted) - although I'm sure I can work around that. The monitor is a Grundig which I've connected to via its HDMI port. I've found that I can get a fullscreen view by plugging into the living room TV - not ideal but might see me through until I can find a proper monitor (which itself seems like a potential minefield in terms of compatibility). 2007, actually 😎 But it's rock solid and in several ways still outperforms the ubiquitous Focusrite desktop interfaces. I guess it'll just have to be for the PC now. Not sure what to buy now though - much Ebaying to come, no doubt.

The monitor is maybe 10 years old and the interface is an Emu 0404 - both play nicely with all my Windows machines. The hard drive issue is, or course, related to the formating. Bit galling to have to replace the working screen and interface due to issues that could be addressed in software. But I guess that's the modern way - between the stuff that can't be repaired and the stuff that has obsolescence needlessly baked-in, you're ever tied to buying something new. [gazes approvingly at the TE amp across the room]

I took the plunge and bought a Mac Mini M1 with 16Gb of RAM on Ebay for a great price. After the pantomime of initial setup (security codes appearing momentarily on the kids' iPads), I now find that my monitor crops the screen, my interface is not supported due to some sort of security update and my hard drive isn't recognised at all. I'd prepared myself for the pain of learning new software and workflow but that plus having to shell out for a full set of peripherals may be a bit too much for me.

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Well, last night and the last few weeks combined. I've just done 7 dates with the Mighty Wah - something of a thrill as Pete Wylie has long been one of my favourite songwriters. The mini tour was not without its challenges (even as the baby of the band, 6am arrivals back at home are too much for me now) but it was a fantastic experience and it looks like we're already plotting some futher gigs. Last night was a my own band Dead Tenant playing to an unexpectedly large crowd in the fab little theatre just down the road from where we all live. We were a tiny bit rusty but I'm listening back to the recording as I type and it's all sounding much better than it felt in the moment. Apologies for multiple photos but you don't get to play with your heroes every day 🙂 B&W ones are from last night.

That's a very kind offer - I'll try and find a couple of representative clips for you over the next couple of days. Many thanks!

...very mysterious! The budget can be fairly elastic but I am a stickler for not overspending on features or capacity I won't necessarily need.

I really don't understand Macs at all... Am I better looking at an i3 from 2018 or an i7 from 2012??

I was looking at Mac Minis around £500: https://www.hoxtonmacs.co.uk/products/mac-mini-core-i5-3-0ghz-late-2018 Am I in the right ballpark there?

I've used Vegas in various forms since about 2006, I think, but I'm seriously thinking of moving over to an Apple based system for my video editing needs. I'll be buying secondhand/reconditioned but I've no idea what I should be looking at. We've got a fairly ancient iMac here but I was thinking of going with something less all-in-one. Currently using three GH2 cameras running hacked firmware so while only HD the bitrates can get a little fierce. What am I looking for here in terms of spec and outlay?

My band accidentally left some gear in a venue last night and can't yet get in touch with anyone there - is there anyone in the vicinity who might be able to pop in for us? Please send me a direct message if so.

Just before an otherwise great gig last night my Squire VI completely died. I've opened it up and the connection from the volume pot to the jack is broken - something not beyond even my ham-fisted soldering skills. But I can't see any evidence of any other connection to the jack other than a blob of solder on the other lug. Does the metal control plate somehow act as the earth connection? And should I add a wire as a proper earth connection too? And while I've got the soldering iron out, are there any clever mods I might try?

Are they wrong? I'd thought they were based on an early version but have never properly checked... Still, nothing can beat that "another council tenancy" mis-hearing 😁

The version of Song to the Siren on that LP is remarkable. Back on topic, the Fall's cover of I'm Going To Spain is horrific but the original is hardly a classic itself.

Just wanted to post a thank you to @tom1946for an excellent hassle-free and worry-free amp sale a couple of weeks ago - couldn't be happier with my new purchase and would recommend that other members buy with confidence 🙂

That's a great poster/photo. Did you do it yourselves?

I can't think of any famous ones but surely anyone called Pedro would be in peril here.

I've somehow joined one of my favourite bands for a short tour. Can't wait 😀

I'm not sure it is regarded as their worst album so much as an odd piece of pre-history but the self-titled live debut from Jane's Addiction is my favourite of theirs. Great idea for a thread 😀 looking forward to checking out the Cult LP mentioned above.

Just bumping this (cos I really want that amp)

I hadn't thought of that! I'm now wondering how much my amp actually affects the sound - I usually use quite a few effects... Will do a bit of experimenting. Thank you 🙂 These look great and are pretty much what I was looking at for at home too. I can't find any in stock at the moment though but I'm badly multitasking - will have a proper look later on. Thank you!