Gasman

I thought this was going to be about a urology problem...

Gigs and rehearsals are all minimum of an hours drive each way for me. No band opportunities anywhere near me, so I suck the travelling up to keep playing with nice people. Good opportunity to listen to audio books too!

99% the case, Daryl! People are usually the problem (if there is one)

Covers band I was in back in the 70s had an Irish drummer. He lived in a caravan in the middle of a junkyard. I never understood how it or he made a living, as nothing ever seemed to change stock-wise. One evening he failed to turn up to a gig which lost us a whole series of gigs with that club. We found out the next day that he was in jail, having had a row with his Mrs which he resolved by shooting a couple of rounds into the pillow on their bed next to her head with a .45 revolver. She was not amused and called the Police, who found several other weapons onsite. With the Irish connection and the troubles going on at the time, none of the rest of us felt like continuing so we split immediately.

Maybe something lost in translation between brain and keyboard here... is Nilorius somehow related to Captain Beefheart?

Where are the Mods when you need them?

Have you tried hiring a van? Just a thought...

Apologies for taking the bait, no personal axe to grind on it, just fed up with seeing it linked to everything...

+1 for Square!

...and no drunk guitarists was always a good red line for me...

Curmudgeons of the world unite!

Mmm, chips!

I saw this and was amused by the ad using 'Awake' rather than 'Woke' - I guess he's worried about having M15 sleepers applying...

In those rare instances when I have had a brand new expensive toy (car, sax, bass) I’ve deliberately made a tiny hidden mark before using them for the first time, to get the newness worry out of the way. The feeling of relief is blissful! However, I do not recommend this approach with new cats or human partners...

I voted 30 and 34 as I take one of each to every gig. First set on the 30” HB to get the fingers and brain working properly and then hand it over to our guitarist for the last three numbers that I do on sax; he loves the shorty as it is ‘sweet on his left wrist ‘... hmm! I like it too, so easy to play but it’s passive so needs that boost pedal. Second set on the Bongo, it’s like changing from a Triumph Spitfire 1500 to a 7 litre AC Cobra, brutal, and I love it!

Getting near the end of my bands two month holiday, no gigs or rehearsals since December, so I’ve been very glad to have recorded our live sets last year (Zoom H6) and also downloaded proposed new numbers from YT, both for silent play along practice at home on headphones while Mrs G watches Pointless and Richard Osman in peace and quiet! I’m using a Vox mini bass preamp into the audio feed on my Mackie PC speakers, which are driven via Audacity DAW so looping, tempo and pitch changes are all possible. Sitting down with the HB shorty makes for easy and relaxing sessions whenever the urge strikes... Alas, sax practice can’t be anything but noisy, so that has to wait until she’s out and our cat has hidden with paws over ears under the bed. Band in a Box is my friend for that... great app.

Loved the loads of authentic 1970s cars that featured strongly in the film, and the warehouse punk scene put in for a real contrast, as well as Bob's music being superb of course!

What key is that in?

I'd like to know in which case case-hardening falls and whether annealing is appealing as a term to our American friends...

Well, I have no issue with those white shorts at all @Bluewine, but I was concerned that the bass player seemed to be afflicted by a post-Vindaloo stomach-cramp requiring him to crouch and gurn at the audience in apparent agony - I hope he made it through the set with unstained undercrackers...

Had this with a ska band who advertised on JMB locally for a saxist - I got the job, only to find out later that there was already a saxist who had been missing gigs and rehearsals due to a love of certain substances so I’d been hired as a backstop. When he realised that his seat was in jeopardy the saxist suddenly became available again. I then found out that gigs were being played without me being told; when I asked the BL what was going on, he used the old ‘pool of deps’ line, so I told him to stuff it. I was well pi**ed off because of the huge amount of work I’d done to work out the brass parts, with no help from the trumpeter who was mates with the saxist and probably wanted me to fail. We live and learn, it’s not what you know or can do but who you know...

Couldn't find any reference to the Bob Marley biopic 'One Love' here so as I've just been to see it I thought I'd canvas opinions. Today (14/2/24) was apparently the first day of release in the UK, and it was Mrs G's surprise Valentine's day present to me. I really liked it, moving and inspirational by turns. !t seemed pretty authentic in its UK and Jamaican settings, the lead actor Kingsley B-A seemed to capture BM's persona well and the bass coming out of the cinema's subs was satisfyingly floor-shaking. Any other fans seen it yet?

Hologram machine setup would far more expensive than an average pub band, no space anyway. Spilled beer in the holo projector might have some interesting effects...

I did it for a year back in 1973 playing sax in a four piece covers band working out of London. We used an agency which got us good gigs supporting some major name bands (even 10cc!) and large venues. However, we were always only just about surviving financially, typically doing sequential gigs in say Bath, Birmingham, Manchester, Penzance, Deal, Lincoln and sleeping in the van. We were ultra-tight and good mates but in the end when I hadn’t got enough dosh to pay the rent on my bedsit I resigned; enough was enough after nearly killing us all by falling asleep while driving back from Cornwall at 3am and crashing the van (fortunately right outside the Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor and the only phone box for miles). No, we’d never been going to make it big or even small, but it was a time in my life that I don’t regret and do look back on with a wry smile, especially as I then spent 40 years on the corporate grindstone at Westland Helicopters!

Interested to understand why the changeover is necessary, especially at this 3 monthly interval. Just for fun?