Rich

Yup, festivals evolve, not always for the best. I'm old enough to remember when Reading was still called the National Jazz, Blues and Rock Festival. It was all in sepia then, mind.

Funny you should say that...

I don't believe you will need any form of licence. But it might be worth making sure you have some sort of public liability insurance just in case.

My jazz supergroup: Mike Stern and John McLaughlin - guitar Alain Caron - electric bass Christian McBride - acoustic bass Herbie Hancock - keys Brecker bros - horns Dave Weckl - drums

My best bargain as it turned out was my Wal, for which I paid £330. One of my few appreciating assets The one that got away was the pre-EB Stingray I saw and didn't buy for £250. *slaps self*

I bet John Hall will love them too.

My prog supergroup: Zaher Zorgati (Myrath) and Geoff Tate - vocals John Mitchell and John Petrucci - guitar Tony Levin - bass & Stick Jordan Rudess - keys Neil Peart - drums

Shocking news, L42's classic line-up were a massive part of my musical formative years. The soundtrack to my 20s. Probably best not to speculate.

I find any discrepancy in my timing is evened out by my dodgy attire and questionable note choice.

I get the same grip problems. I found that Herco heavy thumbpicks are just the job for me. As an unexpected benefit, I've found that I can now switch between fingerstyle and pick on the fly, quite handy for a change of dynamics within a song.

Yup, another vote here for superglue or, as I call it, 'instant fingertips'

Steeltown, by Big Country. It's never struck me before just how dominant the bass is on this album. Taking nothing away from the other bandmembers, or the superb songwriting and powerful (and very angry at times) themes, but Tony Butler's bass drives everything it touches. Listen to the chorus of Rain Dance for example -- the bass is everything. Just... brilliant.

I like playing at the Shoe, but I'm pretty sure they only have live music on Wednesdays and Sundays?

Do you mean the pickguard? Looks fine. Or am I missing something?

They have Squire and Specter basses too, I see. Facepalm.

There's no way they'll physically fit in the Blue Lagoon. Nice little venue though.

This piece of original blurb would tend to suggest that rosewood was used for both fretted and fretless Pro basses. I would sell a kidney to get hold of one of those DI output conversion kits.

Bass and vocal only... even more damn.

It's going to be pretty short notice for any of the medium sized venues, most of them will have been booked up long since. Might be worth asking though, nothing to lose. Try the Fiddlers or The Fleece (both Bristol) for starters? The latter have a lot of trib bands pass through, so you might be right up their street.

The circumstances leading to his hearing damage will make your hair curl. Outrageous working conditions. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-47965734 "In its appeal, the ROH claimed the artistic value of the music produced by the orchestra meant that some hearing damage to its players was inevitable and justifiable - but that was rejected by the court." Justifiable? Seriously?

For anyone who, like me, enjoys the nerdy stuff...

The former certainly not the latter! It only cost me £330 anyway...