Rich

My favourite is the sapphire burst -- it comes to life under lights. Fabulous colour.

Way back in early '86 I spent a wonderful day at the much-missed Wapping Bass Centre, trying a whole load of fabulous exotica. Out of curiosity, I had a quick go on a Steinberger L2... It turned out to be a very quick go. What a ghastly instrument. No redeeming features aesthetically, ergonomically or sonically. Just utterly dreadful.

You and I should form a Basschat 'Hat, Beard And Scowl Club'.

And they were 'groups', not bands. And all this were trees. And you could leave your front door open.

^^THIS.

That's because I've been trying to forget it. And succeeding. Up until 3 minutes ago.

Ped, can we ban Christine please?

On the other hand, the compressor was one of my favourite elements of my old SMX head I never used the preshapes much either. I'd love a lightweight SMX-type head with the graphic, compressor and eq balance.

*wracks brain trying to think of a Down In The Tube Station At Midnight pun* *gives up*

I've got a 4ft length of Auralex Platfoam (as used on the original Gramma pads) that is just taking up space at home. Free to anyone who wants to pick it up from me either at home nr Bristol or at work in Chippenham. Ideal for a DIY platform.

Later With Jools is crap because it never features exactly what I want to hear.

From Friday night's open air event in Salisbury's market square.

I bet they're being totally bombarded with messages from keen candidates as we speak.

Pretty much anything by Elvis. Freebird. Layla. Dance The Night Away (Mavericks). I exercised my total veto on this one in a band some years ago. The frontman wanted to do it, I refused -- told him that I would take off my bass and go to the bar if we gigged it. It became something of a 'frank exchange of views', but in the end he could tell I was 100% serious and quietly dropped the idea. Actually, said frontman was a bit of a knob all round... among his other great ideas were a} trying to charge the band a 'finder's fee' for a gig we were offered via his wife, and b} trying to charge the band a hire fee for gig use of the vocal PA that only he and the b.vox singer used... but those are probably for a whole other thread. EDIT: just to add 'Rule The World' by Take That. It's a good song, very well crafted, nothing against it musically, but I associate it with a tragic time in my life and as such I just can't hear it. It reduces me to a blubbing wreck.

This cracks me up every time I read it Brilliant.

The logistically-challenged drummer and LookAtMe front man would be enough for me to have walked by now. It doesn't sound like any fun at all, and there's a big third reason.

I thought Kanye was a talentless jerk, but I take it back. Genius. Everybody, stop writing songs, the pinnacle has already been reached.

Loving these stories. Solid gold. I reckon this is the best thread we've had in ages.

...in Dobbly, presumably

Problem being the lack of time, piano and funds When I was a nipper, my folks had a really quite nice upright Joanna in the front room. They'd had it for donkey's years. I completely ignored it and eventually they gave it away to the local British Legion hall. Oh how I wish that I'd sat down and actually learned the bloody thing.

I've got the obligatory pawn-shop acoustic guitar and I know about 4 chords. I've got no real interest in learning to play it properly -- the world is full of guitarists who are better than I could ever be. I do however wish that I'd learned to play piano when I was young.

Quite so. In interviews in the past, he's been quite proud of the fact that his fugly 'Punisher' basses cost $250 to build and that there is no shortage of mug punters willing to pay him $2500 for them. Anyone who will so brazenly rip off his own fans and be proud of the fact that he's doing it is just worthy of contempt IMO. As for 'jealousy'... Do I wish I had his wealth? Yes of course. Do I wish my band was as successful as his? Yes. Do I wish I was him? Not in a million years.

Avoid politics please chaps. Thanks