casapete

But what a marvellous wall of sound it is, my favourite of all the main festive tunes despite it having a kids choir going on towards the end. Saw Roy Wood do it live a few years ago with his rock n roll band and he made it sound just as fresh as when he first recorded it.

We found doing one in each set did the trick. ( Usually did 2x60 min sets.) Rest of our stuff was well known mix of tunes so people would be dancing most of the time.

When I was in a function band, we’d trot out the Wizzard and Slade offerings at all our Christmas bookings. As most of them were corporate parties I’m pretty sure we’d not have got rebooked for the following year if we didn’t do something festive. Left it to the DJ to do any more if they wanted them - we sadly never attempted ‘Fairytale of NY’ due to not having a female vocalist, although I’m sure it can be got round.

Yup, me too. After being nearly a lifelong fan of Bruce Springsteen, I’m disgusted with tickets for his UK dates next year being sold via Ticketmaster using their ‘Dynamic pricing’ system. He’s getting flak from fans in other countries too, but as long as the faithful don’t mind paying upwards of £500 a ticket then it will no doubt continue. Sheer madness. Good on Paul Heaton and Jackie Abbot who pegged the prices on their tour dates to £35, and Peter Kay who I believe is doing something similar.

Totally agree regarding seeing bands in smaller more local venues rather than massive stadiums (stadia?!) you have to travel a long way to. But what really brasses me off is that the ticket price doesn’t reflect this - you would think that playing to say 10,000 people at a time the price would be less than to the people in 5 x 2000 seater venues spread out over the country. I know I’d feel more inclined to pay more for the smaller gigs than getting ripped off in a large gig where you can be miles from the stage and have to watch the gig on big screens to see anything. So long as people are prepared to see their idols in this environment then crazy ticket prices will remain. I refuse to buy into this now, and am disgusted by the way some bands treat their fans. (Apologies, my grumpy old man hat is now off too.) 😁

Interesting article in the ipaper yesterday by Grace Causden all about money earned from writing and/or recording Christmas tunes. Mariah Carey has reportedly earned more than £60m from ‘All I want for Christmas is you’ since it’s release in 1994, more than £2m a year. Other honourable mentions - Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ - about £1m royalties a year Pogues hit with Kirsty McColl ‘Fairytale of New York’ - circa £400,000 a year Bing Crosby, ‘White Christmas’ - £328,000 a year Wham! ‘Last Christmas’ £300,000 a year Sir Paul McCartney - ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ £260,000 a year Jona Lewie ‘Stop the cavalry’ - £120,000 a year East 17 ‘Stay another day’ - £97,000 Time to get writing that everlasting Xmas belter eh?

My least favourite Christmas song, and video 😆 In my old band we often used to do Wizzard’s ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day’ and always enjoyed playing it. Great song for drunken folk to dance to as well.

Pretty handy on most American cars too.

The other two gigs this week were a Golden Wedding do at a local pub. Only about 30 guests, managed to get some up dancing to 50's / 60's stuff though, and home by 11.30pm so not too bad. Last night was the final gig of the year with The ELO Experience at The Corn Exchange in Stamford. Sell out crowd of 400 people, a lovely venue but a basta*d of a get in - everything into a tiny lift, then up to the top floor where it's then rolled down the steep centre aisle of the theatre and up onto the stage. Band played well, and our new sound engineer (and bassist!) Paul is fitting in well, with drums and bass sounding great in the room. ( Enclose a picture which shows my lovely bald spot which is increasing at a frightening rate - may soon be time for a new look I think.)

Done 3 gigs this week. Sunday was my favourite venue for our acoustic duo at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough. Usual brilliant audience, with some great requests which we managed to fulfill. Forgot to take pics but this was the view as I was loading out.

I started out playing Fenders over 40 years ago, and have never been without one. The only brand I used instead for some periods has been Musicman, which I’ve always considered to be the way Fender basses evolved. Had to sell my last MM fairly recently mainly down to the weight issue, not being able to find one that was under 8lbs. Currently still have my original 63 Precision, which would be my go to for everything if I could. My main bass is a Fender P-Lyte, which weighs 7lbs and I don’t have to worry about leaving it on theatre stages unattended. I have an identical spare too. Know its not a regular P-bass, but I can still get some authentic sounds from it, the build quality is superb and it has enabled me to carry on gigging into my 60’s with no shoulder fatigue on long gigs. Still dig the 63 out when I can though, it’s a killer! There’s just something about a proper P-bass that is so right, and it’s worth taking some time to find one that feels / sounds exactly how you would expect. Nothing against other brands, but if I want a Fender then I don’t want one that looks like one, I want the real deal. If I was looking for my first Fender I’d probably go for a tidy s/h Mexican P-bass and then play it for a while before deciding if it needed anything upgrading. In my case I’d be happy with it stock, but another great thing about Fenders is they are easy to modify if you want. (Possibly pick up and controls if you feel the need, but don’t bother with changing the bridge as the benefits are IMO never worth it.)

I can relate to that Paul. Mrs CP usually manages to get me to dance for one song a year on NYE, and that is how I feel, apart from the ‘used to dance’ bit.....

Great stuff, well done!

Superb!

I saw Rory in the early/ mid 70’s. Managed to convince my mum that I didn’t need to stay in that evening and revise for my Maths ‘O’ level exam which was on the next day. Rory and his band were absolutely superb. I got an ‘unclassified’ in my exam.

I’m sure Douglas doesn’t mind me correcting his mistake. After him picking me up on my casual use of the apostrophe many times, it’s a rare (but probably futile) opportunity to try and even the score.....😆

Sky Arts showing ‘Oil City Confidential’ in tribute at the moment.

Whilst Lennon and McCartney wrote ‘Love me do’, the song Twist and Shout’ was not one of theirs, being written by Medley and Berns and a US hit for The Isley Brothers in 1962.

As a child of the late 50’s , the Beatles were incredibly important to me and my interest in pop music, which has remained to this day. Then I heard The Stones and the Beatles took a back seat for the following decades. Still a massive Stones fan, but I must admit the recent documentaries on Macca and The Beatles have made me rediscover their greatness all over again. I think that both bands have been key to most of my contemporaries, and influenced so many others along the way.

Think mine new was £79, maybe 10 years ago though. Was a rather nice dark blue with a white plate IIRC.

I had one, bought new from a local SR shop. Decent bass for not a lot of money, although mine went in a ‘Last in / first out’ cull a year or so afterwards.

Me too. Having to turn both volumes down to turn the bass off can be a right PITA.

Make the method for fitting IEC mains connectors universal. I think the straight side should be at the bottom, but every time I use my Fender Rumble combo I forget that it’s ‘upside down’. All my other amps are the other way round. Also make battery compartments on active basses more robust and easier to use. I’ve always thought the type that Musicman use are the best. Think Fender have used these for a while now too.

I think you and the band deserve better Mick. If everyone's not pulling their weight, then it’s only a matter of time before things go t*ts up, so you may as well get it out of the way and then move on. Sure, a new singer may have similar ego issues but then again may not. Stress to any new members that homework needs doing first to keep rehearsals fresh and enjoyable for everyone too. Good luck!

Squier do the FSR Classic Vibe Bass VI in various non burst colours, including Shell Pink, Lake Placid blue, Purple Metallic and Walnut. 😊