casapete

Another plug for BBC2 on a Saturday night - this week there is the Bruce Springsteen documentary , ‘ A Secret History’ on at 9pm. Following this at 10pm there is the 2019 film ‘Blinded by the light’ , a great comedy drama.

Are The Sex Pis*ed Dolls still going? Think a couple of members were called Anna Key and Connie Rotten. 😆 My 8 piece band has 3 female players, and is all the richer for it. Most of the time it stops it being too ‘ blokey’ which for me is especially welcome. We all get on very well, despite an age range of early 20’s right through to me and the drummer! I’ve never liked being in groups of just men, either for work or socialising, so it suits me fine, We spend a lot of time together travelling and performing, and honestly can’t remember a crossed word for years.

Curious as to why your wife wouldn't go to see a female fronted band? We would never have been to so many gigs over the years if Mrs CP had applied that criteria, or I'd have been to them on my own 😆

I saw Lou Reed there in the 70’s with my brother, who saw David Bowie there around the same time. The list of who has played there is amazing. Apparently when Sinatra was there someone had to go and remove him from the nearby pub and get him onstage as the audience and band were fed up of waiting for him.

There’s some good stuff on BBC2 tonight ( Saturday 19th). Starting at 8.30pm there are three Stevie Wonder programmes including ‘ A night of Wonder’. These are followed at 11.35pm by a Teddy Pendergrass documentary.

Yeh, a great little pub - it said on the board outside ‘Real music and live ales’. A mate of mine used to run Thursday evenings there, and I used to do it when their regular bassist ( the amazing Aidan Lawrence) was away touring. Always a great night, especially when I stayed over and sampled the excellent beers. Haven’t been in for a while now, hope it’s managed to retain it’s magic for local musicians. Happy days.

I think one of the reasons I'm sticking with the CD format is that I just can't get used to the concept of not owning music in a physical sense - as Woodwind says above, I only stream to see if I like an album then usually buy it on CD. Plucking music out of the air seems alien to me as a replacement, am guessing it's having grown up with a music collection to hand on vinyl/CD it's hard to let that concept go. Definitely an age thing I think.....🧓

We had a great gig last night at Liverpool's Empire Theatre. Despite the long journey in pretty grim weather, it proved well worth it - around 1300 people in the audience which amazed us. A really historic venue that has put on a long list of great singers and bands over the years, including of course The Beatles. Always think of this when I'm singing 'Roll over Beethoven' on that same stage, (albeit quite a different version from theirs and Chuck's!!) Managed time to get a great pizza at the famous Ma Egerton's pub (near the stage door) before the gig too, so didn't have to walk far on a night of dreadful weather. Made it home around 2am, knackered today though.

It’s on the west pier, in fact the full name of the venue is The Lookout on the Pier. We play there one Sunday a month at present, and it’s a wonderful gig. Before it was up and running we also used to do The Watermark on the north bay, again a great venue previously run by the same people as The Lookout. I’ve played in Scarborough quite a lot over the years, and have worked with some amazing players there. Used to play at a great little pub called The Indigo Alley, bottom of N.Marine Rd. Also many good New Years Eve gigs at The Scarborough Spa as well as many other function do’s at all the major hotels. It’s only an hour’s drive from where I live, and always enjoy working there.

Interesting to see how the availability of reasonably priced CD players has seemingly diminished at a more rapid rate than the CD format itself. Assume that means these CDs are still in the main being played on ageing hi-fi / computer disc drives? (I’m wondering whether to buy a back up CD player to try and future proof my large CD collection. I’m reluctant to shell out more money to re-purchase my music collection again for a third time.) All our kids ( in their 30’s) don’t possess a CD drive at all, preferring not to own hard copies of music in favour of streaming. It’s just how things move on, but I’m hoping CDs will become retro and hip again at some point like vinyl has. I’ve still got some of my vinyl (which doesn’t get played) including a vast amount of singles (45’s) which I don’t know what to do with.

Another GK fan here. Started with an 800RB (which I still have), and have had a 700RB II and currently use the 1001RBII. All great amps IMHO, and am sure the big daddy 2001 will be awesome. Enjoy!

You’re right, all those mentioned will meet the brief. However, I do recommend the Fender Rumble range, great sounding compact lightweight combos, and when he comes to upgrading will get a fair return on the outlay.

Think you’re on the right track with the idea of six or eight tens. Barefaced and Markbass do some which aren’t crazy weight wise amongst others. My old SVT 810 rig was the punchiest rig I’ve ever used, been chasing that sound with smaller stuff for years but to no avail. 😕

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According to Wiki it was Larry Johnson. (Must admit to not knowing anything about him though.)

I’d add Alan Gorrie to the list as well - loved the AWB when he and Hamish swapped lead vocals and bass duties.

Couldn’t agree more. I had a guy in a pub audience (at a gig with my country band) come and ask me after the first set why on earth I wanted to play ‘a cheap Danelecto’ and why I wasn’t playing ‘the best bass ever made, a Gibson Thunderbird’. After a couple of minutes trying to get through to him I gave up and told him to eff off.

Just booked tickets to see Jimmy Webb on his UK tour in May. One of my favourite writers, looking forward to hearing his songs and stories.

I used to play a lunchtime set at a cafe in a shopping centre, and remember a fella representing PRS coming in and asking for a set list a couple of times. IIRC he was a musician who worked for them part time. As far as I know we didn’t get hit for any payment, although the cafe owner maybe did. In my current band we play theatres who always ask for set lists, and we have to pay PRS on every gig.

We played our monthly gig at The Lookout in Scarborough. Another full house of lovely people in the audience, it's my favourite current gig. First time I've used my Ibanez PNB14E short scale electro acoustic, and was well pleased with the result into my Fender Rumble 100.

Think I’m probably guilty of inverted snobbery to some extent, as I usually seem to enjoy basses that haven’t cost the earth. My main bass is a Fender Precision Lyte, which I’ve used for over 10 years now. I’d be gutted if it got stolen, despite having an identical back up. Other regular gigged basses include a Dano Longhorn, Jazz bitsa and an Ibanez short scale electro acoustic, all of which have been sub £300 IIRC. I’d just feel wrong playing a Fodera or anything boutiquey, don’t know why but probably do think I wouldn’t do it justice doing what I do. To use the car analogy, the same reason I wouldn't pay a small fortune for a Ferrari etc, although I’m a better driver than bass player....😆

I’ve used a leather strap secured by either Grolsch washers or Dunlop plastic Lok strap retainers for decades without any damage to my basses. ( Never once had the strap come loose either in case you’re wondering....) I know a lot of folk like the Dunlop Strap Locks but I’ve never liked them due to having to alter each bass and strap. Also I avoid any metal parts on straps generally as it’s just a recipe for a bass scratching disaster. 🤣

I’m my old 8 piece function band, we used to do a trad jazz style walkabout set to welcome people arriving at the venue. At a large hotel in Hull we were playing at a wedding, and had been booked as a surprise for the happy couple. The instructions were to wait for them to arrive from the church inside the hotel entrance, and then play them into the foyer to start the festivities. We saw the bride and groom arriving ( strangely without an entourage) so all positioned ourselves on the hotel steps and played ‘Congratulations’. The usual response when we did this was great, a nice ice breaker for the reception. However this time the couple dashed straight by us and straight into the lift in the foyer, after less than 30 secs of us playing for them. We stopped and hung around waiting to strike up for the rest of their guests, but nobody else arrived. It was then that we realised we’d heralded the arrival of the wrong couple - nobody had told us there were two weddings going on that day in the hotel. Sure enough, a few minutes later our wedding couple and guests arrived and we started again, this time to a better response. ( I found out later that the first couple we played for had planned to sneak up to their hotel room for a quickie before their guests arrived 😂 )

I always judge a guitarist by how he can play with the rest of the band rather than widdly solos. In fact I generally detest widdly solos, much preferring those that serve the song ( same as the bassline really ). The epitome of this for me would be Mike Campbell ( ex Tom Petty and now with Fleetwood Mac), a genius guitarist who can solo and play the right chords / inversions to make the song unforgettable.

Agreed - I was always drawn to rhythm guitar more than endless soloing. My main influences in this respect have been Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Motown, Pete Townshend, Steve Cropper etc. Even these days the art of great rhythm playing seems to often go unnoticed.