Silvia Bluejay

Aw, but it's daamn 'ard to go on stage with blood gushing from a wound, give a sterling performance nonetheless and then also carry a double bass up a steep narrow staircase... (albeit with the photographer's help)

LOL thanks He's a youngish, very nice Spanish guy who moved to London a few years ago.

There you are

Expect a multitude of photos... in addition to the SE Bass Bash and Junkyard Dogs ones I'm already drowning in. Watch this space - and FB, Twitter etc...

Can't possibly make that, Peter, I'm afraid. You guys have a great afternoon. I'll keep an eye on future ones

If you're on Twitter, follow @basschatuk - I banged on about this meetup for weeks in advance, and will do so again for the next. I publicise any meetup around the country. The only one that didn't need any help this time round was the South East Bass Bash, but our Twitter account always keeps followers up to date with events like these.

You guys called? Welcome, Ulgnor! In the words of Jason Newst3d, keep it heavy! \m/ \m/

OK - I haven't heard from Lars yet, but I know he'll be on the phone as soon as he has news. Regarding the short notice, it's [i]probably [/i]not going to be "tell you tonight to get ready for a meetup tomorrow morning" but it might still be pretty tight, we don't know. The only reason why I'm being so recalcitrant is that we have let John down once before and we don't want to do that again. Once I lose sight of the bass, despite all the best intentions from all sides, there's no guarantee I'll have it back pronto on the day/night I need it - we have seen how life has a habit of getting in the way. I'll feel more relaxed once we have got those previously mooted meetups out of the way. At that point we can again give priority tothe bass being moved around. However, at this point in time I'm not even able to say whether John is going to be available for another meetup, so it's all a bit up in the air. I'm not the prime mover in all this, so I'll be awaiting instructions. Simply tell me what to do and I'll do it.

Look I'm getting slightly bored with all this. You guys just decide - do you want stars involved or not? Do you want the press involved or not? The latter is somehow dependent on the former, unfortunately, as the media are only interested if there are big names to be dropped, and don't give a flying **** if they have played or just held the bass. If the answer is no to the first question, let me know, and I'll thank Lars and ask him to dedicate his time and hard work to other projects. Whatever your final decision, I will not be the one who writes the speech to give the audiences at the relay gigs.

Guys, what you don't seem to realise is that in general we're not meeting these stars in a proper gigging environment. Even on those occasions when James went backstage to a show, he was only allowed in either before or after the show, and just for a very short time.

Still on my hard disk, slowly being whittled down to a manageable number. Nearly there I'll put some in my still-to-be-written blog and all the remaining good ones in a big album on Flickr. Bear with me for a few more days.

Excellent

I don't want to be Capital-centric, but holding one of the meetups in London would probably have a reasonable level of attendance. Not sure about anywhere else, unless you're happy with just 3-4 people turning up.

No prob James. I've emailed you a new press release and photo

Guys, I didn't have the time to go round with the bass at the bash, as I said in a post on the previous day, so there was no fundraising at all, and no photos of the bass with anyone except Dave and Paul. I simply had too much else to do, and so did absolutely everyone else at the bash. I am waiting to hear from Lars about meeting the two gents mentioned above. It might be a short notice thingy - it was like that last time we tried (and failed), and I'm not blaming James for "f**king it up" as he says - we only had a couple of days notice, and Peter Hook was waiting for James in Bristol on the previous day, and he* was supposed to be travelling around the whole of the South East in the space of 48 hours. Not ideal. With the Baton possibly being required at short notice - such as "can you make it tomorrow afternoon?" - I would prefer to hold on to the bass until Lars has some more precise info, if you guys don't mind. James, there was a newish version of my press release, but I'll create a newer version and email it to you. Anyone else thinking of contacting the press, feel free to PM me and i'll send it to you as well. * James

If you read my previous posts, that's what I'm saying. I'm also saying that, having had a glitch with two appointments with two stars we had to cancel at very short notice a week ago, at the moment the bass is here with me and emphatically [b][i]not[/i][/b] going anywhere until we can be sure we do not have reason to disappoint any of our other endorsers.

It comes down to choosing between having it played at the Dog and Duck to 20 punters every weekend, or having John Taylor of Duran Duran and Mark King endorse the cause, without being asked to put money in the box but with the agreement that their photos will be used in our press releases. Can't be both at the same time. Let me remind you that Lars Mullen, who has a bulging little black book of star contacts, is working very hard, for nowt like the rest of us, to raise the profile of this project. We can thank him and ask him to stop at any time, and return the bass and the project to its previous relative anonymity. Up to us. At this stage, we are talking to John Taylor and Guy Pratt, both of whom were contacted and showed an interest before. If you'd like me to ask Lars to stop contacting other people, I can do that. I'm only the PR person and occasional photographer - I'm not a fundraiser.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1380023081' post='2219598'] Really..? I got the distinct impression from this forum that no-one did that any more! [/quote] Do as I say, not as I do... Alternatively, like me, don't learn to slap in the first place, so you can't be tempted to break into a fit at any point, and have no consequent loss of street cred etc. Edit: the name of the Junkyard Dogs drummer is Paul.

Fantastic. I actually loved the original look of that bass, so I'm curious to se the end result of this re-build

The Baton is with me, and we have agreed with Lars that it's staying here until further notice, as he is trying to organise another couple of meetups with big names in the bass world I will obviously keep you all posted as soon as I have more details, and then the Baton will be able to start on its travels again.

Hi there, I'm unpinning this topic as its title is confusing (it refers to last year). Could you guys start a new topic for deciding the date of the next bash? I could then pin that one. Thanks

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1379935007' post='2218340'] Many thanks for bringing it along, and for the loan. Pics will follow, I promise ... [/quote] Guess who'll be taking those photos... I intend to wear something equally outrageous.

I'm still working my way through my 500+ photos. Here's one of the incredibly hard-working Mrs Hamster, Sarah:

And this is one of mine:

[quote name='Noisyjon' timestamp='1379851735' post='2217379'] P.S. Here's hoping the picture of me with Macdaddy's Zebra finished Hamer Explorer bass surfaces [/quote]