Huge Hands

Just to resurrect this thread - I note there appears to be hardly any live footage of Donny but I just found this: I am loving Willie Weeks' (assuming it is him) - green Precision. Fred White's (again assuming it is him) drumming is just so solid. I think this is the closest to the Live album lineup I've ever seen.

I remember playing a gig in central London with 3 sets. The start of the first set was fast approaching and the singer had not appeared. We kept ringing him, but his phone was dead. We decided to go ahead with an instrumental first set. Around half an hour in, he showed up, looking flustered. Apparently he'd been caught in a load of delays on the tube. Ever the professional, he jumped straight on and finished the set. Second set, we play the first song. He then stops the band and goes off on what he later claimed to be his first attempt at stand up, but what just came across as a expletive laden rant about TfL. This was especially weird as up to then I think I'd heard him swear once in 3 years.... At the pauses where (I think) the jokes were meant to be, there was just silence from the crowd and us in the band. After about 3 mins of this extreme awkwardness, he just looked at me, shrugged his shoulders as if to say "well, I tried" and then carried on with the gig which went well after that. To be fair to him, he was in the performing arts scene and had balls of steel to just try something like that off the cuff. I just found it cringeworthy at the time!

Years ago I played in a blues band that played mainly obscure covers and originals. We got booked for a gig for a London borough council at their local offices. I remember helping the organist get hs heavy Hammond up the stairs - not fun! As we started - it soon became clear that we had been booked to play the council's Christmas party. Apparently the council leader loved blues music and had seen us play so booked us for his own gratification. I could see him at the back of the room slowly grooving away with his eyes closed. Unfortunately, between him and us were about 100 council employees - including a load of young staff all looking at us as if to say "what the f**k is this?". At the interval, I pleaded with the band to try and jam through some Christmassy tunes for the second set, but they gave it the "we're too cool to change" bit. We went back on and did our standard set to even more silence. It was such an awkward night....

Funnily enough my brother is a heavy drinker and occasionally used to "sleep-wee" in his bedroom, in his wardrobe, on the stairs etc after a skinful. After a few of these instances, we reckoned it always seemed to be on the nights where he'd had salad for dinner before going out.

Years ago, in the early 90s, as a teenage drummer still at school in my older brother's band (everyone else was 18-28), we got a gig in Hartlepool Hospital, playing in a bar they had on site for doctors and nurses. If I remember correctly, it was a school night (a Thursday I think). We borrowed a Sherpa van from someone, drove down from Gateshead and set up. We played two sets through (Commitments type stuff as it was around the time of the film). The bar was packed but no one so much as looked up or acknowledged we were there. There was a buffet, then bingo being done by a cheesy DJ. We decided to at least have some of their food and pack up after the Bingo as otherwise we would have to load out in front of it all and we were already deflated that no one seemed to like us. As the bingo finished, the DJ said "Did you like the band?"---"Yeah!"----"Do you want to hear them again?"----"Yeah". We went back on and played the exact same two sets again to exactly the same crowd. This time they were singing, dancing and we went down a storm. I think, instead of the expected 11pm, I got home about 3am! That night taught me that bingo, s**t buffet food and drinking a pub dry of alcohol can make all the difference to a gig crowd.... My other big memory of that freezing cold night was that god awful Sherpa van, having to sit in the middle seat with my legs in the passenger footwell, while the bass player had his feet on the dash. (He was a serving police officer at the time!)

Apologies. My poor defence is naivety - I have been on standard full time PAYE contracts for years (I bet that is out of date too). I think the most I earned from gigging in any one year was about £300.... Last time I dealt with HMRC was before 2005.....

I would say when the money starts getting declared to the Inland Revenue....😀

Whilst I wish it was down to my looks and my renowned allure to the opposite sex, I think it more likely I have often been admitted to bands because of my experience of sound engineering and my love of driving vans......

I recently saw an interview with his brother Martin who said that Gary couldn't play anything, but they needed a bass player and they got him in because he was the best looking kid they knew.

As an example, I played a link from someone's post in Basschat a few years ago out loud in the office at work. It was to Anderson.Paak's NPR Tiny Desk concert. I won't repeat what he shouts repetitively at the start, but a black colleague got really upset and asked me to switch it off (which I did). This started a discussion around how normalised the rap/music scene has made these words to the point where most of us (of various ethnicities) hadn't even registered or noticed the words being said. I know he for one (of Jamaican and before that African descent) regularly pulls up younger people in the black community if he hears them using those kind of words. ...and he isn't my only example.

I have met plenty people of African ancestry who still think it is a slur, regardless of who says it - and find people of African ancestry throwing it around as a casual term just as offensive as if a white person did it.

I had it all going at school - ginger, fat, glasses, squeaky voice, braces on teeth...etc etc. The only thing I don't have now are the braces..... The only saving grace for me was around 16 I suddenly had a growth spurt and ended up 6'3 whilst still stocky/fat. It was too late for school but helped me gain a presence to stop some (but not all) cowards being silly and having a go later in life. I also moved around a lot from the age of 18 so was able to reinvent myself each time. One kid at school in particular was horrible - I recently I saw him pop up on FB as the boyfriend of a girl I know that we both went to school with. It brought all the feelings and anxiety flooding back, and my hackles still rise when photos of them appear on my feed. I think you learn to deal with it, but you never get over it.

Whoops - duplicate post!

I thought Peter Jackson's point was that if you look at the footage, you can see if from another narrative to the original film - yes, there were arguments and disagreements, but there was still a lot of good times. The thing I took from it was it seemed to be their lack of a disciplinarian figure like Brian Epstein. His passing had obviously given them the freedom to do what they wanted, but there was no one to say "that's enough messing about" when they needed it in these sessions. Due to that, it all looked very haphazard and left some (Ringo and hangers on) bored. How they held on to Billy Preston for so many days baffles me (I can only assume he got paid well)..

I was really liking the look of the 5 string slab....and then he said the price.......

FYI normally if you're picking up hum or weird stuff through ground planes on equipment, it is better to have everything plugged in to the same socket so they share the same ground path and avoid potential differences between them. Obviously this is not always possible in large buildings or with lots of equipment where you don't want to overload the socket, but keeping the stage equipment on the same circuit would be something to try.

I have finally watched it all and loved it. I'm wondering how many of us will now start looking for Fender Bassman stickers online......I know I have! I used to occasionally visit a client about 15 years ago in Saville Row and found the shots of how the street was in the 60's fascinating. As someone said earlier in this thread - Ringo was a machine - always ready to go! It was also good to see who played which parts on tracks I've always loved.

Was it an active DI box, or a passive one? Most active ones use phantom power to run the electronics, so if you've turned phantom off, it would be relying on the battery inside the unit, which could be on its way out and cause some weird stuff. Also, does the church have a cabled hearing loop? It could be some sort of feedback through that?

Last December I jumped in and bought a Musicman clone just before the Brexit cutoff, brand new, shipped. for £117. I really wanted one of the stealth black looking ones as per the photo in the post above but they didn't have any in stock at the time. However, this is my first ever maple (or maple coloured anyway) fingerboard and I really like it. I really can't complain for the price and a bit surprised at the comments above RE: weight - this isn't the lightest bass I've ever picked up but feels a lot lighter to me than my Sire V7.

Welcome. I personally am not aware of Mikro basses, but they look nice...... Enjoy the forum - in the off topic forum there are some good threads from members around depression and mental health, so you may find some helpful advice from others' experiences. I know I have. HH

I currently don't have £5 to blow on a bass, never mind £5K, or £15K or £20K or whatever, but that is lovely - real, unadulterated mojo.

Seller isn't overly far from where it was stolen either..... Hope this all gets sorted.

....and yet he's still playing it 50-odd years later.....😜

I recorded this and watched it on Saturday. Amazing footage and always nice to see shots of where I grew up. Brought back fond memories of Run For Home playing at St James' Park. Mrs HH has become sick of me constantly singing "sickly sausage ruuurlls.." ever since..... Classic stuff WoT - missed seeing you but IIRC I did see your name in the credits!

About 17 years ago I bought a Cort C5 as my first 5 string. The Cort had very tight string spacing, as though they had tried to fit all 5 strings on a 4 string neck. My then 4 string I had played for years was a Squier JV Jazz I thought that would help me but my fat fingers kept tripping up going between the strings. It wasn't till I got a Squier with cricket bat sized neck but similar 19mm spacing to my Jazz that I felt my 5 string playing took off. I'm not saying it would be the same for you so if I was to give any advice I would say to try and find something with similar spacing to what you are used to and a width of neck you think you will be comfortable with. I just want to add that the Cort was a lovely guitar - it just didn't work out for me.