silverfoxnik

Roxy Music Psychedelic Furs Funkadelic 20 Flight Rockers

I walked out of a show by The Drifters in a dreadful 'chicken in a basket' venue in Watford once, must have mid-80s.. It wasn't because of the band though, who were great, it was because of the audience. The venue had decided to put on a stand up comedian as the support act - probably because the majority of the punters were air force or army staff from a local base. So, the comedian comes on and he spent about 45 minutes telling mainly racist jokes about 'chalky' and 'golliwogs' etc, which the audience found absolutely hilarious from start to finish.. Honestly, it was like being at a Bernard Manning Fan Club event. And then, The Drifters came on (who must have heard it all going on from their dressing room) and had to perform in front of this completely hypocritical audience, who, without any sense of irony or shame, started clapping away and singing as though the previous 45 minutes had never happened! I was so shocked and angry at the hypocrisy, I had to get up and leave. Still riles me to this day!

"...and if you tell that to the young people today, they won't believe you..." 😉

Thanks @Deedeefor the robust defence of my 'not trying to find offence'.. 😁 As it happens @Jakester, I know what protected characteristics are having spent the last 17 years working with people with a wide range of them. Just to be clear, I was jokingly responding to @Maude 's earlier comment about how long before '.. someone comes along and starts shouting discrimination'. But beyond that, I do think there's a serious point to be made here about musicians (and artists more broadly) having been treated very badly over the years on this country, not just now as a result of the fall-out from Brexit, impact of Covid:lockdowns etc, but way beyond that. I can remember when, as a young professional musician in the 80s, it was nigh on impossible to get car insurance for all sorts of stupid reasons thrown up by the insurance companies. And t wasn't until the Musicians Union fought quite a long battle for change that things started to improve, with General Accident eventually working with the MU to produce a specific car insurance policy for your average working muso. I was an MU Committee Member for about 3 years when I still lived in London and the number of cases we dealt with of musicians being ripped off and being treated like 2nd class citizens was unbelievable! Anyway, back on topic... That's kind of the point being made by this lady who's set up this cafe in Bristol - as I see it, she's responded quite brilliantly IMHO to that same kind of disregard and lack of understanding/appreciation of what artists/musicians bring to this country. As the actor David Schneider said recently: "Hard to believe that the government utterly screwed the £112bn creative industries for the sake of the £446m fishing industry. Which they also utterly screwed."

Yep! Some overly pious PC twerp is bound to come along claiming that a positive act (for once) of discrimination in favour of musicians - who still are and have been for centuries, completely discriminated against - is somehow a discriminatory act! The mind boggles (especially at my age!!). 🥴😬😁

Good afternoon fellow Basschatters, Have any of you seen this article.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-56115602 What do you think..? Seems like a great initiative to me and good on a bass player for coming up with the idea too! Nik

Good shout @Maude! I like it - always a good thing when someone's actually got something to say about the state of the world they see around them.. I like those 80s chorus/Eventide Harmonizer guitar chords too.. The video's kind of interesting... it's kind of a Burl Ives/Thomas The Tank Engine/SIMs mash-up... 😁

Hi Ped, Marvellous! 2 lots ordered.. 👍 Cheers Nik

That's a great sounding bass in the video btw... Not my particular sound, but for a certain kind of music, really great.

🤔 There - fixed that for you! 😉 😁

Good shout for Dennis Chambers 👍

Oh, good call for Billy Cobham - I love his playing!

First it'd be Sheila E. Then I guess it'd be Stewart Copeland, Clem Burke, Woody Woodmansey, Paul Thompson, Michael Shrieve (really showing my age here). Probably should say that I've had the pleasure of working with some great drummers over the years, the most notable of whom was a guy called Robbie France and he was phenomenonal! Made me a better musician.. And of course, @Dad3353 😁

I had one of these for a while about 5 years ago.. It was a great sounding bass and the guys in my rock band at the time loved the sound of it, as did I. They are definitely head-turners as basses go and I got a lot of comments when I gigged mine. Yours looks like a great example @Alan Rider and great story about Horace Panter too... Best of luck with getting it sorted out and getting on the Shergold FB forum!

Sounds like a good idea Jack... I share your doubts too @Silvia Bluejay but maybe the world will turn a little more favourably for us this year... 🤞

Yep.. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a popular brew in my house!

It's definitely worth setting a provisional date for this and exploring whether or not the venue would / could be available...

That's absolutely stunning! Congrats 👍😊

Great! 👍 We can have Basschat branded masks, and everything.. 😁

This is the bass I'll never sell because I absolutely love the way it plays and sounds, and musicians who I work with and respect, say I play better on it than any of my other basses.. It's a passive 1984 BC Rich Eagle. It can been in the two pictures below.. Thanks to Andy for modelling it so well for me at the 2019 South East Bass Bash.

Shall we go for it this year then? Say October. Just a thought.. 😊

Just watched some of those vids - great stuff, thank you! 👍 He's a really cool dude...