StingRayBoy42

I'm after a free standing one for reading gigs.

I've joined the 21st Century and got a tablet (Samsung Galaxy A9+) for my dots. Can you folks reccomend a decent, sturdy, fold-up-able free standing tablet stand? Ta! EDIT: I'm after a free standing one, not a mic stand clip-on.

Paul bought my Comfort Strapp and he was a pleasure to deal with all the way - First Class Basschattery!

I bought an amp cover from David (that he got with an amp I sold to him about a month ago... long story!) and he was a pleasure to deal with all the way. Great comms, quick postage, nice item. Many thanks!

The absolute Daddy of Double Bass... RIP

You've missed a trick not calling yourselves 'The ileagles'

I bought a Markbass Micromark from Roberto. Great item, great price, perfect comms, immediate postage, an all-round absolute pleasure to deal with all the way. Thank you!

A bag of gravel a week...? LUXURY. I like the hotcovers stuff - good quality at a decent price. Their website doesn't say if they're made in the UK (I think they are... have emailled to ask) I had some Roqsolid stuff in the past and found them a bit flimsy butr to be fair, I probably had the cheapest option stuff. EDIT: Hotcovers stuff is made in the UK (They didn't say if their workers work 29 hours a day and pay them for permission to come to work and when they get home, their mothers and fathers kill them and dance on their graves singing Hallelujiah. I assume not.)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286816725917 Knockoff Bongo? Or homemade? Listed by a charity so I'm assuming naivety rather than a scam.

Two very different gigs this weekend! Friday was the Dysfunctionals 3 piece at the Spread Eagle in Polesworth (Imagine if Tamworth had a frumpy, less glamorous sister). It was one of the smallest places I've ever played - we were wedged inbetween the pool table and the door to the toilets... ROCK 'N' ROLL! It was so small, we couldn't bring all our stuff in (We have too much stuff, especially for gigs of this size, but I digress) so we had to unload the cables and stuff we needed outside and bring them in by the armful. Yay! Little Nige on drums again, always a pleasure but sadly not a long term replacement for the previos custodian of the sticks. Setup was a nightmare as the stage bit between the pool table and the door to the toilets was about the size of an Altoids tin (Altoids Smalls, not the proper ones) so every time you turned round or stood up you'd clout into something. All set up (we had to grease Henry (BL) up to get him out from behind the keyboard) waited around for a bit, went on to about six utterly indifferent punters... the best we got was a very vauge smattering of applause between songs. At half time, a bloke collared me and said how nice it was to see a Bass player smiling... I can't imagine why anyone would think all Bass players are miserable sods (unless they've been on Basschat for more than seven picoseconds). I didn't have the heart to tell him it was more of a rictus grin. Second set was slightly better, a few people came in from the room next door, danced for a verse and a chorus then buggered off again, by the end the 'dancefloor' (the bit in front of the bit between the pool table and the door to the toilets) was packed (it only needed about nine people to be packed) and they enjoyed the last three or four songs, so... that was fun. I joined the dancefloor (TBIFOTBBTPTATDTTT) for the encore, which went down a treat. Pack up and load out was even less fun than load in and set up as the stage bit between the pool table and the door to the toilets had somehow shrunk *and* there were drunken arseholes valued audience members in the way... I would have thought that after the fifteenth "'scuse us... sorry... can we just squeeze through there...?" from chaps with enormous flightcases they would have got the message and gone and stood somewhere else, but alas, no. Mrs StingRayBoy came, she very much enjoyed it. Played the Jazz for a change (inspired by a thread on here about Jazz Basses) -> there wasn't enough room for my little board so I didn't bother -> secret weapons board (wedged onto a shelf) -> MB 802 -> PA. Wore the peach pink sparkle converse. Satuday was depping with the Manchester Ska Foundation at a wedding (Debbie and Andrew) in a marquee outside a pub somewhere near Macclesfield. Arrive at 430, setup was slightly (but not much) more fun than Friday as we had to drag everything through the audience who were sheltering from the rain... there's eight of us and they're all used to it, so it's usually a pretty easy setup. Soundcheck went down well (!), first set at 6 o'clock, we went down a storm. Marquee was packed (It was raining out), everyone loving it, dancing and singing along... fab! The happy couple had their first dance to 'It must be love', which was lovely, the bride's married name is Brown, so 'Sally Brown' (Bad Manners) became 'Debbie Brown' - cue much hilarity and everyone joining in. They fed us (Meat & Potato pie and chips) at half time which was most welcome. Second set was great, a packed marquee (still raining out), all loving it. One of the wedding guests (A very drunken young lady who looked like an AI-designed sex worker (denim thomg, boob tube, knee-high leather boots, cowboy hat)) spent the entire second set haranguing the trombone player, wanting a go on her trombone... so obvioulsy there were lots of blowing/shiny horn/get your lips on that type jokes... hilarious. (The trumpet player let her have a go on his trumpet at the end, but her lips were too big to get a sound out of it.) Played the P -> secret weapons board -> MB 802 -> PA. Wore the cow print converse. Two sets of relentless uptempo ska on the LaBella DTFs took it out of my fingers which I've never really noticed before... I must be getting old. Finished for just after 8, packed up by 9, back in Brum by 10:37 for a cider and a conversation about Lindy Hop with my Stepmum.

I sold Stefan a pedalboard - great comms, quick payment and a great transaction all round. Cheers!