Rich

Local music shops where I live are more like this. Me: Hi. Him: Arr. What be ‘ee looking forr? We ‘as a nice range of galoubets, serpents and lutes. Or a dulcimer if ‘ee want summat new-fangled? Me: Errm, actually I’m more interested in bass guitars..? Him: Guitars? Arr right, well we’ve got a very nice baroque guitar over ‘ere… Me: No no, a bass guitar. Him: {confused} Well it don’t come with no base, but… Me: No, a bass. An electric b… Him: {recoils in horror} Elastictrickery?? Why, 'tiz the work of beelzebub! Are you in league with the dark one? {yells out to the back of the shop} Perpetua! Assemble the townsfolk and loight the bonfire! We ‘as one of satan’s imps in ‘ere! {exit Rich, pursued by pitchfork-waving mob of very closely related locals}

Totally inexcusable. Either she'd be out of the band or I would.

Bloody good idea. Next year I will bring my cans and Korg Pandora thingy and leave them hanging around for people to use if they want.

.uoy no skcirt gniyalp seye ruoy tsuj s’ti kniht I

Before flogging the Wal, it'd be worth considering its investment qualities... Wal values only seem to be heading in one direction, so even if you're not going to use it in anger, it'd be worth keeping hold of.

https://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/

Sorry for going quiet, I was just making arrangements to have you killed.

I'll be there next year, for definite! The Wal needs a spot of gentle TLC -- she's an old lady now, y'know -- so I've got a year to get her sorted out.

Sounds like everyone had an utterly dreadful day, as I suspected you would. I'm really glad I had to work and miss the whole f%$&*ing thing.

I agree with all the above. I would definitely investigate the custom-made lightweight option. Talk to Jon Shuker... his carbonlite basses are awesome.

They said they'd retired, but now there's film of Dirk Lerxt and Pratt rehearsing together again and sounding, well, remarkable. Perhaps they'll surprise us with a reunion tour? Fingers crossed. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2005220929507190&id=1202966273065997

"Flip you, I won't do what you tell me!" Yes, it does rather lose some of its fury, doesn't it?

Agreed. Any pub that had routine problems with aggressive drunks harassing the bands would pretty soon find it hard to get any band bookings. Either that or they'd become very popular on the Oi! scene.

Many years ago when I lived in Swindon, my blues-rock trio (Hendrix, Gary Moore, ZZ Top etc) had a booking at the Plessey Social Club... when we walked through the door, we lowered the average age in the room by about 40 years. As we set up, I could feel the glares from the light-&-bitter brigade burning holes in the back of my head. We had backline and a vocal PA only, nothing DI'd or miked up -- Steve the drummer was first to get set up, he sat down and picked up a stick and hit his snare drum ONCE... and I heard a croaky old voice from out in the shadows say, "ooh, it's a bit loud..." Predictably the first set was horrendous, every song met with almost total silence apart from a few “turn it down”s from some of the coffin-dodgers and one or two claps. One of them even walked right up to me mid-song, stuck his fingers in his ears and bellowed “It's TOO LOUD”. End of the first set couldn’t have come soon enough for me. When it did, the club MC asked if he could borrow one of our mics to do the bingo. Ye gods. Eventually we couldn’t put the second set off any longer and trudged to the stage. I was just putting my bass on when a woman approached me. I thought, if she tells me to turn it down I’m just going to pack up and sod off home. But she said cheerfully, “OK lads, all the old farts have buggered off, they only come for the bingo... you can turn it back up now”. So we did needless to say, the second set was a lot better and we never set foot in there again

"That ain't no Hank Williams song!"

Amy Turk, phenomenally talented harpist. This is stunning.

Apologies re: the SWR 1x12; alas it will not be appearing at the Bash. It's in our rehearsal studio in my drummer's barn -- I'd intended to pick it up this week, but apparently he's gone to Italy on holiday TBH it's a bit knackered anyway, so we won't be missing much apart from a comedy element.

Finally decided to get my derrière into gear and finish the vero-based Mammoth hybrid I've had hanging around half finished for ages. I'm also incorporating a blend control for full flexibility, if it works that is! Watch this space

As long as it had 5 strings, yes absolutely.

Mmmm... potato wedges...

Many of our gigs are up to an hour's drive from home. So I use the drive time to de-buzz, listen to something quiet on the radio -- the shipping forecast is wonderful for this, really soothing and evocative, and I always chuckle at the bass-fail on Sailing By** . When I get home I have a wee bite to eat and a cup of coffee (the caffeine doesn't keep me awake) and maybe a bit of quiet telly until I start nodding, which isn't long. Crawl into bed, head>pillow>zzz. ** 1:54... horrid bum note followed by two seconds of "where am I?" chart-searching silence. https://youtu.be/dFdas-kMF74