Absolutely Fabulous

Okay, so here's the deal.

We never get invited to charity fundraisers... people probably think we're charity cases, ourselves. Well, we may have been invited to some, but we've never been invited back!

We're never invited to shop at a store after closing time... and been fed free bottomless champagne whilst browsing...

We never get the chance to mingle with 'faces' and 'names'...

And it's my 'policy' that celebs are real people too, so you absolutely do not approach them if you see them out and about in public.

That held true for such luminaries as:

Danny DeVito: Eating at Wagamama with wife, Rea Pearlman
Boris Johnson: Huffing along outside Waterloo Station
Matt Lucas: At the theatre
Bepe from Eastenders: At a Madonna concert
Lesley Joseph: Used to live a couple of doors down
Graham Norton: Eating in a bistro
Christian Slater: On the tube (or a look-alike!)

...and even...

George Michael: Shopping at Harrods
(were you expecting something else?)

But... but...



JENNIFER SAUNDERS, SWEETIE, JENNIFER SAUNDERS!

Okay, so I broke my rule as we were actually introduced to her by a friend of ours, one of the event organisers. That, and the gallon of FREE CHAMPAGNE we were force-fed...

Oh, and Lenny Henry was there, too... sorry for paying more attention to Jen!

[I suppose I'll lose karma points if I don't mention the cause. Last night was a 'Dress for Success' event held at Harvey Nichols store in London. 'Dress for Success' is a non-profit organisation which helps disadvantaged women back into the workplace by supplying them with suitable interview attire so that they can make the right first impression]

Last Call For Rockschool

I've just heard that Rockschool is definitely going ahead on Thursday. I'm 99% certain it's a good thing, though Thursdays would have been an ideal day for band practice. Shit happens. Can't be helped.

The course administrator sent me the flyer (above) to circulate to anyone who might be interested. I'm not certain of its artistic merit (does it scream 'ROCK' to you?) but hey, it's a government run initiative, I guess, so what do you expect?

Apparently it's still just 5 people who have actually enrolled on the course, but another two have 'promised' to sign up. So, although I'm following through on my 'promise' to post the flyer... I DON'T CARE if anyone else signs up. Ha-ha!

'Small class' equals 'better' in my book. 5-7 plus Teach sounds about right to me. Not that I'm greedy, but I WANT ONE-ON-ONE ATTENTION! Initially I'd looked at this course as another networking possibility, but really, finding guitarists in London is not a problem. Finding bassists and drummers, there's the tricky thing.

So, here it is, last chance to enrol before the course starts. Take it or leave it. Yes... I'll still make good on the 'free beer' offer from before... hrmph!

New Band, Meetup No. 1

So, we met up and the initial line-up was decided as follows:

Jo: Vocals
Ken (yes, ME!): Guitar
Bo: Guitar
Rich: Bass
Jonathan: Drums

There were no arguments or major discussions about who should play what. The line-up was pretty much representative of what each person wanted to do! That never happens, right? We're also all pretty much in synch about where we want to come from, initially: classic rock, AC/DC feel, loud but not too complex.

Let's run down a brief bio (as I remember it) of each member...

Jo. Rock chick. Really good look. Great personality. Seemingly fearless. Jo's been playing guitar in a punk band for the past 6 years but they've never stretched past three chords per song and they often didn't make it through a set without forgetting what they were doing. Good experience gigging. Good contacts for getting gigs. She's not leaving her other band, but their drummer has run off somewhere for a year so she's looking for a side project. She also wants to hang up her axe and stretch her lungs a bit behind the mic. Influences: Guns and that whole LA scene, hair metal and a bit of glam. Oh, and I just have to mention that Jo's main axe is a Squier "Hello Kitty" Strat. Lookie, lookie...



...pretty kitty!

Me... well, you know about me. I'm actually more than happy to go down the route of doing 3 minute songs that sound good 'n' rockin'. I got the impression that I was being pitched slightly towards lead rather then rhythm, but if the opposite turns out to be the case then so be it. As long as I'm playing guitar, I'm happy.

Bo. Bo's the youngest of the group. He's in his early twenties where the rest of us span the 30's age bracket. Very enthusiastic. Very keen to get going and get up onstage. His musical first love seems to be Jimi. Ain't nothing wrong with a bit o' Jimi. Bo's never been in a band before, but has performed in front of about 300 people, supporting a mate of his. It must have gone okay, I guess! He has a very 'can do' attitude, which is great.

Rich. The organiser and primarily a guitarist but the first to put his hand up and volunteer to play bass. He's played in 'bands' made up of friends but none of them have got to the gigging stage. Rich seemed very pragmatic and focused on what we needed to do... that's a good thing! He made sure we put together a preliminary covers list which we plan to whittle down so that we have something positive to work on when we get together 'for real'. Tentative first practice is set for 2 weeks' time with an interim meetup for a few beers. Once Jo's typed up the list and circulated, I'll post it here. Ultimately, we'll aim for originals, but to feel each other out we'll shoot for common ground initially.

Last, but not least, Jonathan. When Jonathan first told his story I was slightly hesitant about whether he was going to be the weak link. He only started playing drums at the start of 2008 because of a bet. A mate of his bet him £100 (roughly $180) that he wouldn't be able to get in a band and play at a festival. I forget the timescale for the wager, but I think it was 2 years. I may be wrong... maybe it's by the end of this year! Sound familiar? Anyway, I did the maths and realised that it meant he'd only been banging skins for 9 months. Throughout the evening, though, I became convinced that he knew what he was doing and remembered that the drummer from the metal band I'd jammed with only had a year's experience and she was great. Besides, anyone with the balls to join a band after less than a year playing is okay in my books.

So, that's the line-up. Song list to follow. Will anything come of this? Too early to tell, but it's a foot on the ladder.

Update: Provisional song list...

Wild Thing - the Troggs
Rock 'n' Roll Star - Oasis
Stay With Me - The Faces
Down Down, Deeper & Down - The Quo
Lola - The Kinks
Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges
Every Breath You Take - The Police

Sounding better to me already than Metallica stuff. The list is to be perused and whittled down to a handful for us to attempt to murder in a couple of weeks!

Tonight's The Kind Of Night...

...when potential band members meet for the first time!

Excited? Yes. Apprehensive? No, not really. I think if this had been six months ago that I'd have been totally unprepared for any of this. Right now I just feel like it's time to move forwards.

What do I expect of tonight? Well, as I've said before, we're talking 4 guitarists and a drummer, with one or two of the axe-grinders (not me!) putting their hands up to play the deep end. We have one vocalist/guitarist, too, which is handy. Judging by emails exchanged to date I'm picturing a a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest for a shining planet...

NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE...

...that's Battlestar Galactica, isn't it?

Right, let's change 'fleet' to 'bunch' and planet to 'spotlight'! Much better and marginally less spaced-out. Tonight isn't a jam, it's all about meeting up and figuring out who's crazy and who's ker-azy, man! A bit like the first hour of a new series of Big Brother.

It sounds to me like there's the possibility of something there, but only time will tell. I'll let you know how it goes.

My other possibility, a solo drummer in North London is on hold. I've not been able to choose a firm date to meet up with her yet as I've been focusing on the other 'bunch'. Might be able to squeeze something in at the end of this week or maybe next.

Rockschool... Places Available!

Okay, so this sucks.

The new WAES (Westminster Adult Education Service) course "Rockschool - Electric Guitar Skills" was supposed to start last week, but it was postponed until tomorrow. I just heard that it's been bumped by another week. Why? Well, it seems that in order for it to be viable from a budget point of view they need 8 students and so far they only have 5 people signed up. I just spoke with Hilary Robinson, the music department Course Team Leader as WAES, and she said that she's working to get a couple more people in so that they can run it. They've printed up some postcards. Have you seen one? Me neither. I figure I'd post something here to see whether I can drum up interest myself.

So, if you read this blog and are interested in getting cheap instruction in a group setting then please, please, please, contact Hilary (Tel: 020 7641 7891) and sign up. If you want more info then feel free to contact me and I'll tell you what I can. I've been on a WAES course before and it was pretty damn good. You can check out their website here.

"This course is designed for people with a little previous experience of playing the electric guitar who would like to develop their skills and prepare for a Rockschool Electric Guitar grade exam in a year of lessons. Rockschool syllabus materials and exam fees are included in the course price."

You basically get weekly 2-hour group sessions, 6-8pm in Pimlico/Victoria for a 28-week academic year at a cost of around £280. Do the maths... that's professional guitar teaching by Alistair Pope (his website is here) at £5 an hour. You also get to play in a small group setting, meet other guitarists, interact, exchange ideas... all good stuff.

Plus, you get to improve in a structured fashion and take an exam at the end. I'm certain they'll give you a certificate which you can frame and hang in your bathroom, too...

C'MON! WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED?

Ok, look... FINAL OFFER. If you sign up and the course goes ahead... I'll buy you a frikkin' beer, alright?