The Madeleine Cookike Company

[abstamaria]

Thank you, David. I and the Mad Cookies weren't affected directly, but the suddenness, severity, and extent of the destruction ahocked us all. We will play again, of course.

Best regards,

Andy

[abstamaria]

I hadn't played for a very long while but was able to rehearse today with Anna, our bassist, and three session musicians Arman, Jun, and Oscar. Arman, Jun, and Oscar played the Shadows and Ventures as teenagers in the early 60s and have been playing professionally ever since. It was great to play with them, as they were always in the groove, and we actually sounded really good, I thought, at least for the Shadows pieces (I used an AC15). My Ventures wasn't as good, but we had the beginnings of Gandy Dancer, Trambone, and Blue Moon, which I find difficult to play. I used a Fender Twin amp for the Ventures pieces. The Twin after a while abruptly quit and smoked! Just a tube I hope, although I am not optimistic.

But it was good to play again. That's me with the Stratocaster.

[JimN]

We (the Madeleine Cookie Company) ...

Very Proustian!

JN

[Martin Page]

We (the Madeleine Cookie Company) ...

Very Proustian!

JN

Absolutement!

[abstamaria]

Haha, yes. But the Proustian connotation is deliberate. We wanted to put together shows that would provide madeleine cookies for those in the audience of a certain age, make the music remind them unexpectedly of something from 50 years ago. That meant rendering the pieces as faithfully as possible in the original style and arrangement, and (in a quest familiar to those on this forum) as close to the original "sound" as possible.

In addition, we also wanted to give the audience a "show" unlike what they usually see in retro bands. We used live back-up instead of a synthesizer and keyboards. In one show, we had french horns, violins, a cello for "Wonderful Land." Here's what it took to do "Atlantis," even without the strings. It was lot of fun, very satisfying, but a lot of preparation and work.



A major garage construction (that prevented the use of the space we use for rehearsals) and general exhaustion took up last year. but maybe we can do something this year.

Happy New Year to all (Chinese New Year, celebrated in these parts, is on February 3).

Andy

[Dranna]

And that's me with the Precision Bass. Just in case you couldn't tell!

Anna

[Paulps]

And that's me with the Precision Bass. Just in case you couldn't tell!

Anna

Looks very nice in red.....the precision bass looks quite good as well!

[Didier]

The band looks great on stage. I wish we had some videos !

Didier

[Dranna]

Thank you, Paul, Didier. I do think we presented the shows very well, using the correct equipment, even period leather guitar straps, and perhaps providing the audience with more of a show than what they usually expect. Not bad for an amateur company, I feel. We did rehearse quite a bit, getting the music right, and later to make sure entrances, blocking, and instrument changes went smoothly. We'd like to do another show and play not just the Shadows standards, but also the less known, but musically interesting, ones. With a large cast, this is not easy ("Apache" needed someone on the chinese drum and another on the clave, in addition to the main band!). But it is fun to do.

Anna

[abstamaria]

Just one more picture of the three musicians we played with last Sunday. They have been playing early Shadows pieces for 50 years! Arman is an "old-style" drummer, so it was quite a treat to play with him. Some of the new drummers we sometimes peactice with don't quite feel the same way.

The AC15 with the TVS sounded really nice, I thought. The Twin Amp we used for the Ventures pieces didn't sound as well and, as I mentioned, quit in a puff of smoke. It blew a high voltage capacitor and took away a 6L6 with it.

At my age, it is tough to get back to playing as we did before, but it is fun and I am optimistic.

Regards,

Andres