Mo Foster and MC comments

[ecca]

My plug adapter was marvellous but wouldn't have won any safety awards.
One 13amp socket on a bit of wood with 3 wires coming out of it, one 5 amp, one 13 amp and one 15 amp plug on the end of each wire.
Very practical until you caught hold of one of the unused plugs.

[JimN]

Just to go off thread a little but staying with Mo's book, he mentions the nightmare of turning up at venues not knowing wether the electric sockets were 5 amp - 15 amp or 13 amp! I remember we bought a multiplug which had all the various pins in one plug head - saved alot of plug changing. One prob was that in some venues the sockets were mounted on the skirting boards and you couldnt get the plug into the socket as it was too low!

Ah yes... the "Fitall" plug, made in Larne, Narn Iron. The factory address was "Coastal Road", if I recall correctly.

Whatever happened to the one I had on my AC30? I probably just let it go with the amp when I sold it...

http://vads.ac.uk/diad/bres/pub/COID/195/065gray.jpg

(middle right)

http://www.electrical-contractor.net/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/137244/FITALL_plug.html

JN

[JimN]

One of the best "MC" stories I ver heard was from a friend in Liverpool whose band was missing its bassist on summer Saturday because he was away on holiday. They had a gig but couldn't find a dep. Then one member had a brainwave and asked a non-playing friend to "be" the bassist for the evening, miming with a cheap Vox bass guitar (and not bothering at all with an amp).

At the end of two half-hour spots, the second of which was for dancing rather than cabaret, the band leader asked the MC haw the band had sounded.

"OK...", said the compere.

"But what about the bass-player?", persisted the music-chief.

"He was a bit loud", said the Master of Ceremonies...

JN

[neil2726]

Thats the plug Jim - thanks for posting the pics. I remember we made a plug board with 6 - 13amp sockets on it - the bakalite surface mounting types. That was before extension leads and sockets became readily available. We had litle electrical know how but they all worked!

[ecca]

I remember cringing with embarrassment when the Ent. Sec. of the Saddlers Club would announce us as "Walsall's answer to the Beatles."
This is a band that did Beatles stuff only, some 30 years after the Beatles had folded.

[ecca]

..... and the gig in Dudley.
We opened the back door of the van and the bass drum rolled out and down the biggest hill you'd ever seen with half the band chasing it.

[ecca]

We played on the tele when we were 15 and my Dad had made me a chrome plated scratchplate for my Colorama.
I noticed that at the right angle the reflections from it blacked out all the monitors in the studio.
This was rectified by a studio techie who sprayed the whole front of the guitar with some sort of wax thereby deadening the strings as well as the reflections.

[Arpeggio]

Great stories Ecca! Plus all of the others of course. My own experience of being in bands is much more recent. I can certainly identify with the 'ludicrous requests syndrome'. As lead singer - it seemed that people would often approach me. I was in a band which quite clearly did nothing but 60s cover versions & our respective ages were 55 - 63. Plus - the line up was me (vocs), lead/rhythm, bass, drums. However (during only a sadly brief existence) this didn't stop requests (I'll only use the most outlandish ones) for: "Dancing Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Tragedy", "Boom Boom (I Want You In My Room)", "What's Love Got To Do With It" (!!!!) etc., etc. Perhaps the most ridiculous one of all (we were performing at a social club in Slough)...."Do you know any Polish pop songs....and could you sing some...in Polish?"!!!!!!!!! The thing is....all of these requests weren't wind - ups, they were deadly serious.

Rob

[Martin Page]

Our band, Quiff and The Shades played at a venue in Hastings recently where we were proudly billed on the poster as Quaff and The Shaves!

Martin.

[JimTidmarsh]

People defy logic sometimes!!
I played in a barn dance band for over 20 years (fairly defined sort of music!!) and remember on one occassion being asked if we could play the Doctor Who theme.
Mind you, we used to use tunes such as Match of the Day, Capt Pugwash etc so perhaps it wasn't so strange!