My Indirect Road to Shadows Music

[Dranna]

Having begun this, I am now compelled to finish it! So please bear with me a little longer.

After I joined the Electromaniacs, my schedule suddenly overflowed with gigs, shows, and rehearsals. I had so much to learn, but luckily Ernie could write and I could read notation, so that was helpful. Here we are at Andy’s garage, rehearsing. I had borrowed my daughter’s tiara (she was prom queen that year) to keep the hair out off my face!

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We played instrumentals such as “Classical Gas,” but no Shadows pieces. I still had not heard “Apache.”

I was still with my all-girl band Rhythm & Babes, playing at parties such as this one. That’s my second bass guitar, a nice red ESP.

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R&B had morphed by then. When we started out, we were all amateurs playing for fun. Now there were more professionals in the band, and they needed, understandably, to keep gigging as often as possible. But it was just a hobby for me. I am, I believe, quite passionate about the music, but I had a day job, a practice I needed to attend to.

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Anna

[Bluesnote]

I hope this hasn’t been too boring!

Anna

Far from boring Anna

It's good to see pics like that and read other players stories from the past, reminds us all of our own wonderful musical pasts and what was, as opposed to what they call music now
My one regret is that I never had enough pics taken from when I got started up til now, so the only pics are in my head sadly.
Keep em coming
Hugh.

[Uncle Fiesta]

... the only pics are in my head sadly.
Keep em coming
Hugh.

That's my problem too! I have hardly any photos of my early bands, and I didn't become obsessed about photographing even the guitars themselves until the late 70s, so my first half-dozen or so exist only in the memory.

[Dranna]

Thank you, Hugh. We've all photographed more these last several years; going back into older decades, my photographs become less and less.

All this is triggered by a house move and the photographs and odds and ends that turn up unexpected from drawers and boxes. Remembrances of things past, to quote a line we use in the Madeleine Cookie Company shows. As part of the move and in an effort to simplify, I have decided to let go of the electric blue RJ bass guitar. It’s a lovely guitar, and I feel I'm giving up a part of me.

Anna

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[Dranna]

The Electromaniacs, revived after so many decades, were in great demand, and we began to play instrumental music beyond the early 60s, including even John William’s “Cavatina.” From the period, we played “Lover’s Guitar,” which in retrospect was quite unusual. I learned a tune by the Fentones ahead of the Shadows.

But the demands of a professional band became difficult for me to meet. And I had two. They needed to play as often as they could, and I only had my little spare time and the hours I needed to sleep. Toward December of the year I joined the Electros, my school class celebrated its 25th anniversary, and I had a fun part at the homecoming show, a big thing in these parts. The show was a great success (that’s me with pink hair), but its toll of rehearsals underscored to me that the commitments I found myself with was untenable. With a great deal of sadness, I decided it was time to withdraw from both bands.

Anna

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[Dranna]

I withdrew from my all-girl band and resolved to resign from the Electros after a scheduled major show. I knew that would be difficult for me to do, as they were quite talented and it was a pleasure and an honor to play with them. A wise friend advised me to put my resignation down in writing, so I may hand over an envelope if I found it too difficult to say what I needed to. We played to a full crowd at the show, shown here in this photograph, and, after the show, I handed in my envelope.

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[Dranna]

At about the time of my retirement from gigging bands, the Madeleine Cookie Company, an ad hoc group of amateur and professional musicians, was planning a series of shows that featured music from a specific period – 1958 to 1963. The music I played with the Electromaniacs fit right in that period! As luck would have it, the company’s bass guitarist had to leave the show at the beginning of rehearsals, so I was invited in.

The company did not play regularly, but rather was set up to produce three or consecutive shows, disband after, and after a while, if everyone was up to it, regroup to stage another set of shows, always with the same theme. The first poster for the show illustrates that theme.



The format and schedule of the “Mad Cookie” shows (as we called them in the cast - we referred to each other as the “Mad Cookies”) suited me perfectly. The commitment was intense but short duration, about three months of heavy rehearsals, then three monthly shows, and then a long furlough. That would leave me time to do other things.

A third of the planned repertoire was instrumental music, mostly new to me. I had never heard of the Shadows or their music before! The show’s criteria required that the pieces be played as much as possible in the style (and with the tone) of the original recording, so I spent a lot of time deciphering the bass lines of Apache, Atlantis, and so on. I developed a deep respect for Jet Harris, a name I didn’t know just months before. So that was how my road led to the Shadows.

My modern blue bass was no longer appropriate, so I switched to a nice Precision with flatwounds and learned to play with a pick and that pick-up cover on. They put me into the standard chorus dress, and I began to play a la Jet. At least for the early Shadows pieces! So there!

[Dranna]

Dear all,

Many of you have seen this before, the one video on the shows I did as part of the Madeleine Cookie Company, taken by a guest with a handycam in the balcony. Let me just add it for completeness. I was the MC and acted as if I had always known the Shadows and their music!



We are planning another show, also on a stage, still on the same musical era and also with live chorus, brass, and strings, but more guitar-oriented this time. Just prime Ventures and Shadows pieces, and only a few songs with a strong guitar component. That is more challenging to do for a general audience, but I think it will be fun putting it together. Wish us luck!

My best wishes to all,

Anna

[Iain Purdon]

What a great show! Well done Anna and co.

I don't think I've ever seen Atlantis performed with the girl chorus that makes the record so special

(By the way, I've taken the liberty of tweaking your posting to show the video more prominently)

Best wishes - I