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October 2009.The Pond House pub is just down a long hill from my house. I arranged a 'free' gig there on (my) conditions
that I did not upset the resident DJ, and if it all blew up, no matter. At home, under my car-port,
it takes no more than 15mins to get all the gear out and set it up. I arrived at the pub and hour
early. There were no lights at all - it was in darkness. Eventually I got the deck lights on and,
an hour and a half later, I was ready, drenched in sweat, worried to death, but ready. Bang on the
intro tune (Mr Bloe, what else ?), fade, talk - or rather mega feedback. Cut, fade into 'Spirit in the sky'.
The first live gig I ever did was High Wycombe Town Hall in 1971. I was on first, then the Emperor Rosko,
and top of the bill: Tammy Lynn. So, next record, 'I'm gonna run away from you' and attempt to tell that story
by way of intro. Howl! Forget it, no mic then. So it all went well in the end, I now have a regular paid
gig (every other week) at the pub. The resident DJ has quit and a friend of the landlady's sone does
the alternate week playing the current stuff. Best bit is I set up on Saturday afternoon (it's all
quite safe), go down in the evening and do my bit, then pick it all up on Sunday morning. The mics are sorted
now, so next time...
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November 14th 2009 Back at the Pond House. So 'into' it that I forgot to take any pics!
New horn cabs sorted out the top end - this time they kept asking me to turn it down.
Bought a 'clip-on' spot to help when setting up - dropped it halfway through so had to
rush out and get a new bulb. Mics working fine and managed to find places for a couple of
projectors. The oil wheel was much loved. Gig was great, dozens of requests, all met except
the one that said 'why don't you....' (not really, I made that up). Headphone amp went
ballistic 30 mins from the end: under incestigation, and the UV bulbs were useless. I have
just finished replacing the bulbs with UV strips. Pics soon, and more bookings too.
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November 25th 2009.The Pond House pub regular again. This time I have replaced the useless
UV bulbs with strips (the blue leds are just for effect). On the vertical lights at the front of
the photo you can just see the laser projector sitting on a 'support' that telescopes up from the
light box. Behind the speaker is one of the now, many, Tutor projectors. All went well, this time
they wanted reggae and rock, well they are a mixed lot! Two hours in and the mixer began to make
horrible screeching noises over the amp. Then the left hand deck mixer channel died. Managed to
limp to the end with one deck, MP3 and CD. Now fully investigated - the PSU in the mixer was too hot
to touch after running for an hour or two. New and much more gooder ( :-) ) PSU designed and fitted.
The problem may have been that there was no blue led on the PSU, and as every engineer knows, you
have to have a blue led for anything to work.
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