A day off from Festive duties yesterday (almost). Did nip down to the Sports Centre for the Jazz though, to show my face. Bumped into a guy who used to play in "The Vektors" an Edgware School band circa 1979-80. They supported us at Harwood Hall a couple of times. Nice blokes & the band had a massive following. There is a video of them at the gig posted on YouTube. I promoted the gig, as I recall it was an eventful night.
Anyway, back to tonight. First stop St Vincents school to drop off a PA system and engineer - they are doing a production of the Boyfriend. Helped rig it up, then off to Mill Hill School for the tribute to Humphrey Lyttleton show, with BBC newsreader Brian Perkins comparing. As ever with these shows, time is tight. No soundcheck & a live mix which improved as the night went on. As ever with Jazz bands, they are always less than keen to engage with the sound guys in the way rock bands do. Over the years, I've learned to live with it, but I still don't get it ! Luckily the guys were good players. I always feel a bit peeved though, as with a bit of time spent up front, we could have got them a superb sound, rather than just a good sound. The secret of a good live mix for jazz is actually to back off, but also to ensure good projection. Generally I eq pretty flat & then just pull out any nasty rings or plug frequency gaps as we go. Must say Brian Perkins was most amusing. He has the same opinion of politicians as me.
The main thing is the punters enjoyed it. Yet again a good crowd.
On to tomorrow & a change for me. My band, the False Dots are playing at Mill Hill Sports Club on Graham Park Way. If you are not doing anything, drop by and say hi.
By the way, I saw a story in the Guardian that Brian Coleman spent £400 on a single taxi ride! That is more than we paid the band for our best attended gig of the festival so far. What do you think brought the people of Barnet more pleasure? Oh and before you ask, no Barnet Council did not subsidise the festival, it's entirely self funding. I just wish that all of this money that had been troughed by politicians of all parties, could have been put to better use. Expenses are things incurred doing your job. Scoffing banquets surely cannot be deemed as anything other than socialising. This isn't an anti Tory rant. I actually quite like some Tories. Former Barnet Tory Councillor & now Battersea PPC Jane Ellison founded the Mill Hill Music Festival (with Marion Dewing). She put countless hours in for free and used to get her hands dirty. I don't agree with her politics, but I'd have no hesitation in vouching for her honesty, integrity, hard work and community spirit. When she left Barnet & the Festival, she left a legacy to be proud of. If all of our politicians were like Jane, this blog would be about music, football and three legged dogs ! I'm not into criticising people for the sake of it, because we vote in a different manner. I am however, very into shining a light onto the shady practises which are destroying people's faith in our politicians. The sooner that those decent, honest people on both sides call time on all of this troughing the better. If they don't they will ultimately go down with the ship.
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